Ohio’s metalcore group The Devil Wears Prada have just announced the title of their upcoming album. “Dead Throne” will be released September 13th on Ferret. And if that bit of news wasn’t enough for you, the band has also posted a second studio update that you can watch right here.

The Devil Wears Prada last released an EP titled “Zombie” August 24th, 2010 on Ferret.

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No, it’s not a blatant My Chemical Romance rip-off. San Diego’s rock group Unwritten Law has released the music video for their song “Sing” off their newest album “Swan”. You can check it out right here.

“Swan” was released on March 29th on Suburban Noize Records. Check out our review of “Swan” here.

The Rochester punks in Polar Bear Club have said their goodbyes to long-time drummer Emmett Menke, and are now welcoming Tyler Mahurin (ex-A Static Lullaby) as his replacement. You can read Menke’s departure statement below:

“After a great deal of thought, toil, and what have you’s, I’ve decided to permanently leave my post as the drummer for Polar Bear Club. At about the same time PBC decided to be a full time band almost 3 years ago my daughter Milo was born. It was a constant struggle maintaining a healthy home life when we were out playing 200 shows a year and it came to the point where I just had to do the right thing as a Dad and walk away. I love my brothers in Polar Bear Club and wish them the best. I had the pleasure of writing and recording 35 songs with the most talented people I’ve ever played music with. I’ve seen more of the world than I ever thought I would. Thanks to all the friends I’ve made along the way. I’ll truly miss you and hope I get to see you all again someday”

At least he’s leaving on good terms.

In other news, Polar Bear Club is going to be sharing a stage with Strike Anywhere next month in Rochester, NY.

Seriously, Tom DeLonge alluded to some stadium rock qualities present in this ever-elusive sixth Blink-182 album:

“We have these songs that are total throwbacks, exactly what people know blink is. Then we have songs…that are madly different and experimental, (and) songs that are prog-rock blink music, taking a blink song but (adding) stadium rock qualities to it. I really think we have a tremendous, diverse palette. We will have the album that I think is really modern and relevant to where we are in our career.”

Who knows? This could be a good thing. At least there are “total throwbacks”. But the better news is the band is handing in the first single of the new album on July 3rd (yes, right around the corner!), which means we’ll finally have that new Blink song just as they head out for the Honda Civic Tour. Nice!

Boston ska act Big D and the Kids Table are giving fans a taste of what’s to come on their new album via a stream of their new song “Walls,” which you can check out here.

The album is called “For The Damned, The Dumb, And The Delirious,” and it is being released July 5th via Side One Dummy.

Big D last released “Rude Remix Revolution” in 2009.

NOFX frontman and punk rock icon, Fat Mike, recently spoke to Exclaim about the infamous Cokie the Clown performance at SXSW in 2010, in which he fooled the audience into thinking they drank his urine.

“Just so your readers know, I had that planned for a month, and I did do a secret performance of that a few days before that.”

He also had some comments regarding Screeching Weasel frontman, Ben Weasel’s onstage debacle at last year’s SXSW where the singer ended up attacking a female audience member.

“I don’t think it’s horrible because he punched a girl. I think it’s horrible because he punched someone who’s smaller and weaker than him.”

It’s a quick and interesting read.  Check it out here.

Dwarves are one of the few punk bands that span time, genre and good taste with veritable ease.  Blag Dahlia fronts the seminal punk rock band who are celebrating 25 years together in 2011, an achievement most modern day marriages won’t be able to hold a candle to.  As part of the event, the band released “Dwarves Are Born Again” in May of this year which was the long awaited follow-up to their 2004 release “Dwarves Must Die.”

We sent a few questions to Blag who answered them in true Dwarves style.  We talked about the longevity of the band, “Dwarves Are Born Again,” boring young bands, being the band that says what everyone is thinking and how they have  “made the best records in punk.”  They even teach us a thing or two.  Check out the full interview here.

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“In This Life Or The Next” is the second album by the Minneapolis four-piece known as My Lady Four, and I must say…it’s a good album. Good, but not great.

