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Era Bleak

Era Bleak
Dirt Cult (2020)

It’s really tough for me to review this full-length. Why? Because I loved the band’s demo tape and it’s really hard to separate the two releases. The self-titled official debut here has several of the same songs and, probably due to familiarity, they jump out as favorites from the get-go.But I’ll do what I can to go all tabula rasa … Read more

Hyborian

Volume II (2020)
Season of Mist (2020)

Hyborian is balls to the wall raw sludge metal hailing from Kansas City, Missouri. Volume II is their third album and what feels like a overall continuation from their previous record, Volume I. From the very beginning of the 8 song, 40 minute masterpiece is the song Driven by Hunger which gives you a perfect taste of what the rest … Read more

The Lawrence Arms

Skeleton Coast
Epitaph (2020)

When a band is releasing its third new record since 2006, you’d expect some inconsistency. The Lawrence Arms seem to be timeless though. With Skeleton Coast they pick right up where they left off Metropole (2014). Take the opening stanza of “Dead Man’s Coat” as an example. Beginning with Chris McCaughan’s soft and wanting melodies, it’s unmistakably The Lawrence Arms. … Read more

King Buzzo w/ Trevor Dunn

Gift of Sacrifice
Ipecac (2020)

Simon and Garfunkel.Seals and Crofts.Hall and Oates.Captain and Tennille.Some artists just go together. Sure, they might make music on their own. But once they find their “other”, their “person” - you never want to hear them with anyone else.Such is the case the case with Buzz Osbourne and Trevor Dunn. So long Melvins and Fantômas. So long Mr. Bungle and … Read more

Chain Whip

14 Lashes
Drunken Sailor (2020)

This is the kind of hardcore that makes my throat hurt just listening. It’s also the kind of hardcore where I can’t sit still while listening, even when tethered to headphones at work. It’s high energy, relentless and, somehow, it just never lets up. To keep coining silly phrases, this is sweaty, gasp-for-air hardcore. As each of the songs fade … Read more

Old Ghosts

Crow
State of Mind (2020)

These last few weeks I've started to notice that the creases in my forehead are deepening. It's a subtle change to my face, but it's progressively becoming more noticeable. My pores are becoming more visible as well, and my skin doesn't have the same spongey, moist quality to it that I remember it having in my early twenties. And of … Read more

Inject the Light

The Apocalypse Is Boring
Dirt Cult (2020)

Inject the Light is a time capsule, a one-person project from Chris Mason that’s about living in the moment of the COVID-19 lockdowns. Mason, who has also plays with Low Culture and Macho Boys, among others, takes a new approach here. This five-song digital release is a little on the lo-fi side, with elements of New Wave, No Wave, synth … Read more

Raging Nathans

Oppositional Defiance
Rad Girlfriend Records (2020)

Boy do The Raging Nathans know how to start a record on a down note. The band plays melodic DIY pop-punk that’s of the verse-chorus-verse variety with driving rhythm to give it that extra oomph. While I tend to think of this kind of music as a little more light-hearted, the band cuts through that veneer instantly with “Tragedy Ghouls: … Read more

Sun-0-Bathers

Floater EP
Morning Wood Records/Thousand Islands Records/Paper + Plastick (2020)

Two years ago I reviewed Local Warming, the debut EP by Sun-0-Bathers. Two years have passed, but not much has changed for Sun-0-Bathers. I am not going to blame them for it. If you have a winning formula, why change it, right?That winning formula for Sun-0-Bathers is straightforward 90’s skatepunk. Summer is the best time for releases of this type … Read more

Sanctifying Ritual

Sanctifying Ritual
Iron Bonehead (2020)

Most death metal bands exhibit a morbid quality to their sound but few would be believed if they said that their music was actually recorded in a catacomb. However, if the German death-thrash thrallers Sanctifying Ritual confessed as much to me, that their raw and cavernous debut was recorded in such an odious environment, it would be a sheer act … Read more

Einstürzende Neubauten

Alles in Allem
Potomak 2020 (2020)

It’s a fairly long story as to the exact circumstance, but a couple of years ago on a rainy winter day in Tasmania I found myself as the only passenger in a shuttle bus when just when we were about to depart, the door opened and three constituents of the Einstürzende Neubauten entered the vehicle. While their World War I … Read more

Skeleton

Skeleton
20 Buck Spin (2020)

There are a lot of skeletons out there. Stuffed in closets. Hanging on metal hooks in medical school classrooms. There is a skeleton in me writing this. And there is a skeleton in you reading it. If you think about all of those sharp, calcified rods and lobes, shifting below tender, malleable flesh, it might unsettle you somewhat. There has … Read more

Sam Russo

Back To The Party
Red Scare Industries (2020)

Anytime it’s just one person on the stage, the music being created is going to be intimate and personal. Sometimes it’s so personal that it doesn’t bridge the gap from the stage to the floor. Fortunately, Sam Russo isn’t one of those artists. When he sings, you know it’s about his own life experiences, but it sounds like it’s coming … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Broadway Calls

Meet Me On The Moon
Red Scare Industries (2020)

Meet Me On The Moon is a teaser single for the new LP, Sad In The City, which also happens to be Broadway Calls’ first new full-length in almost a decade (which will release close to the time this review publishes). While I knew of the band, I’d never really spent any time with their records. On this short-player, I … Read more

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