Album: Screaming Bloody Murder - Sum 41

It's been four years since Sum 41's last record, Underclass Hero, was on the airwaves. Besides a few songs - namely the title track, Walking Disaster and The Jester (personal favourites) - the album as a whole was a failure, perhaps not sales-wise, but definitely critically. Now though, Screaming Bloody Murder did in fact turn up slightly under the radar. It was only by chance I discovered their new single on Spotify, meaning I probably wouldn't have even noticed it was out. That is a disappointment, because Screaming Bloody Murder is a return to form for Sum 41, not to the punk feel All Killer No Filler gave us, but to Chuck, the album that I think is Sum 41's best.

The album itself is quite heavy on the love aspect, which is expected, as Deryck Whibley must draw a lot of his writing from his life with Avril Lavigne, from their meeting right to their divorce. But, at least for me, the love songs on the record are not a bad thing. Rather than going down the awfully cliché route of singing a ballad, Whibley mixes it up. In “Reason to Believe”, the first track on the album, it goes swiftly from a hard chorus to a soft, piano melody without breaking stride – a pleasant surprise, I found. Contrast that with Crash, a quite obvious love song, separating the trio of songs (Holy Image of Lies, Sick of Everyone and Happiness Machine) that were originally meant to be one 12 minute song called “A Dark Road out of Hell” from the end of the album.  Crash is a pleasant interlude near the end of the album – Whibley, his piano, and accompanying riffs from a guitar in the background.

“A Dark Road out of Hell” is what we’ve come to expect from Sum 41, power chords, straight talking lyrics - back to the old Sum 41. I much prefer this Sum 41 to the slower one, myself, but I did enjoy Crash. In fact having said that, the entire album returned to the Sum 41 of old. Reason to Believe and Screaming Bloody Murder set up a fine opening duo, before heading into Skumf*k, which I’ll talk about later, and right up to Crash it racks out the tunes. What Am I To Say is a highlight of the album, an anthem feel to the chorus, I can very easily imagine the crowd belting the chorus out on their next tour. 

Skumf*k is, quite simply, the best song on the entire album. What Whibley means by “best of luck as the only resident skumf*k” I’m not entirely sure, but the entire song is perfectly made musically, an excellent minute-long intro with acoustic guitars, building up to one of the most catchy chorus’s I’ve heard in a long time. The relentless guitar is breath-taking, before abruptly ending in another piano sequence that never feels out of place - the perfect ending to probably my favourite Sum 41 song since Pieces.

My only gripe with the album is the final song, Exit Song. To me, it was as if they simply put the song in there because they didn’t think Back Where I Belong was a good enough closer, whereas I completely disagree. The lyrics sound like a statement of intent from the four-piece – I have had enough/I’m on my own/for I am back where I belong. In short, Exit Song is a non-event sadly, but that shouldn’t put you off this excellent rebirth of Sum 41.

Sum 41 are indeed back where they belong. They’ve knocked out a sixth album (seventh if you count “All The Good Shit”) that should surely win back the fans that may have been disappointed by Underclass Hero.

4/5.

Oscar is back!

As a sort of companion post to my friend's new blog, which you can find here, I thought I best give my personal summary of what I want to win and what I think will win big tonight. I posted this originally on a forum I frequent, but I'll change it a bit to suit here.

Black Swan for Best Picture. I started watching it thinking I wouldn't enjoy it too much, I was more intrigued by it, because I'd heard from people who had seen it that it was "insane" and "fucked up". And, considering it's effectively a film about ballet to the outsider (when you finish it, however, you realise it's definitely NOT a ballet film!), I didn't have high hopes. After it finished, well, more like as soon as it started, I was absolutely blown away by it. I loved every second of it. From the way it's directed, the lighting, the attention to detail, the acting, it's very nearly the (well, my) perfect film.

However, though I haven't seen it (I wish I had though), I do think The Fighter might pull up a shock victory on this one because of all the things I've heard about it. I don't think The Social Network should be counted out either, thinking about it, another film I absolutely adored. We'll have to see.

James Franco for Best Actor. Colin Firth is nearly definitely going to win this one, let's face facts, but for me James Franco shouldn't be counted out and, for me, should win it. Franco managed to carry a pretty much 2 hour film, 127 Hours, almost entirely on his own with the most of the film in a cave, with him rambling on and on to his slowly dying camera, fighting off a cloud of insanity that gradually sets in and grows stronger. You can see with every passing minute in the film, Ralston (the character) is slowly giving up trying to get out, until one surge of positive insanity leads him to cutting his own arm off, easily the most important decision Ralston himself has made in his lifetime.

