Reviews

Reviews

Our latest album reviews, grouped by highest-scoring, lowest-scoring, most read and most recent.

Top-rated albums this month
95%

Altar Of Plagues

Teethed Glory and Injury

Altar Of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury album cover

Often an album comes along that defies all genre constraints and challenges your own perception on life and reality. Sometimes that album makes you delve deep within the self and question your own outlooks. Teethed Glory and Injury is that album. And oh, how it ravages your being.With Teethed Glory and Injury Altar of ...

95%

Steven Wilson

The Raven that Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)

Steven Wilson - The Raven that Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) album cover

Though they all claim lineage to the great acts of the 1970s, no modern progressive band can claim that they sound even remotely similar to them. Bands in the modern progressive rock genre (see Transatlantic, Spock's Beard, Coheed and Cambria) tend to sound closer akin to brightly-polished half-metal than the rock of the ...

Worst-rated albums this month
50%

Wolves At Bay

Only A Mirror

Wolves At Bay - Only A Mirror album cover

Although Wolves At Bay have recently released a sparkly-fresh record, this review will cover their 2011 full-length debut on Animal Style Records, Only a Mirror. The band seems to have changed names and lineups during the course of their evolution, but here presents as a four-piece post-hardcore outfit, proud to hail from ...

58%

Cnoc An Tursa

The Giants of Auld

Cnoc An Tursa - The Giants of Auld album cover

I'll admit, I was intrigued by the idea of Scottish Pagan Metal. Even with the full understanding of Pagan Metal by definition of the more extreme metal using folk instruments from any religion or culture, the ole' noggin still tends to default to the Norse code. Cnoc An Tursa hail from the ...

Recent reviews

Our most recent reviews, organised by date.

60%

Power

Bremerton Zoo

Power - Bremerton Zoo album cover

Old school hardcore punk has really found its feet in the last few years. Bands like Creem, Raw Nerve and Violent Reaction have brought innovation to the scene by utilising lesser heard influences ranging from street punk to crust, whilst reducing the songs to their bare bones; short, pissed-off and raw. With its vibrant artwork ...

81%

My Dying Bride

A Map Of All Our Failures

My Dying Bride - A Map Of All Our Failures album cover

My Dying Bride is over 20 years old. While most bands that would exist for this amount of time would notably mature in sound and style, it may be hard to convince people of that in regards to MDB. I say this because, stylistically, the band have always trudged through ...

50%

Wolves At Bay

Only A Mirror

Wolves At Bay - Only A Mirror album cover

Although Wolves At Bay have recently released a sparkly-fresh record, this review will cover their 2011 full-length debut on Animal Style Records, Only a Mirror. The band seems to have changed names and lineups during the course of their evolution, but here presents as a four-piece post-hardcore outfit, proud to hail from ...

75%

husband&wife

Acoustic Recordings

husband&wife - Acoustic Recordings album cover

The beauty in acoustic albums usually comes from hearing a song you know and love take on a different resonance when it’s stripped back and unpolished. This is definitely the case for the songs on husband&wife’s Acoustic Recordings. All of the songs were recorded in the band members’ homes, which makes ...

90%

Aosoth

IV: An Arrow In Heart

Aosoth - IV: An Arrow In Heart album cover

Aosoth is another example of how great the current black metal scene in France actually is. With their latest full length, they definitely claim their place next to great bands like Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord. Formed by members of black metal titans Antaeus you get an idea of the quality of the music ...

60%

Aeon Zen

Enigma

Aeon Zen - Enigma album cover

Aeon Zen is one of the more recent progressive bands to work its way up to massive critical acclaim. Grounded by sole permanent member Rich Hinks and a reputation for unorthodox compositions, the quintet released their third studio album in four years this January, 2013's Enigma.Right off the bat, there's no ...

