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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)

Why?

Alopecia
Anticon (2008)

I'm still trying to fully wrap my head around this album. Why? hails from Oakland, California and puts an interesting hip-hop touch to their predominantly indie rock sound. Frontman Yoni Wolf is one of the founders of Anticon Records, and was also one-third of the late electronica/hip-hop group cLOUDDEAD, where he shared duties with rapper Doseone and DJ Odd Nosdam. The close-knit community of the Anticon collective helps bring a more collaborative effort to Alopecia than most are used to, considering the group was previously a solo project of Wolf's. With their third full-length, Why? seems to really come into their own. The album begins with "The Vowels Pt. 2," a slow, electronics-driven track with delaying effects constantly echoing. The melodies of the muted bass complement the calm vocals of Wolf. With this song, you only get a touch of the abstract aspects of Why?, but it helps to ease the listener into songs like the second track, "Good Friday." The folksy guitar track is overshadowed by the low-tone talking of Wolf, getting much closer to cLOUDDEAD than the previous track. The lyrics don't seem to rhyme very well, and the pacing of the vocals is very inconsistent, emanating a … Read more

Smartbomb

Chaos and Lawlessness
Think Fast! (2008)

Members of No Trigger and Shock Nagasaki playing melodic hardcore in the vein of Kid Dynamite, Descendents, and 7 Seconds? … Read more

Attention

Stand Strong
Independent (2007)

Pop-rock is a huge right now and Attention has a shot at being the next big thing. This four-piece group … Read more

Sakes Alive!!

Presents
Independent (2007)

Sakes Alive!! hails from Rochester, NY and this is the band's debut offering. Interesting enough, this recording actually started as … Read more

Empire! Empire! (I was a Lonely Estate)

Year of the Rabbit
Count Your Lucky Stars / Strictly No Capital Letters (2008)

Emo is a genre that often gets its name dragged through the mud. While there are artists now classified as … Read more

Salt the Wound

Carnal Repercussions
Rotten (2008)

Cleveland-based Salt the Wound has been festering in the depths of the metal world since their formation in 2001. With … Read more

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One from the archives

Ryan Mallot & Kelly Thomas

Self Titled
Deep Elm (2009)

Deep Elm has, over the past few years, been relying more on their internet presence rather than being a label that releases records in a physical manner. While this is not a bad thing it is kinda sad. This new dynamic means that less people will be hearing this EP. Ryan Mallot is best known as the frontman of alt country band 500 Miles To Memphis and Kelly Thomas is a singer in her own rights but much less known. What happens when these two come together is alt country magic. Sounding like a modern alternative version of Johnny and June they carry these 5 songs with a certain heft and emotional resonance while still managing to have a sense of humor from time to time. As stated earlier due … Read more

More album reviews

The Gutter Twins

Saturnalia
Sub Pop (2008)

So here we have the much-anticipated collaboration between Greg Dulli of Afghan Whigs/The Twilight Singers fame and Mark Lanegan of Queens of the Stone Age/Screaming Trees fame (as well as an excellent solo career along with collaborations with Isobel Campbell). The Gutter Twins, as this duo refer to themselves, have been a rumored project for several years now that finally … Read more

The Gutter Twins

Saturnalia
Sub Pop (2008)

There's cool and then there's cool. Mark Lanegan is cool. He was cool fronting the Screaming Trees back in the day. He was cool on each one of his six-or-so solo albums. He was cool as a member of Queens of the Stone Age. For those of you who had the pleasure of seeing QOTSA on the pre-tour for Songs … Read more

Pain Principle

Waiting for the Flies
Blind Prophecy (2007)

This Florida four-piece was an entirely unknown proposition to me until Waiting for the Flies was delivered to my house. They may hail from the state that brought us some classic old school death metal, but Pain Principle have plenty more in common with the modern melodic death of the recent times. In fact, I'd go so far as to … Read more

This is Hell

Misfortunes
Trustkill (2008)