Side note, one has to think that Ryan Reynolds for Buried missed out on a nomination too, seen as the basic ideas are both very similar, except that Franco is helped out slightly by short scenes from Ralston's past - in Buried, Reynolds is literally on his own for the entire film, only talking to people on the phone and seeing one person via a video through his phone for quite literally a few seconds. Though admittedly, Reynolds's performance isn't quite as remarkable as Franco's because Buried is more a pure survival story, compared to Franco battling off his own mental demons.

Natalie Portman for Best Actress. Hands down my favourite and a clear favourite in general, her performance is remarkable. It seems Oscar likes his mental problems in performances, and Portman's is exceptional. Her transfer from this image of perfection (her White Swan) to a more let loose, free Black Swan is unbelievable. Portman's ability in Black Swan

Geoffrey Rush for Best Supporting Actor. I thought he was the strongest point of The King's Speech if you ask me, the way he held Firth's Bertie together at his weakest moments was amazing, how he stays calm when it would be so much easier to just scream back at the incredibly frustrated King. I did not enjoy King's Speech as much as I should've, but I can appreciate a good performance when I see one, and Rush's is exactly that.

Supporting Actress is a bit more of a challenge for me to choose because I've only seen the always fantastic Helena Bonham Carter performance (but in The King's Speech I didn't really get that blown away by her performance, it was good definitely, but Oscar worthy is another matter entirely). I'll have to skip this one for now, but I can see myself wanting Amy Adams to win it, we'll see.

Side note, I have to ask why Barbara Hershey for her role as Nina Sayer's (Natalie Portman) mum in Black Swan is beyond me. She's magnificent. She's just as mentally troubled as her daughter in that she used to be The Swan Queen, and now her own daughter is, she goes to incredible lengths to get Nina to be "perfect". She loses her rag completely, and she's wonderful at it.

Toy Story 3 for Best Animated Picture. Without a shadow of a doubt. Normally sequels to films are never as good as the original, but somehow, Pixar actually made 2 better than 1, and then somehow made 3 better than 2. Absolutely remarkable. Any film that can reduce and 18 year old to near tears is good enough to win in my book. I think I loved this even more because I actually grew up with the film, I saw the first one in the cinema when I was 3, and relived it an incredible amount of times since, I saw 2 in the cinema when I was 7 (this one I can actually remember going to the cinema to see, because it was one of the few occasions my Dad came along to watch a film in the cinema with us as a family) and waited 11 years for the conclusion to one of, if not the, best trilogy of all time, alongside Lord of the Rings and Back To The Future (for me, anyway).

Darren Aronofsky for Best Director. I think he should walk away with this one, simply for his attention to detail when making it (I love the use of mirrors in every single scene, for example), the clothing choice, and his over-the-shoulder, single camera filming technique, as seen in his other fantastic sports epic, The Wrestler, suits the film's dark tone perfectly. The use of one camera for the most high-tempo scenes putting you right into the action. Plus, I loved how the shots in the film were either very in your face, right up close to the actors, or far away, looking down or in on a scene (the arguments between Nina (Portman) and Thomas (portrayed incredibly well by Vincent Cassell are up close, and when he storms out, we cut to a distance shot of her on her own in a ballet studio, completely surrounded by mirrors). Definite contender.

David Fincher won the BAFTA for this one, so he shouldn't be ruled out by any stretch, I think he's actually the favourite, and though I did love The Social Network, I didn't see too much actual direction involved in comparison to Black Swan or The King's Speech. One thing I will note though is why isn't Christopher Nolan nominated for this one AT ALL? To quote my favourite film critic Mark Kermode, "Inception is the MOST directed film of the year" and he's absolutely right. Every shot is absolutely key to the story (how difficult it is to see Cobb's ring finger for example (people who've seen it will know what I mean as to how important it is)). Oscar missed a trick on that one.

There we have it. My comprehensive round up of the 7 big awards that'll be revealed gradually over the next 6 or so hours. Enjoy!

