Abandon All Ships for a Minute

So, I'm going to be working on a review today, but as you could probably tell from the title, I'm going to be talking about Abandon All Ships, who you might be either rocky about or really like them, based on your feelings starting from Geeving upwards to what everyone thought were their final songs from the Malocchio.  If you don't like them, I'm sorry, but this is just something I wanted to talk about.

I never much minded what I had heard from them, Geeving was kinda my jam out of school, and I would sing along with the lyrics, even while people hated on the fact that Martin Broda auto-tuned his brilliant voice and Angelo Aita was beginning get his scream's precision.  With 2012, we heard Infamous which was also interesting, Broda letting go of the old way.  But with 2014 brought some bad news, when a few months after Malocchio, which really had the best electronics from Sebastian Nunez, came out and stole my heart, the band announced that they were breaking up.  This kinda broke my heart even though a bunch of people that I knew didn't like them at all.

It's 2016 now, but of course you already knew that.  Geeving has turned 5, (well it did last year in October,) and so the band released news that they would be returning with their original lineup, and also released a new song, called Loafting.  In a way, this new track reminds me of Geeving, with the auto-tuned lyrics having returned.  My friend and I were talking and I know that the auto-tune could have been gone, and the song still be as great, but I was happy to hear the song anyway.

With questions of them getting back together again, this should be interesting.

My Dear Addiction - Kill the Silence - Review

I'm going to start off with telling you that I haven't really listened to My Dear Addiction until now.  Not that I don't like them, just that I haven't really tried them until now.  I have to say, though, that they are amazing. Kill The Silence has a sound different than I have heard from other bands, it reminds me of Demon Hunter, but has something more to it that makes it more original.  Whatever it is, I'm totally loving it.

Kill the Silence kicks off this ride of an album with it's title track.  It has an electronic beginning, but then only seconds in it goes to it's amazing guitars. The listener will be able to hear how much time has been put into each song, the effort and passion are absolutely phenomenal, especially with songs like A Promise and Face It and Rewind.  The guitars are both enhanced in may songs by steady electronics making for enjoyment and flow.  The drums are something to admire as well.  They have a tendency to switch between blasting beats ans mellow feelings, which is all just brough together by the vocalist's voice, excelling at both screaming and singing.

I apologize for this not being my most lengthy review, but this album is very high on my like lists.  If you haven't listened to My Dear Addiction before, this is definitely an album to start with.  It has a sound for what you are looking for.

8/10

Bury Tomorrow - Earthbound - Review

I'm not exactly sure what to say first about this.  Either how much I love this album, or how much I love Bury Tomorrow in general.  I know I often start talking about bands first when I talk to people about albums or write these few reviews that I have so far.  So I'm going to do that once more.

I'm, as I said just as you were previously reading, a huge fan of Bury Tomorrow.  I got into them quite a while ago, I believe, with The Union of Crowns.  They're a brilliant melodic metalcore band, adding in a little bit of melodic death metal riffs here and there.  But they also have incorporated sounds of bands such as As I Lay Dying and Killswitch Engage, but keeping it original, which makes them even more awesome in my eyes and many other peoples'.  There will probably be some that disagree on the melodic death metal part, and that's perfectly fine.  I did say a little bit.

Now, onto the album part!  As I also said in the start, Earthbound is an amazing album,  I loved The Union of Crowns, and Runes, but to myself, this album steps up Bury Tomorrow.  The first track, The Eternal, grips the listener by the ears eagerly and pulls them on this magnificent roller coaster of an album,  I didn't really find any weak tracks, each of the songs was engaging and some had me putting them on repeat just so that I could hear them again. This can be greatly said for songs like The Burden, catchy lyrics like "Hail no hero, fear no evil,"  had me silently mouthing, and then singing as I walked down the street to where ever I was headed that day  The same with when I wasn't listening to the song.

For anyone who complained about Runes, don't give up on Bury Tomorrow yet.  The vocals were perfected, (not that I didn't think that they were excellent in past albums,) and work towards the advantage of the sound of the album.  Daniel and Janes are amazing, with the growls and screams as prominent as the cleans.  Add Kristan to it and the guitars are amazing as well.  Last but totally not least, because I love rhythm, Adam is masterful in drums.  Without drums, of course, it could be hard to keep it all together.  So they all make a great team as a band, and this is a fantastic album.

So,  what are you waiting for?  If you haven't listened to this album yet, go listen to it!

