I’ve got a review up for the new Run Kid Run record, Love at the Core. Read it here.

Artist: Run Kid Run
Album: Love at the Core
Label: Tooth & Nail Records
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Review by: Eric Pettersson

Tracklist:
1. Rescue Me
2. Captives Come Home
3. Fall into This Light
4. One in a Million
5. Love at the Core
6. Sure Shot
7. My Sweet Escape
8. The Emergency
9. Set the Dial
10. Freedom

As soon as I popped this disc into my car, I was ready to go pick up my youth group friends and make the annual trip to Purple Door. Now I’m past the youth group stage and I will unfortunately not be able to make it out to the music festival this year, but my point is that from the opening verse, this music screams of being perfect for that two hour ride. It’s something that everyone can at least moderately enjoy (opposed to, say, Family Force Five or The Showdown, each of which would only have one or two fans in my five-seater sedan), the energy is high enough to get us pumped for the upcoming performances (unlike Denison Witmer or Derek Webb), and the demand for close attention to detail is low enough that we can still have a conversation overtop the music (contrasted to mewithoutYou or As Cities Burn). And this is exactly what I expect from Run Kid Run: a record that is designed for youth group roadtrips and a safe bet for everyone but the snobby hardcore kid to find something he or she can like. The guitars are driving, the vocals are on-the-spot, the drums avoid too much repetition from song to song, the lyrics aren’t cliché or obnoxious, and the melodies are catchy enough for a good sing-a-long. Also, not all the songs are the same, which is an appreciated treat in this genre, as the band goes for a slower feel here and there and pulls it off well. It’s probably not going to be the most lasting record of the year, but it’s still a good release and an enjoyable set of songs.

8/10

Official Site
MySpace
PureVolume

The Afters have posted a dance remix of their song “Never Going Back To Ok” on Myspace. If you like it enough to purchase it, here’s a link on iTunes.

[Myspace] [Purevolume]

I’m comin’ back at ya with another plea. I missed my opportunity to mail out Samplers for Cornerstone and now I am officially kicking my own rear for it. Ouch! Anyway, I need a place to pass out these samplers that I have HUNDREDS of and I need your help. If you are going to a festival that ALLOWS people to pass out free stuff and you’re willing to help us out, then please email me your full name and mailing address (please no P.O. Boxes) and I will mail you out a box of Hearts Bleed Passion Vol. 3 cds. I think there are approximately 125 of these samplers in one box so that should last you. If you want Hearts Bleed Passion Vol. 2 cds, I can mail those out as well. Anyone that wants to pass out samplers are welcome to do so but you have to promise that you’ll actually do it. I’m not going to throw away a box of 125 cds. Hit me up at my email address brandon[at]indievisionmusic.com

Failure to Excel have posted a new track to myspace. Check these guys out at once!

Our last.fm Charts for Last Week:

1. Thrice
2. Anberlin
3. Coldplay
4. The Classic Crime
5. Relient K
6. Family Force 5
7. Children 18:3
8. Hawk Nelson
9. Showbread
10. Underoath

We only have 41 members so if you’re reading this and are on Last.fm, please sign up for our group!

Guitarist Alex Kenis has left Becoming The Archetype and has been replaced by former member Jon Star.  You can read the blog about it here or below.  (bandsonfire.com)

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MyChildren MyBride have posted their video for “Faithless” over at Purevolume.

[Myspace] [Purevolume]

If you live in Europe or are traveling there this fall you might want to check out the Heaven’s Door Festival which is coming this November.  You can check out the festival’s website here.  (it’s in french)

The following are some artists that will be at the festival for you to check out.  Half of the artists are French language artists and I’ve labeled which are which at the beginning of the description.

English - Portugese punk rock band Triplet on their myspace site here.  (Their video for the song Eye 43 can be seen here - bandsonfire.com)

English - Too a lot of people the ska scene might be dead but not yet to these guys.  Check out Make Up Your Mind.

French - Soul singer Rycko has some great tunes for you to check out here.

