The Summer of Music: Albums and Concerts I Am Pumped About!

Summer 2019 has A LOT to be excited about and I could not be more pumped for what’s coming over the next three months.  A lot of the excitement for this summer comes from bands that I have been listening to since high school. So the nostalgia will definitely be there. Here the releases and tours I am excited about for this summer! 

Concerts 

Anberlin North American Tour: 

Anberlin is back!!! After calling it quits and going on a “farewell” tour, Anberlin is back 5 years later heading out all over the world. I have never seen Anberlin live and could not be more pumped to finally see them in concert. They have produced one of my favorite albums of all time, you can read about it here, and I am beyond ready to see them play some of those songs live. They are bringing along I The Mighty, I have never seen them live but really like their music as well. Their first stop on the tour is here in Dallas so it’ll sure to be a show full of energy and excitement. 

Lil Wayne and Blink 182: 

This is as close to a dream concert for me as there can be. Blink 182 and Lil Wayne are two bucket list concerts for me and they are going on tour together this summer! They announced the tour by doing a live mash-up of A Mili and Whats My Age Again? together, which was the perfect way to announce the tour and gets the imagination going on possible joint performances we will see on the tour. High School Adam could not be more pumped about this tour. As soon as I saw it was for real and not a dream, I bought tickets. They are brining along the pop punk giants in Neck Deep with them, which just got me even more excited for the show. There has not been a show that has filled me with more anticipation than this one.

Albums

Screaming Through The Walls - As Cities Burn 

It has been 10 years since As Cities Burn has released music and almost 14 years since their first release. Screaming Through The Walls comes out on June 7th and will feature their original vocalist, TJ Bonnette. Bonnette left the band shortly before they started writing and recording their second album, Come Now Sleep and is now back in the band. They have done some tours which could be a big factor in the making of this album. They have released 3 singles from this album, Chains, Hollowed Out, 2020 AD and they are all solid sounding songs. The band signed to Equal Vision Records and is their first album to not be released via Solid State Records.  Fans of the band have been waiting a long time for this album and it has the feeling that it is the album that should have followed up Son, I Loved You At Your Darkest. 

Bloodied/Unbowed - Oh, Sleeper

There is probably not an album I am more excited for this summer than this one from Oh, Sleeper. After Children Of Fire came out in 2011 OS has not really done much musically. They released one EP between then and now and have still played shows off and on. They are one of my favorite bands and have put out one of my favorite albums (click here) and fans of this band have been waiting for a long time for a new full length album. Micah Kinard and Shane Blay went on the Bad Christian podcast and talked about how they broke up for a little bit and ultimately what brought them back to writing and releasing a new album 8 years in the making. The singles they have released, Decimation & Burial and Fissure, bring the heat with that classic OS sound. Blay screams in these songs as well, which is something we have not heard in OS songs. They are brutal and hit hard, which is what you would expect from them. I am ready for head bang and shred the air guitar to this album. The album drops via Solid State Records on July 12th.

Eclipse - Wolves At The Gate 

This is the fourth album from the Wolves At The Gate and if history repeats itself it will be another solid album from the Ohio band. Eclipse will be the first time the band has had the same lineup writing the album as the album before it. They have had a different drummer for every release up until this album. The two singles they have released, The Cure and A Voice in the Violence, just might be the best singles they have released from a musical perspective. They have what you would expect from WATG and is some of the heaviest stuff they've written. WATG have never disappointed with an album and when this one comes out on July 26th it will be no different. 

New Music From Issues!!

New Music From Issues!!

IT IS FINALLY HERE PEOPLE! We have new music from Issues for the first time in over 3 years. This is the first single since their sophomore release Headspace and the first time we are hearing the band without founding member and vocalist, Michael Bohn. When the band announced that they were parting ways with Bohn they seemed to kind of go away for a little bit. Only playing a handful of shows and not releasing any music during that time. Us fans have been anxiously waiting for this single and I have mixed feelings about it. 

