Recent reviews

Our latest album reviews, featuring the records we've most enjoyed (or not) over the past few weeks.

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Browse our album reviews according to score: Highest (9.5/10 or more) or Lowest (2/10 or less)

Dan Padilla

Sports Fans
Dirt Cult (2012)

Considering the amount of time it took for Dan Padilla to drop their second full-length, last year’s As the Ox Plows, it’s surprising they’re back already with another full-length in Sports Fans. The DIY San Diego, CA band hasn’t changed up their sound much here, offering a similar blend of pop-punk, gruff vocals, and a strong bent of work-sucks-let’s-get-drunk themes. It’s singalong at its best, a modern punk’s version of a traditional drinking song, replacing the barroom antics with a general focus on a weary worldview.The band, fronted by J. Wang (Tiltwheel), shows a stronger sense of identity with each release. While their sound hasn’t changed a whole lot since the early days, the songwriting grows more confident and the steadily-improving recording quality plays to its strength as loud, singalong punk. It’s power chord based, but with nice melodies mixed within that subtly give a linear development. Wang’s voice is the powerful force on this record, sing-shouting his messages with conviction that feels both earnest and urgent, and it’s best played loud. While I stated earlier that it’s a record of reflecting on the crap in one’s life, it’s also a call to arms to improve that lot. The topical … Read more

Mike Patton

From The Film and Inspired By the Book The Solitude of Prime Numbers (La Solitudine Dei Numeri Primi)
Ipecac (2012)

It's not much of a secret that Mike Patton is an odd fellow. Incredibly talented and carrying a relatively large … Read more

Lil Fame & Termanology

Fizzyology
Brick (2012)

Lil Fame of M.O.P., going by his producer moniker “Fizzy Womack,” has crafted soundscapes for a for the likes of … Read more

Nadja & Picastro

Fool, Redeemer
Broken Spine (2011)

Hate me for it, but this release was the one that kind of soured me on Nadja and (in particular) … Read more

God Seed

I Begin
Indie Recordings (2012)

The inception of God Seed is a torturous tale and is one of many twists and turns and moments of … Read more

Arms Aloft

Sawdust City
Kiss of Death (2012)

When I speak of a “Kiss of Death” sound, I don’t mean it derisively. What I do mean is poppy … Read more

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One from the archives

Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros

Live at Acton Town Hall
BMG, Dark Horse Records (2023)

Most music fans were stunned when Joe Strummer passed away in 2002. I’d recently skipped out on a Mescaleros show, thinking I had plenty of time to see the legendary musician. I honestly wasn’t all that into his work with the Mescaleros at the time, but Streetcore is one of the records of that era that’s still in heavy rotation 20 years after the fact. Live at Acton Town Hall is a late recording of Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, captured on November 15, 2002 in London, one month before his passing. With Mick Jones taking the stage for a handful of songs, it’s also the last recording of the two Clash-mates playing together. This recording was previously released as a Record Store Day exclusive and now gets a proper … Read more

More album reviews

Propagandhi

Failed States
Epitaph (2012)

Unless you’ve only just been introduced to Canadian punk music from the past quarter century, you've already come to expect a few things from a new Propagandhi record. There are no pre-release jitters, no faint thoughts tugging at the forefront of your consciousness that maybe this’ll be the one to disappoint. Time and time again, the Winnipeg-based quartet have delivered. … Read more

Kendrick Lamar

good kid, m.A.A.d city
Interscope/Top Dawg/Aftermath (2012)

What better way to start my career at Scene Point Blank and as a published writer than by reviewing one of the most important releases of 2012? Probably any other way, really, but I feel compelled to share my take on Kendrick Lamar’s second studio album Good Kid: M.A.A.D. City because of the impact it has made in the short … Read more

200 Words Or Less

World Narcosis

Self Titled
Independent (2011)

World Narcosis is a relatively new band as this is their debut EP. The band's style relies on a slightly crusty version of grind hearkening back to early Brutal Truth with all the rage and politics intact. That is not to say they are solely raging against the machine as it were but the anger is most certainly palpable and … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Crystal Castles

