Sick Puppies: Dressed up as Life

The first and only album by the Australian trio, "Dressed up as Life" is an excellent album. That's what you would expect from a band that takes almost 10 years to write 12 songs. Yes, they are "emo", but they really don't look like it and they are good enough to make you not care about that. They are best known for the song "All the Same", which was used for the music of the immensely popular You tube video "Free Hugs Campaign."

The album starts off with the song "My World", a 4 minute song which goes from quiet, monotone singing to a loud, booming chorus. Then we have "Pitiful", which starts off with a simple bass beat and adds on the guitar and drums shortly before going into another chorus that is just as great as, if not better than the chorus of "My World".The next track, "Cancer" has a great edgy bass and guitar riff. "Cancer" is very different from the first two tracks in that it is faster.

"What Are You Looking For" is one of the best songs on the album. It starts off acoustic in the first verse, goes into a chorus similar to that of "My World", and then goes into the next verse, which has a uniquely good guitar part. "Deliverance" has a great guitar part which sounds extremely familiar.

"All The Same" is the most popular song by Sick Puppies. Its starts off acoustic and builds up into electric guitar with heavy riffs. It has a mini guitar solo, and as it ends, it goes back to acoustic.

"Too Many Words" probably has the best and most complex guitar part for the verse for any song by these guys. The chorus starts really abruptly, but the transition to it is very good. The outro is the best of any of their songs.

"Howard's Tale" is all bass in the first verse, and has an abrupt start to the choruses. It isn't the best track on the album, but like every song ont he album, it is worth listening to. "Asshole Father" starts with an acoustic part almost identical to the beggining of "Too Many Words". It goes into a chorus similar to that of "Too Many Words", but despite the similarities, the song sounds signifigantly different from "Too Many Words".

"Issues" has effects on the guitar similar to that of the song "Cancer". This song sounds nothing like anything else on the album, and has a really good instrumental; the instrumental part of this song is almost as good as that of the song "Deliverance".

"Anywhere But Here" starts with an acoustic begginning and then goes straight into a heavy guitar riff, which at first does not sound too good but gets better. The chorus is signifigantly different from the rest of the song, but the transition to it is so good that the chorus sounds perfect with the song. It has a brief "slow down" (I don't know what to call it) in the middle of the song but quickly builds back up to its original speed.

"The Bottom", the last song on the track, has effects on the instruments similar to those on "Issues". Many people don't seem to like this track; it takes a while to get used to it. It has a good tune, but the transition in and out of the chorus could be improved on a bit. At the end of the song, it gradually slows down and eventually ends.

Rating:5/5 stars.
This is one of the best albums I have ever heard. I have heard people who hate all music made after the year 2000 say that this album is good. It is the greatest album I have heard from after the year 2000. BUY THIS ALBUM!!!

Shinedown: The Sound of Madness

The third studio album of the Jacksonville, Florida, quintet, "The Sound of Madness" is similar to the past two albums in that it goes from heavy, fast guitar riffs to slow, acoustic (or almost acoustic) songs.

The album starts off with the main single for the album, "Devour." The song starts with a drum roll and build up by adding on the first, then second guitar, and then the bass, then speeds into the fast, heavy riffs the verses and choruses. The song has such a heavy guitar riff that many people could mistake this band for a metal band.

The next 3 tracks on the album are slightly slower and lighter than "Devour." "The Sound of Madness," which the album was named after, is followed by "Second Chance," which starts off slowly with an acoustic guitar but speeds up after the first chorus. After that is "Cry For Help." This song starts with a fast riff, and then briefly slows down into the first verse. After that, the song speeds up to be almost, if not as fast as the first track on the album.

"The Crow and the Butterfly" starts off slow with an acoustic guitar, but then adds in an electric guitar for the choruses. The song also adds in a string orchestra in the background for the second verse. After the buildup into the second chorus, there's a mini-guitar solo, a repeat chorus, then all other instruments slowly fad away into an acoustic ending.

 

The next track, "If You Only Knew", starts off with an intro that makes you expect another song like "Devour." Instead, the song is a mainstream-rock-ish mix of acoustic and electric guitar.

 

"Sin With a Grin" starts with the fast, heavy guitar riffs and fast drums you were expecting from "If You Only Knew". Overall, it is a very good song, but the chorus could use some slight improvement.

 

"What a Shame" is very similar to "The Crow and the Butterfly" in that it starts off slow and acoustic and slowly builds up. After that comes "Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide", a song that almost sounds like "Sin With a Grin", but has a better transition into the chorus. "Breaking Inside" is another song that starts off acoustic and slowly transitions to electric guitar for the chorus.

 

"Call Me", the last track on the album, is only piano with some strings instruments playing lightly in the background while the singer sings (duh, what else would he do?). Though, a bit long for a song like this, it is a great song and a fitting ending to this album

 

Rating: 4/5 stars

It's a great album; actually it's one of the best I've ever heard, but there is room for improvement on a few songs, and some songs sound very similar. It is one of the few albums I would actually buy if I had the option of getting it for free.

 

The First Cut

Is it pop? The iTunes Store says so. I don't. This mostly unknown band out of Bergen, Norway seems to fall more under the Indie umbrella. They can also be considered emo, as the name suggest. Rather than a reference to self injury, however, the band's name comes from the Sheryll Crow song "The First Cut is the Deepest."

The band has only one major album, "Silence Afterwards," (released in 2006) which is available on iTunes. There are no singles or EPs. Some sources report that the band is on a hiatus and may never play again. Time will tell.

This excerpt from the band's Myspace page (myspace.com/thefirstcut) explains a bit about the band name's history:

The summer of 2003 the vocalist of CRASH got a phonecall from the manager of a finnish pop band called The Crash. He told Arild that Warner Music Finland had taken notice that there was a norwegian band by the same name and that "something terrible could happen". After that day Arild recieved several phone calls from the same finnish number and all he could hear was breathing, the sound of broken bones and an evil laughter.

A day in august 2004 arild got a mandate from God, in the shape of Yusuf Islam, also known as Cat Stevens, to use the name of his broken heart-anthem "The first cut is the deepest": The band was deeply honoured, and have decided to continue under that name.

Overall rating: 4/5

Bottom line: Great music, but the fact that there might only be one cd out is annoying.