Unless you haven't heard Envy before, which would be a tragic mistake, then you already know how incredible this Japan-based melodic hardcore band is. This band truly is the instrumental representation of angst and sincerity that is a rare find in the crowded pool of crappy hardcore bands today. That being said, their new album, Insomniac Doze is sure to become one of the best hardcore CDs this year. Following their last epic, A Dead Sinking Story, Insomniac Doze is another stellar effort that captures the same heavy melodic heartfelt music that Envy do so well. The first track, "Further Ahead of Warp" opens with a wall of cascading guitars before breaking into a spoken word verse. This spoken word verse is atypical of Envy, but one soon realizes how effective this song structure works when the first melodic outburst shifts the song into a complete epic onslaught of gut wrenching wails and screams. The second track, "Shield of Selflessness," and the third track, "Scene," have similar structures, and both are also perfect examples of Envy's skill to create huge epic songs. However, as incredible as all of these songs are, the length and emotion of these songs can be … Read more
When searching Daryl Palumbo's name on Wikipedia - a great tool to prolong pointless Internet usage - an interesting passage … Read more
Metallic hardcore is easily my favorite genre of not only hardcore, but of all musical genres. My fondness of this … Read more
Putting their best foot forward from the off, Soul She Said's debut record opens with what is easily its strongest … Read more
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I’m doing my damnedest not to judge this book by its cover, because Stiff Richards is far and away the worst band name I’ve heard in some time.With that out of the way, they say punk is an angry genre. Sometimes that’s in the lyrics, sometimes the shouting, sometimes the overall sonic impression. This is the latter. It’s short and fast bursts of fury with melodic undertones. It’s that old kinda punk that lives by the code of short, fast, and loud and, when you listen, you really hear the frustration and you feel it yourself. There’s an element of showmanship to it on top of the raw emotion.Musically speaking, this record brings’77-influenced sounds with melodic guitars and basslines and a lot of crashing cymbals, but with vocals that truly … Read more
Any band that has a song called "Gets **** Started" and has not one or two, but three pictures of their guitar player doing posi-jumps you just know I'm going to automatically fall in love with even before I listen to the CD. Luckily I didn't go and make myself look like an ass by gushing over Attitude before I … Read more
All the musically discontent who seek great screamo bands and other various awesome musical projects, surrender your soul to the beacon of light that is Level Plane Records. After four years of being a die hard fan of this label, it has introduced me to such awesome bands such as Hot Cross, Envy, A Day In Black and White, Coliseum, … Read more
I'm from Arizona and I can attest that our local music scene sucks. There are occasionally a few decent bands but they never go anywhere. The exception to this would be Suicide Nation releasing 2 LPs and a split with Yaphet Kotto (who now play in the slaytanic Saviours). Unruh comes ahead with 2 LPs and a few more splits. … Read more
A raconteur is defined as "one who tells stories and anecdotes with skill." A skillful storyteller draws in his audience with an introduction that makes them want more. "Steady, as She Goes," the first single from The Raconteurs debut album Broken Boy Soldiers, is this introduction. At first listen to "Steady, as She Goes," you may think, "Oh, it's The … Read more
Released by two stellar labels, Perpetual Motion Machine and Electric Human Project, Two Thousand and Six Six Six is a split between two up and coming Virginian bands, Northern Virginia's Mass Movement of the Moth and Richmond's The Catalyst. Two Thousand and Six Six Six is a very collective effort, with the bands switching from song to song instead of … Read more
I don't know when it happened, although I think it might have been around the time the movie Friday Night Lights came out and word got out that Explosions in the Sky was doing the soundtrack. That may have been the point but I'm not really sure. Anyways, at one time or another post-rock got popular. Now, after kids everywhere … Read more
The connection between abrasive, warp speed music and film samples isn't new - for a whole wave of turn of the century hardcore bands, the familiar samples punctuating minute long tantrums were usually the most memorable part of the entire enterprise. But Graf Orlock takes this connection to an entirely new level. Named after the vampiric villain in Nosferatu, Graf … Read more
You, faithful SPB readers as I, listen and tend to prefer music that can best be described as "heavy". This is quite possibly the music you exclusively listen to. Perhaps you put on The Locust and Gorgoroth when you want to get pumped and juiced and rocked and whatever proactive analogy you can think of and then, when you're done, … Read more
Honestly, Blue Collar could have been one of the best hip-hop albums of the year. A few months ago, when he first caught my attention, around two-dozen Rhymefest songs were already circulating the Internet. More than half of these are undeniably some of the best mainstream hip-hop tracks in recent history. Rhymefest, who is already a Grammy winner as co-writer … Read more
If you asked me six years ago to name a band that at this time would seem about to take over the world I really don't think Muse would have even been in my top 50 choices. Then they had just released the very Radiohead sounding Showbiz and seemed almost destined to spend their career being compared to the Oxford … Read more
The enigmatic metal behemoth that is Starkweather has been erratically dropping musical bombs sporadically for well over a decade. An uncompromising band of musicians that set out to artistically satisfy their own predilections rather than satisfy any kind of musical "market", Starkweather has been lauded in the underground metal and hardcore community for quite a long time. They have been … Read more
The first time I saw Outbreak was at the "last" Suicide File show at the ICC Church in Boston during the baseball playoffs of '03. I had no clue whom Outbreak was except the fact that they were from Maine of all places and the kids went absolutely ape shit for them. After that show they were quickly signed to … Read more
Remember that kid in middle and high school you pushed around, called him a fag, and turned his great day to shit? Well, that kid rests in me. And that kid rests singer John Caution, and that kid means more to me than your insults ever will. The torturous years of withholding rage are now released and pressed on analog … Read more
If you've seen An Inconvenient Truth, the summer's biggest blockbuster hit, you know shit is hitting the fan. Carbon dioxide is seeping out from every industrial pore and the long-term effects of this are outright frightening. In terms of the short term, Al Gore put a major emphasis on an increase of heavy music. Not that Black Sabbath was ever … Read more
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