III
Fiction (2012)

Vandalism. You know the feeling you get right before it happens? The moment you grip it in your hand; arm above your head and cocked back? Or the instant just after you shake the can and right before you press down on the tip? How about the feeling you get right after it happens? The moment the brick goes through … Read more

Locrian With Christoph Heemann

Self Titled
Handmade Birds (2012)

There is definitely an incredibly creeped out vibe coming out of my speakers right now, and I mean that in only the best possible way because the tension building dark ambience of this inspired collaboration is a work of what could be a singular artist as the music is so spot on in its execution and delivery that the idea … Read more

Audacity

Mellow Cruisers
Recess (2012)

It’s not very often I’ll say a song belongs on the radio and mean that in a good way. With the whispered beginnings to “Garza” on Audacity’s Mellow Cruisers, the song starts with a surf-whisper that builds into an uber-catchy song with rise and fall, singalong choruses and a rhythm section that pulls the listener in and pummels through 3:01 … Read more

Cheap Girls

Giant Orange
Rise (2012)

It takes approximately 30 seconds to decide whether or not Cheap Girls’ latest album, Giant Orange, is to your liking. The overall, upbeat feel of the album is firmly established within the first few lines of “Gone All Summer,” instantly pulling you into the downtrodden world of bassist/vocalist Ian Graham and co. and not letting up once throughout. Combined with … Read more

Ministry

Relapse
13th Planet (2012)

Al Jourgensen has managed to create a genre early on in his career and according to most has never quite surpassed the classics of the genre he helped to create. In a sense it would be a hard task for anyone to do such a thing. Imagine a 50 something year old man trying to recreate "Thieves" would that be … Read more

Germ

Loss
Eisenwald (2012)

The Germ project has been in some form or another for quite some time yet the first record (Wish) from this Tim Yatras production only saw the light of day this year. It’s surprising then, that an EP should follow Wish quite so quickly, yet here we are with the melancholic yet strangely uplifting sounds of Loss on our hands. … Read more

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Constellation (2012)

Sneaking an album out to the public regardless of the mass of information that seems to leak (including albums and other music related info) in this day and age seems completely fitting with regards to the first album in over ten years from Godspeed You! Black Emperor and their well communicated anti-corporatist and sometimes luddite-esque demeanor; but instead of such … Read more

Anaal Nathrakh

Vanitas
Candlelight (2012)

Anaal Nathrakh have always been on the very edge of extremity, teetering on the brink of absolute annihilation and destruction. Their sound is imbued with total hatred for mankind, the world and all life and the two-piece push themselves ever further towards the threshold of utter desolation with Vanitas. How two people can make such harsh and deadly sounds between … Read more

Vinnie Paz

God of the Serengeti
Enemy Soil (2012)

Over a decade in the rap game, Vinnie Paz has been a pillar of the independent scene as the front man of Jedi Mind Tricks and Army of the Pharaohs, as well as one half of the duo, along with Ill Bill, known as Heavy Metal Kings. God of the Serengeti is his second solo outing and the highly anticipated … Read more

Code Orange Kids

Love Is Love//Return To Dust
Deathwish Inc. (2012)

Much of the press that Pittsburgh-based hardcore act Code Orange Kids garnered with the release of its debut 7” Cycles late in 2011 was centered on the young age of the members. Almost a year later, the band has gone through three pressings of Cycles, signed to Deathwish, Inc., released a split with another rising band - Full Of Hell … Read more

Grabass Charlestons

Dale & the Careeners
No Idea (2012)

Is this the same band that released Ask Mark Twain? Well, kind of. Dale & the Careeners is the first Grabass Charlestons full-length since 2005, and their first with singer Will Thomas wielding the axe instead of the kit. Really, after giving this record several listens it seems that talking about the band’s earlier releases will mostly put people on … Read more

Reviews by score
Browse our album reviews according to score: Highest (9.5/10 or more) or Lowest (2/10 or less)