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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)

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 production quality was very weak and it definitely hampered the appeal of the record for many more potential fans. Two years later, the bands' latest effort and second full-length, The Great Depression, seems to have erased the slight complaints I had with their first record and quickly found it's way on my early "Best of '06" list. With much better musicianship and far better recording and production quality, the Defiance, Ohio sextet wrote a record that easily matches the great previous efforts by fellow folk-punk genre artists and influences This Bike is a Pipe Bomb and Ghost Mice. Perfectly incorporating such instruments as the violin, the double bass, and the cello in their songs without losing a single ounce of intensity and passion, Defiance, Ohio easily manage to waltz through thirteen songs of fun and top-notch folk punk while keeping your mind aware and your heart happy. "Oh, Susquehanna", one of the standout tracks on The Great Depression is a wonderful violin, cello, banjo and harmonica laced track with an interesting vocal arrangement which sees half of the song being … 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

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 … 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 … 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 … 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. … Read more

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One from the archives

A Wilhelm Scream

Ruiner
Nitro (2005)

A few names come to mind when you hear the term technical punk: Strung Out, Bigwig, and Propagandhi. These bands started off as scrappy punk rockers whose talents progressed as their members became more and more skilled at their craft. A Wilhelm Scream fit perfectly in this category. Formerly known as the band Smackin' Isaiah, A Wilhelm Scream changed their name in 2003 to reflect a definite change and progression in their sound. Mute Print, the band's first release in 2004 on Nitro Records, was a maelstrom of incredibly catchy melodies, assassin-like guitar work, and an awful lot of aggression. Ruiner completely destroys the foundation set by Mute Print and builds it anew, stronger than ever. The album kicks off with a quiet intro before going full speed ahead into … Read more

More album reviews

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

200 Words Or Less

Defcon 4

File Under Fuck
Black Box Recordings (2006)

A lot of bands claim influence from early hardcore favorites like Black Flag and Minor Threat. Nine times out of ten it is complete bullshit and nothing more than a marketing ploy - "We blend the intensity of Minor Threat with the brutality of Slayer and the social awareness of Catharsis." Actually that band sounds kind of sweet, but you … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Apiary

Lost In Focus
Ironclad/Metal Blade (2006)

Lost in Focus is the debut release from a Southern California five-piece know as Apiary. I listen to a lot of music, and have jaded fucking ears that just don't prick up the way they used to. It takes a good shot of aural Viagra to get my attention. My attention was grabbed not long into "Pain Is The Reason" … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Guiltmaker

Driven By Arms
Kiss of Death (2006)

Despite featuring ex-members of Combatwoundedveteran and Reversal of Man, Guiltmaker is distinctly less heavy than you might initially assume they would be. In fact the band does a fairly catchy take on the mid 90s emo rock/ post hardcore sound. Reminiscent of both bands like Rival Schools, Jets to Brazil and Jawbreaker, as well as uber popular present day acts … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Boris

Pink
Southern Lord (2006)

Initially released late last year on Japanese label Diwphalanx, Pink now finds a worldwide release through Southern Lord. It also see's the band at their scuzzy rock best. Similar in sound in many ways to their 2005 Southern Lord release, Akuma No Uta, but upping the ante considerably with tighter more memorable songs. Tracks like "Regardless it is not Separable" … 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)