Album Review: Parkway Drive-Atlas

A recurring theme of surprise has been occurring for the past weeks while I've been checking out new records. I have had lowered or no expectations for each of the past few records I've checked out and each and every one of them has stunned with me the quality. The most recent record to do this is the new Parkway Drive album Atlas, which I expected to be decent at best, but ended up being a very worthwhile release.

Atlas doesn't radically change Parkway Drive's sound, it just adds some more experimentation and improves upon the elements that were already present in their sound. There is a bit more of a focus on melody on this  record and less of a focus on bombarding the listener with breakdown after breakdown ("Old Ghosts/New Regrets and "Snake Oil and Holy Water" are the lone exceptions to that and those are easily the two worst tracks on this record) which I found to be a good decision. The breakdowns are still present, they are just used more sparingly compared to their previous record Deep Blue, which I felt was the first Parkway Drive album to abuse breakdowns. The build-up and use of Luke Killpatrick's excellent melodic riffing makes the breakdowns much more effective when they are used (The breakdown at the end of "Wild Eyes" is a prime example). The new-found experimentation adds up to some of the most exciting and ambitious material Parkway Drive has made to date. "The River" shines with it's clean female vocal parts, spoken word sections, almost bluesy guitarwork at times, and beautifully melodic tone throughout. The heavy use of gang vocals in the aforementioned "Wild Eyes", the presence of violin in "Atlas", and the piano and acoustic guitar driven intro "Sparks" caught me by surprise and were pretty much the last thing I expected to hear on a Parkway Drive album. Don't worry Parkway Drive fans this isn't an entirely new band, the same elements that gained them popularity as a band are still very much in play. Most importantly, Winston McCall is still one of the best vocalists in the genre and probably the strongest asset Parkway Drive has as a band. His vocals are very much rooted in old-school hardcore and metalcore and it's always cool to see someone still doing those type of vocals in a scene that has very much moved away from that style. As I said earlier, Luke Kilpatrick still knows how to write some damn good riffs. There is just as many good chug/groove riffs on here as there is melodic riffs. One of the few issues I have with this record actually is that there is too few solos from him. He writes great solos and the few that are on here are quite solid, but I felt his skilled solowork was underutilized just a bit on this record.

The quality of Atlas is still a bit shocking to me. I thought they at peaked at Horizons and weren't going to come anywhere close again. While not quite on the level of Horizons, Atlas is way closer than I thought they would get for the rest of their career. They improved on the flaws of Deep Blue and added some more depth to their sound while simultaneously staying true to their roots. I haven't been this high on Parkway Drive in years and hopefully Atlas is a sign that Parkway Drive isn't going to fade away from the metalcore world anytime soon.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.The River
2.Wild Eyes
3.Dream Run

Album Review: Sylosis-Monolith

Every year has one album from a band I've never listened to before that comes out of nowhere and blows my mind. 2010 it was The Farthest Reaches by Son of Aurelius, 2011 it was The Harvest Wombs by Fallujah and this year it's Monolith by Sylosis.

While listening to Monolith, I couldn't believe it took me this long to listen to Sylosis. This is their third record and their unique sound is right up my alley. I can not think of another band that combines thrash, melodic death, and progressive metal. The minute album opener "Out From Below" started, I knew I was in for a special ride. The melodic intro lasts about a minute before blasting into a killer vintage 80's thrash riff will more than likely cause a frenzy in a live setting. I was immediately impressed by how well Josh Middleton's vocals fit the style. Just like the music, his vocals are heavily influenced from both thrash and melodic death metal with occasional well-used clean vocals thrown in for good measure (It kind reminded me of In Flames's Andres Friden circa 2000 and a more aggressive thrash vocalist like Testament's Chuck Billy) and it creates a really original and awesome vocal style. Besides being a great vocalist, the guy also shreds on lead guitar as first demonstrated  at about the halfway point of "Out From Below". "Out From Below" might be the standout track, but the rest of the album doesn't let up on intensity or quality. There is no shortage of excellent riffs, tempo changes, and Middleton's brilliant solowork that ranges from lightning fast to atmospheric and melodic. "What Dwells Within" is another monster of a track with  Metallica-esque riffing that descends into a beautiful progressive section before it comes roaring back to balls-out thrash, while slower tracks like "The River" and "A Dying Vine" show more of the melodic death/progressive side while still keeping the intensity of the heavier and faster material.

