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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)

The Mock Heroic

Dignified Exits
SuperFi (2007)

Contrary to popular belief, screamo isn't dead. Granted, it could very well be crippled and unable to be even a shadow of it's former self, but it isn't dead and will probably never die. Aside from a handful of bands in the States playing the genre well, including Cease Upon the Capitol, Kid Crash, Loma Prieta, and to some extent Comadre, the genre has more or less taken the back seat in the country. The same can be said in Europe, as after the breakup of Raein and the low level of production from La Quiete, things are not what they used to be. Unfortunately, the new crop of screamo bands, regardless of what part of the globe they reside in, are not progressing the genre at all, and this is one of the main reasons screamo is a dying horse that bands are continually beating. The Mock Heroic calls the U.K. home and has their hearts and heads in the right places. Singing songs about animal cruelty, individualism, and social expectations, regardless of how many times other bands have touched on the subjects, is still admirable. The lyrics are straightforward for the most part, and explanations are provided if … Read more

Manes

How the World Came to an End
Candlelight (2007)

Linkin Park, by and large, are looked upon as a joke. With few exceptions, they are loved solely by young … Read more

Jesu

Pale Sketches
Avalanche Inc. (2007)

Pale Sketches is the second full-length that Jesu has released this year, and it marks an important step for Justin … Read more

Jesu

Lifeline
Hydra Head/Daymare (2007)

As unbelievable as it may sound Lifeline is Jesu's fifth (and possibly the sixth if Robotic Empire gets the split … Read more

Bark Bark Bark

Haunts
Retard Disco (2007)

Jacob Cooper, the solo man of Bark Bark Bark, is quite an ambitious fellow. Though, I regret to say that … Read more

Flotilla

Disaster Poetry
Independent (2006)

Taste is a strange thing. You start to form an opinion on something from the first contact with it. Take … Read more

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One from the archives

Sunn 0))) & Boris

Altar
Southern Lord (2006)

Have you ever wondered what happens when two heavenly bodies get too close to each other? Usually in the scientific world, if the bodies are of equal size, density, mass, etc, they tear each other apart. If one body is larger than the other, the smaller can be devastated. In lucky situations, the two bodies will (sort of) equalize and become a binary system. Boris is a band that enjoys collaborating. Their pairings with Japanese noise god Merzbow are great examples of how well they work with others. Sunn 0))) also has collaborated, but their situations have been in the form of guest spots or single song collaborations. So, how do these two increasingly monolithic groups fare in their collaboration, Altar? Altar opens with what seems to be typical Sunn … Read more

More album reviews

Pinback

Autumn of the Seraphs
Touch & Go (2007)

After three years of Rob Crow sowing his wild musical oats with namely Goblin Cock and his solo album, he has joined back with Armistead Burwell Smith IV to put out another album under the name Pinback. Autumn of the Seraphs is Pinback's second album for Touch & Go and you can tell right from the first note that the … Read more

Om

Pilgrimage
Southern Lord (2007)

Sleep was great. High on Fire is pretty good. But Om consistently impresses me, and seems to gain momentum with every album. Om seems to be getting closer than ever to carving out its own unique corner in the psychedelic genre that I could simply call "zen doom." These days "hypnotic" is a much-overused word in review writing, especially since … Read more

Alcest

Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde
Profound Lore (2007)

To listen to "Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde" (which translates into Memories Of Another World) is to experience a world free of pain, darkness, and despair, and to enter a world of beauty and harmony. The scenario that such an album paints is one where pure joy and happiness triumph through the overbearing cascading light, where innocence prevails, and where the … Read more

Just Surrender

We're in Like Sin
Broken English (2007)

Rob Gordon once said "The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off … Read more

Okkervil River

The Stage Names
Jagjaguwar (2007)

It's a rare commodity to find a record that just seems to get it right. I mean really get it. The kind of disc that echoes your little world, your thoughts and your feelings, back to you in lines that you just wish you had the talent to write yourself. The kind of album that has you walking the long … Read more

Sons of Azrael

The Conjuration of Vengeance
Metal Blade (2007)

"Trail of Flesh," "Sweet Blasphemy," and "Scent of a Dead Whore". Sure, we all know these titles as classic children's books, but did you know that they've been adapted into songs by a group called Sons of Azrael? Yes, that's right - all your favorite bedtime stories set to music on one convenient disc as sung by the cookie monster. … Read more

Cloak/Dagger

We Are
Jade Tree (2007)

Last year a band by the name of Cloak/Dagger released a 7" record. That record, Piñata, was easily one of the best slabs of wax I had heard in a long long time. The record was eventually re-released with their original demo following the band's singing to Jade Tree Records. As time elapsed my anticipation for new songs from the … Read more

Make the Difference

I Still Believe
Our Pride (2007)

Cincinnati, Ohio's Make the Difference is two guys, named Justin and Josh, and a rotating cast of friends according to the liner notes. It doesn't tell me what Justin or Josh happen to do in Make the Difference. The liner notes don't even bother to tell me which two of the four gentlemen in the band photo are Justin and … Read more

Albert Hammond Jr.

Yours to Keep
New Line (2007)

Okay, let's get this out of the way here and now - The Strokes. I really do not care for them one bit, I find their music to be contrived, the image a little forced, and I just find them really rather boring and uninspired. So you can only imagine what my feelings on Albert Hammond Jr.'s debut solo album … Read more

The Fucking Wrath

Season of Evil
Goodfellow (2007)

I would not know the guys from The Fucking Wrath from Adam if they were walking down the street. Maybe that's the point, three working Joes that crank up the volume when not doing their day jobs. The first time I heard of this band was not long before I heard their debut Season of Evil, which is this loud … Read more

Kanye West

Graduation
Roc-A-Fella (2007)

Kanye has lost it. Well, sort of. I don't know. Shit, I'm sorry. Believe me, I am. I didn't want this to happen. Unlike most of the intelligent people in the world, I had convinced myself that his absurd behavior was justified, that he really was as good as all that. Apparently, I was wrong - Graduation doesn't hold a … Read more

Newspapers

Lakeview EP
Montgomery (2007)

Before even listening to Newpapers' Lakeview EP, everything about them screams, "Hate me." It could be the fact that their album cover seems to be like a bad Simpsons rip-off, featuring a lake spewing out things like an old love bus, a factory, and what one can only assume are cheap beer cans with angel wings. It could also be … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Parhelia

First Light
Independent (2006)

The number of atmospheric rock bands has skyrocketed recently. Dublin, Ireland's Parhelia, a group of "post-rockers," play very welcoming and groove-oriented songs. This instrumental four-piece doesn't sound "groovy," but the rhythm section is extremely tight. Guitarists Greg Clarke and Diarmuid Shore create pleasant, melodic parts that keep me interested (even without crescendos!). "Ebb/Flow" contains cool delay effects combined with sudden … Read more

Silverchair

Young Modern
East West/Eleven (2007)

The Beatles and Silverchair have a lot more in common than one might initially think. But before any of you go and get your panties in a bunch, by no means am I saying that Silverchair and The Beatles are equals in influence or of the same league when it comes to songwriting. What I am saying is that their … 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)