From the get-go, Welcome Home establishes Red Collar’s infectious brand of up-tempo rock and roll with tenacity and a working-class spirit. Known for their energetic live show that blurs the line between performer and audience, the Durham, North Carolina based band does well to translate that intensity onto a recorded format. Formed by the duo of Jason and Beth Kutchma, Red Collar is the product of passion, determination and similar ideals blending into a hard-hitting package of solid rock with a southern tinge that conjures images of heat, sweat, and all-around good times. Welcome Home starts off incredibly strong, with the gruff vocals of Kutchma leading the band into the opener “Orphanage” while drummer Jonathon Truesdale keeps everything in time. From there they keep the pace going with tight musicianship and urgent delivery, bouncing from track to track without hesitation. Things slow down a bit with the crooner “This House” before jumping straight back into the previous pace with “Dodge K,” a frantic song with a strong bass line that you’d be hard pressed not to dance to. The latter half of the album continues on much the same, not straying from the formula of the first few songs. “Losing … Read more
Splits, in general, are dicey: often two bands (or more) are vaguely similar, making for a decent record but one … Read more
Like many albums, I picked up Royal Thunder's CVI because I heard someone somewhere describe it as progressive metal. Like … Read more
I'll say, Troubled Coast are turning into one of the most steadfast bands I've heard. Their music has been on … Read more
Pushing the black metal blueprint ever further from its roots, San Franciscan four-piece Bosse-de-Nage deliver a record of complex intensity … Read more
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I think I've read more hyped up reviews of Verse's third album Aggression than I've actually listened to it. I keep seeing a reoccurring trend in these reviews on how Verse is a breath of fresh air in a rather stagnant scene when it comes to popular hardcore bands. There seems to be an influx of hardcore that would rather have fifteen different t-shirts before they even have 7" out, but not Verse. Verse is all about the heart and being true. Verse flies in the face of pseudo tough guy hardcore full of kids that are buying into thug mentality rather than the actual hardcore community. I don't agree with those reviews. I think they are plenty of hardcore bands out there that still give a fuck and are … Read more
Ever since their debut full length, Sleepwalking, Memphis May Fire have departed from the southern tinged metalcore they were known for, and instead have adopted a more straight forward approach to the genre. This move had alienated a large portion of their audience, and obscured their identity in the process. But fortunately this change in sound has been fully realized … Read more
Having the ability to keep an album under wraps until the band goes out on tour is pretty impressive in this day and age (particularly with the internet and all), and, when Tragedy snuck this album out during a tour, it brought a level of excitement and excitement to their upcoming tour (besides raising the chatter on the internets to … Read more
I wanted to write this entire review as a spoonerism, but my editor slapped me through my computer screen before I could even begin to type it. Though she was probably right to stop me, it would've made reviewing this dod gamned remix album much more interesting. Dross Glop is a series of remixes, originally released as a four-part vinyl … Read more
A lot of bands are waving their 90s flags these days. And I don’t blame them. A) they grew up with the stuff and, B) I’ll take the Alternative Nation over the skinny jeans 20-aught set any day. (Yes, I’m an old man.) Sick Sick Birds are a Baltimore group coming out of the punk scene, although their music doesn’t … Read more
For fans of The English Beat this one was a long time coming. Coming in at a whopping 80 tracks of pure gold, this one has something for everyone. The English Beat’s place in music history is solid, topping the charts in the early eighties with hit after hit and mixing political lyrics with their brand of up tempo music. … Read more
Some bands just don't know when to slow down. California-based dark ambient/electronic musician Crowhurst definitely falls into that category, as he and his small army of guest musicians are about to release his fourteenth (?!) studio album this year, the evocatively titled Aghoree.The album is named after the somewhat less-than-mainstream Hindu sect that can (regretfully) be accurately described using the … Read more
How many people do you know that absolutely love Quicksand (personally, there is not a person that I know who is into music that does not love this band), or, better yet how many people do you know that point to Quicksand as a band or group to be revered, emulated, worshipped, et al (again, there are a multitude of … Read more
Seeing Curl Up And Die the first time has always vividly stuck out in my mind if not for the band’s wild and manic performance but also for the large swathe of their audience wearing these weird devil masks while they played (at least my fading memory tells me it was devil masks), and while I came away from the … Read more
Sometimes over the course of a lengthy tenure in being completely absorbed in music in some fashion, certain bands and musicians can fade in and out of a regular rotation of what you are listening to at the time; Damnation AD has for some reason been one of those bands for me and through no reason because their music is … Read more
Some honesty is required with regards to Bold because while I think some of their music is completely ripping, I have always kind of considered the band a bit of a farce or unintentional parody of the “Youth Crew” era of punk and hardcore in the way that in a live setting a bunch of kids (and I do not … Read more
“TRUE ‘TILL DEATH!” If you subscribe in any way to the adage that life is about living in the moment, then no matter where the people may be at in their lives or what they do with themselves, perhaps millions of people have sung along to this line through countless plays of this record and the myriad of covers that … Read more
Ides Of Gemini probably seem to have come out nowhere to most. Looking at their members there isn't a long ex members of list or any long time battling it out with a ton of releases either. The band seemingly came from nowhere last year by self releasing an EP or demo. Said EP The Disruption Writ was a brief … Read more
There's a new hardcore quartet on the rise in The UK named Ruin Everything, and they just released their debut EP, Lioniser. When I read that they're described as, "tech-hardcore" I was a bit wary. Fortunately my doubts were shattered. The first track, "Leave No Man Behind," kicks things off just right with an aggression reminiscent of Defeater, while it … Read more
German titans Ahab and their deep love affair with the sea began with 2005 demo The Oath and continued into their debut The Call of the Wretched Sea in 2006. Self proclaimed as Nautik funeral doom due to this affection for the ocean, Ahab began a journey into the fathomless depths of emotion and despair. Basing their works on Moby … Read more
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