Her Death and After - Demos

It seems I get more and more legit band requests on my myspace every day. While I am glad that I am finding more bands worth the time to listen to and even review, I still get hit with the frequently horrible band that shouldn't be around, or at least shouldn't have posted a song on myspace until they could have had a better recording quality. Seriously, a quick note to all those bands starting out - I know you want to get your music out there and share it, but it shouldn't be a live session in your drummer's basement, which is recorded with a Rock Band mic hooked up to a laptop with Audacity set up to record.

All that shit aside, a band named Her Death and After added me on myspace. Although I usually don't like band names that pertain to death and such, and it usually turns me away from listening to them, I figured I would give it a shot. Holy shizz up the spout, I am glad I did not skip of these guys.

Killer vocals in each and every song, that are absolutely solid. The vocalist has great diction and is easily understood. Both clean and growls are smooth, and the two vocals mix well together, as opposed to some bands that have the two ranges of sings and screams clash, they seem to be complimenting each other and actually harmonizing.

And let me state, the breakdown at the end of "I Stand Corrected" near made me piss myself. Absolutely beautifully constructed and put together, nothing sounds off beat or poorly put together. In fact, none of these songs sound half assed. To me, it sounds like if they had a problem while writing one of these songs, or something didn't sound right to them, or not good enough for their standards, they may have gone back and re-wrote part of the song just to make it shred all the better, that or they are just that good.

Seriously, every song I have listened to by these guys is absolutely solid. From breakdowns to sing alongs, these guys cover a lot of ground. Quite honestly, I wish they already had a CD I could put into my car's player, or even a digital album to download onto the eyePod.

Who would I recommend these guys to? I would say fans of A Day to Remember, On the Last Day, Four Year Strong, Set Your Goals, Vanna, Catherine, Machinemade God, Silverstein, A Skylit Drive, Alesana...and so on.

























Her Death and After demos - 10 out of 10 zings

Message to band: Honestly, I think you guys are on a whole nother level than I have been hearing lately. You guys can shred like no one else. This is why I gave you my first 10 out of 10. Very comparable to all of my favorite heavy bands, and have a lot of potential to grow as a band and make something of what your passion is, and I honestly hope you guys do. The only other band/album that would get 10 out of 10 is ADTR's "Homesick" (which I have yet to review), and Silverstein's "Discovering the Waterfront" (my favorite album of all time). Seriously, keep it up, and don't give up. You guys have amazing potential.

Vanna gives A New Hope

The way I found out about Vanna was actually boredom with the music I currently had in my music library. I was at Best Buy and just decided that I needed some new music, and I wanted to try and listen to a new band. When I usually did this, I started at A and made my way towards Z. This day however I went from Z to A, and Vanna was not all to far in. Their release from Epitaph "The Search Party Never Came" had a "comparable to bands like" sticker on it, and Every Time I Die was on there, along with some other bands I liked, so I decided to check it out.

I got into my car, and listened to the whole cd on the ride home. I was not sure what to make out of it, since they had quite a different sound. After a while, the cd grew on me immensely and I knew that I loved Vanna.

When their second CD curses was released, I was enthralled that they were releasing new music. "Curses" was an ok album, I was not swept off my feet by it, but I liked it. I found myself singing random parts of some songs and having them stuck in my head like "I don't wanna see you fall apart..." -continues to sing-. my favorite part of the whole album was actually the intro to the album.

Now...when I heard that Vanna was releasing even more music, I was kind of undecided as to whether or not I was going to check it out. I was a huge fan of "The Search Party Never Came" and didn't care all too much for "Curses", but nevertheless, I picked up the album.

"A New Hope" has been in regular circulation into my car's cd player ever since I have first gotten the album. I love the intro song, and the mix of screams and vocals are the most well mixed out of all their albums. There are only 2 songs in which I usually skip which are tracks 5 and 8.

A lot of these songs are catchy. You can understand his screams as well, which I find to be a very important of heavier music that has screaming, be it screamo, hardcore, metal, etc. The singing voice is also very enjoyable. I can garuntee that if you give this album a listen, you will definitely enjoy the lyrics, and find yourself singing them regularly.

Honestly, I know in my previous blogs I try to review album song by song, or portions of album in chunks. However with this album I can't do such a thing. The album remains strong throughout the playout of the tracks. Each track delivers powerful and mindblowing vocals, through screams and sings.

























Album: 8 out of 10 zings.

Message to Band: Keep up the good work. Your progession as a band has done nothing but astound me. I hope to hear more music from you guys soon, and I hope that you stay true to yourselves.

I Am Ghost: "Those We Leave Behind"

Ever since the release and my first discovery of this band, I have been a huge fan of their music. We Are Always Searching was an amazing first album, probably one of the most distinguished sounds I had ever heard from a newer band, especially for one of their first major releases. The music style, the exchanged between dark male voices and a beautiful female vocal with violin was the most amazing thing I had heard for a while.

When Lover's Requiem had been released, a freshman album was followed up by a very strong sophomore album. I have to say I was very pleased and very enthused with the quality of the album. The re-make of a couple songs on We Are Always Searching were very well done. The soft songs, the heavy songs, the ballads, the connective lyrics. Everything was very well put together, and yet again was another album that I did not want to skip any tracks on.

So when I heard interviews about the new album being "the darker album" and "one of the most lyrically connected" to the lead vocalist's feelings about what he has been feeling and going through in the past couple years, I was pleasantly awaiting a listen. When "Bone Garden" was released on myspace, I was very pleasantly surprised and content with what they had written and decided to release.

On first listen, I was expecting the type of intro they had, as they have used similar types of intros on their past albums. The album starts off great, with strong instrumentals and strong lyrics, and continues to stay that way throughout the entire album. The violin and key parts never conflict and create and ear-ache, mind-confusing tune. The arrangement of every song is very clear, and riffs are easily understood, as are the lyrics, even during the screams.

I agree with what was said, the lyrics portray a very dark image. Granted the fact that the instrumentals were always kind of a mix of a lot of genres, the dark guitar, almost dark metal sounding, throw a great feeling of musical confidence from the band. It almost seems effortless for them to create great songs and makes it very easy to feel like you can connect with the band.

Honestly my only knit-picking would be to give us a little more screaming, I love his passion when he screams. I also would not mind a little more double kicks on the drums. I can't complain about that all too much though, as their musical arrangement and technique is amazing for I Am Ghost.

This album is one in which I only skip a couple songs on the album. Not because they're not good songs, but because I don't connect with the lyrics. It is very rare in which I find an album where I don't skip tracks, so being that I like every song, is a good sign. I also would not mind a couple more breakdowns. I am a sucker for open-string bass riffs and slow drumming with crashes.

For the most part, I could keep listening to this album over and over, and couple probably memorize all the lyrics within a couple days if I did so. I Am Ghost is one of those bands who are just themselves, and I love them for that.





















Album: 7 out of 10 zings.

Message to Band: Ignore what I say and keep doing what you're doing. Your progression into what this new album has become was amazing. I have a feeling your next album will melt my face off.