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)

Young Livers

Of Misery & Toil
No Idea Records (2010)

With three years since their last full-length, Young Livers have returned in top form. Of Misery & Toil walks the thin line between packing a serious punch and being accessible. The gritty tones of interwoven dual guitars and wailing vocals are suitable for soothing any angst you might be feeling, while the impressive melodies might be just enough to convince Grandma this is good music. After you pick her up off the floor.Typical to the genre, the band wastes no time getting to the point. “Born in Vein” sets the bar for where this album is planning to take you with soaring and relentless instrumentation and appropriate lyrics like, “From the beginning we knew we were through…we’d be thrown to the wolves.” “All the Wretched” continues this despairing note, exclaiming, “I don’t want to die in bed…go out the way we came in: kicking and screaming.”At the end of the album’s title track, we find the record is cut down the middle with a disturbing voice over that sounds like a ruined man leaving a voice message for his ex-lover. This theme is strung through the entire album and remains ambiguous, perhaps purposefully. But it seems to be a commentary … Read more

Tigers Jaw

Two Worlds
Run for Cover (2010)

Tigers Jaw are an indie rock band with heavy emo influences based out of Pennsylvania. Think early Weezer meets The … Read more

Killing the Dream

Lucky Me
Deathwish Inc. (2010)

Lucky Me is easily my most anticipated release of 2010. When I first started listening to hardcore, Killing The Dream … Read more

Rorcal

Heliogabalus
Cal Of Ror (2010)

Rorcal, from Switzerland, present Heliogabalus , a near-perfect doom/drone album. This record is so dark that the cover can’t even … Read more

The Sass Dragons

New Kids On The Bong
Johans Face (2010)

It would be hard to take the Sass Dragons seriously, were it not for the quality of their recorded material. … Read more

Less Than Jake

TV EP
Sleep It Off (2010)

In theory, Less Than Jake covering catchy theme songs and product jingles sounds like a good idea. It seemed to … Read more

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One from the archives

Troublemaker

Sons of No One
Neutral Territory (2009)

New Jersey's Troublemaker (not to be confused with the Westcoast one) bring forth seven new songs on their Sons of No One 7". The band offer up a raw hardcore punk approach that brings to mind Trash Talk and early Outbreak. Tracks like "Worse for Wear" and "Drone" are short and frenzied while "Enabler" and "Beating a Dead Workhorse" are drawn out and slowed down, but equally as heavy. There are parts of this record that I really enjoy, but then there are those moments where I can tell the band is still finding their sound. This is the band's first set of songs after their demo, so expecting perfection isn't justified. I think their next release could really set them up for success. Read more

More album reviews

Cipher

The Joyous Collapse
Uprising (2010)

Cipher is one of those bands that if you were to describe their unique sound to someone, they would undoubtedly be left scratching their heads and asking, “what is it that makes this band good again?” I always put up with quite an internal and external struggle when describing the band to people that have never heard them before. However, … Read more

The Dopamines

Expect The Worst
Paper + Plastick (2010)

The Dopamines first caught my attention when they released a 7” that pays homage to the Big Black Songs About Fucking cover. Sure, they sound nothing like the seminal Chicago band, but anyone who gives props to that record ends up on my radar in some form. Moving forward to 2010, the Cincinnati band has signed with Paper & Plastick … Read more

Bring Out Your Dead

Just Stay Asleep...
Detonate (2010)

Bring Out Your Dead features members of Scraps and Heart Attacks for anyone else out there that gives a hoot. I liked Scraps and Heart Attacks so I was excited hear this EP. What we have here is a metal band that plays fast and has some nice melodic picking parts and some decent early 2000's type mosh to it. … Read more

Ultima Victima

La Batalla Sera Enterna
Detonate (2010)

If there's nothing that I hate more is moshcore bands that feel it necessary for their mosh parts to have mosh parts over mosh parts. Ulitma Victima are from Mexico and sing (well bark) in Spanish. The last time I took a Spanish class was in the 10th grade so I have no clue what's going on here. I can … Read more

Have a Nice Life

Voids
Music Ruins Lives (2010)

Maybe, just maybe, the internet is the reason that some ideas or feats of intellectual wizardry become tangible objects. This could be due to some radical phenomenon, or it could even (gasp) be due to the quality of the work on display. This little theory works in several ways for the duo who are Have A Nice Life. And, if … Read more

Gholas

Загадка
Self Released (2010)

Post Metal is a pretty loaded genre tag. Most people (myself included) find it misleading. The idea relies on the idea that more effects on your guitars and a sense of dynamics and ambience equal being less than metal. Gholas are a band that seem to fit in this general idea of a genre. They play with a sense of … Read more

Trap Them

Filth Rations
Southern Lord (2010)

What a seriously excellent release, regardless of its aural brevity, from Trap Them (whom are quickly becoming a stalwart outfit in the independent punk / hardcore / metal genres). Relentless touring, passion, and good records will do that for bands sometimes. Particularly if they do so in same furious manner this band has. Filth Rations, though, is different from other … Read more

Terror

Keepers Of The Faith
Century Media (2010)

Some of my most unforgettable moments in hardcore involve Terror. I first saw them headline a show after I trudged through a harsh January blizzard, where a 20 minute drive turned into almost an hour-long commute thanks to Pittsburgh’s signature winter weather. They played direct support when I saw one of my favorite bands, Earth Crisis, for the first time. … Read more

Best Coast

Crazy For You
Mexican Summer (2010)

Right off the bat you can’t help but feel Best Coast’s full-length debut, Crazy for You, is going to be an album you listen to every summer to come. This indie-pop group has a sound that goes hand-in-hand with enjoying the sun while lying on the beach. However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. On the surface, Crazy For You … Read more

Caitlin Rose

Own Side Now
Theory 8 (2010)

Forget Taylor Swift and the rest of her incorrigible ilk, according to the recent accolades, the future of country music belongs in the hands of Caitlin Rose, a twenty-three year old Nashville native whose looks are only surpassed by her voice. Though this might seem like an outlandish statement, in the last year, in one EP and this, her debut … Read more

War From A Harlots Mouth

MMX
Lifeforce (2010)

War from a Harlots Mouth is definitely not new to the metal core or death core scene. They’ve been around a while, done tours, essentially put in their time. But, how has this experience shaped them when it comes to writing and recording? The blunt answer seems to be that it hasn’t in a big way.What we get is well-played … Read more

Trash Talk

Eyes And Nines
Trash Talk Collective (2010)

Over the five years of their existence, Trash Talk has been consistently evolving and changing with each release. With Eyes And Nines, their newest full-length, the band shows their top-notch progression once again.Produced by Joby Ford of The Bronx, Eyes And Nines pulls no punches as far as getting right to the grit of this record. “Vultures” starts out the … Read more

A Sunny Day in Glasgow

Autumn, Again
A Sunny Day in Glasgow (2010)

Unique hurdles materialize for bands who decide to write music under the shoegaze/dream pop category. There is an intrinsic quality in the genre to inspire feelings of nostalgia and introspection, so it makes little sense to complain about A Sunny Day in Glasgow’s latest release because it lacks any vision for the future. But I’m afraid that is what it’s … Read more

Minus the Bear

OMNI
Dangerbird (2010)

It’s no secret Seattle’s Minus The Bear is at the forefront of the complex indie-pop movement. With their fourth full-length, Omni, the band continues their stay at the top, but in a different way than before. On this new album, the band turns up the pop factor more, with the inclusion of more organ parts and straightforward pop-rock songs. “Summer … 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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