Life Is A Lemon

So, I have never worked with Better Anyway before, but I have admired them from the sidelines for a few months now. They were a recommendation from someone (I don't remember who) and I think they're really good. They released their latest track on Friday, so I asked the band if it'd be okay if I was to review their track, and they were all for that! So here we are!  Afterthought is just such an insane song, it's so loud and anthemic. It's in your face, it's got an incredible beat to it, and the lyrics are honestly a big mood! I'm obsessed with this track because it really is that good! I love this track, and of course, it's pop-punk so I automatically love it, but it gives me like Knuckle Puck and Real Friends vibes. I honestly think Better Anyway went above and beyond and really hit the nail on the head with this track.  I really am in love with it, I just think it's so good, and it's just such an incredibly catchy and the chorus echoing "J

 Okay, so at this point, you know the drill, and if you follow me on Twitter then you'll 100% not be surprised by this since I've been a sad little bean and cried to The Amity Affliction all week.  Bands I'm Loving;  - The Amity Affliction - Distant Blue - Give Me A Reason - Home Wrecked - Twin Atlantic - Nautical Mile Albums I'm Loving;  - This Could Be Heartbreak by The Amity Affliction - Misery by The Amity Affliction - Everyone Loves You... Once You Leave Them by The Amity Affliction - MYMINDISOUTOFME by Distant Blue - The Only Way is Through by Nautical Mile - Power by Twin Atlantic - Great Divide by Twin Atlantic - Home Wrecked by Home Wrecked - Free by Twin Atlantic Songs I'm Loving;  - D.I.E by The Amity Affliction - Feels Like I'm Dying by The Amity Affliction - O.M.G.I.M.Y by The Amity Affliction - Far From Home by Home Wrecked  - Funny by Give Me A Reason - Long Way Home by Next Year  - Sad by Give Me A Reason - Kick Rocks by The Amity Affliction - No

  So, I've never actually worked with Next Year before... however, I've been following them for a while now.  From the teasers they'd posted of this song, I knew I was going to love it, and it didn't disappoint!  Next year are a midlands based pop-punk/punk rock band (what a shock), and honestly, this song is insane! I love it, so let's dive into my thoughts!  I love the intro to the track as the build up is pretty satisfying to listen to. It's very much a traditional pop punk song, rather than the more pop orientated pop punk. This is how I wish pop-punk still sounded, and for that, I have a lot and respect for Next Year.  This song definitely packs a punch, and I do truly believe it's an incredible track. I would 100% recommend it to you if you enjoy pop-punk/punk rock. For me these are like some of my favourite genres, pop-punk is my favourite genre so I may be a bit bias, but I do think it's incredible and Next Year have so much talent, just listen t

I've never done a review of a Give Me A Reason track before, but I've been following them for a good few months, and I was obsessed with their last track Sad. So let's talk about their new release Funny!  Funny is very much a stereotypical modern pop-punk song.  It's a super infectious track, that's exciting to listen to. It's a sound that a lot of bands seem to be turning towards, but I don't think many bands pull off this sound and vibe like Give Me A Reason do.  You know I have to talk about this, but yes, Funny has some change and depth within the sound and it's got some decent lyrics, which as you know, automatically gives it a minimum of 3 out of 5, but this song is great. It's incredible in fact, it's one of my favourite releases recently.  It's got such a good beat to it, and all day it's been stuck in my head. I'm well and truly obsessed with it. It really does hit the spot, and I think it's just insane. I love that whils

 Now, I know this is a similar post to one I did before, but I want to do this one just because I've loved so many bands over the years, and part of the journey of loving bands is falling out of love with them, forgetting they exist and not reaching for them anymore for no reason other than you found other bands! So, I thought why not tell you some bands I've fallen out of love with and see if I can respark my love for them!  The Amity Affliction -  I used to like TAA, I thought they were an incredible band and at one point they were the heaviest band I'd listen to. But, the past few years I've forgotten about them, I haven't reached for them because for a while I went off heavier music and would only listen to generic pop-punk bands and alt rock, but I had a bit of a breakdown and thought "Fuck it, let's have a listen to TAA and see if this helps", it really did. I can remember exactly why I loved them, and I love them even more now that I did before.

