Usually, I’m not atracted to hardcore very much. Not that I don’t like it, it’s just that, in my honest opinion, most of the bands are kinda copy/paste. All too similar. But then, there are bands such as “While You Wait”.
How I got into this band? Well, let’s just say that it was introduced to me through almost family circles. And at first I was like “ok, I’ll take a listen”, but the statement was mostly just to see what’s going on there and I thought that I will quickly forget about the band. But oh damn how I was wrong! The six songs that are feautred on this release just kept spinning and spinning and endlessly spinning on my speakers! And no, it ain’t just because the album lasts “just” eight minutes. While You Wait litteraly radiates with something that is attracting you to their songs. Amazing instruments with great tunes which are really well composed together and the whole record is kinda connected into one whole, so you listen to it in “one breath” so to speak. But then again, you also get the feeling that every song is a different chapter for itself, with riffs, melodies and lyrics changing quite a lot. I especially liked how the album is kind of divided into three parts (at least in my mind), with the first track, “This Is My Sun”, starting quite sudden and explosive. The tempo builds to the third song “A Life For A Life”, which is sort of mid tempo, with a really flowing and constant sound which is amazing. Then after “Watching A World Die” the songs start to have a slower tone at parts with distinctive breakdowns and then finally the last track which is very slow and sort of drifting away to the end of the record. So you really feel the mini-chapters and the oneness of the record at the same time, which is quite interesting. Also, the technical side of the album is quite attractive, some riffs are brilliant and I must say that I like the vocals very much, both the singer’s and the ocasional “scream-alongs”. Every part of the tunes is well composed and infused with one another and you have the feeling that everything is where it should be, litteraly nothing is astray.
This great EP was released in 2008. But luckily While You Wait is a hardworking band so in 2009 they released an album named “My End My Rebirth”, yet another amazing record. I really suggest to everyone to check them out and support them, since they all are very talented and deserve the attention and I really hope that they will continue to flurish the way they started. Definitely check them out on their myspace page bellow, take a listen and enjoy. I’m sure you will love them!

I’d also like to thank Andrea (guitar player in WYW), for wanting me to post their release on Skream Your Lungs Out and for being quite excited about that. And of course for the amazing While You Wait merch as a present! Hvala!=) (if you are reading this, say hi to Maria and the rest of the band:)

Download

bitrate: 128 kBit/s
genre: Hardcore
country: Italy
notes: www.myspace.com/whileyouwaitmusic

…and we support. Botond, a friendly dude from the amazing diy label “Itai Itai records” contacted me expressing wishes for collaboration between his label and our blog. As far as I know and remember, this is the first time a label contacted SYLO, so this is an amazing opportunity for us.
Itai Itai Records come from Hungary and have a number of great releases behind them, working with bands such as The Third Memory, dUNA, Choose Your Path and also the release of the famous screamo compilation called “Inanition”.
You can check out their myspace page on www.myspace.com/itaiitairecords

So starting from tomorrow, next to my daily uploads you will get a bonus upload coming from a band which is connected to Itai Itai. I would like to thank Botond for contacting me and for showing large interest in Skream Your Lungs Out.

