Band: The Word Alive
Album: Deceiver
Year: 2010
Label: Fearless Records
Myspace

Score: 6,5/10
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After previously releasing two EP’s, ‘The Word Alive’ have finally gotten a full-length together.
Like ‘Miss May I’ and ‘Woe, Is Me’, ‘The Word Alive’ have been very hyped recently – probably because ‘Deceiver’ has been under production for over two years and it’s their first full-length to date. The big question is if the hype do them justice. Let’s dive deeper into the subject.
Like ‘Miss May I’’s new release ‘Monument’, ‘Deceiver’ starts off heavy, with ‘The Hounds Of Anubis’. Honestly, the first few seconds give me a slight black metal-vibe with the eerie keys in the background, but it quickly turns into the metalcore it is. Tyler’s screams are powerful, the drumming is fast and intense – and a minute twenty seconds into the song you hear a somewhat unique legato-riff that I really like. ‘The Hounds Of Anubis’ turns out to be one of the few good songs on the record.

Band: Woe, Is Me
Album: Number[s]
Year: 2010
Label: Velocity Records/Rise Records
Myspace

Score: 8,5/10
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There’s been a lot of fuzz regarding Woe, Is Me lately. Mostly because it’s an up-and-coming metalcore-band partly signed to Rise Records – one of the biggest labels out there in this scene. Bands signed to Rise usually have a very crowd-friendly sound to themselves, and Woe, Is Me is no exception.
Something new with Number[s] is that it’s marked as the first record where Velocity Records are in partnership with Rise Records.

Band: The Devil Wears Prada
Album: Zombie EP
Year: 2010
Label: Ferret Music
Myspace

Score: 8/10
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After With Roots Above and Branches Below, expectations of future The Devil Wears Prada releases were high. Having established a world-wide network of fans and toured for a long time, the band, centered around vocalist Mike Hranica, decided to take a few weeks to record a five-track EP. The result of this was the Zombie EP, which is a conceptual EP whose themes deal with zombie warfare. For those of you who saw the pre-release trailer on their Myspace, anticipation must have been high – especially for fans of music that ranges heavier than TDWP’s previous records.

Band: Miss May I
Album: Monument
Year: 2010
Label: Rise Records
Myspace

Score: 7/10
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I remember falling in love with Miss May I’s cover of Swing, originally performed by Savage, back in 2008. At that time, Miss May I wasn’t very widely known. However, they really started making a name for themselves following their first full length, Apologies Are For The Weak, which sold over 20,000 copies over just a year. Their sophomore record, Monument, will most likely be nothing short of their previous success.
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Band: Kid Liberty
Album: Fight With Your Fists
Year: 2010
Label: Bullet Tooth Records
Myspace

Best Song: I’m Right Here
Score: 8,5/10
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With only three years under their belt, pop-punkers Kid Liberty have released their debut full-length following a six-track EP back in 2008. They’re currently on tour with one of my favorite bands, Vanna.
Opening Fight With Your Fists is a, for starters, calm intro which turns into some weird kind of heavy metal riffing… Is there another band called Kid Liberty, which play something entirely different? The first impression was blown away however right when the first “real” track starts, I’m Right Here.

Band: Shadows Chasing Ghosts
Album: The Golden Ratio
Year: 2010
Label: Small Town Records
Myspace

Best Song: With The Best Intentions
Score: 7/10
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I’ve been hearing quite a lot about Shadows Chasing Ghosts lately – and seeing them featured in british magazine Rock Sound made me pretty curious about what the fuzz is about…
Shadows Chasing Ghosts are at the moment touring with swedish post-hardcore outfit Saving Joshua and will appear at the annual Moshpit Open festival hosted here in Stockholm, Sweden together with a couple of other british acts such as Enter Shikari and We Are The Ocean.

Band: Hors Sujet
Album: J’ai cru, l’espace d’un instant, y effleurer un éclat de ciel qui s’y dessinait
Year: 2010
Label: Unsigned
Myspace

Best Song: Track 3
Score: 8/10

“I thought, just for a moment to touch a piece of sky that loomed” – is what the translation of Hors Sujet EP would be. As rough as the translation is, it still can be a good guideline, which in instrumental music is often needed. In this case, the hard thing I had to learn was to listen without any background information. Consisting of three untitled tracks (23 minutes in length), this release still remains a mystery to me. So, as harsh as it may sound, I am forced to listen without any preconception.