81%

Worthwhile Way

Love Is All

Worthwhile Way - Love Is All album cover

Worthwhile Way play positive punk. No bones about it, the title Love Is All isn’t some ironic statement, the band brings an upbeat, happy sound that’s typically devoid from almost any subgenre of music. Mayu’s lead vocals convey a pep that meets the bouncy rhythms of Chege with some powerful ’77-style guitars ...

65%

Riverside

Shrine of New Generation Slaves

Riverside - Shrine of New Generation Slaves album cover

Riverside is one of those surprise acts, emerging out of Poland to somehow join the ranks of Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree as one of the biggest progressive bands of the 00s. And with critically acclaimed albums like Second Life Syndrome and Rapid Eye Movement under their belt, they've proven time and time again that they can deliver ...

70%

Lair of the Minotaur

Godslayer EP

Lair of the Minotaur - Godslayer EP album cover

Lair of the Minotaur is a band that managed to get their sound right and have stick with it since they first formed. With their doom/sludge/thrash hybrid they have managed to release four great albums: Carnage, The Ultimate Destroyer, my personal favorite War Metal Battle Master and their latest full length Evil Power. And now ...

80%

Cult of Luna

Vertikal

Cult of Luna - Vertikal album cover
Multiple Authors

These heavy bands are increasingly showing off their cultural literacy while still bludgeoning their listeners with a heady mix of loud guitars and cavernous sounding drums, and Cult Of Luna is in some ways one of the main culprits for pushing such intellectually studious music; the band’s return with their sixth studio ...

90%

Cult of Luna

Vertikal

Cult of Luna - Vertikal album cover
Multiple Authors

Isis were the undisputed kings of post-metal, reaching levels of perfection with their music literally unheard of before. But even though they've been retired from the scene for a while, it's unclear whether or not there will emerge another band up to their calibre. If I can throw in my oar, ...

85%

HIM

Tears On Tape

HIM - Tears On Tape album cover

HIM have been kicking about on the rock ‘n’ roll scene for as long as most of their fans have been alive, a terrifying thought in itself, and anything we needed to say about their love metal outlook or their relevance to the world of music in the 21st Century ...

68%

They Might Be Giants

Nanobots

They Might Be Giants - Nanobots album cover

When I first heard these guys in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s, there wasn’t really a name for this. Now, I guess it would be called indie pop. The band, led by songwriters John Linnell and John Flansburgh, has long been on the quirky side with a touch of ...

62%

D.O.A.

We Come In Peace

D.O.A. - We Come In Peace album cover

in·sti·tu·tion noun \ˌin(t)-stə-ˈtü-shən, something or someone firmly associated with a place or thingThere are few bands around that can be considered any kind of institution for their respective region. D.O.A. However, is such a band. A band synonymous with growing up in Canada. More specifically, growing up in Vancouver.Year after passing ...

72%

The Strokes

Comedown Machine

The Strokes - Comedown Machine album cover

The Strokes have paved way since brushing the scene in 2001 with their instant garage pop classic, Is This It. What was an unlikely return a decade later, releasing Angles after a near five-year hiatus, the band evolved electronically. Undoubtedly influenced by frontman Julian Casablancas - following his solo synthpop debut, Phrazes for the ...

95%

Altar Of Plagues

Teethed Glory and Injury

Altar Of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury album cover

Often an album comes along that defies all genre constraints and challenges your own perception on life and reality. Sometimes that album makes you delve deep within the self and question your own outlooks. Teethed Glory and Injury is that album. And oh, how it ravages your being.With Teethed Glory and Injury Altar of ...

70%

The Scutches

Ten Songs, Ten Years

The Scutches - Ten Songs, Ten Years album cover

The Ramones were, and still are, such an influence on music. These days, they’re garnered as a genre all on their own, known simply as, “Ramones-core.” Right now, bands like Teenage Bottlerocket are running things, but perhaps you haven’t given The Scutches a chance? The Scutches have been churning out Pop-Punk ditties for ...

