Reviews sorted by letter: B

378 total reviews — Page 20 of 21

Buckcherry

Fuck EP
F-Bomb (2014)

As might be expected considering the word can be used in a variety of ways and can make up nearly every word in a still-coherent sentence, there’s a rich history of use of the f-bomb in music. While the word has sometimes been used to prove a point or make a hard-hitting statement (Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the … Read more

Bucket Full Of Teeth

IV
Level Plane (2005)

In the year of 2002, Bucket Full Of Teeth released three 7"s on Youth Attack! Records titled I, II and III. Each record was packed with an essay written by one of the three members: Brad, Matt and Will. It was an awesome idea, but also contrived in the sense that they planned to do something musically different, as described … Read more

Buen Destino

Buen Destino
BCore (2023)

Buen Destino is a new hardcore band from Barcelona. It is formed by members and ex-members of a host of other bands, none of which rung a bell. On this self-titled album the band incorporates a big range of influences. Their Bandcamp tells me this album should appeal to fans of Killing Joke, Discharge, Converge, Jesus Lizard, Daughters, Dead Cross, Breach or His Hero is Gone. That is a … Read more

Buffalo Moon

Black Magic/Low Tide Moon
Moon Glyph (2011)

At their heart, Buffalo Moon plays whimsical indie pop with a playfulness that is grounded by moments of straight-faced seriousness. Of course, “whimsical indie pop” is among the vaguest descriptions I could give. Delving deeper, the band blends a number of styles, drawing primarily from previous generations. The most notable elements come from the 1960s: bossa nova, samba, a touch … Read more

Buggin

Brainfreeze
Flatspot Records (2021)

Back in the early and mid-2000s, there was a subset of seminal hardcore bands that brought a particular brand of bouncy, youth crew-forward hardcore that was unpretentious but self-aware. I’m thinking specifically of the short-lived groups that were scrappy and unsharpened, that often only played a handful of shows before disbanding and fading into scene lore. The latest offering from … Read more

Building Better Bombs

Freak Out Squares
Init (2007)

Init Records is one of the most underappreciated record labels releasing music today. Documenting some of the Midwest's most important punk bands, from The Spirit of Versailles to The Vidablue, the label is consistently on point. I know Steven Init through the great invention of Internet message boards, and the guy is an absolute stand up person. So it still … Read more

Buildings

Melt, Cry, Sleep
doubleplusgood (2012)

Buildings. Two syllables. Direct and immovable. It seems a fitting name for this Minneapolis three-piece and their second album Melt, Cry, Sleep. Their sound is tough to pin to a genre but, make no bones about it, the dudes are angry and loud. There are a lot of familiar elements at play in their work. The shout-speak vocals and headbanging … Read more

Built To Spill

Untethered Moon
Warner Bros. (2015)

Calling Untethered Moon guitar rock is somewhere to start. While the band takes their chops from the 1990s alternative boom, the defining moments of their songs come out of the guitars rather than in vocal styling or rhythmic direction. This record succeeds or fails because of that guitar. (See what I just did there? Now you have to keep reading.)As … Read more

Bulldoze

The Final Beatdown
Trip Machine Laboratories (2007)

The Final Beatdown is a complete discography of New York's kings of beatdown hardcore, thus the title. The release is comprised of a CD, which includes all the band's recorded material and a live set, and a DVD with over an hour of live footage. It's been over ten years since Bulldoze called it quits (they have reformed a number … Read more

Bulldozer

The Hammers
Motherbox (2008)

Sadly this is not a album by recently reformed Italian thrashers Bulldozer but a disc made by a New York band playing bog-standard punk rock with melodic and shouty sing-along choruses. It's hard to get wet and excited over another punk band that has flashes of rock'n roll and sounds like they came straight from the practice room - especially … Read more

Bullet Treatment / It's Casual

Split
Basement (2008)

This split 7" from Basement Records teams up two Los Angeles hardcore veterans for two tracks each: Bullet Treatment and It's Casual. Everything about this record, from the music and the lyrics down to the artwork, screams of the early years of hardcore. Bullet Treatment is back in action again, this time with a new vocalist, Jordan of Vultures United, … Read more

Bulletproof

Dynamite
Ossuary Records (2021)

Bulletproof started out as a band in 2017, playing the underground bar scene in their native Argentina. After a while of playing bar shows Bulletproof started playing with a youth organisation called Speed Metal Army who organise metal shows for the masses over a whole range of metal styles across the country. Polish based Ossuary Records picked up the band … Read more

Bullnettle

Bullnettle
Dirt Cult (2016)

I discovered This Is My Fist at the tail end of the band’s run, which was unfortunate in that I didn’t get to experience new material or live shows. Throughout that band’s material, vocalist Annie Saunders was the clear standout in the group, her ability to make a message connect atop of furious music. Well, it’s been a few years … Read more

Bunnygrunt

Vol. 4
Happy Happy Birthday To Me (2015)

St. Louis indie pop band Bunnygrunt will probably always be stuck with the 90s cuddlecore label, as much as they may hate it. The lovable duo Matt Harnish (guitars/vocals) and Karen Ried (drums/vocals) specialize in fun, disposable - and dare I say cute - punk rock, Bunnygrunt reliably delivers the ephemeral sound of what their label Happy Happy Birthday to … Read more

Bunyan, Vashti

Lookaftering
Fat Cat (2005)

If you go to the Guinness World Records Website and type in, "Longest time between albums", you get a message that says, "Can't find what you're looking for? This site features only a selection of the 40,000 records in the Guinness World Records database." In other words, they are saying that if one desires to know the official record for … Read more

Burden of a Day

Pilots & Paper Planes
Blood & Ink (2006)

It might say something for my enthusiasm for this record that it has sat for almost a year in my 'to review' pile since first receiving it. While I do attempt to avoid at least complete bias in my reviews, in the case of Florida's Burden of a Day, I knew exactly what I was going to hear when I … Read more

Burial

Antidawn EP
Hyperdub (2022)

There is no question that Burial is one of the pivotal artists of the current era. The electronic musician from London has taken on a transformative journey through the landscape of post-dance music. Techno beats, garage sensibilities, early dubstep notions and far out ambient leanings are melted together through a unique kaleidoscopic vision. It is an evolution that has occurred … Read more

Burial Hex

The Hierophant
Handmade Birds (2014)

Burial Hex, the project of multi-instrumentalist Clay Ruby has put out a plethora of releases, with their excellent debut, self-titled album and Book of Delusions really standing out. Now with his latest release, Ruby takes the project even further in terms of how dark his sound can get and how interestingly his music has evolved. Ruby is a great molder … Read more