From the time in my life when the awareness of music was awakened I always loved going to shows. And during that (I think) 10year old journey, from the moment the 12 year old boy went to his first gig, there was always the same way of feeling AFTER the show. Pain and buzzing in the ears, an abyssal back pain, almost total dehydration from screaming and singing…and probably a rash around the mouth, since you spend half a show eating dirty hair from the person in front of you. But also there is that other, a sort of emotional side of “gig aftermath”. The show was either wow or meh. The “meh” shows were bitched a bit and then kept quiet about, whilst the “wow” ones were talked about for days, even weeks. And that emotional side never really changed for me and I was always quite sure how I would feel about a show. But then came Analena and changed this “theory” from the core.
A complete lack of words on what to say about the event. Nothing. Luckily, none of my friends asked me “how was it”, because I really wouldn’t know what to say…except that it was amazing. Yes, it was. But as much as it blew me away, the impact ripped words out from my mouth and I guess I finally understand the meaning of the expression “breathtaking”. And although I will post this review, I still feel like this is just a bunch of random words put together. And it’s short.
So let’s start this the old fashioned way… The show took place two days ago, on October 17th 2009 in the Culture Center “Grad” (grad means “city” in Serbian). After the shock of seeing on a flyer that Analena was going to play in Belgrade another shock came when I saw that 36 Daggers will be the support band for the event. 36 Daggers is a prominent punk/emo band from Serbia and though I love them very much, I have never been to their show, since short after I heard about the band they disbanded. So I guess I don’t need to explain to you how I felt when I red their name on the poster. And let me be honest, for a brief period before the show, I actually forgot that the band even existed since their songs were lost on some cds in the depth of my room. Guilty. And since this is a revelation of hearing an amazing band for the first time twice, I won’t let it be forgotten again and will even share it in the upload section with you boys and girls.
The show was scheduled to start at 9 pm, but with a bit delay it started around 10 pm. The show started with the sound of 36 Daggers blasting through the venue. “From Nowhere” was one of the first few songs played and since it being my favorite it really set up a strange mood in me, kinda saddened nostalgia, quite weird but very much enjoyable. And then it continued…”Kalpa Minutes”, “Song About the Raven”, “Seven Targets Left”, were just some of the songs that were soothing the ears of the audience during their half hour performance. I was standing literally at the back of the crowd, so I didn’t see the band, since they played on the floor (true screamo no-stage venue, haha) so I can’t really say anything about the visual aspect of it all. The crowd was very much alive, singing along and moving to the rhythm of the songs. The last song they played was “Eugene In Love”, their longest song and quite an epic ending. During the last minute of the song, I hoped that this show was really a reunion for 36 Daggers and that in the future they will continue playing and maybe put out some new material.
When 36 Daggers finished, my friend, my girl and myself charged and moved up close to the “stage” and grabbed a nice spot for the three of us. And after a few moments, Analena literally exploded in the venue. The eruption of emotion and music came in the form of the song “Carbon Based Organisms”, really a stunning opening since this is my favorite song. The sound was perfect and me being so close to them while they were playing created a feeling of being almost swallowed by their behemoth instruments. The screams coming from Analena were particularly interesting for me, quite powerful and literally “moving my brain” (quote taken from my greatest inspiration). After the song, Ana talked a bit how it’s been five years since their last show in Belgrade. And it was really kinda sad, not because of the five year break, but because of the mere fact that they are from the country they come from and we are from the country we come from. Whoever knows a bit of Balkan history, knows that there has always been strife and hatred between Croatia and Serbia. But at the show there was non of that present, we were all the same, speaking the same language with absolutely no differences. Apparently both of our “scenes” are holding hands up high to reach each other, but we are sadly divided by rows upon rows of scum who hold ancient grudges which should have been forgotten a long time ago. Either way, Analena continued their show with their amazing songs like “Work In Progress”, “Spilt Milk”, “In Theory and Practice”, “From Automatic To Manual” and they even surprised us with a few new songs, “Inconstantinopolis”, “Send in the Clowns” (if I heard the name of the song correctly) and one song about pirates (that’s how they presented it). The crowd was alive all the time, singing, screaming and jumping around and at times screaming into Ana’s mic. Hehe, in one moment the security guy tried to move the crowd away a bit, but Ana turned him away saying “Don’t worry boys we can handle ourselves fine”. At the end of the show, a rave party was due, but as soon as house beats started, we scrammed away.
As I said, a bunch of random words pilled up together. I am still confused with what to say about the whole event, but my lack of words is definitely not a sign of a “meh” show. A peak at the “wow” mountain, an amazing opening of the concert season and this is running forward to be one of the best shows this year. I certainly hope we won’t have to wait another five years to hear Analena again…
After the show when I got home, the buzzing sound in my ears was extreme and the back pain was maddening…but it made me smile.

Entry:
15 € – Both Days
8 € – Friday
9 € – Saturday

Line-Up:

Friday:
18:00 – Hammers
18:50 – Alpinist
19:40 – Me and Goliath
20:30 – The Third Memory
21:20 – Dolcim
22:10 – Battle of Wolf 359
23:00 – Trainwreck

Saturday:
17:00 – Ghostchant
17:50 – Ghostlimb
18:40 – Danse Macabre
19:30 – June Paik
20:20 – Louise Cyphre
21:10 – Zann
22:00 – Graf Orlock
22:50 – Shikari

Day 1:

