Wristmeetrazor
Misery Never Forgets
Prosthetic (2019)
With a name like Wristmeetrazor could assume what you would be getting with this record before heading in and pressing play. While you may not be entirely wrong you would most certainly be partially wrong at best. While you could assume the record treads in emotionally raw lyrics and you would be correct but to also assume there is a … Read more
Wrnlrd
Death Drive
FSS (2010)
Ever hear of the term “outsider” music? I have certainly seen the term thrown around when referring to different albums or artists and never quite understood how or why that particular artist or record was graced with such a vague descriptor when attempting to relate the music to someone or an audience of some sort. Well, if ever there was … Read more
Wrnlrd
Myrmidon
FSS (2009)
Following the strange intriguing experience of Oneirmantical War, I felt that I had to check out Myrmidon from WRNLRD once it arrived; but instead of diving right into Myrmidon, I avoided it like the album was some dark door that I just did not want to open. Myrmidon sat for months on my desk as it sat, always visible out … Read more
Wrnlrd
Oneiromantical War
FSS (2008)
Wrnlrd drops a dense black metal album on listeners with this limited LP and digital album, Oneiromantical War - which I believe is the sixth album from the outfit. Now, in my growing education in black metal, this is my introduction to Wrnlrd, and it certainly provides me intrigue as the record mastering is the work of Bob Weston of … Read more
Wrong
Wrong
Relapse (2016)
Coming out of Miami, Wrong rose from the ashes of hardcore/punk band Capsule, who released a couple of great albums, including their self-titled record and Blue, before calling it quits. Well, Eric Hernandez (guitars and vocals) bounced back brilliantly, forming the new band, with the inclusion of Ryan Haft (previously of Torche) on guitars, Andres Ascanio on bass and Brian … Read more
Wrong Day to Quit
Vicissitudes
Exotic Fever (2006)
It's a fact of life that hardcore bands, especially those involved with the late 90's screamo era, love to break up. They play a tour or so, leave us without about an hour worth of music, and then they're done. School, jobs, and families understandably take priority, and the band ceases to be. But the great thing about this scene … Read more
Wumpscut
Body Census
Metropolis (2007)
Wumpscut has been called many things - aggrotech, hellektro, terror EBM and many other awful genre portmanteaus. If you are new to the band, it would be easiest to say that what they - they being German DJ Rudy Ratzinger - create is electronic music designed to scare. Wumpscut first achieved popularity with "Soylent Green," now a much played club-classic. … Read more
Wyclef Jean
Carnival Volume II: Memoirs of an Immigrant
Columbia (2007)
In 2001, Nas released Stillmatic, a direct play on his first album Illmatic, and an indicator that he was still on top of the rap world. The album's single "Got Ur Self a Gun" featured Nas reminiscing on his previous efforts, stating, "My first album had no famous guest appearances. The outcome? I'm crowned the best lyricist." Stillmatic had no … Read more
Xasthur
Subliminal Genocide
Hydra Head (2006)
If you ate nothing but the guts of ravens, the shells of beetles, and the wax from vinyl, your shit might slide down your pants dense and black as night. Assuming shit doesn't have the connation of something bad, this soulless turd sums up Xasthur's newest full-length, Subliminal Genocide, in how it sounds, the way it makes you feel, and … Read more
xDeathstarx
We are the Threat
Facedown (2007)
Maybe I am the only one that can see the irony in a Christian straightedge band having a song called "The Great Opiate" since organized religion has always been thought of the opiate of the masses for free thinking atheists around the world. Then again, I don't think xDeathstarx could bang two brain cells in their collective seven heads to … Read more
Xibalba
Años en Infierno
Southern Lord (2020)
Southern California's Xibalba is back with a new LP titled Años En Infierno. The title of their third studio album translates to "years in hell," and it is a loathsome pillar, raised in tribute to the pain of living in a world populated by misery and ruin. Somehow the band's sulfurous combination of doom and death metal and hardcore from across the Americas, … Read more
Xibalba
Hasta La Muerte
Southern Lord (2012)
It would be impossible to have missed the mark Xibalba have left on the hardcore scene thus far. The band has toured incessantly and released a small handfull of recordings in the past few years. A389 took notice last year and released a discography LP and shortly after Southern Lord took notice and staked a claim upon the band's follow … Read more
Xibalba
Self Titled
A389 (2011)
Xibalba translates to "Place Of Fear" meaning a place where the evil go when they die in Mayan culture. There is no more fitting name for what Xibalba, the band, do musically. Over the past few years the band has managed to build a relentlessly heavy sound giving nods to Max Cavalera era Sepultura and Disembodied. These influences are readily … Read more
Xingfoo&Roy
Green Around The Gills
Independent (2022)
It's always nice to know one of your friends and favorite bands is doing good stuff and this example goes to a Singaporean band called Xingfoo&Roy. I met them initially 6 years ago. Me and some friends in our tiny town arranged a gig for the band. They're super nice and I think I've been in love since they put … Read more
Xiu Xiu
Angel Guts: Red Classroom
Polyvinyl (2014)
Xiu Xiu (pronounced “shoo shoo”) is a critically-acclaimed, Los Angeles-based, avant-garde duo. It’s comprised of founder James Stewart and Angela Seo, a member since 2009.Their melancholy, Bowie Low-esque sound can be heard in the music of contemporaries like Majical Cloudz and Grimes.Angel Guts: Red Classroom, Xiu Xiu’s latest release from Polyvinyl Records, makes up for Nina, their horrid, cringeworthy Nina Simone tribute album from 2013. On their ninth full-length, … Read more
Xiu Xiu
Fabulous Muscles
5 Rue Christine (2004)
This is the first time I've ever managed to find the perfect soundtrack for an art exhibit. After viewing a collection called "Late Modern European Prints," and listening to Fabulous Muscles on the drive back, I realized that both works were attempting to challenge the limits of creative representation in order to show that when said challenging occurs, art can … Read more
Xiu Xiu
La Forét
5 Rue Christine (2005)
Xiu Xiu is one of those bands you either love or hate. They are hard to get into; they talk about some of the most socially taboo topics, and in general are just out there. To me, their music is a cacophony of amazing music. On their latest outing, La Forét, meaning 'the forest' or 'the drill', the band returns … Read more
Xiu Xiu
Life and Live
Xeng (2005)
Xiu Xiu are an anomaly in modern music. This at least, if nothing else, fans and critics of the group can agree on. Intermittently fragile, sad, tense, evocative, provocative and even humorous, the emotionof Xiu Xiu itself is overwhelming. Mix this with the often aggressive screeching broken electronic feel of a lot of the musical accompaniment and the on-edge, straight-from-the-asylum … Read more
