Day: January 12, 2011

Do It With Malice – The Burned Over District

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[rating:3/5]
© 2010 Do It With Malice

Do you ever listen to new music and hear an influence or similarity, a subtle influence in the sound that makes your mind battle to figure out who or what it reminds you of? Well damn if I don’t have that going on when I listen to The Burned Over District, the new release from Do It With Malice.

Do It With Malice (DIWM) hails from the city of Buffalo in the great state of New York and plays an intriguing blend of metal punk ska. As a five-piece, the band is stripped down for efficiency considering that they have a 2/5 horn player ratio. I say hells yeah, good for them, less people to split the income with.

The Burned Out District features 10 tracks running reasonably on the quick side of the tempo spectrum. The majority of the songs are, to one degree or another, ska influenced and run heavy on the metal. An interesting note is that a good portion, especially in the early tracks of the disc, lead in with very 80’s style intros. Just listen to the single note metal riffery of “Fermeta Armada” and the clean/chorus guitar intro on track 2, “6-18” and you’ll know exactly what I mean.

In addition to previous, It also feels like there is a bit of funk influence as well. Overall, I think The Burned Over District is a solid and competent, if not completely cohesive release. I think maybe I would have arranged tracks a bit differently and I think I would ditch a lot of the guitar effects, but hey opinions vary. … But what the hell does this remind me of? Now that I think more about it, the entire sound makes me think of newer Catch 22 mixed with 311 … if you add that up, you get Catch 333 … coincidence, I think not.

Bottom line: Solid ska/punk/metal outta Buffalo. I think I would totally dig them live.

Tracks:
1: Fermata Armada
2: 6.18
3: Take The Stage
4: Russian Roulette
5: No Music
6: Nickel and Dime
7: Rabiddz
8: Pirt Egnarts
9: Choke Me Running
10: Commodity

For more info: www.diwmny.com

Civet Love & War Due Out Feb 22

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January 12, 2011 – Los Angeles, CA – LA rock band Civet have announced plans to release their fourth studio album, Love & War, via Hellcat Records on February 22. Fans can check out the album’s first single, “L.A. Nights,” now at http://soundcloud.com/hellcatrecords/civet-l-a-nights. The album will also be available on vinyl at a later date.

Led by provocative sisters Liza Graves and Suzi Carmichael, Civet hold the torch once held by such groundbreaking female-fronted bands as The Runaways, Bikini Kill, L7, Hole and The Distillers, with the release of their fearless new studio album Love & War.

“Recording the new record was very liberating; we knew what we wanted and went for it!” says Graves. “Our choruses are bigger and badder than the last record, coupled with blazing guitar solos & raw vocals everyone has come to love; that combination of Motörhead grit and ‘77 raw power. There are various influences that can be heard on all the songs, so the whole record doesn’t reflect one particular era or genre. We weren’t afraid to pull from all scopes of the musical spectrum when writing this record.”

After their Hellcat debut, Hell Hath No Fury, in 2008, Civet took the world by storm, touring Europe, Japan and North America extensively with such greats as Flogging Molly, H20, The Adicts, Dropkick Murphys, The Pogues and the Vans Warped Tour. The album received rave reviews from critics and fans and created a whirlwind of press for the band, and anticipation for their follow-up has been mounting ever since.

Civet spent the last several years on the road refining the band’s direction, and when it came time to record their follow up to Hell Hath No Fury decided to forgo an outside producer and record the album themselves. “We knew the vision we had for this record better than anybody, so we decided to go for it!” says Carmichael.
And the result is Love and War, 14 daring and unapologetic tracks about relationships gone wrong, shattered dreams and their journey to where they are today. With a matured sense of reality, the girls dug deeper than ever have before and translated their experiences over the past few years into soul wrenching lyrics and choruses on the new album. “On this record, Suzi and I not only found our voice, but we rediscovered our punk rock ‘n’ roll roots,” says Graves.

Armed with Graves’ trademark deep raspy vocals and Carmichael’s incendiary lead guitars, Civet bare their teeth on songs like the brash party anthem, “L.A. Nights” and the angst fueled “Summer of Hate,” and sink their claws into fans with feverous deploy on one of the band’s best written albums yet.

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Love & War Track Listing:
01. Can’t Go Back – 3:13
02. L.A. Nights – 2:55
03. Love & War – 2:56
04. Come On (I Wanna Be Your Girl) – 2:46
05. Sunset Strip – 3:32
06. Summer Of Hate – 3:45
07. Deadbeat – 2:08
08. Buy My Love – 2:52
09. Cryin’ Wolf – 3:22
10. It’s The Truth – 4:51
11. I’m Not The One – 3:24
12. Go Underground – 2:05
13. Reap What You Sow – 5:00
14. You Get What You Pay For – 3:27