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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)

A Whisper In The Noise

To Forget
Exile on Mainstream (2012)

The 2 piece "band" A Whisper In The Noise has been kicking around for the better part of the 2000's playing a style of folk that contains elements of shoegaze, dream pop, and ambient electronics. So one may come to the conclusion that the band has an identity crisis of sorts with such a striking mix of sounds. Well it would be too simple to deny the band their efforts. The band seems pretty set in their ways on this record. They consistently start with a buzz and end with a whisper seemingly doing everything they can to embody their band name. The opening title track starts with said buzz. This builds into a melange of strings, bells and light. distant drum work. Over the course of 5 minutes this song builds but never quite seems to have a climax instead seeming like a long intro to the record. The songs seem to follow this lead building an atmosphere but doing very little to cash in on whatever power they build. That may be the point in reality as the band doesn't really seem interested in rocking out as much as being somewhat peaceful and melancholy at the same time. … Read more

1982 (Statik Selektah & Termanology)

2012
Brick\Showoff (2012)

In what makes for a numerically confusing artist/album title (and opening sentence,) 2012 is the new record by 1982—the producer/rapper … Read more

Burzum

Umskiptar
Byelobog Productions (2012)

The prolific post-prison output of Burzum has verged on the slightly more experimental side of the black metal musical spectrum. … Read more

Ab Imo Pectore

The Dissociative Path
Debemur Morti Productions (2012)

Ab Imo Pectore has come out of Portugal and after 3 years as a band have managed to put together … Read more

September Malevolence

Our Withers Unwrung
Tendervision (2011)

There are some albums that you can just tell everyone can like, and September Malevolence's 2011 album Our Withers Unwrung … Read more

Craig Finn

Clear Heart/Full Eyes
Vagrant (2012)

Clear Heart Full Eyes starts off curiously. Sure, “Apollo Bay” establishes that Finn’s solo debut is a separate project compared … Read more

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One from the archives

Kaada

Closing Statements
Mirakel (2018)

Whimsical/ˈhwɪm·zɪ·kəl, ˈwɪm-/adjectiveUnusual and alluring. Using imagination in a playful manner.This is admittedly, not a word that would typically be used to describe an album written around final moments before death, but somehow, in the hands of John Erik Kaada, it becomes more apropos with each listen. Closing Statements is about those final words, breaths and thoughts but remarkably eschews the melancholy and sorrow for the languid and serene.There’s a synergy at work here as with the music from all great composers, with a melding of dreamy electronica, lush orchestral strings, and a wordless chorus of voices that together become much, much more than the sum of their parts.As with most of Kaada’s work, it’s the vivid pictures that his music creates that makes it an album to listen to. To … Read more

More album reviews

Æges

The Bridge
The Mylene Sheath (2012)

Los Angeles band Æges are a beautiful combination consisting of equal parts post-hardcore and sludge metal, and you can plainly hear this on their 2012 debut The Bridge. It combines weighty and languid guitar churning with fast-paced and frenetic songwriting to create a stunningly vivid result.You can prominently hear the hardcore facet of Æges's sound on the majority of their … Read more

Sick of it All

Self Titled
Revelation (1987)

Sick Of It All are easily the longest consistently active New York Hardcore band in existence today (both the Cro-Mags and Agnostic Front have broken up and reformed, although a case might be made for Murphy’s Law but that is it), and this EP from Revelation is ground zero for the recorded works from this hallowed institution of a band … Read more

Burn

Last Great Sea
Revelation (2002)

Burn holds a semi mythical place in the pantheon of the hypothetical New York Hardcore Olympus as they were relatively short lived and only had a couple of recording sessions (releasing at one point only a single four song EP and a couple of compilation appearances) while impacting many with their volatile shows and powerful presence that seemed to surround … Read more

Texas Is The Reason

Do You Know Who You Are?
Revelation (1996)

