Movie Review: The Wolverine

Everyone's favorite invincible clawed mutant is back with The Wolverine, the second solo spinoff film for the beloved X-Men character is an undeniable improvement on the first while still not being everything I hoped it would be.

The Wolverine hits the ground running with plenty of intrigue to start off the film. The setup of the story is interesting with Logan going to Tokyo to say goodbye to Yoshida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), a man he rescued during World War II, who is currently on his deathbed. Yoshida offers Logan a way to take away his immortality and finally get a chance to die peacefully. Logan refuses his offer and (MINOR SPOILER ALERT) Yoshida dies causing all hell to break loose when a mutant (Svetlana Khodchenkova) takes his powers while also having to protect Yoshida's granddaughter (Tao Okomato) from a slew of enemies looking to kill her.  On top of the intriguing story, there are a couple full-throttle action scenes to really get things going out of the gate. The film really makes use of its Japanese backdrop to stage some killer martial-arts style fights to create a unique flare that helps distinguish this from other recent superhero films. As expected though, The Wolverine is dominated by Hugh Jackman. It's always a lot of fun to watch Jackman in this role and he has made this character one of the more memorable superheroes of the modern era. He builds upon this character even more in this film as Logan is given a bit more emotional depth on top of the typical gruff demeanor and flashes of sarcastic wit he has displayed in the past (and continues to do here.)

However, The Wolverine is not without its share of issues. The pacing is a huge problem here. The middle of the film drags hardcore killing a lot of the momentum of the very strong first act. I found myself drifting off waiting for something meaningful or exciting to happen, but nothing did until the beginning of the final act. The ending left to a bit be desired as well, but at least it wrapped things up and had a couple of decent fight sequences and a twist that I didn't see coming (although it's really not that great of a twist.) The film also suffers from having lame villains. The villains are pretty underdeveloped and are only on-screen for about 20 minutes of the almost two hour runtime. Admittedly the viper chick that infects Logan is kind of cool and was nice to look at, but she really wasn't much of a nemesis for him. The whole lack of outside conflict kind of left this film feeling a bit empty. Logan's inner-conflict is clearly the primary conflict of the film which works just fine, but a film like say Iron Man 3 managed the balance inner struggle and outside struggle perfectly. On the whole, The Wolverine is a solid yet flawed superhero film with some moments of greatness. Now just bring on X-Men: Days of Futures Past!

3.5/5 Stars
  

Most Anticipated Albums of the Second Half of 2013

2013 has a been pretty damn good year for music so far and there's only more to come in the last five months of the year. Here are the 20 records I'm most excited to hear for the rest of 2013.

20.Touche Amore-Is Survived By (Release Date: September 24th)
19.Arcade Fire-TBD (Release Date: October 29th)
18.Chimaira-Crown of Phantoms (Release Date: July 30th)
17.Devildriver-Winter Kills (Release Date: August 27th)
16.Warbringer-TBD (Release Date: TBD)
15.A Loss for Words-TBD (Release Date: TBD)
14.Animals as Leaders-TBD (Release Date: TBD)
13.Born of Osiris-Tommorow We Die Alive (Release Date: August 20th)
12.Ghostface Killah and MF Doom-TBD (Release Date: TBD)
11.After the Burial-TBD (Release Date: TBD)
10.Fleshgod Apocalypse-Labyrinth (Release Date: August 20th) 
9.Last Chance to Reason-Level 3 (Release Date: August 6th)
8.Red Fang-Whales and Leeches (Release Date: October)
7.Danny Brown-Old (Release Date: August?)
6.Earl Sweatshirt-Doris (Release Date: August 20th)
5.Behemoth- The Satanist (Release Date: TBD)
4.Skeletonwitch-Serpents Unleashed (Release Date: TBD)
3.Unearth-TBD (Release Date: TBD)
2.Revocation-Revocation (Release Date: August 6th)
1.Protest The Hero-TBD (Release Date: TBD)

Just missed the list:
iwrestledabearonce-Late for Nothing (Release Date: August 6th)
Crossfaith-Apocalyze (Release Date: August 20th)
Watain-The Wild Hunt (Release Date: August 20th)
GWAR-Battle Maximus (Release Date:September 17th)
Riff Raff-Neon Icon (Release Date: September)
Big K.R.I.T/Yelawolf-Country Cousins (Release Date: TBD)
In Flames-TBD (Release Date: TBD)

Top 10 Venues in New England

Over the course of my life I have attended 59 shows at 15 venues in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. This area has a lot of great venues, so I figured I'd share my 10 favorites that I've been to thus far.
(*Note: There are a numbers of venues in the area that I haven't been to including T.T the Bear's, The Sinclair, Lupo's, The Met and anywhere in Connecticut, Vermont or Maine, so take this list with a grain of salt.)

10.Agganis Arena at Boston University (Boston,MA):
Relatively intimate and great sound for an arena.
Shows attended: Alice in Chains/Deftones/Mastodon (9/22/2010)

9.Tsongas Center at Umass Lowell(Lowell, MA):
Pretty much the same as the Agganis except a big bigger and nicer. Definitely a great place to see a big show without having the deal with the overwhelming size and poor sound of the TD Garden.
Shows attended: My Chemical Romance/Alkaline Trio/Reggie & The Full Effect (10/15/2005) 

8.Paradise Rock Club (Boston, MA):
Interesting wrap-around stage setup with pretty good sound and a huge balcony. Would be even better if there wasn't giant poles cramming up the small floor area and obstructing the stage.
Show attended: Lamb of God/The Acacia Strain/Too Late the Hero (1/25/2012)

7.House of Blues Boston (Boston, MA):
Upscale venue with amazing sound and a great location across the street from Fenway Park that is easily one of the venues I go to the most since it opened in late 2008. Only thing preventing the House of Blues from being higher is the group of jackasses they employ (especially their security guards.)
Shows attended: Mastodon/Kylsea/Intronaut (5/7/2009), In Flames/Between the Buried and Me/3 Inches of Blood/The Faceless (10/3/2009), Between the Buried and Me/Cynic/Devin Townsend Project/Scale the Summit (1/28/2010), Killswitch Engage/The Devil Wears Prada/Dark Tranquility (2/4/2010),  The Cool Tour (As I Lay Dying, Underoath, Between the Buried and Me, The Acacia Strain, etc) (7/20/2010) AP Fall Tour 2010 (Bring Me the Horizon, August Burns Red, Emarosa) (11/19/2010), Dropkick Murphys/Against Me!/Death Before Dishonor/Parkington Sisters (3/15/2011), Deftones/Dillinger Escape Plan/Funeral Party (5/9/2011), Between the Buried and Me/Cave In/Animals as Leaders/The Red Chord/TesseracT (10/30/2011), Mastodon/Dillinger Escape Plan/Red Fang (11/21/2011),  August Burns Red/Silverstein/Texas in July/I, The Breather (2/29/2012), Dropkick Murphys/Frank Turner/The Mighty Regis (3/15/2012), Lamb of God/In Flames/Hellyeah/Sylosis (11/25/2012), Meshuggah/Animals as Leaders/Intronaut (2/17/2013), Coheed and Cambria/Between the Buried and Me/Russian Circles (3/14/2013)

6.Wally's Pub (Hampton Beach, NH):
One of the smallest venues I've ever been to. Wally's is a dive bar with a tiny stage that you are pretty much on-top of no matter where you stand (which also makes this the loudest venue I've ever been to.) Not too many shows roll through here, but my one experience at Wally's was incredible.
Shows attended: Unearth/Chimaira/Skeletonwitch/Moltov Solution (11/19/2011)

5.Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom (Hampton Beach, NH):
Essentially New Hampshire's answer to the House of Blues in Boston except better in every possible way. Really clear sound in a fancy, but not overly elegant room with an elevated stage to make it seem more intimate than your typical large club venue.
Shows attended: Killswitch Engage/Miss May I/Darkest Hour/The Word Alive/Affiance (6/8/2013)

4.Royale (Boston, MA):
I actually didn't like the Royale the 1st time I went there to see Odd Future a couple years ago. The sound was shitty that night and the elevated floor bugged me (mostly because I kept pushing off the edge by kids who don't know how to mosh trying to start pits the whole time Odd Future was on) Since then, my opinion has completely changed and it's become one of my favorite venues. The sound is actually quite good and the lack of a rail brings out stagedivers, crowdsurfers and energy galore.
Shows attended: OFWGKTA (10/21/2011), The Wonder Years/Polar Bear Club/Transit/The Story So Far/Into It, Over It (3/12/2012), Every Time I Die/The Acacia Strain/Vanna/Hundredth/No Bragging Rights (3/15/2013)
Upcoming Shows: Death Grips/Pictureplane (8/6/13)

3.Great Scott (Allston, MA):
This place is about the size of your average classroom and that's what makes it so fantastic. This is place about as intimate you can get: you see all the bandmembers bring their gear on-stage, rehearse/tune their guitars/change strings in the side hall, sit at the bar having a drink etc. Not to mention the place has a damn good PA for a tiny space, low stage that is easy to get on if the band calls for it and a chill atmosphere.
Shows attended: Skeletonwitch/Havok/Early Graves (9/20/2012), Revocation (Music Video Shoot) (7/13/2013)

2.Middle East Downstairs (Cambridge, MA):
The Middle East is arguably the most popular small venue in the Boston-area and for good reason: this place rules. It's essentially a sketchy, long basement with a big stage considering the small size of the venue. The sound is damn near perfect and the setup is perfect for all types of music (I have only been to rap shows here, but I'm assuming metal/punk shows here are absolutely fantastic.)
Shows attended: Lil B (9/30/2012), Danny Brown/Kitty (5/9/2013)

