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We’re looking for new reviewers to join our merry crew. If you like writing about alternative music, then we’d love to hear from you! The position is unpaid, but our average hit count is about 100,000 a month (so that means quite a lot of exposure) and you’ll get access to some of the best new music around. The site is currently undergoing development so that it’ll be faster, leaner and generally more pleasing to look at, but that all takes time and effort, so the more writers, the better!
Please send samples of your work to ripper@twobeatsoff.co.uk. We expect two reviews a month, but we’re pretty flexible. While you’d start off on reviews, we’re happy to discuss putting together other features and possibilities.
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Destroyer Of Worlds is a short, but definitely not sweet, EP from Derby boys With Silent Eyes. A dirgey metalcore affair, it grabs you by the short and curlies from the first second in and doesn’t let go again for another twelve or so minutes. ‘A Word Of Warning’ is choc a block with chugging breakdowns and hellish vocals. There’s plenty of two step opportunities throughout the track and the release as a whole, which is what I always look for in my metalcore, as well as some fun tapping. It’s got all the conventions, and while it might not be playing around with them, it’s still an exciting and explosive effort.
Next track, ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’, has a lot more melody dropping in and some Every Time I Die style guitar lines. However, the vocals are lacking the previous depth of tone that they had at the beginning, and there’s very little variance in pitch when the track needs it most. Despite that, it’s still the most tightly crafted track on the EP and by losing a little bit of the atonality that was present earlier, it shows the band’s true talents off. ‘Eradicator’ opens with a cracking sample of Oppenheimer over a haunting riff before kicking off for real, and while the band stray a little bit into the ‘tuff hxc guy’ territory with the lyrics, the sense of atmosphere built throughout the track more than makes up for it. Music like this needs that kind of horror and suspense, and ‘Eradicator’ more than has that potential. However, the end lets it down – there’s a fantastic bit where the music drops and gang vocals begin to fade out, and by reintroducing the chorus again, the band miss out on the opportunity to finish off on a very poignant and arresting note. Nevertheless, if you like your music nice and heavy, then you could do worse than take a chance on With Silent Eyes.
3 out of 5 high fives!
Ravenscode are an alternative rock band from Ontario, Canada. Their debut LP, District Of Broken Hope was released early last February. It has a pretty awesome cover, courtesy of Charlie Adlard of The Walking Dead fame. They are the official band of the Oshawa Generals hockey team. Absolutely all of this is positively endearing, but District Of Broken Hope is sadly not that interesting in comparison.
It opens well, at least. ‘Hero’ begins with a bang. You’re immediately hit with a great sense of confidence and passion, and it’s clear that Ravenscode love what they do. They revel in building up a striking intro, and lead vocalist Justin Bezaire has the perfect tone for this kind of music. However, a closer listen to the lyrics reveals tired metaphors. While lyrics do not make a song what it is, the feeling that they give begin to transfer out into the album as a whole. They’re safe; and that’s exactly what District Of Broken Hope is. Everything is tried and tested. As the album goes on, each track takes on a certain formula. You know how the song’s going to start, you know where the guitar solo is coming and you know how it’s going to end. The tracks that deviate from this are the best on the album. ‘Where Were You’, for example, begins with an acoustic intro, has a slow verse before coming in strong with a standout chorus. It even throws in some great ‘na na na’s’ towards the end.
For what it is, it’s all very well made. ‘Hyde’ is possibly the best showcase for the band as a whole, featuring some strong vocal lines, great riffs and a pounding rhythm section. Every song is meticulously crafted. Throughout the whole LP, there’s a certain sense of impetus and drive that can often be lacking from this kind of music. It just doesn’t stop it from being background music. It’s not raw enough; I don’t feel the distress and the heartbreak that the lyrics portray as I listen to it, nor the anger that should be present in tracks like ‘District Of Broken Hope’. It’s radio friendly, which can be both a boon and a detriment. In this case, it’s bit of both.
2.5 out of 5 high fives!