Monolith is a beyond pleasant surprise that has already made a lasting impression on me. I have never heard anything like this before and the combination of different styles come together flawlessly. This is a dynamic and deep record that rips from start to finish with no filler or bullshit. I am sucker for good riffs, solos, and transition changes and this album has all of those in droves. If this album is any indicator, Sylosis has an extremely promising future in the metal world and could rise to be one of my favorite bands. Monolith is one of the best records of 2012 and is a surefire lock for my year-end top 10, if not top 5.

4.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Out From Below
2.What Dwells Within
3.The River

Movie Review: The Five-Year Engagement

Can you imagine an engagement lasting five years? Well, the Judd Apatow-produced and Jason Segel/Nicolas Stoller (the team that brought us Forgetting Sarah Marshall) written/directed vehicle explores that topic in this romantic comedy. While failing to meet my pretty lofty expectations due to Segel and Stoller's presence, The Five-Year Engagement is still a charming and funny movie. The chemistry between Segel and Emily Blunt alone make this film a winner. They had a very realistic romantic connection with each other and they are one of the better on-screen couples to grace the big screen recently. The film also an absolutely excellent supporting cast. The supporting cast is deep with comedic talent including Chris Pratt, Allison Brie, Kevin Hart, Brian Poeshn, Randall Park, Mindy Kaling ,and Chris Parnell with Pratt and Brie as Segel's character's best friend and Blunt's character sister who get married after their one-night stand results in a pregnancy and Park as one of Blunt's eccentric co-workers being the standouts amidst the legions of talent in this movie. Really the only problem this movie has is that it's a little bit too dramatic at times (which has been kind of a problem for Judd Apatow films and it's a little bit too long. If the dramatic mid-section wasn't as overdone and 15 minutes was cut off the run time, This could've have easily been just as good as Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Although it slightly disappointed me, This is still a solid romantic comedy with a good amount of laughs and heart.

3.5/5 Stars  

Album Review: Kendrick Lamar-good kid, m.A.A.d city

Kendrick Lamar has been one of the most hyped MC's to come along in the past couple of years. He has made a lot of waves in the hip-hop community since his debut in 2010 mixtape (O)verly (D)edicated and made even more with his debut full-length Section.80 last year. The hype and accolades over the past couple of years landed him a deal with Aftermath Records. His Aftermath debut good kid, m.A.A.d city is going to keep the well-deserved hype about him going for a long time.

good kid, m.A.A.d city came out of nowhere for me at least. I assumed because he had done tours with Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller and was getting picked up by the ever-declining in quality Aftermath Records that he wasn't worth checking out, I was dead fucking wrong. Saying that good kid, m.A.A.d city is a special album would be an understatement. Kendrick Lamar poured everything he had into this album and it shows. It takes some balls and ambition to releases a concept album for your major label debut and he is able to pull it off flawlessly. This is a throwback to the old-school days of Nas and A Tribe Called Quest when hip-hop was about telling stories and let me just say, Kendrick Lamar is a hell of a storyteller. From the early tracks where is he is talking about being a stupid, horny teenager focusing on gaining money, girls and power to the deeper, more emotional tracks where he talks about losing some of his friends to the gangs and the street life of Compton, He proves that he can talk about anything with the same amount of skill and power. The honesty in his lyrics just bleeds through the entire album no matter how serious or childish the content of the song is.

The magnum opus of this album is "Sing About Me/I'm Dying of Thirst". I can say without a doubt that is one of the best songs of 2012 and one of the best hip-hop songs of the past decade. This is just such a moving and emotionally powerful song and it doesn't let up for it's entire twelve-minute duration. The second part, "I'm Dying of Thirst", is especially impressive. Kendrick lets loose a three and a half-minute behemoth of a verse without coming up for air and it just absolutely floored me as a listener. There is plenty of other killer tracks besides "Sing About Me/I'm Dying of Thirst". Cautionary tales "The Art of Peer Pressure" and "m.A.A.d city" show his personal experience with the dark realities of the streets of Compton. The anti-party party anthem "Swimming Pools (Drank)" is also a huge standout because of how effectively encrypted it is. To the oblivious listener, It sounds like a empty, frat-boy anthem about getting shitfaced with the chorus that contains the lyric "First you get a swimming pool of liquor, then you dive in". What the song actually is Kendrick Lamar talking about how the party lifestyle doesn't appeal to him at all after growing up in an alcoholic family and how many evils alcohol can hold. He made an absolutely brilliant decision releasing that as single because it's catchy as hell, but also has an important message behind it.

