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)

Cheap Tissue

Cheap Tissue
Lolipop Records (2018)

LA’s Cheap Tissue bill themselves as rough around the edges garage punk, namedropping melodic yet understated groups like Radioactivity. While the general sound isn’t too far off the mark, the band’s take on high energy garage-fueled punk is more brash and spit-shined, showing more in common with acts like The Hives and New York Dolls. There’s more flash and posturing than working class grittiness to the production.Their self-titled debut runs out 12 songs over 23 minutes without letting up. It’s short, fast, and to the point with driving energy and a rock ‘n’ roll swagger. Lyrics like to use some of those time-tested edgy mannerisms, dropping in words like “ain’t,” “pretty,” and a good amount of innuendo. In 2018, it’s hopefully tongue-in-cheek to sing a song like “Parts” (“She’s got all the parts I need”), but it also raises some questions. It certainly rubs me the wrong way.While “Parts” lowers the overall experience, the record is solid and bursting with positive energy that’s good to keep the party going. “New Promotion” is possibly the album’s most diverse song. Starting with a Ramones-y “woo-oo,” the ‘60s-inspired surf notes and somewhat goofy vocal tradeoffs give it a nice counter rhythm where the … Read more

High Priests

Spinning
Triple Eye Industries (2018)

When I first saw High Priests 3 or 4 years ago, I would have labeled them as stoner punk. While … Read more

Madensuyu

Current
Unday Records (2018)

I’ll start with a request for the reader: think about genres and how difficult it truly is to define music. … Read more

Jack White

Boarding House Reach
Third Man (2018)

Jack White has always been his own man. With The White Stripes, he cultivated a strong persona - turning blues … Read more

Various Artists

Starkweather/Concealment - Split
Translation Loss (2018)

After seven patient years Starkweather releases their third split Divided by Zero with Portugal’s Concealment. The two-song split cements itself … Read more

Shame

Songs of Praise
Dead Oceans (2018)

Shame seems to have captured some buzz. They’ve had several clips in big UK publications and their debut was issued … Read more

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One from the archives

Cipher

The Joyous Collapse
Uprising (2010)

Cipher is one of those bands that if you were to describe their unique sound to someone, they would undoubtedly be left scratching their heads and asking, “what is it that makes this band good again?” I always put up with quite an internal and external struggle when describing the band to people that have never heard them before. However, my plan of attack from now on is simple: one solid listen of the band’s latest effort, The Joyous Collapse, will do the trick just fine.The much-anticipated follow-up to the band’s 2005 release Children Of God’s Fire, The Joyous Collapse wastes no time kicking right into their one-of-a-kind blend of melodic metalcore and a vocal delivery that falls somewhere between beat poetry and hip-hop. “30,000” kicks right in with vocalist … Read more

More album reviews

Legend of the Seagullmen

Legend of the Seagullmen
Dine Alone (2018)

It's easy to be complacent with side projects. At worst, they're self indulgent jam sessions repackaged and sold to indifferent masses. At best, they tend to be self indulgent jam sessions repackaged and sold to the accumulative fanbase of assembled band members.Where it seems to differ with the side projects of Mastodon band members, is they really seem to be … Read more

Sun-0-Bathers

Local Warming EP
Morning Wood Records (2018)

If you think this band has something to do with Sun-0)))))))))))))))))))) or Deafheaven (even after looking at the artwork), please look on! You will not find anything of your liking here. And I'm grateful for that! Seven tracks (five if you don't count the intro and outro) would have felt like an eternity to me if I had to sit … Read more

Amenra

VI
Neurot Recordings (2017)

I thought it a safe bet to listen to any album off Neurot Recordings with care and patience, and expect something great. Amenra is no fragile exception. Their essence taps a well of meaning seemingly endless on all levels of analysis, as much as it taps a particular sound thrust forward first by Black Sabbath, and most recently by Neurosis. … Read more

Paradise Lost

Medusa
Nuclear Blast (2018)

