Twin Atlantic “Free” Album Review

The Glaswegian four piece Twin Atlantic have become immensely popular, exploding onto the scene in 2007 after releasing their EP “A Guidance From Colour”. They played at Reading Festival last year and have toured with big names such as Biffy Clyro, Smashing Pumpkins and Blink182. Since this brilliant start they have now produced two outstanding albums.

They released their newest album “Free” in May of this 2011 with Red Bull Records. I enjoyed listening to it immensely, it followed on well from their first album “Vivarium” keeping the same tone of upbeat and catchy tracks with the lilting Scottish vocals of Sam McTrusty.

The title track was definitely one of the strongest number on the album, starting with the opening of echoing piano chords and haunting vocals until the drums and guitar come crashing in. The lyrics of this song are heartfelt and powerful “I fell in love with rock and roll/’Till I found out it was false” and “Where’s your passion? Where’s your fire tonight? I set myself on fire so I could be free”. The bands fiery nature definitely comes across in this track. This song displays well the contrast in the vocals from soft and lyrical to harsh and brash that McTrusty uses in many of the songs.

Undoubtedly, one of the best tracks on the album is “Crash Land” which is a beautiful acoustic number. Sam McTrusty passionate vocals over a basic yet effective complimentary guitar part. The softer second rendition of the lines “Crash land, still I can’t find you/ And just as things were looking up.” gives a nice contrast and shows variety in McTrusty’s vocals. Barry Mckenna gets one of his rare opportunities to have a cello part in this track and it adds a certain Celtic element to the song. I always have time for band like in this case Twin Atlantic and the likes of Yellowcard who incorporate other strings into their tracks giving some of their tracks a slightly folk rock style.

All in all I think this was a beautifully compiled album. My only quibble with it is that the first track was a bit of a letdown and wasn’t as strong as many of the other songs on the album. It didn’t show off as an opening to the album at all and was not as original as some of their other numbers nor as catchy.

The original sound of the band is something that I find very endearing. Twin Atlantic have a refreshing variety in their repertoire and the tracks “We Want Better Man” and “The Ghost of Eddie” are heavier than the rest with a different vibe. This may not be their usual fans cup of tea but I thoroughly enjoyed the change of pace. I also loved the break in the album supplied by the mellow instrumental track “Serious Underground Dance Vibe” which is a nice break in the album. It let the band show off without being overshadowed by vocals. Having recently discovering this band I am extremely impressed with their two albums and their EP and would highly recommend this album.

We Are The In Crowd Best Intentions Review

We Are The In Crowd's fame has exploded onto the rock scene in the last year. Their EP "Guaranteed to Disagree" was released on the 8th June 2010 with Hopeless Records, the record label that have backed some big names such as Avenged Sevenfold and Yellowcard. The band seem to have been constantly on tour since their EP hit the shelves and it pretty mind boggling that they are only just releasing their first full length album as they are well known already and the album has been widely anticipated.

The strength of their EP is what has got this band noticed as it was exceptionally well produced unlike many band's first EP's. It had more of an album feel to it despite it's short length and this is probably one of the reasons they have become so popular in a short space of time. This is something that Hopeless Records have always been great at doing. They produce strong EP's with a usually a great opening track as in the cases of The Dangerous Summer’s “I Would Stay” and There For Tomorrow’s “Deadlines”.

Their greatly anticipated debut full length album "Best Intentions" came out on 4th October of this year. A great follow on from "Guaranteed to Disagree" The album is up beat, poppy and fun and is a nice refreshing change from so many bands these days who are all doom and despair! Not that the album in devoid of emotion, the tracks are the right balance of heartfelt lyrics and catchy hooks. In the song "You've Got It Made"; "Tell me are you happy now? / Tell me did it all work out?" the emotion comes through and works beautifully with the great rapport between the two vocalists Tay Jardine and Jordan Eckes.

"Rumour Mill" was certainly the right choice for a first track for their album. It has the same punchy catchy style as "Both Sides of the Story" from their EP with the vocalists firing lyrics at eachother.

On a side note Tay and Jordans chemistry is not more apparent as it is in the bands acoustic version of "Never Be What You Want" which is beautiful version of the song and on of my favourite of the band's tracks. It’s on the “Love Is Hopeless” released in February for valentines day.

It is impossible to not mention Paramore in relation to this band as good female singers are scarce in the rock world at the moment. I know that Taylor dislikes the comparison though I feel a mention is needed, but to say that I believe Taylor is the superior vocalist. I feel that she hold the vocal better than Hayley Williams can. Taylors more powerful voice has more range and warmth. She’s complimented by Jordans mellow tones and the two of them in their back and forth rapport firing lyrics at each other is one of the more notably unique qualities to the bands songs.

