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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)

fragment.

Temporary Enlightenment
OPN (2013)

Immediately strikingly to the heart with the opening notes of “Cast Out” as if awakening people from sleep with this as an early morning clarion call, Fragment. effectively kicks off Temporary Enlightenment (the fourth proper full length album from this one man project) and launches what is arguably the best batch of music from this project; the overall sound on this album seems much fuller and dense than previous efforts with some moments where the music is booming out of the speakers (there are certain bass drum hits in “Cast Out” is devastating with a sub woofer), but let me leave that aside for a minute or two.I would be lying if I did not state that Fragment. travels a path similar to that of Jesu and in many respects at least owes a great deal to Justin Broadrick’s project, but it would be unfair to call Fragment. purely a clone because the two projects’ respective musical trajectories are much different; herein lies the endearing qualities of what makes Thierry Arnal’s work stand on its own as he pursuit is much more singular in sound, and Temporary Enlightenment is further evidence of his relentless quest for what he views as … Read more

Old Funeral

Our Condolences (1988-1992)
Soulseller (2013)

The history of Black Metal has been told ad infinitum. We know that groups like Venom, Posessed, Mercyful Fate and … Read more

Audacity

Butter Knife
Suicide Squeeze (2013)

It didn’t take long for Mellow Cruisers to appeal. Butter Knives, the follow-up from California’s Audacity, though, seems to be … Read more

Xiu Xiu

Angel Guts: Red Classroom
Polyvinyl (2014)

Xiu Xiu (pronounced “shoo shoo”) is a critically-acclaimed, Los Angeles-based, avant-garde duo. It’s comprised of founder James Stewart and Angela … Read more

Moistboyz

V
Neverman Records (2013)

Moistboyz aren’t a particularly active group. The band, based around the duo of vocalist Guy Heller and multi-instrumentalist Mickey Melchiondo … Read more

Sunn 0)))

La Reh 012
Southern Lord (2014)

Long and arduous journeys can at times be a right of passage or ritual of progression or even metaphors for … Read more

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One from the archives

Black Map

Melodoria
Minus Head Records (2022)

Black Map came to be in a moment of synchronicity. Somehow at the exact time period, dredg, Far and The Trophy Fire were all put on hiatus. As a result, Mark Engles, Chris Robyn, and Ben Flanagan started to collaborate on their new project. And so Black Map’s debut record, …And We Explode arrived in 2014, with the band coalescing many of their influences into a singular entity. Alternative rock methodologies and the post-hardcore spirit drove this endeavor. And soon enough, Black Map were building their discography with two EPs, and their sophomore full-length, In Droves. Now, they are completing the trifecta with Melodoria, their most complete work to date. The sound Black Map has not really changed. Instead, the trio has improved on what they are already great at. … Read more

More album reviews

Various Artists

I Need You Bad
Polyvinyl (2013)

  Due to its liberal usage around ye olden music-critiquing biz, “garage rock” is one of those dicey descriptors that, should you choose to follow it, can lead you down a multitude of avenues. It can walk you knowingly into a crotch punching at the hands of the Candy Snatchers, leave you pleasantly surprised and smiling thanks to the likes of … Read more

200 Words Or Less

La+ch and Dustbuster

Hunter
Independent (2014)

It’s safe to say that everyone’s already getting a head start on choosing the song that will be most played this summer. Over the past few months, La+ch and Dustbuster of the band Coleman Hell have become increasingly popular on Soundcloud for their remixes of songs by artists like Katy Perry and Rihanna. But this time around, the duo has … Read more

Indian

From All Purity
Relapse (2014)

There's a song on Indian's From All Purity titled "Directional" and given the Chicago-based band's implementation of new ideas such as fuzzed out guitars and meat cleaver sludged riffs, it'd be easy to make a joke about the group going in new directions. However, the phrase "new direction" implies a sort of willingness. From All Purity, the group's fifth full-length … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Much Worse

Macrocosm is a Wash
Forward Records (2013)

