I don’t know if I’m just in a weirdly good mood or what but I’m really enjoying this new song from Brazilian pop-punk act Phone Trio.  It’s called The Good Flight Vs The Good Life and it appears on their latest album Houston We Have A Problem.  Give it a listen on their label, Three Tails Records MySpace page.

Hell if I know when this album comes out or how you can get your hands on it but if you’re in the mood for some cheesy pop-punk give them a listen.

Baltimore, MD, is a town that gets grouped with Detroit and Buffalo as industrial giants that have been left behind. And like its’ sister cites to the north and west, it continues to produce bands playing aggressive music in exciting new ways. Trapped Under Ice has been a carrier of that banner for Baltimore since the band’s inception in 2007, playing a mix of hardcore and metal with darker, more aggressive tones than the hardcore youth-crew rally cries can provide. After forming, releasing a demo, and signing Reaper Records in 2007, TUI released the 7″ Stay Cold in 2008. Reminiscent of NYHC bands like Crown of Thornz, Sheer Terror, and Breakdown, Stay Cold received critical acclaim and propelled the band into the forefront of the global hardcore scene. In August 2009, the boys dropped another huge album with Secrets Of The World, which captures the band’s monsterous raw power and fearless attitude. They released a video for Believe off the album – check it out here for a taste of what they’re like live. Like the city that spawned them, Trapped Under Ice is tough as hell and they aren’t leaving anytime soon.

Ontario melodic punk act Hands Of The Few are streaming a brand new song on their MySpace page.  The song is called Antidote and I’m assuing it will appear on a new EP currently in the works.  The band claims the song will only be up today (Sunday) so check it out while you can.

Hands Of The Few released their debut self-titled EP in June 2009.

Austrian punk band Red Lights Flash have posted the music video for their song The Tiniest Bit Of Truth and you can check it out right here.

The track appears on the band’s most recent release, For Your Safety, released last year.

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Folk punk act Unwelcome Guests have released a digital EP creatively titled 4 Songs.  Not surprisingly, it consists of 4 tracks: Track #1 has never been released anywhere before. Tracks #2, #3 are rerecorded versions of the songs on the Saint Sweetheart split 7″ released on Traffic Street Records. #4 was originally released on a Dirt Cult Records mixed tape, this version is remastered.

You can stream it right here.

James Austin (Anchor Arms lead singer/guitarist) confirmed today that rumors of the band’s demise were indeed true as he moves on full time with his new project Eight Ghosts.  Here’s his full statement which includes an update on what’s going on with Eight Ghosts:

well, it’s been awhile, and a lot of people have asked me about the arms lately and or told me they’ve “heard rumors” so i figure i should probably address the state of our band. the reality is that we’re pretty much done, i’d disclaim it with a “never say never” type thing, but we really haven’t talked much lately and things got weird. i take the entirety of the blame for our demise. i have a lot of emotional issues and suffer from maniac depression and a severe panic disorder. it can certainly make me extremely difficult to deal/work with and at times is debilitating. often times when i’ve wanted to travel or do things with the band, my mental status has made it literally impossible for me to do so. i try my ASS of everyday to do better and be better with it, but it is a daily struggle. i gave everything i had to give to anchor arms and i know craig, brian and nick did as well. at the end of the day, i’m sure they simply couldn’t continue to work with me in a situation where i was an integral part of the process, i sang and played guitar, kinda hard to do a vocal free show. i wish things could’ve been different believe me, but i think a new start might help us all out. i’m now performing as Eight Ghosts and am currently recording songs for a split 7″ with current Casting Out/former Boy Sets Fire vocalist Nathan Gray’s solo project. that’s coming out on Fail Safe Records soon, then after that i’m doing a full length which will be co-released on Death to False Hope Records and Fail Safe. the arms guys and i haven’t spoken much lately, i think space is a good thing for now. i love and care deeply for those guys, but being friends is more important to me that playing music with them. Nick is back playing full time in Assassinate the Scientist and i think craig and bri are just enjoying some time with loved ones right now. i’m going to tour with Eight Ghosts starting regionally in about 2 or 3 months, nationally after that, so if you want me to play where you are, please lemme know and i’ll get there. you can reach me at quizmo31@aol.com, here or on the eight ghosts facebook thing. if you ever listened to an Anchor Arms song, came to a show, enjoyed what we did etc, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! it meant a lot more to us that i can express here. sorry for being crazy.

Anchor Arms’ last LP, Cold Blooded, came out in 2008 on Fail Safe Records.

Los Angeles rock/metal/sorta-punkish group Cry Havoc are offering up their latest release The Shy, The Sick, The Wicked for free download.

This band is really cool but their musical style is hard to describe. If you like Metal-Infused Punk such as Death By Stereo and/or Skyline Collapse you should check them out.

Florida’s Nightlights and Go Rydell have announced that they will be touring the U.S. East Coast together.  Check out the dates here.

You can stream Nightlights’  latest EP Long Way Home in it’s entirety here.

**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.

To say that the boys in The Gaslight Anthem had a lot to live up to following The ’59 Sound would be a profound understatement, to say the least. Yet from the opening drum beats of the title track, “American Slang”, to the building climax of the finale, “We Did It When We Were Young,” this album resonates with with even more vibrant emotions, powerful lyrics, and catchy melodies than its predecessor. All of these only serve as evidence of a great young band maturing for the better.

One of this band’s strongest suits, especially with this album, has always been lead singer Brian Fallon’s extremely poetic way with words and especially the emotive power with which he delivers them. Comparisons have been quickly drawn to Bruce Springsteen, but I’ll go out on a limb to say that Fallon has one of the most emotionally charged voices since Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam). It’s almost as if he sings with two scales – pitch and pure energy – really punching each line home.

“Did you grow up lonesome and one of  a kind ? Were your records all you had to pass the time?” asks Fallon in “Queen of Lower Chelsea.” Honestly, it’s lines like these that make his lyrics so great. They are universal without being cliche, powerful without being snobby. And if that wasn’t enough, they pull the listener in – making them an integral part of the song. With each listen I find more personal meaning in every line, and from what I gather from other people, they get their own meaning out of it too. Not only is this a key point of lyrics, but one of the basic purposes of music itself.

Concluding on “We Did It When We Were Young” is the perfect grand-slam ending to this album. Taking the ballad-esque feel of “Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts” (concluding track of off the Senor and the Queen EP) and slowly building up the track, it really showcases everything that is great about this band. The simple but effective guitar leads, the passion and soul, great vocal harmonies and simple but effective lyrics that are easy to relate to.

With all eyes on them, The Gaslight Anthem have proved that a little bit of maturity and evolution is nothing to be terrified of. In fact, sometimes it’s just what we needed. As the band mentioned in one of their in-studio videos posted leading up to the release of American Slang, they are really looking to put the soul back into music. If that is their mission statement, than they are and even bigger success than they already seem to be.

Powerpop-punk band, Just Surrender, are doing a full-album stream of their upcoming release, Phoenix, on their Facebook page.

The album is officially due out June 22nd on Razor & Tie Records.