1.The Palladium (Worcester, MA):
The Palladium is probably the most polarizing venue in the whole state of Massachusetts. Personally, I love with all my being. It's been my favorite venue since the minute I entered it and will probably remain that way for the rest of my life. There is two stages inside (downstairs which holds about 2,000, upstairs which holds 500.) that each have their own unique quirks and excellent acoustics. I love the downstairs setup with a small floor and multiple elevated tiers that make the stage easily viewable from wherever you are and the upstairs is cool because there is no rail and the room has a very intimate feel to it. The Palladium is just a grimy, rundown metal paradise that is responsible for a lot of my fondest concert memories.
Shows Attended: Rock and Shock (Children of Bodom, The Black Dahlia Murder, Between the Buried and Me, August Burns Red, Obituary, Unleashed, Carnifex) (10/10/2008), The Acacia Strain (DVD shoot)/The Red Chord/Whitechapel/Shipwreck A.D./Cruel Hand/Thy Will Be Done (12/28/2008) NEMHF 2009 (Lamb of God, As I Lay Dying, Children of Bodom, God Forbid, Muincipal Waste, All Shall Perish, Winds of Plague, Suicide Silence, etc.) (4/18/2009), Thrash and Burn 2009 (Devildriver, Emmure, Despised Icon, Veil of Maya, For the Fallen Dreams etc) (8/15/2009), Hatebreed/Cannibal Corpse/Unearth/Hate Eternal/Thy Will Be Done (12/19/2009), NEMHF 2010 Day 2 (Amon Amarth, Job for a Cowboy, Whitechapel, Skeletonwitch, Eluveitie, Municipal Waste, Cattle Decapitation, etc) (4/24/10) Summer Slaughter 2010 (The Faceless, All Shall Perish, The Red Chord, Veil of Maya, Animals as Leaders, Decrepit Birth etc.) (7/31/10), Rock and Shock 2010 Day 1 (Suffocation, Suicide Silence, The Faceless, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Through the Eyes of the Dead, Dawn of Ashes, Decrepit Birth, Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, Molotov Solution, Conducting from the Grave) (10/15/2010), NEMHF 2011 Day 3 (Hatebreed, Between the Buried and Me, Born of Osiris, Times of Grace, Carnifex, Dying Fetus, Skeletonwitch, 3 Inches of Blood, Revocation, The Ocean etc.) (4/16/2011), Children of Bodom/Devin Townsend Project/Septic Flesh/Obscura (7/19/2011), Summer Slaughter 2011 (The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel, Darkest Hour, Six Feet Under, Powerglove etc.) (8/12/2011), Machine Head/Suicide Silence/Darkest Hour (2/4/2012), NEMHF 2012 Day 1 (The Black Dahlia Murder, The Acacia Strain, Nile, All Shall Perish, Skeletonwitch, Oceano, Fleshgod Apocalypse, The Contortionist, etc.) (4/20/2012) NEMHF 2012 Day 2 (All That Remains, Dragonforce, Overkill, Protest the Hero, Unearth, Periphery, iwrestledabearonce, etc) (4/21/2012) Worcester Deathfest (Suffocation, Dying Fetus, Revocation, Fit for An Autopsy, Vattnet Viskar, etc.) (6/10/2012) Summer Slaughter 2012 (Cannibal Corpse, Between the Buried and Me, The Faceless, Periphery, Veil of Maya etc.)(8/10/2012), Coheed and Cambria/The Dear Hunter/3 (9/28/2012), NEMHF 2013 Day 2 (The Dillinger Escape Plan, Katatonia, Terror, Born of Osiris, After the Burial, The Contortionist, Within the Ruins etc.)
Upcoming Shows: Summer Slaughter 2013 (The Dillinger Escape Plan, Animals as Leaders, Periphery, Unearth, Cattle Decapitation etc)

Album Review: Battlecross-War of Will

2013 has been quite the year for Michigan melodic death thrashers Battlecross. They picked up a slew of huge touring opportunities opening for In Flames and appearing on Mayhem Fest as well as being hand-picked for Orion Festival by Metallica. Battlecross continues their winning streak this year with their new record War of Will, which is another incredibly satisfying slab of fast, furious and catchy metal.

War of Will is a natural progression for Battlecross after their impressive 2011 breakout record Pursuit of Honor. The top-notch riffing, soloing, blasts of melody and kick-ass vocals are still very much-on display, just even better this go-round. They don't waste any time ripping the listener's face off with album opener "Force Fed Lies". This track is a pretty accurate representation of what Battlecross is about as a band: thrashy riffing with occasional melodic interludes and a bit of groove, great vocals from Kyle "Gumby" Gunther and of course, a fret-melting guitar solo. "Force Fed Lies" is only the beginning of the carnage that War of Will has in-store for the listener. The balance between speed and melody fluctuates constantly keeping the listeners on their toes.  There is definitely a greater sense of overall melody than on Pursuit of Honor (especially on tracks like "Flesh & Bone, "Wage a War" and "My Vaccine",) but they never lose sight of their groove and speed metal influences in the process.The additional melody adds a layer of depth to their sound and a whole new style to add to their riff arsenal, making their music that much more interesting to listen to.

Battlecross has already proved in their previous work that they're are incredible musicians, but they step their game up even further on this record. Guitarists Tony Arta and Hiran Deraniygala consistently throw down insane solos. There is not one solo on this record that isn't highly impressive (while on the topic of solo, it must be noted that Jason Suceof lays down a sick, middle-eastern inspired solo on "Beast".) It may be an overused used term, but it can't be denied that Arta and Deraniygala absolutely shred. They have also benefit from having a rarity in metal: fantastic bass work. Dom Slater is actually audible in the mix a lot of time with a variety of awesome techniques and licks on-display. Slater doesn't get a lot of love for his work, but he is every bit as good as renowned metal bassists like Evan Brewer and Dan Briggs. The unsung hero of this record though has to be the drumming from Shannon Lucas. I was majorly bummed when Lucas left The Black Dahlia Murder last year, so it was awesome to hear him drum on another record so soon after his departure from Black Dahlia. There are few active metal drummers with the chops that he has and the blasts and fills on this record prove that fact (which is also why Battlecross had to enlist the equally-talented Kevin Talley as their live fill-in drummer since he is one of the few drummers in the scene that can play Lucas's parts.) The only thing that makes me sad as a big fan of Lucas is that he isn't their permanent drummer and he'll probably never join another (touring) band again to focus on his tattooing (he quit Black Dahlia to open a tattoo shop with his wife.)

War of Will is another kick-ass record from Battlecross. You hardly hear bands like this that are rooted equally in old-school and new-school metal. They draw equal influences from At The Gates, Metallica, Pantera, The Black Dahlia Murder and Devildriver, making their music amongst the most savage and diverse in all of metal. The musicianship is off-the-charts, the production is slick and every track sticks with you immediately. If they keep up the level of quality, work ethic and big tours that get them exposure: I fully expect them to explode. Battlecross is one of the brightest upstart bands to emerge in recent years and War of Will is their finest piece of work thus far in their young career.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Wage a War
2.The Will to Overcome
3.Flesh & Bone


 

Movie Review: Only God Forgives

Nicolas Winding Refn needs to stick to directing and leave the writing to someone else. After the triumph that was Drive, Refn returns with Only God Forgives: an absolute mess of a film with no real reason to exist.

Only God Forgives is the definition of arthouse trash with no direction. Refn seems to have only focused on creating a visually-stunning film with a thumping electronic soundtrack and thrown everything else to the wayside. Saying the script is incoherent and uneventful would be giving it too much praise. The film's razor-thin, cheap revenge story takes up about 15 minutes of the film while the rest is just a series of clunky dialogue, Ryan Gosling by himself staring blankly into space, ultra-quick flashes of violence (which is not nearly as graphic as other critics made it out to be) and random shots of grimy scenery in Bangkok. I will fully admit that this film is stunning to look at and it starts off promising in the first 15-20 minutes until Gosling's mother (Kristin Scott Thomas in one of the worst performances I've ever seen in my life) then the film wanders completely into no man's land and becomes almost completely unwatchable. The last 70 or so minutes are agonizingly tedious to sit through and the alarming number of unintentionally hilarious scenes (there is a particularly hilarious scene where Gosling is yelling at his girlfriend to take her dress off in the middle of Bangkok that almost had me in tears) are the only thing that keep we from completely losing interest. Refn really needs to shed his immense ego and craft a film with a coherent storyline without a barrage of pointless scenes and not one that simply serves as an excuse for him to use artsy quick-cut shots of every major character being brutally murdered. He is an undeniably technically skilled director, but those skills don't translate over to screenwriting in the slightest. Only God Forgives is a painfully boring and terribly written/acted disaster of a movie that has plenty of style, but practically no substance.

1.5/5 Stars

Mayhem Fest From A Non Metalhead's Prespective

If you've read my blog this week, you know that I attended Mayhem Fest in Mansfield on Tuesday. One of my friends that I went with isn't really a metal fan and only went for Rob Zombie and Mastodon. I figured it would be a fun experiment to have him give me his thoughts on every band to see how a non-metal fan would react to the acts on the bill. Having him write a full review would be far too much to ask, but he was kind enough to give me a quote on each band he watched on the day. Here is the series of ridiculous  quotes my friend D.J. had to offer up about the bands on Mayhem Fest (Warning: Some of these quotes need some context that I will try my best to provide)

Thrown Into Exile: "Average metal band with shout outs for plaid shirts." (The singer commented during the set that a kid wearing a plaid shirt was the most active in the pit)
Huntress: "What the fuck was that? Metal Pat Benatar?"
Battlecross:"They were actually pretty fuckin sick. The guitarists/bassist were really good."
Born of Osiris: "Their whole set was just the synth player spin dancing."
Butcher Babies: "Take your fucking clothes off then I might watch the whole set."
Emmure: "White rappers with AC-130 sounds as the background music"
Machine Head "Headbang Motherfucker!"
Children of Bodom: "Finnish synth swag."
Amon Amarth: "Pretty good. I like the viking shit and the stage setup was awesome."
Mastodon: "Why wasn't Iron Tusk played?"
Five Finger Death Punch: (After Ivan Moody had brought kids up on-stage and told them to off the crowd then brought his own daughter out a couple songs later.) "Ivan Moody is the world's greatest father."
Rob Zombie: "So fucking sick, but how the fuck does he change clothes so fast?"