Do You Know Who You Are? is one of the best selling albums that Revelation ever released, and Texas Is The Reason flirted with major label courtship (almost signing to Capitol before splitting up instead) on the strength of their what would ultimately prove to be this their sole album; I remember two things about the band when they were … Read more

Drowningman

Rock 'N' Roll Killing Machine
Revelation (2000)

You know that there was never a genre of music that was named something along the lines of sarcastic bastard core or something along those lines, but if there ever was, then Drowningman would have been the undisputed kings of just such a genre; Rock ‘N’ Roll Killing Machine (the only album that they released for Revelation) was not only … Read more

Himsa

Ground Breaking Ceremony
Revelation (1999)

Have you ever had one of those records that you were so extremely excited for that the anticipation was eating at you and you counted down the days until it finally showed up in your mailbox, and, upon receiving said album, you immediately tossed in or on your stereo (regardless of the format that you are listening to the music) … Read more

Corrosion of Conformity

Self Titled
Candlelight (2012)

The mighty COC have returned. In the past few years the band returned to the musical landscape by reforming their original and much beloved lineup. That is the lineup that wrote the much lauded classic Animosity. Records under such pretenses could go a few ways. Will the band return playing a rehashed version of old songs? Will they reach far … Read more

Martyrdöd

Paranoia
Southern Lord (2012)

Swedish ragers Martyrdöd, along with Acephalix and fellow countrymen Wolfbrigade, are the latest to be chosen in the great Southern Lord crust roundup. Featuring former and current members of Skitsystem, Agrmonia and others, Martyrdöd have been unleashing their brand of blackened everything to the crust-consuming masses for over a decade now. Their latest offering Paranoia was recorded at Göteborg’s famed … Read more

A Death Cinematic

The New World
Simple Box Construction (2012)

When you anticipate things, do you find that you build up these lofty expectations that are virtually impossible to reach; or is the anticipation more often than not a good quality that leads to a build up of excitement? Anticipation (for me) is often a double edged sword that may do any combination of building up expectations and or excitement, … Read more

Toys That Kill

Fambly 42
Recess (2012)

It may have been six years since Toys That Kill put out a full-length, but Fambly 42 sounds like it could have been released immediately after Shanked. The melodies are seamless and the precision between band members sounds like they haven’t missed a beat—maybe that’s because the band plays sporadic shows and the pieces of their line-up comprise a number … Read more

She Said Destroy

Bleeding Fiction
Mas-Kina (2012)

Let's face it: a lot of the music we listen to is just plain ol' forgettable. Of course, every once in a while, an album will come along that sticks in your mind solely because it makes you wonder just what godforsaken orifice the band pulled it out of. Even more rarely will come the occasion when you make the … Read more

Martyrdöd

Paranoia
Southern Lord (2012)

Sweden’s Martyrdöd are whole heap of metallic vitriol interspersed with a frenetic melody and more spiky riffs than you can shake a stick at. Furious and without mercy, latest record Paranoia is a crust-laden festival of punk-infused spite. Blackened hardcore at it’s very finest, Martyrdöd are here to rip your world apart with their insanely tight package of darkness and … Read more

Drivin' N Cryin'

Songs From The Laundromat
New! (2012)

Drivin’ N Cryin’ formed in Atlanta back in 1985 have announced their plans to release four EPs over the next year. The first in the series showcases their Southern Rock style, each of the following EPs will focus on a different genre of the Drivin' N Cryin' sound. The EP Songs From The Laundromat opens with the gritty rocker “Dirty” … Read more

Better Than A Thousand

Just One
Revelation (1997)

Seeing how I feel about Youth Of Today (i.e. I do not really care for them at all), it may come as a surprise that I do enjoy Just One from Better Than A Thousand (probably considered a blasphemous notion amongst many “Youth Crew” aficionados), particularly considering that the band was a “Youth Crew” –esque project from Ray Cappo (Youth … Read more

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