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)

Ryan Adams

Prisoners B Sides
Blue Note (2017)

Ryan Adams is one of the 21st centuries most prolific songwriters. Like Springsteen on speed, he just can’t seem to stop, whether it’s country, blues, metal, or an assortment of other areas for which he has lent his voice, he is constantly pushing out something new. His drive to write and produce is a great thing and has provided an amazing catalog of songs in a relatively short period of time… something like 16 in 17 years. However… the one thing that Adams did not employ during that time was the use of an editor, and it shows with his records sometimes jagged and mismatched. This all seemed to change a bit with his self-titled masterpiece Ryan Adams in 2014, and his newest record 2017’s Prisoner is fine form from beginning to end. The Prisoner sessions revolved around the dissolution of his marriage to actress Mandy Moore and it shows. He wrote an obnoxious amount of songs during this time. Fortunately for us, he edited the main record, and put the backlog of songs that didn’t make the initial cut on a Prisoner’s B-Sides record as part of a boxed set. And… keep in mind that these are the jagged … Read more

Kid You Not

Never A Dull Movement
Deep Elm (2017)

Kid You Not has some pretty clear influences behind their melodic pop-punk sound. With semi-coarse vocals that lead to big … Read more

Weezer

Pacific Daydream
Atlantic (2017)

I think that sometimes it’s really hard to review a Weezer record… I mean.. Their first record, the self-titled Blue … Read more

Watain

Trident Wolf Eclipse
Century Media (2018)

Spending any length of time with Watain will convince you of at least one thing: this is a band who … Read more

Remedy

Cool
Laserlife Records (2017)

One thing I love about split albums is that there’s more often than not one band on it that is … Read more

Book Review

Daniel Miller and Terry Burrows

Mute: A visual document from 1978 – tomorrow
Thames & Hudson (2017)

For the uninitiated, and if you are, you might want to look at changing that immediately – shame on you: … Read more

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One from the archives

Old Man Gloom

No
Hydra Head (2012)

“THEY PLAYED ‘ZOZOBRA’! THEY PLAYED ‘ZOZOBRA’!” Thank you for allowing me to get that out of my system as the shock of seeing Old Man Gloom resume the gloom only just recently is still fresh and firmly entrenched in my mind, and seeing as my wait to see the Old Man Gloom Institute for Simian Research has been much more than a decade in the making, reveling in the moment is something that I am still savoring with each memory (and the show was chock full of great moments such as their playing “Rape Athena” and the aforementioned “Zozobra”); while the band played, the new songs trickled out between well-known favorites (the new album, NO, was announced a mere days before the tour with few people having heard it, the … Read more

More album reviews

Book Review

NOFX

NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories
Da Capo Press (2017)

NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories is a comprehensive autobiography from one of the world’s most prominent punk bands that worked its way up. New aficionados as well as die-hard long time followers will discover new and interesting facts via the stories of counterfeiting, murder, terminal illness, suicide, addiction, riots, bondage, the Yakuza, and drinking urine and the other … Read more

Neil Young and The Promise of the Real

The Visitor
Reprise (2017)

Neil Young releases records at an alarming rate for a septuagenarian. It doesn’t matter, the guy gets a gold pass on whatever he releases. His recent health scare not slowing him down, yet showcasing the mortality we have seen in the recent past with Young’s friends and peers moving on at an alarming rate. Neil Young has walked a frantic … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Royal Blood

How Did We Get So Dark?
Warner Bros. (2017)

When English duo Royal Blood released their self-titled debut in 2014, i got into an argument with a friend of mine as to how many members were in the band - my friend insisting that there had to be “at least three - because just listen”. Of course we now know that this friend was very wrong and he has … Read more

Foret Endormie

Etire dans le ciel vide
Pretty Purgatory (2017)