good kid, m.A.A.d city is hell of a way for Kendrick Lamar to make a name for himself in the hip-hop world. This is a record that deserves all the praise heaped upon it (I'm not even close to the most enthusiastic of the bunch) and be one of those rare albums that bridges the gap between mainstream and underground hip-hop. This is an ambitious, emotionally powerful, cohesive, intelligent, and just flat-out great album. Besides the brilliant story this album tells, He displays an impeccable flow and almost endless amounts of smart, clever lyrical wordplay. He states at the beginning of closing track "Compton" that he is the king and I couldn't agree more, This kid has limitless potential and good kid, m.A.A.d city is the type of throwback hip-hop album that will be remembered for generations.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Sing About Me/I'm Dying of Thirst
2.m.A.A.d city
3.The Art of Peer Pressure 

Album Review: Coheed and Cambria-The Afterman: Ascension

Coheed and Cambria has been one of my favorite bands since I was in middle school. Their earlier albums are amongst my all-time favorites, but their more recent material has been a bit disappointing and taken their sound into a less exciting direction. Their new release, The Afterman: Ascension, however is a very satisfying return to form for them.

The Afterman: Ascension is Coheed and Cambria's finest effort since From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness. They had struggled with consistency on their last two records. There are a decent number of standout songs on each, but there was a lot of filler that dragged the album down as a whole. Outside of the underwhelming album closer "Subtraction", This album is full of quality tracks throughout. Another key issue from the past two records that is addressed is the quality of the multi-part epic song suite which Coheed and Cambria has made an album staple throughout their career (with Year of the Black Rainbow being the exception). No World for Tomorrow's multi-part conclusion The End Complete was bloated and more than outstayed it's welcome after the first two sections. This album's long epic Key Entity: Extraction, contains most of the best moments of the whole record. This series of tracks shows that the old Coheed and Cambria that we know know and love is back. Their heavier side ("Domino the Destitute", "Holly Wood the Cracked") and their proggier side ("Vic the Butcher, "Evagira the Faithful") is equally on display and it's glorious. The riffs, the energy, the brilliant guitar solos, the twists and turns in the songwriting, this is exactly what most of No World for Tomorrow and Year of the Black Rainbow was missing. This record has plenty to note besides the grand scale Key Entity Extraction. "The Afterman" is a solid, subtle, slower track, "Mothers of Men" is a grand prog rock opus, and "Good Night, Fair Lady" is a Thin Lizzy-esque jam that would make Phil Lynott proud.

The Afterman: Ascension is a pleasant surprise and a definite turnaround album for Coheed and Cambria. They are finally back on track after two disappointing albums. The record isn't quite up to their classics In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 and From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness, but it's in the same vein and a much-appreciated return to their classic sound. The Afterman: Ascension is a great, old-school Coheed and Cambria record and I can't wait for the second part The Afterman: Descension in 2013.
4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Key Entity Extraction II: Holly Wood the Cracked
2.Key Entity Extraction III: Vic the Butcher
3.Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute  

Movie Review: Argo

The American-embassy hostage crisis in Iran in 1980 was a long and drawn-out affair. Until it was declassified in 1997 by Bill Clinton, No civilians knew that there were five hostages that escaped the embassy and stayed with the Canadian ambassador. The hostages were then saved by the CIA after an operative worked out an elaborate and daring scheme of pretending to make a sc-fi movie to get them out of the country. Argo goes about telling this story in very entertaining fashion. You can tell that this was a passion project for Ben Affleck who wanted to bring this incredible and for the most part unknown story to life. Affleck again proves himself as a highly skilled director. He has a really good feel for making movies and with this being his third film in the director's chair, He continues to grow more comfortable as a filmmaker (Not that he wasn't already with his brilliant first two movies) . Argo is a definite change of pace for Affleck as a director with this being based a on a true story government drama/thriller opposed to his first two films which were Boston crime dramas. Affleck, of course, is also in front of the camera in the lead role as CIA operative Tony Mendes who comes up with the sci-fi movie scheme to rescue the hostages. The same flair that he has behind the camera,Affleck brings in front of the camera and his performance here is definitely Oscar-worthy. Argo does have a lot more going for it than Affleck. The film has a surprising amount of humor and a very suspenseful finale. The majority of the laughs comes from Alan Arkin and John Goodman as the Hollywood producer and makeup artist the CIA uses to make their fake movie seem legitimate. Arkin is at the best he's been in years and you believe that he really is a smartass, Hollywood producer with a seemingly endless arsenal of wisecracking one-liners. I can also pretty much guarantee that the last half-hour will have you on the edge-of you seat. Even though you know what is going to happen since it's a true story, this film lets the events unfold with a lot of excitement, suspense, and tension.

