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Band: Quick and the Dead Album: “Consider Your Options” Label: None (Unsigned) Review by: Aaron Feldman www.quickandthedead.com www.myspace.com/quickandthedead Quick and the Dead – Consider Your Options It took all about two minutes listening to Consider Your Options, Quick and the Dead’s recent release, to ask myself “How is this band unsigned?” Hailing from Pleasanton, CA Quick and the Dead is a 5 piece punk-metal band who is storming the Christian punk world. They have played over 500 shows, many alongside bands such as Squad Five-0, Eleventeen, NIV, and Prodigal.… Continued →

Artist: August Burns Red Album: Thrill Seeker Label: Solid State Records Lancaster, PA is just half an hour away for me, so when I heard this local band had been drafted to the Tooth & Nail Empire, I was pretty surprised. But why not? Lancaster (pronounced locally as lank-ister, NOT lan-kaster as most others seem to say) has had a decent music scene for years, but until now hasn’t really gotten the attention of national record companies. The question remaining is whether or not August Burns Red does a good job of representing the 717 scene.… Continued →

Band: Transition Album: Get There Label: Floodgate Records Releases: May 9th, 2006 Transition will be new to most people, however they’ve been under the radar for awhile independently releasing two independent albums. (Including the extremely impressive “Sunset Wakeup” which by the way can be ordered from the band’s merch site). Having listened to that album and seeing they had signed with Floodgate I was looking forward to this release. Then finding out Mike Herrera (frontman: MxPx) was at the helm producing only doubled my interest. I’ll be honest and say that I went straight to the fourth track #4 featuring Mike Herrera, because well I have always been a huge MxPx fan.… Continued →

Review by: Josh IndieVision Band: Anam Cara Title: Ready To Live Label: Strike First Records Release Date: April 11th, 2006 Tracklisting: 01. Intro 02. You’re Not Aware 03. Our Air To Breathe 04. Consequence Of Being Irrational 05. Ready To Live 06. Closer 07. It’s Not Too Late 08. Don’t Look Back 09. Thief In The Night 10. Hear Me Out 11. Just Reassure Me That Everything Is OK Members/Duties: *David Bills: Vocals *Matt DeSear: Guitar, Vocals *Bobby Canfield: Drums *Alex Zalo: Bass Anam Cara, the self-proclaimed “Florida Hardcore Band”, does indeed put out hardcore music but with enough variety to set them apart from their cohorts.… Continued →

Band: Zombie Gutz Title: Who’s Come’n With Me? Label: Wounded Records Tracklisting: 01. Moonpies And Brownie Chocolate 02. Wilkesboro 03. Bo Fever 04. How Does It Go 05. Burned Alive 06. Sold 07. Wacko Jacko 08. Track 7 09. Keep Poundin 10. Dumpzilla 11. Alexander 12. Water Hockey Members: Ryan C. – Lead Guitar Ryan H. – Drums Chase – Vocals Brandon – Guitar Van Lowe – Bass/Vocals (currently serving in Iraq) Joe – Bass (fill-in) My first thought was man these guys have a great name to design merch for.… Continued →

Band: Stretch Arm Strong Album: Free At Last Label: WPO Records Reviewer: J Scannell www.stretcharmstrong.net “Stretch Arm Strong, where have you been all my life?” was the first thing that came to mind when I popped this into my CD player. I had previously had a song or two from SAS on a Solid State compilation, but nothing in the way of owning their CD’s. Recently I was checking out some live video from “This Is Solid State Vol 4” and was convinced I had to check these guys out.… Continued →

Band: My Epic Album: This is Rescue Label: None (Unsigned) Review by: Brandon Jones www.myepic.net www.myspace.com/myepic I am at a loss for words at the scope and imagination this 5 song release holds. The album invites you into a sound scape of originality and sheer focus, enough to captivate any listener. Though the band shares influence from a number of artists, it’s tough to completely place a finger on who and what this band sounds like. They escape all definitions and for that you will be captured by their sound, beyond belief.… Continued →

Review by: Josh IndieVision Band: Dalton Title: Taste The Sky Label: Selectric Release Date: May 2nd, 2006 Tracklisting: 01. City Lights 02. Taste The Sky 03. Life Afraid 04. Overlight 05. 600 Feet 06. Gabriel (Hold On) 07. Above You 08. Take What You Want 09. Streets 10. Breathing In 11. Hold Me Now (Summer’s Song) Members/Duties: *Steven Kanicka: Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals *Spencer Dalton: Drums & Lead Vocals *Preston Dalton: Guitar & Lead Vocals *Chris Santos: Bass Dalton brothers, Spencer and Preston, decided that music was their mission back in high school.… Continued →

