“It is a highly energetic, heavy rock album that is splashed with emotion, passion, fire, cranking guitars and blazing solos.”

Pick up a copy today to check out the full features.

Paddock 09 - November 28, Whangarei

Northland’s only large scale music festival kicks off the beginning of five months of glorious sunshine. Set amongst lush rolling hills near Whangarei, this is a naturally spectacular setting for summer mania.

Paddock 09 will feature a massive covered main stage area with a range of top Kiwi rock bands and DJs including… These Four Walls, November Zulu, Sonic Altar, The Gaze, Angela Fisken, Dan Aux, Paul Marrs, Jono Peters and Tryptamine.

There will also be plenty of other entertainment; hilarious demo derby action, a huge waterslide, a bonfire, beer & food tents, plus so much more. Tickets are $35 and are available here - http://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2009/nov/paddock-09/

Detonate Festival - New Years Eve, Taranaki

Detonate Festival ‘09 is a one day, one night New Years Eve event, featuring top Kiwi bands and acts, entertainment and hospitality, with an emphasis on pyrotechnics, bombs, fire and general chaos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxNQuzLBXOQ

There is a qualified and trained pyrotechnician/stuntman, who will be ‘detonating’ bombs and pyrotechnics all day long, there will be entertainment for you lucky punters such as mud slides, stunts and Motocross Freestyle riders, as well as the main attraction, top Kiwi bands and DJs playing throughout the day and night.

Current confirmed line-up: Luger Boa, Deja Voodoo, November Zulu, These Four Walls, Clap Clap Riot, Sonic Altar, Quarter 2, Diesel Pheonix, Elston Gun and The Defendants…

Gig is open for all ages. Camping onsite is provided (bring your tent etc) and included in your ticket price. Tickets can be purchased here - http://www.iticketexpress.co.nz/events/2009/dec/detonate/

The complete line up for the night is Nickelback, Sick Puppies and These Four Walls. This is Nickelback’s first NZ show since they were here in 2006 supporting the Rolling Stones.

Tickets are still available through www.ticketmaster.co.nz

The tracklist was put together specifially by the Hauraki team to give a broad cross-section of “just great rock songs”, with some tried and true classics, and some newer songs which the team think will one day become classics.  

Tracks:
Disc 1 - What Was:
1. DEEP PURPLE Hush
2. ALICE COOPER I’m Eighteen
3. THIN LIZZY Jailbreak
4. ZZ TOP Tush
5. TED NUGENT Cat Scratch Fever
6. SUZI QUATRO Devil Gate Drive
7. THE GEORGIA SATELLITES Keep Your Hands To Yourself
8. BRYAN FERRY Let’s Stick Together
9. FLEETWOOD MAC Don’t Stop
10. THE CARS Just What I Needed
11. FOREIGNER Hot Blooded
12. SPLIT ENZ I See Red (live)
13. BILLY IDOL WITH GENERATION X Dancing With Myself
14. COLD CHISEL You Got Nothing I Want
15. MEN AT WORK Who Can It Be Now?
16. THE HOOTERS All You Zombies
17. DRAGON Dreams Of Ordinary Men
18. JIMMY BARNES Lay Down Your Guns
19. THE ANGELS Dogs Are Talking
20. PAT BENATAR Fire And Ice

Disc 2 - What Is:
1. THE KILLERS When You Were Young
2. SIXX: A.M. Life Is Beautiful
3. 3 DOORS DOWN It’s Not My Time
4. AIRBOURNE Runnin’ Wild
5. THE LIVING END White Noise
6. ESKIMO JOE Black Fingernails, Red Wine
7. THE JORDAN LUCK BAND How Is The Air Up There?
8. THESE FOUR WALLS Sweet December
9. ZED Renegade Fighter
10. WETA Calling On
11. QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE No One Knows
12. SOUNDGARDEN Spoonman
13. THE CULT She Sells Sanctuary
14. LIVING COLOUR Cult Of Personality
15. PLACEBO Pure Morning
16. CRACKER Low
17. KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD Blue On Black
18. COLLECTIVE SOUL Shine
19. Weezer Say It Ain’t So
20. The Vines He’s A Rocker

You can help us keep this momentum up by requesting the song on the following stations.

