Recent reviews

Our latest album reviews, featuring the records we've most enjoyed (or not) over the past few weeks.

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

Nightmarathons

Missing Parts
A-F (2019)

Nightmarathons are a tough band to pin down. Sure, they fit somewhere under that ever-widening punk umbrella, but it pulls from different areas without fitting neatly into any single substyle. To make a blanket statement, I’d say its heavily influenced by ‘00s punk across the board, with different singers who take the songs in different directions. There’s some first wave emo pull, some singalong urgency, plus more complex progressions that veer into new territory. The word “melodic” is the most prominent term used in other descriptions, and that’s what pulls it all together. It’s somewhat mid-tempo punk that’s thoughtful and emotional in approach. Subtleties in progressions and vocal delivery are what define the energy. Opening “Waiting Room” really sets the tone. The lyrics are personal and pained, seeking absolution from the day’s pain. The vocal and guitar tradeoffs keep the energy pushing forward. To get all metaphorical, the lyrics push uphill and then the music then seamlessly rolls downhill, gaining a momentum that offsets the negativity. It’s not an every-other-verse or song-by-song vocal tradeoff. Instead it’s often a verse-to-chorus transition and a rotation of the lead vocal role, more akin to latter era Lawrence Arms in that sense, letting each … Read more

Various Artists

The Bananas/Rivers Edge - split
Lifer Tapes (2018)

It had been a long time since I’d listened to The Bananas – and I have to ask myself why. … Read more

Radical Fun Time

There Is Only One Race The HUMAN RACE EP
Dilapidated Records (2018)

What’s in a name? Radical Fun Time. Well, it is radical. Just take a look at that artwork. Someone had … Read more

Landfill Crew

Landfill Crew
Pirates Press (2018)

I’m sure fictitious bands are a fun concept for the musicians writing the material, but I could care less if … Read more

Wang Wen

Invisible City
PELAGIC RECORDS (2018)

China isn’t the first country you think of when it comes to rock music but over the last two decades, … Read more

Dear Boy

The Strawberry EP
Easy Hell (2019)

Los Angeles quartet Dear Boy are firm favourites in their hometown's indie scene, but their new EP suggests that they … Read more

Browse our review archives

Reviews by year

Choose a year to view reviews of albums released in that year.

Reviews by artist name

Choose a letter to view reviews ordered by that letter (band name first).

Review categories

200 Words Or Less

753 reviews

Book Review

42 reviews

Classic Album

25 reviews

Multiple Authors

300 reviews

Review

4979 reviews

Video/DVD Review

19 reviews

One from the archives

Demen

Nektyr
Kranky (2017)

To get a label's attention in this age is hard. Especially trying to do so through the traditional email approach. But for Demen, that method worked, and the folks over at Kranky were taken aback by the solo project of Irna Orm. Not much is known about Orm, other than she is behind the solo project Demen, and that she hails from Sweden. All this background adds to this mystique surrounding the project and the release of its debut album, Nektyr.From the very start of the record, there is one name that will magically appear in your mind: This Mortal Coil. The dark characteristic sound of the 4AD collective has inspired the essence of Demen's sound. The ambient settings, the minimal instrumentations, the glacial pacing and amidst all a brilliant … Read more

More album reviews

Basement Benders

Shrapnel Songs
Dead Broke Rekerds (2019)

I recently wrote about Future Virgins, stating that the band tempers their anger, choosing more subtle reflection in their songwriting to express that always important human emotion. I guess I know where the band’s members let it out.Basement Benders play a somewhat lo-fi melodic punk with a lot of vocal tradeoffs that pull together with joined melodies. It’s a pop … Read more

ESC Life

Born To Be Mild
PDV Records/Last Exit Music/Ill In The Head Records/Bartolini Records (2019)

When I received the promo for Born To Be Mild the first thing that struck me was the artwork. It matched with the (previously discussed) EP, but not at all with their previous, debut album, Access All Areas. What I like about the artwork of Access All Areas is the dreamy, relaxed atmosphere that oozes from the picture. The artwork … Read more

The Bouncing Souls

Crucial Moments EP
Rise (2019)

