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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)

Vildhjarta

måsstaden
Century Media (2011)

Let's face it: djent is beginning to sound really, really homogeneous. Though we've known for a while that every single band in the genre is cutting their music the same mould as Meshuggah, I'm beginning to suspect they're using the same knife and cutting board, too. A lot of the bands in this genre just don't do much to distance themselves from each other, and if you had merely listened to their 2009 EP Omnislash, you would have assumed Swedish band Vildhjarta was in the exact same boat. It was an undeniably cool-sounding release, but today, it sounds almost interchangeable with TesseracT, or Animals as Leaders, or Chimp Spanner, or Uneven Structure, or...Fast forward two years, and I have just finished listening to their proper debut album, måsstaden. I have absolutely no idea what they were up to in the intervening years, but something serious must have clicked, because this album sounds almost nothing like their debut. The clean vocals have been all but eliminated, melodic riffs are nowhere to be found, and the accessible, versechorus song structures have been excised. In their stead, they have frequent abuse of atonal melodies, nonlinear songwriting, immense technical proficiency, and an almost impenetrably … Read more

John Cate & The Van Gogh Brothers

X
American Music Partners (2011)

The newest John Cate & The Van Gogh Brothers album X has been released and I am happy to say … Read more

Sabertooth Zombie

Human Performance III
Twelve Gauge (2011)

The guys of Sabertooth Zombie have been doing their own thing for awhile now. That "thing" as it were is … Read more

Cloudkicker

Let Yourself Be Huge
Independent (2011)

Frankly, I'm just as surprised as you are. Ben Sharp, known to many only as Cloudkicker, had warned earlier this … Read more

Street Eaters

Rusty Eyes and Hydrocarbons
Plan-It-X\Bakery Outlet (2011)

There’s a level of familiarity in Street Eaters that I can’t put my finger on. That said, I’ll do my … Read more

Small Brown Bike

Fell & Found
No Idea (2011)

It's been 8 years since Small Brown Bike released their last full length, The River Bed, but they haven't lost … Read more

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One from the archives

New Found Glory

Tip of the Iceberg
Bridge Nine (2008)

Temporarily free agents of the scene, New Found Glory found themselves in a position few established bands have. They could record whatever they wanted whenever they wanted and have it released by whoever would. Other acts with multi-albums contracts often have a two-year time window for their next album with a marketing representative hassling the band for a hit making artistic freedom absent. So what did the California by way of Coral Springs, FL band do? They chose to release an EP with the moderately sized hardcore label Bridge Nine Records. A rookie fan might find this to be uncharacteristic for the band's sound (That is if they care at all. Believe it not some people are only concerned about the music!), but it isn't. While New Found Glory has … Read more

More album reviews

A Storm of Light

As the Valley of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade
Profound Lore (2011)

What do you get when you throw Mastodon and Neurosis into a blender? If you answered 'Scott Kelly's over-stroked ego,' then, yes, you're technically correct. But if you're not being a smart-ass, you would have a band with a sound akin to that of Brooklyn-based post-/doom metal band, A Storm of Light.Their debut album, And We Wept the Black Ocean … Read more

Nothington

Borrowed Time
Red Scare Industries (2011)

I’ll be honest, I missed Roads Bridges & Ruins, even after guitarist Chris Matulich said it would be quite a transition from All In. While I liked All In, for whatever reason I never got to its follow-up. 2011’s Borrowed Time is surely a reflection of the evolution in between. The Social Distortion influence is more tempered (though it’s still … Read more

Negative Plane

Stained Glass Revelations
Ajna Offensive (2011)

Negative Plane are certainly not a new band. Having released their prior full length 5 years ago the band seemed to have disappeared for quite some time. Many times when this happens bands tend to forget their original purpose or just forget music altogether. Thankfully for us, the music consuming public, the band have returned to become something stronger. The … Read more

Random

Todo.s los colores del
Independent (2011)

