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)

Death Grips

Niggas On The Moon
Harvest / Third Worlds (2014)

Death Grips have been making a strong and confrontational statement in music since their inception. Zach Hill (Former drummer extraordinaire for Hella), Stefan "MC Ride" Burnett, and Andy "Flatlander" Morin have been making caustic rap punk that always leaves first-time listeners at a loss for words. Their self-described "accelerated music" contains samples that range from "Up The Beach" by Jane's Addiction, "Rise Above" by Black Flag, "Brass Monkey" by the Beastie Boys, and "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Astronomy Domine" by Pink Floyd. They have even sampled Venus Williams' serve grunt. With heavy distortion, her yell fits well with the other eclectic found pieces throughout Death Grips' repertoire. Niggas On The Moon is part of a double LP titled The Powers That B. All songs feature distorted millisecond vocal samples from Icelandic singer, Bjork. The album is just what we expect from Death Grips, the unexpected.Niggas On The Moon begins with "Up My Sleeve," a hauntingly mid-paced orgy of static, feedback, and industrial instrumentals. MC Ride begins chanting the mantra “up my sleeve” that contain heavy satanic ritual undertones. MC Ride yells “tsk tsk tsk / my terra cotta army/ dis-arms me / dis-arms me / awesome / awesome / awesome” which … Read more

Clad In Darkness

Decathect
Independent (2014)

Good things come to those who wait. It's a cliché, yes, but for Clad in Darkness that old adage rings … Read more

The People's Temple

Musical Garden
Hozac Records (2014)

It may be an antiquated notion, but there are just some names that you can trust. Names that were built … Read more

Rabbit Holes

Rabbit Holes EP
Big Action (2014)

Big Action Records doesn’t pump out a ton of releases and, when they do, they run the geographical gamut. The … Read more

Street Eaters

Blood::Muscles::Bones
Nervous Intent (2014)

Bands are seemingly judged differently on their sophomore outings: where does it change, does it meet expectation, does it show … Read more

Diarrhea Planet

Yama-Uba EP (Reissue)
Infinity Cat (2014)

Showing up a few years after the group’s 2009 debut Aloha, Diarrhea Planet’s 2011 three-track EP Yama-Uba is a more … Read more

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One from the archives

The Stooges

The Weirdness
Virgin (2007)

This metaphor has been used in other instances and with different figures at the head of the punchline. But believe me when I say that when the smoke clears after the apocalypse, be it biblical or manufactured, the only thing left alive will be cockroaches and Iggy Pop. Mr. Pop has had about as wild and varied a career as just about anyone that released a debut album in the 60's that is still around today to talk about it. His music has been covered by countless artists including, but not limited to, Siouxie and the Banshees, Rage Against the Machine, The Sex Pistols, Tom Jones, The Damned, R.E.M. and Grace Jones, not to mention the ubiquitous "Lust For Life," which has become the media anthem for well, just about … Read more

More album reviews

Diarrhea Planet

Aloha (Reissue)
Infinity Cat (2014)

Formed in 2009, Nashville, Tennessee’s Diarrhea Planet initially were known for their goofy name more than anything else, but with the 2014 reissue of their first EP Aloha, it becomes possible to see why their reputation has only grown over the past few years. A full on assault of wicked, snarling guitar licks, punchy rhythms and amusingly vulgar lyrics, this … Read more

Olekranon

Danaus
Inam Records (2013)

When a band or label is as difficult to track down as Olekranon or Inam Records, then you know you're in for an experience. The chap behind Olekranon - Ryan Huber - is also the chap behind the label but getting a hold of them via the magic of the internet has proved to be a fruitless endeavour. There's a … Read more

Ulver

Messe I.X - VI.X
Jester (2013)

It has been quite a time since one could easily quantify Ulver and what they do as a unit. Garm has made no secret that he remains generally uninterested in what Ulver began as and remains focussed on following whatever muse may take him. So for the early years when there was an emphasis on Black Metal to the middle … Read more