Movie Review: Pacific Rim

Giant robots as the star of a summer blockbuster: I know what you're thinking we've been here before with the Transformers series. Well let me just say that the comparisons between Transformers and Pacific Rim end at the fact they're both centered around huge robots. Pacific Rim is undoubtedly one of the freshest and most entertaining blockbusters of the entire summer.

This summer has been a bit unsatisfying for me because just about every movie (Man of Steel, World War Z, and even some of the great ones like Star Trek Into Darkness) has fallen short of expectations. Pacific Rim does not join that crowd because it makes good on what the ad campaign promised: Brilliant action scenes of robots smashing the living hell out of sea monsters, impressive visuals, solid cast and just a whole lot of fun to be had throughout. The film's concept of man-controlled robots known as Jaegers taking out giant sea monsters that rose from the Pacific Ocean Kaijus is hardly high art, but writer/director Guillermo Del Toro and co-writer Travis Beachem approach the film's subject matter with a lot of smarts and passion. The film embraces its corniness and sets a tone of triumph with a group of characters that you actually care about. Charlie Hunnam does a good job in his first major lead role in an American movie as the film's protagonist Raleigh Becket: a renowned Jaeger pilot who is called out of retirement as humanity's last hope of surviving the Kaiju invasion.  Hopefully this exposure will get him more work outside of Sons of Anarchy, he is one of the most criminally underrated actors in the business today who deserves to become a breakout star. The supporting cast is loaded with talent as well with Idris Elba as the fiery leader of the Jaeger program, Charlie Day as a whacky scientist obsessed with Kaijus and Ron Perlman, giving one of the strongest performances of his career as an eccentric yet intimidating black market Kaiju parts dealer know as Hannibal Chau (He got the name from his "favorite historical figure and second favorite Szechaun restraraunt in Brooklyn.")

 Pacific Rim clearly isn't all about the likeable characters and skilled cast, the real stars of the film are the robots and monsters. Every single action sequence is unbelievably intense and badass(sometimes the camera is so up-close to the action that it becomes overwhelming, but other than the action is simply glorious.) The action is pretty constant, but never becomes excessive or dull (which is quite the accomplishment considering that this film's primary purpose is large-scale destruction and fights between two incredibly large creatures.) Del Toro and the visual effects team also deserves a lot of props for the creature design. Instead of making all the Kaiju the same, every single Kaiju has a different special ability (such as acid spit, flying, countless others) which breaks up the monotony of having the heroes and their robots face a legion of the exact same enemy. Del Toro's attention to detail in this film is a big reason why it's so successful. Every battle sequence is distinctive from one another, the story has some unexpected turns and the script balances action, humor and a surprising emotional backbone for a blockbuster. In other words, Del Toro crafted a film that essentially has something for everyone. You can tell this was a passion project for him that he put a lot of time and effort into it and the final product shows just how successful and exciting his vision is. Though it will (unfortunately) most likely get lost in the shuffle with so many established tentpoles having already been released this summer,  Pacific Rim is one of the most purely enjoyable, creative and insane blockbusters in recent memory that serves as a loving throwback to the monster movies of old as well as one of those rare films that actually lives up to the hype. Bravo Guilermo Del Toro and let's hope that he has another great, original, grand-scale film in him.

4/5 Stars
 

Concert Review-- Mayhem Fest-- Mansfield, MA-- July 16th, 2013

For the past five years, the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival has been a cornerstone of my summer. Every year has been a whole lot of fun with diverse lineups and a great, fun atmosphere. The sixth installment was no exception to the rule with another excellent day full of metal, headbanging, moshing, sweat, laughs and just all-around good times.

The 1st band of the day was Thrown Into Exile. They are virtually unknown at the moment and don't even have a full-length record out yet. I had never listened to them before and I always liking checking out up-and-coming bands, so I figured I check out their set. I found them to be just alright with really nothing exciting or interesting about them. There are a ton of other bands that do their style of groovy metalcore a lot better. It's a shame too because these guys were clearly stoked to be on such a big tour and they seemed like cool dudes, but based on the crowd reception they didn't make much of an impression. I commend them for trying to get shit going early and landing a spot on a huge tour as a new band, but Thrown Into Exile was a mediocre way to start the day.

Huntress was up next and they're are just a frustrating band for me. Musically, I think they're pretty damn awesome with a lot of nice vintage thrash/traditional heavy metal riffs and solos. The problem is that Jill Janus's vocals are not particularly good. Her screams are decent, but her standard clean singing is subpar and when she tries to hit high notes like the ones on "Spell Eater", it's just painful to listen to. At least she had some amusing on-stage banter and an interesting stage presence to make up for her middling vocals. I appreciate their throwback style and the band is definitely talented, I just don't really like Janus's vocals.

I went and refilled my water bottle and walked around for a little bit, but I still managed to catch the last few songs of Attika 7. They were pretty lame "heavy" hard rock that reminded me of a slightly better version of Hellyeah. Even Seinfeld's work back in the day with Biohazard was cool and I used to dig bassist's Tony Campos's work with Static-X, but none of my enjoyment of their prior projects carried over to Attika 7. Another weird thing that I thought was dumb is that they kept referring to the crowd as "serial killers". You should probably pick a different name to call people in the crowd because that's just lame as all hell. Pretty weak set and I can't believe this the band the tour organizers picked to replace the mighty Behemoth. Nergal and co. would be ashamed if they heard these dudes play in their intended lineup spot.

The first band of the day that I actually cared about seeing, Battlecross, was finally on next. I've gotten super into them after hearing their 2011 record Pursuit of Honor a few months ago and thankfully, their set not only met, but exceeded my expectations for them. Plain and simple, these guys just flat-out rip live. Frontman Kyle "Gumby" Gunther sounded spot-on vocally and got the crowd properly amped up. Instrumentally, they were flawless with guitarists Tony Asta and Hiran Deraniyagala nailing every solo, bassist Don Slater demonstrating his insane bass skills and fill-in drummer Kevin Talley showing why he is one of the most well-renowned drummers in the metal industry (I had heard him play live once before with Six Feet Under, but the zoo animal otherwise known as Chris Barnes kind of ruined Talley's excellent drumming.) Aside from giving an energetic and precise performance, Battlecross also showed the crowd they are complete class-acts. At the end of "Flesh & Bone" (which began with an awesome wall of death,) there was a kid crowdsurfing in a wheel chair. Gumby invited him on-stage and wouldn't start "Push Pull Destroy" until he got up there. The kid was jamming out the whole time on the side of the stage and Gumby repeatedly went over to him and interacted with him when he wasn't doing vocals. After the song was over, Tony Arta handed him a couple of picks and the whole band gave him fist bumps and high-fives while they were getting off stage. I've never seen anything like that at a show before and it was just an awesome gesture by them. In addition to making that kid's day, they donated $1 from every purchase of their new record War of Will to the One Fund for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. They've been supporting local charities on just about every show of the tour and given the fact they are an up-and-coming band who doesn't make a lot of money, shows just how generous and selfless the members of the band. Battlecross put on one of the most impressive shows of the day and there is no doubt in my mind that these guys have all the tools to become an incredibly popular band in the metal scene.

Born of Osiris kept things going on the day. This marked my fourth time seeing them and I know exactly what to expect from their set: efficient, energetic and a lot of fun. The setlist was mostly staples, which is what a lot of bands go for on this festival and that's completely fine. That being said, I wish they didn't completely ignore A Higher Place and play so much off The New Reign, but at least they played "Abstract Art" which is easily my favorite track off that record. Their new record is due out August 20th and the debut track from it, "Machine", is pretty sick and translated very well to the live environment. I'm curious to see how the full record will pan out and what territory they will explore after The Discovery and departure of lead guitarist Jason Richardson.  I may not like them as much as I did a couple of years ago right after The Discovery came out, but they always put on a good show and are undoubtedly one of the finer deathcore acts around.

I went and got Rockstar after Born of Osiris wrapped up and caught most of the Butcher Babies's set from the Rockstar tent. For those who don't know: Butcher Babies are a band with two female singers who have posed in Playboy and they often play their live shows semi-nude (That didn't happen at Mayhem because of the amount of young fans in attendance.) While their set didn't particularly impress me, they weren't quite as bad as I expected them to be. The studio stuff I had heard was unbearable to listen to while the stuff they played live was a bit more tolerable. I wasn't by any means impressed by what I saw from Butcher Babies, but at least they we're better than I expected them to be.

I went to Battlecross's signing near the end of the Butcher Babies's set and missed about a quarter of Motionless in White as well waiting in-line (Battlecross was actually subtly making fun of Motionless in White's use of breakdowns by doing synchornized moves when the 1st riff kicked in.) Battlecross are some of the most hilarious and awesome dudes I've ever met from a band. They genuinely appreciated everyone who checked out their set and thanked everyone multiple times for the support. After talking to them for a few minutes, I took a quick picture with them, thanked them again for a badass set then proceeded to kill the rest of the time Motionless in White was on-stage by getting more water and sitting down for a few minutes.

