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)

Blackrat

Whiskey and Blasphemy
Xnihilo Records (2013)

Whiskey and Blasphemy (Xnihilo Records), the 11-song debut album from Canadian trio Blackrat, is a grittily produced 28 minutes of totes gnarly extreme metal. Like holy metalheads Aura Noir and Sodom, Blackrat combines the Satanic themes and rawness of black metal with the speedy guitars of thrash metal, resulting in some good ol’ black/thrash crossover.The blast-beats, violent vocal screams, and hardcore guitars make Whiskey and Blasphemy insanely moshable. The album starts off with the unmerciful instrumental “Invocation of the Horned Rat;” that title alone sends chills down my back. “Armageddon Slut” comes in a little under half-way through the album. It’s two minutes of lo-fi metal packed with awesome guitar solos. The brutality of drummer Russell Shanahan is most prominent on “Night of the Goat” - which I was slam dancing to in my bedroom.As cool as Blackrat is, I’m gonna be honest: black metal is kinda cheesy. Sure, worshipping Lucifer and sacrificing animals seems rad at first, but after a while, those themes become pretty boring and generic. I know Blackrat uses Satanism to be tongue-in-cheek, but they can be tongue-in-cheek in unique ways. For example, they could change their song “Acid Attack” to “Stay Away From Acid” to … Read more

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Various Artists

Capitalist Kids/Tight Bros. - split 7"
Toxic Pop (2013)

If sweet and easy pop punk is your thing, this is the split for you. Capitalist Kids take Side A, … Read more

Twilight

III: Beneath Trident's Tomb
Century Media (2014)

Twilight is a difficult band to define. Throughout the years, since their inception back in 2004, the band has seen … Read more

Owls

Two
Polyvinyl (2014)

Post-hardcore merges the experimentation of noise rock with the energy of hardcore punk. During its first two decades, post-hardcore was … Read more

Brain F≠

Empty Set
Grave Mistake / Sorry State (2014)

Apparently this band is called “Brain Flannel.” I don’t know what that means, but as somebody capable of reading the … Read more

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Fuck The Facts

Amer
Independent (2013)

Fuck The Facts have long been a bright spot in the canadian metal scene. The long running band have released … Read more

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One from the archives

The Esoteric

Subverter
Prosthetic (2006)

Call it a sickness. Call it sheer stupidity. I have to admit that I have a soft spot I my heart for The Esoteric; I have ever since I saw them open for Coalesce a few years back. I remember remarking to my brother and friends that they reminded me of Coalesce (this was also the tour that Cory White of The Esoteric played guitar for Coalesce). Ever since, I have watched this band progress from the heavily Coalesce influenced outfit that they were into the band that they are today. Undergoing several line-up changes, notably drums and vocals, the band has soldiered on to create a plethora of records. Subverter is The Esoteric's second full-length for Prosthetic. It follows their "break through" album With the Sureness of Sleepwalking. "Destroy … Read more

More album reviews

Kill Matilda

#Punk#Zombie#RocknRoll
Independent (2014)

Blood, decay, and darkness, that’s what I think of when I listen to Kill Matilda’s re-release EP #Punk#Zombie#RocknRoll which derived from their 2011 full length album I Want Revenge. This album grips my mind and twists my emotions! I imagine myself in a dank basement with thirty of the coolest people I know, crammed in, with can’s of PBR, and … Read more

The Estranged

Self Titled LP
Sabotage (2014)

Despite having been formed in 2006 and having released 3 LPs since, the Portland originated post punk band The Estranged have mostly fallen under the radar and out of public awareness. I myself had never heard of the three man act until the release of their self titled LP this month. Since then, I feel I need to make up … Read more

Stop Breathing

Santa Cruz EP
Independent (2014)

Raging, fast, poignant, and so on; any number of commonly used hardcore band descriptors would be apropos when talking about the sonic onslaught of Oxnard, CA's Stop Breathing. Lead vocalist John Crerar says, “I like to think of us as a cross between RKL and Gorilla Biscuits with a dash of D.R.I.” So there’s that for a frame of reference. … Read more

