Tag Archives: California

Reviews

(review) Love Equals Death – Gravity And Grace(SBÄM Records, Say-10 Records)

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California´s veterans Love Equals Death are back with their brand new full length album, long awaited and it is a blast. There is an instrumental intro A Tale Of Two Storms and then nine songs of absolute darkened vibe and beauty. Love Equals Death play melodic punk rock with base in horror punk but evolving into a darkened punk rock yet staying in horror and a bit depressive sounding melodies, melancholy and a bit sadness. Musically, if I must compare them to some one it would be AFI certainly with a bit of Blitzkid here and there. Vocals are great, varying from melodic and clean to more shouted and aggressive sounding voice. Superb lyric lines, such nice choruses and melodies make my blackened heart jump with joy, although they sing about fighting your inner demons, suicide, depression, loss and surviving. My personal favorite are The Letter, which was an excellent choice for a single, Hollywood Ghost, Adolescent Heart and A Sequence Of Arcs. This one is for me one of the highlights of this year in punk rock for sure. My total wholehearted recommendation.

Reviews, Various

(recka) Russ Rankin – Come Together Fall Apart

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Od devedesetih godina, kada mi je Iko, pjevač tadašnjih hardcore legendi Razlog Za iz Kutine, moj susjed u Zagrebu gdje sam neuspješno pohađao fakultet, snimio na kazetu prvi album benda Good Riddance, postao sam fan ovog kalifornijskog benda. Posebno, vokal Russ Rankin mi je bio idol na neki način u mnogo stvari, od straight edge životnog stila, do vokalnog nastupa kada sam pokušavao neke stvari i vikao po hardcore punk bendovima. Gledao sam Good Riddance puno puta live i imao čast upoznati Russa, tako da sam se radovao njegovom novom solo albumu nakon odličnih povratničkih albuma njegovog matičnog benda. Ovaj solo album je mirniji, više u atmosferičnom akustičnom stilu, neke pomalo melankolične atmosfere, ali i dalje odličnih tekstova, od političkih angažiranih pjesama sličnih matičnom bendu, do osobnih tekstova o odnosima u obitelji, ljubavi, nasilju, mnogih stvari u kojima se i sami možemo pronaći. Pjesme kao All Our Lives, True Believers, Worse Than It Seems i Abolish The Senate su moji osobni favoriti, ali svaki puta kada slušam ovaj album nađem nešto novo što mi se dopadne i zbog toga jako volim rad ovog čovjeka, kako s matičnim mu bendom, tako i solo.

Reviews, Various

(review) Love Equals Death – The Hour Of Resurrection (SBAM Records)

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Love Equals Death are punk band from California and they are not so known to people in these parts, so I am glad that I discovered them through this record. They are not strangers to this zine because I interviewed them a while back. Now they are back with a collection of their previously released e.p. material and this album is a perfect way for you to get to know with this awesome band. Love Equals Death play a brand of melodic punk rock but with darkened vibe and sounding a lot more harsh in some song parts then your typical Cali punk rock band. There are also some street punk influences which fit perfectly with some gang sing along parts. But, the main fact is that this is well written and good punk rock to peel your ears and hearts while listening. Emotions, aggression, atmosphere, melody and fist pumping punk, that is all you need with this record and this band. Hopefully they will tour Europe in 2022 and I will get to see this band play live because I think that will be a fantastic show.

Go listen and get this one!

https://www.facebook.com/SBAM.ROCKS/