Get Young "Literature"

Here's another little contribution from your favorite Minnesotan and mine (and longtime Geekburger.com-er), Andrew Faust:

Every once in a while, you find one of those bands that you just know will soon be popular. You can tell after the first couple of listens that, for one reason or another, people will love this band -- there's a certain appeal that most bands have to search and work for just to get on their feet. Enter Get Young, a young band from Minneapolis that has “the scene” talking, and most importantly, the music to back up the hype.

Get Young plays catchy, yet heavy hardcore, strongly influenced by Every Time I Die and Spitfire. You can feel the rock and roll-“Big Dirty” influence in the guitar parts but it’s the chaotic, in-your-face, back-and-forth vocals -- which include harmonized singing, shouts and forceful screaming -- that give it that Spitfire feel. Working like it does for Underoath, Get Young has two vocalists: a front man with a low, throaty growl and a backup singer with a high-pitched scream. Adding these two together is not only a good partnership, but a good way for the band to show off their craft in trading off parts perfectly letting one singer complement the other. With some melodic rock and roll singing parts added in, there's a lot of diversity. Hell, if it’s an option, Get Young has tried something like it on this four-song EP.

The guitars parts range from chunky, “in-your-face” hardcore, to Circa Survive-inspired melodies; again, Get Young takes you all over the spectrum but does it with talent, grace and overall knowledge of restraint. Each song doesn’t just have a distinct sound; it has different feelings and at least that one memorable part that makes you want to hum all day.

I guess the most appealing part of this EP is the fact that it clocks in at only 15 minutes, yet leaves a lasting impression with an unforgettable beginning, middle and end. There's a reason this band is attracting attention, and it's the fact that they have strong, noticeable influences and enough of their own character. Soon, it'll be the Get Young sound. Take my advice, get into the band now so you can be the first on your block that doesn’t look like a bandwagon fan. This band has “it” and they show no signs of not letting you know it.

These guys don't have a huge internet presence yet, so you can sample three songs on their Myspace page. If you want the record, you've got to pick it up from them when you see them live.

Salt the Wound "Carnal Repercussion"

Despite being titled Carnal Repercussion and seeing a release through Rotten Records, Salt the Wound's full-length debut isn't the kind of extreme, brutal death metal album one might expect. No, not at all; it's more of a melodic death metal album with tons of monster breakdowns, clickity-clicking double bass and vocals that, in addition to including forced pig squeals, run the gamut from deep growls to raspy screeches. Honestly, it just sounds dated. It reminds me of some of the short-lived metalcore acts I liked in 2002. You know, the ones that wrote mosh parts and filled in the empty space with rehashed At the Gates riffs. Carnal Repercussion has a more pronounced deathcore appeal and contemporary precision, but their music still lacks character and tact. And seriously, if your cover art is going to depict what looks like a robed skeleton barfing on an impaled, curled-up human (with skeleton face!), your music better back that shit up. (Nothing against the art; it just doesn't quite fit.)

Well, I feel better having that out of my system. Stay tuned for something a bit more positive in the next day or two!

Listen, if you still want to: Salt the Wound - We'll Sleep Until Sunset

Intronaut "The Challenger"

The Challenger offers nine full songs of Intronaut's distinctly jazzy and atmospheric metal but, for all practical purposes, it's a three-song EP with six live cuts and a remix tacked on to the end. I don't really get into live recordings (unless I'm an obsessive fan of the band), so I'm not even going to talk about that stuff here -- it's the band playing their older stuff live.

The first three songs comprise the new material and, as expected, are undeniably skillful and pretty damn unique. Like 2006's Void, The Challenger puts a spin on sludgy, mid-paced metal, bringing to the dense heaviness a range of impressively jazzy bass lines and percussion, expansive post-metal atmospheres and warm, swelling melodies. What's cool about these three songs is how, despite their rhythmic and textural complexity, they're accessible; you don't have to be a trained musician to get into the material, but you're still likely pick up on the intricacy and technical time signatures. Of course, there's plenty of chunky, twisted riffs and dissonant noise, as well as forceful, mid-ranged shouting, to latch on to, and Intronaut does a commendable job of smoothly blending them with their more experimental qualities. The Challenger can be pretty powerful, so I'll be interested to hear their next full length.

Peep the title track: Intronaut - The Challenger

It's selling for the price of a full length, which kind of sucks, but you can get it here.

Deathkiller "New England Is Sinking"

With a name like Deathkiller and a couple members' histories in such bands as Hatebreed and Most Precious Blood, I was expecting this band to be some sort of half-serious, tongue-in-cheek side project. But a joke it is not; while New England Is Sinking does harness the energy and in-your-face attitude of hardcore, the record's sound is rooted in crunchy, dissonant, 90s-era post-hardcore and gritty, driving rock 'n roll. Deathkiller struck a swell combination, really, as each concise song packs plenty of textured and varied riffs, a consistent outpouring of straightforward energy, and satisfyingly heavy (though almost never metallic) grooves. The singing is a fitting blend of hoarse singing and throaty screaming, and front man Matt McIntosh usually walks a fine line between the two so, with that in mind, there's energy coming from every angle.

Deathkiller gets the job done with efficiency and taste. New England Is Sinking's 13 songs last less than 30 minutes and, since the energy rarely drops off and it can be quite catchy, the album flies by. I totally neglected to give this one the time of day when I first got it months ago (I did that a lot this past summer, I guess). Don't make the same mistake:

Deathkiller - Idle Worship

You can grab the record from RevHQ here.

