Recent reviews

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)

Woe

Withdrawal
Candlelight (2013)

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 Death of Man Grigg stepped forward and laid his entire heart out for all to see and what followed was a personal and introspective work of despair. With 2010s Quietly, Undramatically Woe finally became a full band (although Grigg still wrote the lyrics and music for everything) and Woe was becoming something quite interesting indeed. Skip to today, and Withdrawal is the sound of a group working together to overcome internal demons and outside pressures. Songs have been constructed by fellow members Ben Brand (guitar), and ex-drummer Ruston Grosse (the drum stool is now occupied by Shawn Eldridge) and bassist Grzesiek Czapla takes on a heck of a lot of vocal lines. It’s these new curves and bends that give Withdrawal its constantly threatening atmosphere of total annihilation and the different tones and styles that are incorporated serve only to heighten the tension rather than take away … Read more

Nai Harvest

Whatever
Pinky Swear (2013)

I unfairly judged Nai Harvest at first glance. Band name: wacky. Album title: hip self-awareness masquerading an average sounding record. … Read more

Caitlin Rose

The Stand In
ATO (2013)

In the intervening years between her debut Own Side Now and this sophomore record, there has been very little sign … Read more

Jungle Rot

Terror Regime
Victory (2013)

Kenosha, Wisonsin's Jungle Rot have been peddling their form of death metal since 1994. The band have managed to release … Read more

Steven Wilson

The Raven that Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)
Kscope (2013)

Though they all claim lineage to the great acts of the 1970s, no modern progressive band can claim that they … Read more

The Spits

V
In The Red (2011)

Dirty, spacey punk rawk—in a nutshell, that’s what The Spits are bringing. We could talk costumes, we could talks subgenres, … Read more

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One from the archives

Radioactivity

Silent Kill
Dirtnap (2015)

These guys know how to start off a record, with the rapid fire “Battered” pummeling with riffage for the first minute and then Jeff Burke’s familiar vocals chime in and the record transitions to melodic and punky pop songs—and not the kind of pop that’s usually attached to that word. While a minute isn’t a long time for an instrumental break for most bands, it’s half of a Radioactivity song and 1/24 of the record. “Battered” is a song that should lead off a show every night and, just maybe, it will.Silent Kill is the second full-length from Texas’ Radioactivity so it’s about time to put references to past band behind, right? Well, almost. It’s worth noting that the band is Burke (Marked Men, Potential Johns) and Mark Ryan (Marked … Read more

More album reviews

Puscifer

Donkey Punch The Night
Puscifer Entertainment (2013)

I first became aware of Maynard James Keenan's solo work through his latest studio album, Conditions of My Parole, which immediately sold me with its incredibly pleasant meanderings through light-rock post-industrial soundscapes (with a fair amount of his trademarked humour mixed in). So, of course, I scooped up his new EP, Donkey Punch the Night, as soon as I saw … Read more

Protestant

Reclamation
Halo of Flies (2012)

Protestant have around since 2007, yet it feels like longer. Mind you this isn't a put down as much as it is a reflection upon their multitude of releases. In the last 6 years the band has managed to cobble together a discography that reaches into the double digits. Throughout said discography the band has managed to broaden their original … Read more

Deric Dyer

Renaissance Man
Dellboy Records (2012)

So this is what happens when you gather up some of the best musicians around the Boston scene and then front the band with one of the top saxophone players going these days. Deric Dyer has played saxophone for the likes of Tina Turner and Joe Cocker even guesting on the Ric Ocasek - Beatitude album. Deric has been carefully … Read more

Sol Cat

Self Titled
Independent (2013)

Nashville based Sol Cat independently released their first full length album on bandcamp in mid February. The indie and rock scene in Nashville is a well kept secret thanks to the city’s reputation for country music and being home of so many major labels, but you won’t find any country influences here. The nine track self-titled release is all chilled … Read more

Thee Oh Sees

Floating Coffin
Castle Face Records (2013)

As a critic there are certain things I’m supposed to keep up with. Fact of the matter is that’s not always possible and, once you get behind, just where do you catch up? Thee Oh Sees are a band I’ve heard peripherally for the past couple of years but never got jumping in on a full-length. Compound that with their … Read more

Shai Hulud

Reach Beyond The Sun
Metal Blade (2013)

Despite their age and influence, Shai Hulud have rarely been the focal point of underground music. Sure, they've toured internationally, had some notable members during their time and have been released by some well-regarded labels; they've also had a permanently fluctuating lineup, periods of inactivity and a troubled relationship with the genre their guitarist, Matt Fox, coined- metalcore. However, they've … Read more

Azure Emote

The Gravity of Impermanence
Selfmadegod (2013)

I truly think that the word “progressive” has lost its actual meaning for quite some time now. Instead of meaning something new, innovative, and daring it is reserved for bands that are being just technical. Well Azure Emote is a true progressive death metal band, doing something quite new in the extreme side of metal. Keeping a death metal base, … Read more

Restorations

LP2
Side One Dummy (2013)

Is classic rock punk now a genre? I don’t have a whole lot of background with Restorations, other than catching half a set at Fest 11 last year. The energy in the room was powerful and vocalist Jon Loudon had a distinct and memorable voice, of the raspy variety. What I get in LP2, my first recorded introduction to the … Read more

Saturday Looks Good To Me

All Your Summer Songs (Re-Issue)
Polyvinyl (2012)

Have you ever gone to a show for one artist or band that you look forward to seeing so much and, instead, walk away talking about one of the openers so much more because of the impression that they left (and that is not a knock on the band or artist that you originally went to see in any way)? … Read more

Low Culture

Evil
Drunken Sailor (2013)

This EP runs all of 4:59, featuring two new cuts from Low Culture. The band just released a full-length earlier this year on Dirtnap Records, Screens, and it’s making waves—at least in this writer’s household. With that aside, this 7” jumps right into the heart of melodic garage-punk, very in tune with the Dirtnap sound (though this comes courtesy of … Read more

Terror

Live By The Code
Victory (2013)

Hardcore veterans, Terror have sold over 200,000 albums worldwide and will release their forthcoming studio album, Live By The Code on April 9th. Mixed by Matt Hyde (Hatebreed, Slayer) and produced by Chad Gilbert (New Found Glory, Shai Hulud, H20, A Day To Remember). Terror’s legacy in the hardcore scene is already built as being one of the most respectful … Read more

Mutiny Within

Mutiny Within II: Synchronicity
Roadrunner (2013)

After releasing their striking eponymous debut in 2010, Mutiny Within were subsequently driven to disbandment by drastically lower than expected sales. Oddly enough, this wasn't due to a lack of musical proficiency but, rather confusingly, seemingly because of it; vocalist Chris Clancy maintains that the album was downloaded illegaly around ten times as often for every copy sold, making it … Read more

Pomegranate Tiger

Entities
Independent (2013)

Canadian musicians Pomegranate Tiger are quite hard to pigeonhole. On the surface, they play an intensely confusing variety of proggy instrumetal that takes technicality to epic-length proportions, quite reminiscent of bands like Electro Quarterstaff or Canvas Solaris. But going a bit deeper, they also have a propensity for writing soaring, triumphal melodies that should sound familiar to fans of Scale … Read more

Iceage

You're Nothing
Matador (2013)

The fact that this record’s release coincided with me preparing for and subsequently taking a vacation, and you know, having a life outside of writing record reviews, means you’re likely reading this well after numerous other Internet outlets have exhausted every possible way to dissect You’re Nothing, the sophomore outing by Denmark’s Iceage, and still come up with the same … Read more

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