Pop-punkers Man Overboard have released a live album for free download entitled “Live At Leeds.”

You can grab the free download as well as check out the tracklisting here.

The band dropped their latest EP “The Absolute Worst” last February via Rise Records.

Denver melodic punk act Crooked Ways have decided to call it quits. Here’s what they had to say,

“After four years as a band, we’ve decided to call it quits. No drama, no broken friendships, no broken edges, no creative burnout. We played the music that we wanted to play, had countless adventures, and never sacrificed our integrity to fit a mold. We’d like to say thanks to everyone who has supported us inside and out of Denver. The friendships that we’ve made along our journeys will continue long after the memory of this band has faded. The last 5 songs that we recorded will be made available for free download. Right now we’re in the process of scheduling our final show. Keep an eye out for an announcement soon. ”

You can grab a free download of their newest final EP here.

Their guitarist Zach has started a new band called Sleeping Weather and you can check it out here.

After a number of teaser EP’s English melodic hardcore/punkers Radicus will release their upcoming EP, “The Bigger Noise,”April 18th via Disconnect Disconnect Records. The album is a combination of the bands latest EP ‘The Big Noise’ along with 4 other tracks from the vaults, all remastered and repackaged together as one release.

From the press release:

With a sound that is fast and in your face, but also technically impressive and melodic, Radicus not only combine the sounds of such bands as A Wilhelm Scream, With Honor and Rise Against, but create their own melodic hardcore identity, one with a distinctly British feel in what is often an American and Canadian dominated scene. Having been together for 6 years, Radicus’ hard work and extensive local gigging has pushed them on from being yet another local punk band, to one at the top of the UK scene, and soon to be hitting the European scene.

Saskatchewan’s melodic punk act Cricket are streaming 4 new songs on their MySpace page.  “Tattered Tom”, “Irish Drinking Song”, “Sink Or Swing” and “Live To Write” will all appear on the band’s brand new album “220 Beats Per Minute,” which was released earlier this week.

The fellas are heading out on tour on Monday.  Check out the dates and locations here.

LA prog-metal band The Human Abstract have posted a music video for “Patterns” off their most recent release “Digital Veil.”  You have to “like” it to see it, which you can do right here.

“Digital Veil” was released March 8th, and marks the band’s first release on E1 Records. Their previous home was Hopeless Records.

Pennsylvania based pop punk act Handguns have premiered the music video for their song “A Year in Review” and you can check it out right here.

The song appears on their recently released album “Don’t Bite Your Tongue” which dropped February 22nd, 2011 on Pure Noise Entertainment.

New Jersey pop-punk act Neighborhoods are streaming two new tracks on their facebook page.  Both “Finer Things” and “Family Values” will appear on their upcoming album, “Facing A Lifetime” and you can stream them here.

No official word yet on a release date but pre-orders should be available soon.

Breathe easy screamo/post-hardcore fans. At long last, the 2011 edition of the Pyknic Partery Tour has finally taken shape. The month-long jaunt kicks off in mid-June  and will feature headline act In Fear And Faith.

Joining IFAF will be Massachusetts-based post-hardcore act Vanna,  Paper + Plastick act A Loss For Words,  Rise Records‘ Ten After Two, San Diego band Adestria and Cincinnati post-hardcore band Close To Home. Click here for the whole rundown.

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Here’s one for our Croatian punk fans (halo dečki!). Koprivnica-based punk outfit Overflow have set a release date for their new album, and that date is…this Friday, April 15th! Strašan! The new album is entitled “Hit Me,” and it’s Andrew WK-inspired artwork can be seen over on the left.

“Hit Me” was recorded in a studio that once hosted the likes of David Bowie and Bon Jovi, and includes a song called “Aggressive Krishna Boys,” so you know it’s going to be good. Click here for more info.

In a world where pop stars reign supreme, it isn’t hard to imagine that the members of Rejected Kids were the odd ones out in high school. After all, what’s weirder than the ability to craft good music and to *gasp* actually be able to play musical instruments? Rejected Kids have these talents in spades, and show them off on their latest effort, “A New Chapter Has Begun.”

Rejected Kids manage to combine musical influences like Slick Shoes, Autopilot Off, Rufio and New Found Glory, leading listeners to expect them to hail from California, or from a tiny American Midwestern town. You’d be wrong on both counts, as Rejected Kids are actually from Tangerang, Indonesia. In fact, most listeners probably wouldn’t realize that the band aren’t from North America until digging through the album’s liner notes to decipher song lyrics.

Sadly, like the many of the bands that Rejected Kids resemble, they manage to fall into one major trap of the style of music they play: there is little differentiation between the songs. While each individual track is well-written, cohesive and melodic and the album as a whole certainly isn’t bad, it is perhaps a little difficult to listen to in one sitting.

Where Rejected Kids manage to stand out is in the fact that the band is a cohesive unit of very competent musicians. They have a tight rhythm section, and great technical guitar work shines out on the album. To top it off, the band are singing in not just one but two different languages which, at the very least, definitely sounds neat.

The album starts off with the track “Too Early To Rise,” which has the classic hardcore instrumental opening- the ‘impending doom on your eardrums’ build up that leads into frenzied guitar work and fan headbanging. The second track has a very New Found Glory-esque chant going on in the background, while the vocals then take over much of the song. This isn’t a bad thing, as it gives rejected Kids a chance to show off what they do best.

The heavy focus of the track tends to be the instrumentation, and vocals typically to take a backseat. The track “Dystopia” sounds like it came right off a NFG b-sides album, especially with the group chanting. The lead singer’s vocals sound very Rufio-influenced, which could get grating if the vocals were much more prominent.

All in all, Rejected Kids appear to have a very good idea of their strengths and weaknesses, and know how to play to those strengths. It is a very solid effort from the band, and can definitely become the album that you can’t bear to take out of your CD player in time.

**The Album Reviews published on Dying Scene are written and submitted by fans of punk music, just like you. If you disagree with an album’s rating, feel free to voice your opinion and give it your own rating in the comments. If you’d like to submit your own review do it here.