With 2011 coming to an end, you should prepare to be flooded with countdowns from the year’s top movies to the top music videos. Yes, some of these lists are entirely trivial, but they are also short and sweet and sum up a year in less than five minutes. A trivial list in this context would be the top ten reality stars, which is a completely unnecessary countdown since a Kardashian is at every number. You, Shockya readers, deserve an unpredictable list that can benefit you, not make you wish you could be famous for doing absolutely nothing. So, open up your iTunes and get ready to purchase the Top…

Maturity changes people’s music tastes. Around the tender teenage years, you get the love struck teens who prefer to remain loyal ‘N SYNC fans or those who drift the way of Dashboard Confessional. This transition takes place in the 90s, but the same goes for the 21st Century youngins who stick with Bieber and those who move to Daughtry. If you take the darker and at times, more distributed route, the hidden Bieber or ‘N SYNC fan within you will still expose itself every so often. You shouldn’t be embarrassed by this disclosure, but if you are well passed the midlife crisis age, maybe you should listen to Selena Gomez…

Hollywood Undead is a rap rock or nu metal group that hails from Los Angeles, California. They formed in 2005 and have produced two albums. “Swan Songs” dropped in 2008, via A&M/Octone Records; “American Tragedy” in April of that same year. The members, who go by Charlie Scene, Da Kurlzz, Danny, Funny Man, J-Dog, and Johnny 3 Tears, take their individuality to the next level with their trademark masks. Donned in metallic and colorful masks, Hollywood Undead brought their dual genre magic to Roseland Ballroom on November 11th. With the opening track, “Undead”, the crowd’s energy exploded. The audience moved along to the music with hands high up in the…

The album may have dropped a little while back, but it is just too classic to not inform you Shockya readers about. You should insert rock after classic because this album is from the former Uriah Heep member, Ken Hensley. The keyboard player, Hammond organ player, guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer joined forces with Norway’s Live Fire in 2006 and recorded the album, “Faster”, over a three-week period in Riga, Latvia. The 12 track album dropped June 21st via Eagle Rock Entertainment. Hence, the “while back”, but good music is good music and deserves to be reviewed. Hensley’s music background is rooted in a time period where rock was evolving…

The wait is finally over. We should put extra emphasis on that wait because it is referring to the eight years we went without a new Jane’s Addiction studio album. We tried covering up the music void with tunes from an array of alternative rock bands, but the tracks only proved to be a temporary fix. Nothing hits our psychedelic cravings like Jane’s Addiction songs. So, it’s goodbye to the posers and hello again to the rock legends, Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro and Stephen Perkins. Before we dive into our analysis of the band’s fourth studio album, we just want to get one thing straight. Of course, the trio’s sound…

We have self-diagnosed ourselves with music ADD. The “medical” condition involves the urge to change a song right after you just pushed play on it. We don’t blame the artists for failing to hold our attention, we blame our uncontrolled need to soak in as many genres we possibly can. The good news is that we found a cure that does not involve pill popping. The solution is listening to tribute albums. These compilation records have an overall theme that is covered in a variety of ways. Let’s take a look at the album, “A Tribute From Friends”, to better explain our music ADD remedy. The M.O.B (Mick Fleetwood, Steven…

“Forever Abomination” is the fourth installment in the Skeletonwitch discography. It is also the first to feature their brand new drummer Dustin Boltjes who replaced former drummer Derrick Nau or what he liked to be called “Mullet Chad”. As such “Forever Abomination” has lived up to its two previous releases “Breathing the Fire” (2009) and “Beyond the Permafrost” (2007). Thus this release exceeds the meaning of “metal”. Guitarist Scott Hedrick says “We live and breathe this shit!” “We tour as much as humanly possible, and when we’re home we write. There’s technically no such thing as ‘time off’ when you’re in The ‘WITCH”. This of course lives up to its…

There is always that “one” that “one” album that is indeed without a doubt “the best to date”. Surly this can said about Blessthefall’s first ever debut LP “His Last Walk” with former frontman Craig Mabbit who brought Blessthefall to the forefront of the music scene before departing to join forces with Escape The Fate in 2008. Blessthefall saw that their time seemed bleak and raw but went onward to release two more albums “Witness” and now their third LP to date “Awakening” seems to fall short of their first release. The fast grinding guitar structure, powerful heartfelt lyrics, screaming coals are all fun and good filling but the quality…

Usually, the autumn days have us thickening our clothing layers with a dismal expression on our faces, but this fall we think our frowns will be permanently flipped around. We credit our surge of optimism to Grace Potter and The Nocturnals. We got to check out the genre-fusing band on Saturday night, September 24th, at Rumsey Playfield Central Park and the night was magical. That description might sound a bit corny, but Grace Potter and The Nocturnals remind us just why we fell for music in the first place. We have had the band’s 2010 self-titled album on constant replay for the past year, but seeing them perform the tracks…

It’s time for us to thank those overly produced tracks that we frequently hear on the radio. We know that’s an odd statement to make, but it’s true. If you take a listen to music that avoids auto-tune and synthesized beats, you will appreciate it more than you would have if those technological advances never existed. So, yes these ‘improvements’ have tarnished a handful of music, but have made authentic music sound even purer. We guess we can apply the Yin Yang belief to the music world. The auto-society has indirectly given birth to Anthony Scuderi. The elementary school music teacher and band director has implemented his skills as a…