Terrible Things – Pun Intended

My advice to anyone looking to start a band is that you should never name your band anything that suggests it will be a train wreck. Just take the newly formed Terrible Things as an example. The result of former Coheed and Cambria, Taking Back Sunday, and Hot Rod Circuit members, Terrible Thing’s debut self titled album lacks all the spark of any of its member’s previous work.

The album opens with the ‘Revolution’, which is one of the best songs on the album, but still nothing special. It has the impression of trying to be some sort of rock anthem, but it falls far short of having any lasting effect on the listener. The whole album wreaks of trying to be something different that hasn’t been heard before, but the result is an extremely mediocre pop punk. Anyone who calls this album indie has literally no idea what they’re talking about. It is lacking in every way.

In specifics, the vocals aren’t bad but they lack the range or tone of Claudio Sanchez or Adam Lazzara. The lyrics are a large part of what makes this album a train wreck instead of tolerable. The lyrics are typical of any less than mediocre pop punk band of the last 10 years. There are too many examples of this, one comes in the title track though with lines such as “She said ‘Look and see, you’re the worst thing that’s ever happened to me”, or in ‘Can’t Be True’ with lines like “I know that I was wrong. Know that I hurt you, And how I let you down. I can’t be true”. Guitarist and singer Fred Mascherino’s voice and songwriting are suited better with his acoustic setting he had in his former act; The Color Fred.

The album isn’t all horrible though. There is some hope for Terrible Things in ‘Conspiracy’ which has more creative lyrics then the rest of the album, and a tune that will make it worth a few more listens. Fred Mascherino fans will recognize ‘Lullaby’ as it is a recycled song. The old acoustic version suits Fred’s voice better, but the new version isn’t all bad.

This album could be summed up as dissapointing. Taking Back Sunday and The Color Fred were both great so why can’t Fred Mascherino carry that over to Terrible Things. Coheed and Cambria is also fantastic. This album wouldn’t be nearly as bad as it is if it had better lyrics and something besides a typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus feel to every song.

Rating: 1.5/5 Guitars

Best song: Conspiracy

Garden Party!

Garden party!

Coming Soon

Greetings! I will now do what I rarely do, which is make a post not about music, but about what is coming soon for the website. A few months ago was the one year anniversary of Music and Life. As a result I think it’s time to make some changes.

First, I will be searching for new authors. I never really thought of this website as a music news website, but more of a way for people to discover great music. So, though I do post simple information about bands coming out with new albums the life of this website is in things like B-Side Friday. I want the new authors to be able to follow along with the true purpose of this website.

Starting in December I’ll be doing months dedicated to certain artists. That means they’ll be featured in many posts that month. I’ll be reviewing some of their albums, featuring them in b-side Fridays, and whatever other neat stuff I think of. In addition I have some other neat stuff planned for next month, but more on that later.

You can now share posts on facebook and twitter, or you can email or print them out. So if you see something you want to share it is now easier then ever. I have plans to allow you to “like” our posts through facebook. I’m also searching for ways to draw more viewers here. If we get alot of viewers then I think it might be worth it to create features for you; the viewers to interact together and talk about music.

Songs To Hear Before You Die (Part 2)

10 more songs that are not the best songs ever. They are probably not going to become your favorite songs that you’ve ever heard, but they are all worth hearing at some point in your life. You will probably enjoy them.

This first song is honestly a rip off of Obladi Oblada by The Beatles. Though the tunes are identical the message of this song is something almost anyone can relate to.

If you don’t listen to the full song then I hate you.

Best song that I know with a saxaphone solo. Possibly the best Incubus song ever.

Great song… Enough said

I wish that the instrumental part of this song would follow me around. If it did then my life would be a gradual evolution to something incredible.

The best intro song of any album I’ve heard in a long long time. Possibly the best I’ve ever heard. The riff, the piano, and the deep gong. Everything fits perfectly.

Free song on itunes once upon a time. If you own a radio you’re probably sick of hearing it. I think that if you haven’t grown to love this song by now then you need to sort your life out.