Although I enjoyed Argo a lot, I found it to be the weakest of Affleck's three movies. Not because it's not well-made, acted, or entertaining, but because of the generational gap. To fully appreciate this movie, you had to have lived through and be fully in-tune with 80's culture. Since I wasn't born until tweleve years after the events of the film took place, I didn't feel the urgency or utter importance of that situation and I think that makes all the difference in the world when comes to fully enjoying it. If you were alive during the events of the film, You will more than likely think it's absolutely brilliant. (The A+ Cinemascore is a big indicator of that). My mom and my aunt, who are both in their 50's, were raving about it's authenticity and accuracy towards the times and I'm sure that's true. Still generation gap aside, I thought Argo was a great, engaging, funny, and important film that deserves some love come Oscar time.

4/5 Stars 

Movie Review: Here Comes the Boom

Well I can safely say that I didn't see this one coming at all. Saturday night I was put into a predicament when the showing of Argo I had planned on going (I ended up going to a later showing, there should be a review up in the next couple of days) was sold out and there wasn't another showing for two hours. Using my luxury of having multiple friends that work at my local movie theater, I went and saw Here Comes the Boom as a time-waster. To my surprise, Here Comes the Boom was actually pretty damn enjoyable and entertaining. I laughed more in the first five minutes in the theater (I arrived when the movie was about 10-15 minutes in) than I expected to for the entire movie. The humor was pretty low-brow, but it worked for this type of movie. It also pretty effortlessly combines silly jokes with the underdog story formula. Clearly It's predictable and you know exactly what is going to happen at every point of the movie, but you will find yourself rooting for James's character the whole time. The entire movie's success thrives on the likability of Kevin James. James is the type of actor that just has such a likable and winning charisma in everything he does and is absolutely perfect for this type of role. It was great to see him in a solid movie after his recent string of misfires including The Dillemma and Zookeeper (In which he tried his best to elevate the weak material given to him, but it didn't work). The rest of the cast is almost as likable as James especially Henry Winkler as the eccentric music teacher/best friend of James's character and former UFC fighter Bas Rutten as James's character's trainer. The whole cast was clearly having a lot of fun in their roles and it shows in the infectiously good nature of the film. Here Comes the Boom is a surefire crowdpleaser for all ages (I can't remember the last time I had heard such an enthusiastic applause at the end of a movie) that blends ridiculous humor with underdog sports story and uplifting teacher story effortlessly. This is the most pleasantly surprising movie that I've seen in 2012 by far.

3.5/5 Stars 

Album Review: Between The Buried and Me-The Parallax II: Future Sequence

I'm the first to admit that I'm a Between The Buried and Me fanboy. At the same time, That fanboy status has well been well-earned due to the quality of music they have released for the duration of their career (Especially since the current lineup came together on Alaska). They are just an incredibly original and cutting-edge band that always writes music that challenges the listener and that's what I love about them. Unsurprisingly, The Parallax II: Future Sequence is another landmark album for Between The Buried and Me.

The Parallax II is exactly what I've come to expect from Between The Buried and Me: You don't what to expect. That sense of not knowing what your getting into, even within the same song is the main reason that Between The Buried and Me is such a exciting and special band. Parallax II did however remind of their 2007 fan favorite record Colors because of how well the whole album flows together. Everything from the piano-driven intro "Goodbye to Everything" (which is also the closer in the form of a slightly different and longer reprise) to the weird, noisy interludes in "Autumn" and "Parallax" to the long, large-scale epics that they have become known for, Not one second of this album doesn't flow together and it's best experienced listening to in it's entirety. The grand-scale epics happen to be the best songs in my opinion on this album. "Lay Your Ghosts to Rest" with it's punishing breakdown intro, random short bursts of unusual guitarwork, and soaring vocal work from Tommy Rodgers made this song an instant BTBAM classic. The previously released "Telos" and "Slient Flight Parliament" also impressed the hell out of me. "Telos" has an absolutely stunning and memorable progressive section with just a mellow guitar riff and synth allowing Tommy Rodgers's vocals to take center stage. "Slient Flight Parliament" has the best guitarwork/solo of the album and it's probably the most progressive and definitely one of the best songs on the record. The most unexpected and experimental song on here though has to be "Bloom". The song is even bizarre for Between The Buried and Me. The beginning sounds like Faith No More with Rodgers vaguely sounding like Mike Patton doing a vocal style that he has never used before then it descends into full-on screaming then a catchy and fucking chilling chorus accompanied by some dynamite riffing from Paul Waggoner. The song is a roller-coaster ride and how they were able to fit that many effective tempo changes in a 3 and a-half minute song is beyond impressive even for a band that has mastered the art of tempo changes like BTBAM.