I got back to the Jager stage to see Job for a Cowboy just as Motionless in White had wrapped up. I was a bit nervous to see them again after their pretty underwhelming performance at Summer Slaughter last year, but thankfully this was not a repeat of that show. The poor sound mix that plagued their set at Summer Slaughter was gone and they actually had one of the clearest sound mixes of any band on Mayhem. Jonny Davy sounded awesome vocally delivering his sinister lows and trademark shrieking high-vocals with equal precision and the guitar didn't drown out everything else. The setlist was interesting given that they backed off their recent refusal to play material from their debut EP Doom. "Knee Deep" and "Entombment of a Machine" are not amongst my favorite songs from Job for a Cowboy, but both of them are solid deathcore songs that are a good time live so it was cool to see them play them again. The choices off Demoncracy were interesting. I didn't expect "Imperium Wolves" or "Tarnished Gluttony" to be in the set so it was definitely a nice surprise, especially the mid-paced "Tarnished Gluttony" which made for a nice contrast with the ultra-fast, in-your-face death metal that complied the rest of the set. I'm glad that Job for a Cowboy still has it live and hopefully that mediocre performance at last year's Summer Slaughter was just a fluke.

 Now came the time of the day for the only band on the bill that could've been either fantastic or completely abysmal to sit through: the one and only wigger-slam icons Emmure! I'd seen Emmure twice previously in 2009 and they were pure torture to sit through. This was not the case this go-round because I didn't take it seriously and I had a lot of fun during their set. If you just sit back and laugh at the content of their music, they are actually a good time live. Are they good musicians? No. Does their music have any serious redeeming qualities? Hell no. Is Frankie Palmeri a clown? Absolutely. What Emmure is good for is a laugh and their 30-minute was chock full of them. Emmure is basically everything that Attila failed to be Warped Tour last week: A solid time-waster that was so bad that it was hilarious and entertaining. Now that I know how to properly process Emmure in a live setting, I won't dread having to see them if they ever appear on a bill I'm interested in again!

Machine Head closed out the Jager Stage and in typical Machine Head fashion: they absolutely destroyed. Few people know how to get a crowd riled up like Robb Flynn and it's just so much fun to watch. He just commands the stage every second he is on it and is one of the finest frontmen in metal by far. There wasn't much different from the previous times I've seen them, but the same high level of energy, precision and intensity that has made them one of my favorite bands to see live was fully on-display yet again. Seeing them play "Halo" again live was worth the price of admission by itself. I've said it before and I'll say it again: "Halo" needs to be a permanent fixture in their setlist and it'll be an absolute travesty if they ever stop playing it. Machine Head is a must-see every time they come around and they were the undisputed highlight of the side stages for me.

Children of Bodom closed out the side stage on a high note with the sharpest performance of the four times I've seen them. It's really incredible how much their reduced partying has helped out the quality of their live sets. The first two times I saw them in 2008 and 2009, they were all in complete stoopers and played some of the sloppiest live sets I've ever witnessed. Their headlining show in 2011 and this time were completely different. The band was pretty tight all-around and Alexi Laiho didn't screw up any solos or become an incoherent mess vocally. The setlist was a pretty good albeit typical set for Bodom ("Sixpounder" was a nice surprise though) playing pretty much everyone of their crowd-pleasers except for "Downfall".   I will say that I was surprised that they only played 1 track off their new record Halo of Blood, which they are clearly out on this tour promoting. Given the fact that they had a 35-minute set and the record just came out a month ago, I expected them to put more than one new song in the set (though I didn't really care that much because Halo of Blood is just pretty good in my opinion.) Nonetheless, Children of Bodom put on a pretty killer set that has all but erased my early bad memories of them as a live act.

Amon Amarth opened up the main stage for the day. I hadn't seen them since 2010 and as a big fan of their material, I was itching to see them again. The long wait in-between the last time I'd seen them and this time thankfully did not lead to disappointment as Amon Amarth killed it. I was surprised how well their music translated to a big stage. You wouldn't expect a viking-based melodic death metal band that is used to playing in clubs to sound so good on a giant stage, but they didn't lose any of their power on a bigger stage than they're used to playing. The giant stage also allowed to them have a giant viking ship setup, which was completely badass. The ship even blew smoke a few times! The ship only further enforced the badassery of their Norse mythology/viking themes and it was a truly a spectacle to see. The only downside was the fact that they opened the main stage, which is always the least energetic crowd reaction of the day due to the side stages having just ended and everyone being beat after 5+ hours standing in the sun. The crowd was practically dead throughout their, which really sucked because they put on a great show without much fanfare or enthusiasm. It was also kind of a bummer that nothing from With Oden on Our Side was played. That record is arguably their most popular and best received from a consensus-standpoint, so it was surprising/disappointing that they didn't play anything from that record. I hope I get to see Amon Amarth in the near future in a club venue with a crowd that will give them the time of day. Despite the weak crowd, Amon Amarth still kicked off the main stage quite nicely.

The mighty Mastodon was up next. I wasn't quite sure to what expect since the last time I saw them at the House of Blues with Dillinger Escape Plan and Red Fang in November 2011 was one of the best performances I've ever seen. Given the fact that they were playing an amphitheater and only had a 45-minute set, I knew it wasn't going to be quite as special as that performance. However, I did not expect this set to be this disappointing. The primary reason this set was disappointing was the over-saturation of material from their last record The Hunter. Don't get me wrong, The Hunter is a great record, but I don't want to see a 10-song set that is almost completely comprised of tracks from that record. There is just too little set time at a festival to dedicate 80% of your set time to one record. I also don't know who in the band thought it would be a good idea to close with "The Sparrow". It ended the set on a completely anticlimatic note and left pretty much everyone in the audience with a "that's it?" reaction when they finished the song and said their goodbyes to the crowd. I will say despite my bitching (I'm sorry they're are my favorite band of all-time and I don't mean to be rude or disrespect them, it just aggravated me that they played so much new material while all but completely ignoring their older stuff.) they still put on a pretty great show. At least they played a good amount of the better/heavier stuff off of The Hunter and "Megalodon" is still one of the heaviest live songs ever (the riff that comes in after the banjo part never fails to force me to reach near neck-breaking levels of headbanging.) Mastodon still performed very well and it's always a pleasure to see them, I just hope the next time I see them there isn't such a lack of old material in the set.

Five Finger Death Punch was up next. The first time I saw them at the first Mayhem Fest in 2008, I was a huge fan of them and I thought they killed it live. Fast forward to five years later and I'm no longer a fan of theirs and their live show was just average to me. I'll give them credit: Ivan Moody can sing well, they have a decent stage presence and their guitarists are actually pretty good. The problem is that their music is just really generic and forgettable canceling out the positive merits they've as a band. Their set kind of just dragged with very few highlights or lowlights over the course of the entire hour they played. It was cool to hear to The Way of the Fist material for nostalgia's sake and the Bad Company cover was kind of fun and served as a nice tribute to the troops overseas. The only really painful moment of their set was the absolutely awful drum solo from Jeremy Spencer. The actual drumming wasn't impressive and there was an electronic interlude in the middle of it that sounded like someone combined dubstep and porn audio making the solo even more embarassing. Five Finger Death Punch wasn't overly terrible and I'm sure they were great if you like their stuff, but I didn't find much enjoyment to be had during their set.

Rob Zombie closed out the evening and he brought down the house. Rob Zombie is just a natural-born performer who is an expert at showmanship and entertaining. His stage set-up was loaded with flames, giant robots, video screens playing a bunch of psychedelic and horror imagery to match up with each song,  bizzaro, cable-bound vehicles, giant old-school radios, etc. Zombie's grand stage show perfectly matches up with his over-the-top horror persona. Adding to the thrilling visual overload, Zombie did some other cool shit during his set. During John 5's solo, Zombie ran around the venue the whole time, which was pretty cool and the jams the band does are pretty badass (it was Enter Sandman/School's Out last night.) I will say that I would've liked to hear some better tracks off his new record Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor. "Dead City Radio" and "Ging Gang Gong" are easily amongst the worst tracks on the record in my eyes, I would've preferred to hear tracks like "Lucifer Rising", "Revelation Revolution" and "Behold, the Pretty Filthy Creatures!" instead, but it wasn't that big of a deal because the new stuff that was played sounded pretty great live. Some more White Zombie tracks would've also been awesome and taken the performance to the next level. Other than some minute setlist complaints, Rob Zombie put on a masterful, almost endlessly entertaining performance to close off another great Mayhem Fest. Hopefully Kevin Lyman, John Reese, and the good people at Rockstar can continue their hot streak for the seventh incarnation.

Scores:
Thrown Into Exile 5/10
Huntress 5/10
Attika 7 4/10
Battlecross 9/10
Born of Osiris 8/10
Butcher Babies 3/10
Job for a Cowboy 8/10
Emmure LOL/10
Machine Head 9.5/10
Children of Bodom 8.5/10
Amon Amarth 8.5/10
Mastodon 9/10
Five Finger Death Punch 5/10
Rob Zombie 9.5/10

Setlists:
Huntress:
Spell Eater
Destroy Your Life
?
Zenith
I Want to Fuck You to Death
Eight of Swords

Battlecross:
Breaking You
Man of Stone
Kaleb
Force Fed Lies
Flesh & Bone
Push Pull Destroy

Born of Osiris:
Follow the Signs
Ascension
Open Arms to Damnation
Abstract Art
Machine
Bow Down
Recreate

Job for a Cowboy:
Entombment of a Machine
Imperium Wolves
Knee Deep
Tarnished Gluttony
Constitutional Masturbation

Emmure(filled in the blanks with setlist.fm *are songs I know they played ):
4 Poisons 3 Words
Solar Flare Homicide*
Sunday Bacon*
I Thought You Met Telly and Turned Me into Casper*
Protoman
Demons With Ryu
Drug Dealer Friend*
Dogs Get Put Down
R2Deepthroat*
Children of Cybertron

Machine Head:
Davidian
Struck a Nerve
Imperium
Locust
Halo

Children of Bodom:
Silent Night, Bodom Night
Hate Me!
Hate Crew Deathroll
Angels Don't Kill
Halo of Blood
Sixpounder
Blooddrunk
In Your Face

Amon Amarth:
Destroyer of the Universe
Pursuit of Vikings
War of the Gods
Deceiver of the Gods
Death in Fire
Twlight of the Thunder God

Mastodon:
Black Tongue
Crystal Skull
Dry Bone Valley
Megalodon
Blasteroid
Stargasm
All the Heavy Lifting
Spectrelight
Bedazzled Fingernails
The Sparrow

Five Finger Death Punch:
Under and Over It
Burn It Down
Hard to See
Bad Company(Bad Company Cover)
White Knuckles
Drum Solo
Lift Me Up (new song)
?
Far From Home
The Bleeding

Rob Zombie:
Teenage Nosferatu Pussy
Superbeast
Meet the Creeper
Living Dead Girl
We're an American Band (Grand Funk Railroad Cover)
More Human than Human
Drum Solo
Ging Gang Gong De Do Gong De Laga Raga
Sick Bubblegum
House of 1,000 Corpses
Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown
Thunder Kiss 65'
Guitar Solo
Enter Sandman (Metallica cover)/ School's Out (Alice Cooper cover)

Encore:
Dragula

Concert Review: Revocation (Music Video Shoot)-- Allston, MA-- July 13th, 2013

Saturday was a special night at Great Scott in Allston, Massachusetts. Boston's very own death/thrash behemoths Revocation shot a music video for the first single "Invidious" off their new self-titled record and it made for one of the most fun shows I've ever had the pleasure of attending.

