Recent reviews

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)

Serpe

A Night in Gin's Hollow
Home Recorded Culture (2006)

I don't think I can do it. I consider myself to be at least a capable writer, but it's going to be hard as hell to do a review of this album in any kind of acceptable length without five or ten non-sequiturs skewing off into long-winded tales of personal medical scares, pet deaths, and the time I was an extra in a movie about a monkey that played hockey. Performing acoustic rock is for the most part, a thankless job. Sure, you might luck out and have management give you free biscotti after your set, but that's about it. Michael John Serpe has balls. It takes balls to get up there with nothing but a guitar and maybe a drum track and sing songs that are close to your heart hoping like hell you make at least enough of a connection to sell a copy or two of your self-produced album. We all know DIY is the way to go. It takes moxie and it takes gumption but it doesn't necessarily take talent. This is the problem with Serpe's A Night in Gin's Hollow. Serpe appears to be a capable musician with an utterly forgettable voice and less-than-memorable songs. … Read more

The Flaming Lips

At War With the Mystics
Warner Bros. (2006)

Even months before its release, it seemed as if everyone had already assumed that the latest record from The Flaming … Read more

Disappearer

Disappearer
Trash Art (2006)

Disappearer is the latest creative outlet for the majority of the short lived band, There Were Wires (which also includes … Read more

Ghostface Killah

Fishscale
Def Jam (2006)

If "The Champ" has not, by the time of publication, been mass produced onto 12" record and shipped to every … Read more

First Blood

Killafornia
Trustkill (2006)

In the year 2002, hardcore/metal outfit Sworn Vengeance was on the brink of blowing up. The band had finished recording … Read more

Angels and Airwaves

We Don't Need to Whisper
Geffen (2006)

So Tom DeLonge finally got his way. Apparently sick of the scatological humor of Blink 182 and ill-received attempts at … Read more

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One from the archives

Elphaba

Any Land But This
Rome Plow (2006)

Elphaba is a noisy band that at times is reminiscent of the sound of The Blood Brothers mixed with No Kill No Beep Beep-era Q and Not U. Upon first listen, their album, Any Land But This, is a very difficult record to digest. But, repeated listening showed the album to have several interesting qualities. "Long Decay Slow Delay" not only opens the record but it also immediately brings to mind The Blood Brothers comparison, especially the vocal arrangement. Musically, the first two songs, "Long Decay Slow Delay" and "Portrait of Hombre Malo," have a subtle DC-ish sound. They are angular sounding but nowhere near as dissonant as one would expect, probably due to the fact that Elphaba never turns their "amps to 11." This lack of loudness contributes to … Read more

More album reviews

Less Than Jake

In With the Out Crowd
Sire (2006)

I'm a huge Less Than Jake fan. Hello Rockview is one of my favorite albums ever recorded, so when I heard that the band would be working with Howard Benson (who produced that stellar record) to record In With the Out Crowd, I was pretty excited. The band commented on the record saying that the material would be leaning more … Read more

Cherubs

Uncovered by Heartbeat
Morphius (2006)

There's been a trend as of late among American bands to become popular by sounding British, most notably The Killers, The Bravery and Interpol. This isn't always a bad thing - it started out almost clever and cute, like in the 60's when all these American groups were trying to cash in on The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. But … Read more

The Lovely Lads

The Best You've Got
Eating Rats (2006)

The Lovely Lads score some major points with me right away by using Pulp Fiction themed artwork in their layout for The Best You've Got. Sure it isn't the most original idea ever in the history of recorded music or even in punk rock and hardcore, but it beats seeing CD cover after cover of Jacob Bannon wannabe skull and … Read more

Boy Sets Fire

The Misery Index: Notes from the Plague Years
Equal Vision (2006)

In 2001 Boy Sets Fire recorded an album that many consider to be the band's finest hour, After the Eulogy, for Victory Records. The band was becoming bigger and bigger, and were ultimately snatched up by major label Wind-Up Records in 2002. The following year brought an EP, Live for Today, a teaser for an upcoming full length. Later that … Read more

Elphaba

Any Land But This
Rome Plow (2006)

Elphaba is a noisy band that at times is reminiscent of the sound of The Blood Brothers mixed with No Kill No Beep Beep-era Q and Not U. Upon first listen, their album, Any Land But This, is a very difficult record to digest. But, repeated listening showed the album to have several interesting qualities. "Long Decay Slow Delay" not … Read more

Fight Pretty

Blood Migration: The Year One Collection
Sleep Walk (2006)

Discography releases are a great thing, when they are deserved, that is. When a band has only released material on vinyl or defunct labels and it has long since gone out of print, a discography release on CD is great. On the other hand, if a band has only been around a short while and their releases (vinyl or CD) … Read more

Adam Green

Jacket Full of Danger
Rough Trade (2006)

Adam Green was half of the ardour and madness that was Moldy Peaches, half of what was behind the animal suits and make up. And you know, whoever would have thought that behind all of that craziness was a songwriter of such quality and grace? Jacket Full of Danger is Adam's fourth solo album in five years. It sees a … Read more

Sick of it All

Death to Tyrants
Abacus (2006)

Does this band honestly need any kind of introduction? Seriously, Sick of it All is an institution in the punk and hardcore scene. Having been active for over twenty years at this point, the band has truly hit on a creative renaissance of late with their last album Life on the Ropes being a return to some of the heaviest … Read more

Hi Red Center

Architectural Failures
Pangaea Recordings (2005)

Hi Red Center hail from Brooklyn, New York and Architectural Failures is their debut record, initially recorded in 2004 but finding a home the following year at Pangaea Recordings, home of Capillary Action. The band mixes a wide variety of influences to creature the fairly unique offering which is presently spinning around in my stereo. Opener "Red/Green" is an Apple … Read more

Venom

Metal Black
Sanctuary (2006)

Anton LaVey, Richard Ramirez, and Phil Knight. Three famous individuals who, despite being all about the evil and doing their part to ensure eternal damnation, they still don't hold a black candle to three young boys from the north of England, who've done more for Satan's public relations than anyone ever could. Conrad Lant, Jeff Dunn, and Tony Bray, otherwise … Read more

Tides

From Silence
Teenage Disco Bloodbath (2006)

Tides have undergone a number of changes since we last heard from them on 2005's Resurface. Most notably, the band has added a second guitar player in Tim Fickeisen and they've picked up and moved from rural upstate New York for the metropolis of Boston. And even with those dramatic changes, Tides remain a focused rock outfit playing airy instrumental … Read more

Gracer

Voices Travel
Revelation (2006)

I feel sorry for emo kids these days. Rather than being a certain clique that listens to a certain type of music they have become an entire entity within themselves. What we have in 2006 are a bunch of mopey teenagers with Livejournal accounts, bad haircuts and their mother's cheapest strands of pearls. Instead of being a community of kids … Read more

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Stadium Arcadium
Warner Bros. (2006)

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 … Read more

Refused

Refused are Fucking Dead DVD
Burning Heart (2006)

A Reflection: The Death of Belief "We drove a few hours to get there. And when I got there, everybody in the band was in different places. I think David was probably talking on the phone to Vic. And Dennis was hanging out with Mike Fight. Angry. And you were all scowling, and, you know… Not getting along with each … Read more

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