Blessed by a Broken Heart have a new song titled “Carry On” posted to their myspace page. “Pedal to the Metal” is in stores this Tuesday.

I posted 3 reviews today and hopefully with post a few more late tonight or tomorrow if time allows.

Family Force 5 - Dance Or Die

Take It Back! - Can’t Fight Robots

War Of Ages - Arise & Conquer

Band: War Of Ages
Title: Arise And Conquer
Label: Facedown
Release Date: 7/22/2008
Review By: JoshIVM

Tracklisting:

01. All Consuming Fire
02. When Faith Turns To Ashes
03. Through The Flames
04. Salvation
05. Sleep Of Prisoners
06. Wages Of Sin
07. Yet Another Fallen Eve
08. Generational Curse
09. The Awakening
10. The Deception Of Strongholds

At this point War Of Ages have become nearly veterans in the melodic hardcore game, with Arise & Conquer being their fourth full length (if you count the re-write of their debut as a new one). They have become a well respected band for who they are, work and touring ethic, and live shows. The band has once again delivered a brutal, much improved, new album.

Now I don’t mean much improved in a negative way that mocks the older albums because I enjoyed them all, but this album has far surpassed all of it. Fast paced guitars, a solid rhythm section, and thunderous breakdowns are all over this album as you’d expect but there are also some surprises including better solos, faster songs, and *gasp* even some singing. This time the band wisely teamed up with Tim Lambesis (of As I Lay Dying) and his ear for metal really shows through. You’ll notice pretty quickly that the low end, including bass and drums, are much more pronounced and give the effort a fuller, more forceful sound. This was not the case with the past few releases and is something that makes this album blow them away.

“When Faith Turns To Ashes” is one awesome track! Fast finger work keeps the track moving and is one of the more straightforward metal tracks opting out of the usual breakdown. It works for me! “Through The Flames” absolutely pummels your chest with the intensity of the drums. The song really exemplifies everything we have come to enjoy from the boys of Erie. Surprisingly, we do hear some more melodic “sung” vocals in the chorus which is something new and welcomed. They don’t overdo it and become poppy and out of place, but it added to the song for me. Hopefully they’ll be able to branch out more in the future. “Salvation” is one of the catchier songs guitarwise and early on has a nice guitar solo reminiscent of the hair metal days. This is one area the band greatly improved upon. They always had solos but they are just all around better in this album. “Generational Curse” is a blistering track which shreds pretty much throughout. I like that the band went more metal in a bunch of the songs and sped things up. The closer, “The Deception Of Strongholds“, starts off real quiet and gives way to an awesome harmonized guitar solo, which actually continues throughout. I do have to take a second here to congratulate the band in a wise choice for picking Branon as the new guitarist. He really adds a lot to the mix.

Overall: There really isn’t much to be said that hasn’t already been said about this band. Arise & Conquer has shown us that the band continues to grow and better themselves and is hands down their best album yet! Without a doubt this album can be listened to over and over. They have some great touring plans for the Fall already so hopefully a lot of new listeners will get hooked as well. If you’re a fan of melodic hardcore at all there is absolutely no excuse for you not owning this album.

Standout Tracks: “Through The Flames”, “Salvation”, “Generational Curse”

Links:
Myspace
Facedown Records

Buy: Facedown Records Store

Band: Take It Back!
Title: Can’t Fight Robots
Label: Facedown
Review By: JoshIVM

Tracklisting:

01. Standing On The Edge Of Hope
02. Times Have Changed
03. Together, Burning Bright
04. These Days
05. Lights In This Town
06. A New Day
07. The Truth
08. Knees To The Earth
09. Time Waits For No Man
10. A Struggle To Stay Standing
11. Act Your Age, Not Your Shoe Size
12. All That Keeps Us Strong

I first posted about Take It Back! on IVM in April of ‘07 when I stumbled across their Myspace and highly recommended everyone to check them out. The band then appeared on our Hearts Bleed Passion Vol. 2. All of us at IVM were excited when Facedown picked these guys up in early ‘08 and they started work on their debut. I hoped the band would exceed my, and others, expectations, and they did it with ease.

“Standing On The Edge Of Hope” is a really good first representation of the band. Mid-paced, melodic hardcore that leans more to the hardcore side of things, with vocals that match the sound perfectly. “Times Have Changed” speeds things up and quickly became a favorite of mine. It features an easy-to-remember chorus which is memorable enough to sing along with. “These Days” tricks you, at least for the first minute, into thinking it’s a slowed down anthem, but they step it up a few notches and tear through the next minute before returning to a more anthemic ending. It impressed me that the band could vary up their sound and not simply deliver the usual hardcore songs. “Lights In This Town” shows off some gruff singing and I must say I wished they’d have done that more throughout this album. Anyways, the song has a great driving part a little over a minute in that’ll get the crowd 2 stepping. The band then surprised me again by utilizing a piano and sung gang vocals providing backup until the song ended. “A New Day” has more of a punk feel to a lot if it with the catchy, sing along chorus.

