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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)

Coliseum

Goddamage
Auxiliary (2005)

Coliseum's Goddamage EP must be listened to in order to be believed. Hell, looking at the cover art, one has to know what to expect. That is not to say that the record is so obvious. The cover simply represents the mood and salvo of sound on the record completely, even down to the faux sticker on the back: "As a pig… I found it to be an anti- pig record" (A reference to a sticker originally placed on Black Flag's original press of the Damaged LP.) From the music down to the artwork, Coliseum takes umbrage with their view of the state of things. The real breakthrough on this album, however, is the stunning use of melody in the guitar leads. This development in the band's creative output makes this record damn infectious. Goddamage begins with an absolutely killer track, "Year of the Pig." This song rips through its two and a half minutes with longing, desperate vocals that hint at a resolve to personally change. The groove laid down by the guitars almost induces listeners to bob their heads in time to the music. It turns out to be a great way to kidnap listeners for the remainder … Read more

Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash

Mile Markers
Texicali (2005)

Be not afraid. Mile Markers by Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash is not the soundtrack to Aunt Edna's covert line-dancing … Read more

The Wives

Erect the Youth Problem
Cold Sweat/Sweet Nothing (2005)

Let's get the formalities and the predictabilities out the way right off the bat. Wives are a straight up rock … Read more

Against Me!

Searching for a Former Clarity
Fat Wreck Chords (2005)

Music fans are fucking assholes. For those of us in the world who obsess about music, we fail to realize … Read more

Hoods

The King is Dead
Eulogy (2005)

Hoods, the reigning kings of Sacramento hardcore, have endured a lot throughout their decade of existence. The band have released … Read more

Brian Posehn

Nerd Rage
Independent (2005)

Stand-up comedians aren't funny. With very few exceptions, this is a truism that has become stronger and stronger over the … Read more

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One from the archives

Sutekh Hexen

Become
King Of Monsters (2013)

Throughout their relatively short tenure, Sutekh Hexen has produced several thought provoking releases that intrigue from both a sonic and an aesthetic perspective; and Become is no different than that description as well as it seemingly marks a turning point for the (at times) shadowy outfit as it is purportedly the first recording to not feature one of the founding duo behind its aural creation, but that change does not seemingly affect the quality of the recording (which for this release is in it of itself the result of an interesting set of circumstances) while signaling a definite shift in sound for the project.Before diving into what Become actually sounds like, we must first frame the overall reference point to the recording:Become…was dubbed onto recycled vintage reels of ¼" tape. … Read more

More album reviews

Head Wound City

Head Wound City
Three One G (2005)

Let's get the roster out of the way because that usually draws people in like moths to a blowtorch. Jordan Blilie (The Blood Brothers) (Vocals), Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) (Guitar), Cody Votolato (The Blood Brothers) (Guitar), Justin Pearson (The Locust) (Bass), and Gabe Serbian (The Locust) (Drums). You're either feeling the flame or I'm feeling the draft of the … Read more

Scarling

So Long, Scarecrow
Sympathy for the Record Industry (2005)

It's going to sound silly, but in recent months, Scarling has taken on Moby Dick-like proportions in my life. They were that band that everyone told me I absolutely had to listen to, and each time I heard this, I grew a bit more reluctant to bother for no solid reason other than the fact that I hate to be … Read more

Green Day

Bullet in a Bible
Reprise (2005)

You could almost imagine the epitaph on Green Day's headstone from the moment Reprise got into the whole contract-fulfilling kiss-of-death releases that beset Green Day just this side of the turn of the millennium. A "best of" collection and then the certain doom of the "rarities" compilation followed in quick succession and it seemed that a dying cash cow was … Read more

Since By Man

Pictures from the Hotel Apocalypse
Revelation (2005)

Was it really only two years ago that Since By Man unleashed their debut CD, We Sing the Body Electric? Granted, an EP in the form of A Love Hate Relationship was designed to tide over their salivating audience in between tours and writing sessions, but personally it feels like a great deal more time has passed in between. Enter … Read more

With Honor

This is Our Revenge
Victory (2005)

I have a boom box where you load the CD's on the top, so when I put in This is Our Revenge into my kickin' stereophonic listening system I thought I accidentally left in my copy of Ignite's Past Our Means. Todd Mackey's vocals sound so eerily close to Zoli Teglas that I actually thought I had just left in … Read more

Multiple Authors

Propagandhi

Potemkin City Limits
Fat Wreck Chords (2005)

Propaghandi has always held a place in many people's hearts for their impassioned and political stances that they take on their record, and I always respected that political basis of much of their lyrical content and overall message of the band. Musically though, they had always been missing something for me. Every genre of punk and or hardcore has had … Read more

Multiple Authors

Propagandhi

Potemkin City Limits
Fat Wreck Chords (2005)

The time is 7 a.m. as I pace frantically across empty parking spaces towards a vacant Tower Records. I know I'm three hours early, but after waiting patiently for four long years my heart is about to catharsis all over the asphalt if my ears aren't satisfied ASAP. All week I had been ranting on about the new Propagandhi album … Read more

Daggermouth

Stallone
Feeding Frenzy (2005)

Recently I was talking with (read: bitching to) my friend Brian about how there hasn't been any new bands lately that have really caught me and pulled me in. Granted, there have been many bands I've really gotten into over the last year or so, but none of them really caught my ear and made me love them. It's not … Read more

David Gray

Life in Slow Motion
ATO (2005)

I'd like to begin this review by thanking the kind people at Dictionary.com and Google.com for their unwitting assistance in the writing of this here review. God bless you. boring adj. Uninteresting and tiresome; dull. boring adv. boringness n. Synonyms: boring, monotonous, tedious, irksome, tiresome, humdrum These adjectives refer to what is so uninteresting as to cause mental weariness. Boring … Read more

Immolation

Harnessing Ruin
Olympic (2005)

Hey Immolation, I just received a call from 1989 and they want their music back. Harnessing Ruin is the sixth release from legendary death-metal act Immolation, and they show us once again why they're "legendary." The nine songs off this CD deliver 2005 a blast from the past. This death-metal time-warp makes me think back to when death-metal bands came … Read more

American Werewolves

1968
Fractured Transmitter (2005)

If you were to randomly walk into a concert venue while American Werewolves were performing you would be extremely fortunate. The four-piece punk outfit from Cleveland delivers a unique blend of Misfits-worship punk, but with an oh so sweet twist. That twist is their incorporation of early - I'm talking 1950's - rock-n-roll, B-movie keys, and hints of early hardcore. … Read more

A Day in Black and White

Notes
Level Plane (2005)

On Notes, A Day in Black and White's debut full-length, they get to point quickly; in one minute and twenty seconds to be precise. After an at-times impressive first release, My Heroes Have Always Killed Cowboys released on Level Plane in 2004, A Day in Black and White looked like it would slowly join the hardcore-band graveyard as member changes … Read more

Logh

A Sunset Panorama
Hydra Head (2005)

Is Sweden even cold? Whenever I think of Northern Europe, I think of mountains, yodelers, and folks with Princess Leia hair wandering around in big coats. Yet the continent keeps popping out some of the …well, warmest albums I've ever heard. Par example: the new album from Logh, a band I didn't care about until this year. I started caring … Read more

Ulver

Blood Inside
Jester (2005)

Have you heard the myth about prisoners stubbing out cigarettes into a bucket of water in order to create enough poison to use on their fellow inmates? Evidently, someone slipped a copy of the mastertapes to Ulver's latest sonic delivery into that foul brew as well. Opening with the slow-burning near opera of "Dressed in Black," the stage is thoroughly … Read more

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