_____________________________________________________________________
The RockFM (90.2FM) - 0800 ROCKPHONE (762 574); TXTs to 3520 with the keyword STUDIO
www.therock.net.nz - you can  CLICK HERE to vote on the Rock 33 each week
_____________________________________________________________________
Hauraki (99.0FM) - 0800 HAURAKI (428 725); email to team@hauraki.co.nz
www.hauraki.co.nz - Request Sweet December online by CLICKING HERE
_____________________________________________________________________
The Zone 89X (88.7FM - Northland) - 0800 ROCKER (762 537); TXTs to 4664 with the keyword ZONE
www.thezonefm.co.nz - Vote for Sweet December in The Zone Rock 40
_____________________________________________________________________
BAYROCK (97.7FM - B.O.P.) - (07) 306 1 222; email studio@bayrock.co.nz
www.bayrock.co.nz - Request Sweet December online by CLICKING HERE
_____________________________________________________________________

THE REVIEW

One Moment In Time starts off with gentle sounds and a slow heartbeat, before kicking in the instruments. These instruments begin to get louder, which gets your own heart racing. Gibb’s vocals begin on the track. The choruses are insanely catchy, and the verses lack no luster. I actually really like Steve Gibb’s vocals in general. They have there own sound, unlike a lot of stuff that has the vocalist sounding like another band. A pretty good introduction to this band. I always love bridges in songs, and the one in this one is no exception. A bit of silence from the vocalist and soft instruments get you braced for something big, and you get that, but not as loud as a raging guitar solo. Normally at this point I get sick of the song, but I want way more from this track. A good opener!

Track #2 is the latest single, the kickarse Sweet December, which starts right as One Moment In Time fades away. A bloody good song overall. Simple songs and somewhat complicated drumming works perfectly. Gibbs vocals don’t cease to amaze me in this track. A solid song in my opinion! However, the beat and tempo doesn’t fall far from the One Moment In Time tree. Could this become another Dear Agony? Either way, it’s pretty damn catchy. Lyrics are also pretty good! I’m willing to put These Four Walls in the spot of best New Zealand lyric writers. Lyrics I expect from a typical american band.

Lay It Out starts nice and soft, the kind of soft music that I like. Catchy, calming, clever, and cool. Lyrics are pretty damn relatable in my case. Gray Vicker’s guitar works perfectly against the amazing drums from relative Brad. One of my favourites! And best of all, it’s different from what we’ve already heard! I’m already humming the bridge of “Lay it out, lay it out for me”, so it has lasting power!

I don’t know why, but I abosulte love albums that fade into the next track. It seems so smooth. Lay It Out fades smoothely into Nevergreen, a fast paced hard rock track that showcases the abilities of all the instrumentalists, including the vocalist. It’s addictive, but doesn’t have the energy shown in previous tracks. It may be because I’m writing this just before midnight, but.. eh, excuses. I love the drumming in this track, as well as the verses. The choruses aren’t as great, but they’re still very solid. Lyrics are again amazing. Forgettable, but only just!

Onto the first single, Walk Away. The guitars are catchy, and the bass is great too! Drumming is simple, but typical for this genre. The song is a bit too quiet for my liking. The lyrics, once again, show that this band is much better than most of the other NZ bands in this aspect, a country whose lyrics are normally far too cryptic to make sense, or completely fucked up so they don’t make any sense at all. The guitar solo matches the song perfectly. All in all, catchy, but again forgettable.

Moving straight into Matter Of Opinion, a song so far unfamiliar from the rest of the album, without becomign completely different and unlikable. The lyrics are prettly relatable, my favourite set of lyrics. The vocals are once again amazing, and the perfect blend of guitars, bass and drums fix together to make a jigsaw puzzle known as a “good song”. Good song because it is obviously good, but not great, as this is one of the tracks I tend to forget. Funny, this also has a guitar solo. I normally remember guitar solo tracks.

