RockReviews Music Blog

Age doesn’t necessarily denote musical prowess, but for My American Heart, a band who wrote their debut when most of the members were merely 16, making great music has only been augmented by three years of touring, practice and acquired knowledge. The San Diego fivesome’s dynamic, innovative second record reverberates with a sense of newfound wisdom and the sort of skill that comes only from that hard-earned experience, a reminder of how shockingly young the makers of the record actually are. The strikingly varied disc, metaphorically entitled Hiding Inside the Horrible Weather to denote the beauty that inherently lies in all things, soars from hooky, driving rock (“The Shake (Awful Feeling)” and “Boys! Grab Your Guns”) to introspective acoustic ballad (“Tired and Uninspired”) to expansive searches that reveal a whole new side of My American Heart (“Dangerous” and “Fantasy”). Soliman’s lyrics are noticeably more refined, spinning with clever turns of phrase and poetically-inclined verses- yet another gleaming facet of evident growth on the record.

Screw all that wistful emo crap. The New Rivals are slinging pure aggressive, hard-rocking punk, and hurling beers at the tears of anyone who’s not along for the fast-paced ride.

Whether waking up in a strange hotel room flanked by two ladies or getting lost in a strange town and nearly missing a festival appearance, this Long Island-bred quintet is having more fun than, well, just about any other band out there, and it shows in the hyper-energetic rhythms, raw and ragged riffs, and impassioned vocals on their brand new EP, Fire for Effect, and their forthcoming eponymous debut.