Overall: If I had to pick a few bands to compare TIB! with I’d have to say a mix of Stretch Arm Strong, Comeback Kid, and Dogwood. Pretty impressive company if you ask me and in my opinion they can hold their own even though they’re newcomers. They have released an enjoyable and consistent debut and one can easily see them gaining popularity. Their signing shows Facedown has added yet another great band to their young and ever expanding roster.

Standout Tracks: “Times Have Changed”, “Lights In This Town”, “A New Day”

Links:
Myspace
Facedown Records

Buy: Facedown Records Store

Band: Family Force 5
Title: Dance Or Die
Label: Transparent Media Group/Tooth & Nail
Release Date: 8/19/2008
Review By: JoshIVM

Tracklisting:

01. Dance Or Die
02. Get Your Back Off The Wall
03. Rip It Up
04. How In The World
05. Fever
06. Party Foul
07. D-I-E 4 Y-O-U
08. Share It With Me
09. The First Time
10. Wake The Dead
11. Radiator

Family Force 5 have returned with a new album after releasing and touring on thier very successful debut album Business Up Front, Party In The Back. The band had some great exposure on huge tours like Warped and with this new album I expect them to branch out on even better tours through the next year. No longer on Gotee, the band is working through their own creation Transparent Media Group as well as being partnered with Tooth & Nail/EMI. There are sure plenty of positives for the band going on right now, but there is also the inherent danger of a sophmore slump.

You will soon notice the Family opted for a far more danceable creation and left behind their rap/rop/dance hybrid that people came to love. If you listen to their debut you can see they followed the pattern set by “Drama Queen” and “Lose Urself” and created an album completely in that arena. This album has plenty of potential hit songs in that vein, even some calmer ballad-like tracks like “How In The World“.

The first track, “Dance Or Die” fades in with some 80’s synth and the beat drops in and begins thump behind it. Within a few bars I was totally into the song! I recently picked up the album and took it with me on a trip to visit some friends. The same thing occurred with them. They were hooked within a few lines. “Get Your Back Off The Wall” is one of my favorite tracks on the disc. With the distorted vocals at the outset, the catchy dance rock, and even some screams, it’s another solid track. “How In The World” is one of the quieter tracks. They left behind the dance but kept all of the catchiness. This is a song the pop world could fall in love with. “Fever” will have your speakers pumping again. I really enjoyed the pounding rhythms and the easy-to-sing-along lyrics in this song! “Radiator” reminded me of Katy Perry’s hit musically, though it will not get to that level of popularity. “Share It With Me” sounds like a single that could have come from any number of current R&B singers.

Overall: Dance Or Die isn’t the album for everyone and undoubtedly they will lose some fans, however, overall I think this album will do quite well in both Christian and mainstream circles. They will continue to grow through word of mouth and their live shows as well. The band has bettered their sound and even I was surprised at the quality of songs throughout this disc. There is no doubt that Dance Or Die will be spending quite a bit of time blasting through my speakers and headphones! What are you waiting for? Go get this album and dance along!

Standout Tracks: “Get Your Back Off The Wall”, “Share It With Me”, “The First Time”

Links:
Website
Myspace
Tooth & Nail

Buy: Parable Christian @ $7.97

There is going to be a delay in getting the Underoath Deluxe Edition Box Set to buyers. Please read below

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I just posted a new poll for you all to vote in in celebration of the new Underoath album coming out this Tuesday. This time it’s for your favorite Underoath song of all time. Please enter answers(songs) because I was too lazy and tired to type them all out. This can stretch all the way back to Act of Depression if you so desire. Please don’t make a joke of this poll and put stuff like “Underoath Sux Man, No Song is Good” or other answers like that. Keep it real.

According to our last poll, it looks like we have quite a few “Office” fans on here. I guess The Office is your favorite TV show? Other favorites include Lost, Heroes, The Simpsons, and Chuck. Thanks for voting everyone and no thanks to the people that voted for “No”.

Two new featured artists this week. Underoath and Blessed by a Broken Heart. Each have new cds in stores this Tuesday. Discuss.

I have these bands/artists so far for Hearts Bleed Passion Vol. 4: Aevory Nash, Aneirin, Blood and Water, Braveheart, Broken Scarlet, Deas Vail, Goodnight Darling, Kiven, Michael Sandoval, Morse, Noiz, Orion Walsh, Photoside Cafe, Ready the Way, Rene Velarde, Say You Will, Second Thief,  Sleep for Sleepers, Source of My Faith, This Is Luke, The Tug Fork River Band, When Only Darkness Remains, and more soon. Look for Hearts Bleed Passion Vol. 4 to be posted in about 1-2 weeks. I am still accepting mp3s if you are in a band and would like to be a part of it. Just send me an email brandon@indievisionmusic.com

The Spirit That Guides Us has a new song up on myspace for you to check out. [bandsonfire]

You can preorder House Of Heroes new album The End Is Not The End right here through Zambooie.  Click below to read the all the preorder details as well as the album tracklist and cover. 

