Problem

Hello readers. My computer has been experiencing a strange virus that has only effected my Google account (though I can still access YouTube). I haven't been able to access my blog in the past couple days. Hopefully this problem can be resolved and I continue posting soon, but as of right now I can't access my blog from my home computer. Thank you for understanding and I hope to solve this issue soon and be back

Album Review: High on Fire-De Vermis Mysteriis

The metal world needs more bands like High on Fire. Since their debut record The Art of Self Defense came out in 2000, they have been releasing quality album upon quality album with their signature take-no prisoners sludge/stoner style. Their latest effort, De Vermis Mysterris, is yet another strong addition to their already stacked catalogue.

De Vermis Mysterris is a crushing record. If you follow High on Fire at all, this should come as no surprise. They are all business and they do not fuck around whatsoever. Matt Pike and co. have one goal and one goal only: make unique music with an abundance of killer riffs and relentless fury that will make a lasting impression on the listener. As they have done throughout their career, they have succeeded in their goal. Matt Pike is without a doubt one of the strongest riff writers in the history of metal. No matter if the song is fast and thrashy ( "Fertile Green", "Bloody Knuckles", "Spiritual Rites") or slow and gloomy ("Madness of an Architect", "Warhorn"), Pike has the perfect riff for the song. I can't think of too many other bands that consistently have such headbang worthy and memorable riffs. Pike isn't just a strong riff writer, he can also solo with the best of them. He throws down blistering solos left and right on this record (The solo on album opener "Serums of Liao" is particularly impressive). I was glad the solos were fantastic on here, that was the number one thing (and pretty much the only glaring problem) missing from their last record Snake for the Divine.

De Vermis Mysterris isn't just special from a musical standpoint, the production is spectacular. Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou (Salem, Massachusetts represent!) did an absolutely fantastic job producing this record. The production is so clear and perfect throughout the album. High on Fire has never even had anything close to this level of production in the past. If there was one thing that was a reccuring flaw with High on Fire, it was the production value and Ballou fixed that. They made a brilliant decision going across the country to work with Ballou for this record.

De Vermis Mysterris is business as usual for High on Fire. They have hit another riff-gold mine and made another gem of an album. Armed with the spectacular production of Kurt Ballou, High on Fire has never sounded clearer or better in their career. After a couple spins, I can say this is not quite up to the level of Blessed Black Wings (their masterpiece in my eyes), but it is better than Snakes for the Divine and it's about even with Death is this Communion. Regardless, High on Fire is still making special music over a decade into their career and  De Vermis Mysteriis is yet another record for them to be very proud of. One of the early contenders for at least a top 5 year-end slot, if not album of the year.

4.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Fertile Green
2.Madness of an Architect
3.Romulus and Remus

Update

Hey just thought I would update my readers on some stuff I've been working on. My work load has increased a lot since coming back from Spring Break this week. So expect less frequent posts from now through April 20th. That being said, I still will be posting during this time. In the coming weeks, you can (hopefully) expect reviews of the new High on Fire, Mars Volta, God Forbid, Municipal Waste, and Job For A Cowboy albums, as well movie reviews for things I see on DVD and potentially American Reunion. Thanks for reading my blog and I appreciate the continued support!

Chris Maitland

Quick Movie Reviews: In Time, The Muppets, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy, Puss in Boots

In Time(Film Number 55 In My Goal For 2011 Films): In Time is a film that definitely split me as a viewer. On the plus side, the concept is very original and cool. There is also some solid acting, especially from Cillian Murphy as the villain. The negative is this film could have so much better. It starts with so much promise with it's cool concept and interesting view of the future, but then it falls apart when the two leads (Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried) go on the run. It turns into a b-grade Bonnie and Clyde-type movie and gets progressively worse then it just ends. I really wish the execution was better. If this movie had used it's great plot to it's full potential, we could have been looking at a spectacular sci-fi movie.

3/5 Stars

The Muppets(Film Number 56 In My Goal For 2011 Films): Good, but not as great as I heard it was. Jason Segel did a good job with the script. You can tell it was a huge passion project for him and that benefits the film's good and fun nature. Segel and Amy Adams have an interesting chemistry as the two human leads. Adams shows a similar enthusiasm as Segel and she was the perfect choice for the role. Chris Cooper is the real standout of the cast though as evil oil tycoon Tex Richman. It was good to see a kids film with an actually menacing villain. Almost every kids film I've seen in the past few years has lacked a strong villain, so kudos to Segel and Nicholas Stoller for writing a good bad guy  and Cooper for delivering a great performance. Some of the musical numbers and self-referential stuff bugged me, but it didn't end up taking too much away from the film. It's a sweet, innocent, and a niece piece of nostalgia. If you're a fan of The Muppets, you are sure to love this.