10/10

Before Their Eyes - Midwest Modesty - Review

 Last time I heard a Before Their Eyes album, it was 2012 and Redemption had came out.  I loved each album before that but Redemption had claimed a whole new spot in my heart, even though I hadn't thought it to be the best idea to bring Breathe Carolina in for vocals on Dream at first, in my opinion they proved to be a great effort in their discography.  Then after, I was waiting for the next Before Their Eyes album, but nothing.  I wasn't upset.  I was just wondering what was going on.

This year, however, a new light was brought into fruition when later in the end of last year, news of an album, formerly called "II" was talked of.  I was so excited that I wanted to hear the first single that came out.  But earlier last year, news came out that the new album was still coming out, under a different, more creative name, Midwest Modesty.  and I was excited as I had ever been.  I didn't know what to expect, but that was the point.  Before Their Eyes always steps up and brings something new out for the fans to listen to, and they do that straight from the heart.  So as soon as I saw that it was out, I immediately wanted to listen to it.

Well, that's enough of past ramblings for now.  Midwest Modesty is an amazing album, there's no doubt about that.  Nick Moore's vocals have grown since Resemption, and from the starting track, "It's Dark Inside With You", his vocals soar into the fruition that I was hoping for.   It doesnt feel exactly as heavy as Redemption, but that's okay.  Midwest Modesty is certainly an album with a different sound and that's wonderful.

It's wonderful to know that Craig Owens co-wrote and helped produce this album, knowing that he has such an awesome sound to whatever he does, be it Chiodos or Solo Stuff, plus D.R.U.G.S., so him doing this album is perfect.

The instrumentals are amazing as well.  As I said in the previous parts of this review, they aren't as heavy in some parts, but that doesn't matter.  The guitars are at their prime, as well as the drums, and they can only get more and more awesome when the next album comes out.  Of course, adding Nick's well known singing adds to the life of the album.  From track to track, different sounds are heard and a sound can be found for each listener if they give the album a chance. I'm quite sure you will get one of these catchy songs stuck in your head, and probably love this album from beginning to end.  I know that I did.

8/10

The Ultimate Breakdown's Favorite 10 albums of 2015

You've probably noticed that this isn't a "Top 10" list, and that's no mistake in my mind.  I intentionally wrote this list this way because putting these albums in order wouldn't be an easy task in my mind to do.  So, I've created my favorites list.  Let's get started!

• ICE NINE KILLS - Every Trick in the Book:  Most people who come to this site will see that I just finished my review of the newest INK album, and absolutely loved it from start to finish.  The band makes quality records every time, and this is certainly no exception.  If you've loved them before, I'm fairly sure that you'll love them now!
• The Plot In You - Happiness In Self Destruction: I love The Plot In You.  There are bands out there that I'm not afraid to admit don't write songs that are true to their hearts, and even if you aren't a fan of these guys, they write what is true to them, most of the lyrics in these songs coming from things that happened in their lives, from losing someone that they were close to to having problems with addictions.  This emotional fueled metal at it's best.
• Fallstar - Future Golden Age:  My review of this phenomenal band's album went up onto here on the 13th, and is filled with... well, feelings.  There are songs that have to do with different things, from love for every one to occult traditions of older times.  These guys are amazing and need to be listened to, so I highly recommend that you give this a listen to this album of theirs, and their past releases, when you get the chance.
• Get Scared - Demons:  Oh, Demons, Nicholas Matthews and the rest of Get Scared has crafted an amazing album of songs that also have to deal with addiction and a bit of resentment towards someone.  This album further adds to what makes this band great, with Nick and his bandmates bringing themselves to the next level and making me smile with this new album.
• We Butter The Bread With Butter - Weider geil!:  You might have heard of this band and looked away from the silly sounding name, but don't turn your back to them, because this album (and of course, their past albums) will make you smile.  My best friend talked about how most of their songs aren't in English, and that's true, This album, though, changes that up qite a bit, there are three or four songs that are in complete English.  The electronics in this album are also great.  SO, where you speak German, or don't, you're bound to get some good fun out of this release!
• Haste The Day - Coward:  It's been quite a while before 2015 that people had heard anything from Haste The Day.  It was 2010 to be exact when Attack of the Wolf King came out, bringing it's metalcore onslaught to those loving.  Coward is no different, but bringing past members back to produce one of the best albums to listen to this year.  If you haven't listened to them before, now would be the time to do that!
• Between The Buried And Me - Coma Ecliptic: When it comes to music, most of what I listen to is Post-Hardcore, Metalcore, Deathcore... The Works of the hardcore genres and subgenres, but make no mistake that I also love my rock and metal.  and one of my favorite Prog Metal albums of this year is Coma Ecliptic.  If you haven't heard this album yet, here's the synopsis:  (SPOILER ALERT) This album is about a man who goes into a coma, and goes over his past lives.  This is a concept album, as you have just read, like The Parallax albums.  This album is art in it's greatest metal form.
• Phinehas - Till the End:  Phinehas' third album, Till the End, brings them to Artery Recordings, and brings their music to the next level.  Songs like White Livered bring this "Heavy Duty Mustache Metal" to my favorite list, with both vocals & instrumentals being put out for the world to hear.  They change up their style a little bit with each album.
• Bring Me The Horizon - That's the Spirit: Now, this album has divided fans, just a little bit.  Most of the people that listened to Oli Sykes and the rest of the guys in this band got a little flustered when they left their heavy sound for a softer, alternative metal side with some electronics to it.  That doesn't make it bad though.  If the album itself doesn't catch you at first, than the ironic album artwork for the title should get you.  This album is filled with catchy and uplifting lyrics.
• Ghost Town - Evolution:  I'm a big fan of Ghost Town, and know they might not be on everyone's list.  With every song that this band writes though, they are different, this album especially.  Songs like Spark, Mean Kids, and Human are examples of what style you'll see in this album.  If you look to put these guys on a box, well I'm afraid you won't be able to in their entirety, they would fit into a synth-heavy post-hardcore kind of feel though.  If that hasn't gotten you to take a listen yet, check out their older albums too.

