Tom Morello is probably known by nearly every respectable guitarist for his unique tone and amazing use of effects. The guitarist from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave is not famous for his gentle acoustic guitar playing and singing but that it all about to change.

Going under the name of  The Nightwatchman, Tom Morello has already released one album “One man Revolutin” which was far from revolution and in my opinion it was a bit of a dissapointment with “The Road I Must Travel” being the only song worth talking about.

The new album “Fabled City” is a big improvement. Tracks including “Saint Isabelle” and “The lights are on in spider town” shows Tom’s acoustic talent with some inspirational playing but I think there is no doubt that Tom Morello’s singing is not the best. It seems to sound unatural and the some of the tracks sound like your average campfire song.

For me the record is hard to get through and although the songs vary in style, they all seem to have the same acoustic tone and sound. However, If you haven’t heard The Nightwatchman then don’t let this put you off as it seems that fans are strongly divided on the album.

There is no question that quality of  this record is up to debate as many people seem to love his vocals. It seems whatever he does it is always successful, but I am not satisfied yet. The creative sound needs credit though and  although the barking vocals are hard to take the lyrics are powerful and I am sure people will be captivated by this album.

Nobody does Nu-metal like Linkin Park and the new live album “Road to Revolution” captures the rockers at their best in Milton Keynes. Now most bands are credited for thier quality in the studio but often they can’t cut it when it comes to the live act. Linkin Park ,however, seem to take it in their stride with confidence.

Fifty thousand lucky fans were there on the night when the album was recorded but it does not matter at all if you weren’t there as you can go as many times as ou like if you get the CD The highlight of the whole show though would easily be when Jay-Z joined them on stage to perform Numb/Encore. The track was well recieved when it was initially released and boy does it sound like it went down well at the gig.

Fans also seemed to find “One Step Closer” a real treat with classic aggression from lead singer Chester and it is easy to imagine his neck going purple when listening to this hit. The album manages to pump out 37 tracks in total over two disks and this causes one problem with the record. As soon as you start listening it is almost to hard to stop so you’ll find your time will pass away quickly but it is well worth it.

Ok so the new album from Black Tide has been out for most of the year but the record has come to life for me in the early stages of this Christmas month. The Miami metal heads have been grabbing headlines for some time now but there are some factors of the bands recipe for success that are often over looked. Firstly, every band member is under 21 years of age so they are still just kids and the second thing is that they are signed to a label (Interscope) that seems to only deal with the best of the best such as Dr. Dre , Gwen Stafani , Jimmy Eat World and 50 cent.

The album “Light From Above” deserves all of its accolades and awards as few metal bands ever reach the maturity displayed by the teens.The way to describe the sound of the album is to think of Iron Maiden, Dragon Force and Coheed and Cambria all clashed together. Thrashing tempos and guitar solos from hyper space don’t need an invitation to suddenly explode from nowhere.

Lead singer Garcia is young and sounds young but the riffs and vocals he produces sound as mature as anyone. The tracks that shine on the record are “Shout” which uses some inventive effects while the stadium shaker “Warriors of Our Time” sounds truly epic. The album really is the first material from the band that displays their true talent and potential but supposable the group are going to get better and better. I’m not sure this can even happen but I am sure they can wave the flag for modern metal high and proud.

Deep down, I had secretly hoped that Slipway Fires - Razorlight’s third album, released this week - would prove to be a mighty comeback after the let-down that was the band’s self-titled second release 2 years ago.

Oh, how my hopes have been dashed.

The album kicks off with current single, ‘Wire to Wire’, an easy on the ears track which I’ve grown to like. “Love me, wherever you are”, Johnny Borrell cries. Sadly, this is quite a tough task when listening to cliché tracks such as Tabloid Lover and North London Trash, which, to put bluntly, are just awful. For starters, one only has to look at the terrible lyrics of the latter track - “I’ve got a hot bodied girlfriend, I’ve got a wallet full of cash”, Borrell boasts. I’m sure you’d agree such words are hardly worthy of Johnny’s claim that he’s better than Dylan. To make it all worse, I cannot help but notice how Tabloid Lover sounds like a complete rip-off of The B-52s, Love Shack. But then again, maybe that’s just me..