78%

The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation

Egor

The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation - Egor album cover

As the sister group of The Kilimanjaro Doomjazz Ensemble This group treads similar waters. While not a new group by any stretch this, their most recent full length of new work continues their original routing. The question many people would have is "what exactly is doomjazz?". The easy answer would ...

79%

Iggy & The Stooges

Ready To Die

Iggy & The Stooges - Ready To Die album cover

The death of Ron Asheton in 2009 was a sad day in music. Considered by this critic and many others to be one of the best guitarists of all time, with his work on the first 2 Stooges album becoming the stuff of legend over the years. Having rejoined with Iggy ...

80%

Zozobra

Savage Masters

Zozobra - Savage Masters album cover

Zozobra returns five years after their excellent previous full length Birds of Prey; and now, Caleb Scofield (of Cave In and Old Man Gloom) brings forth Savage Masters. If you are not familiar with Zozobra, try to imagine Old Man Gloom covering Cave In tracks: in essence you get straightforward songs, with quite catchy riffs ...

76%

Various Artists

Closure / Moloch - Split EP

Various Artists - Closure / Moloch - Split EP album cover
200 Words Or Less

closure and moloch sit on diametrically opposed sides of the same scene in the same country. They share in the metal/hardcore scene within the UK and they manage to bring their differing outlooks to this split. This makes for a different type of split. While most bands would be happy ...

70%

Aidan Baker

Closure Axioms

Aidan Baker - Closure Axioms album cover

For as prolific as Aidan Baker is (besides his most known musical endeavor Nadja, he is involved in a slew of other projects as well such as Arc and Infinite Light), his solo material seems criminally overlooked by some (which includes my own self in this group); though maybe this is not a case of overlooking ...

71%

The Tossers

The Emerald City

The Tossers - The Emerald City album cover

The Tossers top out my list of Celtic punk bands. Dropkick Murphys turned into cartoons long ago and I’ve just never been that big a fan of Dave King’s (Flogging Molly) voice. The Tossers, who call Chicago home, bring a mix of emphatic punk energy a la Flogging Molly, but blend it ...

85%

Soror Dolorosa

No More Heroes

Soror Dolorosa - No More Heroes album cover

They say that imitation is the best form of flattery, and France’s Soror Dolorosa, in choosing to name their sophomore record after a Stranglers album (due to a badge depicting the album appearing on a jacket used for the cover art) manage to wear their hearts on their leather sleeves and show exactly what ...

94%

Inter Arma

Sky Burial

Inter Arma - Sky Burial album cover

If there is any definitive point to life, certainly it must involve leaving something behind that has a positive impact that is discernible well after you are gone. While most of us will ultimately fail to have that kind of effect, we all have the great privilege of being the ...

58%

Cnoc An Tursa

The Giants of Auld

Cnoc An Tursa - The Giants of Auld album cover

I'll admit, I was intrigued by the idea of Scottish Pagan Metal. Even with the full understanding of Pagan Metal by definition of the more extreme metal using folk instruments from any religion or culture, the ole' noggin still tends to default to the Norse code. Cnoc An Tursa hail from the ...

85%

Drivin' N Cryin'

Songs From The Psychedelic Time Clock

Drivin' N Cryin' - Songs From The Psychedelic Time Clock album cover

The new release from Drivin’ N Cryin’ is the third EP of an anticipated four, each dedicated to a different genre that has shaped the foundation of the band’s sound over the last 25 years or so. While the previous EPs have been stellar, this one is by far the ...

76%

Ensemble Pearl

Self Titled

Ensemble Pearl - Self Titled album cover
200 Words Or Less

There's soundtracks to the apocalypse and then there's soundtracks to everything afterward. Ensemble Pearl provides the latter. The din and drone as your mind takes in the ruins of its surroundings, the dissonant fear of realization and finally the despair of acceptance. Stephen O'Malley has provided many a piss shiver in ...