Gholas

Litanies
Dullest Records (2014)

Taking their name from the universe of Dune, this intriguing band releases its latest record, Litanies. Post metal might be the easiest way of describing Gholas but that would be unfair to their much deeper and more complex nature.The beginning of the album comes in and hits you straight in the face with “…And the Lives Come Flooding,” as the … Read more

Eyehategod

Eyehategod
Housecore (2014)

With their first full-length album in 14 years (save for an EP of sorts in 2005 and a 7" in 2012), it's almost one's gut instinct to remark that Eyehategod haven't missed a beat in all that time and sound as lethal now as they did on 2000's Confederacy of Ruined Lives. However, to gloss over those nearly 15 years … Read more

White Lung

Deep Fantasy
Domino (2014)

Deep Fantasy is pissed off, but it could still use a good angry howl every so often.The record, the third from Vancouver’s White Lung, is their first on Domino Records and was recorded as a trio (though they still tour as a quartet). The band has seen its fair share of comparisons to Pretty Girls Make Graves and this release … Read more

Northless

World Keeps Sinking
Gilead Media (2013)

Milwaukee's Northless have long been trudging within their brand a somewhat sprawling sludge. The band have consistently input further measures of post rock textures into their sound to create something a little bit more different from the norm. While still remaining mostly true to sludge on the whole the band seem to create something a little bit more tuneful and … Read more

Andrew Jackson Jihad

Christmas Island
Side One Dummy (2014)

Andrew Jackson Jihad make a return on their new label home, Side One Dummy, after a long tenure on Asian Man Records. Usually when a band makes a jump after a long run, many find a cause for concern. I assure you, there's nothing to worry about. The lyrics are as offbeat as ever and the compositions are still whimsical … Read more

Dark Model

Dark Model
Independent (2014)

If you find yourself loving classical or orchestral pieces, but would just enjoy something with a little more electronic funky vibe this is what you’re looking for. I imagine such wide varieties for this music and it can fit with many of my moods. None of these songs have lyrics but the music speaks for itself. I find myself lost … Read more

Off!

Wasted Years
Vice (2014)

I generally hate punctuation in a band name, but it’s uncommonly fitting with Off!. Sure, they only included it to keep the pesticide theme going, but every scrap of vitriol that Keith Morris shouts out in the lyrics deserves to be followed with the exclamation point. It’s loud, shocked, and direct as hell. Almost every song uses the first or … Read more

Parquet Courts

Sunbathing Animal
Whats Your Rupture? (2014)

Four years on in a career that’s seen them work on perfecting the brand of quirky 1990s alt rock of bands like the acclaimed Pavement and not-so-fondly-remembered Harvey Danger, Brooklyn’s Parquet Courts return with 2014’s Sunbathing Animal, an album that may be most surprising for the fact that it’s very nearly the equal of the band’s well-received debut, 2012’s Light … Read more

Bane

Don't Wait Up
Equal Vision (2014)

It has been literally years since I have been so taken with a hardcore record, and I am not talking about saying that you love a record with all your being; but rather I am talking about living with the record and sleeping with the record still going on in your desperate feverish brain while some batch of loveable hooligans … Read more

Ævangelist

Omen Ex Simulacra
Debemur Morti Productions (2013)

Omen Ex Simulacra is a difficult record - one that twists and forms new shapes as it progresses, one that falls into an unfathomable abyss and crawls back out again. It’s dark, overwhelming and grossly pregnant with malevolence and the base duo of Ævangelist are masters of noise control, giving their record a cacophony of sounds to work with and … Read more

Fucked Up

Glass Boys
Matador (2014)

Even though I’ve listened to some of their material, I hadn't really plunged deep into Fucked Up-mania. It wasn’t until I checked out their new song “Paper The House” that I became captivated by the music of this tumultuous, rudely-named band. The tribal drum intro, the ecstatic guitar duel, and barechested frontman Damian Abraham’s face-melting, guttural howls make Glass Boys’ … Read more

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