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The Dark Romantics have a new song on myspace. The Dark Romantics feature former members of Denison Marrs.

Click Here to Pre-Order Lecrae’s New Album “Rebel”! Releases 9/30/08

We are seeking out talented Christian bands for our FREE Digital Compilation Sampler that we’ll be posting in a couple of weeks. I have a few that have submitted stuff so far but I need a whole lot more. I know a lot of our readers are in bands or are friends with bands and I ask you today to please send us your tracks. The song must be in mp3 format and can be emailed to me here: brandon@indievisionmusic.com The recording must be of good quality or it will not be used. I am accepting any style or genre of music. Labels, send us mp3s of your artists as well and they will be considered. Let’s make Hearts Bleed Passion Vol. 4, our best sampler ever!! The last two samplers we released were downloaded about 3000 times each. This is great promotion for any young band wanting exposure for their music. We reach thousands and thousands of interested music buyers each month and many of those visitors download our samplers. There is no cost to be a part of this and the whole sampler is offered as a FREE digital download through our site in a zip file. Bands, now is your chance!

That’s right my friends, the band Midnight Hour (featuring former members of Anthym) is alive and well. They have just relaunched their myspace page with an all new look and posted two new demos for you to listen to. The band is signed to Interscope Records and their new album will be out later this year. This is one of the hottest new bands to watch for.

Here is the new video from Underoath courtesy of MTV. “Lost in the Sound of Separation” hits stores on Tuesday of this coming week and I hope all of you are going to go buy it!

Mendelson, the project of Shane Gould of Quick and the Dead, has posted a new song titled “Lost” to myspace. He’ll have a new album available for purchase from myspace very soon.

Buzzgrinder.com is offering a free download of a new song from the band ANATHALLO. Click here to get it.

…. has a new CD out on Brave New World Records… check out the title track “White Lights” over at their PureVolume (where they are currently featured).

Another band on PureVolume’s front page: The Showdown

This is an odd choice, makes some sense to me, but I know very little about her… but McCain just chose Sarah Palin, the Governor from Alaska.

Earlier, as everyone knows, Obama chose Joe Biden.

So now it is McCain/Palin vs. Obama/Biden … or whoever else you will vote for and/or consider…. remember, study all the candidates, and please, dig deeper than the surface issues.

You can stream Underoath’s new album Lost In The Sound Of Separation for the next week right here.  After you’ve taken a listen to the album come back here and let us know what you think of it!  The new album is in stores and online next Tuesday, September 2nd.

I was a bit bias before and rushed a bit, so I thought I’d RE-WRITE my Sever Your Ties Review. I’m a lot more comfortable with it now =] Click to Read

Artist: Sever Your Ties

Album: Safety in the Sea

Label: Solid State

Release Date: July 8th

Review By: Kimberly Johnson

01 Voice Like A Nova 03:16

02 After A Storm 03:02

03 Hand in Hand 02:54

04 This is What You Get 04:07

05 Captive 03:48

06 Drifting 02:58

07 Things Are Better (Left Unsaid) 03:01

08 To the Pacific 02:39

09 Here I Am 02:42

10 Ashamed 02:38

11 (Don’t Fear) the Reaper 03:34

For a band with such an evolving sound over the years, I’m pretty proud of the spot they’ve settled in with their debut full-length album, Safety in the Sea. Sever Your Ties have pretty well solidified themselves in the So Cal Christian music scene with their previous releases and eventful live shows, but on Safety in the Sea, you get a whole new taste of the bands talents.

It’s always exciting to see a vocalist who can harmonize and scream just as equally well, so you have to understand my happiness with SYT. Each song suits the consistency of the next song and also supplies a variety of sounds. One thing that did catch my ear and make me have a, “What the heck was that!?!” moment, was the synth use. Though usually used very well throughout the album, the keys hold a bit of annoyance in some of the tracks.

At one point, I found myself drifting off on the thoughts of some sort of Sci-Fi movie soundtrack!…That’s terrifying for me. Personally, I’d much rather feel like I’m listening to a solid post hardcore band than the “new tunes from the Trekie fan club.” Harsh? Oh yes, I definitely didn’t need to go there. A valid attempt at comic relief? Most definitely! To see my reason for this, check out track number 5. It’s a great song really! I just think the chorus is a little smothered in the synths. On a more serious note, I believe it’s definitely worth it to speak on the bands high points as well.

