One of the things I love about reviewing is that sometimes I come across bands that are real gems that I would never have known about otherwise. Deathspell Omega is one of those bands. These mysterious Frenchmen stay true to the spirit of traditional, raw black metal, but at the same time manage to put their own genuine spin on the genre. This 36-minute EP, split between three epic tracks, also shows progression from their previous efforts, which I was inspired to check out after hearing Kénôse. Inquisitors of Satan from 2002, for example, has a much more traditional, trebly sound to it. But on Kénôse, the production level has increased slightly, allowing Deathspell Omega to be able to carve their own niche in true black metal. The drums are more audible (you can actually hear more than the snare this time) and the guitars are a little clearer, giving every blasphemous riff the chance the shine through. Worry not, black metal purists, it still sounds like it comes from the murky depths of misanthropy. What is special about Kénôse is that the frightening atmospheres are created with doomy, even earthy, textures. The production is just right: it's not murky, … Read more
Mark this down. This is the comeback record of the year for me. Planes Mistaken for Stars dropped the ball … Read more
I was able to listen to Untitled II on my way up to visit friends at James Madison University, about … Read more
With poverty becoming a fashion statement (I'm sure some Vice or Pitchfork contributor has ditched the birth-control glasses and bangover … Read more
I'm sure there are a lot of kids out there who refuse to move on and listen to the bands … Read more
Easter, the second and highly anticipated full-length from These Arms Are Snakes, is finally upon us. But just how anticipated … Read more
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Like some ever-present albatross around the neck of the rock scene, the Red Hot Chili Peppers continue to linger, 23 years after their LA inception; a different band. Battling through drug-related deaths, personal differences, drug abuse, inter-band squabbling, drug abuse, motorcycle accidents and drug abuse, it's something of a surprise that the band are still kicking it in 2006, now Kabbalah converts and off the drugs. Stadium Arcadium is equally omnipresent - the often disastrous rock double album. As The Clash learned with Sandinista! in 1980, there can sometimes be too much of a good thing. Luckily for the listening public, the Chili Peppers at least shelved a purported third discs' worth of songs that could have made this release an operatic-length extravaganza. That said, at two hours and 28 … Read more
The Blood Brothers are one of those bands that can get you into shit with people. Not that anyone should have to appease anyone else with his or her musical interests and fancies. But, lets be honest, there is a very pronounced dividing line between people who enjoy The Blood Brothers and people who detest them. One reason for such … Read more
If you ate nothing but the guts of ravens, the shells of beetles, and the wax from vinyl, your shit might slide down your pants dense and black as night. Assuming shit doesn't have the connation of something bad, this soulless turd sums up Xasthur's newest full-length, Subliminal Genocide, in how it sounds, the way it makes you feel, and … Read more
By now, you've probably already heard Hidden World. It leaked months ago, and the band even posted a link to one of its downloading proxies on their blog. Before long the Internet was awash in reactions, most grouped along two polarities - while plenty of listeners thought they were hearing something important, just as many others lamented that "the drums … Read more
Have The Mars Volta finally become predictable? Were they already? Are they still churning out jaw-droppingly unexpected music? Did they ever? All these questions and more probably won't be answered in this review. Amputechture, the fairly quickly-released third full-length from the El Paso, Texas group, is in some ways a sequel to 2005's Frances the Mute, but still retains some … Read more
Phillip Roebuck will never be explained in writing. Writing does no justice to what Phillip Roebuck does. He plays a banjo at breakneck speed. He is a one-man band that bashes away at a bass drum and tambourine on his back. See, it just doesn't sound right, does it? It conjures images of Groundskeeper Willy yelling, "I'm a maniac, MANIAC!" … Read more
Of all of the promos in the pile in the corner of my room, Weapons are Useless has been languishing there the longest, festering silently, crying out to be reviewed. From time to time I would pop the disk into my laptop, in a vain attempt to make something of what Your Eyes My Dreams had dumped upon me. It … Read more
A lot of bands get labeled as "angry" or "pissed off" as a result of their lyrical content, and I'm sure you could apply those same adjectives to Know the Score. However, I feel that doing so would be doing a great disservice to them, not to mention those descriptions are rather played out. I feel a better way to … Read more
It seems strange that a band like Eyes Averted would end up having to self-release their debut album. Before Paralyzing Passion and Motion was completed, the band was abruptly dropped from their label. Why would this happen? What acceptable excuse could there possibly be? The technical, almost progressive, hardcore style the band embraces has reached a level of popularity that … Read more
As tragic as it was, the death of founding member and guitarist Dennis "Piggy" D'Amour in 2005 was not the death of Voivod. The final nail in the coffin was hammered with the departure of Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault fifteen years ago. Although songwriting and arrangements were always credited to the band as a whole, the void left in the overall … Read more
In this day and age, it seems to take way more effort than it should to get a new band's name out there. There are so many ways people can check out a new band, not to mention it's so much easier than it has been in the past. It used to be that you had to release a song … Read more
It seems that in the current day and age the process of starting a hardcore band has become an act of great ease as compared to, oh let's say, five years ago. Listen close to the first ten Revelation releases, rip off the riffs and place them just right, (don't forget your dive-bombs!) grab all your friends together to record … Read more
Oh the joys of a local band starting to make it big! I've been a friend of two members of Jefferson Third since I was a freshman in high school. It was only a matter of time before the two of them started a band. And when one of them was randomly assigned a college roommate and they started jamming … Read more
So, my brother calls me out of the blue one day and excitedly explains to me that he has discovered the most "amazing" singer-songwriter that he has heard in ages. I was skeptical, as he usually likes the absolute worst music imaginable within the punk, hardcore, and indie genres. Thus I returned his enthusiasm for this newfound artist, Micah P. … Read more
Scream, sing, scream, sing, scream, and sing. This simple recipe, which was discovered and completely exploited these past few years, has created a plethora of bands that for the most part are really really bad. Thankfully, there seems to be a lessening of this herd and some fine gleaning has thinned the crop to what we are supposed to believe … Read more
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