Time In Malta "A Second Engine"

When I have some time to relax on the weekends, I like to actually go back to old(ish) music. I peruse the two towering stacks of discs (with no cases!) atop my bookshelf, a number of 200-CD-holding binders and, since I've always been so tech-savvy (uh huh...), my directories of years worth of digital music. A lot of the time, I wind up thinking, "I used to listen to this shit? And liked it? Srsly?" But there are some great moments of rediscovery to be had. Case in point: Time In Malta's A Second Engine.

As my embarrassing original review implies, I've liked A Second Engine since I bought it in 2002. But in the past couple years I seem to have developed an even bigger soft spot for their 2002-era sound, and I'm unabashedly loving it now. What's really friggin' cool about this record is how the band packages all their playing styles -- chunky, scream-y metallic hardcore, driving melodic rock, mid-paced post-hardcore -- in a warm, totally rock-oriented production job. The band shifts gears a lot from song to song but the recording makes it such a cohesive and unique-sounding effort. And let's face it; even without the sweet recording, Time In Malta blew most of the early-2000s melodic metalcore acts out of the water. They actually harnessed the sheer power of metallic hardcore, the hooks of rock and the texture of post-hardcore, and did so much more than haphazardly toss some vocal melodies into a mess of breakdowns and bland riffs. And the drumming? It rules.

Time In Malta never quite fit any mold and I'm thinking that's what helps their music hold up especially well in the present day. Although a very different album, A Second Engine is up there with Skycamefalling's full-length metalcore masterpiece, 10.21. I wish I could post the whole damn thing so you could get the effect and feel the ebb and flow, but it's 2008. You can find a way.

Time In Malta - Read Your Mind
Time In Malta - This Revolution

Worth it.

For the Fallen Dreams "Changes"

Changes sounds like the offspring of Bury Your Dead's pseudo-tough, burly metallic hardcore and Misery Signals' textured, atmospheric metalcore. It's a melodic twist on mosh-a-riffic metalcore. While Bury Your Dead's genes clearly dominate the record, For the Fallen Dreams injects a noticeable amount of airy, melodic guitar parts and powerful, mid-paced drumming into the persistent chugging and two-step-friendly verses, adding some depth to the formula.

The band does an acceptable job of melding their two prominent influences and livening up a stale, mosh-oriented sound, but it's not enough for them to escape coming across as a mechanical metalcore act. I mean, For the Fallen Dreams sounds intense, but I don't really feel the intensity. And they have some creative urges, but they don't quite bring them to fruition. (Misery Signals, on the other hand, has tons of power and a whole lot of melodic prowess -- a tough standard to live up to.) It's a middle-of-the-road release, but I can see people liking it.

Listen for yourself: For the Fallen Dreams - Never Again

Grab a copy of the album here.

Pulling Teeth "Martyr Immortal"

Plain and simply, Martyr Immortal is awesome. I should have said that back when I was drooling over Shipwreck A.D.'s Abyss, as both albums were released via Deathwish Inc. on the same date. I'm late, but this record still rules.

Featuring shot after shot of super-intense, hard-hitting and thrash-y metallic hardcore, Martyr Immortal generally picks up where Pulling Teeth's 2006 effort, Vicious Skin, left off. It's really straightforward, with fast, driving tempos, meaty chord progressions and chunky grooves forming the bulk of the material, but the band doesn't fail to differentiate themselves from the crowd. Singer Mike's nasty, blood vessel-popping shouts are quickly recognizable, brisk guitar leads add occasional moments of flashiness, and thrash riffs and drumming contribute to an urgent crossover sound that usually doesn't come out sounding this seasoned. While I stress the brevity and straightforward nature of Martyr Immortal, Pulling Teeth does a lot of little things -- and always in good, moderated taste -- to enhance and accent their already bulletproof songs. It's safe to say these guys know their stuff, as everything gels without ever sounding forced.

Surprisingly, the second half of Martyr Immortal is packed with rather experimental songs. After eight one- or two-minute blasts, "Martyr Immortal/Mori Vincent Omnes" and "Black Skies" open up to a more diverse range of influences and tempos, and there's certainly a dark, gritty, instrumental slant to them. "Dismissed in Time" lasts more than seven minutes, but it's actually a powerful closer, despite consisting of ominous spoken vocals, samples, effects and melancholic strings.

Martyr Immortal finds a sweet middle ground between hardcore, punk rock and metal that's crushing, intense and diverse; never stereotypical or cheesy. Awesome stuff; if I could do it over again, I hardly doubt that this would be on (not just an honorable mention, that is) my top 10 of 2007 list.

Pulling Teeth - Dead Is Dead
Pulling Teeth - Black Skies

I'd lean toward buying this one.

Ruiner "Prepare to Be Let Down"

Did I really fail to say a single thing about Prepare to Be Let Down? It's not that I'm particularly stunned by the effort, it's just a well rounded, solid melodic hardcore record, and I really dig the clean, crisp recording and powerful, emotional vocals. With songs generally clocking in between one and two minutes, Prepare to Be Let Down is over as soon as it starts. But the content that's here is loaded with hyper-speed drumming, brisk guitar melodies and fiery chord progressions, so a lot happens in a little time. On occasion, Ruiner slows the tempo for more dramatic buildups and restrained segues, but these parts don't feel as developed or fleshed out as something Modern Life Is War would pen. While I lean toward the harder-hitting stuff, Ruiner's music carries more feeling and emotion than the average hardcore band's (the throaty yelling is of the "I'm a nervous wreck" variety), and that's what's pulled me back for repeated listens -- even months since my first one.

Rock: Ruiner - The Lives We Fear

Pick it up here.