Recent reviews

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)

The Hidden Hand

The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote
Southern Lord (2007)

Let's be up front with this right off the bat. For all of Wino's - the guitarist and vocalist of the Hidden Hand - history in prominent bands like The Obsessed, St. Vitus, Spirit Caravan, etc, he is a workhorse musician who maintains a level of consistency that most bands and songwriters would kill to have. The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote is the third full-length for Wino, bassist Bruce Falkinburg, and (on the record anyway) drummer Evan Tanner. The idea - don't call this a concept record - behind the record is actually quite ambitious. Bruce Falkinburg states about The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote that is more like little vignettes of a larger story rather than a full-fledged concept album. Personally, I like the setting in the early history of modern America specifically during the time of Bacon's Rebellion or the Whiskey Rebellion - two conflicts that struck against early tyranny here in America. The stories follow a fictitious hero by the name of Whiskey Foote as he traverses the new frontiers. The Resurrection of Whisky Foote is a very rhythmically oriented album with a number of start/stop passages and arrangements that are spread across the record. Wino's crisp guitar … Read more

Stars are Falling

The Consequence of Revenge
Blood & Ink (2007)

Sacramento's Stars are Falling are yet another in long line of bands coming out of California and inking a deal … Read more

Dohrn

Dohrn
Ethospine Noise (2006)

I have a soft spot for those noise punk and grindcore albums that blaze by in ten minutes or less. … Read more

Boxcar Satan / The Graves Brothers Deluxe

Black Water Rising
Dog Fingers (2007)

Charity records are always a tough breed to review; on the one hand you don't want to say anything bad … Read more

Strangers

Holding
Action Man (2007)

Many Americans tend to take our music scene for granted, very rarely looking outside of our borders for new music. … Read more

Busdriver

RoadKillOvercoat
Epitaph (2007)

Busdriver is something of an anomaly in contemporary hip-hop. He is perpetually labeled as, if not "the next big thing", … Read more

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One from the archives

Tomydeepestego

Odyessa
Subsound (2007)

Tomydeepestego are an Italian instrumental band that began writing music in 2006. The press sheet that accompanied Odyssea boasts that the band combines aspects of Neurosis, Isis, Pelican, and Mogwai, and that they have opened for Cult of Luna and Red Sparowes. Name-dropping these artists - plus seeing that Robotic Empire took care of the U.S. distribution - definitely caught my attention even before I listened to the album. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't anxious to get this in the mail. Odyssea begins with "Euskadia." The track begins without sounding very original or special, but ends with some promise. It's a rather generic song in the world of post-metal/instrumental/post-whatever, not offering anything "fresh." "Mizar" is much better than the opener. Tomydeepestego's self-stated Isis influence is definitely noticeable … Read more

More album reviews

The Snake The Cross The Crown

Cotton Teeth
Equal Vision (2007)

In late 2004 when folk was just breaking through and about to become the new emo, I was caught off guard by a band called The Snake The Cross The Crown. Opening for Owen, I was dumbfounded by the passion these gentlemen brought to the stage. Shortly after witnessing the spectacle that was their live show, I picked up their … Read more

Short Sharp Shock

Short Sharp Shock
Dead & Gone (2006)

Anyone who's read any of my reviews probably has a pretty good idea of my old-school sensibilities when it comes to music. I've been listening to music for my whole life and it's tough to find anything that sounds fresh these days. So the reasons for my old-school tastes are simple. I'm old. I've heard a lot in my life. … Read more

xDeathstarx

We are the Threat
Facedown (2007)

Maybe I am the only one that can see the irony in a Christian straightedge band having a song called "The Great Opiate" since organized religion has always been thought of the opiate of the masses for free thinking atheists around the world. Then again, I don't think xDeathstarx could bang two brain cells in their collective seven heads to … Read more

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

Living with the Living
Touch & Go (2007)