I hope you enjoyed reading off this list of my 10 favorites, and that maybe your list will have bands in common with my own.  If not, that's perfectly fine, these were just my opinions.  I admit that there were ones that I wanted to put down, We Came As Romans' Self-Titled and For Today's Wake included, but then I think the list would be a little bit longer than my readers would think.  

Happy Holidays and also a Happy New Year to you all.

ICE NINE KILLS - Every Trick in the Book - Review

From release to release, ICE NINE KILLS are sure a band to listen to as they change up the style of their music.  From pop-punk and ska, to post-hardcore and metalcore, you can know that each album will put something new out for you to enjoy. Their fourth full-length has a lot of potential and has used it well.

The first thing I would love to say about Every Trick in the Book is the concept that each of the songs on this album is based on a piece of literature.  Some songs are relatively on the simple side to figure out such as Me, Myself, & Hyde (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde) or Star-Crossed Enemies (Romeo & Juliet), while others have the stories you figure out by listening to the song through.

The instrumentals on this album are very theatric, which goes perfect with this album.  They are exceptional on tracks like The Nature of the Beast and Communion of the Cursed.  Spencer and JD's vocals both are as amazing as ever. To add to the perfection, with Justin on Bass and Cinor on drums, the album is flawless in story telling.

If you have a love for theatrics, rock, and metal, this is definitely an album to listwn to.

10/10

Fallstar - Future Golden Age - Review

I heard the band Fallstar a few years back, when they were signed to Facedown Records and produced the incredible album Backdraft.  That album featured both uplifting and awesome lyrics that anyone could get into, and the instrumentals you could headbang easily to.  Their new album was released on their own record label, and brings more to the table.

So after seeing that Fallstar was going to release the album Future Golden Age, things got exciting.  The song that they had released to YouTube had the case shook description that included being for fans of Donnie Darko and Star Wars, which only continued my excitement.  Further down the road, to the 8th, the album was released on their Bandcamp under their own record label, Rat Family Records.

I'm going to start off by saying the genre where this album would be placed is hard to categorize, as there are mixes of hip-hop and metalcore.  But of course, we can't forget to add to the mix the excellent post-hardcore that is brought into play in the album.  The best way to describe this band in my opinion is to simply call them heavy.  Because that is where they belong, as they have also described themselves.  From the intro track "What Roberta Sparrow Said" which starts off our ears off with a wonderful rap starter, to the ending track "Outro", it is clear that each track has a different sound to it, and lyrics that can touch hearts, no matter what path of life you travel.

The instrumentals are amazing as well, from the fantastc vocals and drumming, to the brutal guitar work, and the catchy electronic riffs that make the album complete.

This is an album I highly recommend listening to.

10/10