Sound the Sirens Magazine was an online music, film, television, culture, and current affairs magazine whose editor/founder came of age during the mid-90s punk explosion.

History

Sound the Sirens Magazine was founded in 2001 as a punk/hardcore music magazine. In the early days of online music/film/culture magazines, we shared space amongst the most frequented and trusted sources for reviews, interviews, and features. We became The Marshalltown and began publishing under the new name in 2010. The magazine went on hiatus in 2014 and returned to regular publishing as Sound the Sirens Magazine in January 2019. It is now back on hiatus, but our content remains as an archive for all the writers who have contributed their time and ideas to the history of this magazine.

Thank you for reading.

- Editor

Philadelphia’s Crossed Keys are an interesting intersection between melodic hardcore and punk, taking an earnest approach to the sound that made its way from the underground in the late 90s and early 2000s. This relatively new outfit is the result of Kid Dynamite and Samiam in a blender- in the best way possible. The Kid Dynamite influence may be a given since Crossed Eyes features KD’s drummer Dave Wagenschutz, but the band’s pedigree also includes members of bands like Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer and The Curse, all backing the melancholic vocal work of frontman Joshua Alvarez (Halo of Snakes). So while Crossed Keys are somewhat new, its members have been cutting their teeth within their respective circles for years, and their new EP Saviors shows the work of well-seasoned musicians finding new energy in old sounds.

Saviors is backboned by the furious urgency and energy that Kid Dynamite showed through their history, but while Jason Shevchuk’s vocals were beautifully abrasive, Alvarez takes a more restrained, wistful approach to singing. Songs like the opening “Times of Grace” are musically up-tempo percussions and razor-sharp guitars, but are buoyed by Alvarez’s more melodic vocals. His vocals rest at a good place between Samiam’s Jason Beebout and that NYHC tone exhibited by bands like Token Entry and Grey Area. In songs like “R.J.A” and the closing title track, Crossed Keys find more success with their brand of blistering speed meets harmony- slowing down only for the kind of melancholic punk that made Samiam a noted name. While much of Saviors is built on pace, it wasn’t always this way for the band. In fact, their 2017 EP, I’m Just Happy That You’re Here, leans closer to Samiam than it does to Kid Dynamite (the song “Jeff Pelly vs. The Empire” is particularly fantastic), so there’s been an uptick of urgency with Saviors.

For fans of any of the aforementioned bands here, there is plenty to like with Crossed Keys and plenty to like in Saviors. It’s succinct, to the point, but filled with ample reflection and exploration that gives the EP depth and resonance. Any band that has found influence from Kid Dynamite is most certainly OK by us (this site is named after a KD song after all), but Crossed Keys does more than just tip their cap. This one’s a really good one, and worth your time.

(Hellminded Records)

Southern California’s Gameface were always a band that seemed perfect just below the cusp. Their brand of pop-tinged punk was somewhere in between the melancholy driven emo of the early 1990s to what would become of radio-friendly punk bands evolving from the Jimmy Eat Worlds of the… world.

I loved this band. It was songs like “My Star” and “When You’ve Had Enough” that captured my attention. They didn’t fit in with the punk explosion of the mid-90s and had more melodic chops than those that remained in the underground with bands like Quicksand and Texas is the Reason (the latter being the most musically similar).

To this day, I count their track “How Far Is Goodbye?” as one I can listen to on any given day and still feel the same way about it as I did years ago. It’s a glorious sound of a time gone by, and Jeff Caudill, who has been the backbone of their songwriting since the beginning, has still got the chops his ilk can only dream of. There’s a tinge of melancholy that conjures up a certain sadness, a scene in a movie where the protagonist is making their exit into the distance as the scene closes. Something about the song, the sentiment, and the lyrics that always reminds of driving away while looking at the rear view mirror.

Five years ago Gameface released a new album, Now Is What Matters, an album that perfectly encapsulated their ability to write with emotion, melody, and magnetism that only a select few seem to possess. I interviewed frontman Jeff Caudill before the album came out to chat about the band, an interview I think still holds up. Caudill has been busy since then with a lot of solo material, while the band themselves have been releasing music sporadically (mostly singles) since 2014.

While their catalog is deep, there’s one song I keep coming back to, and that’s “How Far Is Goodbye?”. Originally released on the split 10″ vinyl with Errortype: 11 in 2000, the song received an update in 2018, which you can hear below.

Gameface photo from Gameface facebook page.

