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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)

Hot Water Music

Exister
Rise (2012)

In some ways, you have to seriously respect everything that Hot Water Music has accomplished over the course of their existence from their starting point circa 1993 despite what is now two break-ups, but the much lauded four piece drops their second comeback album with Exister, the band’s first studio album in since 2004’s The New What Next; and since their second hiatus, Hot Water Music teased us all with an awesome two song single (of which has neither song on this bad boy) as to what possibly a new album would sound like. Exister comes off sharp and energetic right out of the gates, but such vigor (the vocals may remind listeners of fire and brimstone preachers at their most manic and grizzled lived in voices that some of the most respected modern day troubadours exhibit) and songwriting has never been an issue with the members of Hot Water Music (at least for the most part); and what we the long suffering faithful are given as a result of our hopes and cries for another album is what is mostly a triumph of substance as well as style. While you might be hard pressed to find or single out … Read more

The Casket Lottery

Real Fear
No Sleep (2012)

When bands you adore get back together after breaking up or reconvene following a hiatus, there is both a sense … Read more

Dan Padilla

Sports Fans
Dirt Cult (2012)

Considering the amount of time it took for Dan Padilla to drop their second full-length, last year’s As the Ox … Read more

Mike Patton

From The Film and Inspired By the Book The Solitude of Prime Numbers (La Solitudine Dei Numeri Primi)
Ipecac (2012)

It's not much of a secret that Mike Patton is an odd fellow. Incredibly talented and carrying a relatively large … Read more

Lil Fame & Termanology

Fizzyology
Brick (2012)

Lil Fame of M.O.P., going by his producer moniker “Fizzy Womack,” has crafted soundscapes for a for the likes of … Read more

Nadja & Picastro

Fool, Redeemer
Broken Spine (2011)

Hate me for it, but this release was the one that kind of soured me on Nadja and (in particular) … Read more

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One from the archives

AFI

Decemberunderground
Interscope (2006)

Multiple Authors

AFI managed to write over 100 songs for this album. That's an amazing feat for a band, right? But anyone can write a catchy song. If a band has to write a hundred songs and then choose the best ones, think of all the crap that had to be weeded out, or maybe it was quite the contrary. "Reivers Music" and "Now The World" were two of the best songs left off Sing The Sorrow and saved for a Hot Topic exclusive picture disc. There's no denying AFI has a knack for writing catchy hooks, since The Art of Drowning where they really took a turn and shone, formulating eerie pop melodies into their already dark punk songs. They had grown out of their hardcore roots, but quite an album … Read more

More album reviews

God Seed

I Begin
Indie Recordings (2012)

The inception of God Seed is a torturous tale and is one of many twists and turns and moments of vengeance. To understand the drive of this band is to go back to circa.2007. Vocalist Gaahl and bassist King ov Hell left Gorgoroth, the band they’d been a part of for quite some time, under acrimonious circumstances and claimed the … Read more

Arms Aloft

Sawdust City
Kiss of Death (2012)

When I speak of a “Kiss of Death” sound, I don’t mean it derisively. What I do mean is poppy song structures with powerfully belted lead vocals and strong guitars. It’s pop-punk, but with a little extra torque under it and maybe a secret passion for melodic hardcore buried somewhere in their basement cd piles from the early 2000s. Arms … Read more

Propagandhi

Failed States
Epitaph (2012)

Unless you’ve only just been introduced to Canadian punk music from the past quarter century, you've already come to expect a few things from a new Propagandhi record. There are no pre-release jitters, no faint thoughts tugging at the forefront of your consciousness that maybe this’ll be the one to disappoint. Time and time again, the Winnipeg-based quartet have delivered. … Read more

Kendrick Lamar

good kid, m.A.A.d city
Interscope/Top Dawg/Aftermath (2012)

What better way to start my career at Scene Point Blank and as a published writer than by reviewing one of the most important releases of 2012? Probably any other way, really, but I feel compelled to share my take on Kendrick Lamar’s second studio album Good Kid: M.A.A.D. City because of the impact it has made in the short … Read more

200 Words Or Less

World Narcosis

Self Titled
Independent (2011)

World Narcosis is a relatively new band as this is their debut EP. The band's style relies on a slightly crusty version of grind hearkening back to early Brutal Truth with all the rage and politics intact. That is not to say they are solely raging against the machine as it were but the anger is most certainly palpable and … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Crystal Castles

III
Fiction (2012)

Vandalism. You know the feeling you get right before it happens? The moment you grip it in your hand; arm above your head and cocked back? Or the instant just after you shake the can and right before you press down on the tip? How about the feeling you get right after it happens? The moment the brick goes through … Read more

Locrian With Christoph Heemann

Self Titled
Handmade Birds (2012)

There is definitely an incredibly creeped out vibe coming out of my speakers right now, and I mean that in only the best possible way because the tension building dark ambience of this inspired collaboration is a work of what could be a singular artist as the music is so spot on in its execution and delivery that the idea … Read more

Audacity

Mellow Cruisers
Recess (2012)

It’s not very often I’ll say a song belongs on the radio and mean that in a good way. With the whispered beginnings to “Garza” on Audacity’s Mellow Cruisers, the song starts with a surf-whisper that builds into an uber-catchy song with rise and fall, singalong choruses and a rhythm section that pulls the listener in and pummels through 3:01 … Read more

Cheap Girls

Giant Orange
Rise (2012)

It takes approximately 30 seconds to decide whether or not Cheap Girls’ latest album, Giant Orange, is to your liking. The overall, upbeat feel of the album is firmly established within the first few lines of “Gone All Summer,” instantly pulling you into the downtrodden world of bassist/vocalist Ian Graham and co. and not letting up once throughout. Combined with … Read more

Ministry

Relapse
13th Planet (2012)

Al Jourgensen has managed to create a genre early on in his career and according to most has never quite surpassed the classics of the genre he helped to create. In a sense it would be a hard task for anyone to do such a thing. Imagine a 50 something year old man trying to recreate "Thieves" would that be … Read more

Germ

Loss
Eisenwald (2012)

The Germ project has been in some form or another for quite some time yet the first record (Wish) from this Tim Yatras production only saw the light of day this year. It’s surprising then, that an EP should follow Wish quite so quickly, yet here we are with the melancholic yet strangely uplifting sounds of Loss on our hands. … Read more

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Constellation (2012)

Sneaking an album out to the public regardless of the mass of information that seems to leak (including albums and other music related info) in this day and age seems completely fitting with regards to the first album in over ten years from Godspeed You! Black Emperor and their well communicated anti-corporatist and sometimes luddite-esque demeanor; but instead of such … Read more

Anaal Nathrakh

Vanitas
Candlelight (2012)

Anaal Nathrakh have always been on the very edge of extremity, teetering on the brink of absolute annihilation and destruction. Their sound is imbued with total hatred for mankind, the world and all life and the two-piece push themselves ever further towards the threshold of utter desolation with Vanitas. How two people can make such harsh and deadly sounds between … Read more

Vinnie Paz

God of the Serengeti
Enemy Soil (2012)

Over a decade in the rap game, Vinnie Paz has been a pillar of the independent scene as the front man of Jedi Mind Tricks and Army of the Pharaohs, as well as one half of the duo, along with Ill Bill, known as Heavy Metal Kings. God of the Serengeti is his second solo outing and the highly anticipated … Read more

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