Shakey, shakey! Sony Ericsson ryster markedet igen.

Sony Ericsson w580i



Som vi har observeret foran vores skærme på det seneste, så har det britisk / svenske Sony Ericsson lanceret deres nye Sony Ericsson W580i, et alternativ til det stadigt voksende marked indenfor mobilteknologien. Men hvordan skiller denne sportsmobil sig så ud fra massen? Ganske simpelt! Med dets nye og innovative Shake Control™, der muliggør fuld randomizing af din playliste ved et enkelt sving med walkmantelefonen. Så er du af den aktive type, der bruger meget af din tid med at være i bevægelse, så virker denne mobil klart til at være noget værd at se nærmere på. Happy shaking!

The Fold – This Too Shall Pass

Even though we're still in the middle of a so-so summertime, there's still place for tasting the sound of the upcoming fall with America's own Chicago-based The Fold. Having been out with their first debut release "This Too Shall Pass", these guys are getting ready for some serious attention in the post-punk rock scenes in America. They're fresh and new, but that's not going to save them from a thorough review. As a band, The Fold has to show a drastic amount of originality in a genre where almost everyone sounds the same. But let's see what they have to offer with this whooping fourteen track composition.

"Let's start at the beginning of this story", well said front singer "Daniel Castady ". And with those words, the intro track "Gravity" kicks in, in all its pop-rock glamour. Voice effects, an overdose of cymbals in the track's choruses mixed with some very simple guitar and bass riffs makes the track very easy to follow. Maybe too easy, for the taste of the many experienced listeners, but the lyrics and singing performed greatly takes this track to a higher level of quality. As an icebreaker, this track perfectly lays the foundation of the whole style of the album. If you've ever heard the band Acceptance before, it would be very mysterious if these guys haven't met at sleepover and exchanged chorus recipes, since the differentials between "This Too Shall Pass" and "Phantoms" are seriously slim to none. Especially on tracks like the third track "New City" and the tenth track "Stay", a song you'd imagine any teenage emo girl crying hear heart out to. To throw some more stones at "Stay", these tracks seem to be musical mass production's wet dream as it sounds just like any other bull out there. Well, bull for experienced listeners, for newcomers, this would sound like…the same old same in a slightly, very slightly better way.

As an album, it compiles most of the emotions a pop-rock album can get around. Like Acceptance was a tad too sad and Jimmy Eat World a tad to suicidal and "no, I do not like you bad narcotics", this one can be sad, it can be serious, it can be hopeful and unsurprisingly also happy go lucky, in a way you'll just end up getting confused on whether it's passé or a new pop-rock coute dé arms, thanks to the fourth track "The Title Track". If you're a MySpace or PureVolume-go'er slash addict, you've probably heard this track a couple of times, and again it's really a quality decision weighted on something as little as a feather. It can blow to "Polished crap from Jimmy Eat World's garbage dumpster" to…"Polished gold from Jimmy Eat World's garbage dumpster". You won't make me say it's original, since it sounds undeniably like everything else, but it just sounds pretty alright in a hard to discuss the opposite manner. To make a lengthy album short, The Fold won't be the new messiahs and "This Too Shall Pass" will not be the pop-rock reproduction of God's old ten step program to become a better human being. The fourteenth track "I Believe You" may be your way of getting a career boost, but in these dark corners of the music review business you'll need to pray in a way much more creative than what you've produced so far. Repetitive use of chords and riffs, a boring, almost withdrawn drumming combined with some "fly high, fall hard" vocals just doesn't spawn any angel wings on my backs. <b> [4] </b>

<b>Download</b>: Gravity, Stay, The Title Track

<b>For the fans of</b>: Acceptance, the flops of Jimmy Eat World

<b>Listen</b> : <a href=www.myspace.com/thefold> MySpace </a>

 

Release date 02.21.2006

Tooth & Nails Records

Harvey Milk – The Pleaser

Legendary chaos rock'n'roll icons of the 90'ies, Harvey Milk is back again with their latest release "The Pleaser", which has already hit the stores worldwide. Some might have known their first release "My Love is Higher Than Your Assessment of What My Love Could Be" from 1994 , which combined extensive avantgarde percussion works with very alternative rock styles, something of which isn't for the inexperienced listener. We will be covering a review of that album some time in the future, so keep your eyes out for it if you're a fan of this particular band and musical trademarks. But today we'll be going under the skin of both "The Pleaser" and the band's actual development from its roots originating from the venues of America.

