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Atlanta Falcon Official Website
Treaty Oak Revival
The Texas quintet Treaty Oak Revival has leapfrogged from small clubs in their native Odessa to headlining Dickies Arena in what seems like a blink of the eye. But the size of the venue barely matters: It’s bacchanalia everywhere they go. Treaty Oak shows are packed with blurry-eyed fans singing along to songs about dudes who are just as messed up as they are. Each night during “Boomtown,” the band takes part in a ritualistic “beer shower,” with fans and musicians flinging suds at each other. They didn’t title their third and latest album West Texas Degenerate for nothing. But wait a minute. Aren’t several band members on the wagon? “It’s an interesting dichotomy, isn’t it?” says rhythm guitarist Lance Vanley, one of the members who still imbibes from time to time. Lead singer/songwriter Sam Canty and drummer Cody Holloway are sober.“For 90 minutes, we’re there to put on that party for our fans. But for us, onstage, it’s better that we don’t need substances to facilitate putting on a good time.” The band – which also includes Dakota Hernandez (bass) and Lance’s uncle Jeremiah Vanley (lead guitar) – formed in 2018 as an Odessa cover band, named after the historic live oak tree in Austin. Its influences range from Cross Canadian Ragweed to Van Halen to Blink-182. But over the course of two independently released albums, its sound coalesced into what Vanley calls “Southern rock and country.” Some pundits have dubbed it “country grunge,” but Vanley isn’t keen on that label. He says the grunge-y guitar sound on West Texas Degenerate is the result of working with London-based engineer Adrian Bushby, who won a Grammy for his work with Foo Fighters. “I know grunge. But I'm not, like, a huge fan where I could pop off a whole bunch of trivia about it.” Lyrically, the band’s songs are filled with rebels without a clue who drink and drug themselves into a “Bad State of Mind,” to quote a new song title. But the defining song on West Texas Degenerate may be “Withdrawals,” which Canty, the main songwriter, wrote about his experience with alcohol withdrawal delirium after years of heavy drinking. “When he first stopped, it was crazy. He had hallucinations for three or four days where he’d see a tiger walk through the living room,” Vanley says. Several songs on the new album reflect the “growth and accountability” of the band, whose members range in age from mid-20s to early 40s. Most of the guys are married with kids. “The biggest misconception is that we're a bunch of wild, crazy partiers. People tend to be very surprised when they come back to the green room and it's, like, wives and babies. Treaty Oak is basically a big family for us,” he says. The clan has scattered from Odessa in recent years. Several live in D-FW – Vanley in South Arlington, Hernandez in a town south of Dallas – while others live in Oklahoma and the Texas Hill Country. Not that they make it home very often. After they close out 2025 with a big New Year’s Eve show at the Toyota Center in Houston, the group heads out on a 25-city U.S. tour in February. Already this year, Treaty Oak Revival has toured Australia, made its late-night TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and been nominated as best new group by the Academy of Country Music. But Vanley says the biggest thrill was playing the Grand Ole Opry. “Being from small towns in West Texas, the Grand Ole Opry was always on our bucket list,” Vanley says. “Walking on that stage is a memory we’re gonna hold for the rest of our lives.” In the future, Treaty Oak Revival may delve deeper into the acoustic style it explored on The Talco Tapes, its May album featuring folky versions of its older songs and a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls’ hit “Name.” But Vanley says the band isn’t actively planning its time ahead. It’s too busy savoring the moment. “This is what I've wanted to do since I was a kid. So the fact that I get to do it, for real, is crazy,” he says. “If this is a pipe dream, don’t wake me up.”
