HellYeah released their fifth studio album Unden!able on June 3rd, 2016. The album is the follow up to the highly successful Blood for Blood. Unden!able continues to show the bands journey into a heavier sound than previous albums. Guitarist Tom Maxwell has said about the album "it's belligerent and brutal with peaks and valleys that bring you up and down emotionally and lyrically." This is the first album Guitarist Christian Brady and Bassist Kyle Sanders have recorded with the band as they joined after the recording for Blood for Blood was already complete.
To date the song 'Human' has been released as a single to heavy radio play and great fan reaction. 'Human' is one of the few slow almost power ballad songs on the album. Unden!able showcases the vocal range of singer Chad Gray from slower melodic sounding songs like 'Human' and 'Leap of Faith' to the piercing vocals showcased on the driving sounds of 'X' and 'Start a Riot.' Original members Vinnie Paul and Tom Maxwell showcase their skills from start to finish on this album which is sure to be well received by fans. The title track is a hard pounding song with the message to fans to become undeniable to get what they want and lift themselves up from their problems.
Unden!able is the heaviest release so far from Hellyeah and will have fans headbanging from start to finish. Fans will not be disappointed by the heavier progression of the bands sound and should look forward to hearing new songs live on upcoming tours. The band is currently out with Escape the Fate until June 5th and then will be going out with In This Moment starting June 18th. More information can be found on the bands official website http://hellyeahband.com/ or Facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/hellyeahband.
HELLYEAH - Undeniable
by Kelley Lynn Heverin
Vo'Devil Stokes - Black Snake
by Kelley Lynn Heverin
Vo'Devil Stokes released their debut studio album Black Snake on June 3rd 2016. Hailing from St. Petersburg Russia the 5 piece electronic Rock band was formed in 2012. Featuring Dallas Crowley on vocals, Alex Mallovsky on drums, Alex Radchenko on bass and Toli Modestov and Boris Plaskin on Guitar. The band is dedicating the album to honor the the people in warring countries much like the one the band members hail from.
Black Snake is an eight song album with all upbeat sounding rock songs with an electronic background. However when listening to the lyrics the band tackles some serious topics. 'To Father' with its haunting background almost choral sounding vocals asks if the father ever believed in them and how they see their father in them now. 'The Walking Dead' talks about how people are the walking dead because they are hiding their feelings and not really living their lives. Meanwhile the song 'Elements' is a much more upbeat song that will get people up and moving.
Black Snake is a good way for the Vo'Devil Stokes to introduce themselves to rest of the world after primarily touring all over Russia for the last few years. More information can be found on the band Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/vodevilstokes
Better Things - Getting Worse
by Alli Lesch
Alternative punk-emo band, Better Things, released their debut album, Getting Worse, on August 19th. The four piece outfit from Burlington, Vermont, is said to have a sound similar to bands such as The Swellers, The Get Up Kids, and a hint of A Day To Remember. Over the course of the last five years, the quartet has successfully fused late 90s pop-punk with early 2000s emo, culminating in a nostalgic kind of sound that fans of Less Than Jake, Pentimento, and The Wonder Years will appreciate.
Getting Worse consists of eleven tracks, and has a radio-friendly vibe from start to finish. The first single, “Stick That In Your Juicebox and Sip It”, embodies the values held by Better Things; a vision that is all about not looking back, never giving up hope and always striving for self-improvement. The song is about self-growth obtained through the challenges and hardships of life, while doing what one can to simply move on, all the while keeping an open mind.
Mark Weber, the drummer of Better Things, said that the meaning of the song changed from the beginning. “Originally I wrote it as a way to get past some of my personal fears, but as I went through a tough situation in a relationship, it got applied to that song. Just because lyrically it’s somewhat open-ended and you can apply it to whatever bad thing is happening to you and use it. Honestly, any progress you make, any positive thing that happens, any little thing that makes you happy… you can use that as a means to move beyond whatever problem you’re facing.“
In keeping up with the spirit of punk rock, the music video for their first single was shot on a cell phone using Lego mini-figures as the band members. The video for “Stick That In Your Juicebox and Sip It” is a light-hearted contrast to the seriousness of the song’s subject matter.
Better Things combines the frustration of pervasive angst with an unrelenting hope for a better future.
To reference the works of C.S. Lewis, “there are better things ahead than any we leave behind.”
Bayside - Vacancy
by Kirsten Lynn Smith
It's been 2 years since their last release but Bayside is back with the new album "Vacancy".
Starting off with "Two Letters" with a sinister rift and battered bass melody. The chorus is brash conflicting emotions over what to call someone that once meant so much.
Much of this album trails in the deterioration of Raneri's marriage. This album is like a public journal of the troubles he's endured the last couple years. "Behind Enemy Lines" is powerful with darker chords, while the next track "Maybe, Tenessee" has a whaling guitar solo with a mournful tone of realization of needing to escape from what is no loner home.
"Rumspringa (Heartbreak Road)" is set with the attitude of having to find ones self alone again. Great song with searing guitar solos.
The tracks that really stand out are "I've Been Dead All Day" with dark melodies and haunting yet playful bridge with Raneri saying his relationship was never as well as he wanted everyone to believe. Also a standout is "The Ghost" with lyrics like "What would make you stay? I'll move a mountain, I'll change my name. Don't have to breathe if all my air gets in the way"
Closing we have "It's Not As Depressing As It Sounds" somber, yet it works very well as a stand alone track. It feels defeated, not defiant with accepting things as they are rather than standing up to fight leaving the album feeling almost unfinished. Maybe that's the point? This album proves that Bayside haven't released their best quite yet, there's still much more to come.
Overall I give it a 9/10
Trapt - DNA
by Kirsten Lynn Smith
"DNA" is Trapt's sixth release & first for the American rock band that topped chats with anthems like "Headstrong", "Echo and "Still Frame", on their own imprint of Crash Collide Records.
To start out is "Human (Like The Rest Of Us)" which is heavier both vocally and musically, very cinematic vibe to it. The tracks "It's Over" and "Passenger" have potential to become new staples in their catalog. Clearly centered around a hushed almost talking verse with a gaining in momentum and striking chorus with jacked power chords.
"DNA" almost loses the momentum of the previous songs and is less diverse, with many songs like "Getting Even", "Fallen Angel" and "Tangled Up In You" end up caught in rotation.
Overall this could be the right direction for the band, though it's not quite a full return. There's a lack of diversity staying with what's popular and not really giving it their own approach.
I give the album a 7/10.