Keep Calm and Carry On: Your Demise

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Your Demise is a pretty dense topic. So many people have so many different vices these days, self-destruction stories come nearly a dime a dozen. So how does a hardcore/punk band from the UK relay the message that mankind is causing its own demise? Well, for starters, with a few breakdowns, some carefully crafted choruses, and a singer who sounds really, really angry.

On The Golden Age, Your Demise build upon the US success their most recent album The Kids We Used to Be provided a base for, and intensify things well beyond the boiling point. Vocalist Ed McRae's shirll screams pace the crunching, pummeling guitars provided by Stuart Price and Daniel Osborne. McRae's delivery on The Golden Age is what immediately stands out on opener "The Golden Age," as it feels like he's in your face singing the lyrics, even if you're listening to the album on a laptop in your dimly-lit college dorm. McRae is well on his way to becoming one of the most noteworthy frontmen in the scene on The Golden Age: he's loud, boisterous, and no matter what the band is doing behind him, he finds a way to stick out on each track. The opening track of the album is also the title track, and though McRae drops his own band's name twice, it provides a great framework for what's to come. Second track "These Lights" features McRae's clean vocals, and actually sounds like the songs A Day to Remember wished they could write. "Born a Snake" goes right back to where the title track left off, and the driving guitars will get your head banging almost instantly.

The Golden Age features quite a few cameos from other vocalists, as McRae's screams are accompanied by the likes of Austin Wood from Terror (on "Forget About Me"), Jason Butler of letlive. (on "I'm (not) the One"), and most surprising of all, John Franceshi of You Me at Six (on "A Decade Drifitng"). Butler's appearance will likely be the highlight, as the letlive. vocalist provides even more chaos with his signature voice. Wood's appearance should not be overlooked, though, as "Forget About Me" is probably the most fast-paced song in The Golden Age's arsenal. "A Decade Drifting," which features the pop-punker Franceschi, opens with a pop-punk riff, and segues into one of the more structured lyric patterns, but finds itself turning into one of the album's heaviest breakdowns before Franceschi takes over one more time. The variety of the vocalists who make cameos on The Golden Age are certainly a risky creative endeavor, but in the end, they all actually showing the versatility of Your Demise in a very productive way. Though the varying deliveries are a sign of the band not wanting to be pigeon-holed to a certain genre, it does leave the album a little misguided, and instead of going in one direction very well, the band try to go into several directions, and they get a little lost along the way at some points. The risks pay off more often than not, however, and The Golden Age will be a treat for any mosh-happy teen this summer.

The Bottom Line: The Golden Age is a pure shot of hardcore adrenaline, and in a time where the genre is being done well by very few, Your Demise have the heart, the creative minds, and balls necessary to become a mainstay in the genre for years to come. If you have to run around your room flailing your arms like a madman (or madwoman) to get the anger out of your system to one album this year, it just may be The Golden Age.

Recommended if you rock: Every Time I Die's The Big Dirty, Alexisonfire's Crisis, Enter Shikari without the techno beats

On July 8th, the Starland Ballroom was graced with the honor of being the inaugural show on the Scream It Like You Mean It Tour. This mini-festival style of show looks to make a name for itself in the years to come, and therefore looked to start things off with a bang. To ensure this, they reached out to The Devil Wears Prada, who were on their Back to the Roots Tour, and decided to merge upon the masses for an all-day event in the Ballrooms cramped-yet-friendly confines. In total, nine bands played, and each of them brought their own flare to the stage, making the event certainly one that will be remembered, and one that will hopefully spark more events of that nature for years to come. So without further ado, here's a review of how the day went, in the order in which the bands took the stage.

I was in the incredibly long line for the doors and missed the entire set for Close to Home. Sorry, guys.

Up next was Ivoryline, who seemed a little out of place for this tour, reason being that they were the only band who went their entire set without screaming (it is the Scream It Like You Mean It Tour, after all). Regardless, the band seemed to be on point and came out with a lot of energy, and though their blend of rock was overlooked by most fans who were waiting to mosh their little hearts out, the band certainly put on an entertaining show, and deservedly gained a few new fans.

The first band to play that represented the Back to the Roots Tour was Your Demise, the only band on the bill hailing from outside the States (they're from the United Kingdom, and yes, their accents were awesome). The band displayed an unrelenting amount of energy, which was necessary for them, as many in the crowd hadn't the slightest idea who they were. The pits were decently sized for an undercard band, and the energy from the band never let up throughout the entire set.

The show itself moved quickly into the pioneers of screamo/electronica Sky Eats Airplane. The band has seen its share of member changes, going through three lead singers/screamers in their five-year existence. Replacing Jerry Rousch is newcomer Bryan Zimmerman, who perfectly fit the role. Zimmerman showed off his range on the opening song "The Sound of Symmetry," and showed an appreciation for the band's earlier work (and the fan's dedication to the band) when "Giants in the Ocean" garnered one of the best crowd reactions of the night. The band's set covered both EPs (Everything Perfect on the Wrong Day and The Sound of Symmetry), the band's self-titled full-length, and even included a new song. While I was expecting a warmer welcome from the crowd, there was plenty of intensity to keep anyone satisfied, and the band was spot-on.