Our train took off at 12:44. A friend (who just finished work since 10 minutes) and I were sitting in the train with bags full of food and a case of beer and we were talking about „the old days“. At 16:20 our train arrived in Halle (Westphalia) and we were on the way to the bus-terminal. First we ran into the wrong bus, but the bus driver told us, that we should take the other bus to get to Versmold. After 40 minutes bus ride through nothing but cornfields we arrived at the ZOB Versmold. Once we were there, the band “Fargo” asked us, if we were going to the CMAR too and we decided to order a big taxi which drove us to the “Wörstenkrug” within 5 minutes. When we arrived we pitched our tent and went directly into the venue, because we arrived 10 minutes before the first band “Hammers” from Manchester started to play. I can’t tell much about the band, because I don’t like them so much. What sucked was that you couldn’t hear the singer. The first band is always fucked.
The next band was one of my favourites at the first day: „Alpinist“ from Munster. First Stagediver got onto the stage and finally there was some movement in the crowd. While the band played, we met some very nice Hungarian people and we met outside to drink something. Unfortunately my friend drank way too much of the self-made Hungarian Cognac, so that he lay puking everywhere and I missed the next 3 bands (Me and Goliath, Dolcim and Battle of Wolf 359). Because „The Third Memory“ came a few hours too late and my friend had finally finished puking, I was able to see the last 3 songs of „The Third Memory“ and realized that the atmosphere reached the boiling point. At last “Trainwreck started to play, who were the final straw. Stagedivers everywhere and even I got onto the stage to jump into the crowd, but after a few seconds, I hit my head on the ground, but I got picked up immediately and was carried through the room (and over the cameraman). Trainwreck played about an hour, but just 2 new songs, which you could already hear on the MySpace-site. But nonetheless, the first evening (except the accident with my friend) was amazing.

Day 2:

..Started very early at 4 a.m., because I wasn’t able to sleep on that stony ground with a snoring neighbour. So I took a seat on the bench, directly next to the guitarist of “Ghostchant” and a Dutch, who was talking about his terrible childhood. After 2 hours of doing nothing, I lay back into the tent a slept a few hours. At about 10 a.m. my alcoholic friend finally awake and we were asking ourselves how to kill time till 16 O Clock. Funnily, we realized, everyone was laughing at him or asking him, if he’s ok again.
At 13 O Clock we took a taxi to Versmold, because we were out of food. Finally it was 4 p.m. and we got into the venue to see „Ghostchant“ from Munich. They played about 30 minutes and played every song I liked. The next band was “Ghostlimb” from California. Very funny guys, its three-quarter of “Graf Orlock” so it has to be funny. Since I don’t like this band, I went to the record-table to buy 7 records and 2 shirts. After Ghostlimb it was time for my favourites of the whole weekend: “Danse Macabre”. Unfortunately the played just about 30 minutes too, but it was a hell of a show! The last song should be a song from the new album, but when the a few people shouted “BESOFFSKI!” they played that song at last. The next band was „June Paik“, who totally blew me away. When the finished their set, I was shaking all over my body. I’d like to thank that little Asian guy in the yellow shirt for kicking me into the face a few times, while we were both crowd surfing. As far as I know, June Paik just played songs from their last 2 LP’s which doesn’t really matter to me, because that two records are my favourites.
Now it was the turn for the band I was very exited for: “Louise Cyphre”. The band that doesn’t exist anymore, but still plays at the CMAR. Or like the singer said: „Louise Cyphre is not dead, she’s just sleeping very deeply. Maybe we’re here next year again or maybe not.“ Hm, what can I say? I wasn’t really disappointed, but they didn’t blow my away as I expected. Maybe because of the short songs.
As next it was Zann’s turn. They turned off the lights and did a awesome show with all songs I liked, even my favourite, the “Chokehold” Cover “Burning Bridges” were I tried to get to the microphone were a Dutch helped me to get there, but I didn’t reach the microphone. After Zann it was the turn of one of the most intense Liveband I’ve ever seen: “Graf Orlock“. With their “Trashy Grindcore” they crusted the venue. Mosh Pits, Circle Pits, small Wall of Deaths, everything was there. The singer threw himself (or got pushed by his band mates) into the crowd hundreds of times.
After „Gorlock“ it was time for maybe the most interesting band of the weekend: „Shikari“ from the Netherlands. The Band split in 2005 (?) and probably played their last show here and totally broke everything. At the beginning he accidently threw down his AMP and then he jump with the guitar into the crowd. Shikari played about 60 minutes and every classic like “Copycat” or “Robot Wars” was played. Amusing was, when it seemed that the Drummer had to go to the toilet and jumped into the crowd to get there. After the Shikari gig, it hang out with some of the Dutch and a guy I met a few hours ago, till I finally realized, I was the only one still awake. So I woke my friend to order a taxi to get to Halle. The Taxi driver nearly killed us when he drove 160 km/h on a 70 km/h way.

