The Black Swan Just Keeps on Arising!

Even though this album was released a year ago I still remember the excitemnt as I walked down to the shop to purchase it on its release date. Since then this album hasn’t left my Mp3 player. The Black Swan is the third album by American post-hardcore band Story of the Year. The switch form Maverick Records to Epitaph has seemed to help push the ban into a new realm of music focusing on heavier riffs and catchy melodic tunes. It starts off with "Choose Your Fate" which hits you like a slap in the face, an aggressive track and a good powerful way to start the album. Then flowing through several hugely melodic rock songs such as “The Antidote" and "We're Not Gonna Make It" all the way through until "Terrified”, vocals take centre stage in a slow intro, backed by another marching style drum build up, this one is rock ballad through and through. This album offers a wide range of different sounds from catchy melodies to rock ballads. This combine with the theme that flows throughout the album is that the concept of human existence is insignificant in comparison to the universe as a whole, and that wars, fighting and killing seem pointless makes this a powerful and thoroughly enjoyable record

My Two Weeks on Top of the World

Been back from Mallorca now for just under a week, and I’ve already been out of the country once! Ah the old university field trip to Mallorca, one of the best times of my life, just what I’ve need for a while now. A week of hard work (or at least a day) and even harder partying! Dancing on bars at 4:30am is something I’ve never done before and is something I would very much like to continue doing. The week opened my eyes to how much of the last 2 years I have wasted and I’d like to thank those guys (and girls) who made that trip so memorable. I would love to recall everything that happened on the trip but I’ll be here for hours so I’ll just give you the defining statement of the trip “Chris Whitehead likes to sit down when he does a wee” hehe. Anyways I mentioned leaving the country again. So he goes the story of that........We made our way up to the Brecon Beacons (in Wales of course) to a random car park in the middle of nowhere, he was me thinking that this would be a stroll compared to the New Year’s trip to Scafell Pike, At about 600m I realised that this wasn’t going to be as easy as I hoped(due to a pulled groin muscle). Then the Hail hit! Anyways needless to say this awful start just got better and better but the time we had looped back around to Pen Y Fan all of the shitty weather previously was forgotten as the views from the top were amazing; no wonder it’s the playground of the SAS. At 886m high Pen Y Fan is higher than we even got on Scafell Pike! What a day rounded off the perfect week and a half for me! I shall be making my way back to Pen Y soon for a go at the FAN DANCE!