For most people, the music that My Lady Four makes would probably fall into the pop-punk category, but that’s not a term that I would associate with this band. For me, pop-punk has always been a way to describe bands like Good Charlotte or New Found Glory or more recently Paramore and this band sounds nothing like those three. My Lady Four falls into a genre that I now call ‘radio friendly punk’ (it used to be called ‘alternative’) they inhabit the same space as bands like Rise Against, A.M. Taxi and The Gaslight Anthem. You know, bands that were obviously influenced by punk rock but still have a sound that is easily accessible to the average music listener.  Almost every song on “In This Life Or The Next” would fit nicely on an alternative/Modern rock radio station.

Now that you have a bit of an idea of the type of music that this band makes (more on that to come) I want to take a moment to tell you where this band excels. This is a highly-skilled group of musicians. The music that they create sounds like something that a band that has been together for a decade would produce, not something released by a group that was formed a few years ago from an add on Craigslist. My Lady Four know how to put a song together and vocalist, Brian Schwarz can sing (he writes some damn good lyrics too). Brian has a voice that can be very strong at times and very soft at others and he sounds just as good either way. Lyrically, the band explore topics like depression, troubled relationships and introspection (you know, the usual topics) but their songs are written much better than most of their contemporaries.

Now comes the part of the review where I tell you the negative aspects of this album. I know that this is a relatively new band (they’ve only been together for three years or so) but I feel that they have yet to fully find their own sound. While I listened to this album I was constantly reminded of other groups. None of these songs sound like they are direct rip-offs but there were a lot of similarities. I’m going to break down each song and give you my take on them.

“You Played With Fire” starts off the album with a cool intro, (it sounds like you’re hearing the song through a brick wall) then dives into one of the hardest, most rockin’ tracks on the disc. It’s a great song that has a bit of a Rise Against sound to it.

“Fear Of Falling” is another of the harder tracks. This one also has a familiar feeling to it but I can’t quite place it. This one is more rock influenced than punk.

“Shipwrecked” is the first of four (yes, I said four) songs that sound an awful lot like Jimmy Eat World. This one is a slower, acoustic guitar based song. It’s one of the better songs on here and has a heavy bassline that shows up all over the album.

“Wait, Wait” reminds me of Fall Out Boy, especially the vocals at the beginning of the track and during the chorus. This is the song that I like the least on here. I still wouldn’t say that the track is horrible, just not my style.

“Believe” – Vocally, this one has a very, very slight MCR sound to it. It’s another of the harder songs but has some acoustic guitar towards the end. Another really good one.

“This is Energy” is, as the title suggests, an upbeat, energetic song. This is the second song that makes me think of Fall Out Boy (and cringe).

“Hope and Faith” is a piano based song that, from the music to the lyrics and even the vocal inflections has Jimmy Eat World written all over it. If I’d have heard this track on the radio, I would have sworn that this WAS Jimmy Eat World. This song is slow and quiet at the start and builds to a faster, louder song by the end. Good song but this one sounds too similar to the above-mentioned band.

“I am My Own Keeper” starts out with an ’80’s inspired guitar part that reminds me of a ‘Duran Duran’ song before turning into song #3 of the Jimmy Eat World influenced foursome. This one is more upbeat and a little bit angry.

“…In This Life Or The Next” finishes of the Jimmy Eat World sounding songs (and the actual album). The piano makes another appearance here. It’s another song that starts slow and builds from there. It’s a good song, even if it does sound just like the other group that I’ve mentioned several times in this review, right down to the vocal harmonies and the guitar work. The fade out at the end of the song sounds so much like the beginning of the Jimmy Eat World song “Big Casino”, that I’ve got to wonder if they did it on purpose.

So there you have it. My Lady Four is a very talented band that seems to have a bit of an identity crisis; they haven’t really “Invented” their own identity yet. Even though I think they sound a lot like other bands, I still say that “In This Life Or The Next” is a good album. The songs are solid, musically and vocally and the lyrics are well written. Now if the band could just settle into a sound that is their own, I think their next record could be great.

The Bastard Suns are streaming a brand new song on their MySpace page.  It’s called “Wasted” and it will appear on their “Summer” EP, which is the final release of their Band For All Seasons project.

The EP will be released online on the band’s website and most online music retailers in early July.

The Bastard Suns will be hitting the road this summer.  For dates and locations refer to their tour poster here.

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Sublime With Rome, have premiered the official music video for their song “Panic” off their upcoming album “Yours Truly.” Check it out here.

“Yours Truly” will be out on July 12th via Fueled By Ramen.

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