Sam Canty knows the power of a Treaty Oak Revival concert, but he long ago stopped trying to make any sense of it. “I can’t believe I’m making somebody feel like this or act like this,” says the band’s frontman of the crowd-surfing and beer-hurling that seems to follow the five-piece on the road. After a two-year run in which the group went from clubs to theaters to arenas, buoyed by a string of platinum and gold singles and one of the most exciting live experiences in all of music, Treaty Oak Revival are on the brink of bona fide superstardom. The independent outfit’s third studio album, the 14-track West Texas Degenerate that dropped on Friday, is poised to remove that “brink” caveat for good. It’s also an album that finds a band who rocketed to fame in Texas with songs about prostitutes (“Fishnets”) and whiskey (“Ode to Bourbon”), growing up.“The point of this record was to show growth and what that means,” Canty tells Rolling Stone. “Overcoming addiction, finding love, just stuff we haven’t really talked about in our songs. We come from a small town where, when you were young it was drinking and partying and having a good time, and not really caring about the world or having any responsibility. Eventually, you get thrown into the real world and you realize that the real world doesn’t care about your plans. You’re going to assimilate whether you want to or not.”The band consists of Canty on lead vocals and Jeremiah Vanley on lead guitar, along with Vanley’s nephew, Lance Vanley, on rhythm guitar. Cody Holloway plays drums and Dakota Hernandez stepped in on bass this summer after founding bassist Andrew Carey left the band in June. They came together in Odessa, Texas, in late 2018, playing music as a hobby. They’ll close out 2025 with back-to-back headlining gigs at Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center and Dickie’s Arena in Fort Worth, along with a New Year’s Eve show at the Toyota Center in Houston. Their camp is run by EKidd Artist Management in partnership Bob Doyle & Associates — the latter being the same team that oversaw Zach Top’s recent rise to stardom. Four years ago, Treaty Oak were a local bar band in Odessa, so you’d have to forgive the group for not yet fully grasping what it means to play to thousands, or on occasion, tens of thousands of fans every night.“At the beginning of this year, our stage manager yelled at me for the first three shows because I kept wrapping up cables to put up in the box,” Lance Vanley says. “He would go, ‘Stop touching stuff! That’s why you hired me!’” Before Treaty Oak played the first show of a three-night stand at the 5,600-capacity Whitewater Amphitheater in New Braunfels, Texas, in August, the members gathered in the green room to reflect on their breakthrough moment and look ahead to West Texas Degenerate. By then, Treaty Oak had already released a pair of songs, “Happy Face” and “Bad State of Mind,” that also made the cut for the new record. Both songs cracked the top 30 on Billboard’s country chart, and “Happy Face” has been certified gold.
Treaty Oak Revival Official Store
Trapt
A rock band faces two choices in life — to make money performing radio rock or to venture into the less lucrative unknown. Trapt has obviously chosen to tread the beaten path. Maybe they veer off here and there, but they never lose sight of the road. Trapt's latest effort, Someone In Control, correspondingly plays it safe. Hoping to follow up their breakout single "Headstrong" with another smash, the band has served up an album of hard rock tinged with the faintest hint of emo. While the first single off the new album, "Stand Up," isn't quite as catchy as "Headstrong," other songs on the album may yet become rock radio staples. Since its 2002 self-titled debut, the band has locked into a satisfying but formulaic hard rock style ideal for FM airwaves. There isn't much room for variation, but the band is good at what it does. It is obvious Trapt borrows heavily from their modern-rock peers. The California band is reminiscent of a watered-down 3 Doors Down (though 3 Doors Down has become less and less exciting since The Better Life). Most songs contrast airy, effects-laden verse sections with down-and-dirty distorted refrains. Trapt have become true masters, or at least good imitators, of the light-and-dark approach Led Zeppelin pioneered so long ago. For a hard rock fan, listening to Someone In Control is like eating candy for lunch; it tastes good but lacks substance. Almost anyone could enjoy humming along to the verses and singing along with the choruses, but the "music high" is bound to crash. Trapt sound like career musicians. They put in their time practicing, produce an album, get some radio play and go on tour. Nothing within the process stands out. It almost sounds like Trapt approach their music like any Joe Schmoe would approach his steady nine-to-five job.
