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)

Andrew W.K.

Close Calls With Brick Walls
Universal/Dope Entertainment/Load (2006)

Andrew W.K. is the latest Renaissance man in the world of music. Like others before him, John Lennon and Henry Rollins among others, W.K.'s influence has flourished beyond the boundaries of his musical output. And while many may still see W.K. as "the party guy," his stature in the public eye is much more than that of a one-hit-wonder. He has hosted his own television show on MTV (and has plans for a new show to begin airing on public access television), given motivational speeches and hosted lectures at various locales across the U.S., organized a scavenger hunt at this past South by Southwest Music Festival, appeared on numerous TV shows as a guest, and was even cast in his first acting role in the horror-movie "Punk Rock Holocaust." I'm sure if you asked him, he'd be the wedding singer at your reception, which would be totally awesome. W.K. truly has immersed himself in the vast culture of our nation, and consumers like myself have been thankfully enjoying the fruit of his labors. Close Calls With Brick Walls is W.K.'s third major studio effort. Unfortunately, it is only available in Japan and Korea, save for paying import costs (though a … Read more

Earth

Hibernaculum
Southern Lord (2007)

It is not often that a band is willing to revisit prior recorded works in a new musical style. With … Read more

At All Costs

Direction
Anti-H (2006)

There's an awkward goofiness to the Start Today album, or any of the first fifteen Revelation releases, that will always … Read more

Broken Poets

Optimism in E Minor
Wordvendor (2006)

Broken Poets' lead singer/songwriter dynamo, Tim McDonald, is truly the voice of the average American male in that his songwriting, … Read more

The Death of a Party

The Rise and Fall of Scarlet City
Double Negative (2007)

Bands need to stop trying to sound like Gang of Four. It's a fact that they will never be Gang … Read more

The Sea and Cake

Everybody
Thrill Jockey (2007)

Imagine sitting out on your porch or patio on a warm summer evening. You feel like just kicking back and … Read more

Browse our review archives

Reviews by year

Choose a year to view reviews of albums released in that year.

Reviews by artist name

Choose a letter to view reviews ordered by that letter (band name first).

Review categories

200 Words Or Less

749 reviews

Book Review

42 reviews

Classic Album

25 reviews

Multiple Authors

300 reviews

Review

4903 reviews

Video/DVD Review

19 reviews

One from the archives

Biznaga

Gran Pantalla
Slovenly (2020)

Gran Pantalla is the third LP from Spain’s Biznaga. It’s predecessor, Sentido Del Espectáculo, was quite successful in Spain and numero tres comes with the lofty promise in the press material as “If Joe Strummer were actually from Granada, The Clash would have sounded something like this.” It’s also the band’s first record featuring collaborative songwriting, instead of each writer contributing their own material along the journey.Of course it doesn’t live up to The Clash, because that’s just silly. But for somebody with an elementary grasp of the Spanish language and an ear for The Clash, I do enjoy this.Gran Pantalla translates to “Big Screen.” This pulls from many, many sources. It’s almost always forward-moving and energetic. It’s not high strung or concise, necessarily, but with a clear trajectory. It’s … Read more

More album reviews

Symphorce

Become Death
Metal Blade (2007)

This record really surprised me. When I got it, I was excited about the fact that they are a power metal band. I can't get enough of the stuff, so naturally I was stoked. I started checking out the CD insert and saw that they are from Germany. Germany has given birth to some of my favorite power metal bands. … Read more

Feist

The Reminder
Arts & Crafts (2007)

Every now and then, there is a singer that catches your ear with a beautiful, unique voice. In 2004, Leslie Feist was that person when she released her solo album, Let it Die, to international acclaim. She has returned to form this year with her new album, The Reminder, a collection of songs that focuses more on the uniqueness of … Read more

The Academy Is...

