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)

Spells

Stimulants & Sedatives
Snappy Little Numbers Quality Audio Recordings/Rad Girlfriend Records (2020)

Spells are party punk, pure and simple. And I’m not talking songs about beer and friendship, a la early Pkew Pkew Pkew or Andrew WK. Spells are the life of the party, not just songs about what goes down when the lights dim low.Stimulants & Sedatives is sort of a concept record – it has two sides on the vinyl to be enjoyed in the order you see fit: one side stimulating, the other relaxing…but let’s be honest: most people are listening to this this digitally and that’s out the window. Also, “Stimulants” comes first in the album title so that’s how the review will proceed.When I saw Spells, frontman Ben Roy was wearing a sailor hat and Hawaiian-print shirt (or something similar – my memory is fallible). That should sum it up right there, but I guess I’ll keep going because there is depth here. Party punk can be a pejorative term meaning it’s vacuous and silly-without-substance but, like I said, this is life of the party material. It’s a celebration; it doesn’t tell you to smile, it makes you smile. And that’s a big difference (and not a knock against the artists named at the top of this … Read more

Wake

Devouring Ruin
Translation Loss (2020)

Wake started out as a grindcore act with a lot of Nasum influences. Nasum being one of my favorite grind … Read more

Worriers

You or Someone You Know
6131 (2020)

If it weren’t for playing in a certain scene, Worriers would likely be branded as a pop band instead of … Read more

Drakulas

Terminal Amusements
Dine Alone (2020)

Pre-album press releases for the latest Drakulas album pushed the “art-punk” label. Based on Drakulas’ earlier work, I got it … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Saint Vitus

Saint Vitus
Season of Mist (2019)

On paper, it’s really a miracle Saint Vitus was able to last as long as they did. The forefathers of … Read more

Ulcerate

Stare Into Death and Be Still
Debemur Morti Productions (2020)

Writing this review has been a long time in the making. Usually, sitting down and pressing play is enough to … Read more

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One from the archives

Lithops

Mound Magnet Pt. 2: Elevations Above Sea Level
Killer Pimp (2008)

To those who have been diligently searching the internet for more exposition on the new Lithops project: Finally! Here it is! I have some bad news for you! This review is being written by a dude who calls this stuff techno and wears flannel. Deepest apologies to serious fans: I am just going to look at this as music. As in, is it good? Or maybe bad? I mean for listening to as a human being. My exposure to Mouse on Mars, the previous vehicle for the man behind Lithops (Jan St. Werner), consists of the following anecdote: The cooler member of my high school band playing one song for me and asking "What do you think?" As far as I can remember, I opened another Milwaukee's Best, shrugged, and … Read more

More album reviews

Mark Lanegan

Straight Songs Of Sorrow
Heavenly Recordings (2020)

Mark Lanegan didn’t set out to write a new album, but after finishing writing his memoir, Sing Backwards and Weep (Out now from Hatchette Books), the waves of catharsis were so strong, he returned to the studio to create what’s possibly his finest work to date.To call Sing Backwards... a cautionary tale would be meiotic to an almost laughable degree. … Read more

Hoi-Poi Farplane Wind

Sain’t Adorable
Nasty Cut Records (2020)

Hoi-Poi Farplane Wind hails from Thessaloníki, Greece, and apparently splits their time between there and Copenhagen, which is an arrangement that sounds like a travel blogger’s wet dream. They play an evolving brand of post-hardcore that often has a Hot Water Music influence standing front and center. Their early sound is fuzzier, harsher, an offhand shot at their own interpretation … Read more

Dinosaur Pile-up

Celebrity Mansions
Parlophone (2019)

Celebrity Mansions, the fourth album by the UK’s Dinosaur Pile-Up, has been like finding a needle in a haystack for me. I’m not good at looking for new music and I feel that it gets harder as I find more grey in my beard, especially finding music that is actually good and/or listenable. Maybe my standards are getting too high? … Read more

Euglossine

Psaronius
Orange Milk Records (2020)