French - Pop rock artist Bryan Ost shares his songwriting with you here.

Facedown Records put up another wonderful sale as they’re known for doing. Click here to check it out. CDs from $1.99 to $9.49.

I’m not sure how many of you have “On Demand” on your cable network but I do and I noticed something cool. If you search through “Free Zone” and then “Faith And Values” you’ll see “Gospel Music Channel”. Click on that and there are a bunch of music videos you can watch including “Unwinding Cable Car” by Anberlin, “Unbreakable” by Fireflight, and music videos from Leeland, Family Force 5 among others. It’s too bad that the Gospel Music Channel isn’t an actual channel added to our cable lineup. At least you can view those videos.

Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying has posted up a new blog about Christian Music and how it has changed over the last 10 years.  Here’s an excerpt: “Christian music in the last 10 years brings in a whole new approach.  New Christian bands don’t want to be too “preachy” because they don’t want their business to be pigeon holed into the Christian market.  Instead they cleverly conceal what it is they’re really trying to say.  Other motivation might be that some of them don’t want the listener to feel like the band is pushing too much of an agenda on the listener.  I can relate to the second reason because I don’t ever want someone to befriend me and later find out I was only nice to them in order to “evangelize.”  On the other hand, I recognize the message in my writing isn’t always obvious, but I don’t feel that I am ever purposefully vague about the lyrics I write.“  Read the rest of the blog here.

Neon Horse, a band made up of Mark Salomon (Stavesacre) on vocals, Jason Martin (Starflyer 59) on guitar and Steven Dail (Project 86) on bass, have posted up two new tracks to their myspace site for you to check out.

A few bands you should check out if you are going to Cornerstone… all are on generator stages:

ForTheWhile

Crime Rate In Iowa

HANDS

They are but a few, yet are highly recommended. As always, check out the bands you know of, and check out a few new ones.

Here are the bands I have confirmed interviews with at Cornerstone: Akissforjersey, For Today, A Plea For Purging, and Ocean Is Theory

If you have any questions you want me to ask, tonight is your last chance to tell me! As well I will be writing a review of the fest.

Read below to can check out the album cover and tracklisting for Family Force 5’s Dance Or Die full length which releases August 19th.

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I have created a special Indie Vision Music widget. You can place this on your Myspace, Facebook, or other blog pages. Just check it out below and click get widget. Help us promote!

Or visit the IVM Widget page here.

If you haven’t noticed yet, I put up a new poll where you can vote on what Tshirt color we should print on. Remember, this will be for the new logo. I think black would look best of course but it may look good on a White shirt too. Anyway, vote if you feel like it. I am trying to contact the guy who designed Hearts Bleed Passion Vol. 3 to see if he’ll design us a rad second shirt. If any of you designers reading this would like to submit a rad tshirt design, please email it to me and I’ll check it out. Remember, it has to be REALLY good looking so that people will actually want to buy it.

Andy K took some pics from the Stronger Than Hell Tour and posted them in the forums here. If you read the post, there is also a link to some live footage that he posted on Youtube. Thanks Andy!

You can view a new video for Ivoryline right here.

Well I know I said I would wait until Sunday but I noticed the votes were tapering off so I decided to announce the winner of the contest earlier. It was a really tough decision because I liked all three finalists’s designs, Jay Dinitto’s, Sam Coates’s, and the winner…..Nathaniel Navratil with his variation of the IVM/Indie Vision Music logo. I just loved the colors and layout of the logo. It was exactly what I was looking for. I know I said I wasn’t really interested in anything to do with the abbreviation of “IVM” but I really liked how he put it together. I have temporarily placed his logo at the top of the site and elminated those old Norma Jean pics and I guess what, I did it all myself! Are you proud of me, I learned some html over the years. lol. I just want to say that I loved quite a few of the designs from John Holcomb, Michael Clayton, and a few others but I had to go with who got the most votes.

What you can expect soon are Tshirts and stickers with this logo. I am also going to get a different shirt made with a different design, something that will be rad for sure. So we’ll have two shirts to purchase in the new store when it’s live.

