Nathan Xander - The Fear

Cover art + Tracklist:

1.October
2.Colors
3.John Wayne
4.The Alchemist
5.Trial By Fire
6.True Love Never Did Run So Smooth
7.Emerald Cities
8.Dark Horses
9.Martyr's Song
10.A Long One
11.Every rainy Day

Nathan Xander is a young Folk Rock musician who hails from Chicago Il, though born in western Pennsylvania. His second self released production called 'The Fear' is my choice for review of the month.

I picked this for my review because it is out of my normal music rotation. I'm not a big folk or acoustic listener but when I do I usually go right for the classics. For this review I chose to not sugar coat anything too much for my approach to Xanders latest production. Reasons being, One, I am a musician myself and would want the same. Second reason being when you are a folk writer/singer you are making a bold statement that is echoed through your songs, nothing more, nothing less. To be able to write songs from your heart and have the guts to throw that out to an audience takes a lot. To stand out however, your songs really need to hit home and unfortunately I did not get this with 'The Fear'.

I was not moved by his music as a whole or by his lyrics the way I would be by say Neil Young on his instant classic 'Harvest'. Yes that is an extreme apples to oranges but when the music is so simplistic it's gotta do something. Folk songs that are great and timeless take you to a certain place and a certain time that, even if you were not there or lived it, there is still a connection and that just comes from being a human.

Xanders lyrics are really his weak point, and to me that has to be the selling point. In the words of Lars Ulrich his lyrics are "Stock" He uses a lot of cliche words to set a scene like "highways" "sister" and my most hated "Angel" pronounced AIN-GEL. Mix these in with songs about heart felt angst, struggle and hope it really does scream cliche. Xander seems to try and establish a time and a place and set a scene that just feels forced almost like he hasn't really lived this stuff. I don't blame him for this though. We can't all be the troubled souls we wish to be.

He is however a good musician. He hits some chords that create some catchy tunes and he also played the piano and the harmonica on 'The Fear'. The second tune on the album, Colors, drip of 70's Folk Rock influence and he even displays some blues knowledge on the track The Alchemist, which was actually my favorite tune. It may actually benefit Xander if he just stick with song writing and let another singer/lyricist take over on vocals. You can tell he is trying to put on an almost Dylan-esque voice which was nothing to write home about.

The over all sound production on 'The Fear' is pretty good. It's not heavily processed and has a pleasant very natural sound. Personally I would have like to see better song organization. It was a lot of back and forth between slow, medium, slow, fast and so on, so you couldn't really get into a certain feel. As soon as you get into a chill frame of mind he speeds it up only to bring you back down.

Again this is not the type of music I listen to on a daily basis, and I think that if Xander keeps chugging away at this he will get better with time. To me being a folk singer takes a lot of perception to life and the world around you and how you can deliver it in a way that hits home for a lot of people. I was not one of those people, but maybe you are. If you like you some acoustic jams and Americana style music I would definitely give him a listen. He is currently on tour with some other musicians as Nathan Xander and Witchhouse. As for me, I'm just going to stick with Americas greatest hits.

Bad Religion - 30 Years Live

Cover art + Tracklist

1. Fuck Armageddon, This Is Hell
2. Dearly Beloved
3. Suffer
4. Man With a Mission
5. New Dark Ages
6. Germs of Perfection
7. Marked
8. A Walk
9. Flat Earth Society
10. Resist Stance
11. American Jesus
12. Social Suicide
13. Atheist Peace
14. Tomorrow
15. Won't Somebody
16. Los Angeles Is Burning
17. We're Only Gonna Die

What can be said about Bad Religion that hasn’t already been said before? The band is legendary and has been an inspiration to hundreds of acts that followed them. The pioneers of West Coast Punk Rock have been in the game for 30 years and to show their appreciation they have released a free live album for download. It also serves as their way to commemorate their 30th anniversary tour.

Reviewing live albums always ends up boring for me. The album could be fantastic but there isn’t much to talk about regarding the material unless previously unreleased songs make their way onto the disc (see Earth Crisis) so I’m normally reduced to talking just about the production and overall feel of the record.

With that being said, both of those elements are incredible on this record. The production is one point. Most useless background noise has been carefully edited out to make it sound better but not to take away the “live” aspect of the record. You can really feel the energy coming from both the band and the crowd. As the album progressed I could totally hear that the band was feeding off the crowd’s energy and vice versa. When then band finally gets to their closing song “We’re Only Gonna Die” everyone in the room is at their peak energy level. It just shows how awesome Bad Religion is that after 30 years, they are still able to control a show like they do.

As awesome of a record as this is, I unfortunately still have some complaints with it. Aside from knowing some of the background information I do on this record, you can really tell that this was not recorded all in one night. After a few tracks you can specifically hear the cheering crowd fade out before the next song starts and the commentary from Greg Graffin between songs is very limited. When listening to a live album, I want to hear it as if I was there that night. I don’t want to hear a carefully spliced together collage of shows. It kind of kills the vibe for me. The other complaint I have is the lack of all three of my favorite Bad Religion songs Do What You Want, 21st Century Digital Boy, and Generator. I was really looking forward to hearing those tracks and was sadly disappointed when none of the made the cut for their 30th Anniversary Tour.

Two complaints that really don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. This album is fantastic and definitely recommended for all Bad Religion fans. Hell if you happen to be one of the 5 people in existence that never heard a Bad Religion song before, this is a good start. You get 17 great songs and an example of how awesome the band is live in one shot. Listening to this record made me dust off some of their other discs and now I want nothing more than to see them play live. Hopefully they come by soon after they release their next album in which they are currently working on.

Heaven Shall Burn - Antigone

This German band has put out one hell of a CD. I've heard people complaining about the fact that he sings clean vocals from time to time... but I personally think it doesn't effect the music negatively whatsoever.

These guys mix melodic death metal with hardcore and some brutal breakdowns and even cover a Disembodied song. I think this record is a maturing over their last effort, and I think that the production is top quality and thus makes the whole thing even better. Their melodies flow over a grodd drum beat and are overlaid with some distinctive and abrasive metal growled vocals.

My favorite track off this release is probably "Architects of Apocalypse" - a crushing journey through the end of the world - this song reminds me at times of Arkangel and at other times At the Gates. The drumming is very punishing and tight, and the entire song is pretty swell in general.

If you like Eurpoean hardcore/metal then this is one to check out.