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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)

Burden of a Day

Pilots & Paper Planes
Blood & Ink (2006)

It might say something for my enthusiasm for this record that it has sat for almost a year in my 'to review' pile since first receiving it. While I do attempt to avoid at least complete bias in my reviews, in the case of Florida's Burden of a Day, I knew exactly what I was going to hear when I finally put this CD in my player. Whether it was the artwork featuring skulls and human body schematics with muscles labeled in their Latin names; the one sheet describing them as "heartfelt and melodic"; song titles like "For Tomorrow We Die" and "Ashes To Ashes", or simply the 'grungy' font used all over the insert, something told me that this band was going to play a brand of emocore with those melodic guitars and 'dark' lyrics we all know and love. Like Nostradamus, my predictions were true. Pilots & Paper Planes is the band's debut release, and as you might imagine, it begins with dual vocals (screamed and sung), twin guitar riffing and double bass-led breakdowns. Lyrics are standard fare, with "High Noon" bizarrely sampling lyrics from Christian staple "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," which makes more sense when the band's … Read more

Never Looking Back

Fragile Hearts
Detonate (2007)

Here we go again. Once again we have yet another young hardcore band, this time hailing from Tacoma, WA, playing … Read more

The Good Life

Help Wanted Nights
Saddle Creek (2007)

Bands evolve and the fans have to deal with it. Their musical palette expands and the records change. This holds … Read more

Wisdom in Chains

Class War
Eulogy (2007)

A lot has been made lately of the throwback sounds that are ultra popular in hardcore these days. It seems … Read more

Shipwreck

Shipwreck
Deathwish Inc. (2007)

Shipwreck burst onto the scene last year with their debut 7" on Rumble Records. The four-song release was an instant … Read more

War of Ages

Fire from the Tomb
Facedown (2007)

Erie has a long-standing tradition of hardcore: xDisciplex A.D., Brothers Keeper, Shockwave, and Abnegation. Continuing that tradition is War of … Read more

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One from the archives

Yo Man Go

Life Lessons
Square of Opposition (2007)

Yo Man Go hail from the eastern part of Pennsylvania and they play melodic punk that'll please fans whose record collections boast releases from the No Idea and Fat Wreck catalogs. This two song 7" is the first issued recording from these punk rock upstarts. "Life Lessons" is a melodic punk ditty that features some catch guitar riffs and crooned vocal melodies. It's got an early Lifetime feel to it, but not nearly as energetic. "Down with Bo Jangles" takes on a faster paced direction. I actually thought of Lifetime covering Hot Water Music while this cut was swirling around my record player. Good stuff! Life Lessons is a promising debut that will likely place Yo Man Go on a number of bearded punk fans' lists of favorite new bands. … Read more

More album reviews

Daymares

Cant Get Us All
Self Made God (2007)

Daymares hail from Poland. Yes, that Poland. Prior to this release, the band had nothing more than a roughly mixed demo, which mixed 90's metallic hardcore with brooding metal. And here's why you should take notice Can't Get Us All is the band's debut full-length. Comprised of eleven songs, three of which are re-recorded from their demo, Can't Get Us … Read more

The Fire The Flood

Truth Seekers
No Sleep (2007)

The Fire The Flood hails from North Carolina, a state home to metalcore greats Prayer for Cleansing. Unfortunately, the music that makes up Truth Seekers is nothing worth mentioning in the same sentence as one of the purveyors of modern metalcore. Truth Seekers is comprised of thirteen tracks, of which only two clock in over the two-minute mark. Musically, the … Read more

Lewd Acts

Dark Days
Independent (2007)

Dark Days is a discography release that compiles the San Diego-based hardcore outfits previous material into one neat package. The CD opens with "The Bridge," one of three new cuts. The song is fast-paced hardcore song that is centered on individuals that travel to The Golden Gate Bridge only to commit suicide. "Holy Hands" and "Fun in Funeral" follow in … Read more

Mekons

Natural
Touch & Go (2007)