I really wish I could describe Argentinian three-piece Random's sound to you. Their Facebook page lists their genre as 'extreme prog metal,' but that label could cover any band from Meshuggah to early Anacrusis. I could describe them as 'avant-garde' metal, but that label gets used to describe every band from Ved Buens Ende to maudlin of the Well to … Read more

Psychic Teens

TEEN
Golden Voyage (2011)

“Psychic Teens Are Regular Adults”Let that sink in to your thick skull bit (I know it took me a bit to wrap my head around) because it is one of the singular strangest statements to be made by a “rock” oriented band in many a year; think about it, and I mean really think about that as a statement and … Read more

Cremation Lily

2
Strange Rules (2011)

Bear with me here as I am in the middle of sonically orgasming while listening to this tape from Cremation Lily (the aptly titled 2 as this is the second tape from this project); no seriously, I am not overly hyperbolizing right now because these sounds literally elicit this kind of intense and powerful emotional response while the tape plays … Read more

Andrew Jackson Jihad

Knife Man
Asian Man (2011)

Andrew Jackson Jihad runs the folk-punk gamut—they’ve put out a split with Ghost Mice, play The Fest more or less annually, and they’re a two-piece mostly acoustic band comprised of Sean Bonnette (guitar) and Ben Gallaty (bass). Now that I’ve lumped them in with a number of other acts, it’s time for the separation.The Phoenix band is distinct in their … Read more

Smother Party

Casa Limon
Variant (2011)

Brooklyn's Smother Party come armed with an intriguing name and an interesting sound. Apparently gaining the band name from an old English custom of literally covering bedridden family members with mattresses and, well, smothering them. This loving ritual was deemed "a smother party." How perfectly morbid. It's the fascinating nom de plume that piqued my interest in the band, and … Read more

Pujol

X File On Main St.
Infinity Cat (2011)

There’s no wasting time on X File on Main St. Within the first few lines, singer Daniel Pujol has taken his stance on careers, art, children, and life in general. I don’t know much, if anything, about his previous acts Meemaw and Saigon Baby, but Pujol plays noisy, stripped down garage that celebrates a DIY punk ethic. His vocals are … Read more

Atlas Sound

Parallax
4AD (2011)

Bradford Cox is in many ways like a ghost. There’s his whispery vocal style, like that of a specter, haunting and evanescent. And the glaring image of himself on the cover of his side project, Atlas Sound’s, second release, Logos. Or for instance his entire musical catalogue; a seamless spawn of translucent albums that are distinct, yet share vivid familiarity. … Read more

Pete Rock & Smif N Wessun

Monumental
Duck Down (2011)

Aptly-titled, Monumental brings together a legendary producer and two of the underground’s most revered MCs: Pete Rock—half of the duo (along with CL Smooth) responsible for early ‘90s classic Mecca and the Soul Brother—has been the monster behind the boards of your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper for a long-ass time; and Boot Camp Click members Tek and Steele— known collectively … Read more

Retox

Ugly Animals
Ipecac (2011)

Many wondered what was next for Justin Pearson. The man known for many project (Swing Kids, The Locust, 31G Records, etc) had been out of the musical limelight for awhile. Late last year Retox announced their formation and released a demo. The demo was a nice surprise as it was similar to the early material of The Locust but with … Read more

Forge Of Clouds

Self Titled
Independent (2011)

I'd like to invite you to look at the cover art of Forge of Clouds for just a moment. This is one of the few times I've ever looked at a cover for an album and said to myself “Yes, this is exactly what this music sounds like.” Every detail of this Polish quartet's music is captured in this image—the … Read more

Dream Theater

A Dramatic Turn Of Events
Roadrunner (2011)

A dramatic turn of events, indeed. Anyone who's been following the soap opera that has been Dream Theater's existence over the past year would believe that to be an understatement. It began with founding drummer Mike Portnoy's agreeing to work with Avenged Sevenfold after the sudden passing of their drummer, The Rev. Sometime afterwards, Portnoy (OSI, Liquid Tension Experiment, Neal … 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)

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