Bled: More lyrics and melodies, less scream

The Bled
Pass The Flask
(Fiddler Records)
Sounds Like: Hardcore you can hum to
See Also: Atreyu

Hardcore music could strip the paint off of walls. If it could be liquified and bottled, it could also clean your car's engine. It's like the Everclear 151 of rock În' roll.

Tucson's The Bled sound righteously pissed off at: Ownership ("We Are The Industry"), a father ("Get Up You Son Of A Bitch, Cause Mickey Loves Ya") and girl troubles (the rest of the album.)

Vocalist James Munoz screams through every track, leaving most of the lyrics up to the imagination. Authentic words, phrases and subject matter materialize in the CD booklet as proof of content.

The fact that the band has "The" at the beginning of their name at a time like this probably doesn't hurt them exposure-wise. What also doesn't hurt is the fact that the instrumentation for some of their songs ("Dale Earnhardt's Seatbelt", "Porcelain Hearts And Hammers For Teeth", "Spitshine Sonata") could be confused with radio-punk if set apart from the vocals.

Pass is dark and schizophrenic, but not entirely daring. It sounds as if this record was made to get them on their feet for a wider audience, and therefore it doesn't take too many risks. Not to say that this is a standard hard-core album, but more steps could be taken to ensure their next album doesn't fall into that trap.

From the melodic breaks taken in some of the songs, this is a band that could stretch things out epically if given the chance. Time will tell if they want to take that chance, but it worked recently for AFI.

Pass plays like an early record for a band that could become very valuable to Tucson in the future.

÷ Kevin Smith

Disband should disband for copycat music
Disband
In Small Rooms
(Earnest Jenning Record Co.)
Sounds like: three-chord power punk
See also: Green Day, all of alt-rock radio

When listening to music, there is nothing more disappointing than repetition. Such is the case with garage/punk group Disband.

Disband's new album In Small Rooms is an exercise in generics, simply a reproduction of dozens of similar tracks from an equal variety of similar bands.

Disband's sound is something like the popular rock featured on local radio stations like KFMA; hard rock comprised of power-chords turned extra loud for that biting punk effect.

Since instrumentally Disband sounds like so many other bands on the modern music scene, the vocals should be of key importance, but they too show little imagination or creativity. A look at the lyrics themselves reveals some semblance of poetic prowess, but the delivery is lacking; a combination of something like Billy Joe of Green Day and the vocalist from the 80s theme "The Safety Dance." Songs like "Bears Will Kill You" also have a vocal style not unlike that of Modest Mouse.

Listening to Disband's latest release from end to end is extremely tedious. The group beats a long-dead horse by presenting a sound that has been done thousands of times since the grunge movement of the early 90s. Not only that, but each track's sound is virtually indistinguishable from the next or previous. It is more of a soundtrack by a pick-up band at a high school kegger than an album of music.

What's lacking from Disband's album is a distinctive sound; something to characterize themselves over the din of all the punk rockers with instruments and a record label. For the time being, Disband should stay where they are: They aren't quite ready to be in any "big rooms."

÷ Andrew Salvati

Ants may want to crawl back in their molehill

Alien Ant Farm
TruANT
(Dreamworks)
Sound: Poppy Middle-School Rock
Also See: Simple Plan, Eve 6

Contrary to popular belief, the rain in Spain stays mainly on the road. Last year, "smooth operators" Alien Ant Farm were in a near-career-wrecking bus crash on a rainy Spanish road that saw their bus driver dead, their lead singer with a broken neck and the rest of the band sustaining minor injuries.

While it has been said that through great suffering comes great art, someone forgot to text message this to AAF. The follow up to ANThology is more standard than anything else. Although the cover of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" hinted at a band bursting with backpacks of excess energy, this LP is a bit underachieving.

There's mostly the same bouncy verse/soaring chorus/verse thing here. Most of the songs feature a grinding guitar with pattern drums and formulaic vocals. Lead singer Dryden Mitchell sticks to his usual tense wail, although the band does try some different styles out.

"Never Meant" is a Sublime-like reggae-dub joint complete with horns. "Tia Lupe" is a swinging Salsa number. The only problem with both of these songs is that they wind up sounding like AAF songs.

No matter how far these guys try to stretch their music, they still wind up sounding like themselves. Which could be a good or bad thing depending on how much AAF repetition you can handle.

One would have thought that with how close these guys came to certain death/paralysis, they would have come back with an album full of life-affirming, introspective tunes.

"If that's what you demand/Then that's what I'll deliver," Dryden promises on closer "Hope."

Hope there's no breath being held on that one.

÷ Kevin Smith

Southern folk and blues refreshing, like days long ago

Kings of Leon
Youth & Young Manhood
(RCA)
Sounds like: Deep fried southern rock
See also: Creedence Clearwater Revival, The White Stripes

Listed as one of Rolling Stone Magazine's top 10 bands to watch for in 2003, the Kings of Leon have turned heads in the music world with their latest release: Youth & Young Manhood.

Featuring plenty of catchy, sing-along qualities of the popular Îthe' bands (see hives, vines, white stripes, etc.) coupled with 1970's style southern rock made famous by bands like Skynyrd and Credence, Youth & Young Manhood represents a work in the popular modern style with its own distinctive sound. Even the visage of the band itself is a throwback to the 70s, perhaps long hair and epic guitar solos will re-replace spiked hair, power-chord driven modern rock.

The Tennessee natives have interwoven a predominant southern folk and blues influence, evident in "Happy Alone" and "Trani" with a definite biting grungy edge in songs like "Red Morning Light" or "Wasted Time."

Tracks like "Genius" or "Dusty" make the listener feel almost as if they're cracking open a beer or throwing a steak on the grill and listening to a good southern boogie or blues ballad.

The Brothers Followill also show confidence in exploring other genres of music which are imbedded in songs like the surf-rock inspired guitar riffs in "California Waiting" complete with interspersed pipeline effects.

All at once, the Kings of Leon present a sound reminiscent of another era, yet refreshingly familiar to the modern ear.

The Kings of Leon are: Caleb Followill; vocals, rhythm guitar, Matthew Followill; lead guitar, Jared Followill; bass, piano and Nathan Followill; percussion, vocals.

÷ Andrew Salvati