EN MI DEFENSA / AGAINST ALL MY FEARS CHILE TOUR

Two of Chile's best bands are going to be doing a 5 day tour in 5 different cities of the South-American country. This is the first time these two bands get together to tour different parts of the country. So if you live in that area, and happen to read this blog. You better make it to one of these shows. If not, just go to all of them!

MAINTAIN, OUTRAGE, UNRESTRAINED, REIGNITION @ Burlington, VT

Well, it took me like 3 days to finally put this one up, but I have been busy. Anyway, this show was fucking awesome. There were a lot of problems, because from what I recall, this show was originally supposed to be at 242 Main. Which is this little club there that always holds shows. I've played there a couple times before. Anyway. The next place it was supposed to be at, was at one of the Unrestrained dude's basement. But then there was a noise complaint before the show even started. So It got moved to like this office space in "Downtown" Burlington. I always thought Vermont shows were sort of weird and awkward. But I think it was the bigger spaces that make them awkward. At a small venue. They can be rather fun!

Reignition:
This is a Pennsylvania up and coming band. They are sort of that band trying to go for the Mid90s sound. They were good, but the only thing I found about this band, which is not a bad thing, is that they are still trying to find their sound. So they have potential. I heard some of the stuff on their myspace like a week or 2 before the show and was quite impressed. But yea, they are still looking for their particular sound.

Unrestrained:
I am gonna say it straight. I used to hate this band. I thought they were horrible, but they made the exact changes I always thought about when I saw them. "Change your drummer please!". And now they sound amazing. I was really impressed with their set. Another thing is that the singer at least didn't spend 3 hours after every song saying the same thin of every show. He actually said cool stuff that night, and wasn't like saying it too much. Although, I do not agree in everything that he said.

Outrage:
I always liked this band. But I never could really see them play a whole set. They completely blew me away. The new songs are ill as fuck. Simple, heavy, awesome. Definitely this band is gonna be the next big thing. Mark my words. They are going to be touring non-stop this summer, and that will just make them better, tighter, and people will get so into them. It's gonna be insane.

Maintain:
We just had the best show we've played as a band. It was fun, and the crowd was fun. I need to fix my snare drum.

Sepultura "Roots" vs. Sepultura "Against" vs. Soulfly "Soulfly"

Ok. I have been listening to this albums recently. Although I know a lot of poeple that consider the Sepultura after Derrick Green joined on vocals, some sort of "It all went downhill from there" thing. Plus they are the 3 albums that marked that point from where they were 2 different bands now.

I have to completely disagree. Let's take a good look at these 3 albums. So this is my analysis about why Against is a way better album than both Roots and Soulfly.




Roots, is the last Sepultura release featuring Max Cavalera on vocals.


Against, is the first Sepultura release featuring Derrick Green on vocals.


Soulfly (also called self-titled) is the first Soulfly release from Max Cavalera's band after leaving Sepultura.

The thing is simply this. When you listen to Either Roots or Soulfly (2 albums I really love, don't get me wrong), you sometimes find that you want to skip through certain parts. For example in Roots, I still don't know anyone that listens to that song "Lookaway", which features dudes from Korn. What the fuck?! Same thing in Soulfly, even though it's a good idea, but really bad execution is that song "Soulfly", which they try to keep putting in every release just like adding a Roman numeral after. At the same time, Max just has way too many guest vocalists. Including Fred Dust. That's really low, although I really like his part. It's like a guilty pleasure.

In Roots another thing that you find is a lot of those instrumentals, that later Max started using a lot with Soulfly. There's two songs that I think would be so much better if they didn't add some stupid "tribal" bridge. Like the songs Ambush, also Endangered Species. Those fucking songs are fucking amazing. But then you have like a 2 minute "tribal" interlude in between that makes you want to kill the band because they managed to ruin some of the best riffs they had ever done with some stupid "tribal" shit.

Anyway. I don't know if someone agrees, but I see Soulfly pretty much as the continuation of what Max wanted Sepultura to go.

Now. I am going to talk about Against.

Against, pretty much starts with a fucking sick drum intro, the only way Igor Cavalera can do it. Then it jumps right into the title track of the album, which is pretty much a hardcore punk song. And I love that. To be honest I had been waiting all that time for Sepultura to finally show their hardcore punk background. You can hear some little hints in Chaos A.D.'s "Biotech Is Godzilla" but it's a shorter song. The next song "Choke just pretty much unleashes Derrick's vocals, who by the way is one of my favorite singers in hardcore/metal/punk.