Thanks again all of you contributors and I appreciate your entires.

Amongst all the emails to bands for interviews at Cornerstone, I have finally confirmed another Interview with Facedown Records band: A Plea For Purging.  I am trying to confirm with Akissforjersey and maybe another Facedown band. Post in the comments any other bands you think would make a good interview, as well any questions you want me to ask.

That’s right, remember that video Endeavor Media sent out a casting call in Pittsburgh for? It’s been axed almost as soon as we knew it was happening. The Endeavor Media site blames it on “creative differences” with (we assume) the band.

Grabbed this story from a Buzzgrinder.com commenter.

Band: Burden Of A Day
Title: Blessed Be Our Ever After
Label: Rise
Review By: JoshIVM

Tracklisting:

01. Blessed Be Our Ever After
02. Pt. 2 Sometimes They Do
03. Sorry Seacrest It’s Casey’s Countdown
04. The Smile That Kills
05. It’s Lonely At the Top (Or So I’ve Heard)
06. My Shelter
07. Battle For Hoth
08. Umbrellas
09. Monsters Among Us
10. White Coats And Their Medicine
11. I’m Only Laughing on The Outside

Blessed Be Our Ever After is the Sarasota, Florida natives debut release on Rise Records since leaving their former label Blood & Ink Records. The band is now prepared to really make their mark if they can stay on the road. While their debut on B&I had some shortfalls the band seems to have addressed them and have released one of the better discs in this genre in awhile.

“Blessed Be Our Ever After” opens off the album with a melodic gang vocal before a pounding breakdown leads into the first real track “Pt. 2 Sometimes They Do“. The back and forth vocals here work really well. “Sorry Seacrest It’s Casey’s Countdown” vocally sounds similar to Underoath and actually this album will probably be welcomed by fans of that band. This song has a good mix of the upbeat and the laid back parts, while never sounding disjointed. Musically they are different opting out of the post-core and sticking with melodic sounds. The guitars are distorted but not too much to remove the melodious sounds. There was a surprising amount of finger work on the album. I really expected more of a rhythmic sound, but it wasn’t a good move! “It’s Lonely At the Top (Or So I’ve Heard)” has some sweet brutal parts around 35 seconds in. “Umbrellas” was a decent album filler but I think I would have put it around the song #6 mark rather than #8. It just seemed odd there. I really like the beginning to “White Coats And Their Medicine”. It’s really calming and doesn’t really prepare you for the speedy onslaught that comes after. “I’m Only Laughing On The Outside” is one of the more poppier songs musically, with it’s upbeat and bouncy sound. While the majority of the album does sound similar and the songs follow a similar approach it really doesn’t take away the enjoyment factor of each song!

Overall Rating: I didn’t care for this release upon my first few listens during which I skipped through tracks quickly. After I sat down and really listened though I became a fan. Sure, it’s similar to a lot of the other screamo-core type bands out there but it is also a highly infectious disc and is better than many of those releases. This is a good addition to the Rise roster and a band that’s deserving of your ears! (8.5/10)

Standout Tracks: “Sorry Seacrest It’s Casey’s Countdown”, “My Shelter”, “Monsters Among Us”

Links:
Website
Myspace
Rise Records

Buy: Best Buy

Band: Andy Hunter
Title: Colour
Label: Nettwerk Music Group
Review By: JoshIVM

Tracklisting:

01. Sound Pollution
02. Stars
03. Shine
04. Miracle
05. System Error
06. Smile
07. Technicolour
08. Together
09. Fade
10. Sapphire
11. Out of Control
12. You

It has been 3 years since Andy Hunter released an album and as with most people I believe that’s far too long. He’s kept himself busy of course but this is just too long to keep fans waiting. Finally he emerges with Colour which shows him branching out and trying some new things musically. While past albums kept the pace solidly throughout this one shows a great deal more variation and plenty of slower, atmospheric sounds.

