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)

Anchorage / Lies in the Effort

Split
I Ate Her (2005)

I don't like split releases. They annoy me because I would rather hear an EP by the two separate bands to digest it completely before I am being forced to listen to another band's output on the same disc. Also, you never hear anyone say that a split is their favorite record of all time because quite frankly splits just don't hold up to the test of time like a single band's album or EP does. Maybe it's just me but I think we could just do away with split releases all together. So I'm going to review a split just for a sense of irony. Anchorage contributes the first five tracks on this CD and the first thing that grates on my nerves is vocals. He's a bit off-tune and tries to hit notes that Mariah Carey shouldn't even be striving for. It feels like he's always geared up to 10 when he belts out notes and would probably do a lot better if he just stayed around a 6 or 7. Anchorage's music itself is playful with enough hooks to fill a meat packing plant. The songs build, ebb, hit an upbeat tempo and peter out only to … Read more

Grace Gale

A Few Easy Steps to Secure Heli-Camel Safety
Blackout! (2005)

At any point in time you may catch me watching television, usually an Aqua Teen Hunger Force DVD, Comedy Central, … Read more

Byla

Byla
Translation Loss (2005)

Byla is an ambient duo consisting of members of Dysrhytmia, Behold the Arctopus, and Infidel?/Castro!. The two started to work … Read more

Exodus

Shovel Headed Kill Machine
Nuclear Blast (2005)

We've all heard the stories. Someone leaves your favorite band and the remaining members have two choices.... carry on or … Read more

Neshamah

Communicating in Heartbeats
Witchdoctor (2005)

If you ask me, there's no musical genre more ripe to be picked from the tree of potential and placed … Read more

Sunn 0)))

Black One
Southern Lord (2005)

This is the sound of being stalked by some unnamed horror that you are too afraid to turn around and … Read more

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One from the archives

Pash

The Best Gun
Exotic Fever (2007)

There are two basic guidelines to follow when being apart of the D.C. punk scene: the first is that it is absolutely necessary to be a vegan, straight edge, and a bike messenger, or at least a combination of two of those, or else you're going to feel a bit alienated. I for one think this is really fucking stupid, which is probably the reason why I only hang out with four or five people when I go to shows. The second guideline is really fucking stupid too, but it's one that I and the majority of people involved in the D.C. scene follow, and that is to not be negative about any band that comes out of the D.C. area. Granted almost all of the bands that do call … Read more

More album reviews

Kill Your Idols

Live at CBGB's
Blackout! (2005)

I'm a fan of Kill Your Idols, hell I rock their hoodie every cold day in myriad of cold days that I endure in the frozen tundra of Minnesota. I've even been privy to see Kill Your Idols twice in the last five years, which by Twin Cities standards, that's like seeing them every week. Kill Your Idols is a … Read more

Ian Brown

The Greatest
Polydor (2005)

Ian Brown is held in high regard by many, many people; which I guess you can sort of expect for the man that was the lead singer of The Stone Roses. With the release of his greatest hits album under the imaginative title The Greatest, Brown is pretty sure of himself and his music. God knows why. Seriously the guy … Read more

Municipal Waste

Hazardous Mutation
Earache (2005)

If you're craving a throwback to the time when thrash metal was at it's height, then look no further than Municipal Waste's Hazardous Mutation. On their Earache Records debut the Richmond, Virginia four-piece deliver the perfect mixture of 80's thrash, crossover, and hardcore/punk. While the result may be nothing more than what some consider 'twenty years too late,' it is … Read more

Lightning Bolt

Hypermagic Mountain
Load (2005)

Preparation for listening to the new Lightning Bolt record for the first time: ' Call up around a dozen of your closest buddy's and get them to haul ass to your place. ' Splash out your last forty bucks on as much low grade beer as your arms can carry. ' Take the last ten bucks you earned pumping gas … Read more

Various Artists

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
Vagrant (2005)

Tempers of music fans ran high from the day stories were posted on various sites that specific bands were to be covering songs that are heralded as classics in the genres of punk rock and hardcore. A metalcore band covering Bad Brains? A pop-punk band covering the legendary Gorilla Biscuits? Surely this is some sort of joke. Surely not. Say … Read more

Afterthought

Take It or Leave It
Southern Comfort (2005)

As Death Cab for Cutie becomes the mainstream poster boy for indie rock, groups like Dilated Peoples and Atmosphere have become the indie hip hop equivalent. Afterthought seems to ride the line between the mainstream and indie hip-hop sound, wearing the backpack with one strap on, one off, and a drink in his hand. Take It or Leave It is … Read more

Every Time I Die

Gutter Phenomenon
Ferret (2005)

So you know how a band will take something that they wrote that does really well with the fans and expand on it? The Offspring, for example, found out that by writing a "witty" punk rock song they could sell lots of albums. On Every Time I Die's last album Hot Damn!, that song was, "I've Been Gone a Long … Read more

Elliott

Photorecording
Revelation (2005)

This is not a re-release. Photorecording is Elliott's last testament. Allow me to regress a few years. I had always dismissed them as overrated. US Songs was okay, but it just seemed like it was missing that little extra something. When False Cathedrals came out, I gave them another chance; it was their statement, an almost perfect 10 in my … Read more

Know the Score

All Guts, No Glory
Goodbye Blue Skies (2005)

Some might say that hardcore has gone soft. Those that feel this way have a distorted view of the genre. Hardcore is as explosive and assertive as it has been since its very inception. Florida hardcore outfit Know the Score is a prime example of this. With their debut release, All Guts, No Glory, the band serves up eleven tracks … Read more

Twenty Four Hours to Live

We're All Loudmouths
Surprise Attack (2005)

Surprise Attack Records and I have never had a good relationship. There isn't any sort of beef between us or anything, it's just I always get stoked for their releases only to be left disappointed when I get something. Surprise Attack Records hypes the hell out of their bands and they make it sound like they are going to hear … Read more

Gay for Johnny Depp

Blood: The Natural Lubricant
Captain of Industry (2005)

In theory alone, I should love this album. Gay for Johnny Depp is a homosexual band. Great, I love homosexuals in bands. They sing about filthy gay sex. Great, I love filthy gay sex. They play cum rocking screamo hardcore. Great, I love screamo and hardcore. They love Johnny Depp. Great, I think Johnny Depp is an okay actor. Theory … Read more

Sweetthieves

Demo
Independent (2005)

This trio of sweetness comes from the Northeast and resides in a place called Providence, Rhode Island. Dave Martinka (guitar/vocals) and Jay Mayoh (drums), after playing in bands off an on in high school got together with bassist Hilary Jones, who played guitar in two previous bands. She had been a frequenting customer at a local guitar shop where she … Read more

Metric

Live It Out
Last Gang (2005)

The attention gained by The Arcade Fire last year has been a blessing and a curse for Canadian indie music. In one respect the scene has been put in the spotlight by the mass media, which have discovered what many insiders have known for years: Canada produces some of the best music in the genre. Unfortunately the amount of hype … Read more

Palehorse

Secrets Within Secrets
Martyr (2005)

You find yourself strapped on a horse, galloping through a rampaged America. You don't know the year; you don't what the fuck happened. Skyscrapers point at empty skies. Civilization has been looted beyond repair. The outlook is bleak at best. For the purposes of this music review, you somehow find an iPod in your back pocket loaded with Palehorse's Secrets … Read more

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