Lightning Bolt
Wonderful Rainbow
Load (2003)
One day as I was harvesting my grain, I looked up to the heavens and asked, 'God, is sheer musicality and technical prowess enough to make a good record?' To my surprise, God responded. His booming voice chimed in with a clear as day 'Fuck no.' Then from out of nowhere, Lightning Bolt's album, 'Wonderful Rainbow fell into my hands. … 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
Live for Today
Taking it Back
Our Pride/Positive Outlook (2006)
No pun intended, but good Lord, how gosh darn posi can one band be? I know straightedge hardcore is supposed to be a positive outlook on one's life and choices, but how much glee club positivity can one muster up and still consider themselves hard? Everything on Northern California's Live for Today debut EP Taking it Back is not just … Read more
Mabus
Cheers, to Doomsday Gloom
Glacial (2006)
Invisible Youth PR claims that Mabus create music with elements of "everything from pop and jazz to rock and metal into their innovative." Call me cynical, but whenever I read something like this - describing a band as splicing together every genre under the sun - I can't help but feel skeptical. Just as too many cooks spoil the broth, … Read more
Medusa
En Raga Sul
Hawthorne Street (2009)
If the band name and scary artwork didn't tip me off that this was going to be a brutal audio assault, I guess the Hitler sample at the start of the release should have been a clue. Punishing riffs, caterwauling vocals, and plodding drum beats typify the songs on this record. If that sounds like something you need to have, … Read more
Merit
Arson is for Lovers
Independent (2009)
Merit is from upstate New York and annoys the living fuck out of me. Sadly Merit wants to be Paramore. If my teenage daughter came home and said she wanted be in a band that sounded like Paramore, I'd cut her from the will. Which wouldn't mean that much to her anyhow, because she would obviously become a huge star … Read more
Midpoint
Shutup, That's Why
2nd Best (2003)
Obviously the trend of pop punk has not stopped yet, which is evident by recent releases like this. It's formulaic, with squeaky clean guitar riffs and "uplifting" vocals that are whiney as all hell. There is even a breakdown thrown in here and there, which seems to be the new element in this music. In "Non Stop Lying You" at … Read more
Mötley Crüe
Saints of Los Angeles
Eleven Seven (2008)
Sometimes you just want to tear something down, rip it to shreds. To have that attitude when reviewing an album is fucked up, no question. The promo for the new Mötley Crüe album was claimed for such a reason. Preconceived notions are just that - preconceptions. Sometimes they're accurate, sometimes not. Thinking that an album from schlock-meisters Mötley Crüe will … Read more
Never Looking Back
Fragile Hearts
Detonate (2007)
Here we go again. Once again we have yet another young hardcore band, this time hailing from Tacoma, WA, playing overly sincere emotional overcharged hardcore. If you have heard Modern Life is War, Comeback Kid, or maybe Shai Hulud you get the gist of what Never Looking Back is trying to accomplish. If you can sense my boredom right now, … Read more
Pegasuses-XL
The Antiphon
Ernest Jenning (2008)
It's almost a little sad when drugs influence a lot of what musicians do (The Mars Volta?). It is equally sad and almost doubly disappointing when musicians ruin their reputations with shallow releases. Pegasuses XL is Make Dale (Disband), Jeff Tobias (We Versus the Shark), Joel Hatstat (Cinemechanica) and the renowned Jeff Rosenstock (Arrogant Sons of Bitches, Bomb The Music … Read more
Pyramid Scheme
What Will We Do Next?
Art Fraud (2006)
Pyramid Scheme play spazzy hardcore in the vein of, well, Spazz or maybe What Happens Next?. Completely not my thing and the vocals are making the neighborhood dogs tremble in pain and fear. I'm sure there are fans of these type of over-the-top scream your head off play as fast as fuck type punk bands. I'm just not one of … Read more
Rally the Fray
To Never Live in Denial
Volatile (2006)
I don't know about anyone else but when I get a new album I don't listen to it right away at first. I usually check out the song the titles, then I look at the thank-you list, and then read over some lyrics just I can get a feel for the band before I actually listen to the music. Sometimes … Read more
Razorlight
Razorlight
Vertigo (2006)
In a recent poll conducted by NME magazine and the book of British Hit Singles and Albums, Oasis's Definitely Maybe was voted the greatest album of all time, fending off such paltry efforts as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Revolver. According to Q magazine, the imaginatively titled Razorlight is the best guitar album since Definitely Maybe. Following this … Read more
Ride Your Bike
Bad News from the Bar
Deep Elm (2008)
Bad News from the Bar serves as a soundtrack for a screenplay that Ride Your Bike member Mike Getches wrote. In the supposed movie which I shall entitle Emo Schlock #24564, he tells the story of childhood friends Lillian and Elliot drifting apart due to Elliot's big city dreams. Apparently they find each other again through police interrogators, druggie neighbors, … Read more
Rufio
Rufio
Nitro (2003)
After AFI left Nitro Records, Nitro went on a splurge by signing a ton of bands that otherwise they would have spent on AFI. Well unfortunately they didn't try and fill those shoes. They instead signed some of the worst bands around today. Rufio was one of them. After becoming a success with their last CD, Perhaps, I Suppose (which … Read more
Secondhand Serenade
Awake
Glassnote (2007)
It wasn't long ago that a bushy eyebrowed, full-sleeved tattoo sportin' Christian by the name of Chris Carrabba left his rock band, Further Seems Forever, to embark on nearly overnight emo superstardom under the guise of Dashboard Confessional. About that same time, I gave up on emo. I saw it become a marketing scheme to sell boring records to lackluster … Read more
She Killed Poetry
Shut Out the Silence
Imagine It (2006)
Mediocrity is not a hard thing to come by in the metalcore genre. In fact, since every metalcore band has decided to rip off Prayer for Cleansing and Heaven Shall Burn, metalcore has become a little too stagnant in this As All That Killswitch Remains Dying "scene." She Killed Poetry would easily fall off the radar for me, for this … Read more
Stars are Falling / Skylines
Split
Blood & Ink (2005)
Is this what you kids call "screamo" nowadays? I don't know and I don't care. As far as I'm concerned all music should be split into two genres: the one I like and the one I don't. This album would then fall under the second category, well the first band at least. The album is a split between two bands: … Read more