Like the thorough reviewer who I sometimes tend to be inspired by, I took the albums in chronologically, giving me quite a surprise. I won't spill the beans about their debut album, but it's quite a massive leap from old-school to neo new school. The welcoming track "Down" is definitely case-closing evidence on this new-found energy, which the three-man piece has found during their many years of playing. The track's got simple, but powerful vocals, sung with a very pleasing "whiskey and cigarettes" voice, which sets a pretty decent atmosphere of a seriously catchy rhythm. It's completely chaotic, but you'll undoubtedly be willing to throw yourself into this hurricane. If any hard rock slash alternative rock should need someone to learn welcome tracks from, then these rockers would be a definite recommendation. And to further heighten my encouragement of the album, the second track kicks you even more into the chair with finally bass line worth aiming your ears at. Then again, they've got the experience, so what's to expect for a band having toured over countries. After being sat in place by the previously mentioned tracks, the third track "Shame" lets you discover some of their past styles, especially the immense playing around with the guitars and drums. For some, it could be a little too experimental, but given that their development from their first album has taken drastic measures in the positive direction, these random fooling around acts is actually worth giving a chance. But as we all know, what comes up must come down, and the fourth track "Red as the Day Is Long" tends to become way too special. Sure, it meets its roots perfectly, but again it's too much of the good. Too much smashing around the instruments combined with a little (or way too much) more ethanol simply equals both this track and the fifth "Misery".

Luckily, the sixth track "U.S. Force" saves it all with a guitar slide that I've never found more suiting any track. It'll greatly remind you of the first two tracks, when thinking of energy and the whiskey voice, even though this track seems to be more of a moral boost for American troops stationed in the many hot zones in Iraq. Who wouldn't be a little motivated by some real, catchy and speedy rock'n'roll, flavored by a little: "U.S. Force, unstoppable!" sung through the speakers of a "dressed to kill" Humvee™? I place my bets on this track to be used in a soon to come recruitment video, it's just a matter of time before I find it on YouTube. What's interesting though, is that the band gives you a chance to relax when you get to the eighth track "Lay My Head Down", even though this would be a good time to close the bar for front vocalist Creston Spiers, since this track almost lets you visualize him rocking back and forth a barstool, only a little push from falling down into his empty bottles.

All in all, this album is almost pure, good rock'n'roll, but as their addiction for an avantgarde twist on some of their tracks tends to pull the entire album into a wrong direction, only to be leveled out by a mint tracks like "U.S. Force". Sadly, there's just not enough good to counter the bad on this release, even though the band's got experience and has shown quite some development. For fans and newcomers, this would be a worthy album to keep in your collection, but expect yourself to frequently clean it from dust. [6]
Download: Down, U.S. Force
For the fans of: Corrupted, Rwake, EyeHateGod
Listen: MySpace

Release Date 30.07.2007
Relapse Records

Ellegarden – Bring Your Own Board!!

Like the J-Rock fan(atic) that I've been for quite some years, it's pretty lousy of me yet to have reviewed any album of the particular genre. Especially when my very first review that got me into this seat was of Asian Kung Fu Generation's "Sol:Fa" album. I'm ashamed…anyways, cutting the emo, I'll be bringing you an early release from Ellegarden, a little band I mentioned in my old article about J-Rock. These J-Pop-Punk rockers has been credited for being the sole Japanese rock band who can both sing in their domestic language and at the same time almost pronounce their English lyrics flawlessly. Probably because of lead singer "Takeshi Hosomi 's" American dorm roommate, when he was visiting Japan. But these are simply only the tip of the iceberg. They have that special musical energy, which I personally think is what Japan majors and America minors. Yes, Sum41 sounds great to some, Blink182, no forget them, but what they lack is simply this unreal creativity in sound which bands like Ellegarden and Asian Kung Fu Generation can produce. It's just something special, a so to say musical oasis in an already dried-out punk-rock desert. "Bring Your Own Board!!", apart from its cheesy title, is by far some great documentation for this unique "land of the rising sun" sound. But is it really so much a classic as it has been claimed to be? Let's get through our ramen first and then dig deeper in our cup to find out.