3.5/5 Stars

Tinker Tailor Solider Spy: Flawed, but ultimately decent movie. The acting really keeps this movie afloat. If the acting wasn't top-notch, it would have completely crumbled when the story began to drag. The story was really odd to me. At times ,it was compelling and at others, it was a complete snore. I can't think of the last time I've seen a film that did this. The ending is also not the greatest. For an espionage-thriller, you would think the ending would be satisfying. Instead it's just really anti-climatic and kind of just ends with no emotion or excitement. I won't be watching it again, but the acting is strong enough and the story has enough interesting elements to warrant a mild recommendation.
3/5 Stars

Puss in Boots(Film Number 57 In My Goal For 2011 Films): Surprisingly enjoyable kids film. I didn't expect to enjoy this at all, but it was actually a good time. Puss in Boots was the best character in the not so good Shrek sequels and it ended up being a good decision to give the character his own movie. There is actually a lot of clever jokes aimed at the adult audience, which had a very high rate of success. On top of the good sense of humor, there is some pretty fun action scenes. There is actually some suspense and excitement to be had in the large-scale, rollicking action sequences. One of the more pleasant surprises of all the films I've seen so far from 2011.

3.5/5 Stars

Summer Slaughter 2012 Update

I have a bit of new information about Summer Slaughter that I would like to share with my readers. As many of you know, most of the lineup and the opener were confirmed earlier this week. Job For A Cowboy and Periphery were added to the lineup and Cerberal Bore won the voting contest for the opening slot. There are now 9 confirmed bands and yesterday I found out who the last band on the bill will be: Obscura! Personally I'm very excited. Obscura is a great band and I'm excited to see them for the second time. With Obscura's inclusion on this tour, that means that I like all 10 bands on the bill for Summer Slaughter! This has literally never happened on a festival tour before. In my opinion, this is the best Summer Slaughter lineup to date and I am absolutely amped to see this tour.

Here is the full lineup and running order(?):
Cannibal Corpse
Between The Buried and Me
The Faceless
Periphery
Veil Of Maya
Job For A Cowboy
Goatwhore
Exhumed
Obscura
Cerberal Bore

Album Review: Meshuggah-Koloss

Warning: This review might contain some bad puns. Sweedish extreme/progressive/math metal icons Meshuggah have done lot in their career. They have released continuously great, genre-bending metal that lead them to gain a fanatical fanbase and almost endless amounts of critical praise. They also are responsible (or blamed depending on how you look at it) for the "djent" (I still fucking hate that term) movement that has been rising in popularity over the past couple years. Naturally, my expectations for Koloss, their first album in four years, were very high. Unfortunately, Koloss, while still listenable, is a colossal letdown.

Koloss isn't a bad record at all, it just doesn't have the same memorable elements that Meshuggah has had on their previous five albums. Meshuggah is a band that is all about the groove. When Meshuggah is on their game, they crush your fucking skull with heavy as all hell riffs and unfathomable amounts of aggression. Koloss has neither of these things in spades, which hurts it immensely. Most of the riffs here aren't memorable and they go on for way too long without the stunning time-signature changes and ridiculous heaviness that Meshuggah is known for. It almost seems like Meshuggah was just playing it safe while recording this record. Either that or they just spent the time in between ObZen and this record taking anger-management classes.  Album opener "I Am Colossus" is a prime example of the dull parts of the record. The song is a colossal bore. It has be one of the weakest album openers I've heard in a while. The whole song just plods along with a really boring riff and a complete lack of energy. To say the album limps out of the gate would be an understatement.

The whole album isn't a complete wash though. There a few tracks on this album that still have the bite of old Meshuggah. "The Demon's Name is Survilence", "Swarm", and "Marrow" are all solid tracks. They have actual groove, good riffs, and pretty badass solos (especially on "Marrow"), which the rest of the album is sorely lacking. I wish the whole album was full of tracks like these ones. If that was the case, we wouldn't be looking at one of the most disappointing records in recent memory.

Koloss is easily one of the biggest letdowns of the past five years or so. When you have such a great band that has made a name for itself through the intensity and consistency of their material, this just doesn't cut it. There are some good tracks here and there (the aforementioned "The Demon's Name Is Surveillance, "Swarm" and "Marrow") and others that have their moments("Behind the Sun" and "The Hurt That Finds You First"), but too much of this record is unmemorable to garner anything more than a decent score. It's really is a damn shame that this record isn't anything too special. Hopefully Meshuggah won't wait another four years to make a new record and will get back to what they do best: write good, heavy, furious, groove-laden extreme metal.

3/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.The Demon's Name Is Surveillance
2.Swarm
3.Marrow

Movie Review: 21 Jump Street

Every year, you will get at least one comedy that will be remembered for years to come. 2009 had The Hangover, 2010 had Hot Tub Time Machine, 2011 had Horrible Bosses, and this year has already it's lead contender for comedy of the year, 21 Jump Street.

