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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)

Offsides

It's a Struggle to Communicate
Get Outta Town (2008)

Here's something new for you. Well maybe not new, but something we don't get much of these days. Offsides is a fast-paced melodic hardcore group from Connecticut with a female front-person. It's a Struggle to Communicate is the band's latest offering, a six-song EP. Musically the group draws influence from legendary groups like 7 Seconds and Gorilla Biscuits. The music is charged with energetic drumming and some sweet riffing. You get some nice scorching riffs, but you also get bouncing melodies as well. It's a nice mix and contrast, which gives the EP a lot of personality. Where the band will obviously distinguish themselves is with Danielle Allen's vocals. A female-fronted hardcore band isn't exactly an everyday thing in the macho world that is hardcore (don't act like it is). But regardless of her sex, Allen's deliver works extremely well with the sound quickly fired slightly higher-pitched shouts. Lyrically things cover social issues, another thing she has up on a lot of her peers. If fast hardcore is your deal, check this out. Offsides write some slick tunes, and they have something worth listening to lyrically as well. Read more

200 Words Or Less

The Wonder Years

Won't Be Pathetic Forever
No Sleep (2008)

The Wonder Years return with a brand new 7", their follow-up to last year's Get Stoked on it!. The record … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Pegasuses-XL

The Antiphon
Ernest Jenning (2008)

It's almost a little sad when drugs influence a lot of what musicians do (The Mars Volta?). It is equally … Read more

The Breeders

Mountain Battles
4AD (2008)

I have a huge crush on Kim Deal. There, I said it. Fuck you, don't judge me. You probably rubbed … Read more

Verdunkeln

Einblick in dem Qualenfall
Ván (2007)

Black metal is one of the last bastions of progression and experimentation in the metal community. Fifteen years ago that … Read more

Girl Talk

Feed the Animals
Illegal Art (2008)

Girl Talk is Gregg Gillis, a DJ from Pittsburgh that has been praised up to the leader of the mash-up … Read more

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One from the archives

Motörhead

Bad Magic
UDR (2015)

It's been 40 years since the world was first introduced to the name of Motörhead. In that 40 years, they have become seemingly invincible. Impervious to the likes of addiction, lineup changes, musical trends and anything else that would have decimated a lesser band. But it would seem that the Motörhead juggernaut may finally be showing signs of slowing. Frontman Lemmy Kilminster's health in the last couple of years has led to shows cut short and numerous gig cancellations - something the band and the man took great pride in rarely ever doing in their long and storied career. With these concerns, Lemmy has adhered to the doctors strict order of the three R's of recovery. Rest, Relaxation and apparently, Recording.Bad Magic is the band's 22nd album and while most … Read more

More album reviews

The National Rifle

Wage Life
Independent (2008)

What if Elvis Costello was still churning out upbeat, poppy numbers like his early work? What if you took away some of the crackle and rough edges, and replaced them with pristine production and a lot of "whoa-oh-oh's"? What if, to spice things up, you threw in a dash of socialist rhetoric, a pinch of hand-held percussion, and a sprinkle … Read more

Until the End

From the Beginning...Until the End
Eulogy (2008)

Whenever I think of Until the End, I think of the time I crammed five finals into a twenty-four-hour period so I could take a road trip down to Gainesville Fest. The kids there went absolutely bat shit for them - head walking and jumping off each other, huge pile-ons, and, of course, devastating mosh. Sure, it sounds like a … Read more

Boxcar Satan & Ghostwriter

Hobo Nouveau
East of the West/Dogfingers (2008)

I'll admit - I have a bit of a problem with modern blues. For me, blues, real blues ended in the 1940's with the likes of Robert Johnson and Hudie William "Leadbelly" Ledbetter. When you're a black man in the deep south, you best believe you're gonna have the blues. Nowadays, what the fuck are you bitching for? Boxcar Satan … Read more

The Offspring

Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace
Columbia (2008)