Review by: Josh IndieVision Band: NeedToBreathe Title: Daylight Label: Atlantic Records Release Date: April 4th, 2006 Tracklisting: 01. Don’t Wait For Daylight 02. Quit 03. Shine 04. Don’t Leave Just Yet 05. Haley 06. You Are Here 07. Knew It All 08. More Than 09. Over Now 10. Lost 11. I Won’t Look Back Members/Duties: *Bear Rinehart: Vocals, Guitars *Bo Rinehart: Guitars, Backup Voc’s *Seth Bolt: Bass, Backup Voc’s, Programming *Joe Stillwell: Drums, Backup Voc’s The quartet known as NeedToBreathe has been creating quite the buzz lately.… Continued →

Band: The Echoing Green Album: The Winter of Our Discontent Label: BEC/Tooth & Nail www.toothandnail.com www.becrecordings.com www.echocentral.com www.myspace.com/echoinggreen Review by: Brandon Jones Listening to this album was a unique experience in itself. Going in, I already knew that this group had been around about ten years and released several album i’ve heard briefly. They were another one of those early 90’s Christian Bands that ended up somehow in the awful label failure mix. The one where every small Christian rock label goes under except for T&N… Anyway, back to the record.… Continued →

Album: Reasons For Living Label: Future Destination Records Review by: Cory www.fdrecords.com Slamming down 22 tracks mixed with a little bit of hardcore, pop punk and some progressive rock. Each band or artist on the sampler is extremely innovative and all the songs are very catchy. Future Destination Records did a great job on the song choice for this sampler; I found myself listening to every track over and over again. They bring a great mix of bands who are all for Jesus and a lot of the tracks provide for a worshipful experience.… Continued →

Band: Mercury Switch Album: Time to Shine Label: Indianola Records Reviewed by: Cory (xBeaconx) www.indianolarecrds.com www.mercury-switch.com OK, this band is above the mediocre. I was expecting a lot less, especially after having their previous release and not having many good thoughts about it. But this time the band brings in some experimental elements, not always good, but not always bad either. They use synthesizers similar to “Change of Times” era of Underoath. Which isn’t bad but I didn’t think it was necessary for every song. I still find that the actual metalcore part still boring, if you take away the different vocals and synthesizers.… Continued →

Band: Sacred Sorrow Title: Deliver Us From Evil Label: Wounded Records Tracklisting: 01. No Surrender 02. Idolatry Of Fashion 03. Judas 04. Sunsets Over Salem 05. The Kiss Goodbye 06. Less Than Here 07. Paper Airplanes 08. From The Wings Of A Fallen Angel 09. A New Hope 10. Conflicted 11. Proverbs 23 12. Social Suicide Members: Blake: Vocals Jeremy: Guitar Joshua: Drums Dustin: Bass Mike: Guitar Sacred Sorrow formed in early 2003, after a praise and worship session. The band has made it clear that they were fed-up with the “anti-god hardcore scenes” and “set out to change the pace”.… Continued →

Band: The Afters Title: I Wish We All Could Win Label: Epic/INO Tracklisting: 1. Beautiful Love 2. Until The World 3. Someday 4. Love Leave Me On 5. All That I Am 6. The Way You Are 7. You 8. Love Will Make You Beautiful 9. Wait 10. Thank God I’m Not The One Recently receiving the Dove award for “New Artist Of The Year” comes The Afters, with their debut “I Wish We All Could Win”. This album has already gained them widespread media attention and I believe that will only continue to grow.… Continued →

Artist: Further Seems Forever Album: Hope This Finds You Well Label: Tooth & Nail Records 1. The Moon Is Down 2. Pride War 3. Hide Nothing 4. Snowbirds And Townies 5. Light Up Ahead 6. Against My Better Judgment 7. The Bradley 8. New Year’s Project 9. How To Start A Fire 10. Someone You Know 11. The Sound 12. Wearing Thin 13. Bleed 14. Pictures of Shorelines 15. For All We Know 16. Vengeance Factor (feat. Chris Carrabba) 17. There, Now I’ve Said It (feat.… Continued →

Artist: The Fold Album: This Too Shall Pass Label: Tooth & Nail Records As I stepped through the crowd to get my hands on some new Project 86 merch, I passed a table shared in part by opening act The Fold. One band member shouted out to us to check them out “Tooth & Nail’s newest band.” Another member jokingly added “and possibly their best.” I had missed their set due to a last minute decision to get some food before the show, so at the time I was not interested.… Continued →

Band: Hawk Nelson Album: Smile It’s the End of the World Label: Tooth and Nail Records www.hawknelson.com www.toothandnail.com Oh my gosh, Brandon is reviewing a Hawk Nelson disc! No way! Are you insane? Well I do live life with some insanity at times but this isn’t the time to talk about it. This is the time to discuss the insane and raddical new disc by famed Pop Punk band Simple Plan, I mean Hawk Nelson. Wow where do I begin? Ha. Yah know what, every part of me wanted to rip this album to shreds and insult it’s very being but in some twist of luck, I’m not going to.… Continued →

