Standing between genres can act as a vantage point. For Prayer Group, sitting at the intersection between noise rock and hardcore has armed them with the necessary arsenal to propel their anger and frustration forward. And so, through a series of EPs and singles, this work culminated in their 2022 debut full-length, Michael Dose, where The Jesus Lizard methodology collided with a latter-day KEN Mode darkness. Their follow-up Strawberry stands on the same ground. The noise rock infects the structure, turning the title track into this backward-unfolding pummel, a specimen of their Swans-ian influence. At the same time, their off-kilter guitar mechanics continue to draw inspiration from The Jesus Lizard, with the bumpy, looping motifs that exert an asphyxiating pressure in "Meatgrinder". They accompany this with some more intricate guitar playing in "Concern", where the quasi-melodic phrases are contorted toward a discordant form. The counterweight is the punk aggression, more pronounced than on Michael Dose, and Prayer Group come crushing down with conviction. The abrasive quality of "Plagiarism" sees them moving toward a punk-ish tone, something that they employ throughout Strawberry for maximum impact. Where this hits hardest is when they push old-school form through the noise rock distortion meatgrinder, … Read more
For experimental rock artists torn between noise-rock abrasion and torturous drone immersion, one side usually wins. It is either a … Read more
I believe the first I heard of this album was when Wild Honey released the limited edition It’s All About … Read more
Formed around the tight-knit chemistry of brothers Xavier and Vincent Morency with drummer John Muggianu, Canada’s Second Harbour are that … Read more
Hailing from Wichita, Kansas, Stay The Course brings their brand of pop-punk/easycore onto the scene. This is the band’s second … Read more
Straight out of Boise’s unforgiving hardcore pipeline, the band Witness Chamber returns with Bronze Gates, their most suffocating and sharpened … Read more
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So here we have the much-anticipated collaboration between Greg Dulli of Afghan Whigs/The Twilight Singers fame and Mark Lanegan of Queens of the Stone Age/Screaming Trees fame (as well as an excellent solo career along with collaborations with Isobel Campbell). The Gutter Twins, as this duo refer to themselves, have been a rumored project for several years now that finally culminates with this release via Sub Pop. Both men have distinctive voices and other assorted idiosyncrasies, which seem to perpetually follow their individual moves and musical endeavors. Saturnalia is the product of several years of on again and off again collaborative effort. The album also has quite a bit to live up to with so much anticipation begging the question, "does it deliver?" The deep pounding of the bass drum … Read more
There's a song on Watch It Die called "Dancing With Anxiety," a title that wraps up Home Front's style quite well. Because I like to beat metaphors to a pulp, maybe also consider "Between The Waves" as another title that captures how they straddle the punk and new wave worlds. Home Front plays street punk with a lot of synth … Read more
Formed in the mid-2000s, PitchBlack have always been one of Danish metal’s most overlooked heavy hitters. A band is sitting between old-school melodeath grit and European thrash aggression, building a reputation on intensity instead of trends. They debuted with Designed to Dislike in 2007, followed it with The Devilty in 2011 (which landed them spots at Copenhell and Download UK), … Read more
If you haven’t hopped on the SPEED train when they broke through, now is the time. The band formed in Sydney and blew past “local band” status the second the world caught up to what Australia already knew. BIPOC-fronted, community-driven, and fueled by the belief that hardcore is supposed to mean something. They went from DIY shows to global festivals … Read more
One of the most distinct voices of the current generation, Anna von Hausswolff's sound is wide and far-reaching. From dark ambient atmospherics and organ music fixation, to noise rock momentum and neo-classical arrangements, her music always balances a primordial ritualism and contemporary applications. It is an ongoing process, one that Anna has been refining over the years. In 2018, the … Read more
"When I've had enough of modern life, I go back to my analog ways." It's a simple quote, yet it captures so much about Radioactivity. It's been 10 years since the band released Silent Kill, and this time around the Jeff Burke-led group shows clear growth and change, while still capturing the same vibe as the previous two records. In … Read more
I went to a birthday party for my wife and six or seven other friends and acquaintances last night. I guess people liked having sex in January in the late 70s-early 80s? In Canada at least, that’s how we keep warm in the winter! Anyway, I was foraging at the smorgasbord with a couple former co-workers talking about my recent … Read more
Often Wrong is an emo/grunge/screamo hybrid born out of the DIY scene. It was built through the kind of friendships that start in basements, not boardrooms. The band formed in 2024 and quickly started carving out their own lane. They are blending fragile, journal-entry emo with blown-out guitars and throat-shredding catharsis. They’re signed to Far From Home Records, a label … Read more
Armor For Sleep return with an album that treats memory like a weapon. It’s delicate, devastating, and impossible to disarm. For those who may not be as old as me and missed their emergence into the emo/indie scene, the Teaneck, New Jersey band started in 2001. Led by frontman Ben Jorgensen, they dropped gems like Dream to Make Believe (2003) … Read more
Back in or around 2007 my buddy Jake invited me to a show, I’m not even sure he told me who was playing or if he did I hadn’t heard of them yet anyway. Turns out it was Toronto’s Career Suicide who were on tour with Regulations from Sweden. Both bands fucking ripped and I still remember being pretty blown … Read more
Formed in 1995, Imperial Domain cut their teeth in the Swedish death metal underground with early demos before dropping In the Ashes of the Fallen (1998) and The Ordeal (2003). After the 2014 death of original vocalist, Tobias Heideman, Imperial Domain could’ve folded into the past like so many of their era. Instead, they came back swinging. The band returned … Read more
There are some musicians that come along and can literally play every instrument and do it well. Such is the case for the grindcore brainchild behind Chairmaker, Neil Erskine. He drops his self-released, debut album titled “Leviathan Carcass” on November 14th. Fueled by the perils of the late capitalist society we inhabit, Neil has been able to craft a fierce … Read more
Twenty years into the grind and The Devil Wears Prada haven’t lost their edge. However, in recent years, it’s a bit more refined and less jagged than their earlier release. The band’s latest release, Flowers, feels like their sharpest, most well-oiled bloom yet. From the opening track “That Same Place” to the closing “My Paradise”, this record is a reckoning. … Read more
DFMK have been playing since 2009, but Playa Nuclear is just their second full-length. It kicks off with exactly what I expect of the band in "Mi Rutina" -- a driving punk song with lots of high energy, guitar-driven bridges; Mr. Cap on vocals and doing near-splits between songs; and a general melodic flow that balances nervous energy with a … Read more
Chicago’s Action/Adventure have been grinding the pop-punk trenches since 2014. They have always played pop-punk like it still has something to prove because for them, it does. They went viral in 2020 on TikTok with their song “Barricades” by calling out the exact thing no one in the scene wanted to say out loud. The genre is full of white … Read more
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