There were two local openers on this show in addition to Revocation, the first of which was Sexcrement. Sexcrement is one of the more respected bands in the Boston metal scene and after last night's show: I can 100% see why. These dudes are exactly the type of riff-heavy brutal death metal that I love. The music was consistently heavy with each song containing multiple headbang-worthy grooves and killer guttural vocals/pig squeals. Adding to the quality of the set was the fact that they two half-naked chicks dancing on-stage with them most of the time (On a hilarious note: some random dude got on-stage alongside the girls during the last song and started dancing behind the vocalist which caused him to laugh so hard he couldn't do vocals for 10-20 seconds.)  I've never seen anything like that before and the pairing of barley-dressed chicks and slamming brutal death metal was pretty damn funny and entertaining. Sexcrement is one of the very few local acts from the Boston-area that has impressed me thoroughly and I would love to see them open a show again soon.

Acaro was the next local opener and they just destroyed the stage. This marked the fourth time I've seen Acaro and I can say that this was easily the best. They've always put on a damn good show, but this particular time they we're just on fire the whole time they played. The vocalist jumped into the crowd during the 1st song and that manic energy level was kept up throughout the set. Musically, they were a lot heavier than I remember them being and their unique sound blends melodic death metal, thrash and old-school metalcore flawlessly. They played a new track called "As One" that absolutely ripped and was dedicated to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing victims, which I thought was an awesome touch to a really positive and badass song. Acaro is a band that has a shitload of killer heavy riffs, melody and passion who is destined to breakout out of the local scene and hit the national touring level.

It was time for the men of the hour, Revocation, to hit the stage. Despite a slew of technical difficulties (broken mics, David's guitar went out, a ton of problems in sound check with the guitars and drums,) Revocation absolutely destroyed the tiny stage at Great Scott. Unlike Black Dahlia Murder's video shoot for "Goat of Departure" where they played the song for the video multiple times in a row, Revocation played a regular set and will be using the best footage gathered from the entire performance. The setlist was heavy on new material, which all sounded amazing. Previously released track "The Hive" kicked things into high gear immediately, "Spastic" was an instrumental powerhouse featuring one of David Davidson's crazier solos to-date and the track being used for the music video "Invidious" is an absolute ripper with a nice amount of melody, technicality and an absolutely sick closing groove riff that would make Dimebag Darrell proud. Of course crushing set staples like "No Funeral" and "Dismantle the Dictator" were also played as well the title track off last year's EP Teratogenesis. Making the set that much more special, was the crowd reaction. The crowd reception they got was raucous to say the least. Everyone in the room was super into their set and losing their minds with giant pits, crowd surfing and headbanging galore (Someone inadvertently kicked an amp stage-diving and unplugged David's guitar during "Invidious" causing them to restart the song.) Unfortunately I had to leave early in order to catch the last train out of Allston. It kind of sucked that I couldn't stay for all of it, but I do get the pleasure of seeing Revocation again at Summer Slaughter in a few weeks. It was awesome to be apart of such an awesome crowd and support one of my favorite bands at their music video shoot. Best $5 I've spent in a long time and I can't wait to see the finished product.

Scores:
Sexcrement 8/10
Acaro 8.5/10
Revocation 9/10 

Setlists:
Sexcrement included:
Heard It Through the Rape Vine
New Song
Trucker Bombed
Heels Up

Acaro included:
Forever is Temporary
The Disease of Fear
This Treachery
As One (new song)
Becoming the Process

Revocation:
The Hive
Teratogenesis
No Funeral
Spastic (new song)
Invidious
Dismantle the Dictator (left after this song)

Concert Review: Warped Tour-- Mansfield, MA-- July 11th, 2013

Another year, another successful and varied Warped Tour.

I will say that the day didn't start off in the greatest fashion. It started pouring rain right before the show, but thankfully it tapered off pretty quickly and didn't rain for the rest of the day. Upon getting in the venue around 11:25, my friends and I had to wait in a extremely long line to get a schedule with the set times on it and after getting the schedule approximately 20 minutes later,  we found out that The Chariot was currently playing on the Monster Stage. Of course by the time we got to the Monster Stage, The Chariot was finishing up their last song. I was pretty bummed since The Chariot was one of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing on the day. The slight upside is I'm not a huge fan of them on disc, I just wanted to see them live because the footage I've seen of them has been absolutely insane. Hopefully they come back to Massachusetts soon on a solid tour so I can finally see them live.

Thankfully, things starting looking up from there. The first band of the day I actually caught was British metalcore act While She Sleeps. I had only heard a couple songs by them prior to the show that didn't leave any strong impressions on me, but I had heard a lot of positive things about them so I decided to give them a go live and I'm really glad that I did. Their music was the perfect hybrid of melody and traditional metalcore with some nice groove sections thrown in for good measure (not your typical breakdowns, more groove metal-based stuff which was sick) What made their set especially enjoyable was their energy and crowd interaction. The crowd was pretty sparse due to Like Moths to Flames playing at the same time which lead them to start up personal interactions with multiple people in-between songs. Their singer pointed at my friends and I as well as a few other people multiple times asking us to move up, start pits, etc because we were amongst the few people that had a strong reaction to their set. You don't see things like that all the time so it was cool seeing how appreciative they were and singling people out in a small crowd and thanking them for digging their set. I met the whole band at their merch tent a little bit after their set and they are some of the coolest and funniest musicians I've ever met. The whole band was super appreciative for us checking out their set and thanked us personally for giving back the energy they were giving off (they give us a ton of stickers for free because of it.) While She Sleeps definitely has a new fan in me and I look forward to checking them out further/seeing them live again.

After While She Sleeps, I was sweating profusely so I headed to the amphitheater to sit down. Hands Like Houses had just started when I got there and they were pretty awful. They were a combo of pop punk, post-hardcore and electronic and it was just a mess musically. The crowd down in front seemed pretty into it, but otherwise no one really cared. Hands Like Houses mainly failed to hold my attention and didn't impress me in the slightest, but at least I got some rest before letlive. played.

letlive. was up next and they were probably my most anticipated set of the day. I first heard their last record Fake History earlier this year and it quickly became one of my favorite records of the past decade. These guys are easily the most interesting band to come along in a long time in a genre (post-hardcore) that desperately needed an act to breakthrough the monotony of generic breakdowns paired with weak screams and whiny, emotionless singing that has plagued the genre for years (i.e. most of the bands that have appeared on the main stage of the past few Warped Tour's) Thankfully, letlive. is just as impressive in a live setting as they are in the studio. Jason Butler demonstrated his insane vocal range which features everything from frenzied screaming to truly soulful singing. On top of a great vocal performance, Butler is one of the most intense and emotional performers I've ever seen. He was nearly brought to tears during "Muther" when explaining the song's backstory about his long-time girlfriend cheating on him when he was in the hospital after a near-death experience and his vocals during the entire song were very powerful and genuine. On top of his emotional performance, he is just an unfathomably energetic performer. He was running all over the place, climbing on amps, hanging on the rafters of the stage, stage-diving left and right, even somewhat awkwardly taking his pants off and performing about half of set closer "Renegade 86''" in just his underwear. Musically, the band was tight and it was badass to see the entire band playing bongos during set opener "Le Prologue" (guitarists Jeff Sayhoun and Jean Nascimento played them during interludes in "H. Ledger" and "27 Club" as well.) The only downside of the set was Butler was going so crazy on stage at times that he wasn't singing certain parts of the song, which was a tad bit irritating, but completely forgivable because he has such an incendiary stage presence and when was singing, he sounded great. letlive. put on a blistering set and if you like off-the-wall, energetic performances, they're a must-see live band.

I made the incredibly stupid decision to watch Attila next. I figured their set would be good for a laugh to kill some time, I was wrong. It was just a painful experience that I really shouldn't have put myself through. Their vocalist, Chris Fronzak, deserves a gold medal in the meathead douchebag Olympics. This dude is just so full of himself and thinks his band is scandalous, edgy and challenges authority just because he tells everyone to suck his dick, eat his pussy, suck his fuck (he seriously owns a clothing line where most of the merchandise says "Suck My Fuck" and it's also his Twitter handle, what a cool guy) etc. and toss around a bunch of homophobic insults around at his "haters". It's not funny, scandalous or edgy, so I really don't know what he's trying to accomplish with it other than try to say as much stupid shit as humanly possible in a pathetic attempt to offend someone. Not to mention on top of their stupid-ass lyrics/message, Fronzak is an absolutely abysmal vocalist (his high-pitched screams are amongst the most laughable I've heard in my entire life) and the band plays the same boring, simple breakdown throughout every song. Clearly I'm in the minority with Fronzak and his bandmates's antics because the crowd was eating them up. They easily had the biggest side stage crowd of the day and The Wonder Years is the only band that I saw on the day that had a more active and lively crowd. Personally I don't see the appeal with this band and their popularity absolutely boggles my mind. I'll stick to Municipal Waste for my fix of party metal and avoid this talentless bunch of assclowns at all costs in the future. Easily one of the worst live sets I've ever sat through, Attila just fails on every possible level as musicians and in my eyes, is a disgrace to the entire metal community.