This album, obviously had to stay in the "vein" of what Roots was because of the obvious change in the band, so they needed to prove they could continue doing that. At least that's what I think. The only difference between this album and the other two mentioned earlier, is that this album is way more thought. You can see that in Soulfly it's pretty much like trying to do something as fast as possible because Max found out that Sepultura had already a new singer. That's why there are some members in the recording that I don't think ever played a live show.

Against tends to flow way better, and better songwriting, and better lyrics. Pretty much they did what they were going to do, instead of trying to come up with stuff in the last minute. But I am not gonna say, that I hate the other two albums, because I don't. I love them. They are just not as good as Against.

One thing. If you like Soulfly, and Roots. Well, the only thing I recommend to do is listen to Against. But listen to them as another band. Don't think of them as Sepultura. Then you will understand what I am saying.

THE EFFORT, OUTRAGE, BRAINDEAD, LATE NITE WARS, MAINTAIN, ALL STAR ME, ROADRAGE @ URI

Another weekend, another show. This time it was at URI, in the middle of nowhere, Rhode Island. I really don't know how got there, even though it was pretty easy top get there, but this place was literally like in the woods or something. Anyway, because of the lineup, this show was more of a MVHC show than a RIX show. I mean, apart from The Effort, and that band Braindead, it was a Mass show. Even most of the people I remember seeing there were from MA.

Although, I have to admit, this was a special show. The night before this show, Michael, the younger brother for the bassist from my band xBillx passed away. Personally I wouldn't have played the show. But I know xBillx wanted, because hardcore is pretty much everything that takes him away from a lot of shitty stuff in life. I don't blame him. In January '08 we played a show, and I found minutes before we went on, that my grandfather passed away. So I gave my all, and let my rage on that drumset that night, I know somewhere he was watching me, so I played my best for him.

Roadrage:
Well, I was on my way to the show, because of work schedule, while they played, so I pretty much missed their set. I hope they played well. I know Briggs played with them, even though he arrived from Seattle that morning from being on tour with Have Heart. Anyway, this band grows on me everyday. I can't wait for the May 7th show (I think they are playing, if not, to the next time I see them).

All Star Me:
I got to the show right like in the middle of their set. To my surprise and amusement, they were covering Carousel by Blink-182. Actually, that is my favorite Blink song, so I wanted to go nuts and sing it, but everyone was doing the stand still dance, and it was sort of awkward, so I didn't do it. I don't really know their songs, but they play pretty well. But it doesn't matter what people say, in my opinion, they are not in the "vein of Saves the Day". Even because of them being names after an alright Saves The Day song.

Maintain:
We played a very emotional set, because of the before mentioned situation. We kept it short. But I thought we played alright. We did cover Unbroken, because we know how xBillx loves Unbroken, so we played it, so he could let it all out.

Late Nite Wars:
This band, at first, I hated them. Not last night, but before, I mean. They are another band from the MVHC area that is starting to grow on me. Even though they dont play like them that much, it reminds me for some reason to Taking Back Sunday in the "Tell All Your Friends" era. They played a real tight set. And that dude that was supposed to leave the band to be in The Real World, is still around, so I don't know what happened. He may have been kicked out of it or something.

Braindead:
I stayed out the door for them, because I was a little tired. But I did listen to them. They were sort of heavy. I think they were from Pennsylvania. I mean, I listened to it as background music, and stuff. But it wasn't that bad from what I can recall. I am not going to say, they were bad or awesome, because I really didn't see them play, so that's about it.

Outrage:
Right before they played, Jordan from The Effort (he also booked the show), gave a speech. It was a very good speech, actually better than all of The Effort's speeches I have ever heard combined. Anyway, it was about vegetarianism, gay rights, religion, and about his family (who were in attendance). The he sang No Spiritual Surrender by Inside Out. I went crazy, found out I am very out of shape, so I went to the little room next door and took a breath. Outrage played awesome. I like that band, but for some reason, I can't see them play live. I go to their shows, and I always stay outside the door when they play. I just like listen to them. Not even look at the stage. They are intense, and in Checkers' words "Ignorant awesome metalcore."

The Effort:
I love the dudes. Hate the band. So that's my review for them.

