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Our latest album reviews, featuring the records we've most enjoyed (or not) over the past few weeks.

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Browse our album reviews according to score: Highest (9.5/10 or more) or Lowest (2/10 or less)

Cel Ray

Cel Rayzer
Exploding In Sound Records (2026)

I don’t remember how, but I stumbled across Chicago’s Cel Ray in 2023 on the heels of their debut EP, Cellular Raymond. I was immediately hooked. After another EP and a single, the band finally brings us their debut long player, Cel Rayzer. To no surprise, it’s excellent. Cel Ray plays a brand of post-punk that’s lo-fi and streamlined. Singer Maddie Daviss delivers sharp, biting lyrics as her bandmates (Alex Watson, Kevin Goggin and Josh Rodin) lay down tight compositions with drums, bass and guitar (respectively). Most of the tunes are quick, but the band shows off it’s dynamic range with some slower BPM’s sprinkled throughout the album. Cel Ray probably gets compared to Snooper a lot, which isn’t a bad thing at all. I think Cel Ray’s sound has more in common with this decade’s crop of outstanding Australian post-punk bands such as Busted Head Racket and Pinch Points. Even truer is that Cel Ray sounds like… Cel Ray. They’re a breath of fresh air in 22 minutes and 45 seconds. Definitely get your ears on this ASAP, music fans! Read more

Bevis Frond

Horrorful Heights
Fire Records (2026)

God loves Nick Saloman, and from the heavens, the expulsion of the beloved archangel fell and spawned Horrorful Heights. A … Read more

Nine Pound Hammer

Too Outlaw For Outlaw Country
Reptilian Records (2026)

For nearly forty years, Nine Pound Hammer have occupied a strange corner of American music that very few bands have … Read more

Fuming Mouth

The Ringing Bell”
Triple B (2026)

There are plenty of bands capable of writing crushing death metal. There are plenty of bands capable of writing punishing … Read more

Time Thieves

Come Home/If You Survive Extended Edition
Independent (2026)

Time Thieves, of Chicago, IL, bill themselves as power pop in the vein of The Rentals or Fountains of Wayn … Read more

The Mekons

Horror & Horrorble (The Mekons Vs. Tony Maimone In Dub Conference)
Fire Records (2026)

When Horror dropped last year, it was well worth the privileged price of entering the collected world of The Mekons. … Read more

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One from the archives

Good Riddance

Bound By Ties of Blood and Affection
Fat Wreck Chords (2003)

Oddly enough, this album doesn't start off with a 30 second sound clip. That being said, the album blasts off immediately with pure hardcore fury. For those not familiar with the band, do not let this description repel you. These guys belt out their hardcore with a fresh dose of pop-punk and melodic, yet abrasive vocals. In fact, their style, influenced by bands like Dag Nasty and Bad Religion, has propelled them as one of the best-selling bands on Fat Wreck Chords. And Russ Rankin and gang remain one of the most respected men in punk rock. I know, I know, you are still uneasy about giving the band a chance because I said they are on Fat Wreck. Well, it must be pointed out. However, the band is more … Read more

More album reviews

Amy Bell

Want Me EP
Warren Records (2026)

Amy Bell is a singer songwriter from Yorkshire, England. A self-taught musician at 21 years old, she has begun to make a name for herself and often plays at charity events and local festivals. Known for her unusual voice, this indie artist released her second EP, titled Want Me, on June 26th, 2026 on Warren Records. This 4 song collection … Read more

House Of All

Inklings
Tiny Global Productions (2026)

Six blokes who survived the Mark E. Smith sausage-squeezing meat grinder, plus a beautiful Blue Orchid for good measure. But if you’re turning up to Inklings expecting some pathetic karaoke penny on the eyes wake, you’re completely barking up the wrong great Deku tree. Not a tribute act. It’s a cash-in-hand inheritance from a filthy-rich uncle… let's call him Uncle … Read more

If I Die Today

I Felt Nothing
Independent (2026)

Sometimes post-hardcore stops feeling emotional and just becomes noise for the sake of noise. If I Die Today understands that line better than most bands operating in this space. Their newest albume, I Felt Nothing is undeniably aggressive, messy, loud, and volatile, but underneath all the abrasion is a band with a very clear sense of purpose. This Northern Italian … Read more

Eddy Current Suppression Ring

In Light Of Recent Events
Suppression Records (2026)

