New Discovery: Our Own Invention

Twitter is a great place to get in touch with people from all over the world. I mostly use it to discover new bands and that's how I found the five guys from Dana Point, California. Our Own Invention consists of Keito Sato who's the vocalist, Devin DeLeon and Noah Harris who play the guitars, the bassist Alex O'Brien and drummer Justin Graham. The heavy pop punk band started making music in October 2011 and released their first album Nose Goes on March 9th 2012. Unfortunately they're unsigned at the moment but regarding their talent I'm sure this will change soon. 

At least that was my first impression when I listened to their songs for the first time. These guys are capable of making good music, that's for sure. The intro is fast and promises a lot for the upcoming songs what they definitely keep. I wasn't exactly sure what I expected but Keito's voice surprised me. He has a very special sound which can easily be recognized under hundreds of similar bands. I honestly didn't see the screaming coming because I was so fascinated by his voice that the screaming caught me when I least expected it.

The six songs on the record deal with problems we teenagers know very well. Breaking up, trying to find our place in this world, watching people come and go. My favourite song is Seeking Way To Wonderland because it's quite catchy and the lyrics definitely reach me.

While listening you definitely notice that Our Own Invention are at the beginning of their career but I can't wait to see them grow and develop! In my opinion we can expect a lot from these guys in the future.

All Time Low - Nothing Personal

“We’re just fanboys who got a chance.”

That’s how Jack Barakat, guitarist in All Time Low, once tried to explain why his band is so successful. Actually he only emphasized that band members have favourite bands, too, just like everybody else. Jack is also one of the founders of this band: together with Marc Shilling he started making music in 2003 when they still went to Highschool. Bit by bit both the band members and the band names changed, until All Time Low consisted of the four guys Alex Gaskarth, Jack Barakat, Rian Dawson and Zack Merrick. In 2005 they released their debut EP The Party Scene. From now on there followed one album per year and in 2009 Nothing Personal was published, which is my favourite album right after their current one Don’t Panic. 
I assume it’s alright to say that Nothing Personal isn’t as developed or mature as Don’t Panic is but that’s exactly why I love it so much. This album perfectly reflects how young the guys were back then, most of the songs are unburdened and just fun to listen to. For example Weightless, which says “maybe it’s not my weekend but it’s gonna be my year”. Basically your only choice is to believe it because by this lyric you’re already deep enough into the song to sing along or at least tap your toes. This may be one of the reasons why they still play Weightless at almost every concert.
Another completely easygoing song is the fifth: Stella. And with Stella they don’t serenade a pretty girl or one of the guy’s mums, no, Stella is a special brand of beer. It took me forever to figure that out but once you know it, the song becomes even better because Alex really covered the actual topic well.
Probably All Time Low’s most famous song hides in this record: Therapy. First of all I believe that the majority of us fans just can relate to this song a lot and that’s one of the reasons why so many people know it before they actually know the band. Furthermore Therapy is one of their most emotional songs. I recommend you listen to the Straight To DVD Version which makes me tear up basically everytime but also Alex’ speeches before they play the song are very emotional and inspirational.
My favourite song on the record is Lost In Stereo. The story behind it is simple: Alex once spotted a fan during a concert and she had so much fun dancing and singing that she didn’t really pay attention to his attempts of contacting her. She was just so lost in stereo that she didn’t notice anything else. As a conclusion I can say that Nothing Personal isn’t personal indeed. Most of the songs are very radio-friendly and don’t offer too many special lyrics, except from Therapy. If you’re having a good day, celebrate it with this album. If you’re having a bad day, let this album cheer you up.

Album of the Week: Pierce The Veil - Collide With The Sky

Looking at the four Mexicans from San Diego, you could assume that Pierce The Veil haven’t been around for a very long time. In fact, the brothers Vic and Mike Fuentes founded the band in 1998 as Before Today. In 2006 two members left the band though and were replaced by Tony Perry and Jaime Preciado. In 2007 the band changed their name to Pierce The Veil and released their first album (“A Flair For The Dramatic”) what led to several important performances, for example Warped Tour. 

In 2011 the band changed their record label and signed for Fearless Records to work on their third album Collide With The Sky which is as well their most successful album so far.
I have to admit that I listened to Collide With The Sky literally a thousand times but every time I discover something new. While writing this review I noticed that the intro perfectly flows into the first full song Hell Above (I might blame the shuffle option on my iPod for not realising this earlier). I noticed that there’s at least one line in every song I can relate to and I noticed that every single song contains a rather personal story of the band members. The third song on the record, A Match Into Water, is dedicated to Vic’s ex girlfriend who suffered from breast cancer and recovered from it when he wrote the song. The fifth song, Bulls In The Bronx, was mostly inspired by one of their fans who committed suicide after suffering from depression for a long time. This also shows how important the fans are for the band members. They care a lot, they listen to our stories and I believe that one of their goals is to help us through whatever we struggle with. 

Just like they did on their second album, the guys got a little help from a few guest vocalists. Kellin Quinn, vocalist in Sleeping With Sirens, sings in King For A Day, a very catchy song you don’t get out of your mind too quickly once it’s there. Jason Butler, vocalist in Letlive, sings in Tangled In The Great Escape and gives the song a very special sound with his rather raspy voice which stands in contrast to Vic’s rather smooth voice. 
My favourite song on the record is Hold On Till May with Lindsey Stamey of Oh No Fiasco. If you haven’t already checked the acoustic version you should totally do that, it guarantees shivers. This song simply has a special place in my heart because it makes me cry, it calms me down, it makes me focus on what’s real and what isn’t. 

These aren’t all the songs on the record but the ones that stand out from the others. All in all I can say that Pierce The Veil stuck to their style over all these years. The lyrics are as well-chosen and real as usual, only the four members developped and grew with every album. It’s easy to see that they’re still as passionate as they were on day one and that’s what brings a lot of joy to all of us fans.