Delaware post-hardcore pioneers BoySetsFire have announced three tour dates for this summer – here are the details:

6/2/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
6/3/11 – New York, NY @ The Studio at Webster Hall
6/4/11 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes

The band’s last release was 2006’s The Misery Index: Notes From The Plague Years

Let me start off this review with a warning – if you hear Joyce Manor‘s self-titled album, you’re probably going to want to catch them on their US summer tour to see if their energy as a live band can match the sound of this album. Date for that tour are available here, but you’re going to be pissed if you hear the album and then find out that they aren’t playing near you.

So Joyce Manor hasn’t been around that long – just over 2 years, according to their MySpace page – but they’ve already made some big moves. After putting out an EP, Constant Headache, last April and touring their butts off, they signed to 6131 Records this fall to release their debut full-length. The band’s frantic sound and frequent tempo changes take you through rock, punk, surf, and pop sounds to arrive at the enjoyable madness that is their self-titled full-length. Buckle up.

Many songs on this album, including the opening track Orange Julius, start off fast and bright almost to the point of finding a raw, garage rock guitar tone. This usually gives way to subdued verses and a return to the abrasive sound during the choruses, and then a bridge or outro.

Others, like Beach Community and Derailed, start off slower but keeping the same guitar tone – I want to say it reminds me of Weezer in the way it keeps you interested with the promise of more to come. Regardless, these songs build to power-poppy choruses and keep the energy up until they close.

In either case, Joyce Manor keeps it interesting by varying the song structures and tempos within each song, as well as keeping the energy cranked way up and the sound pretty raw and untamed. The album reminds me a lot of Long Island’s The Arrogant Sons Of Bitches (who are sadly no longer a band, but spawned Bomb The Music Industry!) and DC’s The Max Levine Ensemble, as well as Propaghandi.

Having heard a few of these songs on the band’s Constant Headache EP (which you can hear at the band’s BandCamp page), I’ll say that the band has gotten more creative with their song structures and sound without losing what made them fun for me to listen to in the first place – their manic energy. I’m very excited to see and hear what else Joyce Manor has in store for us.

**The Album Reviews published on Dying Scene are written and submitted by regular users of the site. These users are not professional music critics nor are they paid for what they write. 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.

It’s been six years since Canadian pop-punkers Chixdiggit have released new material – their last album was 2005’s Pink Razors (they also re-released their debut album in 2007). Safeways Here We Come is a seven-song EP, long-awaited, from a band that’s been around for more than two decades. So what sort of release do you get when a veteran band waits half a decade to put out new songs?

In this case, it’s just OK.

I was pretty excited for this release, and jumped on the opportunity to review it. Chixdiggit, while not one of my favorite bands, is a group I’ve been aware of for a long time, and I’ve always liked what I heard from them. When I first listened to Safeways, however, I had no strong feelings. I didn’t immediately love or hate it. My reaction was simply, “meh.”

The EP starts off fairly strong. The opening, “Miso Ramen,” is poppy and fun, full of hooks and catchy lyrics. “Swedish Rat,” the second track, is another decent number, this time about a weird haircut.

I found the third track, “Since You Got a Dog,” irritating, mainly because of the subject matter. It’s my least favorite song on the album. Knowing the band, it’s probably supposed to be a joke, but it’s a topic I freely admit to having no sense of humor about. Any song with a line about wishing someone would send their dog back to the pound will completely lose me. The record may have gotten an extra star without it.

The next two tracks, “Found Love” and “Hot n Horney” are pretty typical of Chixdiggit – melodic pop punk songs about girls. Both are solid, and along with “Miso Ramen” (also about girls) show that doing what you know you’re good at is a pretty reliable way to make a decent record.

“I Hate Basketball” is not about girls, but it still kind of great, at least for someone who also hates basketball and would rather watch hockey. It’s melodic and catchy, the lyrics are witty, and the only problem I can find is that the opening riff made me think of “Here Comes the Bride” the first time I heard it, so now I can’t get that comparison out of my mind.