That's not to say Somone In Control doesn't have its moments. The refrain on "Disconnected (Out of Touch)" plays like a hard rock mantra. The lyrics — "Too out of touch, out of touch to touch you" — fit in perfectly with the balls-out riff the band launches into. The refrain of "Victim" ("I want your eyes, I want your eyes on me") and the short vocal harmony part on "Waiting" are also especially catchy. That said, the album does have its share of bad moments, mainly when the band shies away from the moderately fast riff rock they do best. The softer approach on "Lost Realist" turns the song into a toothless mockery of an up-tempo ballad. On songs like "Use Me To Use You," the band tries too hard to come up with a catchy refrain and ends up falling flat on its face. Another problem is that for most of the album, the vocals fail to stand out. Every truly great hard rock band bases its sound on a powerful singer. Tool has the haunting echo of Maynard Keenan. System of A Down has the frighteningly spastic insanity of Serj Tankian. Incubus has the weightless androgyny of Brandon Boyd. Unfortunately, Trapt only has Chris Brown, whose main vocal talent is the ability to stay in tune. He can put a little edge on his voice, but the vocals remain indistinct. While the songs are solid, there's nothing to push them from pleasant to unforgettable. Accordingly, the instrumentalists provide most of the album's spice. Guitarist Simon Ormandy engages the listener with shimmering textures on songs like "Bleed Like Me" and "Repeat Offender." Bassist Peter Charell adds tasty one-measure bass solos to several songs. The drums are tight, but mostly just provide a reliable backbeat. The band is definitely ready for radio play, but not the pantheon of great rock bands. According to the group's biography on its official website, "Trapt is a young band that likes it hard and heavy … but also defies all classification." In reality, Trapt doesn't defy classification, but actually fits neatly into the category of "radio friendly hard rock band." However much emphasis Trapt may put on their "eclectic" sound, at the end of the day, they're just another standard band with a standard sound. People looking to do nothing more than turn up their headphones will be pumped up by Someone In Control. For anyone looking for something in the way of musical revelation or innovation, they've come to the wrong place.
Trapt Official Website
Video Games
NCAA College Football 26
After a long hiatus, the venerable EA Sports College Football franchise returned last season. We were, for the most part, very complimentary of those efforts. Sure, there were some warts. The game was a bit bare bones next to previous installments released a decade ago. There was definite jank. But there was still a lot to love, and like all new loves, those surface-level sins were able to be overlooked. Had the experience been 18-20 hours, the mostly-positive praise would have remained.However, like a long-term relationship, some of the game’s flaws were not readily apparent — they took a long time to manifest, and only oozed to the surface after dozens and dozens of hours spent engaging with the game. Sadly, some of them would prove to be near fatal, particularly immersion, interactivity, and the core game play loop: Bad blocking AI, unrealistic DB mechanics, lack of cross-platform progression, lack of formation subs, uneven difficulty spikes, Road to Glory modes, online matchmaking etc. It somewhat soured us on the title. EA assured players that changes would be forthcoming. However, after we accessed the closed beta for CFB 2026, we were not pleased with the dribs and drabs of gameplay that had been released to us. Well, anyone who is not a shill, anyway.Many promises were made, but it looked like the same ole’ EA: outlandish promises teetering on the edge of vaporware, heavy emphasize on monetization, and too little in-game changes to meaningfully notice. Then the full evaluation copy was released, and once the surface-level trappings were removed, our worst fears were confirmed…then some. EA CFB 2026 on its face is a somewhat better user experience than 2025, though the skeleton of the franchise is readily familiar to anyone who’s picked up a Bill Walsh or CFB title anytime in the last 30 years. We won’t cover that — presumably everyone reading this has played some version of this (or Madden). So we’ll go over what EA got right, what improved, what remains lacking, and the games failures: which are plentiful and overshadow what fun is to be had here. What went right There are some genuinely cool things in here, but most are immersion-related. I’m not saying those are unnecessary; to the contrary, that was our biggest gripe last year. And it’s clear the dev team spent much time on making it a prettier, more lively game. The crowd dynamics and NPC faces have been improved. Coaches may not always resemble themselves, but EA did add real ones to the sidelines. Coach customization has been improved. It is, of course, a beautiful experience on the field and in those aerial panoramas. Dynamic lighting has been added, which makes for a sumptuous visual feast — and it only took the largest game company in the world a decade to do what Witcher 3 included a decade ago. Afternoon games turning to night is genuinely awesome. The overhead sun at noon grows into one that blasts the visitor’s bench by the fourth quarter. It feels right, and EA should be applauded for it. The left stick controls are a lot more responsive and more fluid. Last year, they were overly stiff and a little sluggish. That has been corrected, and all to the good. Hallelujah. There are far more musical selections now, instead of the drumline menu screen that drove everyone nuts. Relatedly, the devs built in some stadium- and team-specific intros: Seven Nation Army at South Carolina, Enter Sandman in Blacksburg, Swag Surfing at Auburn, etc. Fantastic. More of this, please. We finally got position and personnel subs, absent from last year’s game.
