The night was all about NFG though, who held the attention of the 600-odd capacity crowd crammed into the Relentless Garage from start to (rather early) finish. Given that this week’s shows aren’t meant as specific Not Without A Fight support dates, they fortunately didn’t play too much of their disappointing first album on Epitaph. Instead, they took the opportunity of playing to a more dedicated following at such an intimate venue to pull some less frequently played material out of the bag, covering all their releases from the original self-titled EP up to 2006′s Coming Home. Despite the various stylistic variations between all these albums, none of the songs seemed out of place and you sensed that, given the chance, they would’ve carried on blasting out 3 minute chunks of pop punk perfection all night long. As it was, a curfew drew the show to an early close but not before a rousing finale of Hit Or Miss and My Friends Over You. Quality stuff. Still feeling the bruises.

The album kicks off with Devil On My Shoulder, which the band premiered at the Brisbane Soundwave Festival in February and which certainly gets III off to a good start, rivaling Devil In A Midnight Mass for album-opening quality. You wonder whether getting Brendan O’Brien (who’s worked with RATM, RHCP and Soundgarden amongst others) on board has affected Billy Talent’s sound; from the off it sounds more polished, more considered and less raw.

Devil On My Shoulder is followed by Rusted From The Rain which, while being a decent rock song, never really gets going and lacks any real oomph. And unfortunately this is ultimately the story of III. None of the songs are awful, but none of them, bar a couple, are great. Having listened to all eleven tracks, very few have really found their way into my memory and the only one of those that is on a par with the I and II material is DOMS. Turn Your Back, a collaboration with Justin Sane and Chris #2 from Anti-Flag, makes for a memorable anti-war protest song largely thanks to its change in tempo from the rest of the album and some well-organised backing vocals. Equally, Tears Into Wine and The Dead Can’t Testify show signs of brilliance but which never seem to be capitalised upon. Sudden Movements, the penultimate track on III, is a perfect example of why this album doesn’t deliver: yes, it’s an alright song but it’s slow and inhibited, lacking the spark, the passion and danger that are synonymous with Billy Talent.

A comment should be made about the clever idea of releasing a delux edition of III in the form of a second CD without the guitar tracks. D’Sa has to be one of the most imaginative guitarists working at the moment and his ingenious drop-D riffage must provide players with hours of inspiring enjoyment. What a great idea then to release a play-along album for the full Billy Talent experience. However, this novelty is unlikely to create much of a buzz if the tracks you’re playing along to aren’t actually that good.

Another display of creative brilliance from D’Sa and Ben Kowalewicz’s instantly recognisable voice (although disappointingly and very noticably lacking in his powerful screaming this time round) make this a Billy Talent album in the sense that the band members are the same. In terms of the raw, adrenyline-fuelled punk rock punch in the face that should be coming out of the speakers, Billy Talent this is not.

Jess Margera’s driving drums compete with chugging guitars and bass as well as the occasional synthy riff for the biggest sounding instrument on the record. However, far from drowning each other out, the band combine to create some delicious riffs and underlying rhythms. Some nice tempo changes (The Boardwalk Body, Karmaworks) keep things interesting, although after the fifteen track special edition, some of the tracks do seem to blur into each other. Having said that, I think CKY mix up riff, rhythm, solo and vocal melody well enough to keep many tracks memorable, Plagued By Images, Hellions On Parade and A#1 Roller Rager being personal favourites. If the album is let down at all, it’s done so by over-production, potentially a consequence of the label change. Although Deron Miller comes out with some great vocal lines, it all sounds completely unnatural and overly edited. Constant vocal layering, fades and pitch perfect harmonies rob the album of any raw energy; the same can be said for the instrumental tracks which are unnecessarily perfect. Still, if some clean edged, straight up rock is what you’re after, Carver City should not be missed.

The album, released on 19 May, is available on Spotify and check out www.ckyalliance.com for proof of a band that truly has time for its fans.

