Wait, wait, wait! Before you record label advocates, cd/vinyl collectors and anti-theft people grab your pitchforks and torches, hear me out.

I myself am an avid collector of CDs and Vinyls; I almost exclusively wear band tshirts; my room is covered in band posters; I go to many gigs… and in the eyes of the law and record companies I am part of a massive problem. Piracy. Arrr!

Let me explain my view on how I think piracy is a good thing though. For me, it allows me to try before I buy. I know most people don’t do this, but for me I see torrenting or mediafiring an album as a way to listen to an album and then if it sounds awesome and the cover art looks nice, I’ll buy the album on either CD or Vinyl or both. I’m aware that I’m not the majority though.

So what about those who don’t follow this method then? Well it’s simple really, geniuses. If people like a band or album they might buy a tshirt or go see them live, and guess what? That £20 ticket or £15 tshirt is far more in the pockets of the artists (and not greedy record labels, assuming they don’t take a massive cut) than a £5-£10 album which the record labels take most of the money from.

But Alex, think of the record label and their employees, if not for them these bands would never be where they are now! Nope. Correct me if I’m wrong but in most cases that’s bullshit. Record Labels are good at promoting and exposing you or your band and providing you with good producers and studios.

But it’s not exactly hard to set up a decent home studio and self-release. If you’re any good I’m pretty sure you’ll get somewhere. It’s only generic mediocre bands that need help being brought into public eye.

It’s time either artists told record labels to shove it or for the record labels to shut the fuck up whining and just adapt to consumer behaviour, like every other industry has to. You’re nothing special in this world.

Wake up! People want to listen to music for free. Music in its purest form should be free. A product should be sold. A product is a physical item: a CD, Vinyl, Clothing, Posters, etc.

A gig is also something worth paying for because it’s an experience, and before you argue “So’s listening to an album”, it’s an experience far greater than that. I mean you can appreciate so much more than just the music. It’s the visual aspect and the PHYSICAL aspect of it all.

Perhaps to some I’m being a pretentious fuck; I’m not in a band or a musician either so perhaps I can only relate to one side, but the way I see it, it’s not the fault of the people that this ‘problem’ exists and it’s high-time that the industry adapts. This argument has been said too many times. I feel almost bad reiterating it.

Oh and on a tailing note, the film industry has no room to say shit after Avengers pulled in $200 MILLION in its opening WEEKEND even with piracy ‘rampant’. If you complain because your movie made no money then it’s because you were shit at marketing it or because it genuinely is shit and wasn’t worth going to the cinema for.

I managed to get to the second row in the club, which I credit to being able to join my girlfriend and her sister who’d (for whatever reasons they have) been waiting in the queue for three hours.

There were four bands playing all together: With One Last Breath, Crossfaith, Bury Tomorrow and of course Of Mice & Men.

The first band up was With One Last Breath, and honestly I don’t have much to say about them. They were a typical genericore band and bored me half to death. Every one of their songs sounded the exact same and they didn’t have much discernible ‘talent’ to make up for it. That said they were tight and good warm up for the little teenyboppers in the audience that simply listen to this kind of music because “OMG he’s so coooooooooootttttttttt; look at his floppy hair!!”

No. Fuck off and die.

The second band was Crossfaith, whom at first puzzled us, as a group of five Japanese men (although the drummer had us confused for quite some bit) wandered on stage and started setting up their equipment which included a proper electronic programming set up. Quite frankly I thought they were going to be auto-tuned electro-metalcore pants. Boy was I wrong.

Their music was very original, heavy and polished; They had great crowd interaction frequently going crowdsurfing and telling us to get our “fucking hands in the air”, in an almost humorously thick Japanese accent. Frankly a brilliant band and something for Japan to be proud of.

Their rendition of The Prodigy’s Omen was what proper set off the night for me. They’re also the bastards who got that room starting to become so warm and humid.

The next band was Bury Tomorrow, and I would have enjoyed them had one human giraffe not placed himself in front of me, blocking my view and refusing to move throughout their entire set; even having the audacity to elbow me in the head a couple of times too. What a cunt. Thankfully he fucked off after their last song and allowed me into my original place in the venue. He must have been a megafan of Bury Tomorrow, but it doesn’t excuse ruining that part of the show for me.

For what I heard (and didn’t see) Bury Tomorrow, were again a fairly standard metalcore band, and weren’t anything new, but they were talented and had good crowd interaction and made us laugh a couple of times.

“There’s nothing sexier than having a wank with the door unlocked at your nans house and shouting ‘Nan, I’m having a wank!’” The lead singer yelled, and we laughed on cue. I still don’t get it, he was probably drunk, but it was still amusing.

By this time I was knackered, and so was every one else. We were all dripping with sweat, and fighting over water bottles that were handed out (no seriously we were hitting each other). The roof of the venue was genuinely raining on us as vapour clinged to it.

The next band up I probably don’t need to introduce. If you weren’t reading properly before then they’re called Of Mice & Men – Frankly the only metalcore band I have any particular affinity to; the only one I actually feel can write a decent song.

This gig came only months after the departure of their Bassist and Clean Singer (a pretty big part of the band), Shayley, and their lead screamer, Austin, was announced to take the vocal reigns.

