Young Poor & Angry Press

I listened to the Awaken Demons CD three times before I ever bothered to look at the little sheet of paper Trustkill sends us outlining the band. I find it best never to know who the band members are, if they’re in other bands or where they’re from before making my judgement call on the album. If I don’t know anything about it, I can judge it based purely on what I think of it’s merit. So let me just say this album kicked my ass through and through before finding out who the hell it even was.

My favorite hand’s down is Drawn to Death’s Door with Karl from Earth Crisis. The song’s outro playing in my head the whole day whether I was listening to it or not. Vince from Acacia Strain makes a noticeble guest vocal on the album in Abandon The Darkness which was awesome. Then I finally went and looked at the press kit and found out these guys were from Italy!

Luca Zattoni’s vocals were ill and I bet the guy gets all the ladies in the States when he’s touring with that Italian accent and all. Damn you foreign bands for rocking out so hard! Putting us Americans to shame. I think this is easily one of my favorite releases of Summer. I personally can’t wait to see these guys play. If their live show is anything like their album, I’m going to be spin kicking for days after. The title track The Mirror is worth the listen alone, but definitely go get Awaken Demons on I-Tunes. It’ll rock you out for months.

Before this album, I’ll be completely honest, I’d never really liked or bothered to give It Dies Today the time of day (no pun intended.) The band had been featured in Alternative Press, Metal Edge and even on MTV2. The band “wasn’t my cup of tea” I told Dana Gordon over at Trust Kill one day, being extra pretentious and full of myself. Completely disregarding my asinine statement Dana sent over the new It Dies Today anyway.

Reluctantly I threw it in my laptop and sipped some coffee. I have to say after the second listen to the 11 track album, I became a bit of a fan. I’m still not thrilled with some of the melodic vocas, as I prefer my hardcore/metal straight and to the point. But, after the third listen, I actually started to understand why people liked that style. When asked about the album singer Jason Wood commented; “”We’re really pumped about this new record! Lividity is a medical term (as I am a huge fan of CSI) that means when you die all your blood in your body settles, so where you’re lying is a bruise covering that part of your body. Metaphorically for example someone who’s life is very stagnant or unmotivated.”

The biggest surprise was that it wasn’t a stagnant or unmotivated album. The last track Come Undone which is a Duran Duran cover that I didn’t even recognize as such till I heard the original, then IDT’s verision again which is always pretty fun. This Ghost, Reckless Abandon, and Martyr of Truth were all tops on my list with blistering drums and a really well rounded sound all together. The breakdowns made my heart thump a bit harder, and forget that they’ve toured with Machine Head and Papa Roach (please forgive It Dies Today, they know not what they do.) I definitely suggest grabbing this album which drops September 8th, 2009 on Trustkill.

The guys are on tour with Arsonists Get All The Girls and Awaken Demons this September/October. My only beef with this is the fact none of them will be remotely close to Florida. Hear that guys!? We’d like some hardcore too please!

Most of us watch have watched and regularly do watch porn whether you’re male or female, a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or a Republican (In which case you’re probably just sending obscene messages to your Senate pages.) Even if we don’t want to admit it, it’s part of our society.

What some don’t realize while watching said porn, is that there is an actual person behind the make up, revealing clothes and the acts they are preforming. Acts that are considered “x-rated” (which ironically are perfectly natural in our bedrooms behind closed doors.) Within the last six or so months I’ve had the privilege of being invited into the world of Misti Dawn. Misti works for Burning Angel (A little bit different type of porn site.  Most of the women on the site are of what is now deemed a “alt model.” Tattoos, piercings, hair color are standard practice for both the males and females. Burning Angel has become the punk rock MySpace of porn, allowing users to create profiles and interact with the girls and each other in forms.) as one of the site’s more well known talents and also has been modeling for over five years. Read the rest of this entry »

What do you get when you cross As I Lay Dying guitar prowess with Madball’s lyrics, and the and the vocals of E-Town Concrete? You get Trapped Under Ice, whose second album is getting rave reviews from the likes of Chad from New Found Glory, and was featured on the 10 for $10 Tour.

I wanted to like this bad a lot. I went and bothered the publicist over at 10 for $10 Tour for a month to get this advance. When it finally came I rushed into my office to play it. Sadly I was disappointed. The anthem track “TUI” and “From Birth” were my two favorites. Trapped Under Ice would be better served going back to the lab and establishing a more cohesive style. I liked this album, but only on a playlist with the likes of actual NYHC bands.