Album Review
“Once Upon a Time” by Universal Dice
I hope that Universal Dice’s new album release Misfit Memoirs reaches the largest possible audience. The first two singles from the release, “Curse” and the latest song, “Once Upon a Time”, offer evidence that the Gerry Dantone-led project has reached a new peak. “Once Upon a Time” continues developing the band’s songwriting wont for story-focused art that lacks pretentiousness or self-indulgence. The band’s work thus far is a reassuring reminder that ambitious rock works are still out there and deserve maximum exposure. His ability to realize such ambitions without ever descending into unnecessary pomp sets the band’s work even further away from the status quo.
It isn’t an easy balance to maintain. Rock music, reaching back decades, is rife with examples of ham-fisted marriages between ambition and accessibility. Songwriters guilty of overreach have drug potentially great works down with overwrought tendencies. Gerry Dantone’s songwriting avoids such pitfalls. “Once Upon a Time” has an intimate climate. It gives individual listeners the impression that Universal Dice is performing for them alone. The development of the songwriting reinforces this.
Dantone wisely employs a first-person point of view for the lyrics. It gives “Once Upon a Time” storytelling attributes that prod listeners to hang with every word. He sketches out the details with broad strokes focused on significant details rather than weighing down the writing with needless adornments. It is impossible to say for sure without knowing more, but the single comes across as if the words and music came together. I think Dantone began the process with a clear idea of what he wanted the song to say.
It is a certainty that makes the listening experience such a pleasure. There’s surefooted confidence present in each second of this four-minute-long track. However, it isn’t ever strident, and the mid-tempo unfolding of the performance has a calm and considered demeanor. This prevailing mood drew me deeper into its storytelling web. It inspired faith in Dantone’s artistry from the start, and he never gave me a reason to reconsider.
The lyrical brevity underlines the aforementioned certainty. Dantone doesn’t waste a single word in the writing of this track, and his word choices do not disappoint. “Once Upon a Time” pulls no punches. It fleshes out an unforgiving world that Dantone’s sensitive vocal tempers with its thoughtfulness. We experience the emotions present in the song’s words rather than consuming them on a strictly intellectual level.
One of the hallmarks of Universal Dice’s work is the striking balance it maintains between the mental and physical. Dantone and his bandmates have made a name for themselves serving up stimulating musical landscapes capable of moving or entertaining their audience. The lyrical content and concepts are icing on an especially delectable cake. Intelligence and depth distinguish each new outing, and “Once Upon a Time” is no exception. It’s more evidence, if needed, that Universal Dice’s new album Misfit Memoirs will likely rank as their finest collection. We’re lucky to have such meaningful music in times like this, and I hope there’s more to come.
Stacey Winter
Album Review
Saint Escape sets the past on fire with latest release “Look At What You Made”
Saint Escape isn’t here to reconcile the past, they’re here to torch it. Now, with the release of their new single “Look At What You Made,” Saint Escape have unleashed a punishing, nu-metal-infused anthem that just sounds like an equal measure of reckoning and release. It is loud, confrontational, and honest, exactly what a purging rock record should be.
Produced and mixed by Joe Rickard, Starset, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, the track delivers a tight punch that fuses wild aggression and arena-sized power. “Look At What You Made” doesn’t stop. Rickard’s slick production redoubles Saint Escape’s raw edge rather than sanding it down, and the song takes on a huge, modern rock sound without losing its bite.
“Look At What You Made” is a primal response to toxic authority figures, the kind who kept order through fear, misinformation, and control, and knew where best to leave emotional scars. On “Look At What You Made,” the anger boiling beneath the surface becomes something purposeful, an anthem for anyone who’s been moulded by manipulation and left in its wake. The effect is communal shake-off, a determination not to be shaped by the past.
And lead vocalist Matt Cox provides a threatening, buffed clean vocal performance, of sorts as well, one that’s heavy with anger and determination. There is rage here, but also clarity, a sense that this is less about revenge than about reclaiming autonomy. As Cox puts it, the song is a purge, a reminder that the future belongs to those willing to to take it back. “Look At What You Made” is a testament to strength and newfound independence, it’s further evidence that Saint Escape are bleeding their past into something louder, stranger, and harder to ignore.
Album Review
Big O redefines artistic evolution with “When it’s Not Said, But Done” album
Big O’s “When it’s Not Said, But Done” is a whisper of transformation narrated through rhythm, texture, and space. Across its fifteen tracks, spanning just under forty-seven minutes, Big O sacrifices flash for feeling and ego for essence.
The production feels like an artist who has finally quit chasing something external and is instead listening inward. The flow of the album is methodical but organic, with each track leading into the other as if they were diary entries. On “Free Spirit,” Big O creates a soundscape that embodies freedom in action, with rhythms that propel you forward. It’s one of those rare songs that can be at once contemplative and propulsive, with a slow revelation. And also, “New Found Joy” is an anthem for rebirth.
Big O’s production vision here is sweeping and cinematic, but also intimate. The presence of live musicians gives an organic texture. Jeronimo G’s xylophone on track nine tolls like an intimate conversation, while IB Delight’s saxophone on track ten blows satisfying warmth and longing into the mix. These collaborative moments are the crucial parts of Big O’s unfolding language.
Every choice, from the minimal artwork by Andriyan Robby to the in-house mixing and mastering by Big O himself, is consistent with the album’s spirit of transformational thought. In “When it’s Not Said, But Done,” Big O has created a statement on silent courage. It is an album for those who know that, in reality, real change does not need to be shouted from the mountaintops, but only heard, felt, and lived.
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