Following a couple of excellent 7”s, the confusingly-titled Macrocosm is a Wash is the first full-length LP from this Minneapolis foursome. Spun from the same Mecca-like breeding ground as Wild Child, Total Trash, Varix, and countless others, Much Worse play a non-stop, angry, and poignant style of hardcore punk. While there is an air of reckless abandon in their approach, … Read more

The Dwarves

Younger & Even Better Looking
Recess (2013)

Age makes fools of us all. First it was In Utero releasing all of my hard-found rarities on a single disc, and now comes The Dwarves Are Younger & Even Better Looking a new double-gatefold LP package that combines the group’s 1997 record Young & Good Looking (record one) with Blag Dahlia’s solo EP, some b-sides from the era, and … Read more

Tomorrow We Sail

For Those Who Caught The Sun In Flight
Gizeh (2014)

Tomorrow We Sail is the perfect title for a band that seemed to have taken me on a journey. From the moment I turned on song one, “The Well & the Tide” I felt like I had been swept on an adventurous trek through mountain and sea. I closed my eyes and imagined myself in places I’d have seen on … Read more

Les Yeux De La Tête

Mosca Violenta
Head Records (2013)

Jazz metal three-piece Les Yeux De La Tête’s (translation: The Eyes Of The Head) second full-length release, Mosca Violenta, is a vicious 11-song steamroller of sludgy riffs, raucous drum patterns, and avant-garde saxophone lines. For a guitarless, sparse album, MV is surprisingly theatrical and fascinating.The trio’s doom jazz masterpiece opens with the demonic ska song “Fubar.” “Soutane Of Swing” is … Read more

The Pack A.D.

Do Not Engage
Nettwerk (2014)

When a band consists of only two members tasked with carrying the weight of riff-heavy and sneakily blues-influenced garage rock sounds on two pairs of shoulders, a certain degree of equilibrium needs to be reached. When Maya Miller and Becky Black decided to leave their former band and write and perform as a two-piece it was probably the best decision … Read more

King Khan & the Shrines

Idle No More
Merge (2013)

In King Khan & the Shrines, King Khan goes big band. Not in the jazz sense, but in a horn-laden variety a la Memphis rock with some James Brown thrown in for good measure. It’s leg-kicking, camelwalkin’ rock with horns that fill out the sound over a funky groove.While the energetic frontman has a knack for rock ’n’ roll, especially … Read more

200 Words Or Less

The Instigation

No Way Out EP
Independent (2014)

I feel like there are a million punk records named No Way Out, but I don’t really care because it’s one of those commonalities that makes punk music, well, punk. And staying within the vein of reiteration, there’s only so many ways to say that a band isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel; so I’ll just stick with that old … Read more

Full Of Hell

Rudiments Of Mutilation
A389 (2013)

While hardcore and the like have always valued the use of noise rarely has it ever been used in a combination of hardcore as a genre as well as the idea of noise as a genre unto itself. Noise as a genre is a very tough to pin down aesthetic in and of itself, just as hard would be to … Read more

Vaura

The Missing
Profound Lore (2013)

Comprised by members of great acts such as Kayo Dot, Dysrhythmia, Gorguts and While Heaven Wept, Vaura find themselves in a strange territory. Somewhere between post-punk, darkwave and black metal, they unleash their second full-length, entitled The Missing. And just about a year after their debut album, Selenelion. The title track is introducing the band in the most suitable manner. … Read more

Mind Spiders

Inhumanistic
Dirtnap (2013)

Maybe Minnesota is just a long way from Texas, but it seems that Mind Spiders are more of a studio band, releasing a record a year but only hitting my town once in the past three. Or maybe it’s just the 1000 miles in between. That’s really neither here nor there, though, as far as talking about the sound delivered … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Bazooka

Self Titled
Slovenly (2013)

Bazooka hail from Greece and their tumultuous current situation has left its mark on the sound of this band. Lo-fi, double drumming, weirdo psych-outs – it all adds up to an assured debut that buzzes with early 90s garage vibes and 70s punk as well as a nice line in indie melody. “Ravening Trip” sounds like it could have come … Read more

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