The Parallax II is another flawless and endlessly creative album from Between The Buried and Me. The amount of talent, originality, and consistency this band has never ceases to amaze me. The seemingly endless amount of quality material they have produced thus far is staggering and I don't see it coming to an end anytime soon After three listens, I can't say if this is better than The Great Misdirect or Colors, but it's definitely close and could possibly top them upon future listens and reflection. I will that this is definitely their most experimental material to date and their heaviest since at least Alaska or maybe even The Silent Circus. Parallax II is without a doubt the best album I've heard this year by far and they have further cemented themselves as one of the most innovative and unique bands in metal history.

5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Lay Your Ghosts to Rest
2.Telos
3.Bloom 

 

Movie Review: John Carter

John Carter is noteworthy for being a monumental box office failure making only $73 million on North America on a reported $350 million budget. After seeing John Carter, I can now say that's pretty much the only thing noteworthy about it. I don't know what it is about Disney's recent live-action films (outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise), but they just tend to be awful. John Carter does pretty much everything wrong. The story is muddled and makes absolutely no sense. I paid complete and total attention and I could not even begin to make out what was happening throughout the movie (It wasn't just me, my friend that I watched it with said the exact same thing).  On top of it being very incoherent, It was painfully slow and the acting was terrible. The 133-minute runtime felt like an eternity watching this as it plodded along at inhumanly slow pace. The especially bad and lifeless performances from the two leads Taylor Kitsch and Lilly Collins only made things worst. Kitsch has shown he can act in the past, but here he just blows it. This poor guy really can't catch a break this year between this and the failure of Battleship (At least Savages didn't flop), Hopefully he has better luck in the future. Collins, on the other hand, has failed to impress me in anything I've seen her in and I doubt she'll be getting anymore high-profile roles in the future. Really the only thing that's good about this movie is the effects, which isn't a surprise when you have a budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars. John Carter is a bloated, incoherent, snore that looks nice, but it isn't even remotely entertaining. If the source material for this was really the insipiration for Star Wars, then George Lucas is even more of a genius then I already thought.

1.5/5 Stars

Album Review: Converge-All We Love We Leave Behind

Massachusetts's resident musical spazzes Converge have been challenging, perplexing, and dividing audiences for almost twenty years now. At the same time they have been splitting audiences down the middle, they have picked up heaps of critical praise and a cult following. On their eighth full-length, All We Love We Leave Behind, Converge has struck gold again with another complex and sure to be polarizing record.

All We Love We Leave Behind is the most accessible and easy-to-digest Converge record to date, but don't take that as a sign that Converge is selling out because that couldn't be further from the truth. They are are as chaotic and frenzied as ever, there's just a little more calm in between the many storms this album offers up. I will say releasing "Aimless Arrow" as a single and having it open the album was kind of a mistake. The Touche Amore/Title Fight vibe sends the wrong idea about the record and it really doesn't fit as an opener at all. On top of being an ineffective opener, the track just did nothing for me in general. The music is good and I like the explosion at the very end, but the rest of the song just fell kind of flat for me (Sorry Jake Bannon, I just don't like your clean vocals). After "Aimless Arrow" though, This album hits it's stride and never looks back. Converge goes full throttle into face-melters "Trespasses" and "Tender Abuse". This is the Converge that I love: Unpredictable, chaotic, changing riffs every 5-10 seconds, and filled with an unfathomable amount of fury. You just have to step back and try to process what you just heard and that is the main reason Converge can be so special to some listeners and so infuriating to others. The song that really stood out to me not only on the first half of the album, but the entire album was "Sadness Comes Home". It shifts back and forth between their spoken word, experimental side to their bat-shit crazy side on a whim and it works beautifully. It's essentially to this album what "Worms Will Feed/Rats Will Feast" was to Axe to Fall except even better. The second half of the album is just as strong as the first with plenty of fast tracks ("Vicious Muse", "Veins and Veils", "Shame in the Way" balanced out with the slower, more experimental ones ("All We Love We Leave Behind", "Coral Blue", "Glacial Place"). Converge has the perfect mix of fast and slow(er) songs and managed to open up to more experimentation with losing an ounce of intensity.