Track 6, Drifting, keeps ringing in my ears as the definite standout of the album for me. I think it represents the heavier sound on the album very well and also ventures into the realm of catchy and sing along worthy with it’s chorus, “When I walk into a room full of fire/Naturally I wanna burn/ Such a human desire.”…I found my mother humming it. That speaks volumes!

On to the last song of the album, “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” I felt the need to take time to write about this song just because it made me think A LOT. Now this is a tricky one for me. In all honesty, I didn’t really get the basis of the song or the “la la las” that chorus it out. I did get that it’s good to rock back and forth to; but that’s about it. I wish it would have been a bit stronger seeing as it is the closing song, but having the ability to make me want to rock back and forth is important as well…probably not as important as musical integrity, but important one way or another!

To sum it up, this is another one of those “solid” albums. You’d always have to imagine hundreds of people could think it was the most amazing creation ever, and the next city over, another few hundreds could think it was the epitome of garbage. Either way, it has some great tracks on it that also shine in lyricy and depth. I will say I hope to see better synth use in the future as well as more original riffs, but in all, solid work SYT.

Standouts: Drifting, Hand in Hand

6.5/10

Myspace

Paul Wheatley has left We Shot The Moon for personal reasons.  You can read more about the situation in their latest blog here or below.

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War of Ages will be going out on tour with Hatebreed, Solient Green, and Catalepsy in September. Click below for dates.

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Both of these artists have new albums out so please check out their music at the links given.  You can read a new interview from Remedy Drive right here and an interview that was done during GMA week with DecembeRadio right here.  These interviews were done by Jesusfreakhideout.

On September 6th, Surprises will be premiering the video for the song The Mistress And Her Heart on Purevolume.  You can watch the video promo for the premiere right here.

Bret and Jeff of Lost Ocean would like to personally invite you to see Lost Ocean at Borders in Bakersfield, CA on Saturday, August 30th at 7pm, for FREE.  Check out the video here.

Family Force 5’s new album Dance Or Die debuted at # 30 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart and # 8 on the Alternative Rock Chart with their first-week sales totaling 12,989 albums sold. (Jesusfreakhideout)

I’m not usually one to get excited about names I’ve never heard of, and I’m sure you’re not either, but for today I ask you to set that aside and go read my review of Brendan Moss’s album Your Face Is Glowing. This is going on my list of “Best CDs I’ve been sent to review in 2008″ for sure! It is an incredible release, both musically and lyrically.

Artist: Brendan Moss
Album: Your Face Is Glowing
Label: Friendly Arctic Music
Release Date: May 11, 2008
Review by: Eric Pettersson

Tracklist:
1. Action
2. Character
3. Manna from Heaven
4. Revolution Song
5. On His Citadel
6. To His Absurd Redeemer
7. Man of God
8. Powerlines
9. Make Way

When Jesus said “Blessed are the meek,” I bet he was talking about people like Brendan Moss. His humble songs about God present him in a way that makes words like Almighty and Holy actually mean something. To be quite honest, as I just listened through while reading the lyrics, there were definite moments that gave me a stronger understanding and feeling of the fear of the Lord. Most songs reference the unending search for God and talk about or to him in a powerfully reverent way that I’ve seen very few other places, actually honoring God as God and focusing on his Divine nature and Kingship, an aspect that some might find a bit uncomfortable in a culture that focuses on God’s personal friendship so much we almost bring him down to our level. We would do well to sing these songs asking God for mercy and admitting to his control over everything and our control over nothing. Brendan writes with raw honesty and humility that somehow shine through with a subtle confidence in knowing that God will extend his love and strength, even though it is vastly undeserved. To back up these powerful and compelling lyrics, Brendan brings on more instruments than I can count on two hands, but the leading ones tend to be acoustic guitar, piano, or both. Some bells and lots of other electronic sounds are added into the mix to varying degrees depending on song, and all of it is very slow and very mellow except for “Revolution Song” which includes a banjo and attempts a little folksy bluegrass. The rest is reminiscent of the slower, softer material from Death Cab for Cutie, Bright Eyes, and Jon Foreman. And that music is a perfect complement to the message. And as if that weren’t enough, the album comes in binding like a book, with the lyrics reading like a collection of poetry. Just so you believe me, check out the photo below!

9/10

Label Site

You can view all the details for the 2 CD release shows House Of Heroes are having for their new album The End Is Not The End here or below.

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You can preview and purchase Abandon’s new 5 song EP on iTunes by clicking here.  It’s $4.49 in the US and $3.49 in Canada.

Click here to watch a video from Haste The Day with the photo shoot they just did in Nashville for their new record Dreamer.  They also included another sneak peek at their single Mad Man.

Daydreamer has a new song called Where You Are for you to check out on their myspace site.  There are also a few songs on their myspace site for you to download for free if you like their stuff.