Composition-wise, "Bring Your Own Board!!" consists of a realistic and survivable amount of eleven powerful tracks, some holding some quite interesting titles such as; "Surfrider Association" , "JITTERBUG" (capitalized, of course red.), "My Friend Is Falling Down" and "Kinsei (Venus)". Notice the user-friendly translation from Japanese to English on the last mentioned track, unlucky for us; the Japanese vocals on some of the tracks are strictly bound to praising their mother language. But hey, what's J-Rock without indecipherable lyrics? Nevertheless, what really makes you jump around is clearly the overall good sound which Ellegarden can produce. The guitars are of course the main artillery here, with the drums used as their commanding officer along with the vocals. You will immediately feel that speedy riffs and some repetitive, though quite professional drum works are the main focus on a majority of the tracks. To keep it simple; you get a feel of it in the welcoming track "Surfrider Association" and the feeling just enhances throughout the entire album, until "So Sad" kicks you out of the club with a sense of having been touched by something holier than thou.

What amazes me so much is the innovation these guys find in a minefield of bad pop-punk chords and riffs. Take one of my personal favorites, the number eight track "Dancing in A Circle"; Heavy Jimmy Eat World-ish chord plays in the first eighteen seconds, the base guitar riff continues and the chaotic second guitar chords are replaced by 's quirky voice and some sound effected drums, which then switches to the standard sound. The base chord riff then changes slightly into something similar, but still feels new and catchy. A bridge part then takes over, only to let Takeshi sing solo along with a little guitar plucking, further allowing the whole band to finish off the track in one, swift explosion. Simple, clean, but deadly like a Fender-wielding ninja. And it's like this on practically all the tracks, which is something impressive for an almost completely unknown band in the Western venues. I'm not being a blasphemer here, but seriously, you Western pop-punk acts; you're getting your asses kicked threefold by a band who doesn't even master your language! Shame on you…

All in all, "Bring Your Own Board" is a great J-Rock album and a milestone for fans of the genre. It isn't perfect as it still needs a little more creativity in some of its dusty corners, but it's a definite personal recommendation to both freshmen and experts of the genre. In addition, gather a band together and find their tabs, playing their songs are relatively easy and so freaking amusing. Good luck with the Japanese parts, though. <b>[8]</b>

<b>Download:</b> Dancing in A Circle, Kinsei (Venus), the entire album.

<b>For the fans of:</b> Asian Kung Fu Generation, Sum41, Weezer

<b>Listen:</b> <a href=www.myspace.com/ellegarden> MySpace</a>

 

Release date 07.02.2003

 

Underground Unleashed! : Silversun Pickups

Hey everyone out there. As a new feature on RockFreaks, we will try to feature some seemingly (or completely) unknown bands, who just needs the attention due to their extraordinary sound. The medium-sized feature is separated into two unique parts; the main band feature and a "Reader's Suggestion" part, where you, our readers out there, can submit your band suggestions (and a list of the band's tracks that make them unique). So please mail your suggestions to me (Anders Schmidt Hansen / ASH) and we will then check them out and see which one of these really do have that extra punch than the rest of the underground scene. Name any genre as long as it's rock and maybe your suggestion will be the next one featured in the "Reader's Suggestion" part of Underground Unleashed!

Our first feature of Underground Unleashed! will be in the sign of "SSPU" or commonly known as Silversun Pickups, an American indie rock / alternative rock band from the Los Angeles, California. Debuting in 2005 with their debut EP "Pikul", they began expanding their attention from the Silver Lake music scene and eventually came on tour with Wolfmother in 2006, the same year of the release of their first, full length album "Carnavas". As of lately, "SSPU" has been the opening act for Foo Fighters on their UK tour in May. But what breaks the ice with these guys and gal? Take lead vocalist Brian Aubert and look past his seemingly "whitest boy alive" look and experience his voice perfectly matching the sound of the band. He plays with being off-beat, which works greatly at enhancing the listener's experience, and his chorus shouts on especially "Lazy Eye" from "Carnavas" is a prominent evidence on how the power of lyrics can be turned up a notch just by heightening your voice in just the exact amount of decibels.

Featured songs:

"Lazy Eye"
"Future Foe Scenario"
"Well Thought Out Twinkles



Reader's Suggestion

"Band name here"

Blitzkrieg - Theatre of the Damned

Welcome to the Theatre, my dear readers. The "Theatre of the Damned"! Quite horrifying isn't it? Then again, maybe five British men in their late thirties and forties, wearing all black to impress won't scare you off immediately. As a favor, I'll give you a little insight before we begin; they're not that scary anymore. With 27 years of playing heavy metal chords on hundreds of stages worldwide, the horns of these devils have become curiously blunt. But with a reputation of being the inspiration of Metallica, "Blitzkrieg" now has quite something to stand up for with their newest and tenth[!] release "Theatre Of The Damned". Let's sit down and enjoy the show, shall we?