Santi
Atlantic (2007)

Something I've always had trouble imagining is five grown men sitting in a room, writing music that directly appeals to fourteen-year-old girls, and being totally happy with themselves. Maybe it's my own musical snobbery, but I can't believe that these bands go to sleep at night, creatively satisfied, and legitimately thinking that the music they write is worth anything. They … Read more

The Hourly Radio

History Will Never Hold Me
Kirtland (2006)

I've noticed that pop music has gone through a lot of changes in the last few years. One thing I've noticed is the misconceptions of what people call "original" as something that sounds exactly like what's popular at the moment. The opening sentence in the press kit for this album is as follows "C'mon, admit it! It's been years since … Read more

Chuck Ragan

Los Feliz
Side One Dummy (2007)

Chuck Ragan used to play guitar in Hot Water Music, who happened to be one of my favorite bands of all time. He left Hot Water Music to lead his own life, which left us with The Draft in his place. Now we have a solo effort from Mr. Ragan and I can't help to wonder if Los Feliz were … Read more

Mando Diao

Ode to Ochrasy
Mute (2007)

What if The Libertines were basically decent guys? What about the early Rolling Stones, or Guns N' Roses, or any of the bands who just want to play some rock and fucking roll? I mean like if they didn't ruin their girlfriend's lives and if they didn't smoke crack and if they maybe mowed the lawn for their moms once … Read more

Linkin Park

Minutes to Midnight
Warner Bros. (2007)

Like their peers Limp Bizkit, Korn and Slipknot, Linkin Park occupies the mysterious musical category of "Oh, they're still around?" In 2007, with the nu-metal genre almost completely replaced by nu-emo, the lumbering rap-rock of these late 90s behemoths is missing and presumed dead. So where does that leave Linkin Park? In the commercial musical world, it's evolve or die, … Read more

Hour of the Wolf

Waste Makes Waste
Think Fast! (2007)

Hour of the Wolf are one of the best punk bands in America-trust me. It's a familiar story, kind of a Zen thing (like the tree falling in a vacant forest), but The World Is Different Now: thanks to the Internet, the local band you always knew to be better than any national contenders can now play in the big … Read more

Daggermouth

Turf Wars
State of Mind (2007)

Daggermouth's 2005 release, Stallone was a really solid record. For me, the band came along at a time when no new bands were really catching on with me. I was hooked on Stallone from the start and I've been riding the hype train with The 'Mouth ever since. Turf Wars was certainly a long time in the making, but I … Read more

Sundowner

Four One Five Two
Red Scare (2007)

I've always thought of The Lawrence Arms' guitarist Chris McCaughan as a bit of a lyrical genius, being able to ever so eloquently put to those seemingly indescribable feelings of your mid-twenties to words. The real magic of his game is the ability to do all of this over the distorted guitars and colossal drums that are often the foreground … Read more

Impious

Holy Murder Masquerade
Metal Blade (2007)

For the most part, there is no concept to Death Metal other than…..well, death. Lofty ideas or "concepts" are usually left to the Power Metal bunch who just looooove to show off their epic sagas with tales of wizards and ghosts and pumpkins and whatnot. This also affords them the opportunity to tell a story, usually in great length, interspersed … Read more

Fu Manchu

We Must Obey
Liquor and Poker Music (2007)

If you are reading this, you are wasting time. Buy Fu Manchu's We Must Obey and buy it now. The album's already a few months old, yet without a review on Scene Point Blank. Injustice I say, injustice! Fu Manchu's tenth album orders you to buy it, to cherish it, to love it. And well... We must obey! For the … Read more

The Shins

Wincing the Night Away
Sub Pop (2007)

Mainstream indie pop may not be as popular as it was when "New Slang" dominated the world a short while ago, but that hasn't stopped The Shins from continually engineering contagious, almost viral, songs that affix themselves to your temporal lobe and snub your best attempts to remove them. "Sleeping Lessons" opens the record with a soft, nearly alien, series … Read more

Joanna Newsom

Ys
Drag City (2006)

It's no great feat to experiment sonically and stretch musical taxonomy into another "-core" (clarinet-core, pots-and-pans-core, sit-on-a-synth-and-fiddle-core). We aren't afraid of strange, so long as it's strange enough to earn a fucking modifier - fucking out there, fucking bizarre, fucking genius, man. However, the moment we can't rationalize an artist's eccentricity into concrete, tangible terms - political, intellectual, or conceptual … Read more

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