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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)

Rise Against

The Sufferer and the Witness
Geffen (2006)

It's always nice when a band that exhibited incredible promise coming up through indie labels continues to show evolution without distancing themselves from their roots once they've hit major label status. Rise Against continues to prove that a major label doesn't mean shit when it comes to writing their music, which is one of the small reasons I like them so much. That said, The Sufferer and the Witness more or less starts off right where their major label debut, Siren Song of the Counter Culture ended. And it doesn't have shitty artwork that Siren Song of the Counter Culture did! Hooray! Once you've finished rejoicing over the fact that Rise Against decided not to use clip art to present their new album, you'll pop it in and notice that The Sufferer and the Witness is anything but a far cry from the rest of their material, which is a good thing. They continue to write (mostly) fast, melodic hardcore punk that wouldn't sound out of place in Fat Wreck's catalogue. Whereas their last album had a sound that mixed their own style established on Revolutions Per Minute with a sound more akin to Atlantic-era Bad Religion, The Sufferer and … Read more

Good Riddance

My Republic
Fat Wreck Chords (2006)

The opening of My Republic could easily be mistaken for the opening to just about any guitar based album from … Read more

Invade

Invade
Independent (2006)

My roommate likes to call early 90's hardcore "The Dark Ages of Hardcore" with its metal influences, all the way … Read more

Tragedy

Nerve Damage
Tragedy (2006)

Honestly, Tragedy has to be considered one of the best punk bands going right now. Their music is super tight … Read more

Defiance, Ohio

The Great Depression
No Idea (2006)

In 2004, Defiance, Ohio released Share What Ya' Got. While I really enjoyed the record, I often found that the … Read more

Multiple Authors

Sinking Ships

Disconnecting
Revelation (2006)

This is a pleasant surprise. This is a hardcore record, a good hardcore record. The vocals are just the right … Read more

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One from the archives

Helmet

Size Matters
Interscope (2004)

Helmet falls into the category of bands that had the unfortunate luck of spawning a group of bands that were nothing more than third-rate rip-offs. This puts them in the company of fellow alternative metal act Faith No More. How unfortunate. I'm sure front man Page Hamilton is spinning in his grave. Or at least he would be, if he were dead. Size Matters is the first release of new music from Helmet in seven years. And in that time span, a lot has happened in the world of music. Perhaps the biggest change is the mainstream success of alternative metal bands on both television and radio. In their heyday, it would have been laughable to hear Helmet on anything other than college radio. So here we are seven years … Read more

More album reviews

Multiple Authors

Sinking Ships

Disconnecting
Revelation (2006)

The Northwest hardcore scene recently lost an undeniable force with the breakup of fan favorite Champion. Fortunately there is a wake of other amazing bands ready to claim their crown as the kings of hardcore from that region. One of the more promising of those bands is Sinking Ships, a five-piece outfit from the Seattle area. And with Disconnecting, their … Read more

Mass Movement of the Moth

Outerspace
Exotic Fever (2006)

Mass Movement of the Moth is a band doing it the right way. Playing together for years and making a name for themselves in the DC hardcore scene and to some extent the whole Northeast, the band's first official release came just last year. Once the releases started, they didn't stop, and the hardcore world as a whole was introduced … Read more

Escape the Fate

There's No Sympathy for the Dead
Epitaph (2006)

Brett Gurewitz clearly smells money like band mate Greg Graffin smells fat teen pussy from Wisconsin, and it gets him just as hard. By his own admission Gurewitz has never "come across a new group with more potential to be huge" than Escape the Fate. The dollar signs must be spinning in his eyes as the Myspace friend requests grow … Read more

Men's Recovery Project

The Very Best of Men's Recovery Project
5 Rue Christine (2005)