All We Love We Leave Behind is another knockout punch for Converge. They branched out a little bit and embraced some post-hardcore influences, but this is still the Converge that their fans have known and loved for the past eighteen years. These dudes have been crafting album after album with incredible consistency and they haven't even begun to show any loss of creativity or quality in their music. There is no shortage of amazing riffs from Kurt Ballou (not to mention amazing, crisp production, he's still one of the best producers in all of music), frenzied screams from Jake Bannon, and musical diversity from the entire band. Converge is still as manic and creative as ever and with the long and beyond impressive career they've had thus far, I doubt that All We Love We Leave Behind will be the last time that Converge impresses me.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Sadness Comes Home
2.Trespasses
3.Veins and Veils 

Movie Review: Taken 2

In 2009, I was captivated by the incredibly entertaining and great action film Taken. It overhauled Liam Nesson's career and made him a reliable and effective action-movie badass. Fast forward to 2012 where Taken 2 has been released. I was expecting more of the same with another great, entertaining action movie where Nesson kills a bunch of bad guys in various ways. Unforunately, that's not what I got. Taken 2 is the epitome of a letdown and marks the first time Liam Nesson has disappointed me as action hero.

Taken 2 is one of the dumbest and just plain-bad action movies I've ever seen. This isn't a rehash because a rehash would've at least would've entertaining and a serviceable continuation of the series even if it feels very familiar (The Hangover Part II did just that last year). What Taken 2 does is take everything that made the original so good and just does away with it. First off, the action scenes are absolutely awful. They are so poorly shot and edited you can't even tell what is going on. I like quick-cut editing in action sequences, but this was just ridiculous. When you can hear the action, but not see it (outside of the bullet holes, broken glass, etc in the aftermath) you know you have a serious problem. If it wasn't enough of a failure as an action movie, it's so corny and ridiculous that it's almost hard to grasp. There are so many facepalm worthy moments and lines that I lost track (Let's just say that there might be a scene where his daughter throws grenades from roof to roof about 200 yards away and that's not even the most absurd thing that happens). The worst part about that is the film remains dead serious the whole time without even a hint of an intentionally over-the-top vibe. The first film also benefited from having a solid and effective plot. This one has a good-sounding premise on paper, but it does nothing with it. Hell it doesn't even really stick to it's plot throughout the movie and it just kind of comes through in bursts. Screenwriter Luc Besson and his buddy director Olivier Megaton apparently left their particular set of skills at home on this one. They really should've just left this series alone after producing such a horrible sequel that fails to do absolutely nothing the original did so well. This movie was just marginally better than this year's even more ridiculous Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (The only reason I'm making that comparison is because they are both awful sequels that also happen to be two of the worst films of the year in my opinion). There is no fun to be had with Taken 2 and it's hands down the single most disappointing film of 2012 by far.

1.5/5 Stars 

Album Review: Death Grips-No Love Deep Web

(Note: I'm not posting the album cover because it's graphic and I didn't want to get any shit for posting it)

2012 has been quite the year for Death Grips. In April, they turned hip-hop on it's ass with their absolutely amazing debut-full length The Money Store. Now less than six months later, they've done it again with No Love Deep Web.

This record has quite the story behind it. As you may or may not have heard, Death Grips caused quite a stir on Monday when released they released the album for free after their label (Epic Records) wouldn't release until sometime next year. These guys clearly don't give a shit and I absolutely love their attitude towards music. We really need more artists like this in hip-hop who don't cater to the label and genuinely care about the music and their fans. 

