Tickets There is very sorry for the delay getting this review up. We started listening on Sunday but became more fixated on the fact that the previous release, Song of Your Desire is actually way better than we originally thought. Ah well, time to move on.
Ash’s latest release, Dionysian Urge is a hark back to their basics sound. The kind of feel good pop rock that made us fall in love with them in the first place. There’s none of the A – Z trademark piano’s and grandness. Just good old fashioned riffs, beats, heavy guitars and a rattling bass.
Honestly, we’re struggling to write this week so we’ll just say it, we couldn’t love this song anymore. It’s just so hassle free, upbeat and has such lovely changes. The whole thing just works so well it’s not even funny.
Incredible effort from the lads and one that’s truly going to be a treat for all Ash fans, old and new. Head over to Ash-Official to hear it for yourself.
Didn’t we say Lluther’s Femme Fatale would rock the bollocks of a mammoth? Yes we did and the good news is, it would!
A fortnight ago they gave us sexy, now we have balls to the wall, guitar driven hard rock. The fourth release from their sophomore album, Rise of the Reptile King see’s the band plug into the hard edged, gritty but sleek, cut throat eighties guitar driven rock n roll. Behind the wall of riffs and solo styled tangents, there’s belting, fist breaking drums and a hard ass bass that gives the song that little je ne sais que that every good rock song needs.
From start to finish, there isn’t a lax moment. The intensity never slips, the chorus doesn’t get old and overall, it’s a fine package of good old fashioned rock with a nice glossy makeover, perfectly in keeping with the other songs we’ve heard thus far from Rise of the Reptile King.
Visit Lluther’s Official Website and download Femme Fatale now (and get King Of Nothing to, great track) and check Tickets There on March 20th for our review of their next track, Enough.
We’ve been to all sorts of gigs over the years but we’d never been to a real death metal concert. That all changed on Thursday when we caught Polish metallers Vader in Whelan’s. We have a few Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel and Celtic Frost albums in the collection but we’d never had any real interest in the genre. Death Metal always struck us as a comical genre to be enjoyed with a grin. In all fairness, the gig didn’t change our opinions but out of all the shows we’ve gone to without knowing the band in advance, this will stick out.
On stage, Vader are an incredible force. The band deliver their songs with the same dull downed perfectionism you hear on the albums. You see bands all the time that deliver tight performances but Vader perform like an elite military unit. Each one perfectly in sync with each other, the music and the crowd. There’s no slips, no flaws and the sher assaulting quality of the music just overpowers you and takes control.
Hard not to get sucked in by that!
So, with our opinions on Death Metal changing, we thought we’d check out one of that nights Irish support acts, Warpath. Unfortunately, Tickets There arrived fashionably (accidentally) late and missed all but Vader. Still though, a McKenna’s Guinness is hard thing to ignore.
In short, Warpath are pretty good. We still don’t see the point in writing extensively about the drums, guitars are vocals when it comes to death metal (hence the Vader intro), but we’ll happily admit that they sound good at what they do. The vocals are deep, grinding and believable, the guitars are like machines and who ever has their finger on the double bass trigger does a mighty fine job. Gorefare is currently standing out the most and adding to the strain in our neck.
If you like Death Metal, check out Warpath’s MySpace. If you don’t, go see a gig and you might be turned around.
Well, well, well. What have we here? Another very extreme, very heavy, very intrusively noisy band mixing hardcore punk and louder than lightening metal? We think we do J
As usual, we’ve never seen them live or heard their album.
Hailing from Cork (where most great Irish bands seem to come from these days), [r]evolution Of A Sun are pretty good if you’re in the mood for WAR! If Adrian Crowley defines joyless, lifeless music of early March 2010, then these guys are his opposites. The Evil Crowley’s, that’s a name for a band.
Sacrifice is a few minutes of pure aggression. The overall effect of the sonic assault coming out of every instrument is powerful and some of the changes are just colossal. Hell is a short, but pretty sweet Instrumental that doesn’t cut loose as much as it could but instead, offers a little relief from the chaos of its predecessor and the next track, Routine. Another scatting attack on the sense.
