Reel Big Fish - Candy Coated Fury American Ska Punk band return with new album after 3 years, which also sees the return of the saxophone from latest member Matt Appleton (Goldfinger). You would think with only one founding member left in the band, being frontman, Aaron Barrett, that their sound would deviate from the beginnings of the band, but they seem to have returned to their roots! They are back and do what they do best, with this new release they took inspiration from their 2 earliest albums..they do say if it isn't broken then don't fix it! First track "Everyone Else Is An Asshole" is comical, catchy and fun! This will definately be the most upbeat positive song your find about assholes! Great way to open and break you in to the insults and humour to come.. "Punisher" is a brilliant and sadly relatable song. Great catchy, funny singalong song, which is one of the best tracks of the album! "I Know You Too Well To Like You Anymore" is funny song about a good relationship gone bad featuring guest vocalist, Julie Stoyer throwing an insult fest at the end - hillarious and brilliant music! Another highlight of album. "Don't Stop Shankin" is a vibrate, fun, groovy dance track, largely just instruments. It particularly shows off some great saxophone skills and solos! Just great wacky fun! Candy Coated Fury is wildly fast paced catchy ska that is easily relatable! The album title, sums up the album well, being a mix of silly, fun, comical, sarcastic, happy, sad and mean, whether its being hateful or joyous, they all make you want to dance! The best tracks tend to be the faster ones, with more punk elements, but all songs have their appeal, through their upbeat fun instrumentation and humourous lyrics. Also It really is great to have the saxophone back in the mix, as it makes a brilliant addition to the riffs and rhythms! I think Reel Big Fish fans will be delighted with the new album, as it is more similiar to their older material, and well its just plain simple fun..well and insulting! Just try listening to this album without smirking, singing along and dancing to those Ska grooves! CL
Memphis May Fire - Challenger Challenger is the third album from Dallas based metalcore mob, Memphis May Fire. Now, metalcore’s resurgence in the last couple of years has, in no-doubt, been helped by younger bands taking the basic formula used in the early noughties and adding heavy doses of electronic music and ultra-clean vocal hooks that clearly appeal to the younger fans. Memphis May Fire do take advantage of these progressions in the genre, the hooky, melodic choruses are ever-present on this album and there are electronic touches here and there, but it’s the heavier stuff that this band do best. Bowel churning breakdowns and guttural growls that the likes of Killswitch Engage would tip their collective cap to, give this album true weight and distances the band slightly from the rest of the young metalcore crop. Check out Vices and Legacy for great examples of this. The only danger though, is the album tends to stick to the same formula throughout, there are ambient breakdowns, piano sections and a slower track, Miles Away that, although work well, don’t seem quite enough to give the album true diversity. That said, MMF could act as an important band to help younger fans bridge the gap between the new brand of metalcore and the heavier bands that spawned the genre over a decade ago. GM