Not that this takes anything away from Common Dreads. If anything, political protest rather suits Rou Reynolds’ unique vocal talent, ranging from spoken word poetry, via catchy melody, to gutteral screams, often within the space of one song. The band’s signature mix of dancey synth patterns and drop C hardcore is as evident as ever and Common Dreads is different enough from its predecessor to be called an evolution rather than ‘more of the same’.  While there seem to be fewer big chorus sing-alongs on the new album, the band seem to have spent more time on song arrangements and on perfecting the interaction of the various genres which make up an Enter Shikari record. Skitting trance riffs, pounding DnB and syncopated dubstep patterns all intertwine perfectly with frenzied guitar, bass and drums. It’ll be interesting to see whether they manage to pull off these more complicated compositions live.

The album kicks off in suitable style with Solidarity, a monster tune guaranteed to get the pits going this summer and complete with a choral ‘And still we will be here, standing like statues‘ refrain, followed by Step Up which dances from screamo-punk to half time synth-backed breakdowns. Juggernauts needs no introduction, though the album version does extend a couple of sections compared with the single version. Wall features some fantastic analogical lyrics, comparing modern society to a “sordid little house“, trapping its people inside only to find them fighting to get out: “You can’t keep us inside much longer pal, we’ve seen the view from the window.” The second half of the record starts on a calmer note with No Sleep Tonight and Gap In The Fence, the equivalent to Take To The Skies’ Adieu. Zzzonked and The Jester push the genre mix a bit to far for my liking, but Hectic and Fanfare For The Conscious Man prove to be suitably rousing closers for this call-to-arms album.

While perhaps not as memorable as Take To The Skies, Common Dreads sees Enter Shikari continue down the innovative path they’ve created for themselves. It’s an album bulging with huge tracks that are sure to add an extra dimension to ES’s already legendary live shows. Bring on the glow sticks …

“And now the floodgates will open …“

Let The Dominoes Fall, Rancid’s first album with new drummer Branden Steineckert, is full of short, catchy punk rock songs with some obvious reggae/ska influence, though the type of punk rock on the record is hardly the aggressive, in your face music you normally associate with the genre. In the accompanying song by song commentary which can be found on Rancid’s Myspace, Jeff Armstrong (Tim’s brother) says, “When I listen to anything by Rancid, Let The Dominoes Fall included, it’s all about telling stories.  Stories that pull people in, stories that make you feel strong, loyal, love of where you’re from, your town, your region, your country, but also stories about the misuse of power and taking on anyone no matter how big or powerful and pointing out the wrong in the world.” Through the eighteen track album, Rancid work through everything from growing up in the East Bay area, the revival of New Orleans and crew honour to the survival of the band itself, the undeniable change occuring in modern society and the bravery of America’s armed forces. Listening to each song, it does feel like the band is telling a personal story that genuinely means something to them, rather than just spewing out clichéd, meaningless lyrics and this makes for an intriguing listen.

Let The Dominoes Fall is a summer album. It never seems to gather much overall pace or energy, but drifts from laid back blues rock to gentle acoustic tracks to more rocky sing-alongs, with Armstrong’s trademark drawl sharing vocal space with Lars Frederiksen and Matt Freeman to great effect, each song differing enough from the last to keep you listening right to the end. Keep telling the stories …

Check out www.myspace.com/rancid to listen to Let The Dominoes Fall in full before it’s 2 June release. Also have a read of the interesting album commentary on the Myspace page. I’d like to see more bands write/talk about the influences behind their songs like this. Lastly, check out Last One To Die at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxOolgjL_vI

The single itself is great – not at all what I was expecting from Ash, and not really fitting into the ‘lovable pop’ label that they give themselves. Some very indie-sounding, angular guitar sounds mixed with a dirty, gruff bass sound and a driving 16th drum groove with a pinch of synth melody over the choruses and bridge combine to create a fantastic sound. The pace of the track never slows and it’s pretty much impossible not to listen until the end every time.

And what about the ‘A-Z Series’ idea? It’s certainly different and I think it’ll work well for two reasons. Firstly, although physical singles sales have crumbled over the last few years, digital sales of single songs (as opposed to downloads of whole albums) grew 41.5% in 2008. Therefore a consistent release of quality singles will most likely sell well and satisfy the singles-trend of the music-buying public. Secondly, releasing 26 songs separately, rather than over two albums, I think will force Ash to really focus on the quality of each song. In a twelve or thirteen track album,  a weaker song or two can hide amongst an otherwise strong album. In a series of individual singles however, there will be no way of covering a bad song. Equally, fortnightly exposure of new material over a year will do wonders for the publicity of the band itself. Hopefully the singles appetite won’t do anything to harm fans’ ability to sit down and listen to a whole album’s worth of material.

