RB6K's Music > Music reviews by RB6K

I despised this guys voice at first.

Posted : 8 months, 3 weeks ago on 13 March 2008 07:27 (A review of How to Save a Life)

When i first heard the fray i thought someone had shoved their face into a cement mixer whilst singing with a sore throat. Turns out i was wrong and it was "How to save a life" Englands Radio one insisted on playing this song repeatedly until you were forced to like it or kill yourself. My dayly commute would usually consist of this on the way in and then again on the way home, and so it grew on me after a few days.
Once you get past the voice, or grow to love it as i have, you find the Fray are a pretty good band, their main topic seems to be love and tragedy. The piano/instruments used are well played and i like how they structure their songs. Its yet another group i like to sing along to, its pretty clear i tend to like whinier bands although the Fray use a deep and unusual toned voice for their songs. They sound a bit too American in some songs, but il forgive them that as who doesn't? (Its the letter ARE not AERR)
Id recommend this to anyone who likes bands that are pretty easy to listen to and doesn't necessarily have to deconstruct everything they hear. The voice might be hard to take at first but if you can be bothered to overcome it you wont be disappointed. If you are looking for someone who is good without hassle its prob not these!

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Infinity on High review

Posted : 8 months, 3 weeks ago on 13 March 2008 07:21 (A review of Infinity on High)

My girlfriend introduced me to Fall Out Boy after hearing them on the radio several thousand times. I thought they would be pretty awful from the type of fans they generally had as a following but i actually enjoy this album. We ruined it a little bit because it happened to be the cd we left in our radio so every time the car started this did too, and thus we hated it pretty quickly. But if your the kind of person that can listen to a cd, put it away and listen to it again a few months later, this is one for you i reckon. I have put it on to listen to while i review it, and i like the singing, i like the guitar, i like their style. They are not generic like you would expect, they are pretty original. The leads annunciation is his best quality, i like the fact that he pronounces words the way they are supposed to be said, and only has a slight American twang to his song voice.
The names to their songs made me chuckle the first time i read them, and the songs are easy to sing along to, they have a mixture of song genres and songs that are generally themed about your usual teen/early 20's stuff. I dont think anyone over 28 or under 15 will really like this band. They aint bad, more of a females band than a guys though.

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Lets try this all again, only faster now

Posted : 8 months, 3 weeks ago on 13 March 2008 07:12 (A review of Lechuza)

A friend of mine introduced me to Fenix TX back in college and i really enjoyed their music as they were the kind of band i could sing along to in an awful voice and crone to. Their songs are all pretty poppy but punk at the same time and they do it really well. They broke up after this album but i have recently read they are regrouping and thus i began to listen to the album again on my MP3 player. It makes me smile thinking how good they are really and reminds me of listening to them through some fun times in my late teens.
I recommend this band to people who like punk, but not extreme punk, and who like fun music that is easy enough to listen to, or people like me who like to sing along to bands with voices that are not quite perfect and a little different to sing to.
Fenix TX are great really, i just hope their new album does well!!!

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Fantastic Album

Posted : 9 months ago on 6 March 2008 12:55 (A review of Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Vol. 2: No World for Tomorrow)

Being the final part of a 5 album epic, Coheed and Cambria's "No World for Tomorrow" is a brilliant finish to a magnificent journey. The story began at part 2 (Second Stage Turbine Blade) in 2002 with albums following every two years afterwards. 2007 saw NWFT being released after absolutely huge anticipation from fans.
The album does not disappoint, and stays true to the previous releases. Each song is unique, but also holds the ingredients which make Coheed and Cambria such an awe inspiring band.
The first song is called the Reaping, it is a slow and thought out beginning to the CD, setting the mood of the story to come, the last Album left things in a pretty deadly place and this one picks up where that one left off. The pace soon changes when the title song "No World for Tomorrow" comes on, the second song on each album usually tends to be one of the longest, usually the most story filled song, and this one is no different. Whilst not the best "second song" of the series, it is definitely a good one, but in my opinion the album does not really take off until "The hound of blood and rank" starts with its awesome guitar playing. It has kind of an 80's feel to it in parts which feels right some how, and it has the trade mark lines and sounds coheed and loved for. Next they opt for a more up beat and radio friendly song called "Feathers" which i expected to be poppy and lame, but actually quite enjoy listening to, (although that being said the whole point of a coheed album is to SING to it, not merely listen!!! And this song is great for that, which is why i like it.)
The next song is another radio friendly, called "The running free" this one is definitely one that i enjoy and again its one to sing along with, this one along with Feathers are the 2 that would appeal most to people who have not heard coheed play before, (coincidently they are the 2 they released!) although most of their songs are nothing like this one.
Mother Superior is the next track and it is a much slower song, an acoustic guitar is used and the song builds up as it goes along, it is a brilliant piece with great lyrics and a fantastic pace that increases as the song goes on building up to a climax at the end.
The next song "Gravemakers and Gunslingers" completely speeds things up, being the fastest song on the album, this one is just a general speed fest of great lines, great guitar and plenty of cool story. (Coheeds albums are also part of a comic book series, each song is expanded upon throughout the series in great detail, so this song is going to be one of the better ones when released)
The pace continues with Justice in Murder, i think this song is probably the albums low point, although it is still a good song, its just not on par with Coheeds best. This doesn't matter for long when the albums final piece "The End Complete" begins, it is a 5 part piece that comprises the epic finish to the entire series, the first part is named "The Fall of House Atlantic" which is actually just an instrumental piece, the name has more significance than the song as House Atlantic played a huge part in the story up until this point, so hinting it "falls" has wetted the appetite of many comic fans.
The next song is a great tune called "Radio Bye Bye" most of it is classic Coheed, there are some unusual breaks from the norm in it that are quite catchy, this song is definitely a sing along song again, and there are some decent guitar parts in there. The album starts on its final run now with the 3rd from last song "The End Complete" which is more of a story song, it is definitely building up during the song, (mainly raising the bar to the heights of the next song) the song does feel a bit too long sometimes but that is only because once you have heard it you know what song comes next and so (if your like me) you kind of want it to just get on to the next one named "The Road of the Damned" this song is my favorite on the album, the last song quietens right down to silence then suddenly your hit with the first words of this song, from there you are treated to great lyrics, fantastic guitar and an emotional song which to me everything has been built up to during the 4 albums preceding this one. This song passes with a feeling of things coming to an end, things quieten back down again ready for the final song. This is the absolute final song of the series, and as expected, it has to be something special to go out with a bang. I feel they achieve this to an extent, the first 3 minutes of "On the Brink" are brilliant, pure coheed, the middle 50 seconds are an insane moment of the word HAIL being repeated 50+ times which im not too fond of, then a legendary guitar solo finishes the album with a bang much like the end of the album before it, but better. It is a break from their regular type of music but a brilliant sign of things to come if they continue to release new material in the future, separate from this tale.

Overall this album is brilliant, i recommend it to anybody who likes music really, Coheeds lead singer Claudio Sanchez has a feminine voice, so if that puts you off dont listen, but if you dont mind that (i prefer it personally) then you are going to enjoy at least one track on this album, if not all of them. I think it would make more sense to listen to the albums preceding it first so that you can appreciate the throw backs and nods to past songs etc, but that is not necessary really. This is just a thoroughly enjoyable album.

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