Courtesy of Aftermath

Selfish Machines
Pierce the Veil

Allie Daugherty, managing editor

In the first lyric of Pierce the Veil’s newest album release “Selfish Machines,” lead singer / guitarist Vic Fuentes screams, “You’re my favorite explosion.”

These four words are the perfect summary of what is to follow; as the opening words suggest, the album is an explosion of intense emotion and inventive lyrics.

“Selfish Machines” follows in the same footsteps as 2007’s “A Flair For The Dramatic” but does so with a cleaner, more powerful sound. The last three years of touring have helped this band grow and it shows.

Fuentes, who wrote most of the lyrics, continues to charm the listener with his one-of-a-kind voice that triumphs both when he sings and screams. The band’s magnetism is especially apparent in the song “Caraphernelia,” in which he implores, “What’s so good about picking up the pieces?”

Yet Pierce the Veil’s appeal would be nothing without the controlling melodies behind Fuentes’ words. The rest of the band, which includes guitarist Tony Perry, bassist Jaime Preciado and drummer Mike Fuentes, exemplifies solidity in its music and demands attention with a ferocity that can’t be ignored. This is best heard in “Bulletproof Love,” “Besitos” and “I Don’t Care If You’re Contagious.”

The details are also mastered, such as the majestic use of piano that haunts from beneath the screaming guitar riffs and thundering drums. The keyboard eventually becomes dominant in the emotive ballad “Stay Away From My Friends,” which lulls and calms while Fuentes declares, “I want you in the most unromantic way.”

“Selfish Machines” is a refreshing victory in today’s anything-goes music world. This charming quartet knows what it does, and does it well.

To read a review of Pierce The Veil’s first album or to read an interview with Fuentes, visit www.thedailyaztec.com.

Recovery
Eminem

Drew Scoggins, writer

Slim Shady is back and bringing the fire on “Recovery.” It is immediately apparent from the start that Eminem is now a wildly different rapper than the man who wrote last year’s “Relapse.”

While there are the same gay jokes, dated cultural references and horribly derogatory shout-outs to the handicapped and women, at this point the listener is aware those should be taken with a grain of salt. It’s easy to see that it’s the same individual who sang that he was “white, blonde haired / and my nose is pointy / I’m the bad guy who makes fun of people that die / in plane crashes and laughs / As long as it ain’t happened to him.”

To anyone that has any experience with Eminem, it’s plain to see that he is laughing with these insults. Shady has been trying to get audiences disturbed since “My Name Is” began to float through the airwaves; he thrives off of conflict. On “Recovery” he’s angry at everyone who blasts his tunes at maximum volume, but most of the songs revolve around his own hatred for himself and his previous release.

Eminem admits that he made a mistake, taking a Domino’s Pizza-type sense of responsibility for a record he thinks was awful.

There are a few missteps on the album. In particular, “W.T.P” (abbreviated from “white trash party”) is about the same tired stereotypes and “You’re Never Over,” which is uncomfortably personal and has a nasally hook, gets tired quickly.

But for every mistake there is a smash. Eminem truly brings the anger and passion and it is during these moments that the album really shines. Although it is not perfect, “Recovery” is just that, the first step in what fans are hoping is a new life for a rapper who is beginning to feel the effects of a decade in the limelight.