Created using a combination of physical instruments and various synthesized elements, it wasn’t particularly surprising for me to learn that one of the major concepts behind Gainsville, Florida-based musician Euglossine’s Psaronius (a name which could refer to either a type of prehistoric tree fern or a kind of precious stone) was recreating familiar objects through the use sound. This album … Read more

Rotting Out

Ronin
Pure Noise (2020)

Back in March, I attended a stop on the American Nightmare "reunion" tour, celebrating twenty years since they self-booked their first show at a church in Maine. While I still remain loyal to my wheelhouse of early- to mid-2000s hardcore, I hadn’t been to a show in nearly a decade. What I found there was somewhat expected yet still disheartening … Read more

Ditches

Ditches
Drunken Sailor (2020)

Am I going to be able to review this record without comparing Ditches to Marked Men? Clearly not, but I made it 14 words. This debut album from Stockholm’s Ditches bears a lot of similarity to that band. Given how good that band was, I’m not sure that’s a knock against them. Besides the sonic similarities, the record was also … Read more

Talk Me Off

Cursed
Smartpunk Records (2020)

There’s a lot to like on Cursed, the debut full-length by Richmond, VA’s Talk Me Off. But as much as I enjoy the structures, the vocal tradeoff, and the political urgency, I just can’t get over the vocals on this record. They just feel flat and robotic at key moments, which is ironic for a band named Talk Me Off.This … Read more

Gaahl's Wyrd

GastiR - Ghosts Invited
Season of Mist (2019)

Kristian Eivind Espedal, otherwise knows as Ghaahl has been a polarizing fixture on the Norwegian Black Metal scene since the mid 90s, fronting bands such as Gorgoroth and God Seed. In the nine years fronting Gorgoroth, Gaahl helped to create some the most vicious and brutal darkness in the genre without ever really straying from the true Norwegian style.But Gaahl’s … Read more

Katatonia

City Burials
Peaceville (2020)

Katatonia are one of the most well loved and revered bands of today and while the wait for new music since The Fall of Hearts in 2016 has been a little longer than the usual cycle for the Swedish band – they announced a hiatus after this record was released - they have not been resting in that time, rather … Read more

Book Review

Mark Lanegan

Sing Backwards and Weep
hachette Book Group (2020)

“If I was honest, there was nothing but shame in the way I lived my life. I was nothing if not an abject failure, a fucking shitbag liar, a junkie loser if ever there was one”.Sing Backwards and Weep, the memoir of musician Mark Lanegan is a raw, honest portrayal of addiction with not a hint of poetry or hyperbole … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Rat Cage

Screams from the Cage
La Vida Es Un Mus Discos Punk (2020)

A quick tip for you: don’t listen to this album in bed when you’re trying to sleep. Your heart will race and you will most likely be thinking about stage diving and mosh pits. Save it for your daily allowance of exercise instead during the lockdown we all find ourselves in. This one is a banger. Twelve songs in 20 … Read more

Guerilla Poubelle

L’Ennui
Red Scare Industries / Gunner Records (2020)

One of the big appeals of punk is its community. So it’s nice to listen to a record where you don’t know what the hell they’re saying sometimes. It’s a good way to make sure it’s really the music that’s putting that bounce in your step instead of political or social solidarity. And I’m greatly enjoying L’Ennui by Paris’ Guerilla … Read more

No Matter

Excess Baggage EP
Independent (2019)

No Matter is a North Ireland punk band. They have quite a couple of releases under their belt. Excess Baggage being their latest offer. They offer a bit of a time travel experience. This EP reminds me of the nineties very much. And not just the nineties, but the punk demos I heard back in the day to be specific.I … Read more

Oranssi Pazuzu

Mestarin Kynsi
Nuclear Blast (2020)

The avant-garde used to be something that was looked upon as something altogether too strange, something to be listened to in private and whispered about to that one friend you had that also liked weird stuff. Now, it’s a marker of exciting experimentation, it’s celebrated, even, as a style that is moving music forward and giving some genres new leases … Read more

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