I, The Breather, Mute Math, The Word Alive: The musical horizons seem bright.

I, The Breather (ITB); that band is surpassing almost all the bands on my favorites list, in fact it almost flew past The Word Alive(TWA) and Mute Math(MM) recently. But ITB settled down at number three on my list of favorite bands, with MM still at the top and TWA respectively second. I just wanna write why I like all three of these bands so much. And do that I shall.
Mute Math, I fell in love with this band at first listen. It was the summer of 2009 and I had been listening to Pandora for the longest time. Mostly exploring the Daft Punk station and a Devil Wears Prada station. But by fate, at least I like to think so, I started to listen to a Coldplay station. Lots of bands in this writing, if gets a little confusing just take the time to listen to each one because they're all really good musicians. So anyway, MM's song "Typical" happened to stroll through my ears and plants itself directly in the love side of my brain. And since that day I have found, listened and loved every single song of MM. They changed my musical life and even changed my real life with the power of music.
Now I really like them because of their quirky style, it's smooth and modern but never forgets to recognize the old time jazz that has influenced them so much. The band MM hails from New Orleans, Louisiana and their heritage is never in doubt. Darren King, the bands drummer, has some of the fastest high hat skills I've ever heard, but elegantly weaves through his surprisingly simple drumset with pace and a beat that pleases the senses while never forgetting to make your body move in your own dance. The very funk-jazz and alternative modern style is held together with the keys and vocals of Paul Meany. His voice has the quality you don't here often. His voice is the focal point of the smooth harmonies and powerful bridges that make MM so enjoyable. My unsung hero of each album is the bassit Roy Mitchell Cardenas. His base lines always intrigue me, with that same funky and smooth style. Those baselines have made me grove in times of trouble and made me electric slide in times of joy. Simply, Roy crafts bass for MM the way bass was meant to be crafted, providing a backbone for every over instrument to play to. He just happens to be really good at that. The final member of MM is Greg Hill, the band's guitarist. In one word, creative. Make that two words, inspiring. Now Greg doesn't shred your face off, mine is still there and I've been listening to MM for basically two years straight. He doesn't overcomplicate his guitar play with hammer-on solos, or sweeping riffs; in fact he just plays. He creates mood with his guitar, giving a vibe to each song that is wonderful. He struts and gallops, riffs and picks through each album; but his work for each album leaves me awe inspired to what Greg can do with a guitar. Each song of theirs holds a picture in my head, every track from each album helps paint normally mundane events in this life with the colorful notes of MM.
Now on to The Word Alive, simply good metal in my opinion. Born from new age metalcore with guitar tributes to old shcool metal guitar solos, TWA popped up in my iTunes through mere destiny and have never left the "Top 25 Played" playlist since. This destiny turned out to be an Alt Press magazine I purchased that came with a sampler that featured TWA. So I'll say it, thanks Alt Press for being awesome. I owe ya one.
Back to TWA, their first EP is literal metal/musical magic. Taking their cue from a variety of instruments the sextet from Phoenix, Arizona crafted my favorite EP thus far in my life. The recent full length album probably stands with the record of most songs on repeat because for months I would put on that album and repeat a song for a week. Yeah, I loved it that much. Every track from both albums are hard hitting but never loses a needed alternative influence that makes them so unique. Tyler "Telle" Smith, bassist turned vocalist, is one of my favorite scream vocalists mainly because he seems so passionate when he delivers his lyrics, live or studio. He may not be technical or have amazing range but he's all about his music, and that makes me want to listen over and over and over. Zach Hansen and Tony Pizzuti are really talented guitarists, their rifts alone are head and shoulders above most metalcore/post-hardcore music. Just forget about the solos, they're out of this world. Sadly, the original bassist Nick Urlacher left at the end of 2010. While the metalcore genre is not known for their bassists, I really liked Nick. In all the video updates he was the one cracking jokes and could always be seen thrashing on stage. He'll be missed as TWA continues to grow and create music. Again, the unsung hero for all the albums is Dusty Riach, the bands keyboardist/synth guy. His contributions towards every album make every breakdown that much harder, every bridge that much bendy and awesome (you didn't read wrong, I said bendy) and every chorus dance-inducing. TWA made me love metal music and yes, screaming vocals are awesome. Suck it.
I, The Breather. Whooooooooooooooo, to good. Forgive me but this next sentence must be written this way. ITheBreathermakesmewannapunchstuffandthrowstuffanddancebecausetheirawesomeandbreakdownsarecool,dealwithit. Sorry but I couldn't take a breath there. The main reason I like I, The Breather so much is because their not afraid to commit to a style that may be rejected, and not afraid to be Christian in a metal genre. That's tough and I have a lot respect for those guys. Granted, they may over use the breakdown but I really don't have a problem with it because every time I here an ITB breakdown I just wanna get down and most, Jesus style. Shawn Spann, lead and only vocalist, has this style that I want to emulate so much. He utilizes range and brutality in a way that's very pleasing, committing to hybrid type of screaming for metalcore. He doesn't rely on one pitch to much, but uses lows effectively on breakdowns and highs to blend with bridges that make the songs move. The dual guitarists Jered Youngbar and Justin Huffman are crazy talented, much like TWA they utilize solos to take their type of music to another level. In a metal world filled with breakdowns and lame guitar work (yeah I'm looking at you Asking Alexandria) Jered, Justin, Zach and Tony all get an A+.
Well I've wrote a lot, I'm gonna post this and revisit and revise later.

