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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)

Hoods

The King is Dead
Eulogy (2005)

Hoods, the reigning kings of Sacramento hardcore, have endured a lot throughout their decade of existence. The band have released a slew of recordings in all forms - LP's, EP's, splits, and compilations - on a handful of labels. Such an unwillingness to give up is rare for a band, especially in the genre of hardcore. And yet, here they are again with yet another album on yet another label. The King is Dead sets things off with the titular track, which is gem of metallic hardcore with one of hell of a breakdown/sing-along: "I'm sorry that I hate you, I tried and tried again / Every time we take you back you fuck us once again / The king is fucking dead, he lays there in street / no one left to fuck, you're dead you fucking thief." The lyrics read like a hate-letter; whoever it is directed at, you can be glad you're not him. Hoods follow it up with a solid mix of fast-paced cuts - "Lost Hope" and "This Time - and slower-but-brutal tracks - "Heartless" and "End of Days." These tracks contain varying combinations of hardcore, punk, and metal. Later on "Coward," the band reprises … Read more

Brian Posehn

Nerd Rage
Independent (2005)

Stand-up comedians aren't funny. With very few exceptions, this is a truism that has become stronger and stronger over the … Read more

Head Wound City

Head Wound City
Three One G (2005)

Let's get the roster out of the way because that usually draws people in like moths to a blowtorch. Jordan … Read more

Scarling

So Long, Scarecrow
Sympathy for the Record Industry (2005)

It's going to sound silly, but in recent months, Scarling has taken on Moby Dick-like proportions in my life. They … Read more

Green Day

Bullet in a Bible
Reprise (2005)

You could almost imagine the epitaph on Green Day's headstone from the moment Reprise got into the whole contract-fulfilling kiss-of-death … Read more

Since By Man

Pictures from the Hotel Apocalypse
Revelation (2005)

Was it really only two years ago that Since By Man unleashed their debut CD, We Sing the Body Electric? … Read more

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One from the archives

The Arson Choir

Invisible Monsters
War Against Records (2020)

200 Words Or Less

The Arson Choir are another fine representative of the new wave of American mathcore. They’re a pretty young band, but they have a lot of power in them and they sure know how to lay it down. Their balls to the wall delivery paired with chunky and groovy riffs, as well as the classic dissonant screeches is very appropriate and well executed. Invisible Monsters is their second release, a four track EP, which gives us the goods just as we like them – fucking heavy and relentless. I couldn’t put my finger on any particular aspect that makes their blend of mathcore unique. I can definitely say that they’re recognizable as soon as the music starts playing. I may be tempted to compare them to something else or straight up … Read more

More album reviews

With Honor

This is Our Revenge
Victory (2005)

I have a boom box where you load the CD's on the top, so when I put in This is Our Revenge into my kickin' stereophonic listening system I thought I accidentally left in my copy of Ignite's Past Our Means. Todd Mackey's vocals sound so eerily close to Zoli Teglas that I actually thought I had just left in … Read more

Multiple Authors

Propagandhi

Potemkin City Limits
Fat Wreck Chords (2005)

Propaghandi has always held a place in many people's hearts for their impassioned and political stances that they take on their record, and I always respected that political basis of much of their lyrical content and overall message of the band. Musically though, they had always been missing something for me. Every genre of punk and or hardcore has had … Read more

Multiple Authors

Propagandhi

Potemkin City Limits
Fat Wreck Chords (2005)

The time is 7 a.m. as I pace frantically across empty parking spaces towards a vacant Tower Records. I know I'm three hours early, but after waiting patiently for four long years my heart is about to catharsis all over the asphalt if my ears aren't satisfied ASAP. All week I had been ranting on about the new Propagandhi album … Read more

Daggermouth

Stallone
Feeding Frenzy (2005)

Recently I was talking with (read: bitching to) my friend Brian about how there hasn't been any new bands lately that have really caught me and pulled me in. Granted, there have been many bands I've really gotten into over the last year or so, but none of them really caught my ear and made me love them. It's not … Read more

