The Good, The Bad, and the Absolutely Horrid!

Summer is coming!  Are you ready?

There's lots of stuff happening right now and in the near future.  Some of it has a lot of potential in the "Wow this is freakin' awesome" department.  Others... not so much.

We Will Miss You, Chi

Before I get started on all of the news-related items, I would like to take a quick second to send my condolences to the members of the Deftones.  For those who may not know yet, Deftones bassist, Chi Cheng, passed away on April 13th, at the age of 42. He had been in a four-year battle for his life following a car accident in 2008.  An article, posted by Loudwire, contains a message from Chi's mom that's very touching.  It also holds the following quote from Deftones frontman, Chino Moreno.

“When I was 17-years-old, I moved out of my parents’ house and moved in with him. We’ve been best friends most of my life. I’ll just be doing some random thing in my life and he’s always in my thoughts. The whole band feels very strongly about him and he’s always been a part of things.”

If you want to read the full article, you can find it here.

Now on to some of that "freakin' awesome" stuff...

Icon For Hire

My first exposure to the band, Icon For Hire, came with my connection to Pop Deflators.  I instantly liked their style and their sound.  I find them to be a lot like Paramore, but a little less emo. A recent headline has stated that Icon For Hire is currently back in the studio working on a new album! No real details have been released on this except that the album in set to come out later this year.  The group has posted a lot of pictures and sneak peeks on their Facebook though.

Also making the awesome list is the news about Tooth & Nail Records.  In case you missed it - the are officially independent!!  This is truly awesome when it comes to the music front.  Tooth & Nail has always put out some quality rock in it's day, and now that they have the freedom and flexibility that comes with independence, I'm sure that they will continue and improve on their sonic offerings.

On the flip side of that great news... The Almost has pushed back their release date for their new record, "The Fear Inside Our Bones".  The new date has been pushed back to June 11th, but they have made a metric ton of stuff available for pre-order.  Be sure to find out all the details by checking out their pre-release website, or by clicking on the link on Tooth & Nail's Facebook page.

Lastly, not making any list of awesomeness what-so-ever, is the new single from Skillet.  I saw this link on my Facebook page, and clicked on it.  Less than a minute later, I was ready to throw up or throw my computer across the room.  IT'S HORRIBLE!  I've been losing my taste for Skillet since they came out with Comatose.  This new single, called "American Noise", comes off their upcoming record Rise. It continues the sell-out streak that has become the essence of Skillet songs.  All they know how to do is appeal to the eyeliner-wearing emo crowd of 3 years ago (also known as the neo-goths).  Come guys, if you're going to do something, PLEASE go back to your original sound from the early 90s.  I liked the blend of techo-rock that you had.

Skillet - before they sold out

Stay close music fans!  I've got some CD reviews coming your way from bands like One Less Reason, XFactor1, and Madlife.