“Sound Pollution” takes a good minute and a half to really get moving and up until that point it’s a more atmospheric approach. It honestly reminds me of listening to a score for an epic movie. One the song gets started though you realize this is the Andy Hunter people have come to love. The song continues to build and build until a bit of vocals are used. “Stars” is far more mellow and ethereal than the first track and focuses a lot more on vocals. It has probably the best chorus on the disc and trust me you’ll be singing along before the track ends. “System Error” is another hard hitting club track with a great beat. “Smile” is another single without a doubt. It has the other huge chorus that you’ll undoubtedly be singing along to. Be sure to expect some remixes on this song. “Technicolour” has a different sound but one non-electronica fans might remember got popular in the 90’s. I tend to skip “Fade” and “Sapphire” which are back to back because I got bored rather quickly with them. The album rounds out with two more upbeat tracks, “Out Of Control” and “You“, but I’m often ready to stop when I skip “Fade“.

Overall Rating: This probably could have been another EP and I would be happy. I prefer more upbeat and pounding rhythms rather than ethereal songs, but the ones he presents here are not bad. I do tend to skip 1/4 of the album when I listen though. However, there is no denying this man’s talent and crafting intelligent and entertaining electronic music! (7/10)

Standout Tracks: “Sound Pollution”, “Smile”, “Stars”

Links:
Website
Myspace
Nettwerk Music Group

Buy: Best Buy

Band: Soul Embraced
Title: Dead Alive
Label: Solid State
Review By: JoshIVM

Tracklisting:

01. To End It All
02. Breaking Point
03. Curtain Of Deceit
04. The Devil’s Reflection
05. Everything Reminds Me Of You
06. La Fin Absolue Du Monde
07. Crawl
08. Into Darkness
09. Judas I’ve Become
10. Bloodstained Nevada
11. Kill This
12. In Memory
13. Dead Alive

It is the year of metal at Solid State Records. They announce all in one year that Soul Embraced would return, they signed The Famine made up of original Embodyment members, and also that almighty Living Sacrifice was back! Metalheads would have a chance to rejoice again as the label seemed to be returning to past years.

As was mentioned in a previous review, the production is far better than what Solid State offered 5 years ago. Thankfully this strengthens the album but it also cannot be depended on to carry a release. The band really has to have great songs first. Soul Embraced yet again mixes multiple styles of hard music into this album. From more nu metal flavored tracks to metalcore to more straightforward metal tracks this has quite a mix of sounds. “To End It All” starts things off metal. An acoustic riff with a slowly strengthening electric guitar which after taking over speeds up the riff and really gets things moving. This track is a good example of what to expect on the rest of the disc. Some amazing parts and some not so much. The best part of this song doesn’t begin until 3 minutes in and I guess could be considered a breakdown. That gives way to some high end guitar work and an epic ending that began the song. “Curtain Of Deceit” is one of the highlights of the album. Lots of finger work, harmonizing guitars, blasting drums, and pounding bass. This is what all of the album should sound like! “Everything Reminds Me Of You” is another great track that has some good melody mixed in with the brutality. “Crawl” was a surprise in that it features some clean vocals. It shows some of the bands changes in mixing in hard rock/nu metal vibes into their songs. This can also be seen on some parts of “Kill This“. With a different vocalist this would not be a metal song.

Overall Rating: Soul Embraced is capable of so much more than this. There are some truly incredible parts on this disc and then there a parts that bore me. The vocals still tend to annoy me during a lengthy listen even after all these years and I would like the band more without the Weyandt-esque sound. It isn’t a bad release by any means, but must be scored lower due to their abilities and what they gave us. (7/10)

Standout Tracks: “Curtain Of Deceit”, “LA Fin Absolue Du Monde”, “Crawl”

Links:
Website
Myspace
Solid State

Buy: Zambooie

Band: Means
Title: To Keep Me From Sinking
Label: Facedown
Release Date: 5.27.2008
Review By: JoshIVM

Tracklisting:

01. Awareness
02. Breaking In
03. Somewhere Up Ahead
04. Blackout
05. Steadily
06. We Dwell In Possibility
07. Burned Into Me
08. Refuge
09. What We Seek
10. Of Dread And Dreams

Means, one of Facedown’s rising acts, are back with their sophmore release. I am a huge fan of their debut Sending You Strength and have listened to it quite a bit. Unfortunately in cases like that the bar is set extremely high for the band to top it with their second release. While I don’t feel like they’re in a sophmore slump, I also do not feel they created a better album than the first.