So, I thought this would be another nice little post for anybody looking for some new bands! These are bands I don't do features on often or bands that I never talk about unless it's my weekly what I'm listening to! So if you're willing to give some bands a go, then this one's for you!  Nautical Mile -  If you follow me on my socials you'll know that I love Nautical Mile and not a day goes by when I'm not listening to Spin The Bottle. But, I don't talk about them on here apart from in my weekly what I'm listening to! I love Nautical Mile so much! They're one of my favourite bands, and their album is one of my all-time favourites! I love this band more than you'd think, they're up there in my top 5 for me! They actually have a cover of Beautiful Soul (Jesse McCartney) and it's such a good track! It's their most popular track and it's great! Nautical Mile are an Australian band for reference! Moving onto original content though,

 You know what this is at this point, you know exactly what we're doing!  Bands I'm Currently Loving;  - Twin Atlantic - The Mocking Jays - Distant Blue - Nautical Mile - Home Wrecked - Hot Mulligan - You Me At Six - Ollie Hayes - Melwood Albums I'm Currently Loving;  - Free by Twin Atlantic  - GLA by Twin Atlantic  - Great Divide by Twin Atlantic  - The Love Era by The Mocking Jays - Mad Love by Ollie Hayes - Pilot by Hot Mulligan  - You'll Be Fine by Hot Mulligan - Home Wrecked by Home Wrecked - The Only Way Is Through by Nautical Mile - MYMINDISOUTOFME by Distant Blue - Melwood by Melwood - VI by You Me At Six - Sinners Never Sleep by You Me At Six Songs I'm Currently Loving;  - Bite Me by DiSTANTPETE - MAKEMEFEELALIVE by You Me At Six - Far From Home by Home Wrecked - Stay Strong by Native Blood - Lemonade by The Mocking Jays - whatever makes you feel safe by Distant Blue - Opiate by Distant Blue - Nowhere Fast by Home Wrecked - Sweet Tooth by Nautical Mile - Sp

  So, a lovely person called Chris Ang emailed me following my post on Hawthorne by Small Talk. and he (being friends with Small Talk.) asked me if I was willing to do a post about his track I Don't Want To Be Touched. This is a very raw track, it's a song that's topic may be triggering for some, but Chris' story is his to tell not mine, and if you go to the video and read the description you'll read his story, and understand the meaning of the song. What you're imaging the song is about (rape) is actually what the song is about. So, if you find that triggering in a track then please don't feel like you have to listen to the song, but if you're willing to give it a go then please do. I've added that in, just in case it is a trigger for someone!  Anyway, before I get into the review, I just want to make you aware of something that Chris is doing on Monday (24th August). So, Chris is part of a emo karaoke group called Everything Is Alright and they are

So, Ollie Hayes has just (today) released an EP called Mad Love, and Ollie asked me if I would be up for reviewing it, and of course, I thought really highly of his first track Dealing With A Broken Heart that I couldn't say no, so now we're going to be talking about Mad Love and if it lives up to Dealing With A Broken Heart.  The EP opens with Colours which is an instrumental track. I've spoken in other reviews of not liking instrumental track really, however, as instrumental tracks go I really like this one. I think it's the rain sounds within the track that's making me like it, as I love rain sounds and find them very relaxing and comforting, so for an instrumental, it's actually decent. There's talking on the track, but it's very quiet and there's no singing.  Track two has an incredible transition from the opener and this track is called Fake. This intro reminds me of something that The 1975 would release. The entire song has The 1975 vibes to i

So, DiSTANTPETE is back with another track. I'm thankful that I get to bring you my review of this track before it's release on Friday! Bite Me is DiSTANTPETE's heaviest track to date. It's loud and in your face, but it's catchy and infectious like his previous tracks. It's almost reminiscent of something that BMTH could have brought out because it's that level of heavy within the sound, although the vocals are far from heavy the sound makes it appeal to people who prefer heavier music. I feel like because of the heavier sound, it's a lot more interesting and different. It's a song that could appeal to a lot of people because of the range of the sound.  Pete has so much talent, and the range of his sound is insane! Bite Me really shows that well! It has all the things that I keep saying make a song good in my opinion, so it's got change and depth within the sound, it's exciting to listen to, it's catchy.  Bite Me really is an insanely goo