Pine are buoyed by the great vocal work of Darlene Deschamps. Her voice soars through tracks like "Memento" and the terrific "Lusk". The latter in particular is a great example of how Pine lull you into a sense of calm before it explodes in a collage of symphonic distortion and post-rock twinkling. In "Sunder" they ascend to louder, more expansive sounds. The song is a great combination of thick, fuzzy guitars, mid-tempo percussion work, and that pained vocal delivery that gives the song an extra punch in the guts.

The album took an impressive 2 years to finish, and you can hear the trials and tribulations of that gestation period through the songs. There's pain, sadness, anger and frustration in songs like the intro "Within You" and the more new emo-esque "Swollen", but also beauty, and as the album concludes, a sense of incredible catharsis. The record SOUNDS great too, with production values (by a production team that includes Will Yip, who has helmed records by Circa Survive, Braid, Saosin, and the Bouncing Souls to name a few) adding to the grand cinematic finish of the record.

For those who love what emo was in the mid to late 90s will find much to like about Pine just as much as those who like Explosions in the Sky and their post-rock brethren. Pine have been crafting their sound over the last few years and while their previous EP Pillow Talk showed a solid foundation, this new self-titled record is the work of a band close to the height of their abilities. Moving, beautiful, and littered with life's roller coaster of emotions as songs, Pine is definitely recommended listening.

(No Sleep Records)

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Railer takes cues from the more serious musical tones the band have exhibited since 2005's Resolve. While much of Railer is still up-tempo, guitar-fueled melodicore, it's got traces of the heavier that shows Lagwagon haven't forgone any of the urgency despite their "age". From the opening "Stealing Light" and the blazing cut "Surviving California", Joey Cape and company show that there's still a lot of passion and fire in their songwriting. Cape's voice is as distinct as it was on Duh as it is today; giving their music another unwavering constant. There is very little letting up through the album's 12 tracks, save the occasional deviation like the melodicore-turn-new wave outing "Jini" (evoking Let's Talk About Feelings and tracks like "Leave the Light On"). In the terrific "Parable", Lagwagon paints a biblical song of introspection, despair, and hope, wrapped in Cape's clever lyrical wordplay ("Where do we begin / Wonder is a sin / A dog that we name dogma / The cat we won't forgive / We'd go outside to play / But it's not safe today"), while the bouncy "Bubble" is a fun, wistful outing of old memories and a longing for yesterdays long gone ("Throwback in the van / Cranking the oldies like Samiam / Jawbreaker, Mr. T Experience / Never rock anything new").

A cover of Journey's "Faithfully" is a great closing, and like the many covers Lagwagon have done before (their cover of "Brown Eyed Girl" is still the best), show their willingness to underline the more serious nature of some of their songs with lightheartedness. It is a small but important part of Lagwagon's long appeal. They have always had the ability to write great songs, but have never once forgotten who they are. Railer is proof that a Lagwagon record will probably always sound like a Lagwagon record, and while that may feel like a detriment to some, it is, in reality, one of their great strengths. Cape has been involved with many different music projects over the years. He's experimented with different sounds with Bad Astronaut, written solo material under his own name, and of course, been part of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. But for all the different music he's created, Lagwagon has always been Lagwagon.

Railer is remarkable because songs like "The Suffering" (complete with philosopher Bertrand Russell quote and all) and "Pray For Them", sound like the work of angry and frustrated young twentysomethings making sense of the world we live, except with the poise and reflection of a band who have been doing this for 30 years.

Consistency is often overlooked as a creative trait, but Railer is proof that it is a timeless quality, especially when it is this good. You can hear and feel the evolutionary changes in the record, but the core and the heart of it are still very much intact. There's a wonder in finding new musical ground, but if you are like me and first listened to Lagwagon with 1995's Trashed, Railer is very much like apple pie and very much proof that sometimes (a lot of the time), there's nothing better than coming home.

(Fat Wreck Chords)

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If We Ever Live Forever is due for release October 25th via Bodan Kuma Recordings and will be followed by a short run of dates through the eastern side of North America. You can pre-order the new Longwave album from the band's webstore.

Longwave first burst on to the scene with 2000's Endsongs, but really started making waves with their 2003 release The Strangest Things (which included the hit single "Tidal Wave"). The latter was the band's major label debut for RCA Records. We last covered Longwave in 2005, reviewing their terrific album There's A Fire.

Through this 6-song release, Nonstarter light the fire from the onset. In tracks like "Redirect" and "The Dish", they blaze hard with razor-sharp guitar work, machine-gun percussions, and vocal harmonies that fluctuate between choral "whoa whoa's" and angry, biting verses. Their technical ability is top-notch too; evoking those early Thrice comparisons with their frenetic guitar/drum work in songs like "A Reflection of Human Frailty" and "You Believe". The latter also features some interesting melding between melodic hardcore and reggae-esque moments; a combination you wouldn't think works, but does.

