I’ll be honest. I was kind of hoping somebody else would review this record. I like Banner Pilot. A lot. The reason I didn’t want to do this myself has more to do with the fact that I’ve reviewed their past couple releases and I’m not sure I can bring much new insight to the table. Nate Gangelhoff and Nick Johnson write personal songs with a universal appeal. This is accomplished through a focus on setting and detail that uses a literary convention of inserting the listener into their point-of-view. Of course, the lyrics are only a small piece of the whole. It’s their driving pop punk that sets them apart. Taking cue from bands like Screeching Weasel and Jawbreaker (yeah, you’ve seen those names before), they structure songs with a driving beat and chord progression throughout the verses, while Johnson’s delivery conveys an emotional investment that builds into a release at the chorus, singing out a lesson and getting it off his chest. It’s singalong without being fist-in-the-air punx; it’s pop without being insultingly repetitive. The balance they strike defines them, setting them apart from most peers, and making it a hard sound to pigeonhole with a specific genre.Songs … Read more
Philadelphia based one man band Lonesummer deal in black metal. Sorta. It's an interesting take on a genre which in … Read more
It takes a lot of chutzpah to have a double-disc debut. That doesn't seem to faze French/Swedish band Uneven Structure, … Read more
After a number of demos and EPs the members of Sutekh Hexen have unleashed their debut LP upon the world. … Read more
Dear lord is this ever one of the heaviest split records in quite a while, and I am sure that … Read more
Choose a year to view reviews of albums released in that year.
750 reviews
42 reviews
25 reviews
300 reviews
4920 reviews
19 reviews
I incorrectly said this band was from North Carolina when I talked about their last record, when in fact they’re from Chicago. So I’d like to take a moment to say I’m sorry to Broken Prayer. (Up until recently I had a tendency to assume that every band on Sorry State was from North Carolina.) Another thing I said about Broken Prayer was that they sounded like some crusty D-beat guys that let one their younger brother’s play his synths with them but only if he got fucked-up on cold medicine and cocaine first. That statement is also false. They are not D-beat. At least not glaringly obvious D-beat. And secondly, the synths (if that’s even the correct terminology) are actually played by Liz Panella of Earth Girls, and Libyans. … Read more
Don’t you just absolutely love when split releases reveal some new band or musician that completely changes how you listen to certain types of music or even just end up being what you need to listen to at the moment that you sit down and listen to it? Luckily for me (and you if you have already heard this split), … Read more
Let's face it: djent is beginning to sound really, really homogeneous. Though we've known for a while that every single band in the genre is cutting their music the same mould as Meshuggah, I'm beginning to suspect they're using the same knife and cutting board, too. A lot of the bands in this genre just don't do much to distance … Read more
The newest John Cate & The Van Gogh Brothers album X has been released and I am happy to say it does not disappoint. The album has twelve tunes on it that fit well with what you have come to expect from John and the band, great melodies, three part harmonies, and lyrics that make you think. I have been … Read more
The guys of Sabertooth Zombie have been doing their own thing for awhile now. That "thing" as it were is a mash up of hardcore, stoner metal, and outright rock n roll with not a fuck to be given. While they don't really tend to add onto what they already do they over the course of their last couple 7 … Read more
Frankly, I'm just as surprised as you are. Ben Sharp, known to many only as Cloudkicker, had warned earlier this year that he was not going to be releasing new material for a while. I guess Sharp's conception of a long time is drastically different from the norm, because the year hasn't even ended yet and he's already let loose … Read more
There’s a level of familiarity in Street Eaters that I can’t put my finger on. That said, I’ll do my best to in reviewing their debut release, Rusty Eyes and Hydrocarbons. I discovered the band at Fest 10, and it didn’t take long for the two-piece bass-drum combo to pull me in. Devoid of guitar, they build melodies around John … Read more
It's been 8 years since Small Brown Bike released their last full length, The River Bed, but they haven't lost their touch in the slightest. The band's back, and it's almost as if they never stopped writing together. Fell & Found follows the thread left dangling from The River Bed and even expands upon it. They open the record with … Read more
What do you get when you throw Mastodon and Neurosis into a blender? If you answered 'Scott Kelly's over-stroked ego,' then, yes, you're technically correct. But if you're not being a smart-ass, you would have a band with a sound akin to that of Brooklyn-based post-/doom metal band, A Storm of Light.Their debut album, And We Wept the Black Ocean … Read more
I’ll be honest, I missed Roads Bridges & Ruins, even after guitarist Chris Matulich said it would be quite a transition from All In. While I liked All In, for whatever reason I never got to its follow-up. 2011’s Borrowed Time is surely a reflection of the evolution in between. The Social Distortion influence is more tempered (though it’s still … Read more
Negative Plane are certainly not a new band. Having released their prior full length 5 years ago the band seemed to have disappeared for quite some time. Many times when this happens bands tend to forget their original purpose or just forget music altogether. Thankfully for us, the music consuming public, the band have returned to become something stronger. The … Read more
I really wish I could describe Argentinian three-piece Random's sound to you. Their Facebook page lists their genre as 'extreme prog metal,' but that label could cover any band from Meshuggah to early Anacrusis. I could describe them as 'avant-garde' metal, but that label gets used to describe every band from Ved Buens Ende to maudlin of the Well to … Read more
“Psychic Teens Are Regular Adults”Let that sink in to your thick skull bit (I know it took me a bit to wrap my head around) because it is one of the singular strangest statements to be made by a “rock” oriented band in many a year; think about it, and I mean really think about that as a statement and … Read more
Bear with me here as I am in the middle of sonically orgasming while listening to this tape from Cremation Lily (the aptly titled 2 as this is the second tape from this project); no seriously, I am not overly hyperbolizing right now because these sounds literally elicit this kind of intense and powerful emotional response while the tape plays … Read more
Andrew Jackson Jihad runs the folk-punk gamut—they’ve put out a split with Ghost Mice, play The Fest more or less annually, and they’re a two-piece mostly acoustic band comprised of Sean Bonnette (guitar) and Ben Gallaty (bass). Now that I’ve lumped them in with a number of other acts, it’s time for the separation.The Phoenix band is distinct in their … Read more
Looking for the SPB logo? You can download it in a range of styles and colours here:
Click anywhere outside this dialog to close it, or press escape.