MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE / Living With Ghosts (2016)

The version of The Black Parade included in the same package as this is no different from its original release.

Feel free to check the link below, if you’re curious about that masterstroke.

These rough mixes and live demos very blatantly contain the DNA of numerous songs on Parade and Conventional Weapons. That’s appropriate, as they were recorded during the sessions that birthed both of those albums. They’re all very sloppy, but that is admittedly part of their charm. I have to wonder if Gerard was intoxicated during some of these takes. It’s definitely possible. The best track isolates the most satisfying part of Welcome to the Black Parade; it’s as if they chose to crawl inside an orgasm and have a dance party there for four minutes. It consistently defies the lyrical expectations you’ve unknowingly held for over ten years and I adore every second of it.

I’d say if you’re only a Revenge and Parade kind of person, this is an easy pass. If you own and love everything...fire at will.

Songs of Note: The Five of Us Are Dying [Rough Mix]; Not That Kind of Girl [Live Demo]

2 (Really Not So) Sad Motherfuckers out of 5

KATATONIA / The Fall of Hearts (2016)

If I was in need of the post-BMD Katatonia sound but for some reason didn't have any of the better albums to hand, then TFoH would do, but it would be something of a compromise on my part. To be fair, it does deliver the usual mournful, warm, emotional-bandaging that they've perfected, but I often find myself drifting away from its overly-polished charms instead of being carried along with them.
I genuinely like the soft, pastoral moments, but the bulk of the album sometimes feels like it adheres to the established template a little too much. And yet, there are elements within the shifting structures that are wholly unexpected, that exist to break the rules. It's an odd feeling being stirred but still left wanting; it's like eating a heart-shaped cake that sates your taste buds but not your appetite.

Songs of Note: Old Heart Falls; Last Song Before the Fade

3½ residual thoughts out of 5

JOE VOLK / Happenings and Killings [2016]

Joe Volk's first album since leaving Crippled Black Phoenix, 2016's Happenings and Killings, is a familiar yet subtle departure from his previous works.
With production help from Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury it means careful attention was paid to the gentle yet complex production and rewards with each subsequent listen.  Volk channels a low-key acoustic tone that is subtly complimented with soft electronics and the occasional string textures.  There's slight echoes of Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys and Radiohead but never enough to mistake it for anybody else other than Volk.  His prog-rock influences are still evident but it focuses more on being a haunting singer/songwriter project that raises the bar with opening track and only gets better and better with each track.

4 thieves of our ideals out of 5

Songs of Note: Soliloquy; The Curve

SUM 41 / 13 Voices [2016]

After a second brush with death, Canadian rock act Sum 41 made a full sober recovery (with a new drummer and the return of guitarist Dave Baksh) to release their sixth studio album, 2016's 13 Voices.
For a guy who had to relearn how to walk, talk and nevermind play guitar, frontman Deryck Whibley has managed to put together a pretty solid record brimming with passionate urgency and furiously harsh melody.  It starts out with seething anger that rivals Screaming Bloody Murder's finest moments but slowly morphs into suspicious hope as the record comes to a close, making it feel almost as if were a concept album.  The Sums, with their fusion of hard rock and melodic metal, have no interest in re-living in their goofy Beastie Boys-esque pop-punk past and it's a very welcome addition to the sudden 2016 pop-punk revival.

4 phony friends left in the dust out of 5

Songs of Note: Fake My Own Death; War

NOFX / First Ditch Effort [2016]

Spending well over 30 years as the grand-fathers of foul-mouthed pop-punk pranksters NOFX get a little more serious on their 2016 album, First Ditch Effort.
They might not be as instrumentally experimental as they have been on their past few albums and instead they trade it for the strongest vocal harmonizations to date.  They haven't been this aggressively melodic or enthusiastic in over a decade and it kicks ass.  As much as I like them NOFX seems to pump out the same record over and over doesn't make them a staple in my collection.  However when I'm in the mood for their retreaded brand of thrashy pop-punk then it's solid albums like this that are a definite go to.

3½ toasts to Tony Sly out of 5

Songs of Note:  I Don't Like Me Anymore; I'm So Sorry Tony

BLINK-182 / California [2016]

After losing squeaky-voiced guitarist Tom DeLonge to higher ambitions yet again, veteran pop-punkers blink-182 (vocalist/bassist Mark Hoppus & drummer extraordinaire Travis Barker) recruited Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba as a suitable replacement.
2016's California should have been a reinvention of sorts, considering the appetizing experimentation the band was dabbling in with their previous records.  However they played it safe here and produced a pretty standard blink-182 record of yesterday with the added minus of some embarrassing joke songs.  There's a small handful of great songs and potentially tasty melodic moments here but it's mostly overly-polished boredom that might have actually been a bit more interesting with some rough edges here and there.  As a return to form it's an average record but as an album that sets out to prove something it's pretty weak.  