The album closes with “I Hope Things Will Turn Around,” which is easily the best on the EP. Like all of their stuff, this song has strong hooks, good guitar riffs and smooth vocals. It’s the least humorous of the seven tracks, and the most mature-sounding. It’s like the band grew up over the course of a few short songs, and the closer almost redeems the disaster that is “Since You Got a Dog.” After a bunch of tracks about girls, sports and dog-hating, it seems downright deep and introspective – a refreshing foray into adulthood.

Overall, Safeways Here We Come is pretty predictably safe for the band. It’s a solid EP, not a bad effort, but it isn’t dazzling. After waiting six years for Chixdiggit to release new material, this is slightly underwhelming. It’s tight but not fresh; a respectable example of what we already know they are good at, but not anything innovative. It’s a solid three out of five stars: right in the middle, not exceptionally great and not exceptionally bad.

Good news for fans of the NYC punk band After The Fall – the band has recently announced that they’re writing for an LP to follow October’s Eradication. No word yet on when to expect the new album, but the band recently announced a string of tour dates to support Eradication, which was released on Mightier Than Sword Records.

The forthcoming LP will be the band’s fourth full-length release.

Alabama metalcore band Gideon have posted a new track from their album Costs, which comes out next Tuesday (March 1) on Strike First Records. The track Unworthy can be heard on the band’s Facebook page.

Costs will be the band’s first release on Strike First.

Brooklyn based rockers I Hate Our Freedom has just announced their plans to release their debut LP EP on Mightier Than Sword Records. The album, entitled Seriously, is set to hit stores March 1, however, for a little peak into what the new material is all about, head to the band’s MySpace page and listen to some of the tracks, including Sober Sunday, Stand In Line, Die In Your Sleep, and more. For the complete tracklisting, head here.

Here’s what MTS had to say about the band and the album, “boasting scene veterans from bands such as Garrison, Thursday, Texas Is The Reason, and Milhouse, I Hate Our Freedom blare through ten songs in less than 20 minutes. Stripped of its niceties, Seriously immediately grabs the listener with the vicious album opener Top 8, and dizzies them with a barrage of post-hardcore influenced, no-frills rock and roll. Lead by the vocal assault of vocalist/guitarist Joseph Grillo, album standout and first single Batting Practice is “a tongue in cheek reference to us writing (or NOT writing) a hit single and the foolishness in that sort of belief process,” says Grillo. “I’m more interested in Art than Marketing,” he adds.”

I Hate Our Freedom has some shows planned in the near future, so be sure to keep checking back on Dying Scene for more information.

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Birmingham skate punkers Laughing In The Face Of have posted the music video for their song “Positively Apathetic.”

You can watch it here.

The song appears on their new album “The Lubrication Of Social Anxiety” which hit stores yesterday through Lockjaw Records.

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Last month we detailed Man Overboard‘s expected release, The Absolute Worst. Today, the EP drops in stores and we have for your listening enjoyment a stream for one of the two songs to be released. The track, The Absolute Worst, is available on the band’s Facebook page. Check it out here.

According to Rise Records, Man Overboard is currently touring the UK with Senses Fail and will return to the U.S. to begin a week of dates with The Wonder Years and Handguns, which will be followed by a major US Tour with Senses Fail, The Ghost inside and Transit…[the band] has also been added to the lineup for the annual Bamboozle festival in East Rutherford, NJ on May 1.

The band also stated plans for, “a new collection of B-Sides, EPs and other assorted tracks to be announced soon,” entitled Human Highlight Reel. Keep checking back for updates on this upcoming release.

Man Overboard’s latest release was last year’s Real Talk, which came out on Run For Cover Records.

A couple of weeks ago, we reported on Rise Against’s upcoming album, Endgame, which is set to hit stores March 15 on Interscope Records.

Today, the band has released a video (the third of five) of the members messing around in the recording studio. In the video, lead guitarist Zach Blair talks about his dreams to be the singer in a punk band, and then makes these dreams a reality with a rocking song about a popular social networking site. Can you say new single?!

Check out the video right here.

Rise Against’s latest album is their 2008 release, Appeal To Reason, which came out on Interscope.

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