At All Cost CD Review

At All Cost have spent the last couple years generating more buzz than a cell phone next to a speaker. A revived Combat Records released It’s Time to Decide in 2005 and the band spent the next two years experimenting with new ways to make kids say, “what?” Hard work pays off and a worldwide distribution deal through Century Media makes the wait for Circle of Demons more than worthwhile.

Cost explodes from the opening whistle with the thrashy title-track and doesn’t ease up at any point. “Demons” closes with some signature southern death metal - something akin to Kansas after a night of binging on Jameson and Black Sabbath LPs.

There’s nothing cooler than vocalist Andrew Collins’ synthesized voice crooning “We need to break these chains… gonna get down for the revolution” over wailing guitars and beatdown drums. Collins, criticized for sounding “one dimensional” on Decide, seems to have found his voice on Circle of Demons, exploring a range of different deliveries, using his signature effects processing when necessary but otherwise staying away from the repetitive bark of so many of his peers. “The Message” brings to mind the best of Darkest Hour while “The Wall That Divides” is LA hair metal with teeth – no not teeth, bloody fucking fangs.

While there are certainly more sing-a-long, anthemic choruses, there are just as many brutal breakdowns and double-bass blasts on Circle of Demons - just peep how the band smoothly transitions from electro-pop to Ride the Lightening-era thrash on “Let it Rain Death (Blizzard of Snakes),” all highlighted by a blazing solo from Mike Theobald. “Ride Through the Storm” follows the same formula, a seemless blend of Maiden-esque metal with toe-tapping pop. At All Cost do well to shun the metalcore formula of Unearth, Killswitch and the like, not just breaking the mold but lighting it on fire to hurl at the gates, Molotov cocktail style.

“We Won’t Give In” is equipped with adventurous string orchestration, huge choruses, and a Dragonforce-esque synth solo, all of which segues perfectly into more blistering guitar work from Theobald and Trey Ramirez on “Step One.”

“Lasting Forever” navigates the narrow divide between Daft Punk and Iron Maiden – what? “Eating Lightening Pt III” is the third part of an exchange of ideas between Cost and Pluto Records’ The JonBenet. Closing out Demons, “Drugs” shows AAC at their most adventurous – an album full of songs like this 8 minute exploration would have been fun, but I can learn to be satisfied with what I am given.

Circle of Demons is full of metal anthems that will be the soundtrack to your summer road trip, skinny-jeaned dance party, or teenage revolution. The only metal band that really knows how to make you wanna dance – and not in that silly way 16 year old fat metal kids do at basement shows and warehouse festivals, but actual hip shaking movement – At All Cost live up to the hype on their Century Media debut.

Deathkiller CD Review

With four hi-hat whacks, Deathkiller screams “we are here motherfucker, so listen up.” Sporting a chipped-shoulder aggression and a short fuse burning on both ends, “Take Me to Your Bleeder” opens the debut full-length New England is Sinking with full force. Over the course of 13 songs, the trio of Matt McIntosh, Anthony Realbuto and Christina Chiaramonte, lash out at the system and the status quo, recalling a time when hardcore bands stood for something, or at least stood for more than image and idolatry.

The Connecticut outfit boasts plenty of pedigree – McIntosh lists ‘ex-Hatebreed’ on his resume while drummer Realbuto once banged rhythms with Most Precious Blood. But Deathkiller doesn’t rely on the brutal breakdowns of cliché-ridden metalcore or necessarily resemble either of the aforementioned bands in particular. Instead, New England is Sinking takes the fast cars and tight jeans of classic rock ‘n’ roll and drives full force into the raging pit of American hardcore to produce an unadulterated and uncontainable sound that takes no prisoners. No pretenses, no bad dye-jobs, no ever-increasing friend count, no fashion statements of any sort, Deathkiller are raw and intense – classic hardcore I suppose, in the truest sense imaginable. The only statements this band makes are the subtle suggestions to tear down all you see around you that is phony and full of shit.

“Idle Worship” recalls the best of Rise Against; “Carlos D is in My Top 8” a post-Myspace Black Flag. The title track is the most melodic cut of the bunch – and any song which features the line “if you can’t beat ‘em then destroy them” is a winner in my book. “Man Alone” suggests we take our disillusionment and do something with it while “Dead Art” begs us to lash out in a fury of unbridled emotion – take the pit to the pulpit and turn this mother out.

“Let the Good Times Fold” is quintessential early-90s post-hardcore (think Handsome over Quicksand), which unfortunately a decade later sounds dated. Not to mention that the angsty refrain of “C’mon baby, let the good times fold” is, well, just plain silly. Chiaramonte’s fuzz-happy bass tone grows tiresome around the twenty-minute mark, but maybe that’s more of a musicians personal preference on this end rather than a true criticism of what is all in all a solid record.