Another thing which strikes me about Slipway Fires is the sheer amount of dull, slow tempoed tracks scattered throughout the album - examples being Stinger, 60 Thompson and You and the Rest. After a short while, the album begins to sound like one uninteresting, unmemorable tune rolled into the other. Generally, it’s very hard to maintain interest in the CD, with only the odd track like terribly-titled Burberry Blue Eyes and Monster Boots picking Slipway Fires off the floor and injecting a bit of melodic life back into it. It’s hard to feel any emotional connection towards album closer, The House, after the disappointing ride of Slipway Fires.

All in all, the album is thoroughly unsatisfactory. It’s a shame that a band who created great tunes such as ‘Vice’, ‘Rip It Up’ and even ‘In The Morning’, are now releasing such lacklustre material as Slipway Fires.

Buy Razorlight’s new album, Slipway Fires from Amazon

With influeneces that span from hardcore originators Gorilla Biscuits, to Florida’s pop punks New Found Glory, this Massachusetts five-piece have taken thier favourite sounds from pop punk harmonies to hardcore riffing and melded them into one hell of a bruising music formula.

The band are definitely for fans of Fall Out Boy and in fact Four Year Strong are signed to Pete Wentz’s record label, Decaydance. The songs on the latest album are all worthy of high chart positions in my mind and the one that stands out has to be “Bada Bing Wit’ A Pipe”. Its catchy vocals are hard to dislike and the up tempo melodies add fantastic spice to the track.

It must be noted that the band members have a great range of talent with a tremendous range of sounds. Some of their tunes are poptastic while others like “Beatdown in the Key of Happy” thrive with heavy guitar riffs that could fit in with a Trivium track. The album never pauses, not even for a second. The slowest song is “Catastrophe,” and even on that song, the band has only taken the speed down about half a notch.

Listening to Four Year Strong makes me tired. You might think that’s a negative thing to say about a band. In this case however, it’s a compliment. I get tired because I imagine all the mosh pits, gang choruses, and synchronized handclaps that a Four Year Strong show must be full of.

Head over to thier myspace and have your ears perplexed!

With the release of The Bronx’s third album (thoughtfully entitled “The Bronx III”) the punk scene definitely has a new titan on the block. The hardcore sound produced by growling guitar riffs and vocals full of aggression has actually seen the band tone down. Earlier records produced by the band were truly wild while this latest addition has an element of control to it.

Of course, there’s still plenty of aggressive punk to be found on the disk. The majority of the record still carries most of the raw intensity of their debut album, and songs like “Digital Leash” show that the band still contains the same energy that drove them the first time around. Other tracks such as “Young Bloods” almost sound like pop compared to more blunt tunes like “Inveigh”.

The album definitely fits the classic Bronx sound but at the same time the guys seemed to have matured their approach with great variety. Singer Matt Caughthran’s trademark gruff yell is sometimes replaced with a mellow croon which brings a nice depth and break from the bands typical sound. The album seems to be a genuine improvement for the band but it also seems that the LA punks can develop even more for their next release. The more commercial sound should turn a lot of heads but it is not one to play to your grandmothers.

The big question is where does the band go from here?

See details on their MySpace for a free track to download!

This post appeared originally on the brilliant Four Oh Five, and is one in our continuing series of guest blogs from their capable team of authors.

Its exam time, and I’ve been looking for any reason to procrastinate. Normally this involves a lot of unnecessary movie watching, video game playing, and cleaning and tidying. This semester it has also involved a lot of unnecessary listening to ‘Such Fun’ by Annuals.

It’s not that ‘Such Fun’ is a bad album; it’s just not a particularly interesting one. On first listen it sounds like the sort of album that requires a bit of attention to understand, however after many listens it’s clear that this isn’t the case. The songs are well-written and thought out, most often making use of multiple layers of melody, percussion and harmonies to build up to what should be an emotive crescendo. But despite this, most songs here feel hollow and calculated. While there may be instrumental depth, the music doesn’t convey any tangible sentiment significant enough to sink your teeth into. ‘Such Fun’ sounds like indie music by numbers.

The music isn’t done a disservice by the vocals, either. On tracks like ‘Down the Mountain’ and first single ‘Confessor’, singer Adam Baker eloquently espouses disenchantment and hopelessness that should contrast well with the upbeat musical backing. And while it’s true that the album doesn’t make any attempt to fit within genre boundaries, this isn’t its main fault either. ‘Such Fun’ just sounds polished to the point of meaninglessness. Listening to it, you constantly feel like it should be a good album, that you must be missing something. But despite its complex big-band sound and strong lyricism, ‘Such Fun’ left me feeling somewhat cold, and somewhat confused.