21 Jump Street is completely and totally hilarious. I was laughing my ass off from start to finish. I haven't laughed this often or hard at a comedy since The Hangover. The biggest reason this film is such a success is it's two lead actors. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum have an outstanding chemistry with one another and provide equal big laughs. Clearly Hill has proved time and time again he is a great comedic actor starring in some of the best comedies of the past decade, so his strong performance here is what we've come to expect from someone with his immense comedic talent. Tatum, on the other hand, is the real surprise of this movie. He hasn't really done comedy before and he shines in this role. When you're just as good as a comedy veteran in Hill, it says a lot for Tatum has a comedic actor.

It's not just Hill and Tatum that provide strong turns here, the supporting cast is excellent as well. The strongest performance of the supporting cast comes from Ice Cube as the pissed-off police captain who is in charge of Hill and Tatum's characters. Ice Cube has not been this good since the original Friday. He zips off brilliant one-liners with a straight face and angry tone every time he appears on screen. His character is responsible for some of the best lines of the whole movie. Ice Cube isn't alone when it comes to great supporting performances in this film. Other more bit parts including Chris Parnell as the eccentric drama teacher that likes telling various anecdotes about his failed acting career, Rob Riggle as the moronic, immature gym teacher, and Ellie Kemper as the teacher who is extremely sexually attracted to Tatum's character all deliver major laughs in their limited screen time. Even though they are all minor characters, they still provide the film with quite a few of it's biggest laughs.

21 Jump Street is an amazing comedy. I could not stop laughing through the entire film. The entire cast is fantastic and this film proves how strong of a comedic actor Channing Tatum is (I hope he continues to do more comedies in the future, I think he has found his calling as an actor). The script from Micheal Bacall (who also co-wrote Project X) is extremely intelligent, fresh and utterly hysterical. I know it's early in the year and there is a lot of potential for great comedies all year long, but it's going to be an almost impossible task for any comedy in 2012 to be funnier than 21 Jump Street.

4.5/5 Stars

Movie Review: Final Destination 5 (Film Number 54 In My Goal For 2011 Films)

In my eyes, the Final Destination genre has been going for far too long. I didn't even like it when it started. Prior to seeing Final Destination 5, I had only seen the first two, which are widely considered to be the best two, and I hated both of them with a passion. Naturally, I expected to hate this as well. To my surprise, Final Destination 5 wasn't awful and it's actually somewhat watchable. This film being alright is actually a victory for this series considering how much I hated the first two. What makes this film work to an extent is the sense of humor and creativity of some of the kills. A sense of humor was sorely lacking in the past and it definitely makes the repetitive nature of these films more bearable. Final Destination 5 is just an average film, but it's a major improvement over the rest of series.

2.5/5 Stars

Concert Review: Dropkick Murphys-- Boston, MA-- March 15th, 2012

It wouldn't be St.Patrick's Day in Boston without the Dropkick Murphys. Last night was their 2nd of 6(!) shows they are playing in the area from Wednesday through Sunday. As usual, they put on a spectacular show and it was a ton of fun.

The first band was California's The Mighty Regis, who were not listed on the bill originally. Let me just say, that The Mighty Regis has to be one of the oddest bands I've ever heard. I spent a good majority of their set in a state of utter confusion at what I was witnessing. They were pretty folky for the most part with occasional elements of punk thrown in for good measure. They had prominent accordion and mandolin playing, which is even weird for this type of music. After I got over the oddness of their set, they weren't too bad. Really strange music, but they were a pretty alright opener and they got a pretty good crowd reception (outside of the singer saying he was a Yankee fan, you can imagine how well that went over in Boston right across the street of Fenway Park). One last thing about them: I have to give it up for their accordion player for giving the quote of the night about the "crackdown" on moshing by Boston police in which he said the following:  "I heard about the no moshing rule in Boston or some shit. Well tonight is the night for civil disobedience" (The Dropkick Murphys later on had pits, so much for the "crackdown" on moshing) . Kudos to that guy, I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Frank Turner was up next. I wasn't really looking forward to his set at all. He is a folk artist from England and he just really isn't my thing. To my surprise, his set  was actually somewhat enjoyable. Despite me not being too into his music, I have to admire his great stage presence. He has great banter between songs and knows to work a crowd really well. He brought up a person from the audience to play harmonica on one of his songs which was pretty cool. His music definitely isn't my style and I won't be checking out his studio stuff, but he is definitely talented and puts on an enjoyable live performance.