The majority of the themes on Seasoned Stuntman finds reflection in overcoming life obstacles and getting up of the floor. They are universal themes that make much of what Nonstarter sing about relatable, and the EP itself, easy to connect with which is essential when making first impressions. There is much to like here, and Nonstarter are more than just competent at what they do. Perhaps with an improvement in production values, they will really be able to find themselves in stratospheric surroundings because there's something here really worth paying attention to.

(Dang! Records)

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Prior to the release of the EP, a 3-song demo was recorded. It was never officially released after the label found the songs not to their liking. Grisham took matters into his own hands and stole the masters and drove them to Los Angeles radio station KROQ himself. In a 2011 interview, Grisham tells the story of how the songs took off after that;

"I stole the master tapes from the studio and drove them straight to KROQ. As I was driving away they were already playing “Black Emotion” on the radio. It went on to be the #4 most requested song on KROQ in 1984"

Now some 35 years after the demo was recorded, Pine Hill Records will officially release the Cathedral of Tears demo that includes an early version of the song "Black Emotion". We are very pleased to be able to share the lyric video for the demo, which you can check out above.

Pine Hill Record will release the 3-song demo as a 7" on October 4th. The limited-edition release will be available in a run of 250 gray colored vinyl, and 250 clear vinyl. You can pre-order the 7" now via Pine Hill Records.

The much-anticipated follow-up to 2016's Integrity Blues sees the band reach back into their discography, tracing a line back to their vanguard 1999 album Clarity. On the new album, vocalist and guitarist Jim Adkins has said;

"I realize that I wouldn't be who I am today unless everything happened exactly the way it did. I can listen back to our records and hear that maybe I was trying to tell myself some things before… but didn't really want to let them in. Our 1999 album was called Clarity, but I really wasn't on a quest for clarity when we put that out. The crux of the decision is 'Am I going to do something different or am I going to continue even though I hate who I am right now?' That's the difference between surviving and truly living. That's the point of the songs on Surviving."

The new album is due October 18th and can be pre-ordered here. You can watch the new music video above.

We've covered Jimmy Eat World extensively through the years, and you can read our coverage below:

• Jimmy Eat World - Advocates of Emotion feature

• Jimmy Eat World - Damage review

• Jimmy Eat World - Invented review

• Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light review

• Jimmy Eat World - Futures review

The new song features the band's trademark spirally guitars and infectious percussion work. Speaking about the new track, Corridor's vocalist/guitarist Jonathan Robert has said the song is about the sometimes stressful effect of being a musician/creative on those around you;

"Art doesn’t necessarily make you a better person. There can be angst, stress and so on. It can have a negative, direct impact on the people closest to you. Domino is about navigating just that."

The song was also the first song the band wrote for Junior and has been a staple in their recent live sets.

Corridor will embark on a European and North American tour starting late October and their new album, Junior, will be released October 18th. You can pre-order the album digitally and physically here.

Check out the new song "Domino":

The results were mostly positive but there were the occasional clunkers too. Songs like the jazzy, big band "Mango Tree" and the Chris Cornell alternative "Heavy is the Head" proved a little esoteric for the record. It showed the band's more experimental side, and was a precursor to the vastly different musical terrain they would go on the explore. (On a side note, I saw them on the Jekyll + Hyde tour and they played full, faithful covers of songs like Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name", which was weird, to say the least). On The Owl, they haven't quite stopped exploring and at times, the results are mixed. The album's biggest offenders are the electronic/R&B hybrid "OMW" (co-written by Skrillex, ugh) and the hip-hop/country-pop infused "God Given". The latter comes off the same way Brad Paisley's "Accidental Racist" did on his Wheelhouse album: not good.

It's no surprise that best moments on The Owl are when the band tap into their roots and return to more organic country music they showcased on their earlier work. The album lights up with a homeliness and good-natured energy during tracks like "Shoofly Pie" and "Me and the Boys in the Band". Both take cues from more traditional country music, an as expected, the results are still fantastic. The album's apex is perhaps the quietest, most introspective moment. The album closes with the single "Leaving Love Behind", and like previous Zac Brown Band tracks like "Quiet Your Mind", "Colder Weather", and "Goodbye In Her Eyes", the song is a powerfully serene and poignant effort. It's mostly just Zac Brown, his voice, and a piano- and like it's done before, the combination is a moving gospel of Brown's ability to translate reflections of life into wonderment in song.