Even better, you can do these on the fly, and sub in and out before the snap. Excellent feature. And, well…that’s about it. Mixed Results The landing menu has changed. Last year’s menu was at least neutral. This one is apt to be divisive. Like some major media outfits who shall remain nameless, it seems like a change was made for the sake of change. The UX is not improved, and some may find it more confusing. EACFB26 added hundreds of new plays. And choice is always good, right? In some cases, it is. There are far more motion plays this year, and the game even included double shifts (which you will use for motion-based offenses like ‘Bama’s scheme). The problem lies in that too few of the plays are effective, and in many cases the reliance on play-action, runs you right into the teeth of one of the game’s worst features: blocking (we’ll cover that in a moment). Home field advantage matters a lot more in EACFB26. But, as we see throughout the game, it is overcorrected: Even routine plays are difficult to execute over the “Home Pulse” feature. “But that’s how it should be,” I can hear you say, “road games are meant to be hard.” Sure, in Death Valley or Autzen or the Horseshoe — not if you bring Georgia for a game in Toledo’s Glass Bowl. There are no shades of gray here. Home field is home field, by god, and you will be punished for playing on the road. If EA were in charge of last year’s Alabama-Wisconsin game, that score would have been flipped. The game overall feels and plays slower. For those who want a casual experience, having more time to process is a bonus. But for anyone who’s played prior titles, the nerf will be noticeable and highly frustrating. On the whole, recruiting is significantly more difficult. They did add geographic-location based recruiting, and that’s much needed: Georgia should be having more success in Georgia than Ole Miss is. But the trade they made was apparently making recruiting far, far harder no matter your school— from blue bloods to UTEP.They spent a lot of time adding more immersive color analysis. For instance, I had lost three straight SEC games with my expansion-era Eastern Michigan Eagles, and Rece noted that, as well as brought up our general struggles with pass blocking throughout the season. It was cool to hear that sort of stuff in the preview. Like dynamic lighting, it’s one of those changes that feels so natural, it’s almost jarring that it was never there before. However, much of the confused or irrelevant banter in the booth remains, as does the sometimes irrelevant analysis at breaks. That’s to be expected with a game that records 300,000 lines of dialogue, I suppose. But it is baffling how choice-based RPGs can get situation, disposition, and outputs right, and a sports title cannot.
