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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)

Basalt Fingers

Basalt Fingers
Three Lobed (2007)

This album definitely puts the "post" back in post-rock. The album consists of only two tracks, each clocking in over twenty minutes. The result is a pretty minimal endeavor, with lots of feedback and ominous sound effects. Obviously, bands like Godspeed! You Black Emperor immediately come to mind, but even that band has more structure than Basalt Fingers. Throughout the album, I found myself asking, "Am I still listening to this?" The entirety of the album is almost nothing more than a low drone with slightly varying pitches. This may cross the point of not being music after a while, just disconnected noises that you don't ordinarily hear. The second track seems to have a little more going on at any given point, but still rarely resembles a recognizable musical progression. I'm cautious to say I hate this album, because conceptually it may have some validity. But I'm so used to song structure of any kind, no matter how disjointed it might be, that I can't see myself wanting to ever put this on again. Even in a drugged-out stupor I still don't think you would be able to grasp this one. Read more

The Carrier

One Year Later
Rock Vegas (2007)

Sometimes I wonder if there is any passion left in hardcore - and not passion to be popular, but a … Read more

Demiricous

Two (Poverty)
Metal Blade (2007)

These four hellraisers are, if not his new favorite band than, at least highly revered and recommended by Slayer's Kerry … Read more

Skullflower

IIIrd Gatekeeper (Reissue)
Crucial Blast (2008)

Skullflower is the long running project of Matthew Bower, but in its initial incarnation the band did have other members … Read more

Lymbyc Systym

Love Your Abuser Remixed
Mush (2008)

Love Your Abuser was released in January 2007, just over a year ago. As an intermediary release (before their next … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Restrained

Restrained
Glory Kid (2008)

Last year this California five-piece released a heck of a demo tape; one that had me quite excited to hear … Read more

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One from the archives

Swamp Thing

In Shame
6131 (2009)

Rob Gordon's first lines uttered in High Fidelity are What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music? Aw poor Rob thinking his life is a mess because he runs a cool record store and got to bang Catherine Zeta Jones and Lisa Bonet while being sappy over top five lists of Marvin Gaye songs. Imagine if our lovelorn anti-hero listened to hardcore/punk instead of radio pop songs. Rob wouldn't be … Read more

More album reviews

200 Words Or Less

Defiant Hearts

Arlington
6131 (2007)

Massachusetts has pretty much been a breeding ground for hardcore bands since well hardcore started. Defiant Hearts is yet another in the long line of bands to come from the state, and they're armed with a new record. From the get-go of Arlington with "Ghost" it is quite evident what kind of a record you are in for. "Ghost" is … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Where it Ends

Resonate
Surprise Attack (2007)

When I listen to Resonate from South Carolina's Where it Ends I immediately think of individuals my own age that were spinning Strife and Trial records in their bedrooms ten years ago. It's obvious from these seven songs that the members of Where it Ends grew up on the metallic hardcore of the 1990's. "Timeline" kicks things off and definitely … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Brothers

Black Friday
Assault (2007)

It is a shame when a band like Brothers goes unnoticed. This five-piece outfit hails from Michigan and Black Friday is their debut offering. The album is filled with eleven hardcore songs just begging for you to sing-along to. The opening combo of "Beginnings" and "The War at Home" kick things off with fast-paced hardcore akin to Comeback Kid and … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Just Went Black

Embracing Emptiness
Assault (2007)

Hamburg, Germany is a city that is known more for its architecture than it is for its musical output. In fact, if you were to ask anyone about the music of Hamburg, they'd probably start talking about some classical composer from the 1800's and not a hardcore band of today. And while I'm sure they are popular in their native … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Short Fuse

Blight
Assault (2007)

Short Fuse is a hardcore punk outfit from Münster, Germany. The four-piece outfit delivers six tracks of fast and raw hardcore punk. "Blight" packs a mean punch with its gritty guitars and Seb's yelled vocals, which reminded me a little bit of Fucked Up's Pink Eyes. The majority of the songs on this 7" occupy the territory of mid-tempo hardcore, … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Anti-Flag

A Benefit for Victims of Violent Crime
A-F (2007)

Anti-Flag has always been a band about raising awareness, but usually the subject is tied to our country's government in some manner. The band continues on with this EP, but instead of enlightening Americans about the evils of the U.S. government the band is raising awareness and monetary funds to help victims of violent crimes, something that hits close to … Read more

The Mountain Goats

Heretic Pride
4AD (2008)

After hearing The Sunset Tree, I was certain that John Darnielle was incapable of writing songs that even hint at happiness. Hope is abundant, but joy is absent. His songs are stories of lives endured. Each album is an anthology of damaged characters trying to survive unfortunate circumstances. Heretic Pride makes that leap from hope to joy, the overall mood … Read more

Asbestoscape

Asbestoscape
Independent (2007)

Now here is an album that deserves some attention. This review was actually a long time in coming because I originally discovered it via a blog as early as last October. It quickly became a staple soundtrack for long, mind-numbing walks I would have to make on chilly autumn nights. It has a somewhat gloomy atmosphere, but it is by … Read more

The Steal

The Steal
Get Outta Town (2007)

Fast, melodic, hardcore punk infused with melody. That is the short and sweet description of what you can expect from The Steal's debut full-length, The Steal, which is a fourteen-track effort that clocks in at just over twenty minutes. The Steal begins with "Breakout," a near two-minute slab of melodic hardcore that draws equally from the likes of Kid Dynamite … Read more

Desoto Jones

Aurora
Deep Elm (2007)

Before I even really get into this review, I just need to let everyone out there in Scene Point Blank-land know that this album actually contains the lyric "You are speed bump in everyone's life." Not only is this line in the chorus which makes it repeated a few times, it's also the opening track under the same name. Speed … Read more

Collapsar

Integers
Escape Artist (2007)

Let's be honest here, if a band is going to be an instrumental group that is completely devoid of vocals than they need to be pretty damn impressive to make up for that obviously lacking human element from the group's oeuvre. Collapsar are an entirely instrumental group that I have been drawn to checking out because of their usually eye … Read more

Pyongyang Metro

Tower of White Tigers
Arsenic (2007)

Pyongyang Metro is a tough band to separate from their other projects. The band shares members with Off With Their Heads, Rivethead, and Banner Pilot - bands with a unifying sound that's hard to dismiss. Tower of White Tigers, their debut release, is a different beast. It is the second release from Arsenic Records who, per their outdated Myspace page, … Read more

Trial

Reunion / Retrospective
Panic (2008)

If there were one band that I felt characterized both the sound and ideals of hardcore in the 1990's, it would be Trial. The Northwest hardcore outfit delivered a focused and aggressive mixture of hardcore, punk, and metal influences to crowds of all sizes during their original tenure. They partnered this brute, metallic music written by co-founder and guitarist Timm … Read more

Mother Night

Lifestyle / Deathstyle
Off the Books (2007)

Hailing from New Jersey (which as The Nerve Agents put it is the "Heart of Hardcore"), Mother Night drops a wicked set of jams on Lifestyle / Deathstyle for us to listen to their abundance of energy and enthusiasm. An honest band that exudes New Jersey in all its harshness, these guys come from a very typical Jersey background of … Read more

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