2½ nods to home out of 5

Songs of Note: Bored to Death; She's Out of Her Mind

DESCENDENTS / Hypercaffium Spazzinate [2016]

12 years after their previous record, Cool to Be You (which was a reunion of sorts as well) the Descendents cough up with their 2016 comeback record Hypercaffium Spazzinate.
With the band all being over the age of 50, it's time their lyrics grow old with them.  Vocalist Milo Aukerman tackles getting fat, illnesses, losing friends and struggling to remain cheery and true to oneself throughout the not-so graceful age progression.  Unlike most of their pop-punk peers, Descendents (and NOFX) have never had interest in changing their sound and instead opt to play tighter in their comfort zone which surprisingly hasn't gotten too stale over the years.  Sure there's a few cringe-worthy "out of touch grandpa" moments but it's to be expected and makes it all the more honest.

3½ fast food addictions out of 5

Songs of Note: Spineless and Scarlet Red; Comeback Kid

GREEN DAY / Radio Revolution [2016]

After a public meltdown resulting in rehab, two members getting cancer and a trilogy of commercially and critically unsuccessful albums it seemed like it was time for Green Day to call it quits.  So naturally, 2016's Revolution Radio was definitely an album that is set-up with something to prove.
Sadly they do nothing of the sort and rely on the safety of the same type of predictable cheese and Hot Topic "danger" they've been riding with since 21st Century Breakdown.  There's a few good songs in the mix but as a whole it's not the album that is going to win back the older fans they've lost over the years.  Sure it's a little more focused than the misdirected trilogy previous to that but it still feels like it's running around in circles trying to figure out how to top American Idiot.  Oh well, at least Rolling Stone & People magazine probably think it's risque punk album of the year and not the half-decent pop album that it really is.

3 rebel's lullabies out of 5

Songs of Note: Still Breathing; Ordinary World

ANDREW JACKSON JIHAD / The Bible 2 [2016]

Andrew Jackson Jihad's (or AJJ as they like to be known as now) previous album Christmas Island was a nervous reinvention that wasn't quite right but thankfully they've worked out most of the kinks on 2015's The Bible 2.
Picking up exactly where Christmas Island's "Angel of Death" protagonist Cody left us, AJJ kicks right into hilarious misery and honest self-deprecation with "Cody's Theme".  There's only minor traces of the folk-punk detected, so instead the complete band relies on lo-fi guitars, booming drums and whiny synths to get the head a bopping to their trademark cheery sneers.  Heavy with frightening sincerity is what AJJ does best and thankfully they aren't watering down the uncomfortable lyrics with an ever-growing audience.

4 flaming mommies out of

Songs of Note:  American Garbage; No More Shame, No More Fear, No More Dread

RADICAL FACE / The Family Tree: The Leaves [2016]

2016's The Leaves completes Radical Face's Family Tree trilogy about the fictional supernatural Northcote family of yesteryear.
Still holding onto the same sparse instrumentations of the previous installments, Cooper merely layers on top of them with subtle strings sections, gentle electric guitar and humming synths.  The lyrics might supposed to be about the Northcotes but one can't help but feel the closer Cooper got to his characters the more his own trials & tribulations spilled into the mix.  It's clear The Family Tree was never a linear form of storytelling but more like snapshots of the all the important times in a lost soul's life.  The lyrics have a beautiful way of transporting the listener back to all the their good and bad times they've encountered and miraculously what they have yet to experience.

4 resurrected birds out of 5

Songs of Note:  The Ship in Port; Bad Blood

JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON / Sicario: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [2015]

Icelandic composer  Jóhann Jóhannsson earned himself a great deal of respect amongst the film score community with his beautifully realized lush music in The Theory of Everything.
Naturally being the type of artist that he is, Jóhannsson took a complete opposite turn with the nerve-wrenching soundscapes in Denis Villeneuve's heart-pounding Mexican cartel thriller Sicario.  It's a anxiety throbbing percussive score filled with low-end ominous strings and a vast horn section that perfectly encapsulates the gritty subject matter on screen.  There's a beautiful mournful string theme buried within the brutality of the score but it offers no reassurance of safety or hope.  It's not often music makes my stomach-turn with nervousness like this but Sicario does so with such force it's clearly not a listen that sets out to be enjoyed.  Heavily armed with technical and creative brilliance, it certainly is a challenge to listen to but definitely rewarding should you take on the overly intense task.

4 heartbeats beneath the ground out of 5

Songs of Note: The Beast; Alejandro's Song