1. The Amity Affliction

A good friend of mine loves them, and they invited me to go to see them. I was a little hesitant to go because I didn't know how rough the crowd would be, let alone if I would even like the band. I heard one of their songs on a playlist and kind of liked it, so I figured it was worth a shot.

I didn't start listening to The Amity Affliction until after I saw them. There were a couple of songs during the show that I found myself dancing along to and wanted to look into them further. A friend told me that I might like some of their newer work as it was tamer. What I am learning is that I like both their earlier and newer stuff. Now that I'm into metalcore, I will definitely keep my eye on this band.

2. Hail The Sun

"On Existence" is from Hail The Sun's new album Mental Knife, listen/buy at https://hts.lnk.to/mentalknife Follow: http://facebook.com/hailthesun http://twit...

In addition to writing for Odyssey, I also write music reviews. Hail The Sun was one of the first few album reviews I wrote for their new album, and since then, I've been hooked.

My first impression was that Hayley Wiliams was singing and Paramore was on steroids. At the time, I was just starting to get into hard rock, post-hardcore pop punk, so it threw me for a loop when I finished listening to the album and was in love with it.

3. AS IT IS

The first time I heard of AS IT IS, they were one of the openers for Waterparks on their Made In America Tour. Patty's stage presence was one of the of the first things that caught my attention. He is probably one of the most energetic performers I've ever seen.

While I enjoyed AS IT IS when I first saw them live, they were good, but at the time, it wasn't really my style of music. It wasn't until they released the first single for The Great Depression that I really got into them. I was a little nervous because when the music video for 'The Wounded World' was released it seemed darker, harder and more emo than their previous work. I was never into emo music as a kid, however, I was pleasantly surprised when I felt like I could connect to the album.

AS IT IS have become one of my favorite bands and will always have a spot on my playlist. I can't wait for what they come up with next.

4. CrazyEightyEight

► ALBUM PRE-ORDER + MERCH: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jarrodalonge/... ► Stream/Download this song: https://www.jarro...

CrazyEightyEight is one example of how I find bands like a chain reaction. I started getting more and more into AS IT IS about a year ago, and when Patty [Walters] announced he joined a new band, I decided I would check it out and see if I wanted to be one of their backers on Kickstarter.

The funny thing is I didn't really like the band in the beginning. At the time, I was just getting into some of the harder music and wasn't used to highly aggressive or screaming singing, so I stopped listening. A few months later, I came across them again and had a new found appreciation for them. Now, they're one of my favorite bands to listen to.

5. Red Handed Denial

OUR EP "WANDERER" IS OUT NOW! Merch: http://redhandeddenial.bigcartel.com Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/RHD-Spotify Bandcamp: https://tinyurl.com/RHD-Bandcamp...

Red Handed Denial is a band I found through CrazyEightyEight. Lauren Babic is the lead singer in both bands, and I found that like Patty, she was in another band as well.

I wasn't sure I would like this band. Like The Amity Affliction, Red Handed Denial is much harder music than I'm used to listening to. The grit and heaviness of the bass, combined with Lauren's vocals and range are amazing. I'm absolutely in love with this band and will now be patiently waiting for them to tour in the US.

6. Lauren Babic

Spotify ➵ https://goo.gl/A1rPfe Apple Music ➵ https://goo.gl/jxuwtF Amazon ➵ https://goo.gl/K9UR8p Deezer ➵ https://goo.gl/mwofj8 Mixed & mastered by Andrew ...

In addition to being the lead singer of Red Handed Denial and CrazyEightyEight, Lauren is also a solo artist, which I only found out recently. I came across one of her playlists on Spotify and found that she covers many different artists from Slipknot to Architects, as well as having original work.

DAMN. is all I have to say. I have tried listening to Architects and I couldn't seem to get into them, however, this cover is amazing. After listening to Babic's cover, I decided I would try listening to the original version to compare the two. While I enjoyed the original, there's something about Babic's gritty voice in the song that in my opinion makes it better than Architects. I shamelessly admit that I bought both versions of the song from iTunes.