I RISE, MAINTAIN, PITFALL, TROUBLEMAKER, BLACK TEETH, FOREIGN OBJECTS @ UMass Amherst

So last night, we (Maintain) had this show in Amherst, MA. At the UMass down there (notorious for having that awesome Final Four basektball team which included fellow Puerto Ricans, Carmelo Travieso and Edgar Padilla, and a collegiate version of Marcus Camby). Anyway, first I have to say that university is probably the biggest one I have ever seen in my life. So, yea, the show was at this place called the Cape Cod Lounge, which was a bigger version of the UML MPR at Fox Hall. As for the show perse, it was good, despite being a midweek show, in the middle of nowhere with relatively no bigger bands playing.

Black Teeth:
This band was the first band, they jumped into the bill late, because one of the bands that was supposed to play dropped out or something. They were from Illinois, I found out later, but then it made more sense seeing the singer with a White Sox hat. Anyway, this band was really good. Pretty heavy hardcore, even though they didnt play a longer set because they broke some strings they managed to impress me. The drummer is really good. But yea, their set got shortened by equipment failure.

Troublemaker:
From Jersey. I was kinda looking forward to play with this band, not in the sense that I liked them, but more in the sense that I wanted to see what they were about, plus the band name sort of rules. They were totaly different from what I expected. I wasn't that really into them, but they did cover Integrity. No one moved though, cause it was one of those awkward sets. The singer was pretty funny though, and I wanted his Puma jacket. haha.

Pitfall:
I haven't seen Pitfall in the longest time. But they are pretty much super generic hardcore that's sort of cool. With cool heavy parts here and there. They play super tight which is kinda good for bands their style, because too sloppy makes it totally awful, but tight makes it good. I am not a super Pitfall fan, but it's way better than their last band Defiant Hearts (which in my opinion, totally sucked). So yea, they played a really tight set.

Foreign Objects:
This is a band I have never heard of at all. But they had a chick singer, a chick bassist, and a chick guitar player, and a dude drummer. The way he set up his drumset, had me thinking that they were gonna be like one of these super annoying stuck up indie band. But no, they were pretty punk. Not my style of punk I guess. It wasn't bad, but they did bore me. Although I have to say that singer chick was sort of hot. Loved her tattoos. Anyway I lasted like 2 1/2 songs, then went to the back to warm up for our set. I heard they covered Stiff Little Fingers.

Maintain:
From my perspective, we played a good set. Not our best, sort of faster than we usually play, but good. Kids liked it a lot for being our first Western Mass show. Kids loved the Refused "Rather Be Dead" cover.

I Rise:
I seriously haven't seen this band since the day we started recording our full length, and before that, the last time I saw them was like january 2008. So more than a year. I know they had that new record, and I wanted to hear some of those songs. They played them very well. The new drummer is better than the guy that played after I left them (sort of, cause I was in the band just for tour). They seem more slowed down than before. And Alex loves pedals.. They had a good set, all I can say. At this point mostly everyone had left. But it was a good close up set.

I hate college life.

TRAP THEM, FURNACE, THE_NETWORK, HIVESMASHER, MACHINE LANGUAE @ Anchor's Up.

I went to this show to see my friend's band Hivesmasher. And still, I don't recall the last time I went to a straight up metal show. So for that, I felt a little bit out of place, since I didn't really know a lot of people. Little by little, i started seeing familiar faces. It was a good show, not packed, I thought there was going to be more people, then i realized it was a Tuesday night show. So it made more sense to me after that.

Machine Language:
I still don't know if this is the name of the band, but that's what I think, so I am gonna call them like this. They played a very good set. Very heavy stuff, the drummer was really good, but the only thing I think killed this band's set was that one of the guirar players should revise his tuning. But it wasn't bad apart from that. I am really looking forward to seeing this band again. They said they are recording at Dead Air soon. Then I overheard one of the guys in the band saying it was only going to be one day. Hope they do a lot in that day.

Hivesmasher:
One of the reasons for me going to this show was to see this band. I mean, I have seen them before, and really enjoyed it. Kinda like grind core, and now add some keyboards to the mix. It's weird, because I usually don't like keyboards in bands, but you can't really tell there is a keyboard in this band. They played a good set. But there was this really long-haired metal dude that kept telling one of the guitar players to turn up his amp, and that masked the whole sound of the drumkit. So you couldn't really hear the drums. I think it took a lot away from what the sound would have been.

the_Network:
This is the first time I see this band, I have heard a lot about them in the PRHC board, and seen their cd's at Newbery's and stuff. But from what I noticed, I mean, everyone did, they played a lot of new stuff. So it's very, very heavy stuff. They played a couple old ones, and they were good too. New stuff is different from what I had previously heard, and the drummer is nuts.