After about 25 minutes of set-up time, the Dropkick Murphys thundered onto the stage. This was my second time seeing them and just like they last time, they mightily impressed. From the start to finish, they delivered the goods. The crowd was going nuts, singing along, dancing, crowd surfing, moshing, (Breaking The Law, Breaking The Law) and the band just feeds of that so well. You can tell they are having the time of their lives on stage and that's a big part of what makes them such an excellent live act. The setlist was very interesting and they threw a lot of curveballs with the song choices. I didn't expect to hear songs like "The Burden", "Forever", "Never Alone", and especially "Memories Remain" live. The presence of "Memories Remain" in the set floored me. It's one of the best songs off their debut album Do or Die and I didn't even think they played it live anymore. The only letdown of the set was them playing an acoustic version of "Citizen C.I.A". It just didn't work acoustically. They definitely made a mistake playing the fastest song in their discography acoustically. Besides that one miscue, the rest of the set killed.  A lot of set staples where in there as well on top of the rarities. I finally got to hear "Tessie" live as well as other favorites like "The Dirty Glass", "Captain Kelly's Kitchen" (which has to be one of the most fun live songs ever), "I'm Shipping To Boston", and of course, "Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced" (which had the typical flood of girls on the stage to lead off the encore). They closed of the set with covers of AC/DC "Dirty Deeds Done Dirty Cheap" (which was pretty cool, even though I fucking hate AC/DC) and Gang Green's "Alcohol" (which was badass and shows how insanely good the Dropkick Murphys are at straight-up punk rock). Overall, it was another awesome and incredibly fun show from the Dropkick Murphys. I can't wait to see them again soon and I am going to try to continue the tradition of seeing them at the one of the St. Patrick's Day shows next year. If you haven't seen them and you live in the Boston area, make your best effort to see them soon or next year at a St. Patrick's day show. I honestly can't imagine how someone could not have fun at a Dropkick Murphys show. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Scores
The Mighty Regis 5/10
Frank Turner 6/10
Dropkick Murphys 9/10

Setlists:
The Mighty Regis included:
Paddy Don't Live In Hollywood
Get Drunk and Go Home
Celtic Storm

Frank Turner included:
Eulogy
Peggy Sang The Blues
Sons of Liberty
Dan's Song
I Still Believe

Dropkick Murphys:
The Irish Rover
Time to Go
The Gang's All Here
Going Out In Style
The Dirty Glass
The Burden
Deeds Not Words
Sunday Hardcore Matinee
Tessie
Peg O' My Heart
Never Alone
Memories Remain (Still can't believe they played this)
Bastards On Parade
Forever
Watch Your Back (Cock Sparrer Cover)
Take Em' Down (acoustic)
Citizen C.I.A (acoustic)
Boys on the Docks (acoustic)
I'm Shipping Up to Boston
Worker's Song
?
Broken Hymns
Captain Kelly's Kitchen
The State of Massachusetts


Encore:
Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced
Skinhead on the MBTA
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (AC/DC cover)
Alcohol (Gang Green Cover)

Album Review: Cannibal Corpse-Torture

Cannibal Corpse are the most popular death metal band of all-time and for good reason. For almost 25 years they have been releasing some of the heaviest music on the planet and have not slowed down at all during that time. Their new record (the 12th of their career) Torture is no exception to the rule.

Torture is exactly what you've come to expect from a Cannibal Corpse album, which is a both a good and a bad thing. It's heavy as hell, filled with plenty of gore lyrics and tight musicianship, and cleanly produced by Erik Rutan of Hate Eternal (who has produced the last three Cannibal Corpse albums). On the other hand, much like it's predecessor Evisceration Plague, the album is mostly just solid and rarely reaches the heights of greatness. There are a few tracks on here that do rise above the rest and pack a pretty damn big punch. "Scourge of Iron" is without a doubt, the finest song on Torture. It starts off with a really slow and heavy riff and maintains it's brutality throughout it's near  5-minute duration. That song is just death metal bliss. Album opener "Demented Aggression" is a 3-minute blast of intensity that gets album started on a very-high note. "Crucifier Avenged" and "The Strangulation Chair" (which has an absolutely badass bass solo from Alex Webster) roundout the standout tracks with crazed energy and you guessed it, more ear-shattering heaviness.

Unfortunately, these are the only awesome tracks on the album. Like I said earlier, the rest of the album is pretty good, but it's not fantastic. This has been a recurring pattern in Cannibal Corpse's music for a while now. With the exception of 2006's Kill (which is my favorite Cannibal Corpse album ever), every album since Corpsegrinder has joined the band has been like this. Don't get me wrong, it's not like any of these albums have been awful, it's just that don't really maintain consistency throughout. There are some awesome songs and the rest of the album is just pretty good.

Torture is just another Cannibal Corpse album. It's consistently good, but not great with flashes of excellence on a select few songs. No question Cannibal Corpse can still make heavy as fuck music with plenty of raw aggression and strong musicianship all-around. I just wish they would make a whole album full of songs that could maintain the quality of tracks like "Scourge of Iron" and "Demented Aggression" from start to finish. They still have the potential to make another excellent release, they just need string together a bunch of killer tracks, instead of just a few. Torture is another solid release from Cannibal Corpse, I just hope they can improve on this on their next go-round and use their immense potential to make something truly special and live up to their icon status.

