Avenged Sevenfold
Hail To The King
Warner Bros. (2013)
Look on the interweb and you'll find love for Avenged Sevenfold and you'll find hate. A lot of hate. I understand the love, but I don't quite understand the hate. The hate brigade's consensus would maintain that they're poseurs. Wannabes. Clowns in the metal circus. This is dismissive. I've always viewed them as a group of kids who don't quite … Read more
Billy Corgan
The Future Embrace
Warner Bros. (2005)
The last time the world heard from egomaniac Billy Corgan, he was releasing his first poetry book titled, Blinking with Fists. While Corgan has proved his songwriting skills are superlative, intelligent, and distinguished, his poetry skills, as displayed in Blinking with Fists, are shameful, inane, and drudging. I, being a devout Smashing Pumpkins fan, was not only ashamed but also … Read more
Built To Spill
Untethered Moon
Warner Bros. (2015)
Calling Untethered Moon guitar rock is somewhere to start. While the band takes their chops from the 1990s alternative boom, the defining moments of their songs come out of the guitars rather than in vocal styling or rhythmic direction. This record succeeds or fails because of that guitar. (See what I just did there? Now you have to keep reading.)As … Read more
Gallows
Grey Britain
Warner Bros. (2009)
After landing a million-pound record deal with Warner Bros., a lot of the punks were expecting Gallows' follow-up to Orchestra of Wolves to go in a "poppier" direction so it would sell well. Guess what? They were wrong, very wrong. Gallows' latest offering, Grey Britain shows the band more hateful, aggressive, and powerful than ever. The benefit of a higher-budget … Read more
Green Day
American Idiot
Warner Bros. (2004)
Like too many of their musical peers, Green Day, the longtime bay area punk/pop heroes, have thrown down their challenge to the American government with their bluntly titled seventh album. Upon learning the name of this record, I have to admit that I felt a little concerned that everyone's favourite pop-punkers had decided to become 'political' - didn't they learn … Read more
Green Day
American Idiot
Warner Bros. (2004)
If you know anything about Green Day, it's no big secret that they're Who fans (see: Sweet Children EP - Track 4 - "My Generation"). On top of that, you should also know that they've been extremely creative lately (see: Warning). Now, put those two together, and you have Green Day's seventh full length release, American Idiot. Not only does … Read more
Head Automatica
Decadence
Warner Bros. (2004)
It was merely a few years ago that I, a young teenage boy, was sitting in my bedroom watching the Howard Stern show on E!. On this particular episode, as on every particular episode, Stern was giving away a pair of saline boobies to whichever lucky girl would humiliate herself the most. I don't remember the particulars, other than that … Read more
Head Automatica
Popaganda
Warner Bros. (2006)
When searching Daryl Palumbo's name on Wikipedia - a great tool to prolong pointless Internet usage - an interesting passage appears under the trivia headline: "Palumbo is an avid fan of 80's British band Squeeze and the Godzilla universe. He is considered an anglophile." After reading this last line it seems the direction Head Automatica took with Popaganda makes perfect … Read more
HIM
Dark Light
Warner Bros. (2005)
HIM is known as the biggest musical joke of our generation and is bashed frequently by message board elitists everywhere. Are they really that bad? It depends. Listening to HIM's new album, Dark Light, is not a good way to introduce oneself to this Nordic phenomenon. I'd recommend going back to the beginning, eight years ago, when Greatest Love Songs … Read more
Hot Hot Heat
Elevator
Warner Bros. (2005)
Hot Hot Heat has managed to weave in and out of the limelight in the last few years. Often compared to the Cure, they are able to hold onto the fringes of the mainstream thanks to the "new" new wave and dance rock movements. The single that broke them to the mainstream was the catchy yet repetitive "Bandages," which has … Read more
Johnny Marr
The Messenger
Warner Bros. (2013)
The '80s are memorable for many wonderful things, like Pac-Man and Bill & Ted, but perhaps most importantly it was the decade in which a seismic shift occurred in the British alternative music scene that many new bands still consider massively influential today. Enter Johnny Marr, former Smiths guitarist and NME's Godlike Genius, who was an essential player in the … Read more
Joy Division
Unknown Pleasures / Closer (Reissues)
Warner Bros. (2007)
With the imminent release of Control the bio-pic of frontman Ian Curtis, the death of Tony Wilson, and former members Hooky and Barney making the news by squabbling over the name New Order, there again seems to be a large rise of interest in one of the most pioneering bands this world has ever seen - Joy Division. Being ones … Read more
Lewis Watson
The Wild EP
Warner Bros. (2013)
The transition from performing acoustic covers in your bedroom on YouTube to recording original songs in a recording studio and playing in front of a live audience isn't necessarily easy or guaranteed to work, but in this case it absolutely does. Lewis Watson's career initially began when he uploaded covers to YouTube, covering songs by Bombay Bicycle Club and City … Read more
Liam Gallagher
As You Were
Warner Bros. (2017)
Beady Eye was not a bad band. Au contraire. If you harbour a weak spot for Oasis, aim at an objective viewpoint and take a break from you loyalty to the Chief Noel, it proves to be difficult to not like their two albums, however, a lot of Oasis aficionados managed exactly that.As You Were is Liam Gallagher’s new album. … Read more
Linkin Park
Minutes to Midnight
Warner Bros. (2007)
Like their peers Limp Bizkit, Korn and Slipknot, Linkin Park occupies the mysterious musical category of "Oh, they're still around?" In 2007, with the nu-metal genre almost completely replaced by nu-emo, the lumbering rap-rock of these late 90s behemoths is missing and presumed dead. So where does that leave Linkin Park? In the commercial musical world, it's evolve or die, … Read more
Mastodon
Blood Mountain
Warner Bros. (2006)
Mastodon is on a major label. Does anyone else think this is weird? Good for them, I just think it is strange. So what do they have to show for themselves with their first record for Warner Brothers? Blood Mountain might be the perfect major label debut, well, at least it is for this band. While it is not one … Read more
Mastodon
Emperor of Sand
Warner Bros. (2017)
There have been few bands as exciting to watch their ascension into music legend than Mastodon. What's that you say? No, the term 'legend' is not hyperbole. Mastodon is just that good. And if there's any justice in this cold, cruel world, that legendary status will be hermetically sealed with Emperor of Sand.Emperor of Sand is mastodon's seventh full-length release … Read more
Metallica
Beyond Magnetic
Warner Bros. (2011)
Long story short: Beyond Magnetic is a collection of four tracks recorded for, and left off of, Metallica's 2008 album Death Magnetic. Dull description? Yes. Dull music? Not as much.Like Death Magnetic, there are a lot of great song ideas here, and I for one appreciate the return to their more complex thrash metal roots. All the songs here feature … Read more
