Today's hardcore music features a fairly common formula, but one that so many bands miss the mark on. It's all about brutal breakdowns and insane, barking verses that give way to more melodic choruses with some nice clean vocals. Either a band is on the money with their clean vocals and then wusses out on everything else or vice-versa. I'm William Cutting blends both rather seamlessly.

• Royal Laraway
• I'm William Cutting
• Nick Ploof

Animals as Leaders didn’t start out at the head of the prog-metal pack. During its formation in 2007 by guitarist Tosin Abasi, AAL was more of a project than a band.

The Grand Rapids Symphony announced Generation X's piano man, Ben Folds, will perform alongside GRS this fall. Unlike any Ben Folds performance before, this one is unique to Grand Rapids, with Folds and the Symphony performing alongside each other.

Ozenza has been slinging its dark brand of doom/stoner metal since 2004 and they stay busy. With 2014 shaping up to include plenty of writing and touring, we quick grabbed a word with Matt Younker, guitarist and vocalists for the Friction Records-signed band.

• Ozenza
• Friction Records
• Matt Younker
• The Apostles

This week's Local Track of the Week is pretty much hot off the presses. It comes from a Grand Rapids-based band called Midnight Alive. Their latest EP Forever was even released on Tooth & Nail Records, the Christian rock label that has seen such acts as Norma Jean, Underoath and Jeremy Camp on their roster. Needless to say, the whole EP is polished, tight and radio friendly.

• Grand Rapids
• Midnight Alive
• Tooth & Nail Records

In my humble (and often not-so-humble) opinion, Fine Fine Titans is a grossly underrated local band. At least, that was the case. This female-fronted act, which blends elements of punk, metal and hardcore, is starting to get the attention it deserves with the release of its latest album Omega.

• Jennifer Bartlett
• Fine Fine Titans
• Evan Bartlett
• Kris Sosa
• Joe Smith

The musical heydays of the ‘60s and ‘70s have found their way into Grand Rapids as fellow psychedelic rock bands have successfully revolutionized an era of music into something of a modern-day rising trend. The mind-altering hypnotic rhythms of guitar, vocal and organ effects has psychedelic rock grabbing a lot of attention lately.

• Grand Rapids
• Michigan Psych Night
• Heaters
• Brown Sugar

In April of 2013, a noise-punk group out of Syracuse, NY released a demo on cassette tape. The release boasted an in-your-face sound, which was heavy in both feedback and brutal honesty. These four Roman numeral-titled tracks, quickly demanded the attention of everyone within earshot.

For a few years, of Montreal's frontman Kevin Barnes lived in Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. with his parents. Unfortunately, it wasn't a "Pure Michigan" experience for him during that time. "I didn't have a car, I wasn't going to shows. It was more like kidville, a child playing little league baseball," he said in a phone interview with REVUE.

Manchester Orchestra had its latest album, Cope, all ready to release. Except the band was missing one thing: a record label. After 2012’s Simple Math, MO was on a popularity incline and eventually, without a record label.