We first introduced you to Swindon lads Talk In Code just over a year ago when we came across their debut EP. Since then they’ve been busy lads, supporting Captain, Boy Kill Boy and the amazing Idlewild. They haven’t got a record or management deal just yet, but that doesn’t show on their second coming, the four track “Friends Close, Enemies Closer”.

So what’s changed musically? Well, they’re much more padded out, sound much more “complete”, obviously having spent a long time practising.

Strangely, the collection starts off with the most generic of the tracks, “Swings and Roundabouts”, with a nice piano driven chorus that sounds distinctly like Keane experimenting with guitars… good, but nothing to write home about.

The real collection starts with “Not how it seems”, which has a distinctly chart-worthy feel in the vein of One Night Only and co. One to get the audience to yell along with, it could well prove to be the best track of the collection. “What Comes As No Surprise” would be a good end of the night closer, anthemic but not too drawn out, just the right mix of guitars and drums and vocals with a few nice flourishes on the keys.

Overall, a good and strong collection showing distinct promise. I can’t help but wonder where these lads will be in another year’s time… at this rate come 2010 they’ll be playing sold out headlining tours around the UK - they certainly deserve to.

This week I’ve had a bit of a shoegazy week this week, having caught M83 and had them and My Bloody Valentine on pretty much repeat. So imagine my happiness at working my way through my EP pile this morning to find a four track EP by Mancunians Easter that has me staring at my shoes, dazed and relaxed.

Opening with the 8 and a half minute epic “Don’t Sink”, lead singer Tom Long sounds a tiny bit like Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody, which is no bad thing, fitting the dream-seeking melodies perfectly. It’s just the perfect end-of night comedown, or Sunday morning wake up collection, helping you reflect on times gone by and the perfect anthem to that indie film that not many people will see, but all who do love.

Icy sharp guitars throughout, normally I’d be recoiling at the overuse of them but somehow they just about manage to pull off the My-Bloody Valentine lite sound of multi-layered effects.

Though relatively short, the 25 minute EP gives us a great taster of what’s to come for the lads - surely it’s just a matter of time before those A&R men descend in a feeding flurry.

Easter’s Hob Talk EP is now available from Manchester’s Piccadilly Records, Leeds’ Normal Records and Crash Records, London’s Sister Ray and Rough Trade, Bolton’s X Records, and Glasgow and Edinburgh’s Avalanche Records. Copies are also available from their Myspace.

Punchy melodies coupled with infectious lyrics are bound to make Farewell a hit in the UK; especially with fans of Cute Is What We Aim For and Say Anything. Originating from North Carolina, Farewell are here to take the UK by storm with their debut tour, supporting none other than YouMeAtSix.

The tour will also help to promote their first album: “Isn’t This Supposed To Be Fun?” released earlier this year. The album contains 13 full length tracks of power pop goodness. It bears reminiscence to Motion City Soundtrack with the occasional negativity in the lyrics; but when coupled with the lively guitar and keyboard melodies, it turns it into what every screaming teenage girl loves: a fabulous collection of catchy tunes they can sing along to.

The album opens with “Start it Up”, a song that’s guaranteed to push away any flickers of doubts about the band, and pull in every power pop lover to listen further. Lead singer, Marshall Davies, brings this song, along with the others, the right edge to match the lyrics to the catchy tunes bound to make every teenager want to get up and move.

Stand out tracks on the album include “War”, “September Brought the Fall”, “Hey Heather” and up-coming single “Eighty-Eights” released 20th October.

This 5 piece band from America are definitely a band to keep your eye on, and in for big things over here if they can give as good a performance on stage as they do on their record.

You can catch Farewell supporting YouMeAtSix at the below tour dates:

Wednesday 15th October - Middlesbrough Empire
Thursday 16th October - Norwich Waterfront
Friday 17th October - Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Saturday 18th October - Wolverhampton Wulfrun
Sunday 19th October - Northampton Roadmender
Tuesday 21st October - Leeds Met University
Wednesday 22nd October - Glasgow ABC1
Thursday 23rd October - Manchester Academy 2
Friday 24th October - Liverpool Carling Academy
Saturday 25th October - Southampton University
Sunday 26th October - Oxford Carling Academy
Monday 27th October - London Astoria
Tuesday 28th October - Cardiff Solus
Wednesday 29th October - Brighton Komedia
Thursday 30th October - Exeter Phoenix