Imagine Dragons

I tried to avoid this band at all costs because I hated the name "imagine dragons". To me, it sounded childish and stupid. But something about the album art provoked me to check out the bands Continued Silence EP, and after one listen I was hooked. The band, hailing from Las Vegas, mix elements of Kings of Leon with moments of city-mates The Killers, Neon Trees, and modern day indie radio bands like fun., Walk The Moon, and Young The Giant. Their major label debut album, Night Visions, is due out September 4th. Below are my two favorite tracks from the EP, "Radioactive" (also heard on the Olympics) and the alt-radio jam "It's Time".

imagine dragons "radioactive"

imagine dragons "it's time"

Far Far Away

I just can't get the chorus out of my head. It's been stuck there for the last few days. One more reason to love the seventies.

Living Things

Well, I'm gonna be leaving for another vacation later today, thus I decided to go ahead and post one last thing before I go as a brief goodbye.

I used to totally adore Linkin Park back in the day. Hybrid Theory and Meteora were the jam and the soundtrack to almost any party we threw as kids. Nu metal craze was at its peak (or at least what everyone thought nu metal was) and there wasn't a single kid who wouldn't like one or two LP songs. But the band's omnipresence couldn't last forever and like any other act, Linkin Park slowly started to lose their momentum. Most significantly some time around Midnight.

Minutes to Midnight was supposed to show the band's poppier, more melodic sensibilities and show they're capable of stretching their sound. Linkin Park wanted to become a bigger band, U2 for the 21st century. And the album itself wasn't all that bad, some of its songs belong to the better part of the band's catalogue. Unfortunately, though, it also marked their transformation into a more mainstream and generic act with songs like Leave Out All the Rest or Shadow of the Day. Besides, collaboration with Micheal Bay certainly didn't help. (Not to speak about Chester Bennington's sideproject Dead by Sunrise, what was that supposed to mean?)

So they did what most actual bands would do. With fear of fading into irrelevance, they tried experimental stuff in order to find a new distinct sound, their own thing. And they succeeded. There were a lot of people who enjoyed the hell out of A Thousand Suns. For me, unfortunately, that album was a complete misstep and marked the moment I lost my faith and interest in the band almost completely.

Two years later, Linkin Park released their fifth studio album, named fittingly Living Things, as if they wanted to assure everyone they still exist. And I gotta admit, it came out as a rather pleasant surprise.

First of all, this is their rawest album since Meteora. Once again, the band isn't afraid to let the anger out and show us Chester Bennington's screaming capabilities. He's still got it. As a result, any song from Living Things has more energy than all the tracks from A Thousand Suns combined.

On the other hand, this record isn't the sound of progress. Rather, it's a consolidation of forces. The band took all the ingrediences that paid them off in the past, big guitar riffs, catchy choruses, rap and their newly found electronic self, added them into one mix and voilà, it works pretty well together. However, if you wanna find something even remotely new and unheard, look elsewhere.

Nonetheless, this is a solid record, which, I'm pretty sure, will appeal to most of their old fans. And if that was the goal, then LP succeeded quite well. I must say I didn't expect I would enjoy Living Things so much. I can totally see the appeal to my fifteen-year-old self. Although the days of Hybrid Theory and Meteora are long gone, Linkin Park's latest effort does quite a good job of bringing back the memories.

Best tracks: Lost in the Echo, I'll Be Gone, Castle of Glass

Introducing: Sound of Guns

First and foremost, let me be the first to say I think this is an awful band name. Now that that's past us, let's talk music. It's hard to put a genre on this band. The bands debut, Angels and Enemies, covers everything from brit pop to rock to indie. When I first heard the new single, "Sometimes", I got a vibe of Cold War Kids mixed with instrumentation of The Midway State. Upon further listen to their most popular tune of date, "Antarctica", I got a strange recall of early The Killers, Glasvegas and Doves. With such a wide reach and a gaining support from the likes of radio1 & friends Funeral For a Friend passing fans to their video to millions, to selling out shows in England at the O2, Mint, and The Cockpit, Sounds of Guns is an up-and-coming band with a lot of vigor and heart, making them a band to watch going forward. 

RIYL: The Midway State, All The Young, Glasvegas, Longview

"Antartica", the bands most popular song to date.

the bands new single, "sometimes"

Japandroids

At first, I wasn't a big fan of Japandroids' sophomore record, but eventually, Celebration Rock won me over. Even though after a few tracks the choruses kinda blend together, I can't but enjoy every single one of its humble 35 minutes. This is a straightforward rock album. So much it even makes you wonder when rock bands forgot to record albums like this. There's no catch, no twist, no synths. Just one anthem after another without ever losing pace.

When you listen to the single below, you'll get a good glimpse of what you can expect from the whole record. Your thoughts?

Runaways

Yes, yes and thousand times yes. The Killers' new single sounds just like it fell out from Sam's Town. Great news considering it's arguably their best album to date. Now, I really can't wait for Battle Born to come out.



There hasn't been a bigger chorus this year. Your thoughts?

Yellowcard's Awakening and Billy Talent's Viking Death March

There's a lyrics video for a brand new Yellowcard song. I'm posting it simply because it sounds that good. Even though I'm not in my pop punk mood at the moment, the song just hits all the right strings in me, taking me back to my high school years.



I always like me some new Yellowcard. Your thoughts?

Also the new Billy Talent song doesn't sound half that bad. They've always been a singles band for me. Surrender or This Suffering are fantastic, but overall, their albums never stood out as a whole. I bet their fourth record will be a similar case. However, the song promises a return to form, hands down.

Survival

Long time, no see...



Official song for London 2012 Olympics by Muse.