There’s not much I can say about them really, I was pretty dosey from lack of energy and water, but what I can remember, they were awesome. Just awesome. Brilliant music, tight timing, great crowd interaction. Just… yeah. Wow.

Austin really held his own on the cleans, although he struggled with pitch and sustaining them, and thus the crowd helped a lot, there were plenty of moments he was pretty good. I’m sure with a bit more practice and training he’ll have them nailed as well as Shayley.

I think it’d be better to see it actually. Here’s the video from their first song:

I’m really excited to hear their new album which is coming out soon too! Hopefully it’ll help showcase Austins clean vocals, as he has potential. I just hope they don’t go in the way of AttackAttack! and start raping the autotune and electronics too much.

After much anticipation and waiting I had to cave in and sneakily got my hands on the duo’s joint self-titled musical effort, Storm Corrosion from a shady website renowned for it’s disregard to copyright…

Anxiously I waited for the download to reach 100%; hastily dropping the tracks from my Downloads into my iTunes; and allowing the album to begin playing.

… Hmm.

Honestly, on first listen I wasn’t sure what to make of this album, and unless you’re a major experimental music buff, I doubt you will too. It was weird, challenging, and honestly I wanted to wander off somewhere or listen to something else at some points. I just didn’t really ‘get’ this album.

However remembering I had a similar experience with many other albums, I challenged myself to listen right through to the end. Ultimately however, I won’t lie and say I really enjoyed the album. I was left a little puzzled and disappointed, although that said there were some pleasant tracks that caught my attention.

‘Storm Corrosion’ was calm and sweet, musically intriguing and eire, yet not demanding to the listener.

‘Happy’, whether deliberately or not, did what it said on the tin and made you feel quite cheerful, warm and fuzzy with the sound of an acoustic ambience along with layered soft vocals.

However it was ‘Ljudet Innan’ that was my real first-impressions favourite; it was surreal yet beautiful – especially hearing Åkerfeldt hit those sweet high falsetto notes at the beginning. Truly bizarre, yet fantastically awesome after hearing him roar like an animal on most of his musical projects, save for a few.

On first impressions, I won’t lie – Storm Corrosion was bizarre and honestly not something I thought I’d particularly listen to much again. There were bits I enjoyed, yet overall it was a disappointing listen.

But…

… Come my second/third listen and something actually clicked! I guess I was right when I told myself it wouldn’t be an ‘instant gratification’ type of album; it was definitely something that would require a few plays through to truly appreciate.

Upon that second and third listen the melodies definitely began to stand out and sink in more, and I began to discover the sounds I’d missed on my first spin. The album seemed to become something beautiful, yet actually slightly sinister; quiet, yet suprisingly bold. It really could be described as the music equivelant of a mythological siren.

What originally felt like boring elevator music, quickly took on a new life; all the tracks seemed to stand out now.

While it’s still definitely not going to get your head nodding, Storm Corrosion may well have your head swaying to its sweet and beautiful melodies. The album is perfect to appreciate during a quiet evening, sprawled out on your bed or sofa after a hard day at work.

Overall I’d say this album is a nice divulgence from the heavy and heavyish sounding Opeth and Porcupine Tree respectively. It’s probably a musical venture best aimed at Avant-Garde, Jazz, Classical and Experimental listeners more than perhaps the Rock and Metal fan bases of Opeth and Porcupine Tree.

That been said, I’m giving this album a score of

Although at first the album does not present itself to be anything particularly special or enjoyable, after a few spins – like any timeless album – you really start to get a feel for the music, which manifests itself into something intriguing and alluring. I will certainly be buying this album when it’s released, and hopefully you’ll enjoy it enough to do so too.

I look forward to seeing if Storm Corrosion ends up as a one-time side-project or whether both Wilson and Åkerfeldt take it further and onto new horizons.

1. What is your name? NaNaNa – My Chemical Romance

2. Where were you born? Little Lion Man – Mumford and Sons

3. What do your friends think of you? CrushCrushCrush – Paramore

4. What do your enemies think of you? Requiem – Opeth

5. Where would you most like to be right now? Your Bore – Seether

6. What do you avoid if possible? That Girl’s a Trick – This Providence

7. What is the main reason you were born? Cellar Door – Escape the Fate

8. Where will you be in 24 hours? Onto the Next One – Escape the Fate

9. Where will you be in 24 years? A Wish – Gregory and the Hawk

10. What couldn’t you live without? The Drapery Falls – Opeth

11. Name a song that you want to play at your wedding? Blood Sugar Sex Magik – Red Hot Chili Peppers

12. What will you name your first child? Hero of War – Rise Against

13. How will you die? Scars – Papa Roach

14. What’s your biggest regret? Crawling – Linkin Park

15. Who do you admire? Ride the Lightening – Metallica

16. What do people assume when they first look at me? Creep – Radiohead

17. What is some good advice for me? Central – John Frusciante

18. What will be a big challenge in life for me? Don’t Believe – Seether

19. What is my sexual preference? Truth – Seether

20. What do you say when life gets tough? The Zephyr Song – Red Hot Chili Peppers

21. What is the story of your life? Heroes of Our Time – Dragonforce