So, that was my CMAR weekend. 15 € entry, about 40 € to get there are totally worth it. And I’ll be there next year again!

More Photos:
http://www.getaddicted.org/archiv/cry_me_a_river/gallery_versmold_2009.php

The fact that I am writing this show review is inspired by quite a few things. First of all, I was and still am very euphoric about it, since this is the second screamo gig in my lifetime. Yep it’s true. The first one was held almost a year ago, last November, the hosting of the amazing well known French Daitro. Sadly that concert never had a review, basically because I was completely blown away by the whole event. But that is another story. This one is about Pete, Radio and Serbian Went. And yes, my mind was blown away again. Yet I found it quite stupid if I didn’t write this little text, since the small life pulses of screamo within my country should be marked in every way possible.

Secondly, why I am writing this review, I feel that Petethepiratesquid deserves to see how much of a great show they put on for us and also I feel it is my duty to do so and say sorry to Pete. Simply because, a long time I have thought that Pete is a quite boring and mediocre screamo act. Whoever knew me a bit better, knew that the only screamo I didn’t love were two bands, Pete and Birds are Spies, They Report to the Trees. But today I feel embarrassed for both statements. I came to realize that you can’t judge with a clear mind a music act heard only once, which may have happened in a wrong moment, in a moment when my ears would more enjoy some sludge tunes or something else. So with this review I really want to say sorry to Pete for my bad thoughts of you boys and girls, you are quite an interesting and pleasurable band.

And lastly, Hell I’m a member of a screamo/emo/indie/… blog, I might as well write a review:)))

The concert took place yesterday evening, namely July 20th 2009, in a well known Belgrade venue, Living Room in the Student Cultural Center. The show was due to start in 9 pm, but was a “bit” late so it kicked off around 10 pm. Seriously, the little delay was the only bad thing about the whole event. The beginning of the gig was marked with the beautiful Went, Serbian alternative/indie act. They are a kind of revelation for me, since I personally never heard about them before the announcement for this event. An amazing mix of gentle melodies with a soothing voice and an aggressive outburst of rending guitar riffs, Went stunned me for a good half an hour of brilliant tunes. Their music really gives you a “floating” kind of feeling, in my mind the music created a view of a peaceful ocean landscape. This may sound too typical, but you have to see and experience this live and see what I mean. Luckily the Went dudes promised to give me some of their material for the blog as soon as they finish recording, so hopefully you boys and girls will find their tunes in the upload section. They are a perfect example of what I love about the music scene in Serbia, where a lot of hidden musical gems can be found. I will surely try and keep my eye on these young lads and their work.

Next up, Petethepiratesquid. What can I say, except “wow!”? A lot of people, me included, enjoy more when the bands they like are both musically and visually pleasurable. And this band is the epitome of cuteness. Yes, I said it, cuteness. Looking at the stage and seeing Björn going nuts with the drum kit, Felix dressed up fancy with a tie, black shirt and pants, coupled up with crazy dancing, Jana jumping around and standing on her toes as she sings and talks and Ulli standing and playing bass while looking at the crowd and smiling, the whole scene makes you want to go up on stage and give them a group hug. And the fact that they wrote the songlist on a back of an old show poster and put it on the floor on the middle of the stage, made the scene even cuter. As far as the music part goes, the same amount of enjoyment was included. I really enjoy their music at home, but live performance is on such a higher level. Gentle and elegant parts of a song where Jana talks, followed by an intense explosion of the whole band, fast paced parts really make your chest pound faster and faster. “Strangers with candy”, “Sharpshooter”, “Sure it was fun while it lasted”, “All the way from your bed to the door”, “All girl freak show”, “Mixed motives and social dilemma” and a bunch of other songs (which I can’t remember from the overall excitement) rang through the venue. They were very happy with the reactions of the crowd during the whole show, Felix even gave a compliment saying “You crazy Serbs”, and at the end we didn’t let them go so easily with screaming, clapping and whistling, so we got a bonus song. Yaaay!

