In an interview conducted on NERDSociety.com Sublime With Rome guitarist/vocalist Rome Ramirez talks about joining the long-defunct ska punk band and how it all came to be:

“I met Eric [Wilson, bassist] through a mutual friend and he asked me if I wanted to jam and I said sure, we even did a video on RAWsession together. Next we jammed with Bud for a while and naturally we would play a couple of Sublime songs. After a while the guys were like, do you wanna do this for real and go on tour, I was like, woah.”

For the whole interview head here.

Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz has announced through his twitter account that the long-running punk legends are getting ready to hit the studio this week to record their hotly-anticipated new album. He explains, “threw me a going away [to the studio to record] party and all my friends hung with me tonight – thx everybody, I love you guys”.

No word on an official title or release date yet but is likely due out this fall. The album will be a follow up to 2007’s New Maps of Hell.

In addition to a new album, Bad Religion has been recording a live album during their spring 2010 tour and will be releasing it for free to loyal fans as a “thank you”. The album, 30 Years Live, will be released on May 18th on Epitaph Records. To receive a copy, click here.

Paris, France’s melodic punk outfit Hogwash have posted two tracks to their MySpace page.  The tracks are titled Donna and Safety Buzz and both will appear on their upcoming album Sticker Paralysis, which is due out June 2nd on Bells On Records.

Hogwash released their last album,  Old’s Cool, New’s Cool, in 2008 also on Bells On Records.

Melodic Skatepunk band, Jacuzzi Fiend, has begun writing their first release in 10 years. To kick off production of the new album, they have opened a store on CDBaby.com and are now selling both of their original CDs online for the first time ever.

These days it seems hard for a band to avoid the never-ending landfill of plastic trends and worn out cliches that are rampant in today’s musical landscape. Luckily for us there are still bands like Canada’s IVS that remain true to what made punk rock so great in the first place. It’s like a mad scientist took the best elements of 90’s melodic punk, added catchy metal-influenced riffs, threw them into a magical musical blender, and out popped the tunes of IVS. While still a young band (Their debut release was in 2008) there’s no questioning this quintet’s potential. IVS manages to draw collectively from their influences without being a carbon copy of them or resorting to cheesy song lyrics or themes.  Fans of the speed and melody so prevalent in the 90’s epifat era are going to like what they here so go to their MySpace and give them a listen.

**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.

Slovenia’s Low Value have shown a lot of improvement in their sound and song writing with their new album “Recharge” on High Speed Flower Records; their second album to be exact. Thumbs up goes to Ku-ge for releasing this album as this adds yet another wicked band to his already international punk rock roster. Being from Slovenia brings a challenge to any band since locating musicians that play specifically punk rock is not as easy as you think. Especially when it comes to punk with technical and progressive influences, it makes it an effort to get all the members on the same page while keeping it stable throughout the years. With that being said, Jernej, Matej, Pinky, and Tomaz are one hell of a unit. They all agree on the band’s current direction and they have a broad range of influences that makes the song writing quite diverse. And while I’m at it, you need this in a band today since you cannot always write the same fucking book.

For this new album, the guys recruited the services of the great and upcoming engineer/producer, Matej Gobec, also from the band’s native land. You might have heard Matej’s work with such bands as Multiball and Leaf Fat, for example. With Matej Gobec’s vision and insight of the band, all of the parties involved took it to the extreme in order to get the sound that the band truly deserves. The guys’ previous effort, “The Language of Stolen Music”, was indeed a great piece of work but please keep in mind that the guy behind the knobs was not a follower of the punk/metal genre so it made it a bigger challenge. But what needed to be done got done and the great raw sounding album did well in the underground scene. The album was sold independently through the band in Slovenia (just like this new album) and in Japan through the legendary InYaFace/CR Japan Records – hail Bruce.