Long Island's road warriors return with their second full-length, Misfortunes, laying waste to a host of notions about who they are and what they stand for. The ante has been upped, so bid in or bow out. Dogged by claims of being both a hype band, existing on word of mouth rather than talent, and a Trustkill marketing move, This … Read more

MGR

Wavering on the Cresting Heft
Conspiracy (2007)

Wavering on the Cresting Heft is the second solo recording from Isis guitarist Michael Gallagher under the moniker MGR. MGR is an acronym for Mustard Gas and Roses, which is taken from Vonnegut's classic novel Slaughterhouse-Five. This new full-length follows Gallagher's debut MGR offering, 2006's Nova Lux. If one were to loosely describe the music of MGR, an appropriate description … Read more

Cursed

III
Goodfellow (2008)

Finally, I seriously have been waiting for this album since Cursed released last year's furious EP, Blackout at Sunrise. No, scratch that because the wait has been going since I listened to II (their obviously titled second album), and while Blackout at Sunrise was a bit of a tease and served to get listeners through until III. Cursed lay down … Read more

One Win Choice

Never Suspend Belief
Jump Start (2007)

I've had a really shitty day today. I got into a useless argument with my boss. I feel like shit. I'm piss-broke until Wednesday and I'm living off popcorn and Pop-Tarts until then. The last thing I wanted to hear today was a bunch of twenty-something kids telling me how horrible the world is while rehashing every single 90's Fat … Read more

Ritual

Wolves
Still Life (2007)

I don't know what it is but Europeans love vegan and straightedge hardcore a lot more than us Americans do, or at least they come across as more passionate about them than the average hardcore fan here. I can't explain it nor will I attempt to do so. I just know there is a greater concentration of those types of … Read more

Jarboe & Justin K. Broadrick

J2
The End (2008)

After a year like 2007 that Justin Broadrick and his Jesu project had, one has to wonder what J2 (his collaboration with Jarboe who has previously been in Swans and collaborated with Neurosis among others) is all about in reference to his numerous other projects (Final, Grey Machine, and the aforementioned Jesu as well as remixing duties for other artists … Read more

Riddle of Steel

1985
Ascetic (2008)

Riddle of Steel's Myspace blog is an amusing read for a variety of reasons, most notably the October 12, 2007, entry. While he'll probably never come out and say it, lead singer/guitarist Andrew Elstner would love to kick Radiohead's asses. His frustration (or jealousy) is somewhat understandable and very human, as it's likely that pure egotism would allow the acclaimed … Read more

J. Bannon

The Blood of Thine Enemies
Deathwish Inc. (2008)

A few years back Jacob Bannon took some time from his busy schedule of providing vocals for Converge and design work for a whole lot of bands to create the as yet and more than likely only Supermachiner album (with Kurt Ballou also of Converge, Ryan Parker, and Seth Bannon of Daltonic). The effort was a foray into ambient music … Read more

Light Pupil Dilate

Snake Wine
Lifeforce (2007)

It's never easy to be a band today with many disparate influences. Today's groups are trying to become immortal or are at the very least play music that they want to hear. But the fact is that there have been so many classic bands so far that have provided us with awe-inspiring albums that it's so hard to top. So … Read more

Envy

Compiled Fragments 1997-2003
Temporary Residence (2008)

So here it is, Temporary Residence Limited finally is releasing this record stateside negating the need (if you happen to be a hopelessly addicted completist like I myself happen to be) to pay import or international shipping fees to acquire an elusive entry into the Envy oeuvre. Compiled Fragments 1997-2003 is a "singles collection" or more accurately a collection of … Read more

Envy

All the Footprints You've Ever Left and the Fear Expecting Ahead (Reissue)
Temporary Residence (2008)

Besides being a mouthful of a title, All the Footprints You've Ever Left and the Fear Expecting Ahead is one of my favorite Envy records with its capture of the band's raw emotion and the sound of a band becoming more comfortable with themselves. This is a reissue that is a part of Temporary Residence's recent big Envy offering the … Read more

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