3.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Scourge of Iron
2.Demented Aggression
3.Cruicfier Avenged

Concert Review: The Wonder Years (Glamour Kills Tour) Boston, MA, March 12th, 2012

The Glamour Kills Tour featuring The Wonder Years, Polar Bear Club, Transit, The Story So Far, and Into It, Over It rolled through Boston last night. It was definitely a change of pace for me as a metalhead primarily going to a strictly pop punk/punk show. I was primarily going to see The Story So Far and The Wonder Years, but for the most part all the bands were good.

My friend and I arrived at the Royale at about 6:45 and Into It, Over It had already started (I only missed a song or two). I am going to be completely honest, I thought he was awful. Sure I give him props for being a one-man band with just him and an acoustic guitar, but his style of emo-love ballads just isn't my thing at all. On the plus side, the sound was good (which surprisingly held up all night, The Royale is a weird-ass venue because it's an upscale nightclub and the first time I went there to see OFWGKTA, the sound was pretty bad). I will say he does seem like a cool dude, his music just really grated on me. Definitely the low point of the night for me.

Very soon after, The Story So Far hit the stage (they had all of their stuff set up while Into It, Over It was playing). They were my primary reason for attending this show and they did not disappoint. These guys are the kings of the pop-punk revival and last night they showed why. They had relentless energy, really cool intros to each song that are not on the studio versions (they even played the intro riff to Enter Sandman by Metallica at one point!), and sounded exactly the same as their studio recordings. They also got the crowd going nuts. There was a barrage of stage-divers, crowd surfing, and pits which lasted for the majority of the rest of the night. Their setlist was damn near perfect (I was especially stoked to see "High Regard" in there) and  I had a great time singing the words to all of their songs. The Story So Far was a whole hell of a lot of fun and without a doubt, put on the best show of  the night.

Local favorites Transit were up next. I am not overly familiar with their studio stuff, but I heard a lot of bad things about their live shows in the past. While I can say at least for last night that wasn't true. Transit put on a good show. Maybe it's because it was a hometown show that they gave it their all, but everything I had heard about live shows in the past was dead wrong. The crowd was really into it the whole time, the band had pretty good energy throughout the set, and they sang most of the words themselves instead of having the crowd sing it for them. I am still not huge on Transit's studio stuff, but their live show was pretty solid and I definitely wouldn't mind seeing them again.

Polar Bear Club hit the stage next. I missed their set when they played with August Burns Red and Bring Me the Horizon in Boston in November 2010 when they were on the AP tour, but I had heard good things about their performance that night and I was happy I was getting a chance to see them. Despite playing second to last, they got probably the weakest crowd reception of the whole night. That being said, people were still going pretty crazy, it just took a couple songs for the energy to pick up. When the crowd energy picked up, the band's energy picked up as well and their performance became a lot more enjoyable. Their music is a little bit heavier and complex than the rest of the band's on the bill which definitely alienated some of the crowd, but I found them to be a nice contrast to the rest of the lineup. Their studio stuff doesn't really do much for me, but their live shows are energetic and the music sounds better in a live setting. When it was all said and done, Polar Bear Club ended up being one of the better performances of the night.

After Polar Bear Club was done playing, they announced that there was a special guest that was coming out. It was Worcester's own A Loss For Words (who are opening the second half of this tour), who came out to play one song on Polar Bear Club's equipment. I had never heard them before, but based on that one song I was pretty impressed. They were some catchy-ass pop punk with some post-hardcore influences. I definitely dug what I heard and will be checking them out further. If I end up going to Warped Tour this year, I will definitely check out their set.

The Wonder Years closed out the night on a high note. The place was just going ballistic the whole time. The surge at the stage when they opened with "Washington Square Park" was fucking crazy. Easily one of the most insane pushes I've seen and  that's saying something after going to dozens of metal shows in my life. There was so much stage diving at points their roadie had to come out and push people off the stage because they were interfering with the performance. The set was good for the most part. They played a lot of prime cuts off of The Upsides and Suburbia I've Given You My All and Now I'm Nothing and there was a lot of fun sing-a-longs (the aforementioned "Washington Square Park", "Logan Circle", "Came Out Swinging" and "Don't Let Me Cave In" being the best of the bunch). One downside was the last few songs kind of dragged ( especially And Now I'm Nothing) and it took my score down a little bit. Overall I had a fun time and it was cool to go a good non-metal show with a non-douchey crowd.