NCAA College Football 26 Official Website
MLB The Show 25
With MLB The Show 25 being only next-gen, I was expecting a big difference with graphics, and I wasn’t disappointed, except for one feature. The attention to detail for each player model and facial expression is the best we have seen from the franchise. You sometimes can be fooled into thinking you’re watching a broadcast of an MLB game until you look a little closer at the stadiums. I don’t know what it is, but in any stadium with a water feature, and there are many, the water looks terrible. It can sometimes be distracting, and it’s been an issue for years. Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City has a water feature in center field, but it looks more like a sheet of aluminum on a roller when you play the game. When I’m playing the game, and I have the option of not choosing a stadium that has a water feature, I do. Other ballparks, like Rogers Centre, where my hometown Toronto Blue Jays play, look fantastic, and the sights and sounds bring the stadium to life. If you turn on the instant reply, you can see the details the players and stadiums have in MLB The Show 25. MLB The Show MLB The Show 25 has added many more visuals to the game’s presentation, making it feel like the transition between plays in a live baseball game. Each home team has a theme for their broadcasts, incorporating team colours, making each game feel unique depending on the ballpark you’re playing in. When using franchise or exhibition modes, you can use the retro graphic theme we have seen in storylines and moments from the 1960s until 2009. It allows you to relive different ears of the game if you want to replay historical broadcasts like when the Blue Jays won the World Series in 1993. You won’t be able to play with all of the players from back then, but you can make the game’s presentation feel like back then with some available legends. MLB The Show The sound design is second to none, and I feel they have stepped up their game in some areas but still need to improve in others. We have more sounds from the game and different bat sounds that weren’t in previous versions. You can hear the ball hit off the bat differently, and from the sound, you only know what type of contact your bat has made with the ball. They had added more player heckling from the fans, and when playing as Derek Jeter at Citi Field, you can hear Mets Fans taunt him, but when playing at Yankee Stadium, you hear them chant “Derek Jeter.” MLB The Show 25 wants you to have the same experience you would have watching the game or being at the ballpark while playing the game. I wish they would get some updated anecdotes about players. Some announcers’ stories have been in the game for several years. Because of the gameplay overhaul MLB The Show 24 saw, the gameplay in MLB The Show 25 wasn’t changed much, but they did introduce Ambush Hitting. Ambush Hitting is when you use the right thumb stick to guess which side of the plate the pitcher will throw the ball. If you guess correctly, your PCI will be higher, making it easier to hit the ball, but if you guess incorrectly, it will be lower, making it more challenging to hit. I wasn’t a fan because it added one more thing I needed to do to hit the ball, but I knew that once I got used to it, I would become a better hitter. MLB The Show has always had authentic hitting, and I know the team at San Deigo Studio has added this to give people that extra edge. You would have an advantage if it were real baseball and you anticipated where the pitch would be thrown. They didn’t deliver significant overhauls this year to the gameplay, but I was okay with it because I’m still getting used to PCI changes from last year.
MLB The Show The fundamental changes come in game modes this year. Storylines that first got introduced in MLB The Show 22 are back and we get season three of the Negro Leagues. Hopefully, like last year, we will also get some legendary storylines, but they haven’t been announced yet. The storyline is some of my favourite content in the MLB The Show because you get to relive history and learn about baseball as the player. Graphically, they take you back, and the gameplay looks historically accurate, from the dirt on the mound to the cleats on your feet. Road to the Show had a massive overhaul this year, letting you start your high school career and test it out before playing in college to improve your pro before entering the minors. By the time your created player gets to the major, he has better attributes, making it a more enjoyable experience when you play the game. MLB The Show Diamond Dynasty got a whole new revamp, and fans should be rejoicing. Gone are sets and seasons, and back is the grind to 99. For the last two versions of MLB The Show, the team at San Diego Studio has been making the game feel more like pay to win instead of rewarding you for playing. Many sports games make you pay for a lot of content, but MLB The Show has always made the content obtainable in the past. If you wanted to pay for it, you could. In MLB The Show 22, and 23 the sets and seasons felt more like everything was behind a pay wall and it sucked the enjoyment out of the game mode. All cards you unlock are back to being available in earnable packs and through the programs and additional programs. Team Afinity allows you to earn rewards towards your favourite team now and now just each division and rewards you for the whole season. I always loved building an ultimate Toronto Blue Jays team, and now I can and will always earn rewards for doing so. Each team has their program in the Team Affinity mode inside Diamond Dynasty, and it’s a welcomed change. MLB The Show This year, they added a new rogulike mode to Diamond Dynasty called Diamond Quest. It looks like a broad game, with you rolling a dice to get across the screen and earn rewards. If you lose any events, you will get disadvantaged in your next match and earn lesser rewards. If you win your events along the way, you will get boosts you can use, like more velocity on pitches or a higher chance of hitting home runs in your next match. These advantages and disadvantages can only be used in Diamond Quest. Again, game modes like March to October, Mini Season, and Conquest are still there, so you can earn XP towards the program along with earning special rewards in those game modes, like unique cards of some of baseball’s biggest legends from the past. My favourite player of all time, Jose Bautista, is one the first legnds you can earn in the game, and it was a welcome sight for me to see him in the game. Other notable legends you can use in the diamond dynasty this year are Manny Ramirez, Roger Clemens, James “Cool Papa” Bell, Jason Kipnin, Lance Berkman, Bobby Abreu, Jason Varitek, and Clay Buchholz.