After watching Attila fart on stage for a half-hour, I was happy to go and see one of my favorite bands, August Burns Red, perform. I don't know if it was the bad taste in my mouth from Attila or something else, but August Burns Red wasn't quite as good as they normally are live. Don't get me wrong, they still performed well and put on an enjoyable, fun set, they just didn't sound as sharp or exude as much as energy as the previous three times I've seen them. The setlist was a nice balance of all the Jake Luhrs-era records, which was cool to see and give their set kind of a mini-career retrospective vibe. The songs from Rescue & Restore sounded good live and I'm really curious to see how much/what new material they will play on future headlining tours for that record (I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's alot since it's my favorite record by them to-date.) Despite my slight disappointment with their set at Warped, I'm looking forward to (hopefully) seeing August Burns Red again on a headlining tour in the coming months.

After a brief break, I checked out Story of the Year on the Tilly's stage. Story of the Year was one of those bands I listened to as kid that I haven't listened to in years, but I figured it would be cool to check them out for old times' sake. Their set wasn't anything too special, but it did bring back some fond memories for me. I was glad they played "And The Hero Will Drown" and a couple of others from Page Avenue (which they are playing in its entirety on a headlining tour in October to commemorate the album's 10th anniversary, 13-year-old me would be there in a heartbeat) and the whole band sounded pretty decent throughout the set. Nothing remarkable, but Story of the Year are a solid band for what they are and I had some nostalgic fun during their set.

I raced back to the main stages to catch The Wonder Years, who had just started upon my arrival. The Wonder Years are one of the top-tier pop punk acts who are just a lot of fun as the band. Their music is catchy as hell with a ton of soaring hooks, bouncy riffs and sentimental, honest lyrics. The whole band is clearly having an absolute blast on-stage and their vocalist Soupy seems like a genuinely awesome and real person. Making The Wonder Years performance that much more special is the crowd reaction they got. While it wasn't quite as explosive as the crowd when I saw them headline at the Royale last year, people were going insane the entire time they were on stage. Their fans are incredibly passionate and it's always awesome to see that at a show. Their music has clearly had a huge positive impact on a lot of their diehard fans and they express their gratitude to the fullest extent at every single one of their shows. The Wonder Years are one of the best pop punk bands in the revival moment and their live show is just a ton of fun.

Hometown hardcore act Defeater was the next band I caught. Their set was kind of weird because they performed well and there were a handful of people going nuts in the very front, but other than that no one really showed any enthusiasm. I didn't expect a huge reaction since their brand of hardcore isn't necessarily what you normally get on Warped Tour, but I expected a stronger reception since it was a hometown/record release show for them. Hardcore, more than any other genre, needs strong crowd reaction to be really effective, which this set unfortunately lacked. Another thing that sucked was that the melodic parts of their songs were completely drained out by the main stage (Black Veil Brides was playing at time and they were loud as hell.) What I heard of these sections were pretty badass, but you couldn't get the full effect because of the Black Veil Brides's sound overpowering them. Defeater gave a solid, energetic performance, it just got dragged down by outside factors that were no fault of their own. I really need to see them again in a proper environment that captures their energy with a crowd full of people that actually care about their music.

Shortly after Defeater wrapped up, I headed over to the Ernie Ball Stage to check out Crossfaith. I knew nothing about them and the only reason I checked them out is because two of the band members were holding up signs earlier in the day promoting their set that said "Crossfaith: Futuristic Japanese Metal 6:50 Ernie Ball Stage". Simply said, The phrase "Futuristic Japanese Metal" completely sold me on checking out their set. I hadn't the slightest clue what I was getting into, but it ended up being a brilliant choice as Crossfaith absolutely destroyed the tiny Ernie Ball Stage. Their set was easily amongst the most energetic live sets I've ever seen. The 1st riff came in and the singer was already swinging from the rafters and the whole band was just going batshit crazy. The keyboardist/second vocalist was the most energetic of the bunch scaling everything on the stage that could be scaled and losing his mind behind his synth/laptop/keyboard setup. I guess you could call them "trancecore" because of the heavy electronic elements in their sound. That being said unlike the other acts in the genre that I've heard: it wasn't gimmicky, there's no girly clean vocals (there's no clean vocals period actually), no auto-tune, no vocal-effect breakdowns, no other bullshit, it's just really solid metalcore with great screams and drumming (the fills on the 1st couple songs were amazing) that happens to be heavy on synth-use. Crossfaith is a force to be reckoned with in a live setting and I'll have to check out their studio stuff to see if that manic energy carries over to their recordings.

Continuing the surprises on the day was Mac Lethal. I was debating between watching a few acts at that time (one of my friends and I even flipped a coin, which determined we would watch Bring Me the Horizon but we changed our minds on our way to the stage once we heard how bad Oli Sykes sounded.) This change of heart ended up being the best decision of the day because Mac Lethal absolutely killed it. The dude can absolutely spit coherently at high speeds, which impressed the hell out of me. On top of being able to rap fast, he can also rap acapella without missing a beat. He performed "Cook with Me Now" (which is the song he performs in the infamous YouTube video of him rapping while flipping pancakes, which he can apparently only perform if he doesn't use the beat because Chris Brown sewed for using the beat for "Look at Me Now" and making fun of him for beating up Rihanna) with no beat in the crowd on some dude's shoulders. That was one of the awesome things I've ever seen at a show and I'll never forget how impressive/badass that entire track was. His entire set was just a masterclass in showmanship and having fun on-stage. Mac Lethal is an incredibly talented rapper who's music I need to delve into further immediately.

The Black Dahlia Murder wrapped things up for the day and did so in unsurprisingly spectacular fashion. Their entire set served as a reminder as to why they are one of my favorite bands of all-time. In a live setting, they just command the stage and their riff-heavy brand of melodic death metal is made for this environment. Trevor Strnad sets the bar for metal frontmen: he sounds spot-on vocally, he gets the crowd into it and he is clearly having the time of his life on-stage (who else delivers death growls with an ear-to-ear grin on their face?) The whole band is flawless as well with Ryan Knight shredding through every solo without missing anything and new drummer Alan Cassidy perfectly filling the massive void left when longtime drummer Shannon Lucas left the band last year. The setlist was perfect for a festival like Warped with a few of the top-level tracks from their new record Everblack as well as set staples like "Statutory Ape" "What A Horrible Night to Have a Curse" and "Funeral Thirst" and deeper cut "Den of the Picquerist" thrown in for good measure. The only downside was how sparse the crowd was (although the crowd that was there was pretty into it) I guess Black Dahlia's primary fanbase didn't want to go Warped to check them out. They stick out like a sour thumb on this bill, but I'm glad they did the tour because it's out of their typical comfort zone and it will (hopefully) bring them some new fans that probably wouldn't have checked them out otherwise. The Black Dahlia Murder closed out the day on the highest possible note with 30 minutes of crushing death metal. There were a few bumps in the road, but Warped Tour 2013 was a mostly enjoyable day filled with mostly solid performances and a few awesome surprises.

Stupid Side-Notes:
-The bassist of While She Sleeps looks like Brian Eschbach from The Black Dahlia Murder.
-I got my ticket signed by all of While She Sleeps and Mac Lethal. 
-The Spotify Stage was loaded with dubstep acts, which was amusing to walk past throughout. I'm sorry to fans of the genre, but it's pretty hilarious to me watching some dude behind a Macbook jamming out in front of a crowd people. It seems more like a shitty house party than a live performance.
-Insidious Chapter Two sponsored the Kevin Says Stage this year and had a blimp with the movie's logo on it flying alarmingly low during The Wonder Years's set. Easily one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen at a show.
-August Burns Red threw a ton of beach balls into the crow at the beginning of their set and people were hitting them around for a majority of the set.
-There were a ton of kids dressed up in ridiculous costumes such as Kick-Ass, Spongebob Squarepants, a penguin and even a kid in a full spandex suit that covered his face.
-Some kid hugged my friend because he was wearing a "Thank You Based God" shirt
-Some huge dude in a Lamb of God shirt was purposely stopping as much hXc dancing as he possibly could during Black Dahlia Murder's set. This man deserves a medal of honor, he is doing god's work.
-I got a surprising amount of compliments on my Skeletonwitch shirt from both vendors and fellow concertgoers. Always good to see the Witch getting some love.
-Attila smells bad.

Scores:
While She Sleeps 8/10
Hands Like Houses 3/10
letlive. 8.5/10
Attila 1/10
August Burns Red 8/10
Story of the Year 6.5/10
The Wonder Years 8/10
Defeater 7.5/10
Crossfaith 8/10
Mac Lethal 9/10
The Black Dahlia Murder 9.5/10

Setlists:

While She Sleeps:
Death Toll
Dead Behind the Eyes
Our Courage, Our Cancer
This is the Six
Seven Hills
Crows

letlive.:
Le Prologue
The Sick, Sick, 6.8 Billion
H. Ledger
Banshee (Ghost Fame)
Muther
27 Club
Renegade 86'

August Burns Red:
Back Burner
Internal Cannon
Meddler
Provision
Fault Line
Empire
Composure
White Washed

Story of the Year:
And The Hero Will Drown
Falling Down
The Antidote
Anthem of Our Dying Day
Wake Up
"Is This My Fate?" He Asked Them
Untill The Day I Die

The Wonder Years:
Passing Through A Screen Door
Local Man Ruins Everything
Woke Up Older
Washington Square Park
Dismantling Summer
Don't Let Me Cave In
The Bastards, The Vultures, The Wolves
Logan Circle
Came Out Swinging

Defeater included:
The Red, White & Blues
Bastards
Cowardice
Broken Glass (closer)

Crossfaith (from setlist.fm):
Monolith
Jagerbomb
Quasar
We Are the Future
Leviathan

Mac Lethal included:
Black Widow Spider
Freestyle
Cook with Me Now (acapella)
Pound That Beer

The Black Dahlia Murder:
In Hell Is Where She Waits For Me
Goat of Departure
Into the Everblack
Den of the Picquerist
Statutory Ape
What A Horrible Night to Have A Curse
Unhallowed
Funeral Thirst





 

Movie Review: World War Z

Oh hell no, the world is coming to an end again! 2013 seems to be the year of doomsday films and World War Z enters its hat into the arena with a zombie-invasion that is rapidly killing out the world's population.