I am excited to see where the band goes from here and to see how they develop and greatly look forward to seeing them in Bristol along with The Maine and All Time Low.

Review: Exodus Julie Bertagna

Today I read an article in The Guardian online which discusses why stories of dystopian future societies are so appealing to young adult readers.

This reminded me of a book that I read a few years ago that I don't think gets nearly enough press and credit for the brilliance of the novel. It was nominated for the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year when it was released in 2002 and am surprised that it didn't win. However, having not read Hilary McKay's Saffy's Angel I am somewhat biased and in no position to judge.

Julie Bertagna's Exodus set in the year 2099 follows the story of a young girl called Mara who lives on the island of Wing. The island is getting smaller the sea levels rise due to Global Warming and the melting ice caps. As the island will completely disappear in a few short years the younger citizens of Wing leave in fishing boats to find the city of New Mungo, one of the "sky-cities" built above sea level where the richer citizens of the world live a comfortable life. When they get there they find that New Mungo is not at all a welcoming and inviting place...

In essence the story is of a young girl forced out of her home struggling to survive and come to terms with the harshness of the cruel world around her. Bertagna is not afraid of using dark elements in her novel despite it being essentially a children's book. There is a lot of death and loss that surrounds Mara's tale, but although there are many sad parts to the novel there is also hope, love, Mara's determination to survive and to help others. These counteract the misery of her living condition and the balance of light and dark is beautifully constructed.

It's one of those books that I just couldn't put down. It's fast paced, exciting and in such an oppressive world the characters are realistic and shine especially Mara, with her fiery determination.

It was originally bought for me by a family friend and I was hooked from the first page. I would highly recommend this book to anyone as I feel it speaks to all ages and meany different mediums. Although it is probably classed as Young Adult science fiction the reality of the Global Warming issues in the novel make it not seem so far removed from our society as other science fiction can seem.

The sequel Zenith came out in 2007 and Aurora the third book came out in June of this year.

"I've got to stop a crazy from pulling a Carrie at the prom..."

I was pleasantly surprised when on my reading list for University Stephen King's Carrie popped up. I have never read any King and he has always been someone who's work I have been meaning to read, so i was glad of an excuse to do so.

The story of a socially outcast girl, whose overbearing christian mother has brought her up to almost ensure her isolation from normal society, Carrie wreaks havoc and destroys the the town in a rampage of revenge with her new found telekinetic powers.

Stephen King certainly has a gift of making the reader feel uncomfortable. From the first scene in the shower you pity Carrie as she is mocked mercilessly for her ignorance by her classmates. Carries character is very bland at the start of the novel. No matter how sorry you feel for her because of how harshly she's treated you still want reach through the pages and shake the unfortunate girls shoulders and tell her to stand up for herself. This element of the character made the novel more believable as we all know, or have met someone even if fleetingly who is like Carrie at the start of the novel. Even if it's not to the scale of how Carrie behaves is treated in the book.

Carrie does eventually turn around her act and say "enough is enough" and soon you wish meek little Carrie was back cowering in the corner instead of the destructive rampage that transpires. The shocking change between old mild Carrie and new catastrophic Carrie gives the chilling realisation of how far some people will go when they are pushed to breaking point and the damage they can cause even if they don't have telekinetic powers if the intent to destroy is there.

The violence in the novel didn't shock me as much as i expected it too. Possibly due to being from a generation that can yawn their way through watching the "Saw" films, which for what they lack in story content, make up for in amounts of bloodshed.

From a technical point of view I found the pace of the novel a little strange. Though their intention was to increase the "believability" of the story and give the chilling impression of reality to the fiction, I found the articles and interviews littering the text got in the way of the actual story. Also a lot was given away in these exerts about what was going to happen later on in the story, so if you like the satisfaction of already more or less knowing the ending when you get there, this is a great book for you to read. If, like me you prefer a little mystery at the end of your novels, this probably isn't a book you're going to love and read over and over.

Though I did enjoy reading it, it wasn't quite as good as I was expecting from the renowned Mr King. So, I may read a some of his other novels like The Shining before judging Stephen King too harshly.

Writer's Ramblings or Rambling Writers...

Been wanting to start this blogging business for a while. So I thought I'd combine my love of books and music and post some reviews of new albums, gigs and books by the old and the new in the fiction world as well as anything at all that I may find remotely interesting.

So if any of that sounds like your cup of tea or you just fancy a peruse of my ramblings, have a quick gander here. I'd love your thoughts. I enjoy a good debate or a gush about something I love as much as the next person so feel free to comment with your love or hatred for my opinions respectively.

I apologise in advance for my rambling ways, possible use of bizarre words and general insanity.

And lastly for your amusement...