It has only been a couple of months since I use a music app (other than Bandcamp). At first I was mad with it, as it was suggesting music I should like which was either total crap or so much unlike my taste that I thought someone else might be using my account. Anyway, one day this app suggested I might want to listen to Turnstile. At first I got mad at it again (just listen to the first few seconds of opening track “Mystery”), but once the band really started, I decided to stick around for a while. During my first listen of this album, I figured this would go down the same route as the previous albums of Turnstile: heard it once, never went back to it again. But the next day, as I was thinking about what I wanted to listen to, I thought: how about Turnstile? That's happened a lot since then. As easy as I find this album to listen to, it's difficult to find a label for the music on it. This used to be a hardcore band, but they have long since passed that station. The roots are still there, but there is … Read more
Power Power of Power of Neon Power of Christ Power of Neon Christ Compels You! I cast you out! Your … Read more
It’s not often I run into a musical project like Lyra Pramuk’s. She is the kind of artist that did … Read more
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Calling your band “Cunts” and releasing some sort of grindcore or blackened death album wouldn’t really be a big shocker. It wouldn’t take a whole lot of balls or thought to do. But calling your band Cunts and releasing a more-melodic-than-extreme hardcore album complete with a Tom Waits cover takes a little bit more ingenuity.Comprised of Retox twinsies Michael Crain and Kevin Avery, Matt Cronk of Qui and rounded out by Sterling Riley and Keith Hendrickson, Cunts is what happens when the need for the catharsis of contempt collides with a rapture of apathy.Songs like "Supervised Visits", "A Hero’s Welcome" and "Fuck You For Your Service" only seek to hammer home the hatred. Oh and if that’s not enough, the cover depicts Jesus blowing Baphomet if you’re into that sort … Read more
Heart & Lung released their debut in 2017, then Red Scare reissued it last year, putting it on my radar. The band is from Cleveland, OH, playing melodic pop-punk with gruff moments. While the debut was fairly call-and-response in song structure, Twistin’ The Knife Away mixes up the songwriting quite a bit throughout its 11 songs. And, as that title … Read more
German thrash metal giants Sodom have released a 20th anniversary remastered edition of their tenth studio album M-16 (2001), unleashed in three formats: a glossy CD mediabook, 2 LP 180gm orange vinyl and a deluxe boxset. The CD and LP releases contain two previously unreleased live tracks "Remember The Fallen" and "Blasphemer" from Wacken 2001 as well as some exclusive … Read more
Northern Town is a fitting title for this album. It feels like winter: cold, lonely, and daunting. It’s the third record from The Right Here, based in Minneapolis, MN, one of the northernmost cities in the continental US. The band play alt-country with punk undertones. The songs are a little more expansive than your standard punk thang, with more lament, … Read more
Chances are that if you dig underground music, you will harbour an appreciation for Joy Division and New Order. If you close your eyes and envision Ian Curtis and co in their heyday, chances are what will appear is a depiction that has been channelled through the lens of Kevin Cummins, a photographer that like no other depicted the band … Read more
Fuck These Fucking Fascists is the fourth full-length by the Muslims, and their first on Epitaph. As the name suggests, it’s complex music steeped in subtle political theory. Just kidding. This is straight-up angry, screamy punk with overt politics. Which is often needed, especially in the current environment. Besides the title track, other song titles include “Crotch Pop A Cop,” … Read more
The slack jawed audio sample that begins this EP sets a tone like many other humorous pop punk groups, a promising sign. Southern Arizona’s Pop Icons instantly launch into a full throttle punk sound that reminds me of many things I’ve heard before. Catchy lyrics and sharp chords played on distorted guitars sounds very normal and competent. Two vocalists trade … Read more
When Send More Paramedics announced a brief reformation to play a handful of shows celebrating 20 years of reanimation no one expected them to chuck out a brand new 9-track album but they surprised us all by doing just so. The Final Feast is their first studio album release in 15 years, the last being The Awakening (2006). Listening to … Read more
I’ve been fighting the urge to just quote John Hoffman from when I interviewed another one of his bands, The Mimes, earlier this year, because I think he described his songwriting style really well in it. Instead, you get a vague, shameless plug, though I’ll circle back after more explanation. On their latest offering, Vacation hasn’t wildly changed. Existential Risks … Read more
Within the canon of American countercultural rock bands of the 1960s, there is hardly one that stands out more than The Doors - not merely because of their musical output but due to the controversy the trailblazing riddle hidden an enigma that was their frontman Jim Morrison embodied with his beautifully erratic and mythological persona. Formed in 1965, the core … Read more
It took Znous exactly one year to release a new EP. You will not hear me complaining about this. Avid readers of this site will remember I was very fond of Znousland 2, which I discovered half a year after its release. I described the sound of this Tunisian band as a mix of modern metal bands (Sepultura and Ministry … Read more
Despite having parted way more than twelve years ago, Oasis and the way they have diligently and borderline religiously channelled their Beatles worship continues to be one of the most influential British bands of all time. No matter if you were into what was labelled “Cool Britannia” in the 1990s or do not dig them, chances are that you do … Read more
I’m always on the prowl for dreamy music, especially metal. It’s harder to find things that fit that descriptor in the metal area too. After discovering sometime three or so years ago ISON, I somehow didn’t run into Light Field Reverie until earlier this year. My surprise arises from the fact that former ISON vocalist, Heike Langhans performs vocals on … Read more
Dennis: When browsing through new releases in my overflowing inbox I decided to go for Slow Crush. It is released on Church Road Records, a sympathetic new label and mentioned shoegaze, dream pop and indie rock. I may not have the deepest of knowledge on this genre, but enough to give you an honest opinion. To my surprise I was … Read more
When it comes to what is referred to as “post-punk” and repetitive-driven guitar sounds accompanied by tense, circular bass lines and grimy, otherworldly vocals with the an enigma of a frontman meandering through tropes of British magic realism that seemed to be fuelled in equal parts by uppers and downers, you cannot go past The Fall. After the untimely demise … Read more
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