| CD REVIEW Stick To Your Guns |
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Band : Stick To Your Guns No idea just when this Orange County (Southern California) based Hardcore act first started out, as info relating to that fact is utterly missing on the Internet waves. What I dó know is that the band (current line-up singer Jesse Barnett, guitarists Alex Barnett & Ryan "The Dog" Nelson, bassist Darel McFayden, and drummer Casey Lagos) recorded their debut full-length For What It's Worth in late 2005 and saw it released in early 2006 on a rotation limited to only 2000 copies by Burning Records (who apparently only sold the album through the label's on-line store and during live appearances). Unsatisfied with the unprofessional way the label distributed the album, the quintet signed with the Sumerian label (who were impressed with the band's working ethics, having gotten support slots in the US West Coast tour with Caliban and The Acasia Strain, before heading out on a further US trek with The Burning Season and Too Pure To Die...thanks only to their own efforts) in December of the same year, and saw their debut re-issued with two bonus songs and additional DVD (the latter including an as yet to be recorded show at the moment of announcement of the signing and upcoming re-issue). The band continued their touring ethics in early 2007, first hooking up with All Shall Perish, Terror, The Warriors and War Of Ages, then supporting Bury Your Dead alongside other support acts Since The Flood and Suicide Silence on the Don't Call It A Comeback tour, which started on April 20 and lasted well into May. Info missing, I've no idea what the band did during Summer (they did put in a short? Canadian tour in late September with Catherine and Elysia though), but I dó know they finished writing material (process started a couple of years back already) for a new album, which they (well, actually it was just Jesse and Casey, because they do all writing/ recording) recorded at Planet-Z Studios in Massachusetts under the supervision of producer Zeuss (known from his work with Hatebreed and Shadows Fall, to use but the most "important" name-dropping). In January of this year the guys were approached by Ray and Robert (respectively A&R rep and owner, in the US) of Century Media, who've come to the band's shows since years back, knew the songs already, and liked what the band was doing. This time around however, the two came with a deal for the worldwide distribution of the new album! Having taken the rest of January off to recuperate, the band returned to The Road for a headline tour of smaller clubs, which lead into a tour with label mates and fellow Orange County band As Blood Runs Black throughout March and April. This led straight into the massive Metal For The Masses Tour 2005, starting April 12, and finishing on May 25, a 39-date tour headlined by As Blood Runs Black and further label mates Winds Of Plague. Further additions to the bill were Veil Of Maya (also from Orange County, and for the whole tour) plus a fifth band added on selected dates (first With Dead Hands Rising, then The Ghost Inside, and finally Belay My Last). In June, The band hopped onto the Vans Warped festival tour, and on July 29 they went straight into the Darkest Hour headlined massive Trash And Burn festival tour (also billing Abigail Williams, After Burial, Arsonists Get All The Girls, Misery Signals,Misery Signals, Oasis, Parkway Drive, and Winds Of Plague, plus As Blood Runs Black, Emmure, Suicide Silence and Veil Of Maya as special guests) which will see the band touring the US till September 3rd. In February, the guys found a new way to stay in contact with their ever-growing legions of fans by starting an on-line live journal, which is basically a blogging website. For the url, check the "We Want To Talk To You" blog at the band's myspace.com/styg page, where you can also find a total of 4 mp3 files of songs off the new album (as well as one from the debut). Somewhere in between, the guys must've gotten the chance to record an additional 4 songs to be put on the European version of the album as bonus tracks...or is that only one? I can't be sure, since on their MySpace the guys already talk about 3 bonus tracks on the CM release...mysteries, mysteries! Anyways, the songs posted at MySpace only show the band in their most exhilerated mode with great double leads (not surprising, since the songs were recorded by one and the same guitarist) and catchy riffs laden with several breaks in a tempo which is mostly up-pace with the occasional pace change to boot...and great sing-along chorusses with harmonic backing vocals (again no surprise, since brought by the one singer and therefore in a vocal signature which is almost bound to get in sink with the lead vocals, right?). They do nót however show the band from its more vulnerable and almost Ambient atmospheric side. If you get the chance to give the album a listening session at the local record store, dó check out track N°6 ("Sasquatch" is in essence a short instrumental to which a bit of spoken word was added, the message of which portaining about the why this band refuses to make easy-listening music), tracks N°4 and 5 ("Enough's Enough" and "Accessory Children", in which some more tempo changes occur and the singer also sings some clean vocal verses). Among the (untitled) bonus tracks only track 11 strikes a slightly different chord in its atmospheric opening. Even if the song then lashes out at you full strength after that, there's also has a less uptempo passage both vocally and musically in the second part of the track. Tracks 12 through 14 also immediatelly showcase the fact that the bonus tracks were not given the promotional attention of Zeuss with a lesser sound quality, but beggars can't be chosers, as thanks to the bonus tracks (which last almost 12 minutes) the album at least has a total length of just over 39 minutes! Europeans who prefer making a decent acquaintance in live conditions before bying a band's albums will be pleased to find out that starting September 23 (and going through to Oct. 19) the band sets out on the Hell On Earth tour which will take 'em through Germany (a total of 12 shows), the UK (4 shows), Holland (2 shows), Denmark, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, and even Belgium (Muziek-O-Droom in Hasselt on Oct 8). Besides, if you're interested in the lyrical side of a band, this one has been so kind as to post all of their lyrics (in the case of the debut album even with additional explanations) in blogs at their MySpace page. 90/100 Tony. |