World War Z is one tense film. The action and suspense starts almost immediately and doesn't let up until the film ends. The filmmakers did a brilliant job of capturing the apocalyptic tone of the story, you sincerely feel like the world is coming to an end throughout the film. Matching up with the gloomy and urgent tone, is the grand-scale action sequences. Every action scene is immense and claustrophobic with the director highlighting the importance of each causality and devastation the entire zombie epidemic is causing. The scenes in Jerusalem and on the plane are some of the most striking and impressive action sequences I've seen in recent memory. While World War Z gets the tone, intensity and action right, it fails to be something truly special primarily because of its script. Most of the script is fine: the film is pretty tightly paced and entertains while providing a competent albeit unspectacular storyline. The problem is that a majority of the key plotpoints are completely idiotic and take quite a bit away from the film's strengths. It wouldn't have bothered as much if it was only one major plot development that was kind of dumb, but it's seriously almost every single big turning point in this movie is incredibly stupid. I can't really elaborate further without giving anything away, but I was really frustrated at the screenwriters for dropping the ball during the story's key moments. The ending is also a complete cop-out and gives pretty much no closure. The whole last act of the film was re-written because of the poor reception to the original ending in test screenings. If this was the more satisfying resolution, I can only imagine how poor the initial ending was. World War Z is ultimately an enjoyable blockbuster that has a nice sense of suspense and great action sequences, but could've been much better with non-idiotic major plot developments and a more satisfying ending.

3.5/5 Stars

Album Review: Mac Miller-Watching Movies with the Sound Off

It's been two years since Mac Miller stormed onto the hip-hop scene with his debut full-length Blue Slide Park. He rapidly gained a following through constant touring and plenty of poppy, dumb radio hits. On his second full-length, Watching Movies with the Sound Off, almost completely disregards his earlier material for a much more mature and focused sound.

The growth Mac Miller has made as an artist on Watching Movies with the Sound Off is absolutely astonishing. The frat-boy inspired party rap that dominated Blue Slide Park is gone and exchanged for (mostly)more dark and thoughtful material. When listening to tracks like "REmember", which is about the death of one of Mac's close friends, I couldn't even believe this was the same guy that released tracks like "Donald Trump" and "Party on Fifth Ave." just a couple of years ago. Miller put a lot more time into the whole recording process and it shows in his lyrics and production choices. Miller teamed up with veteran producers like Flying Lotus, The Alchemist, Clams Casino, Pharrell and J. Hill to capture his more refined sound on this record with a ton of killer, intricate beats. Miller also self-produced a little over a quarter of this record himself (under the pseudonym Larry Fisherman)  and his collaborations with the other elite producers wears off on his own production, which are primarily trippy, cloud rap beats. Miller's production holds up against these greats (especially Clams Casino, who Miller clearly takes a lot of inspiration from with his psychedelic-inspired beats,) which speaks volumes about how good of a producer he is. Working with a plethora of great beats from these top-notch producers has also does wonders for Miller's rapping. His delivery is a lot more clear and cohesive this time around and the lyrics are mostly solid, even great at times. Miller is still a young dude, but there is some surprisingly introspective stuff for a 21-year old kid (especially on the aforementioned "REmember" and "Aquarium".)  Some people have knocked him for lyrical themes on this record, but he's definitely in-tune with his emotions and expresses them pretty eloquently throughout the duration of the album.

Watching Movies with the Sound Off isn't all serious though. There are times where Miller is just having fun, but unlike his older material it's actually fun and appropriately tongue-in-cheek. Tracks like "Bird Call" (which sees Clams Casino going out of his normal chill territory and producing an absolute banger,) "Gees" and "Watching Movies" see Miller dropping plenty of clever metaphors and flowing very well. The confidence, delivery, clever humor and lack of poppiness separate these tracks from the non-serious tracks that dominated his older stuff. Save for bonus track "Goosebumpz" which reeks of the annoying party-boy material of Blue Slide Park, Miller has found the right tone for the his non-serious tracks with a nice balance of laughs, smarts and charisma without the obnoxiousness that deterred his goofy tracks in the past.

Watching Movies with the Sound Off is one of the most surprisingly enjoyable listens of 2013 so far for me. Mac Miller has made substantial strides as an artist and has found a way to make a mature and polished record that is balanced with a nice sense of humor and at times, some very sharp and honest lyricism. The production is outstanding from both Miller himself and the outside producers and are a big part of the evolution Miller has made on this record. I still can't fully comprehend how much different and enjoyable this than Miller's earlier work, which I found to be completely annoying and amateurish. Miller still has some growing up to do and needs a little bit work in the lyrical consistency department, but Watching Movies with the Sound Off is a nice jumping-off point for him as a serious artist and if he keeps maturing, he has a vastly promising career ahead of him.

3.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Watching Movies
2.REmember
3.Bird Call

Album Review: Run the Jewels- Run the Jewels

Last year was quite the year for veteran hip-hop artists Killer Mike and El-P. Both released standout solo albums (R.A.P. Music and Cancer 4 Cure) which featured plenty of rage-filled verses, southern style and amazing production from El-P. This new-found partnership hit the next level this year when they decided to form a superduo called Run the Jewels, who's self-titled debut release is undoubtedly hip-hop at its finest.

Run the Jewels is exactly the type of collaboration you'd except from Killer Mike and El-P: The verses are pissed-off, the beats are grimy and electronic-tinged and it's about as far from mainstream hip-hop as you can possibly get. The rapport between Killer Mike and El-P is natural and amazing. I don't know how long they've known each other, but they have become a forced to be reckoned with in the year or so since they teamed up professionally. Their styles match up perfectly and they feed off each others energy and intensity. Run the Jewels is an especially interesting listen because outside of their well-matched rapping styles, the record is sort of a friendly competition between the two artists. Almost every verse is spat off in rapid succession with only brief hooks (which can be surprisingly catchy, like the one on the album's finest track "Sea Legs") to break up the tenseness. Even the guest spots from artists like Outkast's Big Boi ("Banana Clipper") and Prince Paul (going under the moniker Chest Rockwell on the track "Twin Hype Back") are entries in the lyrical competition going on this album with fiery verses to match the playfully combative tone of the record. You don't see albums that emphasize lyrical battles very often and it's very refreshing to see two artists that are dedicated to put a fresh spin on hip-hop. Killer Mike and El-P are like sparing partners that are striving to make each other better on each and every verse and it's just a blast to listen to these two feed off each others lyrical jabs throughout the record.

Run the Jewels is not your typical hip-hop collab record and it's all the better for it. You have two abstract, fierce artists combining their similar visions for a gut-punch of an album that is relentless in its intensity throughout. El-P's amazing production emphasizes the power that each of them bring lyrically and continues to show why he is one of the most cutting-edge and forward-thinking producers in all of hip-hop (Killer Mike accurately sings his praises on "Banana Clipper" with the lines "Producer gave me a beat/said it's the beat of the year/I said El-P didn't do it/So get the fuck outta here.) Run the Jewels is a collection of no bullshit hip-hop that is strictly business with 33-minutes of absolute bangers and nothing even close to filler. You'll be hard-pressed to find many hip-hop records this year that are this efficient, fun, cohesive, lyrically-impressive and venom-filled. Killer Mike and El-P are taking the hip-hop world by storm for a second year in a row and if they keep up this workload and quality of records, these two will be will be the most unstoppable force in hip-hop. Run the Jewels 2 can't come soon enough.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Sea Legs
2.36' Chain
3.Banana Clipper

Album Review: J. Cole-Born Sinner

J. Cole is a rapper that has been hyped ever since he dropped his second mixtape The Warm Up in 2009. He quickly rose through the underground ranks and got signed by Jay-Z and Roc Nation shortly after The Warm Up was released. Ever since hitting the mainstream, the hype behind Cole has only grown and he is one of the most successful up-and-coming rappers at the moment. Personally, I've never been a fan of Cole's music, but I decided to give him another shot with his second full-length Born Sinner. To my surprise, Born Sinner ended up being a worthwhile listen.

Born Sinner is a focused and consistently solid record. Cole spits with undeniable confidence that borderlines on cocky. Normally something like that would bother me, but Cole has the lyrical skills to back up his smack talk and the brash aura that surrounds him (the Boy Meets World, Big Tigga and Trinidad James references in the first verse of "Villuminati" are absolutely fantastic.) Born Sinner is at its best when Cole is just going at it with the more hardcore-based songs. Tracks like "LAnd of the Snakes" and the aforementioned "Villuminati" sees Cole's clever wordplay take center stage and it makes for great hip-hop. He seems most comfortable flowing over uptempo beats that suit his in-your-face style and arrogant lyrics. 

At the same time Born Sinner succeeds, it's too safe to be something truly special. While the album never really stumbles, it seems like Cole isn't using his full-capacity as an artist for a majority of the record. Outside of a few standout tracks, the album kind of just coasts at a level that is competent and relatively enjoyable but equally frustrating because you know he is capable of doing better. I applaud him for him trying a lot of different styles on this record, but a lot of the slower, conscious/poppier tracks just don't match-up with his lyrical ability and style demonstrated on the faster songs (hit radio single "Power Trip" is a prime example of this.)  This album tries to be reminiscent of hip-hop classics like Dr. Dre's The Chronic and Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle with various interludes, a loose concept and a variety of different subject matters, but lacks the consistent punch throughout to be even mentioned anywhere near the same breath as those records.

