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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)

Big Business

Head for the Shallow
Hydra Head (2005)

In the late 80's and early 90's, Seattle was the place for any musician to be. A brief yet socially relevant counterculture was spawned, not too dissimilar to punk in the early 80's. The movement, being simply music or something more, had no name but was knighted "grunge" by the media. Much of the music was dirty, aggressive, brooding, and dark. Seattle became synonymous with loud guitars and flannel shirts. Not much has changed in the 15 years since grunge broke out from the underground in Seattle. It is still dense with talented young bands creating the best music in the country. While the sounds may have changed, the DIY style and punk ideals have not. Instead of flannel shirts, musicians are opting for girl's jeans, but that hasn't changed the fact that the music is intensely aggressive. Of all the current Seattle bands - a scene including the Blood Brothers, These Arms Are Snakes, Minus the Bear, and Pretty Girls Make Graves - Big Business is the band that retains Seattle's grunge sound better than anyone, while still managing to originally blend punk, hardcore, and metal successfully. Only a two-member band, Big Business comprises former Murder City Devils' drummer … Read more

Paint It Black

Paradise
Jade Tree (2005)

CVA was fucking perfect. Naysayers beware: I am willing to defend that position. A hardcore supergroup of sorts (combining members … Read more

Transistor Transistor

Erase All Names and Likeness
Level Plane (2005)

It's not very often these days one gets the opportunity to use the phrase "This brings the ROCK" without sounding … Read more

Hank Jones

Saturdays of Thunder
Undecided (2005)

An album cover with a skull, blood streaks and three fingers makes the viewer think of death, violence, periods and … Read more

Daft Punk

Human After All
Virgin (2005)

Considering the phalanx of albums due for release, and with previous offering Discovery bringing all the musical vision and ingenuity … Read more

Fingers Cut, Megamachine

Fingers Cut, Megamachine
Thick (2005)

Osker was well known as being the most hated band on Epitaph in their brief stint as a band. Being … Read more

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One from the archives

Clown Sounds

Par For The Curse
Recess (2024)

“I’m a real band!” When you write about an artist a billion times, sometimes your head goes to strange places -- leading to references that probably only make sense inside your own head. With Par For The Curse, the third album from the Todd Congelliere founded project, Clown Sounds has evolved from solo origins to a collaborative effort. The results are clear when you listen to. No disrespect to previous Clown Sounds in the slightest, just that this is a little more diverse in sound and the instrumentation feels a little more complex and layered. This probably won’t surprise anybody who has followed Congelliere’s work in the past (Toys That Kill, FYP, Recess Records): the band members are familiar faces -- members of both aforementioned bands, plus The Arrivals and … Read more

More album reviews

Lucero / Loggia

Split 7
Soul is Cheap (2005)

This is the kind of split 7" I like to see. On one side you have Lucero, a Memphis band who have recently gained a lot of popularity. They have a style that is as equally influenced by Jawbreaker as it is by Waylon Jennings. They constantly are on tour, put out records on large indie labels, and have drawn … Read more

Ryan Adams

Cold Roses
Lost Highway (2005)

The name Ryan Adams has become synonymous with the word "prolific," but not so much with the words "genius" and "brilliant"- those are thrown around by hardcore fans and earnest publicists. After releasing five full-length albums in a span of four years, his debut, Heartbreaker, still undeniably remains his best record to date, but he is far from regressing to … Read more

Pride Kills

Deep in the Heart
Thorp (2005)

I was having a conversation the other day with a close friend. We were discussing music, as we normally do, and I started quoting some lyrical excepts from Deep in the Heart. He chuckled and told me that he thought it was kind funny that I listen to "all those tough guy bands," and yet I am such a nice … Read more

Team Sleep

Team Sleep
Maverick (2005)

When I was 15, I remember thinking Korn was the greatest band on the face of the earth. I was angry. I was rebellious. I felt alienated just like Jonathan Davis. But in all fairness, Limp Bizkit was a close second. And while bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit refused to change their nu-metal riffs, and their "Are you ready?" … Read more

Blue Monday

Rewritten
Bridge Nine (2005)

Let's face it, most hardcore bands don't have it in them to do a "full length" and if they do, it's usually a couple of really good songs with some filler to get it up to the half hour mark. Thankfully, Blue Monday do not fall into this category with their newly released Rewritten. The first thing fans of the … Read more

The Warriors

War is Hell
Eulogy (2004)

Three months back I attempted to review War is Hell, but something more pressing came up to displace the debut full-length from The Warriors from atop my review pile. On occasion after occasion, I passed over reviewing the album in favor of something else. Then, last week I took in a show that The Warriors happened to be playing and … Read more

Dead Meadow

Feathers
Matador (2005)

Dead Meadow, hailing from the D.C. area, formed out of The Impossible Five when they broke up in 1999. Jason Simon (guitar/vocals) Steve Kille (bass) and Mark Laughlin (Drums) went on to form Dead Meadow. Laughlin quit the group in '02, and Steve McCarty joined the group for Shivering King and Others and their newest addition, Cory Shane a few … Read more

Cold World

Ice Grillz
Lockin Out (2005)

I had heard so much hype about this band, so I was kind of weary about checking them out. Everyone was talking about waiting for their pre-orders, and avid record collectors were searching out every color of their newest record. This phenomenon only happens with few bands. When I finally got around to listening to Ice Grillz, I was actually … Read more

Feersum Ennjin

Feersum Ennjin
Silent Uproar (2005)

Feersum Ennjin is the work of essentially one man with the assistance of a few close friends. All the songs were written by former Tool bassist Paul D'Amour, who has been floating around from project to project since his departure in late 1995. But before you Tool fans get too excited, it is my duty to inform you that the … Read more

The Abi Yoyos

The World is Not My Home
Riisk (2005)

I've always wondered when "classic" albums first came out how people reacted to them. For the most crucial bands it seems people fell in love with the music after the band broke up. Spinning on my record player is what will become a "classic". It's made of black vinyl. Nothing about it visually separates it from any other 7". But … Read more

The Decemberists

Picaresque
Kill Rock Stars (2005)

Besides getting started, the hardest thing about writing reviews is coming up with original ways of putting things. Not stealing ideas from other magazines is tough, and it becomes especially hard when the album you're reviewing is unquestionably great. This is exactly my dilemma with the new Decemberists album. It's super, but I have no idea what to say about … Read more

Above this Fire

In Perspective
Life Sentence (2005)

Above this Fire is a band that I have known since their very inception, a band that I have been able to watch as they have grown from relative obscurity as local act into one that could easily eclipse their peers with the right promotional push. With In Perspective, this five-piece hardcore/metal hybrid can stand proud and declare that they … Read more

Sole

Live from Rome
Anticon (2005)

Decrying hip hop's more self-obsessed, corporate, "bitches n' bling" oriented side has become somewhat of an expected formality in the discussion of any Anticon release. Such is the "thinking man's rap" reputation the San Francisco based label has established for itself amongst the more discerning part of the record buying public that it's often held aloft as the antithesis of … Read more

The Locust

Safety Second, Body Last
Ipecac (2005)

On hearing of The Locust's signing to Ipecac, one might be inclined to call this an unexpected pairing. But if you were to take into consideration the label's sheer willingness to work with daring and thought-provoking artists that push the boundaries of modern music, it really shouldn't be that much of a surprise. For ten years, the members of The … Read more

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