For starters, the album seems to be focusing on telling a story to its listeners, a story about a young, lost man who has just entered an old theatre in attempt to get some guidance. There he meets a person with a strange, demonic voice telling him that this is the "Theatre Of The Damned", followed by the band commencing their playing. As a welcome track, it's pretty dull and doesn't seem to impress anything. You get a little story for a few seconds, but it really doesn't set a scene within your head, especially when these old, no, really old chords are getting hammered one more time. It's like tuning in on one of the hundreds of online radio streams and listen to their old-school heavy metal plays. Nothing new, the same drawn back drums, the same way too serious vocalist and of course some guitars with riffs that seems to have been traded equally between the bands of the genre. As well as the solos. To pick something out, take the third track on the album, "Devil's Spawn". It's pretty easy to decipher, with its extremely straight forward lyrics and almost boring chord smashings. Hearing the lyrics and the voice of frontman Brian Ross, it reminds me of heavy metal parodies seen on Family Guy or Simpsons. Seriously, does the text:

"Look at you now, you're taking control. You think you're so high, but I see you falling. Look at the world, son of Saaaaaaaatan. It's not yours to take, 'cause I am in your waaaaaaaaaay."
make you want to sing along in a powerful chorus? Even better; "You're a silver tongue serpent with eyes of fire. The strength of a demon and a handful of lies." Could we get a medic in here? I think the lyrics just had a stroke again. Imagine this style of lyrics and any old heavy metal rocker's voice singing them and you have the majority of this album. Not very amusing nor anything breathtaking. On the other hand, they still have some ways of impressing you with their more powerful and fast paced tracks, such as the fifth track "Spirit Of The Legend" and the ending track "Nightstalker". As some of you might have discovered, there are two more tracks on the album; "Armageddon" and "Blitzkrieg", but these are past released tracks from their very first demo cassette back in 1980, of which "Blitzkrieg" was later covered by Metallica. They're both alright tracks, with a good feel of how metal of the eighties sounded when metal was pure and MTV still played real music.

All in all, "Theatre Of The Damned" will not tailspin your world unless you're a hardcore fan of the genre and the respective band. There's simply too much dust in their playing and the story told seems to take over the quality of some lyrics that could've become a better and more suiting replacement than this "blast from the past". On the contrary, "Blitzkrieg" has been around for so many years and even though their musical experience is a bit faded on this album, they've clearly made a clever move with adding two of their first tracks to show that they really can kick around even though they're not that young and uncut anymore. So, I'll let these guys play "Nightstalker" again and forget all about them. Simple as that. I easily found my way out of this theatre. [5]
Download: Devil's Spawn, Nightstalker, Spirit Of The Legend
For the fans of: Saxon, Satan, Angel Witch
Listen: Myspace

Release date 27.07.2007
Armageddon Music
Provided by Target ApS

Metallica

Metallica - Sick of the Studio tour '07.

Ahh, my first gig review. I'm feeling like I'm slacking behind, though maybe it's just my paranoia about me not working hard enough despite having summer vacation. Anyways, I did find time in my schedule to travel to an open field called "Vestereng" in Aarhus, which would soon be transformed into a rendezvous point for a metal militia consisting of 50.000 metal addicts, all looking forward to be blown away by James Hetfield and co. Surprisingly, not everyone's completely black or plastered with band merchandise, as it was easy to spot out everyday working moms and dads hanging around for some youth nostalgia.

Atmosphere-wise; the weather's great, any liquid's expensive as always and the suiting large concert stage warms us up with some Rage Against The Machine, Pantera and a little Guns 'n' Roses, a well thought choice in musical yoga for rockers. Soon after, the majority of the audience is suddenly drawn into the crossfire between the Aalborg based industrial metal machine Mnemic and the sound systems. Maybe a little too surprising, since it was like someone throwing a grenade into the crowd and hoping that they'd begin running. Heck, when has metal not punched first and asked if it hurt later? In all its might, Mnemic's first shot "Liquid" went well into the front rows, making it jump around, shouting what devilish phrases they should need to get out of their systems. Sadly, it didn't reach anyone else, who found beer and social interaction a little more interesting, which along with the curiously much distortion made Mnemic look more like synchronized headbanging chimps than an actual hyper. Very cliché-ish. The following track "Ghost" to the last song awkwardly made their appearance into an overall good beginning to a downwarding barbed-wire spiral, which just did its job of filling out 30 minutes of waiting time. [4]