The idea of releasing a "Greatest Hits" package for a band like Men's Recovery Project seems laughable on the surface. Emerging out of the scorched carcass of Born Against, Men's Recovery Project left an embarrassing stain on the face of mid-'90s hardcore, offering messy, aberrant punk fueled by primitive, farting electronics and a defiant sense of weirdness. This isn't the … Read more

Multiple Authors

The Killer

Better Judged by Twelve than Carried by Six (Reissue)
Organized Crime (2006)

If there is one hardcore band in Chicago that truly defines the conventions of "Chicago Hardcore," it is The Killer. The various musical backgrounds of each member leads to an interesting fusion of the heavier metalcore bands as well as Southern Rock, and even a bit of doom metal. Everything about this album is solid from the production to the … Read more

Multiple Authors

The Killer

Better Judged by Twelve than Carried by Six (Reissue)
Organized Crime (2006)

If Myspace, YouTube, and various messegeboards have shown me anything in 2006, it is that kids love to mosh. From videos of kids moshing in their bedroom, living rooms, classrooms, and even in the middle of the street, kids across America love throwing the fuck down. The problem is that the soundtrack they are wind-milling and spin-kicking to is complete … Read more

The Futureheads

News and Tributes
Vagrant (2006)

In late 2004, The Futureheads punctured the mope-heavy indie rock bubble with the delivery of their hyperactive post-punk debut album. The harmony laden, adrenaline fueled romp immediately caught my attention and remained in my CD player well into the next year. Now, it appears that the cycle has started anew with the release of the bands sophomore effort, News and … Read more

Crime In Stereo

The Troubled Stateside
Nitro (2006)

The lead off track on Crime In Stereo's The Troubled Stateside is titled "Everything Changes/Nothing Is Ever Truly Lost." This title could be used as a fitting description for the band themselves. Crime In Stereo began to receive recognition when they released their Blackout Records debut, Explosives, And The Will To Use Them, in 2004. The record was a raw, … Read more

Saviours

Crucifire
Level Plane (2006)

I had been listening to this record for almost three weeks trying to place the sounds and get some kind of footing for writing about Crucifire. After completing some minor bit of research, I was shocked to learn that this album is the product of members of Yaphet Kotto, Bread and Circuits, and others. Saviours do not sound anything like … Read more

Hard- Fi

Stars of CCTV
WEA (2006)

The preamble about Hard-Fi is something about DIY, self-financing, self-promotion and the dole. There's something about the middle-English wastelands in which the band live. Something else about inner city tower blocks adds weight to the working class credentials about which, no doubt, Virginia Woolf would have something or other to say. Some quasi-pretentious blurb about wanting to sell records in … Read more

Neko Case

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Anti (2006)

According to Playboy.com, Neko Case is the "Sexiest Babe of Indie Rock." Fortunately for the listening public, such a lofty title hasn't gone to Miss Case's head. "I'm not out to become Faith Hill," she says. "I never want to play an arena, and I never want to be on the MTV Video Music Awards, much less make a video … Read more

Hank Williams III

Straight to Hell
Bruc (2006)

Weak. Shallow. Lame. Insipid. All of these words have been used at some point (by me) to describe country music. I fucking hate what passes for country music today and thankfully, so does Hank Williams III. He knows that the crossover into pop music in the late eighties/early nineties signaled the death of whatever creativity or credibility was left in … Read more

Slayer

Eternal Pyre
American (2006)

It's been a quite wait for Slayer fans, who are as rabid as music fans come. We last heard new music from the metal masters on 2001's God Hates Us All. Well here in 2006 we have been graced - an ironic choice of words I know - with Eternal Pyre featuring a brand new Slayer song, "Cult." On "Cult" … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Aoria

If I Slow Down Everything Will Disappear
Independent (2006)

I love unsolicited review materials, especially when it's a band I've never heard before, and even more so when said band turns out to be surprisingly good. Aoria is a four-piece outfit from Sweden that plays rock music with the electro-pop influence of The Cure. The songs of this three-song EP are strongly written and the intricate composition of the … 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)