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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)

Pissed Jeans

King Of Jeans
Sub Pop (2009)

Ugly and violent. Pissed Jeans don't mess around, starting 2009's King of Jeans with "False Jesii, Part Two," and never letting up on the noisepunk from start to finish. While the first song is possibly the best on the record, it's not because the record falls apart, but because it so competently and powerfully sets the tone, kicking immediately into Matt Korvette's shouts of "I Don't Bother!" over distorted guitars and heavily amplified Flipper-esque bass. It's two-and-a-half minutes of angry, beautiful noise that continues until near the album's end, when the band slows down and my attention wanders a bit on tracks like "Spent" and "R-Rated Movie," which show the influence of slower noise bands. The guitar in "Goodbye (Hair)," even has me thinking of messier, Incesticide-era Nirvana, though I wouldn't really list them as an obvious influence. When the band is firing on all cylinders, which is most of the record, it's a blend of pure, nasty anger a la Black Flag, but they mix in melodic noise without subduing the frustration or energy. The only times the record lets up, it's clearly intentional, as the band explores the banal, in a literal fashion. Read more

Ashers

Kill Your Master
Thorp (2010)

Hardcore punk is a loaded genre. Very rarely can bands play this style a differentiate themselves from each other. It's … Read more

The Riot Before

Rebellion
Paper + Plastick (2010)

Early releases from The Riot Before have had an undeniable feeling that the band was primarily Brett Adams’ project. Although … Read more

Sugar Stems

The Sweet Sounds of the Sugar Stems
Dusty Medical (2010)

The Sugar Stems know what sound they’re after, and that’s pretty clear from their name alone. The Sweet Sounds of … Read more

Three Mile Pilot

The Inevitable Past Is The Future Forgotten
Temporary Residence (2010)

Well, all that I can say as this record sits in my hands is that this has certainly been a … Read more

Planning For Burial

Leaving
Enemies List Home Recordings (2010)

Are late passes allowed in the internet age where people get to hear the latest music from musicians as soon … Read more

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One from the archives

Seidr

Ginnungagap
Bindrune Records (2013)

Existing on the outer realms of the galaxies, where space and time collide, Seidr return with their sophomore release,Ginnungagap. Led by A. Lunn, also of Agnosis, Kolga, Throndt and most importantly of Panopticon, the band is here to build further upon the impact that their debut album, For Winter Fire, caused.Even though the band is at its core a doom metal act, they masterfully employ the use of drone music, aiming for the creation of vast soundscapes, post-rock, in order for the music to include a sweeter tonality that will hook the listeners to its depths, and even some black metal moments to add some of that eerie and almost majestic aura to their essence. Noise influences, psychedelic effects and a rich background deriving from some electronic music input, all … Read more

More album reviews

Burning Love

Songs For Burning Lovers
Deranged (2010)

Upon the dissolution of Cursed, many people (including myself) let out a proverbial “NOOOOOOOOOOO!” when we saw that it actually had happened and right on the heels of releasing such a great album (if you have yet to experience any Cursed, you are missing out); but I knew deep down that breaking up one band would not hold the members … Read more

Terrible Things

Self Titled
Universal/Motown (2010)

Terrible things are like an early 2000’s super group of sorts. As much as I hate relying on ex member notations for new records this one seems apt. This is a band made up or former members of Hot Rod Circuit and Taking Back Sunday. Please keep in mind that this is not the second coming of either of these … Read more

Blacklist Royals

Semper Liberi
Paper + Plastick (2010)

Paper + Plastick seem to release new albums by fairly new bands at a pretty regular clip. Blacklist Royals are just the newest in that line. The band plays what has become a very popular style of punk rock at this point. Punk bands playing rock and roll is definitely not a new thing. Gaslight Anthem has shown that it … Read more

Imelda May

Mayhem
Decca (2010)

It’s been said that the second album is always a tough one. Following on from an album that you have been creating for all your life with record label deadlines, baying fans and the increase in expectations often leads to a critical mauling and a mass wave of indifference. Mayhem; the second album by Irish Rockabilly come Jazz singer Imelda … Read more

Iron Chic

Not Like This
Dead Broke Rekerds (2010)

There are albums that you listen to with headphones to catch every subtle detail in its production. Then there are albums you blast from whatever speakers you have available to you for no reason other than to break the walls and sing along. Iron Chic’s Not Like This is the latter kind of album! After two years, a demo, and … Read more

Coliseum

House With A Curse
Temporary Residence (2010)

One of the beautiful things about making music and sonic art, is that the artists and bands can take their work to interesting places at the drop of a hat if they so choose or are somehow led (by emotions, life changing events, calculated maneuvers, etc) to make such a sonic shift (through songwriting changes, production changes, personnel changes, etc); … Read more

Make Do and Mend

End Measured Mile
Paper + Plastick (2010)

This has been one the more highly anticipated records within the punk and hardcore scene in this year. How does a band overcome scene hype and shit talk to make a true album. The question is how does a band that has released to strong EPs parlay that into a complete full length. Many bands tend to fall short by … Read more

Various Artists

A Death Cinematic / Sons Of Alpha Centaurii - Split
Simple Box Construction (2010)

A good split record now and then is a great concept by two collaborating outfits, and even though people might be more familiar with one of the artists or groups more so than the other, such records could (and often does) introduce people to new artists and sounds that hitherto had gone unnoticed; in the case of this split album, … Read more

Various Artists

Fight Amp/Ladder Devils/Kowloon Walled City (Three-way split) – Lose Lose Lose
Brutal Panda (2010)

This three-way split features the New Jersey trio Fight Amp, Philadelphia’s Ladder Devils (former members of The Minor Times), and San Francisco’s sludgy Kowloon Walled City. While the three bands play three different styles of aggressive music, the sound of the split as a whole is entirely cohesive. Lose Lose Lose collectively is a great album from the three bands. … Read more

Cephalic Carnage

Misled By Certainty
Relapse (2010)

Cephalic Carnage have been around the block. For nearly twenty years they’ve been playing their unique blend of grindcore and technical death metal. When it comes to metal, these guys know what the fuck is up. Their previous album Xenosapien is one of my favorites from any genre to have been released in the past few years. That record was … Read more

Year of No Light

Ausserwelt
E-Music (2010)

Ausserwelt is the sophomore album from Year Of No Light following up their excellent debut, Nord; and while this outfit took a bit of time in between the two records, evidently some turmoil aided in the birthing of the four pieces to be heard on Ausserwelt; the band cleared these issues and underwent some lineup shuffling before finally laying this … Read more

The Brokedowns

Species Bender
Red Scare (2010)

Three long years after New Brains for Everyone rallied cynical drunks everywhere, the Brokedowns have returned with another full-length, this time for Chicago’s Red Scare Industries. From a stomping wooly mammoth adorning the cover to the shout-a-long climactic ending, Species Bender is a record that both celebrates and lampoons a civilization that bears more in common with its caveman founders … Read more

The Secret

Solve Et Coagula
Southern Lord (2010)

This four-piece crust/grind band hails from Trieste, Italy and formed in 2003. The Secret released their first record Luce on Goodfellow Records. After various line-up changes the band finally released their second record Disintoxication in 2008. Since then Goodfellow Records is no longer a functioning label. The Secret found a home in Southern Lord Recordings after an impressive demo was … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Let Me Run

Broken Strings EP
Paper + Plastick (2010)

Let Me Run managed to get alot of recognition in 2009 very quickly. This maybe be because of their jersey roots and owing much in sound to one Gaslight Anthem. These things helped them gain alot of attention along with some touring and some very good songs. The songs were good but could notably use some work, as they never … Read more

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