Last, but not least, Pete’s good friend Radio Burroughs. Everything I said about Pete’s performance could be copy pasted here for Radio. Damn cute band with a bunch of friendly faces on stage always smiling and hopping around. Beautiful, fast paced, but graceful and tender songs with amazing girl vocals, made me speechless after the end of the show. You in fact have a wish to dance and sing nonstop while they play, so I gladly sang quietly whilst some of my favorite songs were played, like “Knit a Hole”, “Let’s Fill These Boxes”, “Just Like We Break Down” and “We Press Buttons”. However, sadly I left my “dancing shoes” in my pocket, since the crowd wasn’t really into dancing. But the crowd was going wild after every song with cheers and claps, so again we got a bonus song at the end.

So in the end, what can I say? Last night show was one of the best for this year, amazing mix of bands, nice people, beautiful atmosphere and after the show my wish to see all these bands again. And a new T shirt bought at the small distro section, yaaaaaaay:) I hope both Petethepiratesquid and Radio Burroughs had fun as much as the crowd did and that they come here once again in the future. Thank you for a wonderful show.

Great ambient / post-rock / new classical band, they’re touring right now in Europe, so check them out if you’ve got the chance.

Who believes in patterns?
A lashout of patterns, Twelve handsels a strong album. Piano, viola. Pause. Guitar. Drums. And the atmosphere starts getting miserable. Pause. Bass. Music. The first songs gets you wondering -is there any kind of evolution in this? Any sort of progress? The guitar sounds are harsh, reminding the distinctive riffs of Hot Cross at times. They pretty much sound like scratches on your eardrum. Sit back. The complicated musical themes are combined with jazz lines.

The second track is raising the feeling of anticipation, and a sax is keeping a mellow travel across the scales. It brings in mind the music of John Zorn mashed with sludge and pretty flowers. There is no exact point of ending for the song, in fact it can go on a loop eternally -and instrumentally, it is connected to the following song, Six, which breaks the ice after a stressful introduction.

So This Is Our Home has some vague traces of Defiance, Ohio! or Erin Tobey. And still it fits in the album, although it’s not really obeying to the saturnine character of the rest songs. The pass to the next track (Eight) is soft and discreet. The female vocals appearing in both songs help in connecting them, and the walk from absolute melody to the outbreak of Eight is interesting and still gentle. Eight is like a desperate face that emerged out of So This Is Our Home and the lyrics are summing up the whole album -disappointed, devastating, miserable, melancholic, black, tender, angry, questioning.

Finishing with the Country Song, a twisty guitar starts and the almost-out-of-tone-accompaniment of the viola create a haunted, ill atmosphere. It could be considered as a tragic ironic response to the common country songs; actually, it seems to be ambivalent between irony and solemnity. The song gives a decadent, abandoned, tired end to the album -it leaves a bitter taste. This helps in digesting the album as an entity. The songs lose some of their meaning when listened to separately, as there is a sequence between them. This is pretty obvious because the ending of one song is the beginning of the next one.

The album has moments of silence against terrible noise, and the band seems to have pursued the succession of low-profile parts by outbreaks. Still, they don’t get purely chaotic or pitchlessly noisy. There is some balance between what they sing and what they shout.

Echo-effect: it is reoccurring throughout the album. Rhythmic changes are also common during songs, ranging from post-rock-ish slow vibrant notes to conserved violent phrases. Change the vocals and you get a clearer version of Circle Takes The Square’s music. It is an album that gets you full. Most songs are pretty long (e.g. Twelve, Seven, Three, Nine) but intervals of mental relaxation also exist. The music is mature, swarming with strange noises and subtle -or obvious- melodies. The way the songs impose their mood in the room, it can get massive, so at times the thin line between substance and exhaustion is maybe infringed.

Mixed vocals (female & male) also support the tonal variety of the songs, because the music is mostly moving in lower pitches.

Believes In Patters, a piece of distorted art, the work of a foggy Saturday night with the streetlights smudging their glow around them, dull music coming out of the buildings nearby, and you flying to waste, vanishing in patterns.

Thanks to QsLv_ for sending me this review.

