Ice Nine Kills : "the Sliver Scream"

I am going into this album with next to no experience with this band, and had a funny feeling about it knowing they are metal core, which is a sub-genre that really doesn't get much coverage here for good reason. It generally sucks because it sounds like mall metal. The chorus to the first song reminds me of Avenged Sevenfold. Obviously it is the darker and more melodic touches that are what I am listening for. The main reason I checked this album out to begin with is because it has a horror movie theme. "Thank God It's Friday " which is an homage to the "Friday the 13th " movies , is decent until we get to the cheese of the overblown chorus that tries to hard to be epic. I think "Stabbing in the Dark" is referring to "Halloween". It starts off almost like a power ballad before accelerating. "Savages" is kind of boring and vague in the movie it's paying tribute to. "the Jig is Up" is seems like it's about the Saw series. It's not remarkably original , but finds these guys doing what they do well enough. The chorus is less over top so that is worth something to me.

"Grave Mistake" is about as bland as it gets. "Rocking the Boat" might be about Jaws. It's pretty much color by numbers. While it is not wearing as badly on me as I feared it might, they are not coming up with anything to change your thoughts on metal core. "Enjoy Your Slay" is about the Shining, which get some points in my book since it's one of my favorite movies. They continue to play off more emo like vocal styling set against hyper thrashing with growls tossed in at random to induce break downs, but isn't this how most metal core could be described, so they don't really set themselves apart aside from the lyrical focus. "Freak Flag" is more vague in the lyrical focus , which is the most interesting part of this album. It is also one of the album's most accessible songs. "the World in my Hands" is another lyrically vague song, that is one of the more radio takes on Myspace Metal.

"Merry Axemas" is one of the more well handled songs. It is a nod to "Silent Night Deadly Night".. "Love Bites" is a cool take on "American Werewolf in London"it's my favorite song on the album, but it also reminds me of my girl friend so I am sure that colors my perspective. "Is it the End" takes It and makes it sound like something from a musical, until the screaming and double bass races into things. I'm guessing the guys from Less Than Jake are the ones handling the horns here. I'll give this album a 7. It's not bad. It's well done. Some of the lyrics are handled better than others. The emo choruses and sections that get big and wanky are not my thing. It might be yours.

Punk Goes Pop Vol 7

In the case of the first song this proves to be redundant as the band is supposed to be pop punk, but they are more on the pop side to begin with. This is the case with State Champs. They do a decent job, it's almost like the original but with guitar. Dance Gavin Dance, who I'm not a fan of to begin with though the guitar does some interesting jazz like phrasing on the verse. The screamed vocals on the verses just suck. So it's up to the guitar to save the day. New Years Day isn't a punk band even by Myspace standards. They do how ever do a pretty decent job of "Gangsta". The Amity Affliction has a tough job with "I Can't Feel My Face" since I actually like the original.The end result is rather middle of the road. The barking harsh vocals sound obligatory and almost the only element giving them an edge. So it's another case of here is what this would sound like with guitar. Then there is the god awful thing that happens with Andy Simms who makes the Frozen version of "When We Were Young" that is just terrible.

Grayscale must be Justin Beiber fans they play a pretty dead on version of "Love Yourelf" that builds into the Myspace pop punk thing. I am not familiar with "Fake Love" , but it seems Capsize do a pretty go version of it that will appeal to teenagers in the burbs. Boston Manor takes on "Heathens" . I am not familiar with the original, but I am not really feeling their performance. Eat Your Heart Out really nail their interesting take on "Shape of You". Which is why I like these albums as they take a song I already like and give it an interesting twist, true to the original but with their own color. Which is the purpose of covers unless you are a tribute band. I am sure I have heard "Let it Go" before. I can say that the singer of the Plot in You, has a great voice. It borders on being the kind Nickelback rock I don't like, but in this context works.

The pressure is on Ice Nine Kills with "I Don't Want to Live Forever" as it's Taylor Swift. It's pretty typical Myspace metal, the vocals handle the chorus pretty, there is none of Zayn's falsetto. The Bass tone is a little flat. But I guess I can live with this version , maybe not forever. Seaway's version of "Closer" felt like it was there own. I have heard the original , but like they way the owned this one. The singer of Too Close to Touch is obviously a big queen who got too into singing "In the Name of Love". The keyboard melody in the background is a little obnoxious and while they do a good job of this it's not my favorite song. I'll round this up to a 7.5, as some bands killed others failed big time or just dialed it in so it's a mixed bag, I'll just take the songs I want and delete the rest.