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Epic Problem

Lines
Rebellion / Longshot / Rebelsound (2014)

You’ve heard it before a hundred times. You’ve thought it yourself.Punk rock is a safe genre.While I generally hate on talk like this, promoting genre classification over substance and artistic focus, there is a certain argument that can be made (and has been, oh, let’s say a hundred times). When you hear of a “punk record” there are expectations when … Read more

Drawers

Self Titled
Katotoxin Records (2014)

When it comes to thinking about "heavy" music, it's virtually impossible to not immediately think of titans of the genre Sleep and their epic 63 minute long Dopesmoker and the opening lines "Drop out of life, bong in hand/Follow the smoke toward the riff-filled land." On their self-titled second album for Kaotoxin Records, French sludge outfit Drawers shoot for a … Read more

Skaters

Manhattan
Warner Bros. (2014)

Spawned from drunken promises at an LA house party to "jam together", soon-to-be Skaters vocalist Michael Ian Cummings and guitarist Josh Hubbard made a hazy pact. Fast forward a few months, and England-based (and ex-Dirty Pretty Thing) Hubbard informs Cummings that he'll be arriving in New York in a few hours. Not content with flying that far "just to jam", … Read more

Coathangers

Suck My Shirt
Suicide Squeeze (2014)

This Atlanta trio caught my attention with Larceny & Old Lace a couple of years ago, and Suck My Shirt is a continuation of that sound. It shifts into hypnotic, rhythmic patterns and eschews melodies at times, instead just shouting their fury over the beat while discordant guitars clash away. It’s not noise rock—there’s still a firm focus on structure … Read more

T.O.M.B.

Third Wave Holocaust
Black Plague (2013)

T.O.M.B., the one man blackened noise project, has been running strong for many years. the is such a consistency within No One's (the nom de plum of the man behind the project) output that the growth from one release to the next may be decieving to many listeners. Now, with the projects' fourth official full length we as listeners can … Read more

Video/DVD Review

Anathema

Universal
Kscope (2013)

Anathema's live performance had always been something special and their latter day music is built for an arena such as the roman theatre of Philippopolis and the accompaniment of the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra. Outdoors, under the stars and note perfect, Universal showcases the Liverpudlian bands' incredible atmosphere with a heavenly precision.Directed by Lasse Hoile, who has also made concert films … Read more

Trouble

The Distortion Field
FRW Music (2013)

There are few bands that can boast ever having made one of the heaviest albums of all time.Trouble can make that claim not just once, but twice. Those albums being 1984’s Psalm 9 and 1985’s The Skull. Trouble had the market of doom cornered for quite a while. Due in large part to guitarist Rick Wartell’s down tuned riffs and … Read more

Avichi

Catharsis Absolute
Profound Lore (2014)

Third album for Avichi, the black metal project of Aamonael (also member of Lord Mantis and previously of Nachtmystium), and if you think that another one man black metal act is something you are not interested in then you better think again. With Catharsis Absolute, Aamonael manages to take his twisted concept of US black metal a step further, going … Read more

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Gazer

Phone Commercial EP
Independent (2013)

GAZER is a new band hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio. On their debut EP, Phone Commercial, they use a combination of noise and punk to rock the sound-waves. However, they could benefit from a reduction on the noise. The first track, "I Passed The BAR," has a good groove going on with screechy guitars that blend perfectly with distorted bass lines. … Read more

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Drivin' N Cryin'

Songs For The Turntable
New! (2014)

The newest release from Drivin N Cryin is the fourth EP of the series, each release showcases the progression of this fine Atlanta band from their Punk pedigree to current status as proud Southern Rockers. This record has the band in their element with some classic guitar work and fantastic songwriting, the beauty of a Drivin N Cryin song lies … Read more

Bad Sports

Bras
Dirtnap (2013)

Bad Sports want you to turn it up. They play loud rock, rooted in the elements, but not tied to rollicking times or anti-authority volume, but taking that foundation and blending it with a fundamental structure that pulls from The Ramones and draws melodic ideas from the genres forefathers in the 1960s. It’s got that Ramones-y repetition/simplicity (“Let Me In”), … Read more

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