With the daring first notes of a church organ, Paradise Lost primes its listeners for a quasi-sermon on the mount in Medusa. A part description of suffering, part omen for eventual destruction, part heroic call to arms in the face of meaninglessness, Medusa glorifies godless bravery and turns those who cower from responsibility to stone. The album is predicated on … Read more

Dean Ween Group

Rock 2
Schnitzel Records (2018)

I generally shy away from track-by-track reviews, because they get long, boring and kind of miss the point of an album as a whole anyway. That said, whenever I write about Ween and related projects, the disparity from song to song is a little more difficult. There are 11 songs on this 38-minute record and they range from classic rock … Read more

Barren Womb

Old Money/New Lows
Spartan Records (2018)

Shortly after releasing their debut full length I had the opportunity to have a chat with Barren Womb. They then told me they liked playing in a two-man band as it gave them the opportunity to work really fast. The decision making process is so much easier without a lot of different opinions around. These words seemed to be true … Read more

Superchunk

What a Time to Be Alive
Merge (2018)

The world feels like it’s coming apart at the seams, some new scandal or piece of terrible news hits daily, or sometimes with even more frequency. It takes more effort to simply keep up than it does just to be able to digest the news. The result is mind numbing. Then you look to find respite from these things. There’s … Read more

Cloud

Plays With Fire
Audio Antihero (2018)

Following on from Zen Summer in 2015 and 2013s Comfort Songs, Cloud’s Plays With Fire moves Tyler Taormina’s sound firmly into the assured category. Where his debut was weighed down with a little too much padding, Plays With Fire takes a somewhat sprightlier turn into sadness, reducing the runtime by thirty minutes yet still packing a hefty emotional punch. Taormina’s … Read more

Stone Temple Pilots

Stone Temple Pilots
Atlantic (2018)

Jeff Gutt has a thankless task before him. Some might say impossible, even. He's replacing Scott Weiland, one of the most loved and recognizable frontmen of the last 30 years, who tragically died far too young.He's also replacing Chester Bennington, Weiland's replacement who, after leaving Stone Temple Pilots and returning to Linkin Park, also tragically died far too young.So what … Read more

Summoning

With Doom We Come
Napalm (2018)

Summoning have been at the forefront of Tolkien inspired metal for the twenty five years they’ve been a band. Formed in Austria in 1993, the duo take from the world of The Lord of the Rings – and its extended universe – to create music that is extraordinarily cinematic in scope while feeling rich and earthy at its core. Summoning … Read more

The Great Divide

Linger Over, Linger On
Useless Pride Records (2018)

The Great Divide came to my attention four years ago when they released their second release White Bird. At that time The Great Divide reminded me of bands like Stretch Arm Strong (Rituals Of Life era) and Counterparts. It’s been four years since that day. I’ve listened to White Bird a couple of times since and now also pick up … Read more

Aaron Turner & Daniel Menche

Nox
Sige (2017)

Aaron Turner and Daniel Menche, two prominent figures of experimental music, meet again after the Mamiffer collaboration with Menche back in 2015. Both have been active recently, with Turner participating in the Thalassa project releasing Bonds of Prosperity with William Fowler Collins, while Menche released his long, immersive Sleeper record earlier this year. With NOX the duo presents a 31-minute … Read more

Royal Brat

Eyesore
Moniker Records (2018)

Royal Brat follow an intriguing trend I see in a lot of queer punk: taking direct and heavy subject matter and addressing it with vitriol, then flipping a switch from anger to singsong and back. It’s fascinating that the two emotions, so different, can jump back and forth without feeling more jarring.Eyesore is the first full-length from Royal Brat, out … Read more

Chiller

Chiller
Dirt Cult (2018)

I’ll admit to coming into this one with a clean slate. I don’t know Feral Trash, who predate Chiller and share members Ilisha and Eric. The duo recruited Erin (Black Tower) and Tim (Mother’s Children) and, as the press release says, so began “what has rightly been deemed as a continuation of Feral Trash.”So that’s the history lesson. Because I … Read more

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