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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)

Hot Hot Heat

Elevator
Warner Bros. (2005)

Hot Hot Heat has managed to weave in and out of the limelight in the last few years. Often compared to the Cure, they are able to hold onto the fringes of the mainstream thanks to the "new" new wave and dance rock movements. The single that broke them to the mainstream was the catchy yet repetitive "Bandages," which has a chorus that boasts "bandages on my legs and my arms from you/bandages, bandages, bandages/up and down my legs, my arms from you/bandages, bandages, bandages!" In true Hot Hot Heat fashion their latest single "Goodnight Goodnight," also repetitive, is a relative hit placing them back into position for adulation from the press. They take their snarky attitudes from the stage to the studio on Elevator, their first album on a major record label. The album is quite abrasive as a result of the lyrical content; every track on the album either desecrates others or themselves-mostly others. With witty and biting lyrics accompanied by mocking instruments, it appears there is no room for laughter or an ego. The bouncy beats and the well-acclimated tempo, however, suggest otherwise. Charming hooks and infectious beats dominate the most vindictive tracks. Roughly produced tracks "Ladies … Read more

A Silver Mount Zion

Horses in the Sky
Constellation (2005)

A few days after Horses in the Sky was released, *coughtwomonthsagocough*, I sat down and tried to review it. After … Read more

Torche

Torche
Robotic Empire (2005)

Whenever I am having a discussion of music with friends, which happens more often then I'd like to admit, for … Read more

Meshuggah

Catch Thirty Three
Nuclear Blast (2005)

There are lots of ways that one can view the genre of metal and any of its countless sub-genres - … Read more

Final Fight

Under Attack
Straight On (2005)

Lack of sleep, Influenza A virus and a spike through your chest, among other things, cause people to get sick. … Read more

Brain Failure

American Dreamer
Thorp (2005)

Punk is a relative concept. In 1982, shaving your head into a mohawk and wearing studded jewelry was a symbol … Read more

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One from the archives

Various Artists

ROBOCOP / DETROIT - Dead Language, Foreign Bodies Split LP
Give Praise (2012)

sharing similarities that reside more than just their names Robocop and Detroit both play blinding fast powerviolence indebted grind. While neither band have anything besides a name in relation to Michigan they share a relationship with Grindcore Karaoke which may give somewhat of a clue as to what the listener could be in for. Maine's Robocop take up the first side taking a more noisy approach to their little piece of the grind pie. So by the time track 3 opens with a bass drawl and what could either be a strangled sax line, a particularly mangled guitar or a dying cat one isn't entirely surprised but midway things go back to normal with a blindingly fast trun toward the grind that led them here. The band uses the next … Read more

More album reviews

System of a Down

Mezmerize
Sony (2005)

Let me begin with a disclaimer. I don't mean to rant, but in general, I hate political bands. I can't stand political bands. I can't stand them because, generally, when they aren't misinformed fools popularizing redundant attitudes, they are sententious idiots that are just as misguided as victims of their malignant invectives. Generally. Somewhere then, in what is a combative … Read more

Foo Fighters

In Your Honor
RCA (2005)

"When someone comes up to you and asks which Led Zeppelin album they should buy, you should say 'Physical Graffiti'. And in 20 years, when your kid comes up to you and asks which Foo Fighters album he or she should buy, I want you to say 'In Your Honor'." - Dave Grohl, 2005 Strong words, Mr. Grohl. Particularly since … Read more

Multiple Authors

These Days

These Days
In Spite (2005)

"Hey, these dudes are seriously pissed." That's probably the initial thought that comes to mind when listening to These Days debut full-length. Yes indeed, the music is highly volatile and the lyrics are quite hostile at points. But don't write this Norcal hardcore outfit off as just another bro-band acting tough, for These Days are more than meets the eyes' … Read more

Multiple Authors

These Days

These Days
In Spite (2005)

