Update 4/11 HAPPY EASTER! (SCROLL DOWN FOR THE FM STATIC REVIEW)

Happy Easter everyone!

Family Force 5 put their remix for "The First Time" on their myspace. Also, you can now preorder Dance or Die with a Vengeance here. You will receive a free download of the new song, an autographed booklet, and a sick t-shirt.

FM Static has their entire album up at imeem. So get over there and try not to get it too stuck in your head.

That's it for now, see you later. Happy Easter!

FM Static- Dear Diary

FM Static (aka Trevor McNevan and Steve Augustine of Thousand Foot Krutch) released their sophmore effort three years ago. Having taken a break for TFK, they are back with their next album, Dear Diary.

Dear Diary is a concept album, that tells the story of a high school kid that moves to a new town, hence the lengthy title of the first track, "Boy Moves To A New Town With An Optimistic Outlook." He keeps a diary, and the rest of the album is about what he writes. "The Unavoidable Battle Of Feeling On The Outside", another lengthy title, is exactly what it sounds like it would be about. There really isn't anything that isn't clear in this concept album.

The entire album is really catchy--exactly what you would expect from this pop/punk group. There isn't a song that won't get stuck in your head at one point or another. The track, "The Voyage Of Beliefs", featuring Tricia Brock of Superchic[k], I find is extremely hard to get out of your head. Another thing that makes it even better is that the lyrics aren't overly positive like most pop/punk bands. The music gets a bit more serious in "Her Father's Song" and the mood continues through the next couple of songs, but picks up again at "The Shindig (Off To College)". The seriousness and fun is perfectly balanced.

Overall Dear Diary is a great album for anyone who's looking for something fun. McNevan and Augustine really surprised me with this one. Just don't listen to it too much, because you're going to find it hard to get it out of your head!

Update 4/8 (SCROLL DOWN FOR THE HOUSE OF HEROES REVIEW)

Hey guys! Just have a quick update this time.

FM Static's new album was released yesterday. Instead of a classic album review, I'll be posting the Dear Diary review Friday. (And by classic review, I mean it's not going to be a new album. It's not going to be extremely old, just not released within the past month.)

House of Heroes released their EP yesterday as well. You can scroll down this page to read the review for that and The End Is Not The End.

EMERY PUT OUT THEIR FIRST SINGLE YESTERDAY!!!!!!!! If you can't tell, I'm excited. You can get to their myspace through here. The song is called "Cutthroat Collapse" and I can tell you it is sick!

That's all for now, see you Friday! Don't forget what Jesus did for you by dying on the cross. It's more amazing than anything anyone's ever done, and He did it for you!

-FISHER

House of Heroes- The End Is Not The End (Classic Review) + The Acoustic End EP (NEW)

House of heroes was not a band that I was familiar with prior to their sophomore release. All of the hype about them finally making a new album prompted me to check them out. And I am very glad I did. House of Heroes left their fans hanging for a whopping four years after their first release (with only two new songs on their re-release to fill the gap) and now, finally, they return with The End Is Not The End.

The End Is Not The End is an album with a little bit of a concept to it, since many of the songs have something to do with World War II. The opening instrumental track leads into the catchy love song "If." The song makes for a great opening track, and is immediately followed by the album's hardest rocking track, "Lose Control." "In The Valley Of The Dying Sun" is a pretty different song dealing with a man who thinks God is his enemy and ends up fighting him and realizing that God was not his enemy. Musically it is a very diverse song, skipping to various tempos, and allowing lead vocalist Tim Skipper to use his falsetto voice more. "Code Name: Raven" is another really catchy song, declaring, "I'd rather die than live without mercy and love." "By Your Side", the song that the album title is derived from, slows the album down for a bit, and actually sounds very nice, telling the story of a man going to war. The second half of the album shows HOH's punk side a little bit more than the first. "Journey Into Space, Pt. 1" and "Drown" have very similar sounding openings, but are still very good songs.

If you bought The End Is Not The End in CD form at one of HOH's shows before March 09, the album closes at "Field of Daggers," a very good closing song.

If you bought The End Is Not The End on iTunes, the last song is "The Young And The Brutal," a hidden track on the previous to March copy. It's a very fun and fast paced song, which fans of "Friday Night" from Say No More will appreciate.

The Acoustic End EP has the two acoustic tracks that took the place of "The Young And The Brutal" for the in-stores release in March. They are both very good songs, although some may find "Ghost" to be a sad and somewhat negative song, as it deals with the life of a man who "fell in with the wrong crowd." Not found on the CD release is the acoustic reworking of "If," which has a little bit of a quicker tempo.

So, in the end (which we know is not really the end), The End Is Not The End blew me away. It is an almost entirely flawless work, sure to make you tap your feet at one point or another, and slowing it down just at the right points. It's an almost perfect blend of songs, and there is not one that I would skip while listening to the album. This is why The End Is Not The End, is--in my opinion--one of the best albums to hit the Christian music market in a very long time.

Update 4/3

Hey Christian rock fans! I just have a few updates I wanted to share.

