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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)

Dumbells

Up Late With
Mind Melt Records (2025)

When I started my end of year list this year I asked my pal Joel from Portland’s Dumpies to share his best of 2025 playlist with me. Several songs caught my attention which I, in turn, went and checked out the albums from which they had come. The one that has quickly climbed up my year end list over the past few weeks is Up Late With by Sydney, Australia’s Dumbells. Featuring Ishka Edmeades aka Teevee Repairman, also of Satanic Togas and sometimes Gee Tee, all of whom/which I am a huge fan but none of whom/which this sounds much like. This album actually came out last January but since no one at SPB wrote about it when it came out I wanted to give it a very last minute review. Let me take you even further back in time to 2012 when I saw Kyle Thomas aka King Tuff play with Southern California’s Audacity as his backing band. I was already a fan of King Tuff’s first record Was Dead and in turn became a fan of Audacity’s 2nd album Mellow Cruisers from that year. Not to say Dumbells are psychedelic folk or surf punk but some of the … Read more

Osiah

Aion
Unique Leader (2025)

Deathcore is a genre that’s constantly threatening to eat itself alive. For every band trying to push boundaries, there are … Read more

Ramleh

Hyper Vigilance
Sleeping Giant Glossolalia (2025)

Ramleh is a cornerstone of the UK industrial and noise underground. Staring out in the early '80s, they are one … Read more

Crippling Alcoholism

Camgirl
Portrayal of Guilt Records (2025)

Crippling Alcoholism have always navigated a delicate balance between musical depth and immediacy. A blend that few bands attempt, let … Read more

The Necks

Disquiet
Northern Spy (2025)

There are no signs of slowing down for Australian jazz masters The Necks. Following the release of the excellent Bleed … Read more

The Eradicator

You Can Hate The Eradicator
Independent (2025)

Is The Eradicator a joke that's been going for 10 years (the band), or for 35 (the skit)? Does it … Read more

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One from the archives

Speaky

Mashcore Volume 2
Independent (2008)

200 Words Or Less

Over this past summer, file-sharing fiends around the world rallied behind the leak of the new Girl Talk album. Everyone felt pretty suave for getting such a hyped item before its release date, although many were confused at how different the new album sounded. Unfortunately, soon after that they all found out that this leak wasn't Girl Talk at all, but a mash-up DJ called Speaky, also hailing from Pennsylvania. This fake leak was Speaky's Mashcore Voume. 2, his second collection of sample-based remixes. Many immediately rejected this as being downright awful after they found out they had been duped, but I decided to take a few more listens to see how Speaky actually stood against Girl Talk. What I found is that it's really not too bad. I'm not … Read more

More album reviews

Prayer Group

Strawberry
Reptilian Records (2025)

Standing between genres can act as a vantage point. For Prayer Group, sitting at the intersection between noise rock and hardcore has armed them with the necessary arsenal to propel their anger and frustration forward. And so, through a series of EPs and singles, this work culminated in their 2022 debut full-length, Michael Dose, where The Jesus Lizard methodology collided … Read more

The Goslings

Plexuses, Planes
Independent (2025)

For experimental rock artists torn between noise-rock abrasion and torturous drone immersion, one side usually wins. It is either a certain sentimental and ethereal quality or an oppressive noise dimension that prevails. But there are some acts that can balance between these worlds. Names like The Angelic Process, and of course Low exemplify this strange balance in different ways. A … Read more

Bee Bee Sea

Stanzini Can Be Allright
Wild Honey Records (2025)

I believe the first I heard of this album was when Wild Honey released the limited edition It’s All About The Music concept 7” EP back in July. Exclusively released for the Punk Rock Raduno festival, IAATM is a three song 7” but only sort of? The concept: one garage-rock anthem, three versions- one is slowed down, one is regular … Read more

Second Harbour

Coalesce EP
Sharptone (2025)

Formed around the tight-knit chemistry of brothers Xavier and Vincent Morency with drummer John Muggianu, Canada’s Second Harbour are that rare modern post-hardcore band that sound equally comfortable bleeding and building. Their new four-song EP, Coalesce, marks both their SharpTone Records debut and their clearest creative statement yet. The title isn’t just poetic, it’s literal. This is where the band’s … Read more