The restlessness of the band continues to push the Zac Brown Band in new creative directions that will ultimately alienate older fans and listeners who most want to hear great country music. However, the band's ability to always draw influence from their roots (songs like "The Woods" and "Need This" all bounce and sway with pop rhythms, but clearly do not forget their more traditional lineage) keeps the majority of the album grounded. It doesn't quite reach the same heights as The Foundation or Uncaged did, but it hasn't lost its way by any means- it's just taken a few creative and experimental detours. The bones are here and they're still good.

(Wheelhouse Records)

Aging Frontman, a new six-song EP, continues Caruana's impressive catalog of solo work and is the follow-up to 2016's full-length Survivor's Guilt. While it's easy to see the title "Aging Frontman" and think of it as a humorous look at Caruana today, it is much deeper than just being new music by someone who "been around for a while". Truth is, Aging Frontman is a deeply moving, succinct effort that not only questions Caruana's own musical mortality but those of his listeners as well. None of this is more evident than in the beautiful opening track "Better". The Americana-strewn melancholy underwrites the song's sometimes pained outlook that is both a little wistful but at the same time poignant. Caruana has said the song is about "speaking to my friends, my family, my wife, the people that come to see me sing." The song asks whether or not Caruana has "brought joy, made you proud"; wrapped in his effervescent and recognizable voice. It's a powerful song that examines a songwriter seeking answers to his influence both to those around him, and to himself.

Musically, the EP treads on similar ground his last full-length exhibited. Less frenetic than an I Am The Avalanche record, less rock-ready than a Movielife one, but capturing many of the same emotions and resonance of his other work. Like in "Dying in the Living Room", where the song plucks away on folk-strewn indie but showcases Caruana's distinct, gutwrenching vocal work. The distorted solo hum of "I Love You, Please Watch Over Us" is an example of Caruana painting a myriad of emotions in an interlude. It's just the strum of an electric guitar, but like the title, it can cover a host of ideas. Think of it as electric guitar meditation.

The EP's best moment is probably "Providence", where Caruana layers guitars over each other, over mid-tempo percussion work, while contemplating life and death and the meaning of everything in between. It's a beautiful track, and as it is cascading into its end, you are left with a certain peace from the record. Caruana articulates these familiar emotions with grace and poise. In the song, he sings "the beat of my heart tells me someday I'll be home", and in that same contemplative assuredness, the songs on Aging Frontman tell us the same.

(Know Hope Records)

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To provide insight on the new album, Epitaph Records and the band have put together a short documentary featuring commentary from members Greg Graffin, Jay Bentley, Brian Baker, and Jamie Miller (who replaced longtime drummer Brooks Wackerman in 2015). The doco sees them talk about some of the songs and their importance and impact in today's society. Most poignantly perhaps, is Graffin's statement that;

"society sucks... if you don't encourage education, and enlightenment, and open-mindedness. Any time you enter a period in society where those messages are crushed or where the inspiration is gone, you enter the darker chapters of history. We wanted to, once again, with this record, light the flame; the candle of enlightenment. And hopefully, people will listen."

Age of Unreason is out now on Epitaph Records. You can watch the film above, and read up on some of our previous Bad Religion coverage below:

• Bad Religion essay on 'The Reissues'

• Bad Religion - The Dissent of Man review

• Bad Religion - New Maps of Hell review

This same fire is seen throughout Crossfire: A Litany for Survival, Chin’s first full-length collection of poems. Weaving adeptly between verses about the intersection of love, sex, race, gender, feminism, trauma, sexuality, queerness, motherhood, oppression, and so much more, Crossfire is a foot-on-the-gas-pedal kind of eye-opening, from start to finish.

In “Tsunami Rising,” she writes of the “weeping white women” who stood behind Tarana Burke’s #MeToo movement only once a rich white actress co-opted it — a heartbreaking address dripping with explanation and patience we don’t deserve, and a tired, frustrated anger that we do.

“We are unable to process our pain with you,” she writes, “Because we are exhausted from centuries/of holding you and your children.”

In “Zuri-Siale Samanaya” — named for her daughter, with whom she often records “Living Room Protests” — Chin reflects beautifully on raising a child who is both following in her activist footsteps but coming into her own as an individual:

I can hardly wait
to hear your voice
I expect us to rumble
to create generational bruises that will have to be survived

In “Raise the Roof,” Chin’s worries that this power will not be enough to carry her daughter safely through a world intent on silencing the voices of Black women are heartbreaking.