Tapas Tuesday

This is definitely a first for my reviewing blog. I've only reviewed one album, but a countless number of films, and here I am, about to review a simple two songs performed by an up and coming band from Pontypridd – Tapas Tuesday. The name itself brings quite an amusing story in itself, quite simply it was named after an event, if you will, that three of the members (Osian Williams, Meilyr Rees and Dylan Ebbsworth) regularly attended. A Tapas bar every, err, Tuesday. Hilarity nearly always ensued for the trio, and it seemed that starting a band between these three was an inevitability, rather than a simple wish. Add to the equation Steffan Davis (who arrived slightly after the band recorded Move On), their rather excellent lead guitarist, and you have a four piece ready to storm.

Both Osian and Meilyr share the vocal duties in the band, with the former playing bass (á la Robin Hawkins of The Automatic) quite remarkable considering he's actually self-taught, and that some of the bass riffs in both their songs are pretty complex. Both Osian and Meilyr wrote Move On together, and for a first song, it's mightily impressive. Meilyr is more the lead singer of the band (he takes main duties in their second song, Silver Lining) and strums his guitar (generally the rhythm), and sings each song to a very impressive standard, also playing pretty excellently. Dylan Ebbsworth, the final member, is their drummer, and having been to school with all three of them, Dylan's drumming skills are nothing short of incredible, definitely the best drummer I've seen with my own eyes (aside from, possibly, Biffy Clyro drummer Ben Johnston, after seeing them live last November). The already mentioned Steffan Davis is the band's lead guitarist, who evidently helped write Silver Lining, given during the pre-lyric phase, it was called, in short, Steff's Riff, and it is a pretty excellent riff.

Of the band's two songs, Move On and Silver Lining, the latter is definitely my preferred track, but I'll get to that a bit later. The acoustic vibe from Move On is wonderful. The song itself (lyrically) is pretty conventional in today's market. A story of a lost love but the chorus brings a happier tone, as the songs protagonist has, indeed, moved on from this mystery girl (I gotta move on, move on from you/I gotta move on to something new), perhaps saying that this girl was simply a stepping stone towards greater things, that now he's had this experience, he can find exactly what he's looking for, i.e. someone to understand this song. Considering this is the first song, the production value is pretty good, although if I'm honest the guitar seems a bit on the quiet side, which is a slight shame because the riff is one that is quite easily picked up, and very easy to strum along peacefully to. The shared duties on this one are great, both of them holding their own, giving the band some options as both of whom do have very good singing voices. Plus, playing an instrument and singing at the same time is A LOT harder than it looks, so I have to applaud the two of them for that one. I do have a very small gripe about this one, mind, it's that Dylan and Steff's playing is reduced quite substantially, although this is most definitely made up for with their next song, Silver Lining.

Silver Lining is, truthfully, a fantastic song. There's no doubt about it, it's a brilliantly catchy tune (especially the chorus) that should surely increase their continuously growing fan base. Silver Lining seems almost professionally produced, the previous issues with slightly too quiet guitars, for example, has been rectified greatly, giving both Steff (Steff given an incredibly good solo in this one) and Dylan more chances to shine (the drum beat is far more complex in all areas of the song) alongside the already established Meilyr and Osian (Osian sticking to backing vocals in the chorus). It's a much snappier song too, much faster paced, and nearly a minute shorter than Move On, this is definitely a, as Max Rushden of Soccer AM fame would say, a TT - toe tapper! I'm even sitting here right now, the song maybe playing for the fourth or fifth time, I find myself singing along to the chorus, given its nature, it's definitely a sing-a-long, that should surely be a favourite among their live performances. Something that I've quite literally just learnt, is that they only wrote Silver Lining for the Battle of the Bands competition, as a sort of stepping stone to do so. They should be entered into competitions like this more often, if they belt out songs of this standard given a bit of encouragement.

To my knowledge, Tapas Tuesday have performed live three times, I've seen them twice back in our hometown, but their most recent performance took place all the way up in Bangor, North Wales, where Meilyr, Osian and Dylan are at Bangor University, where they competed live on Storm FM in a battle of the bands competition - and won! I couldn't hear the actual performance sadly as for some reason the Internet in my University (Nottingham) doesn't like you listening to the radio! Thankfully, their performance of a Mumford & Sons medley (on ukulele!) is pretty excellent, which I'm hoping they'll properly record and release on to their MySpace, and shows their diversity from the harder, upbeat Silver Lining, to the very mellow and excellent medley they performed.

In summary, Tapas Tuesday are a little known but growing band from Pontypridd, with a couple of impressive tracks under their belts, should, with a bit of luck, go on to much bigger things.