Dissent again brings a full onslaught of aggression from the band. Any band with two hardcore singers screaming their nuts off is always gonna be noisy but sweet lord these guys are really noisy. Next and last (not including the demo) Titan is another chilled out instrumental. Little livelier and fuller than Hell but still maintains that mellow, calm before the WAR vibe.
If you’re gonna go hardcore but you just can’t let the sting of metal go, then check out [r]evolution Of A Sun’s MySpace and be happy mon!
Posted in Music, News on March 4, 2010 by Tickets There
(Deserves no Picture….doesn’t even deserve the post)
Ya know jokes? Ya know ‘being out of touch’? Well anyways, Adrian Crowley won the choice award.
In other, interesting, not tired old hack news (old folks, boring folks, Choice judge folks…..get taste), And So I Watch You From Afar’s new EP is brutally savage. Get it. If you find yourself buying (ugh) Adrian Crowley’s album, then you do not have a soul.
Seriously! You really don’t. That’s bad music. So bad, it’s not even music. It’s depression on a stick. Oh my God, we have it on right now and it’s just so sh**e. What fucking brutal (Laughing away to ourselves) taste the Choice judges must have. If this can win, anything can win so young guys and gals out there, go for it! If you can write, record and personify shitty music, you’ll probably win the Choice Award. Not great in itself, but 10G’s ain’t bad.
Now Tickets There remembers the gobsh**es that run the Irish music scene. The kind of Gobsh**es that vote (still laughing) for this kind of utter crap. Basically, the kind of ‘people’ that collectively wouldn’t know a good band if one was growing our of their arses.
What’s two or three months between pals? Noting, so on with the review.
Some time ago, House of Dolls released their first (we think) single, Gimme Some Glory. Around that time, a sexy little music blog called Tickets There found them. We loved them instantly and we may be late, but we’re finally prepared to praise them….again.
Gimme Some Glory is a sexy psychedelic rock song for any stoner, grunger, indie head or rock fan. It’s dirty, dingy n dark, yet it’s built on a solid base of strong riffs and dance rock beats. Each listen will bring you closer and uncover something new. Excellent!
Flip side, Before She Wakes, follows the same style but goes a little heavier and grittier. The chorus will knock you out. If you’re in the right mood, the chorus will just hit you out of the dark. Great alt rock, like The Stones Roses covering Ash.
Gimme Some Glory / Before She Wakes is out now (and has been for a while, ye lazy f**kers – Ed) on The First Born Is Dead Recordings
The day has finally arrived, Tickets There has gone out and bought some music from those MySpace bands we keep preaching to ye about. A refreshing trip to Tower Records on Sunday replenished our supplies and we can finally knock off the net for awhile, sit back and listen to a good old fashioned CD.
Originally we were convinced we’d be disappointed. Was pretty sure we were euphoric, found these guys and praised them to the heavens while pulsed. Couldn’t remember any of the tracks and hadn’t even reread the review to make sure we really were ecstatic about them at some point. After one spin we knew our toutin’ money was well invested.
Filled with techno Trojan dance beats, indie power riffs, post punk and the occasional moment of surprisingly un-cheesy melodies, the album is a triumph. As debuts go, Sound of System Breakdown have avoided falling into any of the common Irish debut traps. They don’t open with the best, they don’t lose their intensity and they sound damn good.
Songs like the Devil’s Son, 10 Pack of Johnny Blue, Electrolysis and Mood Enhancers and the obligatory instrumental, Jaysyehhaventacluedoyeh are hits in every sense while harder album tracks like The Band Played,the Stone Roses-esque – The Secret’s Out and Underneath The Floorboards will keep you listening long after the catchier ones wear off.
At €14, you can’t really beat it for Value. If you’re in tower, pick this up and if you don’t like it, we guarantee you don’t have to take our recommendations in the future.
Tickets There want’s to wish best of luck to And So I Watch You From Afar tomorrow night when they go up against the likes of Bell X1, Adrian Crowley, Codes and Laura Izibor for the Choice Music Prize 2009.
Expect a review of the bands debut album (yes debut album, tower was sold out of the EP…we’re lazy) soon 🙂 (the review, remember? Guess we started rambling).
Check the full Choice Music Prize Shortlist by Clicking Here
Better late than never, Tickets There finally got round to some record buying today and a spit EP by Dublin band, Hands Up Who Wants to Die and, more importantly, Cork metal heads – I’ll Eat Your Face has prompted us to download the latter’s debut album, Irritant. Not to give too much away, but hell howdy are we glad we did.
It may be 03.08AM but we just can’t stop playing this record. In reality, we haven’t been listening to the album itself anywhere long enough to immerse ourselves in each songs character but Tickets There has finally been paying attention to these guys over the last few months and any fans of heavy metal / instrumental rock / metal are going to love this. Every song sounds like the heaviest things that have ever come out of Ireland. Unlike similar acts, there’s little to no hint of Indie. There’s no synths or ballads. There’s no w**king off into self fulfilling ego moments. There’s just grinding, heavier than hell storm bringers. Bring on the might, the fury and the fight!
It ain’t a collection of radio singles and it ain’t a conventional album. Instead, it’s thirty odd minutes of pure assault. Tracks such as Irritant, I Have A Wolf on My Head, Dr. Pancake’s luxurious Ratskin Housecoat and Pecks From hell will send you into a dizzying metal Euphoria while the rest of the album will keep you there.
With the traditional ways of legacy burdened Heavy Metal becoming stale and overly ugly in today’s high definition society, it’s good to know the roots aren’t necessarily the strongest limb anymore.
I’ll Eat Your Face Play Dublin’s Twisted Pepper on March 20th with Ten Past Seven and Hands Up Who Wants To Die
It’s kind of sad to know we’re almost half way through this release. With the release of single K, there’s only two more singles left (out of respect for the privacy the band have shrouded around future releases, we won’t tell you which letters are next. Good luck figuring that out!) before we reach the official half way point. You know what that means? It means we have fifteen more singles to go before we start getting all sentimental.
Today’s single, Song of Your Desire, sees the band return to a much softer, more A-Z style of grand harmonies, slow melodies and the occasional input from the guitars. As songs go it’s nice but as the series goes, it wouldn’t be top of my list. Ash do melodic well when you think of songs like Walking Barefoot, Shinning Light and Sometimes but TT ain’t liking this particular drawn out style as much. If you liked Candy, you should check it out.
Out of eleven singles, this and The Dead Disciples would be our least favorites. Not bad when you consider the other 9 are all pretty savage. If you want to be in with a chance of seeing some of this material Live in Dublin on March 20th, hop over to our Competition Post and answer an unbelievably, unfairly difficult question.
Or, if you want to write back and tell us we suck and ASH rule, then by all means check out the track at Ash-Official.com, come back and slate us. In the mean time, we’re listening to Command!
Competition time folks because the good people at 7Up Free want to give five of our readers the chance to see legendary Irish rockers ASH and local Dublin heroes Republic of Loose live in Dublin on March 20th.
The show marks the culmination of the Bring them back for the Craic competition which is offering a group of 7 friends the ultimate Irish reunion. One lucky group will have the chance to come home from anywhere in the world to celebrate Paddy’s Day. Whether they are in Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore or London, 7up Free will fly them ‘Back for the Craic’ on the 17th March.
To be in with a chance of attending the greatest St. Patrick’s party in town and seeing these two great acts live, just answer this simple question,
What did St. Patrick Banish from Ireland?
Send your answers, along with your full name and telephone number to ticketsthere@hotmail.com by March 5th.
Winners will be notified by Email on the 8th of March.
Alternatively, you can win passes by hopping over to www.ru7up4it.ie and cast your vote in the Back for the Craic Competition.
Ladies and gentlemen, the wait is over. After three long years, today finally sees the release of Humanzi’s second album, Kingdom of Ghosts.
The album is available from ITunes NOW and CD’s will be available soon from the usual outlets (we’re presuming that means Road Records, Tower Records & other independent stores around Dublin).
Check out the bands latest word on the album release by Clicking Here
Tickets There has been fortunate enough to have been listening since yesterday and all we can say is…..Read Our Review by Clicking Here
The time is finally upon us folks. The countdown is nearly over and an exhaustive three year wait is almost at an end. Tomorrow, Humanzi release their second album, Kingdom of Ghosts and Tickets There is delighted to say, it was more than worth the wait. Hell we’ll go further, they could have held out for another three years and it still would have been more than worth the wait. Quite simply, it’s the Humazi album we all dreamt it would be.
Opening with the ferocious Hammer, the band waste little time waging war on every one of your senses they can find. It’s a slow bruising thumper of a track that sucks you in on the first spin. The power, energy and sher heaviness of the band’s sound are all still there but the direction and bite in the music has grown so much stronger. An improvement that only grows as the record progresses. Just Like Bukowski has a similar feel. Heavy, pounding bass lines, bluntly distorted guitars against a wall of industrial synth power and Shaun’s gritty cutting vocals shred through the track. “Jesus, Jesus I’m joking”, heck no I ain’t!
Bass Balls may have been released as a single in August 2009 but that hasn’t stopped it from sounding fresh as ever on this record. That irresistible Cathy guitar riff, the pounding war drum and the vocals just make this song fly by at a million miles a minute. Black Sunrise see’s everything slow down but the tone of the song is no less intimidating than their other material. On the contrary, Black Sunrise is one of the most powerful compositions on Kingdom of Ghosts and marks a massive step up for the bands song writing and style. A bellowing bass riff drives the track along its path while the rest of the band create a desolate, unforgiving atmosphere of darkness that only break’s occasionally before the end when the pace increases and the everything comes crashing together to create a solid fusion of colossal harmonies and ascending guitars.
Like Bass Balls, Humanzi fans have been listening to Neu Tune for some time and it’s still pretty sweet here. Wouldn’t be one of the stand outs but on this album, but it ain’t filler either. Neu Tune’s prolonged; dance floor style is a long way from the stripped back, acoustic Amsterdamaged which follows. Padded with noisy muffled drum crashes, a light acoustic guitars and Shaun’s vocals standing up well without layers of music over them. The song has some of the best changes and an upbeat, catchy chorus (Almost all Manzi songs have a catchy chorus, stop saying it every time – Ed).
Straight Lines fires us straight back into what Humanzi do best, balls out rock!. It has one of the best riffs, one of the heaviest and catchiest choruses (What did I say! – Ed) and Tickets There just can’t get enough of this track. We managed to find a download of it months ago and still haven’t been able to stop listening. I’ll Repute is one of the bands defining stomper moments. Dirty war like anthem for all industrial punk dance floors. More accessible than Straight Lines, the song has a great flow, plenty of guitars, a funky bass and plenty of Humanzi’s dark tones. Love it!
Step Into The Shadows brings us towards the end of the album but never fear, they’ve saved some of the best till last. It starts off slowly and the band tease you for the first half as they give of the impression it’s about to explode before going quiet again. Eventually the stomping, beating vocals and guitars smash through, tearing the song apart. All finishes up with monster, galloping guitars.
Baby I’m Burning which is one of Tickets There’s favorites. Imagine Gary Numan covering Joy Division and you get close. We keep associating it with the scene of the child on fire in Silent Hill and that adds to the creepiness. The chorus is much lighter and heartfelt than the majority of this record but it still sits perfectly on Kingdom of Ghosts. As the song develops they keep adding so many harmonies and changes that you’ll be memorized. How anyone could listen to this once and not click repeat is beyond us!
A few words in German introduce the albums last track, Shorter. Crunchy bass, military styled drums and a pretty direct guitars give early signs that this song means business. A change in the guitars and some added synths keep the suspense going before a restrained verse and chorus finish off one of the best albums Tickets There’s heard in many a moon. Shorter is similar to Neu Tune but the chorus is livelier and it’s a nice way to close of an album that’s almost non-stop chaos from the word go.
It’s punk, its rock; it’s a death disco bonanza of horrors. With Kingdom of Ghosts, Humanzi have proven that they’re only going from strength to strength. The song writing styles have grown far more diverse and been improved so much since the band’s debut album, Tremors. Yet they’ve retained the overwhelming power and raw energy they made their name on. The futures bright, the future is now HUMANZI!
Have an emotional problem? A Music Question? Relationship issues? Or, would you just like to call someone and generally blag about how great things are? Well, AU/State writer, James Hendicott has announced plans to spend ten hours beside a Phone Box this Saturday and take calls from anyone who wants to talk. There’ll be prizes available for the furthest away calls, funniest calls..etc and general chat for everyone else. Full Details can be found below.
Be Sure to check James Facebook Event Page and sign up by Clicking Here.
‘On Saturday the 27th of February, I will be spending the entire day, from 9am to 7pm, sitting next to a phone box in North Dublin and answering the calls of anyone who happens to want to get in touch. THE NUMBER IS 018304049. If you’re outside Ireland, you’ll need to add the international code +353. Call me!
WHAT/ WHY? This is a slightly silly bit of experimental journalism for AU Magazine, and a follow up to an article I had published last month about a guy who did the same thing in a phone box in Spain for ten days. I will post the story below, for those who are interested. Why are we following it up? We thought it would be funny. We think we can make a story out of your imaginative phone calls, and we don’t mind testing our endurance when it comes to standing in the rain. If you know me, this is the perfect excuse to catch up, or to make fun. If you don’t, we’ll be giving our prizes for the funniest calls (I’ll tell you what they are, but only on the phone on Saturday), as well as for the person who calls from furthest away (or can convince me that they’re in Mongolia) and for anyone who can find the phone box, especially if they bring me beer (clue: contrary to the article, I wont be in Phoenix Park. The only working phone box in the entire park was right next to a kids play park. I don’t want to be accused of pedophilia. The location is far more urban).
Only twenty four short hours left until Humanzi release their long awaited second album, Kingdom of Ghosts. At last Tickets There can say we’ve heard…some of it and so far, it’s f**king amazing. The tracks have all the passion, energy and power of Tremors but the direction is far more focused and hard hitting. We don’t want to say too much yet but the tracks we’ve heard have more then justified the long three year wait. Oh god, we just can’t stop playing them!
Won’t be starting the review until we’ve given it a good few spins but hopefully it’ll be up by tomorrow. Honestly though, from the way this beast’s shaping up, you don’t need a review, you need an ITunes account so you can buy it the second it’s available!
Just Two Days left until the Mighty Humanzi release their second opus upon the unsuspecting people of the world. Kingdom of Ghosts, the bands sophomore album is arriving to ITunes and possibly (hopefully :)) Dublin record stores on CD this Friday, February 26th and Tickets There can now confirm the full track-listing.
To promote the release, Humanzi are in the process of uploading one video a day to www.krankmusicvideos.com. Each video was filmed live in Berlin.
Reports about a launch party are still to be confirmed by the band but fear not, Tickets There will continue scavenging the Internet for updates. In the mean time, you can busy yourself with the bands Official MySpace Page that has three of the new tracks on the player.
The main line-up for the 2010 Oxegen Festival has been announced on Phantom FM. Here’s a list of the acts confirmed so far,
Jay-Z
MUSE
Eminem
Kasabian
Florence and the Machine
Other bands set to appear include,
Black Eyed Peas,
The Prodigy,
Paolo Nutini,
Faithless,
Stereophonics,
David Guetta,
John Mayer
Hot Chip,
Calvin Harris,
Gossip,
Newtown Faulkner,
Mumford and Sons,
Vampire Weekend,
Temper Trap,
La Roux,
Wolfmother,
Rise Against,
The Coral,
Broken Social Scene,
Ellie Goulding,
Two Door Cinema Club,
Armand Van Helden,
Steve Angello,
Simian Mobile Disco,
Erol Alkan,
Steve Aoki,
A-TRAK,
Aeroplane.
More acts will be announced on the 8th of March. Check the Official Oxegen Website for more detials.
Tickets There will of course bring you more info as soon as we have it!
Just three days until the release of Humanzi’s second album, Kingdom of Ghosts. It’s going to be available this Friday on ITunes and possibly in Dublin on CD.
Some of the tracks set to feature on the record include Straight Lines, Shorter, Black Sunrise, Amsterdamaged and the albums first single, Bass Balls
According to the Album Release Event Page on Facebook, details about a launch party will be released shortly.
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