Scores
Into It, Over It 2/10
The Story So Far 8/10
Transit 7/10
Polar Bear Club 7/10
A Loss For Words (one song) 7.5/10
The Wonder Years 7.5/10

Setlists:

The Story So Far:
States and Minds
Roam
Quicksand
Swords and Pens
Daughters
Closure
Mt.Diablo
680 South
High Regard

Transit:
Long Lost Friends
All Your Heart
Nameless
Please, Head North
Skipping Stone
Cutting Corners
1978
Stay Home

Polar Bear Club:
Screams In Caves
Hollow Pace
Resent and Resistance
Pawner
Killin It'
Light of Local Eyes
I'll Never Leave New York
Living Saints
Burned Out in a Jar
Most Miserable Life

The Wonder Years:
Washington Square Park
Melrose Diner
Keystone State Dude-Core
It's Never Sunny In South Philladelphia
Hoodie Weather
Coffee Eyes
Came Out Swinging
Don't Let Me Cave In
Woke Up Older
Local Man Ruins Everything
My Last Semester
Won't Be Pathetic Forever
I Was Scared and I'm Sorry
Logan Circle
And Now I'm Nothing

Encore:
You're Not Sallinger, Get Over It
All My Friends Are In Bar Bands

Movie Review: Project X

Clearly anybody that has been in high school understands the fun of parties. I'm also sure that most people have been to their fair share of great parties while in high school. Project X sets out to put on the best party ever and it pretty much does that.

Project X is all about excess. Excessive drinking, nudity, drugs, and destruction are all on display throughout and I loved every minute of it. The lunacy of the whole film makes it a pretty special spectacle to behold. Of course there's very little plot and it's about as realistic as a Transformers movie, but that's a big part of the fun of it. It's the best party that you'll never go to. While the events unfold, the laughs and the fun just keep coming.

I have to give a lot of credit to the cast and the filmmakers for this one. Director Nima Nourziadeh takes this group of unknown actors and makes them flourish in this very amateurish, yet interesting piece of filmmaking. This is without a doubt the best and most appropriate use for the found-footage style to date. Filming it in this fashion gave it authentic look and feel, so I commend the filmmakers for thinking outside the box and giving it a different style than other similar high school party movies. The cast also excels. A good majority of the cast are first-time actors and they all look like they have promising futures in Hollywood. While the other two leads (Thomas Mann and Jonathan Daniel Brown) are quite good in their own ways, but Oliver Cooper really steals the show as Costa. His character is a complete and total asshole, but he is the catalyst for the whole film and provides a lot of the film's soul and laughs.

Project X is just a damn good time. The laughs and entertainment value last throughout it's entire running time. Even though it's fictional, it puts pretty much every other party ever to shame. Project X is a hell of a ride and without a doubt, the most absurd party ever made.

4/5 Stars

Quick Movie Reviews: The Thing, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, What's Your Number?

Sorry for the lack of posting, I've been a bit busy. Here are some quick reviews for the films I have watched in the past week or so.

The Thing (Film Number 51 In My Goal For 2011 Films): Not a bad monster movie at all. I haven't seen John Carpenter's original, so I can't say how it compares, but i was decently entertained throughout. Even though it's not even remotely scary, The story is pretty solid and there is copious amounts of gore (in a good way). The Arctic setting did wonders for it as well. It adds this claustrophobic and deadly effect that influences the character's decisions and makes the events of the film that much more compelling. It's not going to reinvent the wheel for monster movies, but it's still a pretty good creature feature.

3/5 Stars

Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (Film Number 52 In My Goal For 2011 Films): I've been hearing all the hype about how bad Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star was. It actually wasn't quite as bad as I heard it was, but it's still fucking bad. This movie is really, really dumb and not in a funny way at all. About 98% of the jokes fall completely flat and the ones that do stick aren't that funny. You get a feeling that there were a lot of the scenes in the movie were supposed to garner huge laughs (For example: Every scene with Bucky's roommate played by Kevin Nealon and all of the really lame porn puns and jokes on display throughout) which makes it almost sad in how desperate the attempts at humor are. Nick Swardson has really gone down the tubes since having a hand in writing Grandma's Boy. He's been in a good number of quality movies since then, but everything he's written (like this and his godawful TV show Pretend Time) have been pure shit. It's like he used 100% of the good material he had in Grandma's Boy or he just wasn't responsible for any of the good jokes. Not quite as bad as it was made out to be, but it is still pretty damn terrible.

1.5/5 Stars

What's Your Number? (Film Number 53 In My Goal For 2011 Films): Now this is a movie that is much worse than Bucky Larson and deserves at least double the Razzie nominations. What's Your Number? is just flat-out abysmal. This has to be the most groan-inducing, formulaic, and unfunny romantic comedy to come along since Sweet Home Alabama. I spent pretty much the whole movie with one hand over my face thinking "That's the best they could come up with?". I actually like Anna Farris and Chris Evans, but there was nothing they could do to save this trainwreck. Almost everything that happens in this movie is cringe-worthy (The scene where Anna Farris's character falls while running in a bridesmaids dress was probably the worst of all). I wanted to turn it off numerous times, but somehow I made it through the whole thing. Farris and Evans are the only reason this didn't get 0 stars. They do their best with the dogshit material that they were given. What's Your Number? is a monumentally bad romantic comedy that shouldn't even be viewed by big fans of the genre.