Born Sinner exceeded my expectations while simultaneously aggravating me. J. Cole is an undeniably skilled rapper who is versatile enough to flow over hardcore bangers and slower, conscious tracks with relative ease, but he only rarely taps into his full potential on this record. Cole has the chops to make an excellent record, but instead settles for one that's just pretty good and will ultimately get lost in the shuffle of recent standout hip-hop albums. Cole has a lot of promise for the future and hopefully can craft an album that is consistently impressive throughout.

3.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Villuminati
2.LAnd of the Snakes
3.Let Nas Down

Update

Hello all! I just created an official Facebook page for my blog so if you like what read, be sure to clink the link below and like the page. You can also follow me on Twitter @cmaitland421. Have a safe and happy 4th of July and I will go back to regular posting tomorrow.
 https://www.facebook.com/MaitlandsMadness?fref=ts

Chris Maitland

2013 Mid-Year Report: Film

Aside from two major disappointments (A Good Day to Die Hard and Man of Steel,) 2013 has a perfectly competent year for film with a few special standouts (Fast and Furious 6, Iron Man 3, Pain & Gain and This is the End.) The second half of the year looks a bit stronger than the first half and there is multiple potentially great films due out every month for the rest of the year. Here are my complete rankings from worst to best (with star ratings) for 2013 so far.  

30.Evil Dead (1/5)

29.Man of Steel (1.5/5)

28.21 & Over (2/5)

27.Oz: The Great and Powerful (2/5)

26.Texas Chainsaw 3D (2.5/5)

25.After Earth (2.5/5)

24.A Good Day to Die Hard (2.5/5)

23.The Purge (3/5)

22.G.I Joe: Retaliation (3.5/5)

21.Olympus Has Fallen (3.5/5)

20.Bullet to the Head (3.5/5)

19.Monsters University (3.5/5)

18.Side Effects (3.5/5)

17.Spring Breakers (3.5/5)

16.Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (3.5/5)

15.Parker (3.5/5)

14.White House Down (3.5/5)

13.World War Z (3.5/5)

12.The Hangover Part III (4/5)

11.Snitch (4/5)

10.Now You See Me (4/5)

9.Trance (4/5)

8.Gangster Squad (4/5)

7.42 (4/5)

6.Star Trek Into Darkness (4/5)

5.The Last Stand (4/5)

4.Fast and Furious 6 (4.5/5)

3.Iron Man 3 (4.5/5)

2.Pain & Gain (4.5/5)

1.This is the End (4.5/5)

2013 Mid-Year Report: Music

2013 has been a pretty impressive albeit slightly disappointing year for music on the whole thus far. A lot of bands (Killswitch Engage, Dillinger Escape Plan, Black Dahlia Murder, August Burns Red) delivered the goods as expected and there have a fair number of artists that came out of nowhere and surprised me mightily with their new records (Hope for the Dying, The Wonder Years and easily the biggest surprise of the year for me, Kanye West.) However, there have also been plenty of artists that I regard highly that have disappointed me greatly with their new records (The Story So Far, Dropkick Murphys, Vampire Weekend, TesseracT and to a far greater extent, Alice in Chains, Daft Punk and Queens of the Stone Age, all of whom released their first album in at least 4 years.) The second half has just many intriguing releases lined up as the first half  including Mastodon, Unearth, Revocation, Protest the Hero, Skeletonwitch, Behemoth, After the Burial, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Animals as Leaders, Last Chance to Reason, Chimaira, Battlecross, Born of Osiris, Danny Brown, potentially two albums from Earl Sweatshirt and many others. I'm really intrigued to see how the rest of the year shakes out and what new music I can discover along the way, but for now here are the full rankings from worst to best (with star ratings) of all the full-lengths and EP's I've listened to so far this year.


Note: There are 30+ releases from the first half of the year that I haven't gotten around to checking out yet so this list is a bit incomplete at the moment.

EP's
3.Kitty-D.A.I.S.Y. Rage (3/5)
2.Action Bronson-Saaab Stories (3.5/5)
1.Fallujah-Nomadic (4.5/5)

LP's

41.Daft Punk-Random Access Memories (1.5/5)

40.Kid Cudi-Indicud (2.5/5)

39.Dropkick Murphys-Signed and Sealed in Blood (2.5/5)

38.Bring Me the Horizon-Sempiternal (2.5/5)

37.TesseracT-Altered State(2.5/5)

36.Kvelertak-Meir (2.5/5)

35.Vampire Weekend-Modern Vampires of the City (3/5)

34.Clipping-Midcity (3/5)

33.A$AP Rocky-Long. Live. A$AP (3/5)

32.Bad Religion-True North (3/5)

31.Alice in Chains-The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (3/5)

30.Queens of the Stone Age-Like Clockwork... (3/5)

29.Dark Tranquility-Construct (3/5)

28.J.Cole-Born Sinner (3.5/5)

27.Northlane-Singularity (3.5/5)

26.Terror-Live By the Code (3.5/5)

25.The Story So Far-What You Don't See (3.5/5)

24.Kylesa-Ultraviolet (3.5/5)

23.Amon Amarth-Deciever of the Gods (3.5/5)

22.Big K.R.I.T.-King Remembered in Time (3.5/5)
21.Within the Ruins-Elite (3.5/5)

20.Tyler, The Creator-Wolf (3.5/5)

19.Children of Bodom-Halo of Blood (3.5/5)

18.Coheed and Cambria-The Afterman: Descension (3.5/5)

17.letlive.-The Blackest Beautiful(3.5/5)

16.Czarface-Czarface (4/5)

15.Finntroll-Bloodsvept (4/5)

14.Rob Zombie-Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor (4/5)

13.Intronaut-Habitual Leviations (Instilling Words With Tones) (4/5)

12.Kanye West-Yeezus (4/5)

11.Suffocation-Pinnacle of Bedlam(4/5)

10.The Wonder Years-The Greatest Generation (4/5)

9.Run the Jewels-Run the Jewels (4/5)

8.Clutch-Earth Rocker (4/5)

7.Hatebreed-The Divinity of Purpose (4/5)

6.August Burns Red-Rescue & Restore (4/5)

5.The Ocean-Pelagial (4.5/5)

4.The Black Dahlia Murder-Everblack (4.5/5)

3.Hope for the Dying-Aletheia(4.5/5)

2.The Dillinger Escape Plan-One of Us is the Killer (4.5/5)

1.Killswitch Engage-Disarm the Descent (4.5/5)

July in Film

July continues the summer season with a few blockbusters and a surprising numbers of mid-level films for a primetime summer platform like the month of July typically is. Here are my thoughts on all of July's films.

Films I want to see:
7.Grown Ups 2 (7/12)-I'll be completely honest this doesn't look particularly good. This first Grown-Ups was just decent and based on the trailer, Grown Ups 2 looks inferior to the original in every single way. However, I'm kind of obligated to see it since it was filmed in my hometown and other surrounding towns. Hopefully it ends up being better than expected and I can enjoy it for more than just seeing familiar sights.

6.Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (7/3)-Kevin Hart is one of the more consistently funny comedians right now and I'm pretty excited to hear his new material on the big screen.

5.R.I.P.D. (7/19)-R.I.P.D. screams Men in Black which is awesome. It has been a long time since there's a been a sc-fi comedy that looked like this much fun and the presence of Jeff Bridges in a lead role is encouraging for its quality.

4.The Wolverine (7/26)-The first solo Wolverine movie was nothing special, but this looks to be an improvement from its predecessor  and I trust James Mangold in the director's chair.

3.Red 2 (7/19)-Looks very reminiscent of the original and with the same writers and most of the cast returning (mostly importantly John Malkovich as the scene-stealing Marvin Boggs), I fully expect to be at least as good as the first one. The additions of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Anthony Hopkins to the cast should only add to the fun.

2.The Lone Ranger (7/3)-Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinksi re-teaming already has me excited and every trailer I've seen for this has been great. This has an old-school adventure vibe to it and hopefully it can deliver on the vintage thrills the trailers promise.

1.Pacific Rim (7/12)-This movie looks like it was made for me. It's a film about giant, human-controlled robots smashing the shit out of giant sea monsters that come of the Pacific Ocean, what's not to like? Throw in a stellar cast including Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day, Idris Elba and Ron Perlman and I'm there opening weekend.

Films I'm not sure about:
The Conjuring (7/19)-The first trailer was eerie and had potential, the second one looked like more of the same haunting/exorcism crap that's been dominating the horror world for the past few years. The quality of the first trailer had me intrigued and the early word has been excellent which is encouraging, but the presence of James Wan (who directed Insidious, which self-destructed on itself in the second half after a promising start) and the generic-looking second trailer has me on the fence.

The To Do List (7/26)-The trailers are just alright, but a great cast including Aubrey Plaza, Bill Hader, Connie Britton, Donald Glover, Andy Samberg and Christopher Mintz-Plasse may be enough to get me to see it at some point.

Film I have zero interest in seeing:
Despicable Me 2 (7/3)-The first one did nothing for me and the sequel looks absolutely awful.

Turbo (7/17)-I'm sorry, the concept of a movie about a racing snail that enters the Indy 500 is completely idiotic to me. I had a hard time sitting through the trailer, I can only imagine how painful it would sitting through the whole movie.

The Smurfs 2 (7/31)-I had the displeasure of seeing the original Smurfs movie during my massive 2011 film experiment where I saw every wide release film of that year and it was the epitome of a painful viewing experience. Rest assured, I won't be stepping anywhere near the sequel to this abomination of a franchise.