Some critics may think that their age gives them more credit and validates every opinion they have. I am on the lower end of the age spectrum when it comes to critics, but that doesn't mean I have no clue what I'm talking about when it comes to music. Hey, I'm not a worldly expert but I think I can … Read more

One Starving Day

Broken Wings Lead Arms to the Sun
Planaria (2007)

Hailing from Italy, One Starving Day are a four-piece band that, at times, sounds more like ten or fifteen people playing music. Their sound is full and emotive conveying enough raw moods and feeling in each musical piece that begs for one to pay attention. The only time prior to Broken Wings Lead Arms to the Sun that I have … Read more

Municipal Waste

The Art of Partying
Earache (2007)

Municipal Waste likes to party. How do I know this? Well, there's the album title. Couple that with songs like "Beer Pressure," "Born to Party," and "Chemically Altered" and you don't exactly have to be Veronica Mars to connect the dots. It also goes without saying we're not exactly dealing with subtle music open to the interpretation of the listener … Read more

Breakfast

Six Packs Classic
625 Thrashcore (2007)

Westerners tend to love Japanese pop culture almost as much as Japanese kids love western (read: American) pop culture - especially rock and roll. And punk is no exception to this phenomenon, as each side doesn't hesitate to make a fetish out of the other: American punks work themselves into a lather bidding on GISM LPs, while Japanese punks go … Read more

Under Pressure

Come Clean
Escape Artist (2007)

Winnipeg's Under Pressure is a dirty 80's sounding hardcore band with a dude singing like he's trying to hold in his bong hit for the longest time while gargling glass. Saying he sounds a little gruff is like saying the people that have smoked Pall Mall Non-Filters for thirty plus years are a little raspy. Musically, the band either goes … Read more

The Swede

And the Swede
Shoddy Merchandise (2006)

God bless Matthew William Kohnle. Kohnle is The Swede. While I'm not sure if the name is a reference to his nationality (or if he is in fact a root vegetable), this project is solely his. With the exception of some bass clarinet by Todd Knapp and some vocals by Mrs. Kohnle, all songs are written, performed, and even recorded … Read more

Foo Fighters

The Colour and the Shape (Reissue)
RCA (2007)

The Colour and the Shape was the Foo Fighters second full-length release, though it was the first album in which Grohl enlisted a full band to back him in the writing and recording of the album. Grohl gathered an ensemble of musicians to surround him for what would become the band's breakthrough album: bassist Nate Mendel of Sunny Day Real … Read more

Year of No Light

Nord
Crucial Blast (2007)

As our global society is brought closer and closer as a result of the Internet and other lightning fast communicative technologies, the influx and exposure of foreign bands and musicians continues to increase in frequency at an unprecedented rate; one label that has fully embraced this global mixing is Crucial Blast who bring the United States the domestic release of … Read more

Happy Mondays

Uncle Dysfunktional
Sanctuary (2007)

This review is dedicated to Anthony H. Wilson. Fuck Keith and Mick, Fuck the Toxic Twins of Aerosmith, and fuck Britney Spears. The greatest rock and roll survivor of all time is one Shaun William Ryder. Here is a man that hasn't made a penny since he was sued by his former managers, a man that helped introduce ecstasy into … Read more

Stalaggh

Projekt Misanthropia
Autopsy Kitchen (2007)

When John Zorn released his Kristallnacht album, it contained one track of sheer horror, anger, and sorrow all rolled into one. Entitled "Never Again," Zorn did his utmost to convey his interpretation of the "Night of Broken Glass." The track is essentially just that: over eleven minutes of the unbearable sound of glass shattering. Zorn even went so far, though … Read more

J Church / Flamingo 50

Split
Los Diaper (2007)

Oh J Church how I love you and your noisy simple pop-punk brilliance. And thank-you for doing a good cover of The Car's "Just What I Need." Flamingo 50, you on the other hand and side, are completely new to me and are apparently from the UK. You remind of a Screeching Weasel mixed with early Discount for a decent … Read more

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