1/5 Stars

Motorhead + Second Side Added To Mayhem Fest

Yesterday, Motorhead was confirmed as the special main stage guest this year for Mayhem Fest. As well as Motorhead, a second side stage sponsored by Sumerian Records featuring Sumerian acts Upon A Burning Body, I The Breather, one more band to be announced (It looks like it's going to be Periphery, but I'm not 100% sure), and a local, unsigned band for each show. Personally, I'm excited to see Motorhead for the first time and could care less about Upon A Burning Body and I The Breather (who I just saw last week opening for August Burns Red and wasn't impressed by). Sumerian could have picked much better bands for their stage. Hopefully Periphery is on there to make it a bit better (though I have heard they may be on Summer Slaughter as well, we'll have to wait and see what festival their on). Anyways, this what the 2012 Mayhem Fest lineup look like as of right now.

Main Stage:
Slipknot
Slayer
Motorhead

Rotating Main Stage Opener/Side Stage Spots:
As I Lay Dying
The Devil Wears Prada
Asking Alexandria

Jager Stage:
Anthrax (headlines Jager Stage on all dates)
Whitechapel
High On Fire
Jager Band

Sumerian Stage:
TBA (Periphery is the rumor going around right now)
Upon A Burning Body
I, The Breather
Local Opener

Album Review: Every Time I Die-Ex Lives

Sometimes an album just sneaks up on you and completely blows past your expectations. The new Every Time I Die album Ex Lives is one of those albums. I was already excited (it was one of my most anticipated records of the first quarter of 2012), but nothing could prepare for me the beast that is Ex Lives.

Ex Lives is a monstrous record. From the opening seconds of the first track "Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space" (which seriously might be the best song title I've ever heard) when vocalist Keith Buckley screams "I want to be dead with my friends" you know you're in for a ride. "Underwater Bimbos" reminds me of kind of a throwback to Hot Damn!-era Every Time I Die, which was completely unexpected and awesome. The next few tracks serve as good/standard, but not exceptional Every Time I Die short tracks after the incendiary opener that is "Underwater Bimbo from Outer Space".  Once the album hits the fifth track "I Suck (Blood)" is when the magic of Ex Lives really starts.

The surprises and curveballs keep coming and the album just kicks into overdrive. After the really heavy riffing of the almost sludgey "I Suck (Blood)", comes the strangest and best track on the album "Partying is Such Sweet Sorrow". This track is just fucking bonkers in the best possible way. It starts off with a straight-up bluegrass intro (complete with banjo) and then soon develops into the typical Every Time I Die chaos. "Revival Mode" is yet another weird and awesome surprise. It might be the slowest song Every Time I Die has done and it works really well. It's catchy as hell and shows off just how good of a vocalist Keith Buckley is. The album comes to an end with "Indian Giver" another masterful piece of almost sludgey hardcore that wraps things up with a bang.

Ex Lives surpassed all expectations I had for it. The albums starts off good, but the second half is just remarkable. It throws a lot of new elements into their music without sacrificing their signature sound. Their relentless energy, groove, and stellar musicianship is on display throughout. Ex Lives is Every Time I Die's best record since at least Gutter Phenomenon, if not ever. I anticipate that I will be playing this record played non-stop for months to come.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Partying is Such Sweet Sorrow
2.I Suck (Blood)
3.Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space

March In Film

March is when the movie studios  tend to step up the quality and scale of their films. This March is no exception. Here are my thoughts on the whole lot of March films.

Film I Want To See:
3.Project X (3/2): Of course being a big fan of vulgar high-school comedies, I am very excited to see this. This film has a lot of potential and the early audience reception has been excellent. Todd Phillips on board as a producer only adds to my excitement level.

2.Wrath of the Titans (3/30): I was one of the very few that liked the remake of Clash of the Titans. The sequel looks much better with some badass looking and most of the original cast back, I am expecting good things. Only potential issue is the (mostly) bad director Jonathan Libesman (Darkness Falls, Battle:LA) on board as director.

1.21 Jump Street (3/16)-I am a huge Jonah Hill fan and this is easily his best-looking comedy in quite some time. The cast is chock full of hilarious people (Ice Cube, Ellie Kemper, Rob Riggle, Nick Offerman) and again, the early reception has been overwhelmingly positive. I think we could possibly looking at an early contender for the funniest movie of 2012.

Film I Am Not Sure About
The Lorax(3/2)-I never read The Lorax as a kid, so I have no form of nostalgia towards it. That being said, this doesn't really look too bad. The concept doesn't really appeal to me though and it is from the makers of Despicable Me (which I didn't enjoy unlike most people), so I am definitley iffy on this one.

John Carter (3/9)-John Carter is one baffling movie. The trailers have been out for months, but no one really knows what it's about. A couple of the recent commercials have made it be known (kind of) what it's about, but that still hasn't swayed me to the see this film. All I can gather from the trailer is that is this is a really subpar looking high-budget sci-fi flick.  Will definitely be waiting for DVD on this one.

Silent House (3/9)-The solid early word is encouraging, but I can see this turning out really bad.


