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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)

Fighting Kites

Self Titled
Variant (2012)

North London four piece Fighting Kites started life in 2009, their brand of intimate instrumental rock immediately setting them apart from the arty crowd that usually inhabits the post-rock tag. Delicate structures of gentle and sweeping beauty permeate this debut record, opener “Chuck Close” a subtle composition of lightly struck notes and slow introductions to a range of noises. As the track perambulates towards its close, layers upon layers of different sounds weave in and out of jaunty lines of guitar and bass. Rich organ sounds thrown themselves into the mix on “Grey Starling” and whilst it may sound a little overblown if you’re reading this, the touches are so tenderly interspersed that there is no sign of this act becoming ridiculously pretentious. Each element is placed with care and poise and their inclusion adds to the experience rather than it feeling like too much.Flute, saxophone and dulcimer also make an appearance on Fighting Kites, but this group are so finely in tune with each small addition to their tracks that it’s easy to just ride the wave of their sweet summery vibe. Balmy melancholy waves infuse “Eyelash” with just the right amount of forlorn hope and Fighting Kites is … Read more

Swans

We Rose From Your Bed With The Sun In Our Heads
Young God (2012)

How do you rate bands, or maybe, how do you determine if you think a band is good or not; … Read more

Mares Of Thrace

The Pilgrimage
Sonic Unyon (2012)

Mares Of Thrace are a band apart from the norm. Merely sound-wise they stick outside of the given genre parameters. … Read more

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, … 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

Classic Album

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

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One from the archives

Titan

Burn
Hypaethral (2012)

Burn, the debut full-length from Toronto, Ontario’s Titan, wastes no time in establishing itself as the devastatingly heavy powerhouse that it is. Thunderous drums and relentless guitars introduce the bleak, crushing atmosphere that stands through the entirety of the record on the almost 8-minute long “Feast,” with the chillingly powerful vocals kicking in soon after. With 10 songs spanning almost an hour, the band has little reluctance writing sprawling, lengthy tracks that allow them to create desolate landscapes of audible fury. After forming in 2006, the 5-piece has released a slew of EPs and splits, but Burn is their first attempt at a full-length record and they prove themselves more than capable of rising to the occasion. Their unique blend of metal and hardcore translates into an immense record of … Read more

More album reviews

Classic Album

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 existence, Kiss It Goodbye released just this full length album (and two singles), but She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not... is nine bursts of concentrated aggression that more or less bludgeon listeners' ears with the viciousness of a mass … Read more

Classic Album

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 also a monster of a record that for many is one of the most impassioned sounding recorded works of all time (though this is not a completely universal sentiment by any stretch of the imagination), and, sure, sometimes the band … Read more

Classic Album

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 rumor mill that really can drive punk and hardcore (to an extant) can be, but more on that later because the aptly named Steal This was also my introduction to The Explosion albeit it brief; and while the record was … Read more

Classic Album

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

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