Next up were the already well-known Elvis-metal band Volbeat, who like at Roskilde began with the exact same welcoming track as an attempt to draw the crowd's attention away from the beer stands and back to the scene...which worked, of course, it IS Volbeat after all. To those of you who saw them at Roskilde like me, I'll just fold my cards and say that you wouldn't have missed anything, nothing at all. Well, the sound quality had improved a little, but the volume had at the same time been turned drastically to the west, making Volbeat fade a little in their shiny Johnny Cash-alike armor. Nevertheless, they greatly connected with the audience as always and showed quite some respect to both Mnemic and Metallica, which instantly received positive feedback from the audience. After repeating the same playlist consisting of tracks like "Radio Girl", Caroline Leaving" and "Sad Man's Tongue" everyone was just pleased with their performance, even though the explosive feeling of a well-placed bass drum punch in your guts was completely absent. And as the cover of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Wanna Be With You" sung itself by lovebirds and lead singer Johann G. Olsen from Magtens Korridorer sang his part of "Garden's Tale", Volbeat turned out to be the great sing along, be happy band to anyone with green Royal flowing through their veins. Not amazing, but definitely not bad. [8]

Now, everything that we've been waiting for is coming on stage in just half an hour. Everyone's rushing to the stands, getting more beer, more food, even more beer and just one or two band shirts before hell breaks loose. First off, the sound check. Drums kick out teeth, check! Same with the guitars, check! Bass takes over your heartbeat, great! And we're ready...For an old western movie? The screens were finally turned on and we witness a confused Mexican as he through a cemetery, followed by Metallica starting the show with "Creeping Death". Vestereng turns into one large shout, and yes, Metallica's "fucking here!". But there's more creeping death to come, as the band progresses to "For Whom The Bell Tolls". The sound suddenly disappears, and only the front rows can actually hear what they're playing. A minute that felt like an hour passes, and the excited shouting from the audience is replaced with "buhs" and disappointment, which was taken to a higher level as Metallica leaves the stage! It just couldn't get any worse and some not so die hard fans were already beginning to leave the field in protest. But after a long pause of around 20 minutes, the band re-enters the stage and continues with "Wherever I May Roam". Thank you and let's hope the sound crew got drumstick or two thrusted down their throats for this mistake. After the song, James Hetfield completely regains the trust of the audience with a well-placed joke about Ulrich's running make-up and that he has to "look perfect for his audience". A little flat, but both the attempt and hearing an ocean of people laughing is evidence enough. Time passes with "Disposable Heroes" and another blazing riff from Kirk Hammett. Nothing really original, since we all do know that he's great and he definitely knows it. It's a little cliché-ish, but Metallica wouldn't be Metallica without him showing off. To put it simple, there was nothing new to this metal gargantuan and nothing was really a musical letdown. Everyone was pleased with hearing "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", "Memory Remains", which the whole audience song until it faded out and got replaced by "No Leaf Clover". Not anything noticeable and really unique, even though every sound produced by any of the band members was as good as expected. Luckily, bassist Robert Trujillo had a secret weapon up his sleeve in the form of a pulsating, almost jungle-rhythmed bass solo, which clearly impressed and refreshed my views and definitely also the surrounding audience. And as the band honored the memory of deceased bassist Cliff Burton with the song "Orion", "Fade To Black" was quickly forgotten as "Master of Puppets" took the whole crowd as willing hostages. Of any songs that can turn any male into an air guitar shredder, this would be the absolute. The "first" part of the already amazing concert was ended by "Battery", of course. But so far I had already noticed that they would probably not be playing anything from "St. Anger". The album was far from great, but some tracks would have dropkicked this evening, so it was like missing just a little something. With a second part consisting of first "Sad But True" and "Nothing Else Matters", the concert had already reached its peak of performance, but as "One" freaked everyone out with real stage explosions, smoke effects and war sounds, it was all just turned up a notch once more, ending in fireworks and "Enter Sandman", which included even more fireworks. And of course, even after this, Metallica re-returned for their encore tracks "Whiplash" and "Seek and Destroy". Gladly pleased, half-drunk and half-deaf, everyone ventured off the field searching for chance to get home without waiting hours for the next bus. A very good concert, even though it could've have had just a little more "new" to it. Thank you for the memories, I say. [9]