Film I Have No Interest In Seeing
A Thousand Words(3/9)-God damn it Eddie Murphy. You were doing so well coming off Tower Heist then you have to come out with this sure to be god awful comedy. It has been on the shelf for a long time as well, which only hints even more at how bad this film is going to be.

The Hunger Games(3/23)-I am so sick of hearing about this film. Everyone is making this out to be a masterpiece when it looks like nothing more than the Twilight version of Battle Royale. I am sure I will be tricked into seeing it by the end of the year, but I am almost 100% sure that I will hate every minute of it.

Mirror Mirror (3/30)-This might take the crown for worst-looking movie of 2012 so far. A really poor and horribly unfunny looking light version of Snow White? Smell like an early Razzie contender to me.

Concert Review: August Burns Red, Boston, MA, February 29th, 2012

Last night was yet another good time at the House of Blues in Boston. August Burns Red was in town and as usual, they delivered. I decided to go to this show on a whim on Monday after a friend of mine approached me and asked me if I wanted to go. I'm glad I did ended up going, this was definitely the best show I've seen from August Burns Red to date.

The evening opened up with I, The Breather, a Christian metalcore band from Baltimore. I listened to their debut record These Are My Sins last year and wasn't too impressed. I can now say the same about their live performance. Their music is just damn average and stagnant. The new material they played off their just released record, Truth and Purpose, didn't really sound any better either. Their not painful to listen to, but there are so many bands that do the same thing a lot better. They are essentially a second-rate version of August Burns Red and nothing more. On the plus side, their set was pretty short (25 minutes) and do have some decent guitar playing and energy. Not a completely horrible opener, but nothing special either.

Texas in July, the only one of the three openers that I actually like, hit the stage next. Their set while pretty good, was a little bit disappointing. Live their vocals don't sound as good as their studio material and the music sounds a lot more watered down by breakdowns than it actually is. Still, that didn't completely impede on my enjoyment of their set. They do know how to get the crowd going and their musicianship is at a pretty high level. The setlist was pretty solid also (happy to see "Dying World" in there, one of their best songs for sure.) though I would have liked to see "Cyclops" in there somewhere. Pretty good set overall, but I expected a bit more from them.

Silverstein was up next. Let's just say, I did not enjoy them in the least bit. I didn't even like Silverstein when I was in the 8th grade and when I was really into emo/post-hardcore bands. It's not that the music itself is so bad, it's just that the vocals are god damn awful. The clean vocals at times were so screechy and feminine that it alarmed me. I am not completely against high-pitched clean vocals (Protest the Hero is one of my favorite bands), but I just really don't like this particular style. They played for a long time (approximately 45 minutes) and the set just kept getting worse and worse. The low point though for me at least it was the string of cover songs they did by the Gorilla Biscuits, NOFX, and Propaghandi. I am not even really into those bands and it was still insulting to hear them butcher these songs by iconic punk bands. I'm sure if you're into that type music, Silverstein is great, they are just really not my thing at all.

Finally it was the time for August Burns Red to hit the stage. It took them a while to set up, which was kind of upsetting considering they didn't really have a complex stage setup. After a brief, but lame as fuck dubstep intro, August Burns Red proceeded to tear shit up for their entire 75-minute set. The set was heavy on material from the new record Leveler which made me ecstatic. The stuff from Leveler sounds great live. Much like the studio versions, hearing these songs live shows how much August Burns Red has improved as a band. "Internal Cannon" and "Cutting the Ties" were especially awesome, but I must say that "Carpe Diem" was the not only the standout of the new material, but of the entire set. Jake Luhrs vocals were nothing short of staggering during the slow section and bassist Dustin Davidson showcased some damn impressive screams himself on backup vocals. Of course, amongst the new material was a prime selection of older tracks from Constellations and Messengers, as well the surprising inclusion of "Your Little Suburbia in Ruins" from their debut album Thrill Seeker. When it comes to the older material, I think none is better live than "Marianas Trench". It's just such an immense live song and I hope it never leaves the set. Fan-favorite "Composure" closing the set was a damn near perfect choice and I hope they stick with it as a closer in the future. August Burns Red was in top form last night. They have never played tighter, had more energy, or sounded better in the three times I've seen them. Their performance last night makes me even more eager to see them again (hopefully soon).

Scores
I The Breather 5.5/10
Texas in July 7/10
Silverstein 3/10
August Burns Red 8.5/10

Setlists:
I The Breather:
Forgiven
Longevity
Bruised and Broken
The Common Good
Mentalist
Highrise

Texas In July:
?
Magnolia
Hook, Line, and Sinner
Our Freedom
Dreamer
One Reality
Dying World
?

August Burns Red:
Empire
Meddler
Internal Cannon
Cutting the Ties
Marianas Trench
Your Little Suburbia is in Ruins
The Truth of a Liar
Meridian
White Washed
Salt and Light
Poor Millionaire
Back Burner
Leveler
Drum Solo

Encore:
Carpe Diem
Composure