Onto the actual album, No Love Deep Web is another unpredictable, intense album from Death Grips. Believe it or not, It's even more alienating to audiences than The Money Store. There were a few even points in time where a big fan like me couldn't get into it. This record mixes the more raw sound of Exmillitary (This album's biggest flaw is that it's too much to handle at times, which was also the biggest flaw with Exmillitary) with the live instrumentation/bass-heavy production of The Money Store without sacrificing any of the tenacity and aggression they have became known for. The album starts off and finishes incredibly strong. The first three tracks ("Come Up and Get Me", "Lil Boy" and "No Love") are absolute bangers that are synth-heavy and will stuck get stuck in your head for hours on end after listening. The biggest difference between this and their earlier material that struck me from the beginning is how audible MC Ride is. His rapping is normally inaudible, but often times thanks to the production shifts from heavy as shit to very subtle his rapping become more prevalent and I really dug that change. The album does go through a bit of a lull in the middle with misfires "World of Dogs" and "Lock Your Doors" before picking up again with some good, but not album standout tracks before the grand finale. The last three tracks, just like the first three, blew me away. These songs are even out of left-field for a group as innovative as Death Grips. The biggest surprises "Pop" with it's almost beautiful and clean-sounding keys (This beat would probably work on a mainstream rappers song) and "Artificial Death in the West" with the insanely abstract and subdued synths than usual doesn't waste one second of it's almost 6-minute duration and closes out the album on an extremely high note. All the risks they took on these tracks pay off big time and make for some of the most special moments of the record.

No Love Deep Web is another unexpected and fresh effort from Death Grips. Nobody currently in the rap game challenges the genre as much as them and nobody has more fresh idea then them. No Love Deep Web doesn't have the consistency throughout and isn't quite as memorable as The Money Store, but Death Grips has made another great album to add their growing legacy as the outlaw geniuses of hip-hop.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.No Love
2.Lil Boy
3.Artificial Death in the West 

October in FIlm

October marks the return of major releases coming out after the mid-level month of September. This slate of October is pretty promising compared to last year's weak slate. Here are my thoughts on all of October's wide releases.

Films I want to see:
3.Seven Psychopaths (10/12): The trailer is hilarious, the cast is excellent (You really can't go wrong with Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, and Colin Farrell), Martin McDonagh is a damn fine writer/director, and the early reviews have been very positive. Sounds like a winner to me.

2.Taken 2 (10/5)-Yes it does indeed look like more of the same, but I don't see the problem with that. The first one was a great movie and with the whole cast/writers back, I expect another fun ride in which Liam Nesson uses his particular set of skills to take out his abductors.

1.Argo (10/12)-Ben Affleck has made two brilliant films to start off his directing career and it looks like he has struck again with Argo. The cast is top-notch and the film looks to balance drama with bits of comedy thrown in. The early Oscar buzz is only adding to my excitement.

Film I'm unsure about:
Sinister (10/12)-It looks like it could be the first horror movie in some time that might actually scary, but the fact that it's from the producers of Paranormal Activity and Insidious has me a bit concerned. Hopefully I'm wrong because this film has a decent amount of potential.

Here Comes the Boom (10/12)-It looks better than most of Kevin James's recent projects, but I'm wary because of the quality of Kevin James's most recent projects. The MMA/underdog portion of it and the fact that it doesn't look like it's filled with the awful jokes that plagued Zookeeper and the second half of Paul Blart: Mall Cop might just make this the first worthwhile Kevin James vehicle in a while.

Chasing Mavericks (10/26)-Looks like your standard inspirational sports movie. Not offensive-looking, but nothing special either.

Cloud Atlas (10/26)-It's definitely slightly-interesting looking, but at the same time it might be too complex and just collapse. The Wachowski's being insanely inconsistent doesn't really help matters.

Films I have no interest in:
Frankenweenie (10/5)-As I've let it be known countless times, I hate Tim Burton so I naturally I have less than zero interest in seeing this.

Alex Cross(10/19)-Really cheesy trailer and Tyler Perry's presence is never a good sign.

Paranormal Activity 4(10/19)-Can this franchise just go away already?

Fun Size(10/26)-Relatively unfunny looking kids/teen Halloween film. At least it has an alright adult cast in it.

Silent Hill: Revelation (10/26)-I was surprised when I heard they were making a sequel to this. Unsurprisingly, it looks just as bad as the first one.

Concert Review-- Lil B-- Cambridge, MA-- September 30th, 2012

About 6 months ago I became obsessed with Lil B aka The BasedGod. Putting it simply, He has a very unique style and he is basically trolling the rap game (even though he is honestly a great rapper when he's joking around). I had the pleasure of seeing Lil B last night and It was exactly what I expected to be.