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Musically, at the point when a subcultural style becomes incorporated into the market, it is simultaneously stripped of its cultural message and becomes simply another meaningless object of mass consumption. Consider the plethora of politically motivated punk rock bands (Against Me! Greenday e.t.c) whose commercial success has seen the timeless display of politics relegated and contained to the bands personal history. Even the brash political lyrics of the mid-nineties Hip-Hop Scene (N.W.A, Wu-Tang Clan e.t.c) declined rapidly, while interest in the soundscape that those lyrics roamed increased exponentially. However, the extreme Black Metal scene has, and is still consistently defined, by its (anti)-political message, stubbornly maintaining its distance from the market whilst remaining self-consciously and traditionally burdened by the atrocities of its own festering scene. Ironically, it is this close-minded attitude that has allowed Wolves in the Throne Room (Olympia, WA) to breathe new life into the flagging scene. Through a process of reification, Wolves in the Throne Room (Hereby referred to as WITTR) have separated subject ((anti)-politics) from object (music), allowing both creative and political freedom to manifest itself with veracity.

Since the release of second album Two Hunters (2007, Southern Lord), WITTR have ascended to the upper tiers of the underground scene by creating a transformative and apocalyptic musical manifestation that has come to completely transcend the Black Metal label. Formed by brothers Aaron (Drums) and Nathan Weaver (Guitar, Vocals) and accompanied by former Middian guitarist Will Lindsay (replacing former guitarist Richard Dahlen), the band have consistently stated that their combined musical goal was “to create a musical expression of an expanding consciousness that linked the mythic and apocalyptic visions of Black Metal” with “life-changing actions on the physical plane” and with Black Cascade (2009), the bands third full-length album, WITTR have further sought to differentiate Black Metal from a force of pure negativity and have forged an individual, neo-Arcadian philosophy in their own image.

Despite being founded upon a traditional Black Metal musical aesthetic, Black Cascade voraciously incorporates genre as a means to broaden its appeal. Genres are woven together, with ambient and environmental samples rising and falling through the material. Melodic, Shoe-gaze drones are compounded with hazy electronics and psychedelic swings of tempo that blend together effortlessly and inter-relate between each extended composition.

The opening track ‘Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog’ acts as both an homage to traditional Black Metal musical structures whilst at the same time using structure to deconstruct the notion of the subject; complementing traditional Black Metal tempos with ever changing dynamic shifts to produce a sophisticated layered composition that elevates transient melodies to the forefront of the song rather than make spectacular the modified heavy metal that features so prominently in the works of early Black Metal bands (such as Burzum and Mayhem).

‘Ahrimanic Trance’ takes the formal qualities of ‘Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog’ and promotes them further, outdoing both the ferocious speed and melodic drones of the opening track yet maintaining a sense of stylistic unity between the two.

Joined thematically with the environmental sample ending the track before, third track ‘Ex Cathedra’ begins slowly but builds into an uncompromising powerhouse only to be broken down at the peak of its finery and outdone by a truly beautiful piece of proceeding electronic atmosphere.

Closing track ‘Crystal Ammunition’ remains similar in focus but introduces sombre Arcadian-folk that juxtaposes perfectly with the shrill of Nathan Weaver’s vocals, bringing the album to its perfectly balanced conclusion.

Recorded onto a two inch tape and mixed on a 1973 Neve Console by Producer Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn O))) ), the entirety of the album benefits hugely from the hazy recorded sound, allowing for guitars and electronics to merge and create not just a sound, but a ‘soundscape’, bereft of Black Metal contradictions and brimming with enticing melody. With the release of Black Cascade, Wolves in the Throne Room have provided the possibility of moving beyond the colourless walls of Black Metal routine into the bright environs of an imaginary state and, in doing so; have changed the direction of American Black Metal for the near future.

Slothbear

Tracklisting:

1. Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (10:33)
2. Ahrimanic Trance (14:06) (Slothbear’s Top Track)
3. Ex Cathedra (10:59)
4. Crystal Ammunition (14:21)

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Mirror

With their fourth release Worse Than Alone (2009), The Number 12 Looks Like You has added a dynamic which most math core bands seem to lack; structure. Considering the commercial success of Mongrel (2007), it is no wonder the band have sought refinement in their sound. Opening track ‘Glory Kingdom’ noticeably departs from previous efforts and sets the focus of the entire album. Gone is the spasmodic call and response twin vocal assault; an integral element to earlier albums, now replaced by gang vocals and shouts rather than screams. Gone is the varied use of time signature within individual songs; now contained within tight individual structures, time changes complement the overall sound rather than act to disrupt and jar the listener.

