St. Louis indie pop band Bunnygrunt will probably always be stuck with the 90s cuddlecore label, as much as they may hate it. The lovable duo Matt Harnish (guitars/vocals) and Karen Ried (drums/vocals) specialize in fun, disposable - and dare I say cute - punk rock, Bunnygrunt reliably delivers the ephemeral sound of what their label Happy Happy Birthday to … Read more
With a stellar line-up featuring vocalist Eugene S. Robinson (ex-Oxbow), guitarist Xabier Iriondo (Afterhours, A Short Apnea), bassist Andrea Lombardini (The Framers) and Franz Valente (Il Teatro Degli Orrori), Buñuel return with their sophomore record, Mansuetude. A true follow-up to Killers Like Us, Mansuetude further exposes Buñuel's dark, twisted noise rock, from the get-go with "Who Missed Me." The dark … Read more
If you go to the Guinness World Records Website and type in, "Longest time between albums", you get a message that says, "Can't find what you're looking for? This site features only a selection of the 40,000 records in the Guinness World Records database." In other words, they are saying that if one desires to know the official record for … Read more
It might say something for my enthusiasm for this record that it has sat for almost a year in my 'to review' pile since first receiving it. While I do attempt to avoid at least complete bias in my reviews, in the case of Florida's Burden of a Day, I knew exactly what I was going to hear when I … Read more
There is no question that Burial is one of the pivotal artists of the current era. The electronic musician from London has taken on a transformative journey through the landscape of post-dance music. Techno beats, garage sensibilities, early dubstep notions and far out ambient leanings are melted together through a unique kaleidoscopic vision. It is an evolution that has occurred … Read more
Burial Hex, the project of multi-instrumentalist Clay Ruby has put out a plethora of releases, with their excellent debut, self-titled album and Book of Delusions really standing out. Now with his latest release, Ruby takes the project even further in terms of how dark his sound can get and how interestingly his music has evolved. Ruby is a great molder … Read more
I have the feeling that Burial Hex has been around for a long time. I do not know why I get this impression, and it is true that the project of Clay Ruby has been around for about ten years now, but listening to his music it really gives me this impression of a true veteran, someone who has been … Read more
My first encounter with Buried Inside involved a friend convincing me over AOL Instant Messenger (I get paid for that plug) that Buried Inside is "Hella sick!" BEGL00 sent me a few songs from Chronoclast, but I didn't listen to them right away due to my busy lifestyle. Coincidentally, that very night I saw Buried Inside. I watched as they, … Read more
Twelve years into their existence, Buried Inside are just now releasing their fourth album, Spoils of Failure. The practice of allowing four years to go by between releases can be a dangerous one, possibly causing your ear for quality to decline or a perfectionism to conquer your logic. This has not been a problem for Buried Inside in the past, … Read more
Burn holds a semi mythical place in the pantheon of the hypothetical New York Hardcore Olympus as they were relatively short lived and only had a couple of recording sessions (releasing at one point only a single four song EP and a couple of compilation appearances) while impacting many with their volatile shows and powerful presence that seemed to surround … Read more
Now this is a classic Revelation release and for some, the classic Revelation release; Burn kind of blew up some people’s sense of what a hardcore record could be, springing from a New York hardcore scene with what at the time were some pretty known names in that scene (members of Absolution and Beyond comprise this group’s make up or … Read more
I was admittedly pretty psyched about this as it marks Andy Hurley's (Fall Out Boy) return to hardcore. Unfortunately this ends up sounding like Misery Signals and Darkest Hour joined together to make something incredibly tepid. The musicianship is definitely top notch but the songs don't seem to go anywhere, ever. The riffs are catchy but not anything special. As … Read more
Leave it to Burning Love to provide an infectiously raucous soundtrack to 2012 (unlike so many of their peers and compatriots) full of the kind of riffs that in a perfect world would incite both vigorous head banging and the kind of massive circle pits that make people gape in awe at the sheer size of said circle pitting, and … Read more
Upon the dissolution of Cursed, many people (including myself) let out a proverbial “NOOOOOOOOOOO!” when we saw that it actually had happened and right on the heels of releasing such a great album (if you have yet to experience any Cursed, you are missing out); but I knew deep down that breaking up one band would not hold the members … Read more
Damn... Burning Skies has a ton of grind influence as well as some good old death metal influence to boot. I guess Misery Index and Dying Fetus would be good reference points. Regardless, this is a pleasant enough surprise. The production on Desolation is crisp, clean, and heavy; it definitely gives the band a brutal sound. Desolation is pretty crazy. … Read more
Hot damn, where have you been all my life Burning Witch! Apparently, as Aaron Turner documents in his liner notes contribution for this two disc CD set (the special edition includes a download card to grab the band's demo and live songs while the Japanese version is a mammoth three CD set) entitled Crippled Lucifer, Burning Witch has "traveled the … Read more
It’s no secret that women are highly unrepresented in heavy metal and its various sub-genres. Their absence is clearly a result of the “boys club” mentality that seems to have been a defining characteristic of heavy music since its inception. It would seem logical to equate aggressive music with masculinity, but to generalize that women are incapable of creating aggressive … Read more
Somehow I don't think it's a coincidence that this album is called Beauty and the Breakdown as the album is basically one long breakdown. Just when you thought moshcore couldn't get any more boring, Bury Your Dead thought it was necessary to deliver another all-too-predictable dose of rehashed Hatebreed-esque anthems. This album is basically a continuation of Cover Your Tracks, … Read more
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