MayOrWest: We, the End
Sarah Mosqueda

We, the End is the first full length LP for New Jersey-based May or West and the album plays like a study in modern alternative music. Borrowing some elements from other current hard-edged bands, but incorporating a style that Adam, Eric, Pete and Jimmy have be perfecting since 2005, the result is a sound that wouldn’t be the least bit out of place on mainstream alternative radio. Recorded at Big Blue Meenie Studios, where big acts like Thursday and Taking back Sunday have laid down tracks, stylistic whines are laced with metal riffs and relentless drums to create true post-hardcore. Production Superviosr, Tim Gillies and Producer Matt “Debris” Menafro seamless weave a steadily building ablbum with some tracks like the instrumental “The Offensive” acting as a perfect transition between heavy, hard rocking tracks like the title track, “We, the End” and “Scream Therapy” to slower but equally dark tracks, like “The Return.” For all the hard and heavy, MayOrWest understands the importance of soaring vocals, as in “L.A.S.H” and doesn’t shy away from harmonizing. MayOrWest works best when they’re blending what they admire with what they can create and if We, the End can be viewed as any indication then this just may very be the beginning.

DYING IS YOUR LATEST FASHION
EPITAPH RECORDS
‘”I don’t want to come off like an asshole,’ says outspoken Escape the Fate frontman Ronnie, ‘but we’re gonna be that change in music.’” NOT! This Vegas-based quintet, described in its press release as a “hard rock/screamo outfit” has a generic sound that doesn’t break any ground, not to mention that these genres are hardly new. “Ronnie’s vision is of himself as a jukebox hero playing to arenas packed with fans, many of them horny groupies that would kill or die for him. And maybe, if they’re lucky, he’ll deign to acknowledge them.” And: “It used to be fun. Girls used to come to shows and show their titties… If that doesn’t come back, I don’t know what I’m gonna do.” Guitarists Omar and Bryan, bassist Max, and drummer Robert somehow squeeze into the space left in the lineup not taken up by Ronnie’s ego. Shades of Spinal Tap and SNIFF THE GLOVE!
-tekolote