This is not to say however that the album is in any means inferior to previous efforts. The bands new approach allows for some truly memorable moments that are as devastating, if not more so, as previous efforts. ‘To Catch a Tiger’s song structure revolves around repeated guitar patterns that start as powerful, hard rock breakdowns and which descend into heavy, hardcore breakdowns all the while punctuated by gang vocals. ‘Marvin’s Jungle’ on the other hand, allows the band to incorporate elements of punk- rock for a surprisingly joyous conclusion.

Despite this the band still retains their trademark sound on some tracks. ‘The Garden’s All Nighters’ is perhaps the best example of this. Shifting from layers of highly complex progressive metal to beautifully constructed jazz interludes; the song purposefully acts as an homage to Mongrel whilst remaining distinct enough to coordinate with the refined sound of the new album on the whole.

Highly energised and distinctly different in tone and direction, Worse Than Alone shows how even the most innovative bands can expand upon a sound they themselves created. The Number 12 Looks Like You have created a worthy follow up to 2007’s Mongrel that builds upon the complex math-core elements of previous albums and refines them into something wholly more powerful.

Slothbear

The Number 12 Looks Like You – Worse Than Alone

Track Listing:

1. Glory Kingdom
2. Given Life
3. To Catch A Tiger
4. Marvin’ Jungle
5. The Garden’s All Nighters (Slothbear’s Top Track)
6. If They Holler, Don’t Let Go
7. Retort, Rebuild, Remind
8. The League of Endangered Oddities
9. Serpentine
10. I’ll Make My Own Hours

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Great! Mr_Evil took some photos! Check ‘em out here.
Thanks, man!
You can watch the whole Pangaea gig on Youtube! Watch it here.

This is my first review, I don’t think it will be good or long. Sorry for any mistakes in my grammar and wrong typed words.

It was the second Screamo concert I attended. Yeah, some kind of pathetic, I know, but here in Munich (Germany) are not very often Screamo concerts or I can’t go for some reasons I don’t wanna write now. I didn’t take photos because I’m really not good at it so the photos wouldn’t be sharp or you just wouldn’t see anything on it. And fuck, I was there to listen to those bands, not to take any photos! I’ll give you a link, if I find some photos.

The concert was at a location in Munich called ‘Kafe Marat’. That location is really fucked up. Awesome.
The first band which played was Pangaea, a Screamo band from Munich. It was their last show by the way. Very sadly… That band was very good. The singer started the first three or four songs with jumpin’ into the audience. Some people were very shocked as the singer jumped onto them. Then he walked in the crowd, singing (yes, okay. Screaming). After some time he jumped onto their merch table still screaming. Then he jumped back into the audience, walked around, screamed at some persons. Some of them screamed back (the lyrics of course). Very nice. At this time a persons next to me had the idea to jump into the crowd, too. Hell, I was fuckin’ shocked as he jumped into my direction…
Then came the last song. I think it was the 7th or 8th song by them, can’t really remember and I really didn’t count the songs. The singer (I don’t know his name) throw his microphone onto the ground and screamed the shit out of himself. And yes, he walked through the audience and jumped onto their merch table again. He danced very cool by the way.

The next bands were Ghostchant and Red Tape Parade. Ghostchant is from Munich, too and they play also Screamo. Red Tape Parade is from Würzburg and they play some kind of Punk Rock and Hardcore in my opinion. They had a great idea: Play against each other at the same time. That means there were two stages, on the right side were Ghostchant, Red Tape Parade on the left, of course. Ghostchant started playing their first song. I can’t give you the song names but they played their whole split ep. After the second song the audience turned around and listened to two songs of Red Tape Parade. This happenend four times, as far as I remember and Ghostchant offended Red Tape Parade Then the bands played one bonus song each and the gig was over. Oh yes, a friend of mine told me that Red Tape Parade wore monkey masks while they were playing a song. I haven’t seen that, there were a lot of people in front of me :/

Well, what can I say? It was awesome and I really wanna see them again. I had to pay five Euros (6,33 Dollars) to see those three great bands and I got the Red Tape Parade/Ghostchant Split EP 7″ also. Sadly Pangaea broke up, as I already wrote. That band was very great although the singer used to growl sometimes. You should know, that I’m not a big fan of growling. Ghostchant and Red Tape Parade were awesome, too. If you have the chance to see them live, go and watch them, it’s absolutely worth.