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AFI

AFI (The Blood Album)
Concord Music Group (2017)

Album number ten for the ever-evolving Californian four piece, whose shift in sound from skate punk to hardcore to "goth punk" to pop-influenced radio rock to... whatever 2009's Crash Love was... is well documented. And now here we are, after the gritty, aggressive Burials: a self-titled album also known as "The Blood Album".At first listen it's not too dissimilar from … Read more

Civil War Rust

Help Wanted
Say-10 (2015)

With Help Wanted, California’s Civil War Rust aren’t inventing any new sounds but they’re delivering heartfelt, direct punk rock in a familiar and comforting tone. It leans more toward the introspective and personal, pop-structured and relatively clean in production while letting the energy and emotion carry the tunes. I made a repeated (early period) Alkaline Trio comparison when I reviewed … Read more

Blessed

Blessed EP
Coin Toss Records/Kingfisher Blues (2016)

Don't you just love how you know what you're going to get from just the name of a band? Just think of all those verb-the-noun bands out there. Not so with simple band names. The name Blessed does not give much to work with. The cover art is a good second hint of what you're getting yourself into. With an … Read more

Ódú

Conversations EP
Independent (2017)

Ódú, aka Sally Ó Dúnlaing, is an Irish singer songwriter who crafts sonic heartbreak packaged in a glossy sheen of danceable pop. Born in New York and raised in the Irish seaside town of Bray, Ó Dúnlaing's Conversations EP is the singer's first foray into putting her music on record. After a period of time spent questioning whether she was … Read more

Lorn

Arrayed Claws
I, Voidhanger (2017)

I still remember when Lorn released their debut full-length, Towards the Abyss of Disease, where their raw and unapologetic black metal blew me away. Their sound was well structured, and even though it was not diverging from the core of the genre, they achieved in building a distinct sound, within the traditional boundaries. Unfortunately, releases have been quite sparse for … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Various Artists

Wonk Unit/Raging Nathans - split
Drunken Sailor (2016)

This split 7” from a US band and a UK band carries a surprisingly unified sound over its four songs, two from each band. The record starts with Raging Nathans and their whoa-oh pop-punk that sounds like it’s just a hair faster than it’s supposed to be – in a good way. Listening to their two songs brings a number … Read more

Code

Lost Signal
Agonia (2017)

There is a lot of history in Code's DNA. When releasing their debut album, they were considered a type of supergroup, including members such as Vicotnik of Dodheimsgard and Aiwarikiar of Ulver in their line-up, as well as Kvohst, who would later become the new vocalist of Dodheimsgard. With an album such as Nouveau Gloaming it is fairly difficult to … Read more

Need

Need
Independent (2016)

Some bands just make things difficult for those interested in the band. Some bands do so by making complicated music. Need is not one of those bands. Need makes things unnecessary complicated by choosing a name that will not soon pop up after searching for it online. And by making a self-titled album they are not making the search much … Read more

Pears

Green Star
Fat Wreck Chords (2016)

It’s been a while since I thought about the Fat Wreck effect, where a band signs to the San Francisco label and then releases a notably “Fat styled” album. Propagandhi’s How to Clean Everything is the biggest example to come to mind, but it was a thing people talked about in the ‘90s. You know, besides talking about baggy pants, … Read more

Andrew Paley

Sirens
Paper + Plastick/Make My Day (2016)

Perhaps best known as the frontman of Vermont post-punk band The Static Age, Andrew Paley has never been shy about his penchant for playing solo acoustic songs. Where The Static Age's sound is sound is distantly confrontational and awash with the vivid colours of late nights, Paley's solo work has mostly been more reflective and vulnerable, like the sounds of … Read more

Enmeshed

The Egesal
Independent (2016)

There is very little information available about who Enmeshed is, other than that they are a four piece band, releasing their debut album The Egesal. With an interesting setup, including electroacoustic guitar, drums (alongside drum machines) and tenor electric guitar, they like to blend diverse sounds, within an overall experimental extreme doom setting. Their vision for The Egesal is quite … Read more

Bad Sports

Living with Secrets
Dirtnap (2016)

Bad Sports are coming into their own. They’ve always been a solid Denton, TX hyphen-rock band but on their new EP, Dirtnap’s Living With Secrets, the nuances are starting to pull together a little more and the “influenced by” is harder to decipher. The first third or so of the record takes the commodified Denton garage-punk sound in a new … Read more

Video/DVD Review

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

One More Time With Feeling
Independent (2016)

There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief - that is how ancient Greek tragedians put it. Grief and beauty. Parallels between the literate wisdom, apocalyptic imagery, emotional and romantic density and weight in Cave’s oeuvre and the emissions of the ancient Greek are manifold. The expression of love that no pain can erode.One … Read more

NOFX

First Ditch Effort
Fat Wreck Chords (2016)

It’s probably been a decade (maybe two) since anyone reviewed a NOFX record without starting out by talking about “knowing what to expect.” The band has their sound down pat and I’ll spare them the skatepunk adjectives except to say that new LP First Ditch Effort doesn’t change it up. The only shift here, if it is one, is that … Read more

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