Australian Neo-proto-punk garagerockers ECSR released 11 new songs in May without much, if any, fanfare and not as some marketing or PR stunt but because they seem to actually give zero fucks. If anything they are making a bit of effort to curb their success which includes multiple award nominations on their home turf including the Australian Music Prize for … Read more

Swell Maps

C21
Tiny Global Productions (2026)

This isn't a hologram dancing, marionette corpse, tap-dancing nostalgia trip. It’s a jagged pill, a necessary taser jolt. Jowe Head-- one of the sole surviving architects of the original Solihull Syndicate -- just dropped a record handling legacy like a hot, glowing BTU ember. An organ grinder’s monkey's comeback? Completely antithetical to reality, this is a well-orchestrated calculation of intelligent … Read more

Silver Proof

Even If It Hurts
Independent (2026)

Some pop punk records feel made for playlists and algorithms. They’re polished into oblivion, emotionally vague, and afraid to get messy. Silver Proof clearly didn’t get that memo. The Buffalo trio’s debut full length, Even If It Hurts, leans heavily into the emotional core of early 2010s emo pop and melody while still sounding energized rather than nostalgic. Across the … Read more

Lice (Aesop Rock & Homeboy Sandman)

Vol. 4: Miami Lice
Rhymesayers (2026)

This EP released kind of suddenly, back in March, right before a bunch of stuff hit the fan in my life outside of SPB. Which means the EP felt sudden, but this review has been stewing for nearly three months with a lot of repeat listening along the journey. At eight songs in length, it's short but sweet, and as … Read more

Various Artists

There Is No Sun - A Tribute To Jay Reatard
Sonic Church (2026)

The late, great Jay Reatard was a prolific master of rock n roll gems. Whether it be with his earlier budget-punk act of his namesake, Reatards, his synth-punk projects Lost Sounds and Angry Angles, or his solo material as Jay Reatard, Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr. was an incredible songwriter. Those aforementioned bands are just a smattering of units he’s been … Read more

The Dwarves

Jenkem
Greedy, MVD (2026)

The Dwarves first cut me off on my path with their 1986 garage-rock debut, Horror Stories, on Voxx Records. Been a fan since. Over the forty years they've been around, some albums hit, some didn't connect as much. Their last main outing, Concept Album, bloated into a 26-song deluxe CD. Jenkem returns to familiar territory: 14 tracks screaming by in … Read more

David J

Tracks From the Attic Revisited
Independent Project Records (2026)

Sometimes musical circles take decades to close. Just ask Fleur De Lys and their catchy cover of The Who’s '60s freakbeat rarity, "Circles." For those of us digging through dusty crates at the margins of post-punk, a first introduction to mid-century mystic Eden Ahbez didn't come from a Nat King Cole hit. It came straight from the liner notes of … Read more

Physicalist

Self Titled
Dirt Cult (2026)

F.Y.P is one of the rare bands that I'd say nobody sounds like -- but in the past two months I've caught myself making that comparison twice. First while listening to the new Dumpies LP (spoiler alert: they cover F.Y.P on that same record) and now as I listen to the Physicalist debut EP. The interesting thing here isn't the … Read more

Dylan Thomas

Todo se desvanece
Burnt Toast Vinyl (2026)

When bands spend months slowly piecing together an album with cheap gear, limited time, and apparently an alarming amount of terrible beer, it’s kind of romantic. Not romantic in the polished indie film sense. More romantic in the sense that you can actually hear people chasing a feeling before life pulls them in different directions. That tension sits at the … Read more

Adam Steiner

Darker with the Dawn: Nick Cave's Songs of Love and Death
Rowman & Littlefield (2023)

Adam Steiner doesn’t just break the earth with a spade with this book; he actually digs deep into the fertile soil to enter the cobwebbed crypt. He approaches the catalogue like a forensic scientist examining the maggots on a corpse—meticulously analyzing the rot and the details of decay to chart exactly how long the body has been decomposing. He gets … Read more

Six Going on Seven

Human Tears
Spartan Records (2026)

Late 90s post hardcore and emo feels impossible to recreate now. That’s not because the sound itself is gone, but because the tension behind it was so specific to that era. Six Going on Seven’s Human Tears, their first full length in roughly twenty-four years, captures that feeling perfectly. Having a wonderful history by having done a split with Hot … Read more

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Browse our album reviews according to score: Highest (9.5/10 or more) or Lowest (2/10 or less)