With an album title that sounds like the most recent Foo Fighters record, a song called "Fix You" (I thought Coldplay had already professed that particular desire), and a collection of tracks that sound like they want to be Green Day, My Chemical Romance or The Offspring circa 1994, The Offspring have become imitators and glory-day seekers, shapeshifting and morphing … Read more

Amebix

No Sanctuary: The Spiderleg Recordings
Alternative Tentacles (2008)

So the early Amebix releases are finally becoming more widely available (even though they have been on the bootleg circuit for quite a long while) which is excellent because some of the bootlegs of them are pretty nigh unlistenable, and considering that these releases are some of the best material that Amebix offers, finally seeing the light of day can … Read more

The Hold Steady

Stay Positive
Vagrant (2008)

Stay Positive, the fourth album finds the Brooklyn by way of Minneapolis The Hold Steady trying to further their scope as musicians and lyricists while also tackling a greater challenge: aging gracefully. While there are stumbling points to the album, the band holds steady. It's these falters though that may cause a rift in the unified scene that vocalist Craig … Read more

Secret Chiefs 3

Xaphan: Book of Angels Vol. 9
Tzadik (2008)

John Zorn is well on the way to becoming the most prolific artist in music history. Through recordings from Painkiller, Naked City, Masada, and untold other projects, the man is associated either through composing music for or performing on an average of over ten albums per year. For those unfamiliar, his Masada project was arguably his most well known and … Read more

Fuck Buttons

Street Horrrsing
ATP (2008)

When I was eleven my mother asked me if the family should remodel our basement, converting it into a living room and bedrooms for both my sister and me. Heading into middle school, a time when children begin to blossom socially, I thought this was a great idea. The freedoms were readily apparent. I began taking interest in the local … Read more

Atavist

II: Ruined
Profound Lore (2008)

Minimalistic drone/doom is a hit-or-miss kind of genre. When you are relying on only one or two riffs to carry an entire song, the results can be either bone-chilling or yawn-inducing. With their second full-length, Atavist, hailing from Manchester, England, has once again proven it can achieve the former. Atavist's brand of tortured, bowel-loosening doom is not for the faint … Read more

Coalesce

0:12.2 Revolution in Just Listening (Reissue)
Relapse (2008)

So the inevitable is occurring as Relapse is reissuing this behemoth of an album (although at right around thirty minutes that is a stretch to call it such by today's standards). Recently awarded a spot in the Decibel album hall of fame, 0:12.2: Revolution in Just Listening is a supremely curious album as it is a document of a band … Read more

Tokyo Police Club

Elephant Shell
Saddle Creek (2008)

Tokyo Police Club's A Lesson In Crime put the band in an awkward position. The seven-song EP gained a substantial amount of praise/coverage for it's less than twenty-minute run time, showing a glimpse of energetic indie pop somewhere between a dance party and a rock out that, despite it's length, made it one of the best releases of 2006. In … Read more

Weezer

Weezer (The Red Album)
Geffen (2008)

Oh, Weezer. Here we are, album six for the band who've spent an entire career trying to figure out who they are. Are they The Pixies-aping geek rockers with a penchant for nerdery and romance? Are they riff-wielding guitar heroes rocking ironic stadiums? Are they misunderstood indie icons? Are they, um, white-boy rap? The band's third self-titled album - referred … Read more

El Chupa Cobras

El Chupa Cobras
Acerbic Noise (2008)

El Chupa Cobras belong to the breed of bands that, aside from having amusing names also have extremely short attention spans and exponentially spastic approach to creating music. This kind of music is never easy to pull of on record. Live, the sheer energy of each member immersing him/herself in the music on stage could be enough to provide for … Read more

Verse

Aggression
Bridge Nine (2008)

I think I've read more hyped up reviews of Verse's third album Aggression than I've actually listened to it. I keep seeing a reoccurring trend in these reviews on how Verse is a breath of fresh air in a rather stagnant scene when it comes to popular hardcore bands. There seems to be an influx of hardcore that would rather … 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)