Kaito’s in Japan this week! So while he’s in his element, I’m taking over J-Pop Sunday. And I’m going to kick off my reign of terror by introducing you all to the band that first made me fall in love with J-music, and that’s UVERworld!
Quick guide
Act Name: UVERworld
Years Active: 2003-present
Genre: Rock
Notable Singles: “CHANCE!” (2005), D-techno life (2005), Colors Of The Heart (2006), Hakanaku mo Towa no Kanashi (2008), Gold (2010), Baby Born & Go/Kinjito (2011)
Number of members with strange symbols in their name: 1 (TAKUYA∞)
UVERworld are one of the biggest selling rock bands in Japan. They’ve sold over two million records worldwide and they have a name that’s easily pronounced by an ignorant Western tongue. They formed in 2003 in Kutsasu, Shiga under the name Sound Goku Road and originally featured seven members. However, after their first few demos, their number dropped to five and Takuya took up main vocals. Their big break came in 2005 when they got signed by Gr8! Records, the label that also plays host to Orange Range and Yui among others. It was only a matter of time before they burst onto the scene with the album TimeLess. TimeLess is a pop tour de force, with some of the best vocal hooks around and some interesting rapping. There’s some hilarious Engrish lyrics (my favourite being “don’t stop the lovin’” in “ai ta kokoro”) but the guitar is positively insane. On a sheer technical level, UVERworld outrank their closest Western contemporaries by a country mile. And they dress better, as you can see in this live performance of Chance!:
I first found out about them thanks to Japan’s insistence on slamming entirely inappropriate songs onto opening credits for anime. This is a big deal for bands over there; it essentially means you’ve got it made. UVERworld were extremely fortunate to have some of their earliest tracks as opening themes – “D-techno life” became the second opening theme for Bleach. If you don’t know Bleach, just know that it’s absolutely HUGE in the anime world. However, my curiosity was peaked slightly later. For me, Blood+ took on a whole new significance as “Colors Of The Heart” absolutely decimated my musical landscape.
“Colors Of The Heart” hit number 3 in the Oricon charts, their highest chart position at that point. Following that success, UVERworld’s second album, BUGRIGHT, came out in 2007. Now, while TimeLess is pretty poppy in places, it also has some surprisingly dark turns, taking cues from nu-metal and industrial in places. This element is almost completely gone with BUGRIGHT, instead focusing on high-octane rock extravaganzas, funky acoustic numbers and some gratuitous saxophone. However, none of it feels over the top; it’s still extremely fun, very intricate and perfect for summer festivals. And there’s a few power ballads, Japanese style, thrown in for good measure:
UVERworld are pretty prolific. It amazes me how many Japanese bands manage to get out as many albums as they do, especially keeping the quality so high. PROGLUTION (have you noticed a proclivity for caps lock in their albums names yet?) was released in 2008 and was UVERworld’s longest album to date. PROGLUTION showed the band begin to incorporate far more electronic elements into their sound as well as taking back some of the heavier elements from TimeLess. They began experimenting with instrumentals and clearly had a lot of fun. Plus the haircuts got even more fashionable. This wasn’t enough for the band though, and they released a series of singles. One of these, “Gekido” would become the opening theme track for D.Gray-Man, and “Hakanaku mo Towa no Kanashi” (儚くも永久のカナシ?) became UVERworld’s first number one! I can see exactly why, it’s a positively brilliant track.
Since PROGLUTION, UVERworld have released FOUR MORE ALBUMS. That’s right. Since 2008, they’ve had an album out every year; most recently, The One. I regretfully didn’t manage to catch up with all of them, but all of the singles have been absolutely gold. And not just the one called “Gold” either – which incidentally was the first 3D music video released in Japan. One thing that I have learnt during the course of this article is that lots of people like to shift the pitch of UVERworld songs up so it sounds like a woman singing. If anyone can enlighten me as to how this trend began, I’ll give you internet cookies. And if nothing else has convinced you as to just how brilliant UVERworld really are, then hopefully this will:
That’s all from me this week! I may well be back for next week’s instalment, not talking about any projects involving TM Revolution. I promise, Kaito!