Every day I have to drown my fears
for my child/born Black and a girl in a country
in which her safety does not matter
to anyone with power

Among the book’s other standout gems are a reflection on 9/11 titled “September in New York” and a hilarious and incisive retort to the misogynist who harassed her on Twitter (aptly titled “Tweet This Motherfucker”). But really, there is no plateau in Chin’s collection of poems. Each page of Crossfire: A Litany For Survival is fire, soul, and just damn good writing.

When artists like Chin bare their souls to put the revolution to paper, it’s up to us to truly listen.

Crossfire

by Staceyann Chin
(Haymarket Books)

Crossfire: A Litany For Survival will be published as a paperback original on October 1, 2019 by Haymarket Books.

Hyperdaze features an adventurous exploration of sound that takes the listener on a dark and powerful journey through the entity that is Void Of Vision. Making it immediately evident that they are taking a spookier approach to their sound with this album, Hyperdaze with the ominous and atmospheric intro track, “Overture”. The slow build of this leads perfectly into the opening hits of “Year Of The Rat”. Immediately punching you in the face with a mix of growling guitars and massive drums, this headbang inducing rhythm alone is enough to set the nightmarish tone for the rest of the album. An atmosphere filled with intensity reigns through the verses, and is released only for a mesmerising sung chorus, that while is nothing ground-breaking, will stick in your head for hours.

“Babylon” opens with a maniacal fast paced intro, leading up to a dreamlike swaying verse. Heavy and hard, it maintains this high level of pressure all the way through to the demonic breakdown that makes up almost half the song. Only 2 minutes long, “Babylon” is short yet sharp. Transitioning fluently into “If Only”, this extra fast paced track implements extra usage of the added dark synth that they’ve merely flirted with thus far. The verses feel like they are throwing you back and forth, as the frantic tempo adds a maniacal edge to the track before it flows into the chorus. One issue that I personally have had with Void over the years, is their sung choruses can sometimes have jarring effects, and can seem like they interrupt and resultingly dissolve any momentum that they had previously built up in the verses. I’m happy to say that through Hyperdaze they have found the balance, and every chorus flows perfectly throughout each song that is relevant. As well as a gorgeous chorus and strong verses, “If Only” features a rare but welcome guitar solo that is a tonne of fun.

“Slave To The Name” closely follows, and is a slower but more mechanical take on the darkness. Injecting a healthy dose of panicky guitars, screeching vocals, and gut-wrenching drums straight into our veins, it leads us perfectly into the absolute fucking vibe that is “Adrenaline”. Clocking in at 1 minute and 31 seconds, this synth-heavy dance track is a wild time from start to finish. Grooving and moving their way into the electronic and house scene, Void of Visionhave now raised the question, “Could Void Sell Out Revs?” Instrumental and well out of left field, “Adrenaline” is the most eyebrow raising and most fun song off the entire album.

Lead single “Hole In Me” is the one that got everyone especially excited for this release, and for good reason. Unrelenting in tone, it was the first sign that Void were about to take the next step up. Bouncy and frantic and featuring some of the snappier snare hits you will find, “Hole In Me” remains to be one of the strongest song releases of the year. “Kerosene Dream” shows the band getting extra inventive with their guitars, and while it is chock full of fun riffs, what predominately draws the listeners ears to it will undoubtedly be the ridiculously tough blast beats, and the ridiculously tough breakdowns.

Psychedelic and cybertronic-baby vocal effects reign through the verses of “Decay” and maintain that the freshness of this sound doesn’t stale towards the end of the album. “Splinter” is opened up with the return of the, to put it in professional terms, “fucking sick” blastbeats that have popped their heads up a few times so far. They lead into ridiculously tight and fast verses and ensure that “Splinter” is one of the heaviest tracks off the whole album. The drums are the MVP of this track, and it is impossible to ignore how integral they are here. Setting the pace and taking control of the entire song, it is the added intensity of drums that gives “Splinter” the added edge it needed.

And thus we have hit the closing/title track, “Hyperdaze”, which ends the album with an added sense of dread. While all the way through it is just another fun heavy song that fits with the tone of the album, the way it ends, with intense nightmarish samples and effects, adds the haunting tone that it felt like the ending of this album deserved.

(UNFD)

The problem with Nine is that so many of the songs are lacking any sense of urgency and commit the ultimate crime of just being songs that fill a tracklist. From the singles "Blame It On My Youth", "Happy Days", and the confounding "I Really Wish I Hated You"- they all come packing the same bouncy, pop-laden hooks, Travis Barker's skitterish drum work, and singy-songy choruses that have dominated the charts the last decade and are bereft of a willingness or desire to grab the listener by the ears and demand attention. Songs like "Hungover You" sound like half-songs with its whispered, scatter-gun verses that explode into mid-tempo choruses. "Remember To Forget Me" is "Stay Together For The Kids" lite, except that it doesn't have the impact of the latter's substance while "Generational Divide" gives off "my first punk song" vibes. Skiba sounds bored half the time, which is a shame really. Even when the album does its best Alkaline Trio impersonation ("Black Rain") it sounds like a song Skiba left off the last Trio record.

