Laudanum
The Coronation
20 Buck Spin (2009)
Laudanum are a 3 piece band. I opened with that sentiment solely because once you hear what they do it becomes hard to believe. What Laudanum do musically is act as a noisey power electronics group that decided to play doom metal or vice versa. Everything is grimey, filthy and painful in Laudanum's collective world. This almost acts as someone embracing the disruptive urban landscape they come from in Oakland. This album takes advantage of everything that makes one's stomach stir and shudder. As stated this is crust punk filthy and brutal as hell. The band takes advatage of playing a heavier style of music by relying on the spaces between riffs to build tension and fear within the listener. The intro acts as a sensory disruption with a build up of white noise and electronic loops leading nowhere. This makes for a wonderful introduction for what the listener can expect for the rest of the LP. The rest of the album makes for a strong sludgey doom metal record. Mind you, the band has nods to everything from crust punk, noise, black metal and just about any other sub genre of metal you can think of outside of delving … Read more
Ryan Mallot & Kelly Thomas
Self Titled
Deep Elm (2009)
Deep Elm has, over the past few years, been relying more on their internet presence rather than being a label … Read more
Gospel Gossip
Dreamland
Guilt Ridden Pop (2009)
Having never heard of this band before, I had no idea what to expect. Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised by … Read more
Cheap Trick
The Latest
Cheap Trick (2009)
New release from Rockford IL's finest shows that these guys have not lost a step, and in fact, continue to … Read more
The City and Skyway
Everything Looks Worse In Black And White
Self Released (2009)
Being an objective reviewer, I will try and ignore the grossly overboard hyperbole contained in their press sheet. But this … Read more