Stay The Course

Red Flag
Punkerton Records (2025)

Hailing from Wichita, Kansas, Stay The Course brings their brand of pop-punk/easycore onto the scene. This is the band’s second album and is being released courtesy of Punkerton Records out of Ohio. What started out as a 5-song EP, developed into a 10 song LP. The band re-recorded some of the material from their back catalog and added some new … Read more

Witness Chamber

Bronze Gates
Brain Floss (2025)

Straight out of Boise’s unforgiving hardcore pipeline, the band Witness Chamber returns with Bronze Gates, their most suffocating and sharpened release yet. Seven tracks with zero breathing room. If you’ve followed the band since 2021’s Paradise Awaits EP or the 2023’s True Delusion, you already know they’ve never been subtle. However, this time the punishment feels sacramental. It’s straight edge … Read more

Home Front

Watch It Die
La Vida Es Un Mus Discos Punk (2025)

There's a song on Watch It Die called "Dancing With Anxiety," a title that wraps up Home Front's style quite well. Because I like to beat metaphors to a pulp, maybe also consider "Between The Waves" as another title that captures how they straddle the punk and new wave worlds. Home Front plays street punk with a lot of synth … Read more

PitchBlack

Walking on Burning Ground
Producciones Paganas (2025)

Formed in the mid-2000s, PitchBlack have always been one of Danish metal’s most overlooked heavy hitters. A band is sitting between old-school melodeath grit and European thrash aggression, building a reputation on intensity instead of trends. They debuted with Designed to Dislike in 2007, followed it with The Devilty in 2011 (which landed them spots at Copenhell and Download UK), … Read more

Speed

All My Angels EP
Flatspot Records, Last Ride Records (2025)

If you haven’t hopped on the SPEED train when they broke through, now is the time. The band formed in Sydney and blew past “local band” status the second the world caught up to what Australia already knew. BIPOC-fronted, community-driven, and fueled by the belief that hardcore is supposed to mean something. They went from DIY shows to global festivals … Read more

Anna von Hausswolff

Iconoclasts
Year0001 (2025)

One of the most distinct voices of the current generation, Anna von Hausswolff's sound is wide and far-reaching. From dark ambient atmospherics and organ music fixation, to noise rock momentum and neo-classical arrangements, her music always balances a primordial ritualism and contemporary applications. It is an ongoing process, one that Anna has been refining over the years. In 2018, the … Read more

Radioactivity

Time Won't Bring Me Down
Dirtnap, Wild Honey Records (2025)

"When I've had enough of modern life, I go back to my analog ways." It's a simple quote, yet it captures so much about Radioactivity. It's been 10 years since the band released Silent Kill, and this time around the Jeff Burke-led group shows clear growth and change, while still capturing the same vibe as the previous two records. In … Read more

Tony Molina

On This Day
Slumberland Records (2025)

I went to a birthday party for my wife and six or seven other friends and acquaintances last night. I guess people liked having sex in January in the late 70s-early 80s? In Canada at least, that’s how we keep warm in the winter! Anyway, I was foraging at the smorgasbord with a couple former co-workers talking about my recent … Read more

Often Wrong

The Figs Are Starting to Rot
Far From Home Records (2025)

Often Wrong is an emo/grunge/screamo hybrid born out of the DIY scene. It was built through the kind of friendships that start in basements, not boardrooms. The band formed in 2024 and quickly started carving out their own lane. They are blending fragile, journal-entry emo with blown-out guitars and throat-shredding catharsis. They’re signed to Far From Home Records, a label … Read more

Armor for Sleep

There Is No Memory
Equal Vision (2025)

Armor For Sleep return with an album that treats memory like a weapon. It’s delicate, devastating, and impossible to disarm. For those who may not be as old as me and missed their emergence into the emo/indie scene, the Teaneck, New Jersey band started in 2001. Led by frontman Ben Jorgensen, they dropped gems like Dream to Make Believe (2003) … Read more

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