This is the 30th year of The Bouncing Souls, which seems crazy in many ways – including that I’ve been listening to them for nearly 25 of those years. This year is a milestone for the band: a big international tour, this new EP, even a book of memorabilia for the diehards.I’ve had a bit of a love/indifferent relationship with … Read more

Good Shade

Way Out
Dirtnap (2019)

Dirtnap is a fascinating label in how they’ve developed a certain sound to their releases, regardless of what part of the world or what particular scene the musicians hail from. Sure, there’s the Marked Men connection with many of their releases, but that’s only a piece of what the label has put out.Good Shade is Shane Natalie, a one-man band … Read more

Pkew Pkew Pkew

Optimal Lifestyles
Dine Alone (2019)

There’s a lot I want to say about this album, but I’m torn because I try to keep things more positive. I’ve given it a lot of thought and a lot of listens, and I just don’t like it. At its best, it’s a pop-punk version of The Hold Steady – and that’s not in that oversimplified “recommended if you … Read more

Barnett + Coloccia

VLF
Sige (2019)

Alex Barnett and Faith Coloccia are both distinguished members of the experimental ambient music scene, and have already proved that they are a force to be reckoned with when they collaborate. The duo has previously released two intriguing records of experimental, drone goodness in their debut record Retrieval and their sophomore full-length Weld. What was striking about the collaborations of … Read more

Cellar Doors

Cellar Doors
Hear Here (2019)

The distance between San Francisco and Manchester is 5,000 miles, but Californian psychedelic trio Cellar Doors are determined to bridge that distance on their self-titled debut album. The band is already making waves across the Atlantic, having caught the attention of ex-Smiths drummer Mike Joyce and enlisting Inspiral Carpets frontman Stephen Holt as their manager, and their album sounds as … Read more

Hexvessel

All Tree
Secret Trees (2019)

Hexvessel’s pastoral folk has been gradually building momentum since their inception ten years ago and on All Tree, their fifth album, this forward motion comes to a beautifully morose head with songs that live in the undergrowth and call to mind ancient mossy forests and a longing for simpler times. While Hexvessel’s music is charming on the surface, what lies … Read more

Vandoliers

Forever
Bloodshot (2019)

There’s a lot to like on Forever, the third album from Vandoliers. They play a hybrid country-punk that’s a bit too upbeat for No Depression and too gritty for traditional country, while pulling influence from a number of Texas musical styles along the way. It’s a six-piece group, complete with guitar, drum, and bass, but also fiddle, brass, and more. … Read more

The Ejector Seats

Blueprint For A Miserable Existence
Collision Course Records (2018)

The Ejector Seats is a bit of a mystery band to me; it’s pretty hard to find anything about them online. I've learned about two other bands with this name, and a lot about ejector seats in general, but not a lot about the band in question. Discogs tells me the band members have adopted names like Fluffy, Ty Lennol, … Read more

American Steel

State of Grace
Fat Wreck Chords (2018)

American Steel always felt a bit under the radar, despite releasing albums on Lookout and Fat Wreck. While they’ve been on well-known labels, they don’t get the same accolades as some of their peers. It feels fitting, in that way, that the band just released a new 7” seemingly out of nowhere. The band hadn’t even played together in five … Read more

Beaten To Death

Agronomicon
Mas-Kina Records (2018)

Does fun belong in music? Or more specifically: does fun belong in grindcore? And I don’t mean the porn or gore variant (I admit, some of those guys make me smile occasionally), just your regular meat and taters grindcore. The crazy heavy metallers of Beaten To Death seem to think so. How else to explain this album title of song … Read more

Rome

Le Ceneri Di Heliodoro
Trisol Music Group (2019)

Rome’s musical output has been incredibly prolific over the last decade and a half of the project’s existence. Releasing albums at the rate of practically one every year, Rome has much to say and the band is Jerome Reuter’s way of expressing many emotions and opinions on revolution, love and the way forward, all within the neofolk genre in one … Read more

Dark/Light

Dark Slash Light
Dirt Cult (2018)

Portland’s Dark/Light pronounces their name phonetically, including the punctuation. They’re doubling down on that element by naming this 7”, released this past June, Dark Slash Light. SPB had the pleasure of hosting their earlier LP, Kill Some Time.As for this 4-song, 9-minute release, it keeps going in that tradition of gritty and to-the-point punk that pulls from ‘80s punk roots … Read more

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