Recent reviews

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

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

Beach Rats

Rat Beat
Epitaph (2022)

Should I review Beach Rats on its own merit, or should I pause to describe the concept? That’s always the question with these, but in this case a little background may go a long way. The band features several older punks, seeking to rekindle the old spark and play fast, loud ‘n’ snotty music like the days of yore. They lived it the first time and youth is a state of mind, as they say. Which brought Ari Katz (Lifetime), Pete (Bouncing Souls), Bryan Keinlen (Bouncing Souls), Brian Baker (Bad Religion, Minor Threat), and Danny Windas together. Well, sort of. I also turns out they all reside in the beach town of Asbury Park, NJ -- meaning they connected based on simple geography before the concept took shape. Beach Rats released an EP back in 2018 and, with pandemic shutdowns keeping them all at home, it inspired a full record, which was essentially put together over just a couple of days. So what you get is a spur of the moment-type recording, which is also more in tune with how punk records were made in “the old days.” Rat Beat features 12 songs, none of which run more than a … Read more

Anchoress

Stay Positive
Early Onset Records (2022)

With Anchoress the chaos has found somewhere to catch. Originally formed in 2010 their newest album sees the band reaching … Read more

The Sons of Adam

Saturday’s Sons-The Complete Recordings 1964-1966
High Moon Records (2022)

If ever a band from the mid-’60s was underappreciated I would have to surmise that The Sons of Adam might … Read more

Swarm

Menyerbak Asap
Husted Youth (2022)

It is nice to see some friends actually being productive on the pandemic age and finally come up with something … Read more

Celebration Summer

Patience In Presence
A-F (2022)

As the album begins, following a Twin Peaks sample, the guitars build in a familiar punk chord progression with some … Read more

Siblings Of Samhain

Tales of Love, Death and the Macabre
Independent (2022)

UK horrorpunks Siblings Of Samhain offer us up album number three just in time for the spooky season! Tales of … Read more

Browse our review archives

Review categories

200 Words Or Less

752 reviews

Book Review

42 reviews

Classic Album

25 reviews

Multiple Authors

300 reviews

Review

4964 reviews

Video/DVD Review

19 reviews

One from the archives

Playing Enemy

My Life as the Villain
Hex (2008)

When Playing Enemy announced their recent demise not long after James Brown shuffled forth this mortal coil, the announcement fell on mostly deaf ears to the majority of underground/ independent music, which is almost as unfortunate (maybe more so) than the band actually calling it a day. Besides the continuation of an impressive lineage of like minded, noise mongering bands from which Playing Enemy derives (members did time in Rorschach and Kiss It Goodbye), the group leaves a legacy of nothing short of consistently slapping listeners around with their discordant concoctions of sound that sometimes hint at subtle melodic tendencies. Another aspect of Playing Enemy's oeuvre is that at times the songs feel as though they could collapse under the density of the discordance, music, and harsh sounding vocals which … Read more

More album reviews

An Abstract Illusion

Woe
Willowtip (2022)

At a chance recommendation of one of my best friends, I was introduced to An Abstract Illusion some three years or so ago. I was immediately hooked, as it would be obvious for someone with such an inclination for death metal. More particularly though, the melodic and progressive edge of their music was the actual selling point for me. Illuminate … Read more

DFMK

Dame Peligro EP
Alternative Tentacles (2022)

This is how a 7” is supposed to work. Three quick songs and it leaves you wanting more. DFMK play punked up rock ‘n’ roll. Maybe think of Rocket From The Crypt but with denser, but somehow dancier, songs with a little more force behind them. It’s meant to be played loud as you thrash about and (if it’s your … Read more

Calabrese

Death Cult EP
Spookshow Records (2022)

In my review of the last Calabrese record, Flee The Light, I said I hoped it would not take them too long to release a new record. I asked them to not make me wait four years to be precise. It has been two and half years roughly and here they are again, with an EP this time. Thank you … Read more