We Are the End is one of the catchier, jumpier songs. These Four Wall’s party track. It’s face paced, addictive rock at it’s best. Who cares about lyrics when you have something as hooky as this! One of my favourites off the album in fact. I’m loving the various guitar rifts implemented in this track! The change from fast to slower is so unnoticable that it won’t distract you, meaning that the merge is verging on perfection. The choruses are mind sticking as well! The choir at the end of the song adds a great effect against the fading vocals of Gibb!

Despite popular belief, Love Song is not what the title implies. It’s a softer song, that keeps it’s catchiness. Gibbs’ vocals are superb on this track. Also, it’s been awhile since I did a review on a song with a swear word, besides Minutes to Midnight (which I’ve become used to), that the word “fuck” in this song seems strange and unfamiliar. Once again, the lyrics shine even with the dirty word! It’s a pretty awesome track. I suggest getting it! Soon as the electric guitar solo randomly appears, the song becomes even better! More energy, which is always a plus!

Fly Home is my favourite single from this album. The sharp drums, addictive guitars, perfect vocals, awesome bass and great lyrics. Everything in this track just works perfectly. The verses are softer than the chorus, and it still works amazingly, and the bridge is better than the rest of the song! You should have already heard the song before, so I’ll go to the next one.

The guitar rifts, and drumming, of the next track, Lilith, is one of my favourite combinations in any song! I’m loving the way the vocals just fit in the instruments! I wish I wrote the lyrics of the chorus myself, they’re amazingly good. This is one of my favourites from this album. If you don’t hear this song at all in your life, you are really missing out on something great. Whoever sings backing vocals has a pretty awesome scream too.

The first track I heard from these guys was Under the Shadows. The guitars, bass and drumming just work greatly. The vocals, with help from the backing vocalist, work amazing. Lyrics are once again great, and the song is yet again catchy! This song will get stuck to your head quicker than an unwanted commercial pop song.

The longest track by far is really two tracks in one, so I’ll treat them as two different tracks. To the Loved & The Lost is a sad, slow song about, well, The Loved and the Lost. The lyrics deal with the sad topic of suicide in the first verse, and the second verse an unfortunate death in a drunken car crash of someone who was merely a passenger. Very touching vocals, made even sadder by the vocals from Gibbs, which completely fit the song. After the second chorus, it gets a little bit harder, without seeming out of place. You completely forget that this song is 5 minutes while listening to this. It’s actually very amazing. My favourite from this album.

To the Loved & the Lost has a second track that appears after you think the album has finished, which I will call Bonus Track (as the booklet doesn’t even have the lyrics to it). It starts off with very soft keyboard and guitars, followed by vocals from Gibbs. This albums minor (very minor) eye drooper song. Unlike every other sleeping song I wrote about in my prior reviews, this one is actually semi-good. I personally blame Steve Gibb’s energetic vocals, and the fact it begins to get harder slowly. The album ends the way it began, a steady heartbeat.

THE CONCLUSION

For Fans Of: Saosin, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Hoobastank

Audio convert (when I upload the tracks to youtube): To the Loved & The Lost, Lilith, We Are the End

Rating: 9.1/10

Check it out below, or click here

Album Review - Down Falls An Empire

I can’t believe that this time last year, I was doing a review on These Fall Walls two single EP and now, finally, their debut album has been released. It has been a long time coming since their first single ‘Walk Away’ debuted in May 2007.

I have to say that despite the long wait, it was worth it and These Fall Walls deliver an album packed full with commercial tracks while retaining a sense of trueness and diversity.
The album opens with ‘One Moment In Time’ which grabs you straight away with the opening riff and is just infectious with its “scream from the roof top” backing vocals.

The next single ‘Sweet December’ has recently been released as a single and is making headways in the charts. This is followed by ‘Lay It Out’ which slows the tempo right down and then brings back the rock beat intermittently.

Of course, successful tracks ‘Walk Away’; ‘Under The Shadows’ and ‘Fly Home’ all appear on the album.

The final track of the album ‘To The Loved And Lost’ starts slowly and is very melodic and showcases Steve’s vocal ability. It then builds up to a great mellow bassline and strong riffs. This would have to be my favourite of all the tracks.

All 12 songs fit together exceptionally well and you get a real sense of the band, their connection with each other and with you, the listener. This is one album worth the wait.

Written by BrendaF for www.muzic.net.nz

Read the article here.