First off, Flyleaf is working on their next record! More news to come...

Secondly, Relient K announced today that they are recording. New album coming later this year.

Thirdly, Emery will be releasing their fourth studio album ...In Shallow Seas We Sail, June 2nd. The full track listing is as follows:
Cutthroat Collapse
Curbside Goodbye
Inside Our Skin
Churches and Serial Killers
Butcher's Mouth
In Shallow Seas We Sail
The Poor and the Prevalent
The Smile, The Face*
A Sin To Hold On To
Piggy Bank Lies
Edge of the World*
Dear Death Part 1
Dear Death Part 2
*(also on While Broken Hearts Prevail...)

Lastly, House of Heroes' new Acoustic End EP this Tuesday. It is available for preorder on iTunes, and you can click here to get it. Stick around for a review, as well as a classic review of The End is Not the End.

So that's it for now. Come back Tuesday for the new review. Also, I'll try to post a classic album review every other Friday, starting next Friday. So be back for that, spread the word about the blog, and you'll be golden! Thanks for taking the time to read this!

-FISHER

Falling Up- Fangs!

Falling Up never ceases to stop moving forward. Each record has been its own style, almost entirely different from the last. Their diversity may upset some fans of their older sound displayed in Crashings. But inevitably, half a decade later, Falling Up presents us with their next effort, Fangs!.

Fangs! tells a unique story of a planet much like ours where it is discovered that the children slept in blankets weaved from poisonous golden thread. The thread was shot into space, to the nearest planet, Neptuenn, by their strongest archers. A thousand years later, the arrows return, plunging into the children, who have fallen into a deep sleep. A traveler is sent to Neptuenn to investigate what has happened. Fangs! describes his journey, what happens there, and what he observes.

Musically, the album is much like Captiva, still holding some rock quality, but with a lot of electric sound effects and synths thrown in. Songs such as "Lotus and the Langourous", and "The Moonn and the Sixpence" may please fans of the old Dawn Escapes sound, but anyone interested in solely that style will be disappointed. Other songs such as "The King's Garden" show a much softer side of Falling Up that is, sadly, barely ever heard. The track is the album's most beautiful and relaxed. Fans of the remix album will like most of the songs as many of them sound kind of space-y and electric. So there's pretty much something for everyone, musically, in this album. (As a side note, some of the songs have irratatingly long closings. Some sound really cool, but just seem a bit overdone.)

Lyrically, the album is more like Dawn Escapes, the lyrics more cryptic than, say, "Hotel Aquarium." Under every song in the CD booklet is a small note, telling where the character is going or what he's thinking. Some songs have a small notation such as "Acheron- in Greek Mythology, one of the rivers of Hades," which may help some when trying to understand the story Ribordy is trying to portray. Much of it is unclear, and sadly, does not seem to hold any spiritual meaning at all. Fans familiar with Captiva are sure to notice that the line in the song "Panic and Geo-Primaries", "Breathing in the dark, they're finding where you are" is recycled from "Arch to Achtilles" off of Captiva--even accompanied by the same tune as the older song. Whatever the significance, it was interesting that they used it again.

So, in the end, Fangs! may confuse most lyrically, but is enjoyable to listen to. If you're looking for an album with any spiritual meaning, you probably won't find Fangs! to your liking. If you're looking for some good, entertaining music, this will be good for you. In the end there's really only one word to sum up this album: unique. Very well done, but so different--very refreshing. It may require a few listens to get used to the style, but one listen is enough to know that this band is good--the future holds a lot for them.

Update 3-14 (Pi Day, for all you math nerds)

Hey! Hope you're eating lots of pie today, 'cause it's Pi Day! Anyway, lots of recording's been going on recently, so I just thought I'd fill you all in.

As I've already told you, Family Force 5 is recording a remix album. They've decided to call it Dance Or Die With A Vengeance. Also, they're working on a Christmas album. According to their last audio blog, they're also recording a cover of "These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things." Gonna be nice! I'm excited.

Pillar is in the studio working with producer Rob Graves (RED) on songs that are "arguably the best yet" according to frontman Rob Beckley. They have two new replacements for former members Michael Wittig and Lester Estelle. Their names are Rich Gilliland, who will be playing bass, and Taylor Carroll, playing the drums.

Switchfoot is in the studio. More news to come about that...

Showbread will be working on a new album in April tentatively titled The Fear of God. You can link up to their blog here.

And last but not least, The Almost is writing new music for their sophomore album. No news yet on when they're recording, so I'll be on the lookout for that.

And don't forget to pre-order Falling Up's new album Fangs by clicking here for the CD/T-Shirt/Glow-In-The-Dark Fangs! What's up with all the glow in the dark stuff? First ATTWN, now Falling Up... I think every band should offer something glow-in-the-dark with preorders. You can get just the CD for just $10 here. Check back soon for a review.

Also, FM Static has a new album coming out called Dear Diary, and you can get it here. Comes with an FM Static Dear Diary notebook.

So that's it for now, be back soon for the Falling Up review. Make sure you tell your friends to check out the blog!

-FISHER