The most noticeable difference between this album and the last is Dylan’s vocals. His voice sounds beat up. Perhaps this is the case and it was just worn out because of touring or maybe his vocals have changed a bit. At first this was an extreme turnoff to me. Being such a fan of the last album I couldn’t seem to get past the change. From his deeper, thick yells to now a more coarse, raspy approach took a bit of the brutality away from their sound. But the more I listened to this disc the more the vocals faded and were no longer as big of an issue.

Musically the band continues to bring the technical, melodic hardcore they are known for. Matt Goud has an impressive ability to craft aggressive jams and alternating his soothing vocals with Dylan’s harsh tones. Even with the change the vocals melt together really well. There is a good mix of guitars on this album from pounding breakdowns, driving rhythms, to more intricate guitar work, something about their style just hooks me. “Breaking In” is one of the heavier tracks until the more melodic chorus which is one of the more memorable on the album. The ballad “Steadily” was unexpected but extremely welcomed! This song is an acoustic song featuring Matt Goud’s awesome vocals and stands out not only because of the change in musical style but in the fact that it’s simply a good song. I would actually like to see Goud do some solo work or a even a side project that uses his vocals in a calmer musical setting. Many of the rest of the tracks keep a similar, unrelenting pace during verses and then calmer cleanly sung choruses (”Refuge“, “We Dwell In Possibility“).

Overall Rating: Thankfully over multiple listens my vocal complaints lessened a great deal although they didn’t fully diminish. I still prefer his vocals on Sending You Strength but as a whole this album is nearly as good. To Keep Me From Sinking is another impressive release and a welcome change from many of their melodic hardcore contemporaries! (8/10)

Standout Tracks: “Breaking In”, “Steadily”, “Burned Into Me”

Links:
Myspace
Facedown Records

Buy: Facedown Records Store

Ivoryline is premiering their new video for “Hearts And Minds” over here at Purevolume. Check it out and leave your thoughts.

[Myspace] [Purevolume]

These guys broke up and played their last show just over a year ago but they have a bunch of songs posted up on their myspace site here for free download.  Check out Undying Anthem if you like mainstream rock tunes.

Kessler will be releasing their debut full length called I Know Your Voice on July 8th. If you pre-order here you will receive an autographed album, a shirt (choice of 3 colors), a sticker, and an MP3 download on the day of release for $25. If you unfamiliar with the band you can head over to the band link or click here to download a few songs for free.

Jorel helped me fix the forums again. I should be able to do it from now on so it shouldn’t be down this long again. Click here to check it out.

Rise Records have signed Columbus, Ohio based band Attack Attack!. They will entered the studio with Joey Sturgis (mychildren mybride, The Devil Wears Prada) on June 6th to record their debut album.

I really hate plugging my own reviews but I posted some new ones today of the Stronger Than Hell Tour, Kingston Falls, Since October, Secret & Whisper, and The Wedding.

I will probably be posting a few more tonight on Means, Soul Embraced, and Andy Hunter. I am also trying my hardest to get ones on Take It Back!, Burden Of A Day, Here I Come Falling, Chris Taylor, and Oh The Blood wrapped up and posted by tomorrow night or Sunday at the latest.

If you’re bored or want to mock me feel free to read by looking in the left hand column for all the links.

