Hollywood Undead - American Tragedy (Deluxe Edition)

Genre - Rap / Rock Cross over
Label - A&M/Octone Records


Track Listing -

01 - Been to Hell
02 - Apologize
03 - Comin' In Hot
04 - My Town
05 - I Don't Wanna Die
06 - Hear Me Now
07 - Gangsta Sexy
08 - Glory
09 - Lights Out
10 - Coming Back Down
11 - Bullet
12 - Levitate
13 - Pour Me
14 - Tendencies
15 - Mother Murder
16 - Lump Your Head
17 - Le Deux
18 - S.C.A.V.A.

Hollywood Undead is an American rap rock cross over band from Los Angeles, California.. Their sound has a lot in common with Horror bands such as Insane Clown Posse, Twiztid, Tech N9ne, yet with a mainstream element mixed in similar to Eminem, with a little Linkin Park thrown in to th mix for good measure to give tem the Rock element.
Now its no secret that I am a huge fan of Insane Clown Posse, Twiztid, Tech N9ne and Eminem, and rarely do people trying to pull off similar sounds come close to acheiving their goal and usually end up sounding like cheap imitations, yet this is not the case with Hollywood Undead.
These guys are hugely talented, and here the produce an excellent and varied album. American Tradegy has it all, itr has the comericail tracks like Comin' In Hot, Gangsta Sexy and current single, Hear Me Now but it also has the darker edged tracks more at home on underground albums such as Apologize, I Don't Wanna Die, Tendencies
and Mother Murder all of which are truly excellent!
I came across this album by accident and by god I am glad that I did, as Hollywood Undead may be my personal musical discovery of 2011!
Hollywood Undead's music features a wide variety of musical styles, generally blending hip hop with alternative rock and dance influence. However, many would identify them as rap rock, crunkcore, or nu metal. Half of the songs in Swan Songs display a more party-based style, while the other half show a more rock approach to the album.

If you have an open mind (musically)and want to check out a band bringing something different to the table then I strongly reconmend this album!

I Love it!

Website - Hollywood Undead

Rating - 9/10

DUFF McKAGAN's LOADED - The Taking

Genre - Hard Rock / Punk Rock
Label - Century Media

Track Listing:
01.) Lords of Abaddon
02.) Executioner’s Song
03.) Dead Skin
04.) We Win
05.) Easier Lying
06.) She’s An Anchor
07.) Wrecking Ball
08.) King Of The World
09.) Cocaine
10.) Your Name
11.) Follow Me To Hell

Duff McKagan's Loaded returns this year with their second album, The Taking.
The Taking is jam packed with unadulterated punk rock and no-frills rock 'n' roll. The Taking is a solid effort, yet it never really manages to step out of the shadow of its predecessor, the excellent Sick!
“The Taking” was produced by Terry Date and the current lineup of the band consist of Duff McKagan – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, Mike Squires – lead guitar, backing vocals, Jeff Rouse – bass, backing vocals and Isaac Carpenter – drums, percussion. It kind of reminds me of the British band The Almighty. It’s a blending of rock, metal, pop punk and post grunge like sounds, little bit dark, but quite pumping. 12 different colored songs finally make this album quite interesting. There’s something for everybody,
There’s plenty of variety on this album, with each song having its own flavor so to speak, it’s a very solid album from a hugely talented band.
A full classic Guns n’ Roses’, or even Velvet revolver reunion may never happen, but with Loaded, Duff has great outlet for his musical ideas.

A very good album, well worth checking out!

Website - Loaded

Rating - 9/10

Andrew W.K. - The Party All Goddamn Night EP

Genre - Hard Rock
Label -

Tracklisting -

01.Party All Goddamn Night
02.Everybody’s Raging
03.I Sold My Soul
04.Head Bang
05.I’m A Vagabond
06.We’re All Women
07.I Was Born To Love You (Freddie Mercury cover)

This Ep offers up 7 songs in the typical Andrew W.K. party music style, although his sounds has shifted a little with a 2011 Dance club element to his production, but still Andrew W.K!
This Ep is filled with 7 gems, I'm loving I Sold My Soul, Party All Goddamn Night, and even though he comitted the ultimate sin in my eyes by covering a Freddie Mercury song (I'm a life long Queen and Freddie fan and generally hate hearing people cover their songs as very few pull it off and do them justice!), in I Was Born To Love You, I love this version of the song! He really pulls it off.
This a great little short Ep,with plenty of variation a kind of stop gap before the next full length album.
This Ep will definitely appeal to Andrews existing fan base, and I believe amybe even attract a few new ones too!

Highly reconmended!

Website - Andrew W.K.
Rating - 9/10

Quicksand Snippet

Kev Bayliss - Quicksand (Single)

Genre - Hard Rock / Indie / Alternative / Modern Rock
Label - Independant

Tracklisting -
01 - Quicksand

Former Voodoo Johnson vocalist, Kevin Bayliss, returns with his first release since leaving the band late last year. Whereas Voodoo Johnson have apparently headed into a slightly harder / heavier direction with their new vocalist on their first single Black Skies Mist, Kev has opted to go in a more commercial, softer, more indie direction with Quicksand, which is the first song to be made available from his debut solo album, The Project which should follow later this year.
Kevin says, " This song however, is typically ‘Indie’ and a bit softer than what people have heard me sing before, but I love all kinds of music and probably have been ‘typecast’ now as a rock singer. I only joined VJ cos I liked ROCK and they were looking for a singer. My hope was that they would become more commercial and I tried to make that happen with the lyrics and vox, but I think after time I decided it wasn’t going to happen. I think they’ve found the right singer for what they want now though."

Quicksand is a great track with some very heartfelt, topical and relevant lyrics, and the softer approach really brings out the best in Kevin’s vocals. The song perhaps has more in common with Kings Of Leon, U2 and Cold Play than his previous outfit, but again that allows Kevin more freedom to truly showcase his voice.

I really do like this song, it’s extremely well written and executed to perfection, and I’m hoping that Kevin can keep a hold of the musicians that he has assembled here for the rest of the songs that will feature upon the album.
(The band is: Guitars - Lucky Singh, Keyboards - Pete Lakin, Bass - Nick Daniel, Dums - Kevin Bartlett, and obviously, Vocals / Lyrics - Kev Bayliss.

I'll let Kev have the final word with, "So, the album will have several more tracks, some acoustic section too! – So it’ll have a bit of everything, some hard, some soft. The key is to make it diverse. No ‘Dance’ though, or RnB lol. Mind you I have recorded vocals for a Dance song, and it looks as though it may be released under a large independent label! – I love all kinds of music, not just rock, so I thought I should stop pretending to be Axl rose and just sing what I like!"

I truly recommend buying this single when it is made available on 20th May as I think you’re gonna love it, I Do!

Highly recommended and I can’t wait for the album!

Website - Kev Bayliss


Rating - 10/10