...

In a world of bitter disappointment
There is light
Down at the bottom of a pool
Far from my sight
Through pale worlds
Of my sea
I follow things
That ensnare me
The light is still there
For it never fades away
I just can not seem to swim
My determination just sways
Onto the pearls
That line the sea bed
Such a pretty thing
I'd follow til I'm dead
Temptations arise
My air runs out
The sea claims my soul
I can't even shout
To anyone listening
Maybe a stranger in the bay
No one is here
At the bottom I lay
Tired and dying
My eyes spot You
Saving, merciful, You
I can't thank You enough
I never could
All I can say
Is thanks for the push
 

The pond and the mist.

I dreamt of a place
Once, a very long time ago
In my own story
Written on leaves of everlasting truth
In this place, I knew no pain
No suffering
There was not much at all
Nothing to look at
Nothing to experience
Except the quiet
And the things that went with the quiet
Thoughts
Of what it was like
To be somewhere else
To live somewhere else
So I went there
To a place of cities
Of hate
Of discrimination
Why did I leave my pond?
The quiet place of mist and of mystery
Where I knew nothing
Had nothing
And loved everything because I did not know what was there
I simply loved
Even though I did not know
That was bliss
And I took that bliss from myself
So now I fight
For my right of quietness
I still love
But not the way I used to

The title is unique to you, tuck that title away in your heart.

“The raindrops slide down the window

My eyes find nothing across the gray sky

I look for hopes and dreams buried in these clouds

To weak to think of my own, I hope my purpose will fall out of the sky

The search brings nothing but the dull, average feelings that where before

We all look for that one purpose

I’m no different than anybody else

But the desire for something more than before, never leaves my mind

It makes me cold when I think of how little I do

Yet it gives my soul fire when all other hope seems to have gone out

The journey for something greater than myself

To feel the wind of change tear at every fiber of my being

I’ll sit here with a pen and paper like I have before

Waiting for my mind to explode with the weight of epiphany that changes everything

I’ll be ready when it comes

Believe me I will know when that moment comes”

It’s like all we do is wait for the moment to come along

But what moment are we waiting for?

If we have never known what an epiphany is

How can we actually gauge when we have had one?

Waiting and watching for your one purpose in life will get you nowhere fast

All those longs hours waiting for the one story to be written

That one moment where your athletic abilities develop themselves

If all we do is wait, quietly and patiently at our desk jobs

Could we be missing the “moment” that was suppose to happen somewhere else?

Star watching and shoe gazing are only good for the ones that nothing to fill the moments of time

And it’s not a bad thing to do once in awhile

Don’t leave things unfinished

If your dream goes a lifetime without being chased

You didn’t gain anything by waiting for the dream to walk up to your doorstep

The hardest part is getting out of the chair that faces the window on that cold, rainy day

It’s hard to walk outside of your comfortable home where things are familiar

Not knowing when you will be back

Or if you’ll even come back the same as before

Change hurts

If you let it hurt you

That pain may turn out to be needed

To create knowledge

Life will always move on, maybe even without you

The river won’t wait for the fish to swim upstream

It will forever flow on and on

And when the fish finally realizes what it has not done by swimming upstream it will be to late

The fish’s existence will be familiar

But that is all it will be

His children will never roam the river

And he will not have done his part to help preserve his heritage

Don’t say no the current of life

Sometimes God has a place he wants you to be that you never thought of

The change will hurt

But the thought knowing that you didn’t follow the current will be worse to bear

Live your life

Buy a smaller notebook to write that epiphany down

Keep that in your back pocket

Everyday

Because you may end up having it in the one place you never thought you would be.