Of any band that has broken up in the past few years Armor For Sleep’s breakup is by far the most devastating. They had incredible potential. This is off of their second album ‘What To Do When You’re Dead’.

Counting Crows is so incredible that they get two songs in this post alone. So listen up because you can. If you aren’t a fan already then you’re missing out.

I love this song. You might not, but I do.

Countdown to Old Again Part 2 (LISTEN TO THE SONGS!)

Want to listen to as much of the new old lineup as you can but don’t want to waste your life searching youtube? I’ve got the thing for you. I’ll find every video I can and bring em here to you can just go back to this post whenever you want to listen. This is where you can listen to all the new Taking Back Sunday you want. You can get not just new ones but old ones performed by the new old lineup. The videos aren’t amazing but if you’re a true TBS fan you’ll listen to all of them… probably multiple times. Also if you aren’t a true fan and just want the great quality ones then just listen to the ones that say HD, but know that I hate you.

I’m in love with this song title.

I love whoever had such a great spot and took the time to make a video.

I’ll add more ASAP

 

MY OPINION

I enjoyed these videos very much. In particular I thought ‘No “I” in team’ showed that they can still rock the old songs 9 years later. I encourage you to give your opinion in the polls. Despite my disappointment in the ‘Best places to be a mom’ demo, I think that this album will be incredible. The energy around TBS with the fans and the members is something special. All that I think Taking Back Sunday needs to do is not try to make another Tell All Your Friends. From what they’ve been saying it seems like they wont be.

Countdown to Old Again pt 1 (NEW DEMO RELEASED)

When a band I have been a fan of for awhile has a new album coming out soon I’ll do a countdown to it. What I’ll do is post the latest updates and probably my opinions on them.

Taking Back Sunday finished writing their new album in El Paso. They are now recording their new album. THe first demo was released today. Chek it out!

http://soundcloud.com/adamdamnlazzara/bestplacestobeamom
Best Places To Be A Mom by adamdamnlazzara

My Opinion

I am honestly dissapointed.  The song doesn’t have much depth to it melodically or lyrically. It has the Taking Back Sunday sound, but if I can judge the album by this song then I think I’ll be dissapointed. With the original lineup returning with the newfound sound of New Again I expect things to be incredible. I don’t expect another Louder Now. I expect some sort of a fusion of the original sound with the maturity and lyrics of more recent years.

Happy Veterans Day

On the 4th of July I was going to make a post like this, but I forgot. September 11th wouldn’t have been appropriate. So I chose Veterans Day. Here are some songs to celebrate america and veterans day. Some are appropriate. The opposite could be said for many.

Go find the songs to hear before you die post to view the uncensored version. This shit is fucking hilarious, but it’s censored.

That is only two. Youtube started freaking out on me. I’ll try to add more tomorrow. What do you want to hear?

Youtube Channel (Song Request 1)

We’ve got a youtube channel. You probably know this if you’ve visited our website before. Is there a song that you really want to see up on youtube but can’t find? Then song request is for you. You can leave a comment hear and let me know about a song you want to see on the music and life youtube channel. For now you can check out the most viewed song already up! You can find a link to our youtube channel at the bottom of the page.

 

Electro!

This place needs to get busy. And since I’m now in school, I’ll be lisitng to more music since I need things to do on the bus. So until I get around to listing to those Dethklok albums heres a song my friend made!

-From The basement of Alex_N

Jordan

Normally I don’t bother posting things a day after I make a post. But I have decided against my rules of posting because I MUST SHARE THE EPICNESS! This dude is a great guitar player. He’s using a kill switch* on his guitar to make this awesome song. His name is BUCKET HEAD!

*A Kill Switch is a button that you press that kills the signal from your Guitar to amp. This is can be used to great effect in tapping and is mostly used in heavy metal music, Ace Freehley used it on a song on Kiss alive (Don’t ask me what song. I forgot)

-From the basement of Alex_N