The Show Official Website
Madden 26
The world of ARC Raiders is a harsh one for any player trying to delve into its chaotic extraction battles -- and sometimes not even the most desperate measures are enough to turn the tide, as a recent livestream by Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase has proven. During an outing in Speranza, the fictional location currently serving as ARC Raiders' main map, Chase was downed by his opponent during a firefight in a concrete tunnel. The culprit couldn't enjoy their triumph for very long, though, as a third player appeared pretty much immediately afterwards to take them out as well, which Chase enthusiastically (and profanely) welcomed. Getting knocked down is not the end in this extraction shooter. Players can be revived and return to the battle, if someone else is willing to use a defibrillator on them -- hence Chase's ability to cheer on his killer's demise. He immediately went on to plead his case with the new arrival, offering them season tickets for the Bengals in exchange for a revive. Unfortunately for Chase, his potential savior turned out to be rather uninterested in that particular trade. Just as the NFL star was desperately pleading for his life, bargaining with the season tickets, the other player initiated a flashy finishing move on him. "I can give you tickets for the whole season bro, wait," are the final words the other player must have heard via the in-game comms before they sent Chase's character into the afterlife. Chase took the loss well, laughing and clapping as the screen faded to black.
Franchise’s Weekly Strategy has also been redesigned to more accurately reflect the reality of gameplanning for another team in the NFL. Each week, you’ll get a Staff Loadout, where you can equip your Coach Abilities (from your Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator, and Defensive Coordinator) to prepare for your opponent. If you’re up against a great passing team, you might wanna throw in some abilities that will help you defend against the pass. If you’ve got an easy schedule or you’re rebuilding, it might be a good time to sacrifice some Gameday Abilities for some Season Abilities to build your team for the long haul. How you prepare is completely up to you, but you’ll have much more information about the opposing team, how your team matches up with them, and how they might be planning for you to work with. In addition, you’ll also have access to Playsheets. Think mini-playbooks that will provide additional plays that could be focused on anything from blitzing the opposing QB to running the ball. Like Coach Abilities, Playsheets can be upgraded or lost depending on how you play, and you can master them and keep them forever. Higher tiers of Playsheets will not only give you access to that sheet, but also bonuses to your players on the field when you call those plays. Playsheets will have their own tab in the playcalling menu, so you’ll be able to access them easily and see how well they’re working.You’ll also be managing your staff, as well as your week-to-week gameplan. You’ll hire and fire coordinators, track their performance, and level them up. There’s also a new stat called Job Security, which shows, well… how secure everyone’s job is, which is naturally based on how well the team is doing. All of that stuff is in a new place called Coach Central, which is your home for everything coaching related in Franchise. You’ll also see how you manage your relationships with the team’s GM, the coaches on your staff, your players, your team’s fanbase, and the media, which will give you a real-time view of where you stand. You might survive a low Approval Rating one year, but you’ll carry it into the next one, which makes your job harder. Naturally, all of this stuff will blend in with storylines that progress as the season goes on. These are absolutely massive changes to how Franchise works, and I’m interested to see how all of these moving parts work together.
Madden Official Website