Deadlock Evolve On Sixth Album

Melodic Death Metal band Deadlock have always mixed harshness and beauty. Their previous albums have had both harsh male screams and clean female singing. Making each song more beautiful, yet aggressive. Sabine Scherer's clean vocals have been on each album she is clearly the highlight of the band.
On The Arsonist, Deadlock's sixth album and first after the departure of Johannes Prem, unclean vocalist, the band are very similar, yet different. While former bassist John Gahlert takes over on the unclean vocals, he isn't an upgrade. His screams aren't as strong or as stirring as Prem's were.
While the songs such as "The Great Pretender" and the title track are good and aggressive and quite catchy, they don't hold up to the best songs off the band's last two albums Manifesto and Bizaro World. "Dead City Sleepers" and the first single "I'm Gone" come close, but there is nothing as good as "Virus Jones" or "Martyr to Science."
The album's heaviest song "Darkness Divine" is up next. A fast, melodic death metal song that features Gahlert's best performance on the album as well as a slowed down chorus by Scherer. This song is followed by the electro-inspired "As We Come Undone,' a song that isn't very jarring and nothing to redeem the album until Scherer's clean chorus comes along to save the day.
The band slow things down on their best ballad ever, "Hurt." The song starts out as a piano filled ballad but in the second half becomes a rocker, very similar to "My Immortal" by Evanescence. The next song "The Final Storm" picks the pace of the album back up again. The song has a more gothic metal inspired chorus, Scherer doesn't even show up until the bridge. Even with that being the case, this is still an album highlight.
"Smalltown Boy" is a cover of the Bronski Beat song from the 80s. This cover is a good addition to the album and a great way to close things.
The bonus tracks on the album include the industrial influenced "My Pain," which also has a gothic metal feel to it. This song is a change for the band and they would do good to keep switching it up. The other two bonus tracks are dance remixes of the songs "Dead City Sleepers" and "As We Come Undone."
While this album is a great record, it isn't as great as the band's past two records. But the experimental tone of the album makes it a step up from their previous records.

Kerli Goes Dance

Estonian singer Kerli rose out of the ashes in 2008 on her debut album, Love is Dead. The album sounded like Evanescence meets Britney Spears and featured such killer songs as "Walking on Air" and "Creepshow." Then the singer released her pop/rock/rap Alice in Wonderland inspired single "Tea Party" and then had two dance singles "Army of Love" and "Zero Gravity." While these songs lacked the rock edge of her great debut, they were still catchy and addictive and held fans over until March when she released her dance-filled EP Utopia.
The EP was proceeded by the single "The Lucky Ones." The song was a fun pop anthem but it lacked the intensity of her debut.
The EP kicks off with "Can't Control the Kids." This song is all about a generation of children controlled by the internet. The song is a dance anthem that has hints of dubstepish sounds. The song is a fun, catchy song that features a throbbing beat as well as a good vocal performance by Kerli.
The next song is the single "The Lucky Ones." The song is a ravetastic number that despite not being anything special will at least get you dancing.
The album then goes into the piano ballad "Love Me or Leave Me." The song is emotional, yet it doesn't pack the same punch that the singer had on her debut album's ballads. The song features lyrics about Kerli falling out of love with her lover.
The next song, "Sugar" is an acoustic guitar filled electropop jam that features sexual lyrics. While Kerli didn't explore the topic of sex on her debut, "Tea Party" was al about getting it on. On "Sugar" Kerli is trying to be sexy and seductive, yet something about it doesn't quite work. Despite this the song is an enjoyable track.
"Here and Now" is the album's best track. The single had a house inspired beat and lyrics about living in the moment. The song is catchy and fun and shows that while Kerli's new direction isn't as good as her older rockier sound, she can still own a song. This song gives hope to those let down by this release.
The album ends on a slow note with "Chemical." This song is better than half the songs on this album. Kerli is opening up her scars on this song and showing her vulnerable side.
The bonus track "The Lucky Ones (Syn Col vs. Kerli)." This remix is an improvement on the album and features a trance beat with piano thrown into the mix.
While this EP is good, it's nowhere near as great as her debut album and sadly Kerli doesn't seem to be showing signs of wanting to return to her previous rocker mode. This EP shows that Kerli is growing and hopefully she can reach her dreams of dance-diva status.

Flyleaf new album is a mixed bag

Flyleaf begin their third album New Horizons in a big way with "Fire Fire," their best song on the album and one of their best songs period. The song seems to be about front woman Lacey Sturm. This is the final record with Sturm and this song seems to be about her struggle to leave the band. "That's enough now dry your tears. It's been a long 11 years." Sturm sings in the first verse. The song is catchy and emotional and gets the album off on the right foot.
The band burst onto the scene with their self titled debut that sounded like a more hardcore version of Evanescence. Sturm's vocal style blended her beautiful singing with some metal screams to form something that hadn't been done by too many females until Flyleaf. Their debut featured songs like "I'm So Sick" and the band's only top 40 hit "All Around Me."
The band have always been proud of their Christian faith and while a few songs on the first record had religious lyrics, there was always another meaning. The on their second record 2009's Memento Mori the band embraced their Christianity more. This was a turn off for non-religious fans and despite that the songs just weren't as good.
But New Horizons is a decent album. While most of the songs are enjoyable like "Call You Out" and the title track, there are a few less memorable moments. Songs like "Saving Grace" and "Cage on the Ground" are boring.
"Broken Wings" is a beautiful tribute to friendship that is packed with so much passion that it's almost overwhelming. The song is so gorgeous and Sturm sounds fragile and sad. Another highlight is the rocking "Great Love." "Green Heart" takes the band back to their early metal sound.
While New Horizons is bittersweet because it's the last album with Lacey Sturm it's also a good sign that Flyleaf will survive.

VersaEmerge follow trends on new EP

VersaEmerge have always made great music. Their first EP had a post-hardcore sound before Sierra Kusterbeck took over as frontwoman. Once Kusterbeck was the singer their next releases sounded like Paramore and Evanescence wrote scores for movies, they were so original.
VersaEmerge have been hard at work on their second full length album for almost two years and earlier this month they released an EP entitled Another Atmosphere Preview, which features three songs from their upcoming album Another Atmosphere.
The three songs "No Consequences," "Bones" and "Domesticated" have rock oriented aspects but they are predominantly dance tracks. The band heavily use synthesisers on this album and few actual instruments. From the dubstep wobbles on the songs to the synthetic guitar solo on "Bones," this record is synthesized.
"No Consequences" contains a more rock sound with guitar chords and tons of attitude. The song is very different from the rest of the EP and is by far the best song. The song is about getting what you want and not caring what others think.
"Bones" is the next best song. The song also has dance-rock sound to it. "I want you to rest those bones over me," Kusterbeck sings seductively in the chorus. The song is far from as good as most of VersaEmerge's other songs but it's still a fun ride.
"Domesticated" is by far the worst song out of the three, mainly because the lyrics are cheesy as hell. The "piano" driven track is about not fitting into the mold and not being the girl that everybody wants Kusterbeck to be. It's clear in the song that Kusterbeck is not trying to fit the mold, yet why is her band following the dance music trend?
This dance music trend is ruining many good bands. VersaEmerge's new EP isn't bad in any sense, but it just doesn't stand up to their last album Fixed at Zero or their self-titled EP. Hopefully the rest of Another Atmosphere contains a more classic VersaEmerge sound. VersaEmerge are an example of a band who have tried to follow a trend and have lost what made them great in the first place.