Issues came on to the scene releasing two full albums and an EP with Michael Bohn. Then it seemed out of nowhere that the band announced that they were parting ways with Bohn. The band had two vocalists Tyler Carter, who does the clean vocals and has an absolutely incredible voice, and Bohn, who did all the scream and unclean vocals. In their newest single Tapping Out, Carter brings it with his angelic like voice which is what you would expect from him. The track is heavy and definitely puts to death the rumors that they were going to be a "bubble gum pop band". The whole song I was waiting in anticipation for something to happen and then you hear screaming on the track. Which was kind of a head scratcher for me. Why would you kick out the screamer of the band then continue doing that with the guitarist screaming? I guess that is one of those things that was best for the band, but still kind of confusing from a fans perspective. The track has me intrigued on what a full album will sound like. From interviews that I have read the band says the album is the heaviest stuff they have written. I do not see them slowing down at all and will deliver a great album in the coming year! 

Album Breakdown

Rescue & Restore 

What up world! I hope this finds you having a day that is just absolutely fantastic! Today I am going to tell you about one of my favorite albums by one of my favorite bands, August Burns Red.  ABR comes from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and are a bunch of farm boys who can shred. They do not fit the mold of what you would think of a metal band by any means. They will come out on stage wearing Hollister polos and flip flops and look like total bros on stage playing their music.

Rescue and Restore is the 6th studio album from the band (including their Christmas album). The 2013 release debuted at number 9 on the Billboard 200 and was the last album they put out on Solid State Records. This album seemed to be the a little bit of a turning point for the band. 

They really pushed the limits on themselves as a band and the metal genre itself. Guitarist JB Brubaker said in an interview about the album, 'We set out to write a record where every song stands out from the last. There is a lot of ground covered here and a ton of meat to this album. It’s full of odd metered rhythms and breakdowns, unexpected twists and turns, and some of our most technical riffing to date. Each of us have parts that make our heads spin and we have had to practice like crazy to get some of this stuff together. I know we always say this, but this will be our most ambitious album yet.' The album really does incorporate a lot of things that you would not think would be in a metal song let alone a metal album. 

Let's dive in! 

1.) Provision:
This is the first song on the album and it is a great start to the album. The lyrics were written by drummer Matt Greiner. The lyrics were influenced by a life event that happened to Griener. He was deceived into a Ponzi Scheme and lost a significant amount of money. He wrote the song on top of a mountain in Austria while on tour with the band. The lyrics are very powerful and deep. The song is about self-realization and learning and growing from past mistakes. The most powerful lyric comes in the middle of the song, "I’m just as much the problem as the man behind bars. He did with his business what I do in my heart", then leads straight into a brutal breakdown. What makes this song a favorite of mine is the lyrical meaning. It is a song about growth and realizing and seeing the sin in your own life even when people and situations have wronged you. That is a lesson I have had to learn in my own life over the last year and a half. But as Greiner wrote, "Even the worst of mankind can’t disrupt sovereignty". 

2.) Treatment:

Man, this song starts off quick! Within the first 30 seconds there is a fierce breakdown smacking you in the face. Musically this song starts fast then slows down. This song is also one of the first songs that ABR did to completely change and have a different vibe/sound smack dab in the middle of the song, with the first one being Internal Cannon on their album Leveler. The song is about how judgmental people can be and how they treat others. The members of ABR are Christians and their faith influences what they write. So with this song, it seems like they saying that they see a lot of hate and judgement that people do because they may not have the same beliefs as them. The message of the song is to accept everyone and really look at how we treat others. Its a heavy song that hits hard! 

3.) Spirit Breaker:

The third track on the album starts off with a soothing mix of guitar and strings and picks up when vocalist, Jake Luhrs, comes in. This song is about being depressed but remembering that when those days come they will not last. The song was written when the band was spending long times away from home while on touring and the tole that can take on someone. The song slows down with Luhrs reading a letter that he wrote back home. It almost has a spoken word feel to it then kicks back up with the full band coming in to close out the song. 