David Gray

Life in Slow Motion
ATO (2005)

I'd like to begin this review by thanking the kind people at Dictionary.com and Google.com for their unwitting assistance in the writing of this here review. God bless you. boring adj. Uninteresting and tiresome; dull. boring adv. boringness n. Synonyms: boring, monotonous, tedious, irksome, tiresome, humdrum These adjectives refer to what is so uninteresting as to cause mental weariness. Boring … Read more

Immolation

Harnessing Ruin
Olympic (2005)

Hey Immolation, I just received a call from 1989 and they want their music back. Harnessing Ruin is the sixth release from legendary death-metal act Immolation, and they show us once again why they're "legendary." The nine songs off this CD deliver 2005 a blast from the past. This death-metal time-warp makes me think back to when death-metal bands came … Read more

American Werewolves

1968
Fractured Transmitter (2005)

If you were to randomly walk into a concert venue while American Werewolves were performing you would be extremely fortunate. The four-piece punk outfit from Cleveland delivers a unique blend of Misfits-worship punk, but with an oh so sweet twist. That twist is their incorporation of early - I'm talking 1950's - rock-n-roll, B-movie keys, and hints of early hardcore. … Read more

A Day in Black and White

Notes
Level Plane (2005)

On Notes, A Day in Black and White's debut full-length, they get to point quickly; in one minute and twenty seconds to be precise. After an at-times impressive first release, My Heroes Have Always Killed Cowboys released on Level Plane in 2004, A Day in Black and White looked like it would slowly join the hardcore-band graveyard as member changes … Read more

Logh

A Sunset Panorama
Hydra Head (2005)

Is Sweden even cold? Whenever I think of Northern Europe, I think of mountains, yodelers, and folks with Princess Leia hair wandering around in big coats. Yet the continent keeps popping out some of the …well, warmest albums I've ever heard. Par example: the new album from Logh, a band I didn't care about until this year. I started caring … Read more

Ulver

Blood Inside
Jester (2005)

Have you heard the myth about prisoners stubbing out cigarettes into a bucket of water in order to create enough poison to use on their fellow inmates? Evidently, someone slipped a copy of the mastertapes to Ulver's latest sonic delivery into that foul brew as well. Opening with the slow-burning near opera of "Dressed in Black," the stage is thoroughly … Read more

Maria Taylor

11:11
Saddle Creek (2005)

A spotlight can show a lot about a person. Over the course of her career Maria Taylor has been, arguably, the driving force behind both the bands Azure Ray and Now It's Overhead, as well as lending her talents to various other artists including Crooked Fingers and Moby. Despite gaining moderate recognition for her work with groups, Taylor's delicate style … Read more

Project X

Straight Edge Revenge (Reissue)
Bridge Nine (2005)

"I'm as straight as the line that you sniff up your nose / I'm as hard as the booze that you swill down your throat / I'm as bad as the shit you breathe into your lungs / And I'll fuck you up as fast as the pill on your tongue / STRAIGHT EDGE REVENGE!" Oh. Fuck. Yes. There's no … Read more

Killing the Dream

In Place, Apart
Deathwish Inc. (2005)

It wasn't too that ago that Killing the Dream was just a band with a demo. Upon first hearing said demo, I shared it with every single person that I knew telling them "this band is going to be huge." So maybe they're not selling out amphitheatres, but Killing the Dream are signed to one of hardcore's largest labels and … Read more

Dead Blonde Girlfriend

Dead Blonde Girlfriend
Art Monkey (2005)

Joie Blaney is, or at least, was a musical anomaly. Under the guise of Joie Dead Blonde Girlfriend, he plays an acoustic guitar faster and louder than any punk band. He sings his songs with the soul of a poet and with the voice of a cement mixer. He writes from the heart. He writes honestly and never once complains. … 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)