Nine finally hits a spot of excitement in "Ransom" with its uptempo percussion work and (finally) the urge to push the limits. But dumbfoundingly, the song is only a minute and a half long, and while I'm all for brevity, the song ends just as it is about to pick up some momentum. Bizarre.

So who is Nine for exactly? Well, it's definitely not for old-school Blink fans who first discovered the band with Buddha, Cheshire Cat, or Dude Ranch. But I'm probably just a crotchety old-school listener who has been puzzled ever since 2003's self-titled album. Nine is really for the average listener who "likes all kinds of music" and loves that so much of popular music today is inoffensive, safe, diverse, and caters to listeners of all genres and backgrounds. For you, the album is fine and will sit happily in your Spotify playlist next to whatever tepid song is currently topping the charts. But for anyone who longs for Blink with a little bit of personality and juvenile attitude, you'll find none of that here. It doesn't even have anything to do with the album's lack of DeLonge either because by the time he did Neighborhoods, his head was already in the stars chasing aliens.

Perhaps it is too much to ask for another song about jerking off in a tree, but this band used to be fun. Now they're just pedestrian at best. Imagine an average Alkaline Trio hooking up with +44 on the dance floor of some terrible night club and you've got Nine. It's a shame really. Growing up doesn't always have to suck, but it really shouldn't be this bland either.

(Columbia Records)

The film is set in 1927, a year after the events of the series end, and finds the Crawley Family unexpectedly hosting King George V and Queen Mary at Downton. The royal visit has the house in a flurry of activity as it rushes to prepare for its royal guests. From here we are reintroduced to the wonderful characters of the "upstairs" (Hugh Bonneville as The Earl of Grantham, Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith, Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary, Elizabeth McGovern as Lady Cora, Maggie Smith as the Countess, et al) as well as the cast of the "downstairs" (Brendan Coyle as Mr Bates, Joanne Froggatt as Mrs. Bates, Lesley Nicol as Ms. Patmore, Jim Carter as Mr. Carson, et al), who have thankfully, not changed all that much since we last saw them. As Downton prepares for the visit, we find that the dynamics that the show built up over the course of 5 seasons are very much intact. The visiting Royals are bringing their own team of staff, a touring entourage that ultimately ends up clashing with Downton's staff. From here we see the resolve, love and comradeship found within the Downton staff as they battle with the visiting staff to maintain their place in the house. The story unfolds with humor, wit, and a reserved elegance that became the mainstay to the series.

There are a lot of characters in the film to find screen time for. In the 122 minutes, we are given enough screentime for some old favorites (like former chauffeur and Irish socialist Tom Branson) to find significant storylines while being introduced to new characters. A dispute over an inheritance finds the introduction of Imelda Staunton (as Queen Mary's Lady-in-Waiting, Lady Maud Bagshaw- the cousin of Lord Grantham) and her maid into the plot that weaves itself in and out of the main narrative. It's a similar case for Downton's long-suffering, now head butler Thomas Darrow (Robert James-Collier) living the life of a closeted homosexual in 1920s England. Along with stories of Lady Edith's head-strong clash with tradition and kitchen maid Daisy's constant disdain for the monarchy that makes for many interesting puzzle pieces that Fellowes has crafted to fit together rather well. We are given plenty of time to fall in love with everyone again, and while the injection of new blood gives the movie a fresh note, the composition of the overall piece remains wonderfully true to the series.

The humor is never overwhelming or tacky (rather delightful at times), and the commentary less of an attempt at sociopolitical upheaval than it is revisiting a time in history and how it was. The film's biggest drawback perhaps is its reliance on the audience's knowledge of the series. It would be difficult to understand or fully invest in the myriad of characters, backstories, and histories if you weren't one of those who have seen the series in its entirety. The film relies heavily on your understanding of everything that has happened over the course of the series. In a strange way, it is also one of the film's strength- that it doesn't need to spend precious screen time retreating or explaining 6 seasons' worth of television.

At the conclusion of the film, the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Carson walk away from Downton after a busy several days, talking about the changing times. Mr. Carson states that in a hundred years, no matter the circumstances, that Downton will still be standing. Downton is the silent giant of both the series and the film. The monolithic structure quietly and elegantly remains in the backdrop of almost every significant occurrence in the film, and like the series, remains as the defining presence of everything that happens. Downton Abbey is a joy, never without class, elegance, and charm. In a world where big-screen entertainment is dominated by galactic imaginations that has become equally captivating, this film is much needed quiet refinement.

