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Ghost

Infestissumam
Loma Vista Recordings (2013)

Swedish heavy metal/doom band Ghost (who I adamantly refuse to call "Ghost B.C.", vague American "legal reasons" be damned) made quite a splash on the heavy metal scene with the well-received (and confusingly-titled) debut Opus Eponymous in 2010. Between the band's very obvious interest in subversive Christian themes, unexpectedly ostentatious stage presentation, and oddly dedicated insistence on their members' anonymity, … Read more

No Consequence

IO
Basick (2013)

The djent movement is still the "next big thing" in metal music, meaning that there are a lot (and I mean a LOT) of new bands coming up from the woodwork every day. However, in sifting them through, it's always been a safe bet to check out the new releases from Basick Records, who have a pretty good track record … Read more

Video/DVD Review

Snoop Lion

Reincarnated (Documentary)
Vice (2013)

"David Bowie, Justin Timberlake, Madonna; pop culture is no stranger to reinvention. When the public tire of a persona or an artist wishes to make a change, the old looks, personality or profession can be remade and resold in the same climate. That said, it's a process which can chew up and spit out- just ask Amanda Bynes's cheek piercings." … Read more

Video/DVD Review

The Replacements

Color Me Obsessed
What Were We Thinking Films (2012)

There are really only a couple of formulas that music documentaries take: the overdone Behind the Music drama style and the self-serving rehashing-our-glory-days/let’s-sell-some-soundtracks docs. Director/producer Gorman Bechard has added a third style: that of the fanboy. Axing convention, Bechard has put together a two-hour film about the Replacements that doesn’t only skip talking with the band’s members, it doesn’t play … Read more

Lovesliescrushing

Glinter
TQA Records (2012)

Sitting down with Glinter forces me to ask why loveliescrushing is not more of a go to “band” for my listening habits given the theoretical confluence of sounds that people ascribe to this long running creative duo, but then it just hits me, loveliescrushing has just never hit me at the right time or been fortuitous before with the timing … Read more

Herra Terra

Hyperborean
Independent (2013)

Herra Terra has released a new EP entitled Hyperborean with the title taken from ancient Greek mythology about a race of people from Hyperborea who reportedly lived for 1000 years in complete happiness. The band members include John Paul Tonelli (Lead Vocals, Synths) Gregg Kusumah-Atmadia (Guitar, Synths) Shawn Pelkey (Percussion) and Adrian Bettencourt Andrade (Bass, Synths).Their sound has been compared … Read more

Various Artists

Loma Prieta/Raein - Split
Deathwish Inc. (2013)

With the recent resurgence in the archetypal screamo sound popularized by Gravity Records in the late '90s, few bands remain as true-to-form as Loma Prieta. Grandiose post-rock guitar lines, the relentless abrasion of grind, and the unbridled display of emotion captured on hardcore and emo records can all be found on this succinct five song, seven minute split from Loma … Read more

Mouth of the Architect

Dawning
Translation Loss (2013)

Mouth of the Architect isn't a name heard nearly as often as it should. They have an impressive discography under their belt--releases like their split with Kenoma and their monumental studio album The Ties That Blind show that these guys really do mean business. If nothing else, the Ohioan quintet possess an unaccountably voluminous zest and energy that their shoegazing … Read more

Black Sabbath

13
Vertigo (2013)

Black Sabbath is well, it. They are the genesis of it all. History is divided as B.C. and A.D., to differentiate what came before and what came after. The history of music can be divided similarly. There is music before Sabbath, and there is everything after.Casting all reverential metaphors aside, it pains me deeply to say that 13 Sabbath's first … Read more

Power Trip

Manifest Decimation
Southern Lord (2013)

Of all the sub-genres which seem to stay persistently strong over time, alongside youth crew, crossover thrash is one with some classic releases; Best Wishes (emphatically not Alpha Omega), Handle With Care, Born To Expire. These albums manage to successfully capture the complexity and experimentation of metal with the rawness and spirit of hardcore, forgoing the pomposity of the first … Read more

Palms

Self Titled
Ipecac (2013)

Isis may have disbanded in 2010, but that's far from the last we've heard from its members. Though many of them have joined other bands, they have mostly stayed separate from one another, with no more than two ever appearing in the same place. But of course, that's what makes Palms so intriguing--featuring three fifths of Isis (Jeff Caxide, Aaron … Read more

Frankie & The Heartstrings

The Days Run Away
Wichita Recordings (2013)

Some musicians view making music as a vocation, something that they will entirely devote their lives to, to the extent that it seeps into everything they do. Frankie & The Heartstrings don't do things by halves. In the wake of the release of The Days Run Away, their second album after 2011's Hunger, they've opened a pop-up record shop in … Read more

Spokenest

We Move
Independent (2013)

Two piece bands seem to be gaining in popularity again, and it’s easy to see why from a musician’s perspective. The fewer people involved, the easier to organize, practice, and tour. There are duos done well (see Street Eaters) and lesser cases who aren’t getting the namedrop here. Spokenest is a newer project of similar ilk, bringing Adrian and Daryl … Read more

Vampire Weekend

Modern Vampires Of The City
XL Recordings (2013)

When the hoax artwork claiming the group’s next album was to be “Lemon Sounds” appeared, it is perhaps unsurprising that so many people were convinced it was real. For the band’s detractors it was confirmation that Vampire Weekend were content to rest on their laurels and produce a Contra II. For fans it meant approximately the same thing; they were … Read more

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