These Days took the time to build a following, and then just after they released their debut full-length, they decided to take a break. This self-titled release is These Days' newest, and their best. These Days is all brand new material, except for one song, "Never Ending," which is re-recorded from their demo. Among the brand new songs is possibly … Read more

Spoon

Gimmie Fiction
Merge (2005)

Music elitists say that excellent music has not come out since the 70's; that the past thirty odd some years have been regurgitated, diluted crap. Some might admit that there have been some good bands in the past couple of years, but none of those bands are groundbreaking or memorable. And in the end, those bands are just extremely influenced … Read more

Multiple Authors

Hollow Ground

Cold Reality
Organized Crime (2005)

I can't possibly make this a lengthy review. I can't! I've tried to think of creative ways to give my opinion on this piece of melodic, tough-guy hardcore, "in the vein of Comeback Kid, Hatebreed, and Terror." But I keeping finding myself back at that very phrase which sits mid-page on the band's bio that Organized Crime sent out. "...in … Read more

The Pogues

Ultimate Collection
WEA (2005)

I've never really been a fan of "best of..." collections. Too much of the time, they are released mid-career without justification or necessity, or to fill an unusually long gap between albums. Even more often, they are used as cynical marketing ploys, or worse, in order to milk the cash cow of any given artist whom lacks longevity. At times, … Read more

The Frames

Burn the Maps
Anti (2005)

The Frames are five Dubliners, with a handful of releases already. They use a variety of instruments, ranging from piano to horns and strings, effects, concepts and atmospheric layers shaping their music around human emotion often similar to that of Radiohead and Coldplay. The Frames is: Glen Hansard (Vocals/Guitar), Colm MacConlomaire (Violin/Keyboard/Vocals), Joseph Doyle (Bass/Vocals), Robert Bochnik (Guitar), and Johnny … Read more

Multiple Authors

Hollow Ground

Cold Reality
Organized Crime (2005)

An open letter to Hollow Ground and Organized Crime Records I'm not a detective or a mind-reader. I am neither Columbo, Criswell, nor Veronica-fucking-Mars. I'm just a guy who gets a meager paycheck working with kids that likes to review albums in his spare time. Don't make me search all over the internet for information on your band. Did you … Read more

Gang Gang Dance

God's Money
The Social Registry (2005)

Rare is music that can evoke a time and a place in the mind of the listener. Rarer still is when that time and place are of an otherworldly nature, subtle and peculiar, yet strangely settling. Of course, such music is often difficult to embrace, but with enough patience it is often the best. Gang Gang Dance's second LP, God's … Read more

Hangedup

Clatter for Control
Constellation (2005)

Every so often an album seems to come out of nowhere and totally blindsides you. This is one of those albums. I initially put this on with little knowledge about it other than the fact it was released by Constellation Records (home of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, A Silver Mt Zion, Fly Pan Am etc.) Within a matter of seconds … Read more

The White Stripes

Get Behind Me Satan
V2 (2005)

The very First time I heard White Stripes I honest to God thought I was hearing a Led Zeppelin bootleg. I walked into a record store and a minute later was telling a clerk "I'll take it". It wasn't Led Zeppelin. "I'll take it anyway". That was their sophomore album De Stijl, the album I still consider as one of … Read more

Colin Of Arabia

Illegal Exhibition of Speed
Rock Vegas (2004)

The first thing I noticed when pulling this CD out of the tray, was that it was one of those full size compact discs that only uses three inches in the middle. The outer ring of the disc was clear plastic. The image screened onto the disc looked pretty menacing with the clear background. I also noticed that the band … Read more

A Day To Remember

And Their Name Was Treason
Indianola (2005)

We've all done it - you mention a band unfamiliar to your friend and they'll ask "What does it sound like?" and being lazy North Americans we'll often reply with a barrage of noteworthy names just recognizable enough to wipe the inquisitive look from our hapless chum's face, and just obscure enough to retain "street cred" with the remainder of … 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)