Their MySpace
Their Mumford & Sons medley

127 Hours

Critically acclaimed director Danny Boyle's latest outing starring James Franco hasn't had as much praise as one would hope. Slumdog Millionaire, for example, absolutely ruled the Oscars back in 2009, everyone adored it. Me, however, I liked it, but I don't really see what the fuss was about. It’s an unlikely hero story that you can see in the cinema consistently. I do not doubt Boyle's ability as a director, I simply doubt the public’s ability to truly see a classic film - 127 Hours is exactly that.

127 Hours is the film based on Aron Ralston’s autobiography "Between A Rock And A Hard Place, the incredible true story of how Ralston went climbing in Utah, and slipped, falling into a crevice, his right arm trapped against the crevice wall by a pretty hefty rock. The 70 or so minutes in which Ralston is trapped under the rock in the film (it was actually, er, 127 hours....) is more or less Ralston’s failed attempts at freeing his arm, but also his on-going battle with keeping his sanity, as his water gradually runs out, with only a camera to keep him company.

The film boasts some incredibly moving sequences, occasionally frightening instances, and some genuinely funny moments. On hindsight, I don't think I can find a single flaw in the film's infrastructure - James Franco is a revelation as Ralston, the scenery is quite simply stunning, and praise has to be aimed mostly at Danny Boyle, for using probably hundreds of different camera angles in such a tiny space. Boyle went out to make the film as true to Ralston’s story as possible - the crevice is the exact crevice Ralston was stuck in, Boyle got Ralston’s real family in for some scenes, and he even went as far as getting the same helicopter pilot that rescued Ralston when he finally escapes. The attention detail is nothing short of remarkable, which is why this film deserves a lot more praise than it's gotten. Films like The King's Speech all have 5 Stars all over their movie posters - 127 Hours has numerous 4 Star reviews, maybe the odd 5 Star, but it's way short of what the film deserves.

James Franco's performance is, to put it bluntly, Oscar worthy. Franco manages to keep the audience captivated for the entire film as his portrayal of the book, according to people who've met Ralston, is pretty much perfect. Ralston has an arrogance about him from the word go. The fact he goes climbing on his own in Utah without telling anybody - his parents, his work boss, and his friends - he even leaves without taking a phone with him. Climbing is an unbelievably dangerous sport anyway; it's pretty safe to say that having some way to contact someone if trouble strikers should be first on your list of things to pack in your bag. Some people have claimed that Franco's performance isn't brilliant because he comes across as not-likable - which baffles me completely. How is it Franco's fault that he comes across as dislikeable, when his friends and family have admitted that Ralston himself was (he isn't now, as you can probably guess) an arrogant so and so. Based on that, Franco is exceptional as Ralston, judging him because of the character is simply unfair. I haven't seen as good a performance as that in a very long time - I applaud you, Mr Franco.

I simply can't review this film without going into particular detail about the scene everyone has been talking about - the now infamous arm-cutting scene. In a word - sublime. The film has been known to lead to one of two people fainting, others feeling nauseous, and, the more common occurence, people simply walking out half way through the scene. I have to admit, I've seen a fair share of gore in films in my time, but I haven't seen a scene like this look so real. Normally when there's a scene involving a lost limb, there isn't much detail and a bucket load of blood, whereas in this one, you can see the bone, muscles, tendons, the lot, it looks amazing. Moreover, the music used is quite exceptional, so exceptional that I have it on my Spotify (in fact, Liberation, the song that plays over this scene, is my 4th most listened to song on Spotify in the past week!), and it's truly superb. There's a genuinely horrific moment during the scene where Ralston is trying to cut through his nerve, each touch of the nerve with his rusty pen knife cues a tremendous musical scream that sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it. It’s a definite contender for the Best Soundtrack award at the Oscars (competing alongside, more than likely as the official nominations haven't been revealed yet, the absolutely phenomenal Inception soundtrack), and, if there were such an award, Best Scene of the Year too. It's only January. 

Even though 127 Hours fits just into the threshold to compete at the Oscars coming up in a few weeks (when the nominations for the Oscars are announced I will do my best to give my own comprehensive round up of the films I have seen, and indeed do my best to see the films I haven't before the Oscars itself), but 2011 has a lot to offer if it's going to satisfy my film needs as much as Danny Boyle and James Franco did with this masterpiece.

Unbelievably good; would happily see it again! 9.5/10