On “Untitled” McIntosh begs you to answer has he screams “What do you mean, ‘It’s victory?’” New England is Sinking is victorious: a solid debut that takes a tried and true sound and sticks to it. Nothing is new, so let’s go back to the basics, McIntosh and co. contest – but lets to it harder, faster and truer. With this m.o., Deathkiller makes a statement and makes it loud.

Beware of Safety CD Review

In the wake of quite possibly two of the best instrumental rock albums of the past decade, Beware of Safety’s debut EP It is Curtains does nothing to define itself. Maybe this album would be easier to swallow if it wasn’t released in the same calendar year as Explosions in the Sky’s near perfect All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone and Caspian’s breathtaking The Four Trees. Judged on its own, Curtains is a solid debut, no doubt. It just doesn’t measure up to some of its peers.

In all honesty, using those two bands as a reference point to begin a dissection of Beware of Safety’s It is Curtains really just isn’t fair. The LA-based quartet has far more in common with the likes of The Cancer Conspiracy or even Isis and Pelican.

“Weak Wrist” is Beware of Safety’s best effort, a powerful and angst filled explosion of noise and near-chaos, while “The Difference Between Wind & Rain” will have the same effect on most as those two elements – zzzzzzzzzz. But hey – that ain’t bad, so don’t read it as such.

Instrumental rock songs don’t have to be these slow and arduous expositions that start small and gently build into big rock anthems. (The flipside to this of course are the songs that just don’t go anywhere - up or down). And while it could be said that Beware of Safety have a firm grasp on the beauty of dynamics in songwriting … you kinda have to have that element down as an instrumental rock band ‘cause, well, that’s really all you’ve got going (except for Pelican… they somehow make instrumental rock work having a complete and total lack of dynamic sensibility).

One more thing instrumental bands (all of them) don’t have to do yet somehow find a way to do, is use the same trilled chorus pedal-effected guitar sound – you know, the one the accompanies the build-up on every Explosions in the Sky song! Beware of Safety does it. But so do Caspian and almost every other band in the same vein that I love. Is this a knock? Guess not. Maybe it is the only way to express dynamic emotion on a guitar. Maybe.

Attempting to revive listeners at a gradual pace following the slow hum of “Wind and Rain,” “O’Canada” drags on for six-plus minutes before slipping into the lengthy album closer “To the Roof! Let’s Jump and Fall.” More songs like this one would have made for a better album. The wandering, almost jam-like feel (which I’m sure was how it was written) suits this band perfectly and ultimately saves this album.

The Dangerous Summer CD Review

As summer ends throughout most of the country, it’s nice to have a record and a band that reminds us of all the great things summers mean – fires on the beach or afternoons on the lake, young love and summer crushes, anthems that stay with you from May to August, fueling your late night sing-a-longs. The Dangerous Summer not only references the third season by name, but recalls its adventures in lyrics of hope, new beginnings, and those all-too-tough endings.

“Oh God it’s almost summer,” vocalist AJ Perdomo announces on the opening “I Would Stay.” Listening to this record you can’t help but think of high school seniors packing up and leaving town for their first semester of college and the adventures contained therein. No surprise that the four members of this group are of that age group, 17 and 18 year olds who know nothing but hope, whose adventures, stories and tragedies are yet to be written.

“The Permanent Rain” is the anthem for every kid who’s ever dreamed of a life on the road, living in a van with your best friends, making music and living in exile, a song for every guitar hero and hopeless romantic to sing-a-long to. Perdomo’s vocals are impassioned and meaningful as he confesses, “I want to make you proud, but I really don’t know how.”

The dual vocals that close “Here We Are After Dark” recall the best moments of Jimmy Eat World – a band that always seemed more mature than their peers, as is the case with this fresh-faced foursome. “Home” tells the story of a lover leaving for the West Coast, every East Coast boy’s nightmare. “Disconnect” is that East Coast boy driving “a thousand miles out West” in search of love.

“Of Confidence” closes the record. Perdomo sings “your making this a story you hope will never end” as he relays the tragedy of crushes who become lovers and the awkwardness that ensues. Fading out with requisite gang vocals, The Dangerous Summer pull out every trick needed to make a classic pop record.

For a Maryland band, The Dangerous Summer certainly knows the sound of California sunshine. Sugary pop in all the best ways, If You Could Only Keep Me Alive breathes life into a stagnant scene. Shocking these youngsters are just that, as they approach the craft of songwriting with a maturity lost on many of their peers. More Third Eyed Blind than Cartel, more Phil Collins than Gerard Way, The Dangerous Summer hit a homerun with If You Could Only Keep Me Alive, their Hopeless Records debut.