Led by Falls of Rauros' Jordan Guerette, Foret Endormie takes quite a different route to what we can expect from the black metal guitarist. This chamber ensemble draws its influences from the past, be it the modern take on classical music implemented by the likes of Erik Satie or the poetry of the decadent movement, mainly Paul Verlaine. This is … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Living Colour

Shade
Megaforce (2017)

When Living Colour toured earlier this year performing their debut album Vivid for the almost 30 year anniversary, a lot of folks were ecstatic, thinking one of their favorite bands were back together again. Problem is, they hadn’t broken up. I mean they did for a few years in the '90s, but they’ve been touring and making music together since … Read more

Marilyn Manson

Heaven Upside Down
Loma Vista Recordings (2017)

It's a different world than when Manson made his debut over two decades ago and scared the shit out of everyone. He scared us because things felt relatively safe and calm. He was like a monster scaring a child out of the peaceful tranquility of their bed. Now that things are fucking bananas and chaos reigns and we know exactly … Read more

Japanese Breakfast

Soft Sounds From Another Planet
Dead Oceans (2017)

All the best albums are made for mood. Some for when you’re feeling happy and carefree, and some for when you’re driving around the city in the pouring rain, with the neon lights of seafood restaurants and used car dealerships shimmering through your windshield and your tears. Japanese Breakfast is the latter, and Soft Sounds From Another Planet excels in … Read more

Chelsea Wolfe

Hiss Spun
Sargent House (2017)

Darkness isn’t something everybody can access within themselves. Some are afraid to explore those shadowy recesses, some deny they exist, and some embrace it and find a cathartic release through some outlet of their choosing.Luckily for us, Chelsea Wolfe would appear to be in the latter category. To describe her music by any particular genre would only seem dismissive. Tawdry, … Read more

Matt Cameron

Cavedweller
Dine Alone (2017)

Matt Cameron has long been the kind of drummer that most drummers wish they were. Seemingly able to play anything - to bounce from project-to-project with nary a blurred line. In short, Matt Cameron knows his shit. It would be fair to say that despite being the drummer for Pearl Jam since 1998, Cameron will forever be inexorably linked to … Read more

Converge

The Dusk In Us
Epitaph\Deathwish Inc (2017)

Out of all the bands painted with the seemingly ubiquitous metalcore tag, Converge seem both the most likely to accept the term graciously and rip your throat out for the mere suggestion. But really, they are a true amalgam of both - the sound is the heavy and the vocals and attitude are the core.The Dusk In Us is the … Read more

Code Orange

Forever
Roadrunner (2017)

Code Orange are really hardcore. Not the genre, the noun. As a descriptive and an ethos, they wear it well. Forever is the band's first album with Roadrunner Records and it's gargantuan, throwing down the gauntlet for the next generation of heavy music.It's probably no coincidence that the band hail from Pittsburgh, because there's a strong working-class sound and attitude … Read more

Book Review

Mark Lanegan

I Am the Wolf
Da Capo Press (2017)

I came late to the party when it comes to Mark Lanegan and his career. It was him opening for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in 2013 and I was instantly overcome with the feeling that I have missed out on an intriguing man and his works. Delving into his oeuvre and myriad of collaborations, among which the ones … Read more

Iron Chic

You Can't Stay Here
Side One Dummy (2017)

Iron Chic has its own kind of poetry. It’s not quite the Off With Their Heads level of self-hatred, but it’s highly self-deprecating to the point of feeling playful and overblown in its drama. Throughout the entire 11-song You Can’t Stay Here there are dozens of snippets I could grab to express this tone. "I’m a stone, you’re a featherJust … Read more

Gone is Gone

Echolocation
Rise (2017)

Mastodon are no stranger to side projects. Hell, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds has released two in the last year alone, with his new Legend of the Seagullmen album due in September. Brann Dailor released Arcadea, also on this years’ top 25 list, and Bill Kelliher doesn’t need your goddamn validation!Gone is Gone is the amalgamation of Mastodon bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist … Read more

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