I Set My Friends on Fire is a complete joke and deserves no kind of praise, press coverage or attention from anyone for the crap they call their "music."

Miss May I has always been, to me, a harder, more generic version of A Day to Remember. They are currently on the Rise Records roster, they synchronize their stage moves, and I couldn't tell you the difference between any two songs they have made. Regardless, I was blown away by their set. Screamer Levi Benton can certainly hold his own with the best of them, and seems to be a good frontman as well. His constant urging for crowd surfing made for a chaotic show, while the rest of the band barreled eardrums with what seemed like a constant breakdown. The pits were so violent they were scary, and that's exactly what Miss May I wants. New song "Relentless Chaos" gives me some hope for the band, and be sure to watch out for their new album Monument due out later this year.

One of the main reasons I wanted to attend this show was for the band that has had more member changes than albums released, Dance Gavin Dance. I was most interested to see how welcomed Jon Mess would be now that he has rejoined the band, and how he would be worked into the songs off of Happiness. As the band opened with the fan-favorite "Rock Solid," it seemed as though Mess had never left, performing above and beyond all of my expectations. Mess fit in perfectly on "Don't Tell Dave" and "Tree Village," while Kurt Travis's onstage antics provided proof that he is a worthy replacement for Johnny Craig. The band's set seemed to be a little shorter than most, but that's not to say it wasn't still great. DGD has been a favorite of mine for a while now, and their performance that night was one of the most fun I've been a part of.

On the drive down to Starland, I put We Came as Romans on on my iPod. I turned to my friend who was driving, and said to him: "These guys might have the best crowd of the day." My friend, a pretty big Prada fan, was offended. However, other than the headliners, I was right. We Came as Romans, whether you enjoy their genre or not, are going to be the scene's next big thing. Their theatrical debut To Plant a Seed has all the themes that many different types of music fans are looking for: hints of religious influence, love, betrayal, and above all, brotherhood. Those themes all came out in flying colors, and the crowd erupted when the band came out to the album's title track. "Intentions" had one of the best crowd reactions of the night, and the band sounded crystal clear and concise, which only led to a bigger, better crowd. Mark it down now: the Roman Empire is growing, and it's here to stay. These guys are going to be superstars.

Screamo elder-statesmen Silverstein were the last band to take the stage who represented the SILYMI Tour (for some reason, Emery never showed up). It doesn't seem that long, but the band has been around for ten years now, with a career spanning four albums. It was nice to see them headlining this tour, because many of the bands on the bill wouldn't have the opportunity to take the stage had Silverstein not paved the way. The crowd was weary from the relentless moshing and crowd-surfing the day had brought, but they certainly had enough energy to pay their respects to one of the greatest screamo acts of all time. Songs like "Smile in Your Sleep" and "Always and Never" still bring out the best in crowds, while new songs like "I Am the Arsonist" and "Vices" remind fans that the Canadians can still bring it. The band played a new song (no title was given) in between a few songs from their debut When Broken Is Easily Fixed, ending with the always awesome "My Heart Bleeds No More." After all the new faces graced the Starland stage, it was refreshing and uplifting to see Silverstein still plugging away, making crowds go as nuts as ever.

After what seemed like an eternity, the moment finally came. Opening with "Danger: Wildman," The Devil Wears Prada screamer Mike Hranica had one message for the crowd: "New Jersey, plain and simple: I want the earth to shake." And shake, it did. In what can only be described as an hour-long set of beautiful chaos, The Devil Wears Prada blazed the stage. For whatever reason, I was always on the fence about this band, but that time is no longer, and after seeing their emotional, raw, energetic performance, I'm on the bandwagon. As indicated by the Back to the Roots Tour, the band went into the vault and played a few rare songs from their debut Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord, mixed in with a few of the Christian metal neo-classics Plagues and With Roots Above and Branches Below, and the new jam "Outnumbered" from their forthcoming EP, the band scaled their entire discography, with Hranica and his bandmates each treading their own path back and forth on the stage, engaging the crowd, and flat-out bringing the house down. It's always cheesy to give the singer all the credit, but Hranica truly impressed me that night. The way he sounded on the first song was the way he sounded on the last song; he never let up, never took a note off, and the crowd was drawn in from the very start because of it. The set brought to an end a great day full of moshing, sing-alongs, clap-breakdowns, and most of all, a bunch of sweaty kids simply enjoying music. It's simply too difficult to call this show a failure, and from the looks of it, the Scream It Like You Mean It Tour will be here to stay for a long time.

Here's some photos from the day: