Concert Review: Bring Me the Horizon

Watching Bring Me the Horizon blow up has been one of the most entertaining parts of the music landscape the past few years. They have skyrocketed from niche deathcore band into prominent genre-bending headliner status worldwide. Amo, their latest album, was their most pop-focused record yet, and it topped the charts all over the world.

This show was spectacular. Heavy songs like “Shadow Moses” and “House of Wolves” meshed flawlessly with newer pop-sounding tracks like “Medicine” and “Mother Tongue”. From the blistering hard to cheesy pop and everything in between, Bring Me the Horizon’s music hit countless different genres, and felt extremely broad but tightly cohesive. Front man Oli Sykes lead the charge to weave the sound together by bringing a ton of emotion to every song.

Music Pill Update: Summer 2016 Music

It’s a great time of year to be a music fan. Not only are we in the middle of festival season, but the airwaves are saturated with fantastic new music. In an effort to help you keep up with all the great music that’s being released, we’ve created a list of songs that we want to make sure you don’t miss. We touch on multiple genres below, and hope you’ll find something that you haven’t heard that you might love.

Let me know what you think of these songs, and more importantly, let us know what else you are listening to!

Cheers!

Festival Review: Rock on the Range 2016 Day 3

Rock on the Range 2016 Day 3 featured one of the most exciting and unique lineups in recent memory. Not only did it offer the chance to see several bands who were playing Rock on the Range for the first time, but from a genre standpoint, the lineup was all over the map. The main stage was a wild mish-mash of genres, especially early in the day, as we would be treated to bands like Highly Suspect (rock), Wolfmother (stoner rock), The Struts (English glam rock), Death from Above 1979 (dance punk), and many more. In addition, I was really excited about solid representation for punk rock, something that rarely happens at Rock on the Range. I couldn’t wait to see how the crowd reacted to bands like Anti-Flag and Pennywise. Finally, the day would close out with Bring Me the Horizon, Deftones, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, all of which had extremely high expectations to live up to.

Would this day be as good as it looked on paper? Would the metal-crazed audience at Rock on the Range appreciate the variety? Or, would they agree with many on the internet who complained that the day was way too “soft”. We fought off the headaches and sore backs and headed up to Mapfre Stadium to find out. Sunday was a beautiful day – after two days of rain and clouds and cold, it was sunny and warm with a cool breeze. It was the kind of weather that made you thank God you are alive, and thank Him even more that you were at a music festival. On a day like that, I can’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else.

Time for the pièce de résistance. Rock on the Range 2016 Day 3. Let’s do this.

2015 Album Awards!

I don’t really fancy myself as an album reviewer (guys over at sites like Sputnik do just fine at that). However, I have a real passion for sharing music, and love the thought of putting something in front of people out there that might not have heard it yet. Because of that, and because the albums I love fuel my concert decisions, I wanted to share some of my favorite albums from 2015. Last year featured releases by countless big names in the industry – names like Trivium, Sevendust, Three Days Grace, Halestorm, Shinedown, Marilyn Manson, Five Finger Death Punch, Lamb of God, Bullet for My Valentine, and on and on. However, many of these releases landed somewhere on the scale between mediocre and very good. None of them, however, really stood out as impressionable.

However, 2015 was definitely not void of spectacular albums. As I looked back at my catalog and reviewed countless other “top albums of 2015” lists to make sure I didn’t miss any albums, I had a more difficult time than usual whittling down to the top 5 albums. In fact, I couldn’t, and so what you’re left with below is 5 really great runners up, and one album of the year.

Hope you enjoy!

Rock on the Range 2016: Lineup Announcement

Rock on the Range released it’s lineup on Monday, and after two days of letting it marinate, I had to get some thoughts down on what is sure to be a fantastic, record-setting weekend in Columbus. Rock on the Range is North America’s biggest rock festival, and they are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. For the eighth straight year, The Music Pill will be gathering our crew and heading from Indianapolis to Columbus to participate in the chaos.

Here is a breakdown of the lineup, including my opinion on the headliners, a breakdown of many of the middle-of-the-pack bands, a few bands that have something to prove, and some can’t miss bands that you may never have heard of. Hope you enjoy!

Festival Review: Louder than Life 2014: Day 2

In between a major project at work, a new baby boy born on September 2nd, and the holiday season coming up soon, I was able to squeeze in a quick day trip to Louisville with some friends to catch Day 2 of the inaugural Louder than Life festival. This festival is basically a little brother of Rock on the Range, as it is put on by the same people and features many of the same bands.

My overall opinion of the festival was that it was fantastic. I only got to see the second and final day, but in terms of organization and design of the venue, they did an exceptional job for a first year festival. The layout did have one major challenge in that it was too linear, and the restrooms were what felt like a mile walk from the stage, but they overcame that by great sound, and awesome local food and Kentucky Bourbon to bring the Louisville flair out. This looks to be a festival for a long time to come.

Now, on to the bands!