65%

Ensemble Pearl

Self Titled

Ensemble Pearl - Self Titled album cover
Multiple Authors

It's genuinely hard for me to get excited about supergroups in general--they're almost never as good as the sum of their parts. And unfortunately, despite the calibre of the musicians involved, that seems to be exactly what has happened to post-everything supergroup Ensemble Pearl on their eponymous 2013 debut.Anchoring this ...

90%

Batillus

Concrete Sustain

Batillus - Concrete Sustain album cover

The issue that I had with Furnace, the 2011 debut album from Brooklyn's doom metal band Batillus was that it kept losing my interest after the first two songs. Don't get me wrong, I love those first couple tracks and the overall chilling atmosphere of that album, but I just ...

75%

Swollen Members

Beautiful Death Machine

Swollen Members - Beautiful Death Machine album cover

Beautiful Death Machine is the eighth studio album by the Vancouver, British Columbia rap group, Swollen Members. I must admit, up until recently I hadn’t paid much attention to the group since their 1999 debut, Balance. It was one of my favorite underground hip-hop albums from that year, but in the 14-year interim ...

80%

A Sense Of Porpoise

Self Titled

A Sense Of Porpoise - Self Titled album cover

Upon initial listen, this came across as the kind of sloppy folk punk that I’d likely be annoyed by if there was a male singer. Call me sexist if you will but the fact that a female is doing the vocals makes this totally pleasurable, whereas I’d normally dismiss such ...

90%

Woe

Withdrawal

Woe - Withdrawal album cover

Having began life as a one-man project borne from the mind of Chris Grigg, Woe’s motive was one of total aggression and pure hate and signified a time when American black metal was only just starting to find its feet within the darker realms of the musical sphere. With A Spell for the ...

85%

Nai Harvest

Whatever

Nai Harvest - Whatever album cover

I unfairly judged Nai Harvest at first glance. Band name: wacky. Album title: hip self-awareness masquerading an average sounding record. Genre: Emo. Oh emo, we meet again old foe. A style birthed by ex-punks, killed by its own apathy, briefly reanimated by fringed goths, then killed and mounted by Tumblr. ...

86%

Caitlin Rose

The Stand In

Caitlin Rose - The Stand In album cover

In the intervening years between her debut Own Side Now and this sophomore record, there has been very little sign of Caitlin Rose apart from a great cover of Alex Turner’s “Piledriver Waltz.” So as she returns, it is immediately apparent that this interval has been used for growing up: gone is ...

74%

Jungle Rot

Terror Regime

Jungle Rot - Terror Regime album cover

Kenosha, Wisonsin's Jungle Rot have been peddling their form of death metal since 1994. The band have managed to release a nearly insane amount of records in that time and create a fanbase that allowed them to get signed by Victory records. The band have remained committed to their original ...

95%

Steven Wilson

The Raven that Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)

Steven Wilson - The Raven that Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) album cover

Though they all claim lineage to the great acts of the 1970s, no modern progressive band can claim that they sound even remotely similar to them. Bands in the modern progressive rock genre (see Transatlantic, Spock's Beard, Coheed and Cambria) tend to sound closer akin to brightly-polished half-metal than the rock of the ...

70%

The Spits

V

The Spits - V album cover

Dirty, spacey punk rawk—in a nutshell, that’s what The Spits are bringing. We could talk costumes, we could talks subgenres, and we could talk recording quality (and we will), but The Spits are a concept best described in those few words. Sound-wise, it’s largely Ramonescore run through a fuzzy filter, so much so that it ...

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Razorcake 2013
From the archive...

Stencil

The Dead Lie Golden

4.5 / 10 Stencil - The Dead Lie Golden album cover

Hailing from Seattle, Stencil comes with their debut album The Dead Lie Golden. They have touted themselves as an orchestral indie band which draws stylistically from established artists such as ...

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