So, when a new album comes out a statement of some kind needs to be made, right? Kind of like Belvedere’s “Fast Forward…” with Steve Rawles shouting a big F-U when the album starts off. Well, Matej (bass/vocals) on the other hand gets the train started by yelling out in rage as if he was possessed. Caught your attention, yes, ok good. The album begins with “My Shame”, which is a typical Low Value song that continues from the band’s previous release – fast with great melodies. The recording quality obviously helps. The guitars in the song remind me of Never Been Famous’ work which is always a positive factor (the riffs can make or break a song).  “On the Road” provides a glimpse of what to expect with the band’s newer sound so enjoy and I especially love the drums’ uniqueness, especially the snare work at the 37. mark – it’s small but it adds a lot. As I said before, the guys have experimented much more with their sound as the years have passed since their first album. The pop-punk sound can be heard in many of the guys’ tunes such as “Coming Home”, which could have very well been the band’s first single or maybe a future one?! The chorus is definitely the highlight of this song and definitely one of the best parts of this album. In addition, Matej has really evolved as a song writer and his vocal development from the early years to the present can simply be said as “remarkable”. The melodies and notes that he can hit are jaw dropping; for instance check the part at the 3:09 mark where he sounds like Pavarotti holding a bass guitar. If this can’t be marked as one of the reasons to pay attention to this band then I don’t know what more could be done. It’s a special moment of the album so don’t miss it. “Call to Arms” continues on with a hardcore’ish shouts track that would be a good track to get the crowd involved. But don’t be fooled with this track being only a good live track, it’s long for a reason…the guitar work from Pinky and Jernej starting at the 5:40 mark is simply classic and rest assured, they are definitely taking you on a drive with style. AWS have nothing on these guys when it comes to that part. With “Want You More”, the pop element is much better introduced in a Low Value song. The lyrics and music seem just happier in general than previous tracks. The bridge at 2:22 is the high point in this one and even though short, it truly completes the song. I was waiting for a part like that one and the band did it better than I could of imagined. Did I say poppy before? Well the next track will definitely get you back head banging with some hardcore breaks and a Strung Out’ish blend of wow. Following that track (“Inside of a Monster”), Matej presents to us how much of a sweetheart he is by providing a slow tune that the boys and girls will be able to dance to on the floor. The song in question, “All Alone”, is new territory for the band since it can be up with the good ones of the alternative rock scene. I’m not talking about Canada’s worst Nickleback though. Low Value at least has melodies and musicianship that matter and it gets your attention. Next, you most likely heard “I’m Sorry” on the band’s MySpace page since it’s been released as a preview for the band’s album for a long time now. Like the opening track, it’s pure Low Value. “Burning Down” got me thinking that Low Value really does love this style and they have truly stayed to their roots. Although a short track, it’s a statement that says: “This is what we play and we aren’t fucking changing anytime soon”. The last track, “Threshold” encompasses the band’s work on the album and closes out the album with the kind of song writing that we have gotten from Low Value from the start of this release. Matej continues to shower us with a great chorus line and melodies that only he could pull off for this song.

“Recharge” is a new beginning for Low Value and I truly believe that the band have found their sound. It’s a masterpiece of sorts and must be in the collection of any punk rocker. Slovenia may be small in size but in terms of heart they have some quality bands that are putting the country on the punk map (yet again). Low Value is leading the way and their country mates In-Sane and Golliwog are helping deliver the message to the rest of Europe – Slovenian punk rock should never be ignored. Now to get the North American kids to catch on…

Swedish punk act, Splitside, are streaming another new track, Until Something Good Happens Again, from their upcoming album, This Sinking Ship (listen here).

This Sinking Ship is scheduled for a 12 May 2010 release. Every day until the album’s launch, the band will be releasing a new track to their MySpace.

This Sinking Ship is the follow-up to the band’s 2007 release, Our Days Are Numbered, both of which released on Knuckle Ride Records.

Australian outfit, Paper Arms, are streaming the song Bricks and Mortar from their new release, Days Above Ground on their MySpace page. The four-piece flew their musical idol, Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits, Youth Of Today, CIV, Quicksand and Rival Schools), out to produce the record, which was was released earlier this month on Poison City Records (Australia) and No Idea Records (worldwide).

You can also grab their self-titled demo as a free download right here.

Joey Cape has revealed that Joe Raposo of Rich Kids on L.S.D. will be taking over bass duties for Lagwagon after the recent departure of original member Jesse Bugilone.  This will mark the 3rd RKL member to join Lagwagon’s line-up, after current drummer Dave Raun and former drummer (now deceased) Derrick Plourde.

“We are training a new guy, that I consider a fill in. He is an old friend of ours that I consider a great guy who will most likely become the bass player in Lagwagon,” Cape said in a recent interview.

Cape also said Lagwagon will be touring Europe in late July / August – dates to be announced soon.

Sydney punks, Lungs, are releasing their second, full-length record, The Two Chief World Systems, July 5th on Poison City Records. Having recorded an LP and two EPs in the space of two years, the band took a more relaxed approach for this recording, and spent three months in the studio with producer Lachlan Mitchell. A “tentative” track listing of The Two Chief World can be found here.

Lungs released their last album, Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish, Short in 2008.

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