My friends and I got to the Middle East (first time going there, great venue) about 45 minutes before doors opened. I am going to come out and say this was the most entertaining wait to get into a show that I've ever had. The first 20 minutes or so was just standard waiting around (outside of a few random shouts of woop and swag), but then these 4 guys started a street performance (banging on buckets and one guy had a fucking tambourine.) After that things got even crazier, one of the guys was wearing a Frankenstein mask and just starting running through the line with a giant box full of bags of chips telling people to take them. They finished right before the doors opened and when they were going to be in line they just got up in this random guy walking by's face and yelled "swag" at him for about a minute and a half. I could not stop laughing and I knew this show was going to be amazing.

When we finally got in the venue this random DJ dude was playing. He played for just over an hour and it sucked. It was just standard remixed rap shit from artists such as Nicki Minaj, Big Sean, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, and Waka Flocka Flame. The crowd however was eating it up and it was hilarious to see the various clowns around me doing stupid-ass dances and going nuts over a song that wasn't even being played live. It was horrible, but at least it was entertaining.

Some actual rappers played after that. Local Boston MC Bigg D and his large entourage played a 25-minute set and I was pretty unimpressed. They were essentially an even more watered-down version of A$AP Rocky (two members of his crew were even wearing A$AP hats) without the great beats and flow that make A$AP listenable (the horrible lyrics were still in tact though). I will say they did perform well and had a shitlod of energy and did their best to get the crowd into it (Which they for the most part succeeded with).

The Based God himself finally hit the stage around 9 and played for almost two swag-filled hours. The performance was definitely based and very rare. All Based talk aside, He did put on a hell of a show. He got the crowd amped and had one hell of a stage presence (A lot of the cooking dance on display). His banter was balanced between talking about staying positive and loving life (He made the crowd chant "I love life" three different times during the show) and just flat-out hilarious shit (Such as declaring that the reason he is making his rock album because he has Tim McGraw/Garth Brooks swag, a brief speech how he respects women despite his frequent joking use of the word ho and bitch which then turned into him stating that you don't need to have sex if you don't want to, you can just listen to his music, and preached about equality and how he especially loves gay men because it leaves more girls for him.) The biggest surprise for me was how good his freestyles were. They really showed how skilled of a rapper he actually is, especially when he cut the beat out of the end "My Arms are the Brooklyn Bridge" and he just went off free-styling for about two minutes without pausing with no beat. The setlist was damn near perfect and featured pretty much every Based God song that I would want to hear in a live setting ("Obama BasedGod", "Bitch Mob Anthem", "Wonton Soup", and "Woo Woo Swag" being the highlights). The only disappointment was him cutting a few songs in the first part of the set way short ("I Own Swag", "Tiny Pants Bitch", and "Swag Jerry Rice" are three of my favorite Based songs and they where the only songs all night that were cut criminally short). Thankfully around the time he played "Bitch Mob Anthem", he started playing pretty much every song all the way through and the set became special. After finishing his set, Based God did something incredibly cool and let everyone that wanted to take a picture with him/sign things come up to the stage and he would do it. The surge was insane so I didn't get to meet him, but my friend did and got to take a picture with him and talk to him for a minute. I was also lucky to get my ticket signed by him thanks to my friend (My ticket is officially swagged out now). Based God is even more of a swag icon for doing something like that, it shows he is a class act that truly does love his fans. Lil B did not disappoint in the slightest and I will see anytime he graces  Massachusetts with his Based presence.

Scores
DJ: Lame (Can't give him an actual score since it was just a DJ remix already recording songs)
Bigg D 4/10
Lil B Based/10

Setlist:
Lil B: (out of order in parts and is missing about 5-6 songs including the final two)
Task Force
I Own Swag
Suck My Dick Hoe
Green Card
Tiny Pants Bitch
Texas
Swag Jerry Rice
Fuck Me
Bitch Mob Anthem
Connected in Jail
Stick
Woo Woo Swag
Based Freestyle
Still Cooking
Ellen DeGeneres
Like a Martian
Wonton Soup
Please Respect the Bitch
Total Recall
Vans (The Pack Song)
Pretty Boy
Obama BasedGod
My Arms Are the Brooklyn Bridge (w/freestyle at the end)
5-6 other songs I don't recognize