Triac
Blue Room
Forcefield/Reptilian (2008)
Grindcore is a genre that you either fanatical about, or you just don't seem to care. I can't say that I'm all that jazzed about the genre. I don't really find grindcore bands to be that entertaining, for the most part. Triac hail from Baltimore, Maryland and they have somehow found a way to keep me interested! These guys mix … Read more
Trial
Reunion / Retrospective
Panic (2008)
If there were one band that I felt characterized both the sound and ideals of hardcore in the 1990's, it would be Trial. The Northwest hardcore outfit delivered a focused and aggressive mixture of hardcore, punk, and metal influences to crowds of all sizes during their original tenure. They partnered this brute, metallic music written by co-founder and guitarist Timm … Read more
Tribulation
Where the Gloom Becomes Sound
Century Media (2021)
This is not the record that I would want to be Tribulation's swan song. However, if that ends up being the album's legacy, I will not be surprised. The group started out as an above-average brigade of blackened rock and rollers with overt death metal influences on 2009's The Horror. Within the next four years, the band would learn to … Read more
Tricky
Skilled Mechanics
K7 (2016)
When I think think of one word to describe Tricky, it isn't trip-hop, because that's two words, silly. No, the one that always comes to mind, is 'experimental'. Now, that isn't meant in a music critic lazy-label kind of way. It's meant as a true compliment. Tricky is a mad scientist. And like any true scientist working away in the … Read more
Trigger Effect
Dare to Ride the Heliocraft
Signed by Force (2009)
When first opening this record, I glanced at the cover art, track titles, and album length and made the assumption that this band must sound pretty damn cocky and aggressive. And I was right for the most part. The fact that there are only two songs on the whole record that are over two minutes and considering the first track … Read more
Triple Threat
A New Chapter EP
Livewire (2005)
This record is so funny I almost shat my pants. Not ha-ha funny, mind you, but "fuck, this is so fucking old school" funny. Well, maybe not even that. Maybe more like "god, this is so old" funny. If you were hoping for innovative or experimental, you will not get it from A New Chapter. One might say this is … Read more
Triple Twins/A Roman Holiday
Split
Rorschach (2006)
The A-Side of this split features indie rock outfit A Roman Holiday. Their first contribution to this split is "Octopus." The song is a fun and energetic indie rock tune that reminded me quite a bit of Cursive. "Apocolypse Part II," on the other hand takes to a more laid back approach. The first 30 seconds kind of turned me … Read more
Triptykon
Melana Chasmata
Century Media (2014)
In his long, storied, and in this mind, legendary career, Thomas Gabriel Fischer (Tom G. Warrior) has been a man of dark talent and darker vision. Where I think he has always been separated from his peers however, is always being able to show the listener the beauty in that darkness. From Hellhammer to Celtic Frost to Apollonyon Sun to … Read more
Tristan Clopet
Purple EP
Sussex (2011)
Whenever anyone is described as a blend of Jeff Buckley and Anthony Kiedis like Tristan Clopet is an alarm goes off in my head, having been a Jeff Buckley fan for years and back and forth with the Chili’s as I like most of their overall catalog. I must admit after my first listen I was surprised by pretty much … 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
Troubled Coast
I've Been Thinking About Leaving You
Pure Noise (2012)
I'll say, Troubled Coast are turning into one of the most steadfast bands I've heard. Their music has been on a consistent incline of musical quality since their debut EP in 2010, and 2012's I've Been Thinking About Leaving You in no way disappoints: it's without a doubt their most mature offering to date.I recall mentioning on my review of … Read more
Troubled Coast
Letters
Creator-Destructor (2011)
Troubled Coast are a budding group of Californian hardcore musicians with a handful of promising releases under their belt. The group produced a pair of albums in 2010: the introductory EP Vagabonds and the short album 100 Miles from Home. While both of these releases display that the band has a solid grasp of their sound and firm knowledge where … Read more
Troublemaker
Sons of No One
Neutral Territory (2009)
New Jersey's Troublemaker (not to be confused with the Westcoast one) bring forth seven new songs on their Sons of No One 7". The band offer up a raw hardcore punk approach that brings to mind Trash Talk and early Outbreak. Tracks like "Worse for Wear" and "Drone" are short and frenzied while "Enabler" and "Beating a Dead Workhorse" are … Read more
True Colors
Rush of Hope
Powered (2009)
The European hardcore scene has always fascinated me, and for many reasons. But perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the world of hardcore on the other side of the Atlantic is that it always comes of as very nostalgic. I don't mean that in a disrespecting way, but more times than not, it seems as though the Euros go out … Read more
True Widow
As High As The Highest Heavens And From The Center To The Circumference Of The Earth
Kemado (2011)
True Widow are one of the many bands that gets lumped into the burgeoning new school of shoegaze. While shoegaze bands of the past played their own style and created something different many newer bands are acting as though having an array of pedals and knowing Loveless front to back warrants having a band. The good news is Dallas, Texas' … Read more
True Widow
Circumambulation
Relapse (2013)
I know when I think of stoner music, I think of pot-fueled haziness, guitar theatrics straight out of the '60s, and a red-eyed three-piece to play it all. But there is one band that steadfastly refuses to conform to that stereotype, and that's Texan trio True Widow, whose third album, Circumambulation, is one of the most intriguing to come out … Read more
True Widow
True Widow
End Sounds (2008)
Talk about coming from proverbially nowhere; after several days of enjoying various streams of this record and eventually tracking this sucker down, I find myself completely hooked on the slow, relaxed rhythms and mellow vocal arrangements on True Widow's debut album. If ever there was a soundtrack to numb apathy, True Widow must be it. This Texas three-piece (comprised of … Read more
Truth Cult
Walk the Wheel
Pop Wig Records (2023)
Walk the Wheel is the second LP from Truth Cult, but my first introduction to them. My first impression was that the sound would be loud, aggressive, and chaotic. But with 11 songs total, only the opening song, “Squeeze,” really hits that hardcore-style aggression. The rest is certainly loud and chaotic, but after that song it’s alternately more melodic and … Read more
