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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)

Islands

Return to the Sea
Equator (2006)

Islands is the kind of band that has the ability to suck you into their creative vortex and draw from you the emotions that they choose to illicit accordingly, all the while Return to the Sea remains very optimistic and upbeat. How could it not? If you are a follower of Islands leaders Nick Diamond and J'aime Tambeur (who recently left the band) then you will already know the type of music these musicians typically create. Formerly The Unicorns, who were popular for their imaginative but messy pop music, are now Islands and they seemed to have tuned their instruments this time. The best way to describe the sound on Return to the Sea is a well concocted mixture of calypso, pop, and rock. The album has one unifying sound which is pleasing to the ears and piques the mind's interest, yet each song maintains a certain uniqueness by adding some other style of music to the mix. For example, on the track "Where There's A Will, There's A Whale Bone" the sound is reminiscent of Th' Corn Gang, another one of the Unicorns side projects in which popular MC's laid tracks over Unicorn's songs. Nearing the middle of the … Read more

Casey Jones

The Messenger
Eulogy (2006)

Casey Jones, for those not in the know, is an unapologetically straightedge hardcore band. Originally a side project of Evergreen … Read more

Peeping Tom

Peeping Tom
Ipecac (2006)

It's been a long wait for the debut album of Mike Patton's Peeping Tom project. About six years to be … Read more

Junius

Blood is Bright
Radar (2006)

I could attempt a witty introduction for this review, but both you and I know that you never read the … Read more

Ampere / Sinaloa

Split
Ebullition (2006)

No bullshit, no posing. Just two of the best bands in the DIY hardcore scene releasing a split together. Nearly … Read more

Sweetthieves

View From a Glass Tower
Independent (2006)

Not too long ago, I was talking about a small band out of Providence, Rhode Island making references to some … Read more

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One from the archives

Korova

If There is a Future
Victimized (2007)

This 7" is a compilation of some demo tracks and live songs from this Birmingham, AL punk band that sounds like early hardcore/punk from California. If you are thinking Dead Kennedys, The Germs, and The Weirdos then you'd be right. The live stuff is a tough listen, the other songs are generic as all hell. Everything about this release stinks of being punk and DIY just like the old days. Read more

More album reviews

Constants

The Murder of Tom Fitzgerril
Radar (2006)

I'm a sucker for sprawling, epic rock music. Mogwai, Isis, M83, etc... You name it, I'm in. There's just something about music that slowly draws you in and hypnotizes you that really fuels my engine. About six months ago, my band was scheduled to play a show at this awful venue that pretty much everyone avoids. Of course, we ended … Read more

AFI

Decemberunderground
Interscope (2006)

The precursor to Decemberunderground was that it was a change from what AFI have offered before. Of course, all that is to be expected. The AFI paradigm has some inbuilt concept that they must always change and evolve. Antecedents of more electronic elements, with VNV Nation's Ronan Harris drafted in to help, even more epics and some threat or other … Read more

AFI

Decemberunderground
Interscope (2006)

For AFI, the name of the game has always been about evolution. About "out-doing" themselves one time after another. I can't say that they haven't, because each record has had it's own significant changes, some more noticeable than others, but they still retain part of their roots. Decemberunderground retains the (usually) well-placed aggression and excellent pop sensibilities that were present … Read more

AFI

Decemberunderground
Interscope (2006)

AFI managed to write over 100 songs for this album. That's an amazing feat for a band, right? But anyone can write a catchy song. If a band has to write a hundred songs and then choose the best ones, think of all the crap that had to be weeded out, or maybe it was quite the contrary. "Reivers Music" … Read more

AFI

Decemberunderground
Interscope (2006)

There are certain phrases that seem to be ever-present in AFI reviews across the music journalism world, suggesting either a lack of originality on the writer's part, or merely a convenient pigeon-hole that the band fall easily into. Either way, let's get some of them out of the way now:goth-punkdark popgloomycatharticThe CureThe MisfitsgothRobert Smithgoth-rock"that girly singer" Okay, now those are … Read more

Morrissey

Ringleader of the Tormentors
Sanctuary (2006)

Age gives you a great sense of proportion. You can be very hard on yourself when you're younger but now I just think...well everybody's absolutely mad and I'm doing quite well. Age shouldn't affect you. It's just like the size of your shoes - they don't determine how you live your life! You're either marvelous or you're boring, regardless of … Read more

This is Hell

Sundowning
Trustkill (2006)

This sounds like what could have been the missing link between American Nightmare's two full-length LPs, the straightforward brilliance of Background Music and the more eccentric but equally great We're Down 'Til We're Underground; This Is Hell are certainly keeping hardcore fresh and new-sounding, but they're not straying so far away from their roots as to render them unrecognizable. I'll … Read more

The Black Heart Procession

The Spell
Touch & Go (2006)

The Black Heart Procession has been producing challenging, dark indie rock for almost ten years now. Formed by members of the band Three Mile Pilot - who will also be releasing a new album sometime this year or next after an extended absence since 1998 - The Black Heart Procession have consistently released some of the moodiest sounding albums on … Read more

Banner Pilot

Pass the Poison
Arsenic Records (2006)

For anyone who is not from the Upper Midwest, the first thing they will think about when it comes to the climate is how freaking cold it gets in the Winter. This is especially true when it comes to the frozen tundra of my home state of Minnesota. Hell, even Minneapolis won a Weather Channel countdown as the coldest city … Read more

Murder By Death

In Bocca Al Lupo
East West/Tent Show (2006)

Music is an art, and oftentimes musicians will use their art to tell a story - concept albums have become increasingly popular in recent years. Murder by Death dabbled in this genre with their previous effort, Who Will Survive, And What Will Be Left of Them?. And while they have cast aside the extended storyline from their new full-length, In … Read more

Serpe

A Night in Gin's Hollow
Home Recorded Culture (2006)

I don't think I can do it. I consider myself to be at least a capable writer, but it's going to be hard as hell to do a review of this album in any kind of acceptable length without five or ten non-sequiturs skewing off into long-winded tales of personal medical scares, pet deaths, and the time I was an … Read more

The Flaming Lips

At War With the Mystics
Warner Bros. (2006)

Even months before its release, it seemed as if everyone had already assumed that the latest record from The Flaming Lips would effectively mark the end of the band's run as alternative rock's quirky reigning champions. When the first single from At War With the Mystics hit the airwaves, I was almost inclined to believe that it was indeed over. … Read more

Disappearer

Disappearer
Trash Art (2006)

Disappearer is the latest creative outlet for the majority of the short lived band, There Were Wires (which also includes a member of Doomriders). Whereas their previous outfits were and are more metal oriented, Disappearer is a post-rock group more akin to bands like Pelican and Red Sparowes (both of which they share a definite similarity) that also eschew the … Read more

Ghostface Killah

Fishscale
Def Jam (2006)

If "The Champ" has not, by the time of publication, been mass produced onto 12" record and shipped to every club DJ in the hip-hop speaking world then there is something truly fucked with the world. You see, with summer fast approaching the dance floors of the world are screaming out for a new jam that will make women emit … Read more

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