Downton Abbey is in cinemas now in the UK and Australia and will open in US cinemas September 20th.

DOWNTON ABBEY
Directed by: Michael Engler
Written by: Julian Fellowes
Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Joanne Froggatt, Brendan Coyle, Maggie Smith
Distributed by: Focus Features
Runtime: 122 minutes

So for those born in the early 80s like myself, the initial foray into the world of Alice Cooper meant that you had to work your way back into this long-running discography to find the rich, often timeless work Cooper is best known for. In 2019 Alice Cooper himself is working his way back on his latest EP, the aptly titled Breadcrumbs. The 6-song EP finds Cooper revisiting music and artists connected thematically by what ties them all together- the Motor City. This Detroit-centric EP features Alice Cooper's take on songs by Suzi Quatro, The Dirtbombs, Motown soul singer Shorty Long, and of course, The MC5 (the EP also features guest guitar and vocal work from Wayne Kramer). Included in the mix are a reworked version of the 2003 Alice Cooper song "Detroit City" and one new cut, "Go Man Go".

On his reworked "Detroit City", the song is given a rawer makeover, sounding far less produced than the original. Gone are the orchestral overdubs with the song relying more on the loud bluesy guitars- perhaps the way it was meant to sound. Suzi Q's "Your Mama Won't Like Me" stays fairly faithful to the original, but Quatro's vocal sneer is replaced with.. well, Alice Cooper's vocal sneer. MC5's "Sister Anne" is almost as great as the original 1971version, with the added benefit of today's production qualities.

The EP's one new track, "Go Man Go", is very much Detroit, and very much Alice Cooper. It's rock n' roll roots are coated with a little bit of rockabilly, a little bit of garage, a lot of attitude. Like this EP, the track should be a precursor of Alice Cooper's anticipated next album. The hope is that he continues this work of keeping things dirty rock n' roll as the results are more often than not, pretty great.

Few frontmen of rock will ever be as enigmatic and as timeless as Alice Cooper. Breadcrumbs is a noble effort meant to tease and build anticipation than satisfy your craving for all new Alice Cooper material. It's done just that, hinting at what could be around the corner. On top of which it shows that there are few rock stars who will ever reach the status and longevity of everyone's favorite rock n' roll snake charmer.

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They may not write songs with the caustic bite like "Here Is Gone" anymore, but they have been finding comfort in the more introspective pop-strewn melodies found in songs like "Lights". Similarly, in the new album's lead single and title track, the Goos tap into bouncy, easy-to-digest pop empowerment. Songs like "Indestructible" show that the band haven't put down their guitars just yet, constructing songs that are still fond of their alternative rock roots but have found comfort in grander, more expansive sounds.

The album's best moments are when the Goo Goo Dolls unashamedly tug on the heartstrings like they've done so many times before. The quiet jangly nature of "Over You" does this particularly well, while the bigger, electronic-infused arena rock of "Lost" shows that this type of music is just done extremely poorly by bands like Imagine Dragons. "Autumn Leaves" is a throwback to the kind of songs found on Let Love In and Dizzy Up The Girl, sounding organic and wistful, while the closing of "Think It Over" is the kind of song they've been hinting at since Something For The Rest Of Us. It's part quintessential Goos, but contemporary and timeless at the same time.

Credit to the Robby Takac songs of the album too- "Step In Line", "Life's a Message"- both some of the finest songs Takac has written. He is often cast in the shadow of John Rzeznik's more recognizable sound, but on Miracle Pill, his work is the best its sounded since Dizzy.

The Ringer recently wrote a piece titled 'The Goo Goo Dolls Were Never the Cool Kids, but They’re Still Standing'. I echoed these sentiments in that Magnetic review years ago, but if there was anything long time Goo Goo Dolls fans know is that the band were never concerned about popularity or being "cool". The problem with being cool in music is that it fades. The Goo Goo Dolls have always just written good music for people who cared only that the music was good. Not much has changed in that sense, and really, that's much better than being cool.

(Warner Bros.)

“It makes no difference what men think of war . . . War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.”

This bleak vision of the American West and its new and old inhabitants invites comparison with Shakespeare’s Rome, “a wilderness of tigers” as Titus Andronicus calls it. His military victory over the Goths has left twenty-one of his sons dead, and now, as ever, another war awaits him: a family struggle of revenge against Tamora, her children, and those who would rule Rome.