Band: The Wedding
Title: The Sound The Steel
Label: Brave New World
Review By: JoshIVM

Tracklisting:

01. Receive
02. Return
03. Renew
04. Reveal
05. Redeem

Losing a vocalist can quickly be the death of a band. The Wedding I’m sure hoped this wasn’t going to be the case upon hearing Kevin’s decision to step down. Thankfully and unexpectedly for me, they enlisted former Letter Kills vocalist Matt Shelton. Being a big fan of Letter Kills I was pumped to hear the news! This EP is a debut of the new lineup and it shows that the band has indeed weathered the storm quite nicely.

The album’s opener “Receive” is a catchy, bouncy track with an easy to sing along chorus, complete with gang vocals. You will notice quickly that Matt’s vocals blend really well with the bands sound. “Return” brings a southern rock guitar vibe (gasp!) initially but don’t worry it doesn’t last long. It settles in with a far more straightforward rock track. There is some pretty sweet vocal parts in this song a little over a minute in where it sounds like a choir joins Matt. The song also ends with a breakdown-esque ending that is the highlight of the song. It ends the song perfectly. Both “Renew” and “Redeem” are piano led songs which are both potential hits. Great sing-along tracks! I’ll admit I laughed when I heard the first guitar parts of “Reveal“. I thought the band had gone nu metal for a second. The riff is by far the heaviest part on the album and will get the crowds moving. Again the band has a big, catchy chorus to complement the rest of the song.

Overall Rating: This EP has some musical changes from the band’s last album Polarity, which is my favorite of their 4 releases. That album just was the band at the top of their game and made it harder for this EP to be stronger. The Sound The Steel offers a variety of styles, which is both good and bad. Good that it offers something for everyone but bad in that the sounds vary enough to lead me to desire some streamlining of their sound. I think the band will have to mold the various sounds into a more cohesive whole like the previous full length. That being said, if you liked The Wedding before you will most likely dig this album and it’s definitely worth checking out if they’re new to you. (7.5/10)

Standout Tracks: “Redeem”, “Return”

Myspace
Brave New World

Buy: Brave New World Store

Band: Since October
Title: This Is My Heart
Label: Tooth & Nail
Review By: JoshIVM

Tracklisting:

01. Emily
02. My Heart
03. Beautiful
04. Disaster
05. In This Moment
03. Guilty
07. World To Me
08. Live To Die
09. Follow Me Down
10. Waiting
11. Everything

Since October is a band we’ve covered on IVM long before they signed with Tooth & Nail. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly they won a new band contest we ran way back. Brandon can either confirm that or tell me I’m way off. I have said since I first listened to their EP that’d they’d be a great pick for the Nail. They would provide the label with another nu metal/hard rock group that would hopefully follow in the footsteps of success that Thousand Foot Krutch has achieved. The band’s EP, Gasping For Hope, were pretty impressive for an independent group, and for those who are familiar you’ll notice many of those early songs reappear on this album. Unfortunately, the band did not live up to my expectations with This Is My Heart.

Since October sounds like many of the other bands in the hard rock/nu metal realm, most notably bands like Disciple. At times they have a bit of a P.O.D. vibe which isn’t surprising when realizing that Marcos helped co-write a few tracks. “My Heart” would be a typical sounding song for this genre. Chunky guitars, thick guitars, with pounding drums mixed with a sing/scream approach. However, when listening to songs like “Beautiful” you’ll be able to notice a bit more use of melody than some others in the genre. This is an incredibly catchy track and a likely contender for the second single. It also features some of that guitar chugging but focuses more on the melodic approach. The chorus is big and catchy which is a must in this genre. “Disaster” was chosen as the first single and is similar to “Beautiful” in most aspects. “In This Moment” is the ballad of the album and a potential single for Christian radio that isn’t into the hard rock.

Overall Rating: An impressive, yet at times repetitive, debut for the foursome from Florida. If they focus hard on staying on the road they will be able to carve a place for themselves in the market. Hopefully a bit more variation will be seen on future releases as well. This band has a lot of crossover potential and I truly hope to see them do some secular tours. (6.5/10)

Standout Tracks: “Beautiful”, “Disaster”

Myspace
Tooth & Nail

Buy: Zambooie