Like a well-deserved punch to the face, a breath of fresh air in a smog-ridden city, or indeed, a good musician amongst a plethora of bad ones, Ted Leo and his illustrious Pharmacists have returned with their Touch & Go debut, Living with the Living. At just over an hour long, the record beats Leo's previous offering, 2004's Shake the … Read more

Since the Flood

No Compromise
Metal Blade (2007)

New Hampshire natives Since the Flood have worked hard to get where they are today. In their five years of existence the band has self-released a couple demos, signed as the first band to Ironclad Recordings (Trevor of Unearth's label), and toured their asses off, resulting in the promotion from imprint label Ironclad to the mother of metal, Metal Blade … Read more

Nicole Atkins

Bleeding Diamonds
Columbia (2006)

What is it with the recent explosion of male singer/songwriters? Almost like buses, none show up for ages and then all of a sudden a billion swarm you and the one that everyone jumps onboard turns out to be James Blunt. And where have all the female singer/songwriters gone? It seems that when there is a rise in one sex … Read more

Call it Fire

Demo
Independent (2007)

Oh wow, another Long Island hardcore band? Seriously? Man, I can't really say I saw this one coming. All sarcastic comments aside, Long Island, New York has cranked out some seriously great bands over the years. I mean, who else has a pedigree like Glassjaw, Silent Majority, Brand New and Crime in Stereo? More or less, you know the score … Read more

This Time Next Year

Demonstration
Independent (2006)

I know I've said this before, but God bless the Bay Area! Five-piece outfit This Time Next Year is the latest band to emerge from the thriving music scene of the Golden Gate. The young pop-punk outfit hits the scene with Demonstration, five tracks of fabulous pop-punk and melodic hardcore fused as one. "The Wise are Always Better" begins the … Read more

Escape the Floodwater Jug Band

Whiskey Will Fix It
Super Amigos (2006)

A half a century ago, when America was a more wholesome place than its current manifestation, a man by the name of Kerouac wrote the great American novel of its time. In the novel, On the Road, Kerouac recounts the adventures had when crisscrossing the newly developed highway system. Kerouac himself often romanticized of an even earlier America still: a … Read more

Menomena

Friend and Foe
Barsuk (2007)

Wow, this is really rare. Admittedly, this is my first exposure to Menomena - in a nostalgic sort of way; I love their band name. I was drawn to Friend and Foe, the second full-length from the band, because of the superior artwork that they employ for the packaging of the record. What is inside that packaging was a total … Read more

Striborg

Nefaria
Southern Lord (2007)

When all else is said and done, I like my metal like I like my coffee: black, bottomless, and smelling like the inside of a cave. It doesn't need to be fancy. No cream, no sugar no artificial flavors to make it more palatable. Sparse arrangements with sparser production that sounds like it was recorded amongst the smoldering remnants of … Read more

Combichrist

What the Fuck is Wrong With You People?
Metropolis (2007)

Andy LaPlegua is a man of many talents. He's tried his hand at everything from hip-hop to metal, from industrial to hardcore, from punk to trance. After forming the now highly successful Icon of Coil in 1997, LaPlegua has gone on to establish three side-projects, each equally successful in their own right. Among these is aggrotech group Combichrist, whose accomplishments … Read more

Secondhand Serenade

Awake
Glassnote (2007)

It wasn't long ago that a bushy eyebrowed, full-sleeved tattoo sportin' Christian by the name of Chris Carrabba left his rock band, Further Seems Forever, to embark on nearly overnight emo superstardom under the guise of Dashboard Confessional. About that same time, I gave up on emo. I saw it become a marketing scheme to sell boring records to lackluster … Read more

Die Young

Graven Images
Eulogy (2007)

Each year, like so many other music-obsessed individuals, I make a list of my most anticipated albums. In doing so, I am setting myself up for the possibility of total disappointment. Die Young (TX) was one of the bands on said list, but this album is not a disappointment. On the contrary, not only did Die Young (TX)'s - it … Read more

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

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