4.) Count It All As Lost:

The album continues on with Count It All As Lost and is one fo the hardest hitting songs musically and lyrically. It's a complex song with some ripping guitar riffs and powerful drum fills mixed in with a couple of impact breakdowns. It also has some melodic parts in it as well. In this song we really see back up vocalist and bass guitarist, Dustin Davidson, scream a lot on this song. Davidson's and Luhrs' vocals really complement each other in this song as well as all the songs in the bands catalog. It is a solid song all around.

5.) Sincerity:
This song is in the middle of the album and it starts off fast and keeps the energy up through the whole song. Matt Griener shows off just how good he is on drums with the drum fills he plays during this song that will melt your face. This song is the shortest on the album coming in just over 3 minutes long. As quickly as it starts it is over with a brutal breakdown.

6.) Creative Captivity: 
This song is kind of refreshing. The song is mostly instrumental with very few lyrics in the song. The song brings in all types of instruments that one would not normally think would be in a metal album like a Chinese harp, a marimba, a trumpet and a violin. The band shows off just how good of musicians they are to be able to incorporate all these different sounds into a great song. The song ends with a trumpet playing in the background and it slowly becomes front and center. It is one of my favorites on the album because it is so different and something you would not expect from one of the biggest bands in the metal scene.

7.) Fault Line: 
Fault Line was the first single that the band put out for this album. When I first heard it I had mixed feelings about it. I then grew to love it and I now know why they released it first. It has everything you would come to expect from an ABR song. Sick guitar solos with face punching breakdowns. The lyrics are the band talking to their fans directly. So often we, as fans, get caught up in seeing people up on stage or in front of people and think that they have it all together or put them up on pedestal. We forget that they are people too, just like you and me. I so often forget that people up on stage are just like me, they have faults and are human and put a lot of stock and faith in them. This song is ABR reminding us that they are human as well.

8.) Beauty In Tragedy:
The songs starts off with an absolute monster of a drum fill and goes into an intricate guitar riff by guitarist JB Brubaker. Brubaker really is a legend on the guitar and not only writes incredible guitar parts but plays them perfectly live. He really puts the practice in and it shows up time and time again with each song and album they put out. They song is about losing some one close to you. I have seen ABR play this song multiple times and I get chills every time they play it. The lyrics are about remembering the loved ones you lost and carrying on with their memories in your heart. Even though things can get hard without them here, you can still carry on with their memory and love.

9.) Animals:
This is probably the heaviest song on the album. The song is filled with heavy breakdowns and low vocals. ABR does an incredible job in laying melodic guitar riffs over heavy breakdowns. They do that perfectly in this song. There is not much to say other than that about the song. It is just that good. Go listen to it.

10.) Echoes
This song is on the lighter/more melodic side. It still has a great breakdown but its not heavy and helps bring the album to a close with it being the second to last song on the album. Lyrically it is about their time on the road. It is completely different from the message on Spirit Breaker. Luhrs screams about how when they are on the road it seems like it is almost an escape for them but, "Home will always be where my heart lives". The song ends with choir like gang vocals. It is a great song that leaves you feeling good when it is over.

11.) The First Step: 
This song is a song that is forgotten for me. It is the last song of the album and is a typical ABR song. The last half of the album is the best part of the album but with this song being at the end of an incredible run of songs, it kind of gets forgotten. It is a solid song with great music and definitely has that classic ABR feel to it. It is heavy and hard hitting and leaves you with a great end to the album. What I think the song is about is getting out there and not being afraid grow and take the first step in life. It rounds out the album well bringing all aspects through out the album altogether to close it out.

So there it is! Give the album a listen and let me know what you think!

Music Videos:
Provision
Fault Line
Beauty In Tragedy