Furnace:
The first time I ever heard of this band. Didn't even know they existed. And they blew me away. I just stayed the whole set looking at the drummer play. He was nasty. That's all I can say. I did forget to get their cd, well, I didn't forget. I didn't have the money.

Trap Them:
After all this time, this is the first time I get to hear what this band is all about. I kinda didn't pay attention to them because of the Image that came to my mind when I hear of this band. I mean they played well, lots of blast beats, technical drumming stuff, even though the riffs weren't that technical. Heavy shit. Even though I really, really enjoyed seeing them. After all it was exactly how I pictured them to be like. I mean, lately I have been getting into more metal and bands that style. Maybe I'll download their stuff, becuase it's stuff I like, but don't think I'd actually pay for their stuff. I mean, I would have last night to support the touring band. But I didn't have money.

Above all, it was a good, show. I just think I am like not used to the whole metal show where bands play longer sets, than hardcore bands. But can't wait to see some of these bands again!

Against All My Fears - XVII

1)Entropía
2)5 Años
3)Infección
4)Cuando
5)Hands, Give, Heart
6)Devoción, Desenfreno, Desilusión
7)The Reject
8)Scusarmi
9)Desesperación


Well. This is Against All My Fears' first LP. They are pretty much a new band. But that doesn't mean, they are rookies. They share members with bands as En Mi Defensa, among others. This LP contains 9 hard as fuck songs. When I mean hard, is not the case as in "Madball Hard". But as in the plain heavy shit that's just cool. It pretty much starts as a crescendo of anger. One thing I like about this band is that this album reminds me of Abhinanda, at the same time it reminds me of Refused, and a lot of those Swedish bands from the 90s. There are some parts where you think the guitars are out of tune, but it's not that. They pretty much found the perfect way to make dissonant chords work in hardcore music. You won't really find a lot of fast parts in this album. But you will find great musicianship. To say, my favorite song in the album is "Devoción, Desenfreno, Desilusión". That songs for some reason makes me want to go on a rampage. In my opinion this is one, if not the best hardcore record I have heard in recent years from anywhere in the world. I thought the new Have Heart was a fucking awesome record. But in my opinion, this one destroys that one to pieces. Well, all I can say are good things. So pretty much listen to this band and album.

http://www.myspace.com/againstallmyfuckingfears

FORFEIT, MAINTAIN, WATCHFIRE, HOME INVASION, AFLICTIONS @ ANCHORS UP

Well, I just got back from this show at Anchors Up! Always a good time. Even though it wasn't a packed house, like I thought it was going to be for a thursday night at Anchors Up! Anyway all the bands did good.

Afflictions:
To be honest it's the first time I ever heard this band. They were not bad, but they really have to work on tuning. I love the drummer for this band. Even though I don't know him. Kid was sick behind that drumset. Just imagine this band being like a heavyer hardcore band sort of new york style, with a drummer that looks like he's in Total Chaos or something like that. They weren't like awesome or something new, but they have potential.

Home Invasion:
I really didn't see this band, because I thought we were going to play after them (Maintain), so I went downstairs and started warming up for my set. So during this band all I did was listen to Sepultura's Arise and air drum to it. Sorry. But in all honesty, from what I heard from downstairs, I don't think I missed anything.

Watchfire:
This is the first time I see watchfire with Dave singin, and man, he makes it look so much more evil and metal. There was something about the other kid in the band that I didn't really like. With Dave, the dude that actually sings in the recordings, well, makes it sound just like the recordings. So they played a goddamn awesome set tonight. And I forgot to get the EP, which I am mad about.

Maintain:
It's my band. So I can't really say anything. All I heard from Behind the drumset was the bass cab. So Whatever. I like that Maintain is that band that everyone is just standing in front of the stage like just staring at us go nuts.

Foreit:
They didn't play as tight as the last time I saw them. But they always get me pumped. I went off for a couple songs, they played some of the new jams, that were exactly as Steve (the singer) was telling me. "Dude is like we're ripping off Morbid Angel, Merauder and Obituary". I mean, I love all those bands. And they actually managed to do a great job with that. Can't wait to see them at the NY Superbowl Of Hardcore.

So....

Baseball starts in 5 more days.

Stoked.

My picks for this season:

AL:
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees (Wild Card)
Chicago White Sox
Los Angeles Angels

NL:
New York Mets
Chicago Cubs
Los Angeles Dodgers
St. Louis Cardinals (Wild Card)

The Pennant Winners:
Boston Red Sox (AL)
Chicago Cubs (NL)

World Series:
Boston Red Sox