Paramore, April 5, 2013

It's taken me a long time to get around to this review, mostly because I haven't known what to say. I've spent a lot of time listening to this album and trying to change my initial reaction, but every time I get the same thing. What happened to Hayley Williams?

Of course I was expecting a different sound from this record and even a bit of a different writing style since the departure of Josh and Zac Farro, but I wasn't expecting an entirely new sound from the singer.

The vocals don't just differ from past Paramore records, but vary track to track in such a way that makes it almost impossible to get used to what you're hearing. To make matters worse, the album is broken up by a series of weird interludes that throw off the flow completely.

The record starts with the drum-heavy "Fast In My Car" that seems more like a showcase of the bands new sounds than a song and ends with the much too long "Future", a nearly eight minute, slow instrumental that fakes you out several times by slowing down and fading out only to come back.

The truly low points come from "Ain't It Fun", an R&B/rock track featuring a full choir, and "Anklebiters", an upbeat pop song with cynical lyrics about learning to love yourself because "Someday you're gonna be alone".

On "Part II", Hayley throws back to RIOT!, reprising "Let the Flames Begin" with depressing lyrics like "What a shame we all remain such fragile broken things" and "Oh glory, come and find me". It's a far cry from the original "I believe that there's hope growing beneath it all".

By far, the weirdest moment comes on "(One Of Those) Crazy Girls". Musically, this song isn't bad, but the lyrics tell a story of some seriously twisted ex boyfriend stalking. When calling a hundred times fails, she shows up at the door with a copied key saying "If you're not here when I break in, I'm gonna go to your closet just so I can smell your skin" quickly followed by repeating "I'm not one of those crazy girls".

It's really not completely terrible though. Like anything, it has it's high points too. "Grow up" is one of the best songs on the record, making the difficult decision to grow up even though it means letting go of someone you love. This is also the only song that breaks away from the constant change ups and inconsistent beats on the record. Sometimes, stripping something down is the best thing you can do for it.

Mostly, good parts on this record are few and far between and buried in an unfortunate excess of sounds, but they are there and hopefully, those parts will be the ones carried to the future Paramore projects. Trial and error, right?

A Rocket To The Moon splits up

It's never easy to say goodbye to a favorite band, but A Rocket To The Moon has decided that after five years, it's time to part ways. 

"You need to get lost before you get found." front-man Nick Santino titled the blog post on arockettothemoon.net announcing the bands decision to move past their Rocket days. 

The band started out on tour with The Maine, so it only feels fitting that they should go out that way. This summer you can catch A Rocket To The Moon on tour with The Maine for the last time. They're encouraging all their fans to come out, share stories, sing, laugh and cry with them one more time. 

The tour will kick off June 4th in Tempe, AZ with an album release show for The Maine's new record "Forever Halloween" and will continue through the summer. You can check out dates and pick up tickets at http://8123.me/themaine/ 

Come out for a final Rocket show, and get ready for whatever comes next from Nick, Justin, Eric and Andrew.

The Summer Set - Maybe Tonight

After a lot of questioning around the internet, The Summer Set have stepped up to announce that they are the "Half Moon Kids".

If you're wondering, like I think most people are, "What is a 'Half Moon Kid'?", the band answered it on their new website halfmoonkids.com.

"The Half Moon Kids started as a tight knit group of friends on a midnight walk one warm summers night. The Half Moon Kids soon became a collective consciousness, a train of thought, that turned one seemingly light hearted night into a new perception of reality."

And that sets the scene for their new music video "Maybe Tonight". 

The new album "Legendary" will be available April 16th via Fearless Records.

Streetlight Manifesto decide it's time for a break

Streetlight Manifesto has been struggling to get out their latest album "The Hands That Thieve". After many arguments and runarounds with their soon-to-be ex-label, the album has finally gotten it's release date. 

After nearly a decade, the guys are happy to say that they're "free of a very contentious, very unhappy relationship" with their record label, but they're also happy to call it quits. On touring, that is.

They stated on their website that they will never stop making music together, but the time has come to move on. Some of them will be exploring other musical avenues while others will be settling down and just being happy to be home. 

So, to finish out 10 straight years of tours, Streetlight Manifesto presents: The End Of The Beginning Tour, a year long, multi-country farewell tour and while they're not saying goodbye to live events forever, they did say it's likely they will never return to most of the places they're appearing this year. 

You can check out tour dates and read the bands farewell statement at streetlightmanifesto.com

"The Hands That Thieve" will be available on April 30th via Victory Records. 

3oh!3 find an interesting way to celebrate 3/03

Nat and Sean have declared today "3Oh!3 day" and to celebrate they posted a list of 303 things to do on 3Oh!3 day. They asked their fans to do a whole slew of things ranging from drawing a 3Oh!3 sign to rolling down a hill to singing a duet with a stranger and asked for proof via instagram, Twitter and Youtube. Why would anyone do those things, you ask? To unlock some long awaited information and a new song.

They were successful. Within the early hours of the morning all 303 tasks had been completed and the proof posted. (You can see all the completed tasks here)

The guys are now streaming their new song "Back To Life" from the upcoming album "Omens". They also announced that "Omens" will finally be released June 18th. Pre-orders launched today. You can check out bundles and pre-order the album at store.3oh3music.com. To finish out the exciting news for 3Oh!3 fans, the music video for "Back To Life" will premiere on March 5th. The song will also be available on iTunes that day.

3Oh!3 will be performing select Warped tour dates this summer as well. Check your city and get tickets at vanswarpedtour.com.

Bring Me The Horizon have had a busy week.

In the past few days Bring Me The Horizon had their new album "Sempiternal" leaked. They responded to the leak with a tweet saying they were glad everyone liked the album and teased that there might be an early release. 

Then on Thursday they announced the album had been bumped up four weeks from it's original release date. The album will now be released on April 2nd. 

They also announced that they've posted an official stream of the new album on youtube for a limited time and are urging everyone to buy it when it's released so they can continue making new music. 

You can listen to "Sempiternal" here.

We Are The In Crowd plays new song on tour

We Are The In Crowd played a new song at a show in Anaheim a few days ago. 

They are currently on the Wake Up and Be Awesome Tour with The Summer Set. 

You can get tickets here.