There are some scenes in McCarthy’s novel that defy retelling or summary. Words like violent and terrifying come to seem pallid and banal when set against the depravity and real horror of McCarthy’s world. Similarly, the practitioners of war in Shakespeare’s first tragedy treat us to decapitation, filicide, dismemberment, and cannibalism. It’s difficult even to imagine Blood Meridian being filmed or staged, and directors taking on Titus Andronicus have often felt the same. A particularly gory 2014 production at the Globe Theatre in London left a few audience members collapsing and vomiting.

While Blood Meridian is undoubtedly McCarthy’s masterpiece, Shakespeare’s tragedy has almost always been considered a shameful aberration, undeserving of mention in the same breath as Hamlet or Macbeth. The scholar Harold Bloom went so far as to wish that this “poetic atrocity” had never been written in the first place. Interestingly, many modern viewers, occasionally wiser than verbose academics, have finally come to agree with Shakespeare’s Elizabethan audience, who bloody well loved it. Their hobbies, it must be noted, also included attending public hangings, so they weren’t exactly the squeamish types. Nor are we, I suppose, accustomed as we are to the daily brutality served up on TV, social media, and the news.

Can Titus Andronicus be rescued from neglect and disfavour? Bell Shakespeare’s production at the Sydney Opera House, in the hands of director Adena Jacobs, has made an audacious attempt to do so.

Jacobs cleverly and helpfully divides the play into eight chapters, each with its own title and focus on a particular character. The first, in which we are immediately transfixed by Jane Montgomery Griffiths as Titus, adds to the already high body count: Titus murders Tamora’s son in vengeance and knocks off another one of his own in a fit of rage. His daughter Lavinia becomes the marital plaything of the men around her, and in Chapter 2, The Forest. A Snuff Film, we are forced to imagine rather than witness her gruesome rape and the removal of her tongue and hands; in this way, her attackers, Tamora’s sons Chiron and Demetrius, can remain unidentified.

Jacobs’s decision to restrain the depiction of violence is a striking and effective one. The silence in the opening seconds of this scene, in which Lavinia’s helplessness is met by Aaron the Moor’s pitiless stare, is more confronting and frightening than anything else in the play. Jayna Patel as Lavinia is impressive if underused, and Tariro Mavondo, with her purple hair and ever-present sinister allure, captivates as the play’s most interesting character Aaron, the lover of Tamora and the father of her bastard child. His immorality and villainy are splendidly contained in the great line, “If one good deed in all my life I did, / I do repent it from my very soul.”

Jacobs’s central focus is on the human body: the real physical wounds it can carry, and the penchant for violence it recreates, even across generations. A camera onstage records closeup shots of the characters’ bodily lacerations and then projects them onto the back wall. This has a startling effect, especially when combined with the eerie and constant sound effects.

The weakness in the play is the same one that afflicts most modern art and literature, often fatally: an obsession with identity politics and the importation of once recondite ideas from the academy into the mainstream.

In the show notes, and I tried to suppress an eye-roll as I read this, Jacobs tells us that her production “queers and re-dreams Shakespeare’s play”, and then she bangs on for a bit about the patriarchy.

Given the overall androgyny of the characters’ appearance and the gender-bending of the cast choices, such themes are always lurking about. It never irks that much, really, especially if the performances are truly excellent. There are only a few scenes, however, when things start to get muddled, to put it mildly. There’s the birth scene, in which Queen Tamora’s baby is delivered via an artificial womb strapped to the father, Aaron, played by a woman. This wasn’t quite as cringey as the Clown’s campy and incongruous striptease, a real exercise in pointlessness.

I failed to see the force of all this ‘queering’; it doesn’t serve to question or play with gender so much as abolish it. That’s another kind of nihilism, by the way, but not one the creators seem very interested in. Oh well. Score one against the cisheteropatriarchy, as the kids call it.  

If we are to “queer” great literature, as many artists of our moment would demand of us, it’s amusing to remember an old-fashioned meaning of that verb: to spoil or to ruin the success of something. The intrusion of wokeness into art has made a real stab at this: the removal of aesthetic criteria in favor of political point-scoring for minorities; and the replacement of universal themes with increasingly identitarian ones.

To truly achieve this, however, would be to despoil Shakespeare of all he has. Even the most earnest production couldn’t do that. The great themes of Titus Andronicus - political and family disintegration, the forever war, our return to barbarism - all remain and hold our attention, as ever. This isn’t a fair fight, come to think of it: the queer theorists never had a chance.

Bell Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus is playing at the Sydney Opera House until Sunday 22         September 2019.