So, State Champs released an unplugged EP aka an acoustic EP which has a mix of both new and old songs, and I don't know how I feel about it, I don't know how I feel about the entire concept let alone the EP which I haven't listened to yet (I no longer listen to music before I review it in order to be able to give my first impressions on it). I've heard a couple of the tracks they've released but I purposely didn't pay any attention to the last release as I wanted something to be new about the whole thing when it came to me reviewing it.  So let's just jump straight into this! It's 6 tracks which is longer than most EP's but that's not a bad thing. Two of the tracks are acoustics of previously released songs, which means there are 4 new tracks.  The EP opens with A Thousand Hearts, I like the lyrics and it's a beautiful track. I feel like it's going to take me a moment to process State Champs in an acoustic form because I'm listening

So, on Friday Biffy Clyro released their new album A Celebration of Endings, and I will admit that back in day when I was getting properly into music and my love for Twin Atlantic consumed my existence, I didn't really care that much about Biffy, I'd listen to some songs, but only the popular ones like Black Chandelier, Many of Horror and the likes of them, but over the past couple of years I've got more and more into them to the point where I actually went out of my way to listen to the new singles and I waited up for the singles.  So let's get into my thoughts on the album.  The album opens with North of No South. The intro to the song had me pretty confused and wondering what direction this album was going in, but then it kicked it up a notch and I felt reassured, and then when Simon started singing I was confused again. It's not a bad song, that isn't the issue. There's just a lot of different sounds and elements in the song, which isn't a bad thing

 You all know what time of the week it is, let's talk about the music I'm loving!  Bands I'm Loving;  - Seaway - The Amity Affliction - Home Wrecked - When Nothing Works - Distant Blue - DistantPete - The Mocking Jays - Four Thousand Miles - The Dangerous Summer - Biffy Clyro - Stand Atlantic - We Were Sharks - Beartooth Albums I'm Loving;  - This Could Be Heartbreak by The Amity Affliction - Everyone Loves You... Once You Leave Them by The Amity Affliction - Home Wrecked by Home Wrecked - Pink Elephant by Stand Atlantic  - A Celebration of Endings by Biffy Clyro - Disease by Beartooth Songs I'm Loving;  - Just Want You by Stay Free  - Nowhere Fast by Home Wrecked - Hawthorne by Small Talk.  - Far from Home by Home Wrecked - Coward by When Nothing Works  - Lonely by Four Thousand Miles - Reflections by Four Thousand Miles - my ex's best friend by Machine Gun Kelly ft blackbear - concert for aliens by Machine Gun Kelly - Stay Strong by Native Blood - O.M.G.I.M.Y

So, Stay Free have released a new song (they released it yesterday) and I thought, since I love Stay Free and I've reviewed their music before that it was only fitting that I bring you my thoughts on their new track Just Want You.  I went into this track not knowing what to expect. I had nothing to go off beside the previous singles, which I loved. The intro had me feeling a bit meh about it, but then it kicked in and my brain exited my skull. Honestly, fucking hell. Incredible!  I thought it was going to be a soft song, but I love how loud and intense the song is! It's a known fact round here that I like a song to have depth, I like songs to change their sound throughout and not be bland and the same, and this song does that for me!  It kind of gives me Don Broco vibes, it's just so loud and intense and it's just incredible. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this. It's so much better than what I could have expected, and I'm so blown away by th

They're back, their final EP is here. I'm emotional, four of these songs have been out (3 as singles, 1 as just an early release on YouTube) and I'm not ready for this.  Goodbye Home Wrecked, I'm going to miss you so much. Thank you for making music and being incredible.  White Lightning is the first track and we all know that I loved it when I did my review of it, I rated it so highly, I still rate it highly, it was mentioned in the Quarantine Awards and everything. White Lightning is just such an incredible, anthemic track, and I love that the EP kicks off with it.  Then we move onto What You Want, and I did also review this when it came out, and I loved it then and I love it even more now. It's just such a loud, angsty, in your face track and I honestly love it so much. I think it's insane and even 5 months later I still think it's incredible. I don't think I'll ever stop loving this song.  The third track is Far from Home and this was the song th