RASHŌMON

Nin-Gen EP
Iron Lung (2022)

Laypeople who don’t listen to heavy music often lump it all together, even while those of us who dedicate our time to the cause can pick up the difference between death metal, thrash and hardcore in seconds. RASHŌMON are one of those bands that would have people in fits right away, likely calling it metal even though there are few … Read more

Lex Lüger

Rey Del Terror
Independent (2022)

I swear that the artists and albums I choose to review are getting harder and harder to research... I like to base my reviews on the facts I can find about out the artist but with this one I'm going in kind of blind. What I do know is that Lex Lüger is a musician from Spain, I'm not sure … Read more

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers

Pretty Good For A Girl Band
Domestic La La (2022)

There is a tendency, I think, to label any loud band, any loud female band, as Riot Grrrl. Reducing a band to a genre they’re not and plugging your ears while they show you why they’re not that genre is damaging- both to the band in question and to the Riot Grrrl genre. That’s how you get New York Post … Read more

Joyce Manor

40 oz. to Fresno
Epitaph (2022)

Joyce Manor is one of those bands that I always follow, a band that shaped my tastes in my earlier years of digging into pop punk/emo subculture. Let’s say I would like to thankgod, ‘cause 2022 is a year where a lot of good stuff is coming out and unfortunately 40 oz. to Fresno is not so good for me. … Read more

Chained Bliss

Chained Bliss
Drunken Sailor (2022)

There are certain guitar tones that recall another era, and Chained Bliss are rooted in one of them. When I hear the angular riffs and repetitive structures on the band’s self-titled debut full-length, I’m immediately taken back in time to the glory days of Wire or Gang Of Four. But while Chained Bliss shares some similarities with the British post-punk … Read more

Xingfoo&Roy

Green Around The Gills
Independent (2022)

It's always nice to know one of your friends and favorite bands is doing good stuff and this example goes to a Singaporean band called Xingfoo&Roy. I met them initially 6 years ago. Me and some friends in our tiny town arranged a gig for the band. They're super nice and I think I've been in love since they put … Read more

The Chats

Get Fucked
Bargain Bin (2022)

So, then, is it sabotage? Or is it just punk? After 2017’s knockout hit single, “Smoko,” and a solid sophomore album, The Chats have been brushing up awfully close with mainstream success. The Australian trio is one more Wet Leg cover away from rising above the underground. Poised for evening talk show circuits and stadium tours they do what any … Read more

10.000 Years

III (2022)
Interstellar Smoke Records (2022)

It ends here. Well, the trilogy telling the tale of spaceship “Albatross” ends here. Albatross is a spaceship that went on a mission: they were to look for other inhabitable planets in our milky way. In the first part of the trilogy the ship travels through a wormhole into another dimension and ends up on a planet inhabited by ancient … Read more

Strategies

Strategies EP
Independent (2022)

At only four songs, Strategies’ debut EP is a quick play. The project is led by Paul Lask (The Ghost, Tight Phantomz), who created and sent demos to his longtime contemporaries, Brian Moss (The Ghost, Hanalei, Great Apes), and Neil Hennessy (The Lawrence Arms). The EP is wandering and explorative, building off the thoughtful post-hardcore influenced emo of the aforementioned … Read more

The Clever References

Hamish's House
Independent (2022)

Some say Australia is a very nice place to spend your life, saying it's the safest place on earth with its protective system for its citizens. I know it's kind of dumb for thinking that any band that is from a more "wealthy place", like Australia, will always have its own privilege to get known wider around the globe though … Read more

The Mountain Goats

Bleed Out
Merge (2022)

The Mountain Goats have made an action movie. Bleed Out is a concept album of sorts, made in a distinctly Mountain Goats way. Basically, ringleader John Darnielle wrote the record while watching movies: pausing and taking notes, so the lyrics aren’t just about familiar plotlines, but the full scope of cinematic storytelling. That info all comes in the press release, … Read more

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