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Snowboarding without some ridiculously cool underground punk/metal/thrash band screaming into your earlugs is like hitting the piste wearing a bright orange romper suit and a woolly bobble hat – to use Amped 3’s vocab, it’s just not ninja.
That’s why 2K Games is running theAmplifier Challenge, a competition giving some of North America’s hottest unsigned bands the chance to appear on the Amped 3 soundtrack.
But for one lucky bunch of baggy-trousered slackers it’s going to get even better – the eventual winner will scoop $10,000 and a gig at the legendary South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas next year.
That’s where you come in. If you grind the web rails over to the official Amped 3 website you can listen to the 20 finalists and vote for your favourite band on a scale of 1 (liver, which we assume means bad) to 5 (ninja, which requires no explanation).
Not that our musical tastes matter much (we’ve been listening to a ‘Best of the 80s’ CD that seriously undermines the trade descriptions act) but our personal picks are Anberlin’s Paperthin Hymn, Tub Ring’s The Promise Keeper and After the Tragedy’s cheerily named The Soul Burns, The Body Decays Part 1. This one in particular made the whole office jump when the thrash kicked in – we can’t wait to hear what part 2 sounds like.
You can also catch some serious Amped 3 footage and get a feel for the next-gen reworking of the hardcore snowboarding game at the website. It’s clear developer Indie Built is going for a more tongue-in-cheek approach for the Xbox 360 version. If the snowboarding physics, free-roaming mountain and awesome snow effects live up to expectations it could be the coolest extreme sports game on the console.
- XBOX 360 Magazine
After the Tragedy The Beautiful Brand New
- After the Tragedy may be a band from a small town in Arkansas, but the sound is big. The new album called, “The Beautiful Brand New,” is everything from punk to rock, but far from pop. Those who love the likes of Papa Roach and P.O.D. will agree that people who enjoy listening to Pete Yorn will not be able to handle the aggressive, yet poetic style of After the Tragedy.
The lead singer sounds like Brandon Boyd, but not as relaxed. Most of the tracks on “The Beautiful Brand New” have brief interruptions of screaming, which seems to be unnecessary. As far as lyrics go, the general theme of this album is dealing with broken hearts, broken dreams, and then moving on. The song “Selby’s Escape” sums it up the best: “Let’s leave it all behind, we'll drive 'til morning light breaks through this never ending summer night.”
This 10 track cd is worth listening to, especially if you feel like punching a wall.
Reviewer: Jaimie E. Gusman new pop
Reviewer's Rating: 8
Reader's Rating: 9.43
Reader's Votes: 7
- The Celebrity Cafe
One of the most predominant genres in music nowadays is the screamo scene. Everyone from all over the place is throwing on there Camo pants, black shirts and joining a band just to say there a “part of what's going on.” However the guys in After The Tragedy are the exact opposite of that image.
These guys hailing out of Arkansas have got something which you wouldn’t expect from most Arkansans. They have a combination of old school and new school rock influences which fit there style almost to a T.
The way they use the vocals back and fourth (between harmony and screaming) reminds me of bands such as Silverstein and Emery, but don’t just think there another Used or Underoath rip-off because these guys bring something to the table. What I first thought when hearing the songs it kind of threw me back to the Iron Maiden times, the way they use complementary harmonies and stand-outish guitar picking.
If you think you can take a break while listening, it's only for a minute. There are only a few songs which let you breath for a minute but the others keep you going and have a full-speed ahead feeling. Plus, the vocabulary is out of this world! (Does anyone know what 'lubrious' means?)
The guys aren’t doing anything to reinvent the music industry but are someone who you might want to check out. They have a general rock feel to them and with there different sounding influences can appeal to everyone whose a fan of Iron Maiden to Dead Poetic.
Overall Rating: 4/5 - Balls to the Walls Records
"This hard-hitting screamo act delivers anthems to pump your fist to. Screams are belted out with the upmost intensity, while melodic verses deliver in graceful fashion." (Sam Ferries) HM Magazine - Hard Music Magazine
Discography
The Voyage of Reason EP (April 2007)
Recorded and mixed by Andrew Maysilles in Atlanta, GA, and mastered by Alex Lowe (Lil Jon, R.E.M., TLC, Outkast)
Amped 3 Snowboarding Soundtrack for XBOX360 (Freedom Zone 2005)
Live Loud Die Young Compilation CD (Distinkt Clothing 2005)
The Beautiful Brand New LP (Independent April 2005)
The Change of Direction EP (Independent 2003)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Bio: At some point in everyone's life they will experience some form of tragedy, whether it's a death in the family, terrorist attack, weather catastrophe, or getting fired from the job expected to be their career. Eventually, the victim always turns to faith in something; a look to something bigger than one's own life. The realization that all the money, cars, sex, and stuff that this generation tells us we must have means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of life. After the tragedy we find hope in the fact that death is not the end.
Since August of 2003, After the Tragedy has been searing a brand for themselves in the minds of people between the ages of 10 to 55. Using incredibly melodic hooks and increasingly complex instrumentation, Tragedy continues to only burn brighter. In the small town of Cabot, Arkansas not far from Little Rock, they shine like a diamond among pearls. With countless other impressive acts being birthed each day from central Arkansas alone it's not an easy task for a band to stake it's claim for something more yet, After the Tragedy does just that and does it well. The main goal of After the Tragedy is to spread hope through their music and to be heard all over the world. Among other accomplishments, Tragedy has successfully independently recorded and released a full length debut album entitled "The Beautiful Brand New" in April of 2005, selling over 2000 copies to date and more with each passing day. In 2007 Tragedy released their six song EP "The Voyage of Reason" which has sold 1200 copies since it's release date in March. With so many more achievements, the question arises, "Why aren't they signed?" When asked, guitarist James is quoted as saying, "We're not going to sign our lives away when we're doing fine on our own. It's going to take an offer better than what we can do for ourselves."
"To hear them is to enjoy them. To see them is to love them."
- Matt Baird of Spoken, Tooth & Nail Records
Accomplishments: Winner of Freedom Zone's 2006 "Amplified Challenge" voted #1 band out of such prestigious acts as: UnderOath, Anberlin, Copeland, Cartel, Halifax, The Junior Varsity, Tub Ring, & more! Listed in October 2007 issue of AP Magazine as one of eight unsigned bands for the month. Independently released debut LP album titled The Beautiful Brand New selling over 2000 copies since April 14, 2005 and six song EP "The Voyage of Reason" released in March 2007, selling 1200 plus copies and counting. Has 3 tracks from their debut album featured on the video game Amped 3 Snowboarding for XBOX 360, including the soundtrack sold separately. Is the third local band in history to have their CD put on regular rotation at the local radio stations in Arkansas, including 100.3FM the Edge. Performed at SXSW in Austin, TX March 2006; Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, IL in July 2005 and 2006; Ichthus Festival in Wilmore, KY in June 2006 and 2007; and Purple Door Festival in Lewisberry, PA August 2007. Has achieved over 445,000 plays worldwide on www.purevolume.com and 300,000 plays on www.myspace.com. Debut album features Matt Baird of Spoken courtesy of Tooth & Nail Records. Has been touring under their own support for over a year.
Bands played with: Thursday, Hawthorne Heights, Halifax, Hellogoodbye, Jacks Mannequin, Morningwood, Matchbook Romance, Thousand Foot Krutch, The Ataris, Throwdown, Maylene & the Sons of Disaster, The Chariot, As Cities Burn, Disciple, Beloved, It Dies Today, Spoken, Edison Glass, Maxeen and Sullivan.
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