Recent reviews

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

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

Sharon Van Etten

Tramp
Jagjaguwar (2012)

I’m not going to lie. I’m reaching a bit out of my comfort zone on reviewing this one. And, yes, the rating system is a bit skewed toward albums that fit into my more typical listening genres. In other words, it would take Sharon Van Etten a hell of an album to secure a high score. Tramp, her third release, has recently been gaining steam in the critics circles. It’s of a singer-songwriter variety, with a deeper instrumentation that escapes that coffee house vibe but is still clearly reliant on the dual forces of Van Etten’s voice and her lyricism.As for that, her voice holds a touching aesthetic that is relatable and warm, sometimes leaning toward a mumbled drawl, as in “Give Out.” Van Etten chooses a register and sticks with it, utilizing guest vocalists to fill in the harmonies rather than ranging her own voice. Because she often sticks with the same tone, there’s a bit of a dreary sleepiness to the songs that gives a hint of melancholy that is absent in the lyrics themselves. It’s not to say her lyrics are joyful stuff, they take an introspective but practical viewpoint rather than drawing on overstatement and reliance … Read more

Chasma

Declarations Of The Grand Artificer
Moribund Cult\The Mylene Sheath (2011)

As much as I love death metal, I always seem to have issues enjoying black metal. It's not that I … Read more

Drowningman

How They Light Cigarettes In Prison
Revelation (2000)

“Try to kill me / motherfucker!” That my friends, is how you kick a record into gear; without a doubt … Read more

Kiss It Goodbye

She Loves Me Not...
Revelation (1997)

Is it the sound of a quarter life crisis? Is the sound of frustration and anger? In their short lived … Read more

Inside Out

No Spiritual Surrender
Revelation (1990)

“I reach out my hand and you turn the other way!” The only officially recorded output by Inside Out is … Read more

The Explosion

Steal This EP
Revelation (2000)

This EP was my introduction to the world of music business and contracts while also reiterating how wild the weirdo … Read more

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One from the archives

Touche Amore

Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me
Deathwish Inc. (2011)

Touche Amore have made a name for themselves in the hardcore scene with the release of their past record To The Beat Of A Dead Horse and a slough of 7inches and splits. While some Internet drama has led to a backlash against the band, this new full length Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me can be held as a pinnacle in the post hardcore genre with a beautiful combination of passionate lyrics, gritty riffs and powerful interludes, all of which comes together to be one of the best releases of 2011. The thirteen songs on the record come to just over twenty minutes and they flow between one another seamlessly making a listen from begging to end painless. The reoccurring idea of the record is one of coming … Read more

More album reviews

Gorilla Biscuits

Start Today
Revelation (1989)

Simply put, Start Today is one of the greatest hardcore records that has ever been written; and there is no way that you can argue against that statement of fact, and if you try, you are not just fooling yourself but also robbing yourself of the experience of hearing one of the most innocent and pure odes to being young, … Read more

Off!

Self Titled
Vice (2012)

This record is way too long. Nah, with 16 songs in 17 minutes, it’s shorter than a heart attack. And, hopefully, that will be my only elderstateman reference in here. For those living under a rock since 2010, Off! is a new Keith Morris (Circle Jerks, Black Flag) fronted hardcore band where he is joined by Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides), … Read more

Ian Anderson

Thick as a Brick 2
EMI (2012)

If there's anything movies have taught us, it's that sequels almost always suck in comparison to the original. While there aren't nearly as many sequels in the musical world, occasionally an artist will go back and revisit one of the ideas that made them famous in the first place. In almost all of these cases, such as with Mike Oldfield's … Read more

Looking for an Answer

Eterno Treblinka
Relapse (2011)

Spain's Looking For An Answer have been around long enough that to play grind is generally to be compared to those who have come before you and possibly just be forgotten by all but the people who are devout listeners. What tends to set the band apart is a defined addition of more tempo changes and death metal related parts. … Read more

Old Man Gloom

No
Hydra Head (2012)

“THEY PLAYED ‘ZOZOBRA’! THEY PLAYED ‘ZOZOBRA’!” Thank you for allowing me to get that out of my system as the shock of seeing Old Man Gloom resume the gloom only just recently is still fresh and firmly entrenched in my mind, and seeing as my wait to see the Old Man Gloom Institute for Simian Research has been much more … Read more

Akkolyte

Clues in the Chaospile
Tofu Carnage (2011)

I came to know of Tofu Carnage records when I luckily stumbled upon their first release, Dead to a Dying World. So when we were offered a copy of their newest album, Akkolyte's Clues in the Chaospile, I quickly snapped it up, expecting some more crusty doom-laden metal. What I got was...much more different.Describing Akkolyte's music as "chaotic" would be … Read more

Various Artists

As We Draw/Euglena/Hexis
Throatruiner (2011)

Split albums generally feature artists at their best, and when they feature artists from a strong label like Throatruiner, there's almost no way to go wrong. Though I hadn't heard two of the artists on this three-way split before, I knew I wasn't going to be left disappointed by this one.The album starts off with a pair of pieces from … Read more

Reks

Straight, No Chaser
Brick\Showoff (2012)

Nipping at the heels of 2011’s acclaimed Rythmatic Eternal King Supreme—a record that earned him nominations in Boston for both “Hip-Hop Artist of the Year” and “Album of the Year”—Reks returns alongside fellow Beantowner—and a man that knows a thing or two about striking while the iron is hot—DJ/Producer Statik Selektah. Where Reks’ previous albums have featured beats from a … Read more

Blsphm

Prayer
Dead Accents (2011)

Where did all the artists and bands and projects come from that are attempting to project this bleak hopelessness and horrid despair (well, maybe I am just taking notice of it because Black Metal musicians have been doing it for ages it seems), and why do so many of these musicians just fall so completely short of actually conveying any … Read more

Blsphm

Horrors Of Heaven
Dead Accents (2012)

Dark and foreboding pieces of sound are more and more intriguing to me with their tense atmospheres, and blsphm took that same sound aspect and added a physical element in the form of an anti cassette (now, I know that this is not the first anti cassette, but seeing the anti cassette made me really think about and draw me … Read more

Gardens & Villa

Self Titled
Secretly Canadian (2011)

Gardens & Villa hail from the Santa Barbara area and consists of members Chris Lynch, Adam Rasmussen, Levi Hayden, Shane McKillop and Dusty Ineman. They derived the band name from the location of their house on Villa Street which had a garden that they tended to. Their debut album Gardens & Villa was released on the Secretly Canadian label and … Read more

Protestant

Stalemate EP
Halo of Flies (2011)

Since 2004 the crusty troupe of Protestant has been blasting out fierce songs with reckless abandon. So with that said their most recent release, after a nearly uncountable number of records, comes to us through Halo Of Flies. It does seem rather tough at first glance to see how this sticks out from the labels bread and butter. That is … Read more

Vacation

Self Titled
Lets Pretend (2011)

First off, forgive me if at some point I wander off and say something about Summer Vacation or Vacation Bible School, and I keep mixing these bands up in my head. Vacation is Cincinnati-based band that sometimes gets the pop-punk label, although I would argue garage-punk if I had to choose one. The band, while using pop-punk structures and a … Read more

Wolfbrigade

Damned
Southern Lord (2012)

Sweden’s Wolfbrigade have been around in one guise or another (formerly Wolfpack) since 1995 – the changing lineup finally unleashing a new full length with Damned, their first in four long years. Seen as pioneers of the Swedish crust/d-beat scene, Wolfbrigade play an unrelenting form of metal tinged hardcore-esque punk that never seems to stop, leaving you quite breathless. Somehow … Read more

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

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