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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)

Up the Fury

Behind Every Mind
Detonate (2008)

Screw you with your Crime in Stereos, your Capitals, your Agents, and your Thieves and Assassins. Seriously, take a long jump off a short pier into Long Island Sound. Every week there seems to be a new band coming from that damn island that of yours that just feels the need to completely floor me. Is it something in the water that keeps you pumping out one great band after another? What is going on over there? Case in point, Up the Fury. This band is reminiscent of bands I don't really listen to on a daily basis - Life Long Tragedy, Modern Life is War, Final Fight, etc. I for one am over this slow build up to a throbbing crescendo of emotional catharsis type hardcore. But then comes Up the Fury with Behind Every Mind and makes this sound seem as fresh as it did a few years ago. Up the Fury take that sound and add a solid groove to each and every song with some quality 90's chugga-chugga mosh. While Up the Fury's brethren like to live between walls of sound and snail pace climbs, Up the Fury, on the other hand, goes straight for the … Read more

Pyramids

Pyramids
Hydra Head (2008)

So Pyramids is one of a slew of new bands making their debuts with Hydra Head recently. However, this outfit … Read more

The Gaslight Anthem

Señor and the Queen
Sabot Productions (2008)

New Jersey The Gaslight Anthem's Sink of Swim was one of the most over-looked album last year on Scene Point … Read more

H2O

Still the Same Fellas
Bridge Nine (2008)

There is no doubt in the sincerity of Toby Morse's declaration that H2O have nothing to prove. And while their … Read more

Carrigan

Young Men Never Die
Radar/So Good Music (2008)

Hailing from Vermont, Carrigan plays ambient post-rock, but more structured and upbeat than you would think. Although the group is … Read more

Forfeit

Visions
Reaper (2008)

Heavy, stomp worthy, pissed off mid-tempo to fast in your face hardcore. If you like anything from Agnostic Front, Buried … Read more

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One from the archives

Dead Meadow

Feathers
Matador (2005)

Dead Meadow, hailing from the D.C. area, formed out of The Impossible Five when they broke up in 1999. Jason Simon (guitar/vocals) Steve Kille (bass) and Mark Laughlin (Drums) went on to form Dead Meadow. Laughlin quit the group in '02, and Steve McCarty joined the group for Shivering King and Others and their newest addition, Cory Shane a few years later. With three releases already under their belt, a live album and a couple of line up changes and additions, Dead Meadow steps through the door and invites you for another hypnotic-psychedelic experience, this time a lot more finely tuned. Feathers floats right in with sludging, and swirling guitars. Simon's lamely but delicately applied vocals fade in and draws you into the trance: "I fell out / none I … Read more

More album reviews

The First Step

Connection
Rivalry (2008)

My favorite revival band of the revival youth-crew bands is back with another four-song platter so I can mosh around my apartment, pointer fingers extended and with couch dives in full effect. If you have any love for fast, fun, old-school hardcore then you probably own this and your sofa has already paid the price. Seriously, go cut off some … Read more

Carry the Torch

Dead Weather
Detonate (2008)

Carry the Torch are yet another over-emotional hardcore band that play fast, somewhat tuneful, a little bit metal, and quite moshable hardcore. The one-sheet says they would appease the fans of Strongarm, Cave In, and Taken when in actuality they only had to mention Shai Hulud since Carry the Torch tries to do their best of impression of A Profound … Read more

Down and Outs

Friday Nights, Monday Mornings
Dead & Gone (2008)

Down and Outs have been shaking things up for going on four years now. Unfortunately, I really didn't start paying attention to the band until last year when they offered up a split 7" with Death is No Glamorous. Despite my ignorance, Down and Outs have amassed a small discography through a variety of releases - both in CD and … Read more

Slingshot Dakota

Their Dreams are Dead, but Ours is the Golden Ghost
Independent (2008)