Band: Caldwell Album: Accidental Renovation Label: Indianola Records Reviewed by: Cory (xBeaconx) www.caldwellrock.com www.indianolarecords.com www.purevolume.com/caldwell Hailing from the orange juice state, Caldwell slams down a nice freshly squeezed glass of post-hardcore. They offer up something for everyone, extra pulp, no pulp, and 100% juice. Why all the orange juice analogies? Well they are from Florida and I’m trying to get some comedy points. Anyways……Caldwell. Great band; roaring, fast guitars. Well laid vocal tracks, gang vocals, guest vocals; the works. The band brings in former Across Five Aprils singer Steve Taylor to lay down some vocals on the track, “Two Months Til Takeoff”.… Continued →

Artist: Death Is Not Welcome Here Album: Revelations EP Label: None A song I heard off this band’s first release a little while ago gave me no reason to be interested in them. In fact, I sort of disliked the song. However, I decided to give this release an honest chance, and my mediocre expectations were vastly exceeded within ten seconds of hitting play. “Beauty and the Beast” starts the album off hard with strong and melodic singing, clear drums, and a guitar riff that just might be stuck in your head for days.… Continued →

Artist: The Reception Album: Does It Keep You Awake? Label: None (released independently) Review by: Eric www.thereceptionwillfollow.com www.myspace.com/thereceptionmusic There are a lot of bands out there. There are piles and piles of names throughout each individual subgenre of rock music, and it is very difficult to weed through and separate the good from the bad. Some days every new band I check out is amazing. Other days every new band I check out is awful. There is that special something needed to distinguish a band from the piles and piles of others.… Continued →

Artist: Richard Swift Album: The Collection Vol. 2: Walking Without Effort Label: Secretly Canadian Reviewer: Dusty In keeping with the tradition of comparing Mr. Swift to older, gravely-voiced innovators, I shall continue with this review… Imagine Tom Waits in the mid to late 80s. In the 70s he made his living on simple barroom songs written (and mainly played) on the piano. Gorgeous songs that always sounded a little odd coming from someone with such a growling voice. By 1983, he’d had enough, and recorded Swordfishtrombones, an off-the-wall collection of songs that were more than a little uncharacteristic of his previous albums.… Continued →

(This is my first IVM review so be nice cause I know where you live.) This is arguably the most unique release Tooth and Nail Records has put out in a while. It felt kind of weird listening to the track “Love Comes Quickly,” a track I thought might fit well on a local country station, and seeing that T&N logo on the back of the case. Don’t be too concerned though, the “country” element isn’t really present within the album as a whole. Getting down to the actual music, it’s bunch of fun to listen to.… Continued →

Artist: Movies with Heroes Album: Nothing Here Is Perfect Label: CI Records Back in November I went to see The Juliana Theory play in Lancaster, PA. One of the opening acts I had never listened to before was Movies with Heroes, and they blew all of us away. I went with some friends from school and since then have heard at least one of them singing “Wake up. Wake up. Is this what you want?” probably about once a week. Then came March. Movies with Heroes was having their CD release show, and we had to go.… Continued →

Band: Enlow Album: The Recovery Label: Blood and Ink Records Reviewer: Cory www.bloodandinkrecords.com www.myspace.com/enlow I was pretty excited that Enlow was making a comeback. I remember hearing about these guys alot three years ago when I started listening to hardcore. Then sortly they put their guitars on the rack, and I never got the chance to really check these guys out. So when I ran across a news blurb on Blood and Ink’s website about Enlow’s return I was glad I would have another chance to check these guys out.… Continued →

Artist:After the Tragedy Album Title: The Beautiful Brand New Label: Self-Released Reviewed by:Ry From out of the southern state of Arkansas which is the stomping grounds of prolific bands such as Spoken and Living Sacrafice comes this new force in hard rock/post hardcore known as After The Tragedy. ATT has a lot to offer with this cd being their independent debut. Instead of walking down roads that have already benn tread ATT(i really feel like making a phone company joke right now…) would rather just rock out and find their own spot in the music scene.… Continued →

Artist: Istra Album: The Verdict Label: Blue Tint Entertainment www.myspace.com/istra www.purevolume.com/istra I first listened to downloaded mp3s from this band over a year ago, and was instantly in love, so when I found out they had a new album I was pretty excited. I had played those first few songs so many times, put them on so many mixes, recommended them to so many friends. It was time for something new, and Istra delivered. Istra plays a very melodic post-hardcore along the lines of Blindside or As Cities Burn.… Continued →

Band: The Chariot Album: Unsung EP Label: Solid State Recrds Reviewer: Cory www.solidstaterecords.com www.thechariot.com My days listening to this sort of noisy metalcore have long since past, and it was hard getting into this cd. The off timed guitars and seemingly nonesensical lyrics were hard to pass. And then I thought about Norma Jean’s “Bless The Martyr, Kiss The Child” and I got this warm fuzzy feeling inside of me. The music is very well written and complex and definitely throws variety around. I heard a banjo in one song as well as a piano in another as well as some pretty sweet guitar lines.… Continued →