Let’s open this pit up! It’s Saturday, and you know what that means? Mosh Pit Minute is coming at you in full force.
1. Memphis May Fire, formed in Denton, Texas, started gaining traction in the metalcore scene in 2006. Their second studio album, The Hollow, was released in 2011 featuring strong vocals from lead singer Matty Mullins, and his contrast between clean and heavy vocals is perhaps one of the best I’ve heard. The fifth track on the album, “The Deceived”, paints the story of someone in an unhealthy and unreciprocated relationship. The relationship is being seen through rose colored glasses, and after he removes the glasses he can see that the other person was too damaged to begin with.
2. It’s All in Your Head (2003), the third studio album by alternative rock band Eve 6, was experimental in nature. This would eventually lead to the band going on a hiatus in 2004, only to come back to making music in 2011. As the twelfth track on It’s All in Your Head, “Arch Drive Goodbye” was, chronologically, the last song the band would release in over nine years. Starting off slow and somber, detailing how he is trying to help the subject of his affection, the lead singer seems unable to go along with the relationship any longer, though he still wants to help the other person with their mental health. The middle of the song picks up in pace, detailing how even though he can no longer go along with the relationship, he remembers living in the city and drinking from his Molotov Mug. These are the good times he wants to keep close to his heart, but he no longer wants the other person to be so apathetic about their life.
3. Grand Rapids, Michigan post-hardcore/spoken word band La Dispute creates masterpiece after lyrical masterpiece. One of the many standout songs from their second studio album Wildlife, which was released in 2011 under No Sleep records. This album speaks about their hometown and the feelings they associate with it. The song “King Park” details the accidental shooting of an innocent child. Based on real life events in Martin Luther King Park in Grand Rapids, the entire album uses vivid imagery in order to create a scene where the narrator use others pain in an attempt to find purpose in his own life. La Dispute creates works of art in the form of dense, lyrically driven songs.
4. “Follow your bliss” – Make yourself happy first. Senses Fail lead singer, Buddy Neilsen, has this quote tattooed on his chest, which coincidentally is the first line of the song I will be reviewing, “Can’t Be Saved”. Coming off of Senses Fail’s 2006 album Still Searching, this song details the lead singer’s struggle of living the life he truly wants to live. He is afraid of it all being a lie because he is too afraid to be himself. Neilsen has struggled with his sexuality for years. He is a bisexual man, and he knows that he cannot continue to go through the motions of just existing. He must be true to himself and live his life the way he wants to.
5. Ignoring things in a relationship can only go on for so long. Often, coffee at midnight is what helps us get through these conversations, and that is no secret to the narrator. Lead singer, Bonnie Fraser, wastes no time in the song “Coffee at Midnight” from Stand Atlantic’s 2015 EP Sidewinder. Fraser’s layered vocals are something to be admired. Hailing from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Stand Atlantic is on the scene, and I expect nothing but greatness from here on out!