A few years ago I went to one of those parties that a lot of us have attended. There was plenty of PBR flowing and occupants had their fair share of scarves on. Yes, it was a hipster party and I was miserable. The girls there were all too young for me to bother hitting on and all the guys … Read more

Various Artists

Generic Insight Radio Volume One
Eternal Hope (2008)

Generic Insight Radio is a weekly Internet radio show that airs on Wednesday nights from 10:00 PM until midnight EST. I personally have never listened to the show because I'm usually in bed by 9:00 PM CST. Not to mention my computer has a hard time playing the pinball game that comes with Word. I can only imagine what streaming … Read more

Born/Dead

The Final Collapse
Prank (2008)

Ah, Born/Dead is one of the more notable crust/hardcore bands in the vein of groups like Tragedy (kind of but I would not say this is a good comparison as Born/Dead is a beast all to themselves. They also adhere to a heavy political message in their songs. Touring is also a huge part of this band as they play … Read more

Capillary Action

So Embarrassing
Pangaea (2008)

There is a small set of musicians that I would consider to be more than just your average artist. When it comes to composing music, the arrangement and execution of these pieces, as one is a feat that only the most talented of individuals can excel at. The most obvious choice to me is Mike Patton. Anyone that has witnessed … Read more

Haram

Drescher
Lovitt (2008)

It's pretty ridiculous to look back on the career of Pg.99 and sort through all the bands that came out of their existence and their ever-rotating members. While many were short lived or are defunct, there are handfuls that still are actively playing. One of these is Haram, with Mike Taylor and Kevin Longendyke moving on from Pg.99 to conqueror … Read more

Vietnam Werewolf

Ohio's City
Independent (2008)

Ever listen to a band and just know if you lived in the same city as them that you would be good friends with them? Vietnam Werewolf comes off to me as one of those types of bands. They are comprised of four nerdy, scruffy looking Nerf-Herder type guys that like their beer and probably wouldn't annoy the living shit … Read more

Fight Amp

Hungry for Nothing
Translation Loss (2008)

Fight Amp (recently shortened from Fight Amputation) is a punk/hardcore outfit that plays a distinctly noisy, bottom heavy brand of punk with vocal chord shredding yelling and screaming going on over top of the morass of sound that relentlessly pummels listeners, and that is just in the live situation. The band tours frequently and this is the latest in a … Read more

Set Foot

Aging
Copper Lung (2008)

Set Foot is a fairly straightforward hardcore band from Vancouver, British Columbia. They may hail from the Pacific Northwest but they're far different from their brethren in the likes of Champion, Sinking Ships, Blue Monday, etc. Rather than draw influence from the worlds of youth crew and posi-revival hardcore, Set Foot takes to the metallic edge. Aging is the band's … Read more

Brain Dead / Rot in Hell

Millennial Psychosis
Feast of Tentacles/Rumor Control (2008)

Millennial Psychosis features two of the best up-and-coming hardcore bands that the U.K. has to offer. If you haven't picked up on these two yet, you're missing out. Brain Dead offer up four songs of punishing hardcore/powerviolence that would do the likes of Infest proud. This U.K. four-piece unleashes a visceral assault onto the listener with blazing riffs and pummeling … Read more

Zhenia Golov

Zhenia Golov
Railroaded (2008)

Zhenia Golov hail from the hardcore factory that is New Brunswick, NJ. I won't bore you with a list of notables that have already made it big, just know that there are a lot of them. Zhenia Golov plays aggressive and raw hardcore punk with a bit of influence from the d-beat world as well. They've got the speed and … Read more

Dynamite Arrows

Blowin' It
Mauled by Tigers (2008)

Dynamite Arrows offers up four tracks on Blowin' It. The four-piece have concocted a fine mixture of melodic punk, hardcore, and traditional pop-punk. Musically I'm reminded of the likes of Kid Dynamite and Latterman. The vocals are a bit less coarse, delivered in a slightly nasal harmony. The pace of the songs is very upbeat and they evoke a very … 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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