I actually have the pleasure of bringing you my review of this track early, as this song doesn't drop until Friday, but I was lucky enough to have had this song for a few weeks now, and I'm so excited to bring you my thoughts on it!  So, if you're unfamiliar with Small Talk. then they're a small band San Diego, California and they're a pop-punk band which we all know is my favourite genre, so I'm always up for more small pop-punk bands!  Now, they actually have some songs out already, so please go familiarise yourself with them and make sure you drop them a follow on their socials (which will be linked at the end as always) if you can! Honestly, I have a feeling quite a few of you may like them! They're insanely talented and they deserve so much more love and support!  The intro this song is just so beautiful and calming, it just makes you feel relaxed, and then it's like ha just kidding! From that moment, it's already done the thing that I always wa

Now, I was very much a scene kid back in the day, and there are definitely some songs from that era that we've forgotten about, and I can safely say I forgot most of these existed!  - Candle (Sick and Tired) by The White Tie Affair I totally forgot this band existed, and I forgot that this song was ever in existence. Still a tune though, and I still think it's a good song, but I'd forgotten all about its existence.  - The Space Between by Valencia I feel like a lot of people from my era knew this song, but never really acknowledged its existence. This song was and still is incredible.  - Whoa Oh! (Me vs Everyone) by Forever The Sickest Kids  FTSK were one of my favourite scene kid era bands, and this song was iconic! I still know 99% of the words to it, and I'm not even ashamed.  - For Always, Forever by Every Avenue We all know Tell Me I'm A Wreck, but do you remember For Always, Forever? This was the song that introduced me to Every Avenue, and I still love EA to

 Oh, here we are! I decided that we've been in lockdown for so long, that why not make a little Quarantine Awards for all the bands who still gave us music during the pandemic, because a lot of releases got pushed back, and a lot of bands just dropped off the face of the earth (which is understandable) it also led to a lot more of the alt scene being exposed as predators, so I thought why the fuck not make a lemon awards for lockdown! Yes, there will be certificates like there was from The Lemon Awards, so yes bands, if you really want your lockdown award you can have it, and if you don't want it, no hard feelings! There will be multiple awards for each category, mainly 3 but for the best single they'll be 5! Well done if you got one! I love you!  Even if you don't get a lemon award, but you released music during lockdown, you're a legend! I love that you gave us some content to enjoy and make it more enjoyable!  Also, yes I'm aware that lockdown isn't over,

 I can't believe I've been doing these for 9 weeks! However, for once, there might be a bit of change in the music I've been listening to (unlike the past few weeks).  Bands I'm Loving: - Stand Atlantic  - Machine Gun Kelly - The Story So Far - The Mocking Jays - Best of Enemies - Bring Me The Horizon - Point North - Four Year Strong - Hot Mulligan - When Nothing Works Albums I'm Loving: - Pink Elephant by Stand Atlantic  - Brain Pain by Four Year Strong - What You Don't See by The Story So Far - There Is A Hell Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is A Heaven Let's Keep It A Secret by Bring Me The Horizon - Suicide Season by Bring Me The Horizon - Lost Touch by We Were Sharks - Hotel Diablo by Machine Gun Kelly  - Sorry State by Best of Enemies - A Fear That Comes Around by Best of Enemies - You'll Be Fine by Hot Mulligan Songs I'm Loving: - Sober by We Were Sharks - Hotel Beds by We Were Sharks - Ashley by We Were Sharks - my ex's best friend by

So, I will admit that I haven't been the longest fan of Stand Atlantic, I just never really saw the appeal, however, the past 18 months maybe I've gotten into them and I quite like them! I think they're pretty good, so I thought why not bring you my thoughts on Pink Elephant which was released YESTERDAY!  When the singles were being released, I ended up getting pretty high hopes for this album, so here's to hoping it's an album full of bops that are all as good as the singles!  The album opens with Like That, and from the first line, I knew I was going to love it! It's an incredible opener to the album, it's loud and it sounds heavier than expected. I love it, I really dig the sound of it, and I think it's a great song. So the albums off to a good start, and I'm just hoping the rest is this good! We then move into Shh! which was one of the singles, and I loved it when it came out, and I still love it now, and I think it's a great transition from