Christopher McArdle Music News, Reviews, and Poetry

Turn Up The Volume! Volumes, Upon A Burning Body, The White Noise, and Convictions show 05/20/2018 _______________________________________________ And I'm back! Bringing you another Concert Blog installment. And it has been a while since I have done one of those. This one comes to from the show I was at this past Sunday at the  18th Street Pier Bar And Grill in San Leon, TX . Just a stone's throw away from the Kemah Boardwalk . And let's just say that the show was AWESOME! But the venue was not, and will continue to be one of my least favorite venues. I will get into a little more details on that shortly. But for now we will get straight into the bands that were performing, and my thoughts on the show overall. ________________________________________________ First band up after the four local openers was the band Convictions . You may remember them from one of my blog posts earlier this year. Or the a couple of the previous blogs were I reviewed their single...

An Author, A Poet  Local Music Spotlight 05/22/2018 _______________________________________________ And we're finally back in to the Local Music Spotlight blog series! And man it has been too long! But we're back nonetheless and I am ready to be spotlighting bands from the Houston area! And this week we have the Galveston Island boys in An Author, A Poet . The band is a five piece Alternative Hardcore act made up of Brandon Talley ,  Jake Gottlob ,  Michael Romero ,   Joeseph Kuykendall , and  Bryce Bucks . they bring about a presence to the stage that can easily be liked by anyone. My first encounter with them was on an off day for my blog. I was there as a spectator first and foremost and they really impressed me. That was their Reset//Restore album release party at Scout Bar . This coming as they had also recently signed to Cardigan records. They had a great engagement with the crowd then and they certainly do now. They were the fourth local band o...

What or Who Pissed Him Off? Deceptive Heart by. Convictions, Single Review _______________________________________________ And things keep rolling! Welcome to this issue of my music review blog. In this one we have the second single off of the upcoming album  "Hope For The Broken"  by the Christian Metalcore/Post-Hardcore band Convictions . That album being slated for release on June 1st. this song is titled "Deceptive Heart" and it is another straight up fire one from these guys. It sits as one of the heaviest I have heard from them since Michael joined them on vocals. Whereas the last single, "Voices" , was a little bit lighter. Yet it still would make you want to get up and move in the pit. They released the music video for it over on InVogue's YT channel on yesterday, May 18th , along with the audio track on all streaming platforms. And right away I can tell that this is my favorite track by them so far. Can't wait to hear the rest of al...

Taking Control, Again Control by. Mirror Lake - Single Review _________________________________________________ Things just keep rolling here in the Music Review Army. In this edition we have local Houston band Mirror Lake's latest single "Control" . A while back I reviewed their first single "Empty Home" . A track that I enjoyed quite a bit and listen to frequently. When they dropped this single a while back it took me a while to get to it and I am severely regretting it. But now that I have had time to thoroughly I can sit here and write down my thoughts on it. Because it is my belief that this band has the potential to make it somewhere.  They has a lineup of some pretty solid and awesome awesome people. Zach Zepol and Avery Jean Clay on vocals. Mark Delgadillo on guitar. Eli Rodriguez on bass. And last but not least there is Brian Mertz on drums. He also runs the local record label Bravery Sound . Links to all of the band's socials as ...

Blooming Flowers In The Springtime Bloom by. Troye Sivan Single Review _____________________________ (Disclaimer! This review will be graphic in nature due to the songs theme. Reader discretion is advised.) And we are rolling right on into our next review! This week we have the instant hit new single by Troye Sivan . It is titled "Bloom" and I am living for it! The only thing is that he is killing us by not revealing the upcoming album title and release date. He is constantly teases us about it and makes us play these guessing games. All that aside. The song is amazing! It mixes in a lot of the modern pop vibes, but also mixes in a healthy amount of an older style that is not as prevalent in today's pop music. This is something he seems to be doing a lot of on this new album. And I cannot wait for it! We need this album, and we need Troye to release it NOW! If you are an avid reader of this blog you will notice that I tend to lean heavily towards rock/metal...

The Voices In My Head Voices(They Want Me Dead)  by. Convictions  Single Review by. @CMPMNNR _______________________________________________________ AAAAND WE'RE BACK! Time for another music review after a brief hiatus! And what a song to come back for. This single by the Christian Metalcore band Convictions was released on Monday, April 23rd, 2018 as a music video. They also released the album name, release date, and tracklist for their second studio album as part of InVogue Records. The album titled "Hope For The Broken" . will be released on June 15th, 2018 and contains 15 songs. I have previously covered these guys in a concert blog when I saw them on the "Alpha" tour, when they supported "War Of Ages" . They had given me my press pass for that show and from there on I have been obsessed with these guys! The track being reviewed is titled "Voices(They Want Me Dead)" and it follows their style while symbiotically bringing a ...

The Sky Is Falling! Or Is It Just A Paramore album? All We Know Is Falling by. Paramore Album Review ____________________________________________ Her we go again, back with another "Music Review" series blog. And for this one we are taking it all the way back to 2005, to the debut album of the band Paramore. The album is titled "All We Know Is Falling" . This was recorded when their front-woman, Hayley Williams , was only 16 years old . This makes the band one of the only ones that know of to release their debut album with a singer that young. The band was signed to Fueled By Ramen, and are still to this day. Key stats to the album are that it has 10 tracks and is mainly Pop-Punk , with Emo and Pop-Rock influences. The writing process for the band was a unique one. They have stated that they wrote the album about band member Jeremy Davis' departure shortly before the recording began for it. Davis left almost immediately after the band arrived in Orlan...