Check out www.ash-official.com for more info about Return Of White Rabbit and about the A-Z Series. I’ve put the single up to listen to on YouTube, as well as another couple of new songs. Follow the links below:

Ash – Return Of White Rabbit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsOACFA3sXA

Innerpartysystem – This Town, Your Grave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRgxyNs0KC0

The King Blues – We Do The Ska: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLrbb8X5qL4

The King Blues – Radio 1 The Punk Show Trailer (remake of What If Punk Never Happened): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V4UTs3YlyY

The band describe themselves as ‘distorted pop’, but I’d avoid using ‘pop’ in describing The Xcerts. When I think of pop (and pop rock) I tend to think of slightly over-produced, very clean sounding records that have often been edited to within an inch of their lives. One of the things I love about In The Cold Wind We Smile however, is the natural feel it has to it. It feels like if the band were to play the same songs in your bedroom, they’d sound just as good. Murray Macleod has a fantastic voice and writes intelligent, poignant lyrics, backed up by some imaginative, quite raw sounding music. Obviously the record does features a few added effects and instruments (such as the piano in Do You Feel Safe? or the xylophone in Home Versus Home) but these always add, rather than take away from the songs, which never lose their natural, almost home-made textures.  This works especially well with Macleod’s voice, ranging from real tenderness in Aberdeen 1987 to rousing assertiveness in the bridge of Crisis In The Slow Lane.

The music itself delivers something more than perhaps you’d expect from three skinny-jean-wearing, fringed 20 year olds: the songs are full of original, delicate melodies, dynamic range and perfectly timed rests, and the occasional ‘woos’ and ‘whoas’ are well thought out to create some nice vocal harmonies. A few subtle lead guitar lines would perhaps take a couple of choruses up to a higher level, but this is by no means a complaint. Melacholic and gentle but stirring and inspiring at the same time, the overall feel of In The Cold Wind We Smile is sublime: a genuinely great album.

Update 22/05/09: The official video for Rusted From The Rain is also now available for watching on www.billytalent3.com.

Plus, official album cover which is cool:

Whereas 2004′s American Idiot was a confrontational indictment of George W Bush’s presidency as it was happening, 21st Century Breakdown is a post-apocalyptic commentary on the pieces left to pick up. The album is divided into three acts – Heroes and Cons, Charlatans and Saints and Horseshoes and Handgrenades – with several themes running through the sections. The storyline follows a couple, Christian and Gloria, as they try make sense of the world around them and consider what the future of humankind will bring. Sound complicated? It is. And this is why I’m disappointed with the album.

While there is a thematic thread running through the whole album, the music just doesn’t flow. It sounds like Green Day have tried to make every single song on the record a rock epic in the style of American Idiot’s Jesus of Suburbia and in doing so, many of them have lost all individuality. A perfect example is the title track: it sounds like three separate sections have just been stuck together because none of them were long enough to stand on their own as songs. The album as a whole feels disjointed, attempting too many styles with too many extra (particularly vocal) effects and instruments (whether this is an influence of new producer, Butch Vig, or not, I have no idea. They were heading this way with American Idiot) and as such, the majority of the 18 songs are thoroughly unmemorable. Only Know Your Enemy and 21 Guns really stand out as great tunes to me.

In terms of achieving what it sets out to achieve, 21st Century Breakdown is a success. Lyrically, the album deals with everything from fanatical religion to the evils of advertising, from prescription drugs to  the denouncement of the ‘modern age’ and reads very much as a list of what’s wrong with the 21st century. In The Observer, Dan Silver wrote that “Green Day’s greatest accomplishment … is the manner in which they’ve constructed a supremely cohesive whole out of such seemingly disparate parts. The characters, themes and motifs that recur throughout 21st Century Breakdown are marshalled into an engrossing narrative.” I agree that there is a lyrical cohesiveness, but I think this time round, the music has taken a back seat to the political narrative. While the result is undoubtedly epic, the catchy, fast-paced, sing-along punk-rock tunes that make Green Day who they are just aren’t there and the album lacks the punch that American Idiot had. Clearly I’m in the minority.