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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)

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 Get Up Kids. Having already released two LPs, an EP, and a split with Balance and Composure, Two Worlds, their newest release on Run For Cover Records, finds them maturing their sound and producing one of the best releases of the year. Tigers Jaw have two distinct sounds that they weave in and out of magnificently. One is the upbeat, guitar driven indie rock that makes you tap your toes and sing-along, like in “Smile” and “Static”. The other is a more soft, melancholic sound, found on tracks like “I Saw the Wolf”. And sometimes they mix the two together in one song, like in “Test Pattern”. The songs here are not nearly as catchy as on their self-titled full length debut, but the songwriting here is markedly improved. The guitarists play together, rather than one playing melody and one playing rhythm. The riffs bounce off of one another, and the songs flow incredibly. The keyboards tracks are still subtle, and contribute greatly to their overall sound (Get Up Kids anyone?). It’s hard to pick out a low point, or … 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

200 Words Or Less

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

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 … Read more

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One from the archives

Crystal Antlers

Crystal Antlers
Touch & Go (2008)

1. This is soundtrack music. I couldn't hear it at all until I took a drive through the hills, windows down at night, blaring this EP to stay awake until I got home. I put it on because all I could hear in it was THE KIND OF SHIT TO WHICH YOU CANNOT FALL SLEEP. Which I more or less hold to. Pass out, maybe (empty Schlitz cans pushed aside just before the head hits the orange couch pillow), but not sleep. So on Crystal Antlers went and alive I stayed. The moon shone brightly through the open sunroof; my Accord jumped; paused; and dove through an interdimensional wormhole. Impassioned, incomprehensible screams, lumbering woolly mammoth tempos, and a twisting road prevented the EP from stealing the spotlight. But I quickly … Read more

More album reviews

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

200 Words Or Less

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

200 Words Or Less

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

200 Words Or Less

Roky Erickson

True Love Cast Out All Evil
Anti (2010)

First record of new material of Roky's since 1994's All That May Do My Rhyme finds the singer in a more reflective mood. The rough edges have been all sandpapered out by Okkervil River on these songs. Not that this is bad thing, it's just not as left of center as some of his previous output. The title track features … Read more

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