Altar Of Plagues
Teethed Glory and Injury
Profound Lore (2013)
Often an album comes along that defies all genre constraints and challenges your own perception on life and reality. Sometimes that album makes you delve deep within the self and question your own outlooks. Teethed Glory and Injury is that album. And oh, how it ravages your being.With Teethed Glory and Injury Altar of Plagues have created a work of … Read more
Altered Beast
Demo
Independent (2007)
About two months ago, I had the pleasure of seeing Altered Beast play a quick, understated, but totally badass set in my friend Paul's basement. Being the swamped college kid that I am, I am just now able to sit down and write a few words about the demo they passed out to everyone in attendance. If I hadn't been … Read more
Aluk Todolo
Lux
NoEvDia (2024)
Aluk Todolo's experimentalism always felt boundless, not shackled to a particular sound or genre. Since their inception back in 2004, the instrumental trio put forth an overarching vision that would encompass krautrock motifs, noise rock, and no-wave practices via way of a blackened psychedelic foundation. And Aluk Todolo executed this vision accordingly, amassing a stellar discography that contained excellent releases, … Read more
Amateur Party
Public Utility Complaint
Paramnesia (2009)
Man, what a nice looking record. The sleeve includes an actual photograph for the cover, with a dozen or so variations that you can get, and the liner notes come as a stapled booklet with information on a Pennsylvania law regarding when gas companies can turn off the heat. It’s a solid mix of handmade art and political statement. Add … Read more
Amateur Party
Truncheons in the Manor
Rorshach (2011)
There are a lot of names that could be dropped when talking about Amateur Party—in fact, I did so when I reviewed their EP back in 2009. However, the band really stands as a completely different kind of monster than the members’ other work. As such, I’ll delay the biographies until later. Truncheons in the Manor is their first full … Read more
Ambarchi, O'Malley, Dunn
Shade Themes from Kairos
Drag City (2014)
The idea for Shade Themes From Kairos started when Belgian filmmaker Alexis Destoop asked Ambarchi and O’Malley to provide the score for his short film Kairos. The two musicians travelled to Belgium and started working on the score for the film, and after they finished with the soundtrack they returned to Randall Dunn’s Aleph Studios in Seattle to further explore … Read more
Amber Asylum
Sin Eater
Prophecy Productions (2015)
Amber Asylum has been a force in the post-rock/post-metal domain, since the mid '90s. With their origin found back in 1996 with the release of Frozen In Amber, this intriguing band was able to keep a presence, unfortunately not as constant as we would prefer. The seven year drought leading to the release of 2007's Still Point was the first … Read more
Amber Asylum
Still Point
Profound Lore (2007)
The first time I listened to Still Point I was riding to work on the top deck of a double-decker bus at eight o'clock in the morning. Record opener "In the Still Point He Remains" was just starting; sounds could be heard moving backwards and forwards in the dark; slow strings breathing and playful chimes jangling, the inevitable build having … Read more
Ambitions
No Limits
Independent (2005)
Demos can be funny sometimes. They are called a demo for a reason; it's by no means a finished product. And yet many times these demos end up becoming just that. Ambitions will see No Limits mass-produced in both 7" and CD format in the near future, but with good reason. Over the course of these four songs, Ambitions have … Read more
Ambitions
Stranger
Bridge Nine (2007)
I've been a dedicated follower of Ambitions since their introduction as a side project band that featured three-fifths of With Honor and occasionally Matt Fox from Shai Hulud fame. There was a demo, a vinyl version of that demo, two other EPs and now the full-length, Stranger. There could be a couple of other compilation appearances here and there but … Read more
Ambulance LTD
LP
TVT (2004)
New York City looks so glamorous from afar, but when I get there I'm reminded that I don't belong with the constant honking, the frustrating one-way streets, and the crazy taxi cab drivers. When I leave, however, I am suddenly left with a longing to belong. I guess NYC is too hip for me, and sometimes it is too hip … Read more
Ambulette
The Lottery
Astralwerks (2006)
When a band breaks up, it can be a good thing. The members who your ears felt a pull for will start new bands in new directions. Such is the case when Denali broke up, a band that started off jaw-dropping-good with Denali and then stagnated into something slightly better than generic with The Instinct that loomed into a large … Read more
Amebix
Monolith (Reissue)
Moshpit Tragedy (2008)
Seriously, Monolith being reissued in a digital format on a donation basis is an incredibly important occasion for several reasons that are worth being mentioned. But instead, let us focus on two particular ones here for the time being rather than run through some silly list. First, allow me to digress a bit. My first exposure to the strange and … Read more
Amebix
No Sanctuary: The Spiderleg Recordings
Alternative Tentacles (2008)
So the early Amebix releases are finally becoming more widely available (even though they have been on the bootleg circuit for quite a long while) which is excellent because some of the bootlegs of them are pretty nigh unlistenable, and considering that these releases are some of the best material that Amebix offers, finally seeing the light of day can … Read more
Amebix
Sonic Mass
EasyAction (2011)
Amebix have been away for twenty years plus, and if you're expecting Arise or Monolith v2.0 then look away now. Because Sonic Mass is so much more than those classic records, and all the better for the band's time spent away from the music scene. In a recent interview we did with vocalist Rob "The Baron" Miller, he explained how … Read more
Amenra
De Doorn
Relapse (2021)
Memories burn in the flames while onlookers stare on. Relief washes over those present as though cleansed in the fires and reborn. Screams of catharsis spill from the lips of the watchers, emptying their souls of all the hurt and pain that has brought them to this point. Letting go of the mistakes and agonies that tie us to this … Read more
Amenra
Mass IIII
Hypertension (2008)
With no previous exposure to Amenra, the band which I am involved prepares to play a show with them knowing only that they are from Belgium. In the weeks leading up to said event, the support of fellow Belgian outfit Rise and Fall impacts me personally and intrigue begins to set in my mind. Well, let me just say that … Read more
Amenra
Mass V
Neurot Recordings (2012)
Rituals are deeply ingrained into our shared human experience and the modern ones seemingly thrust us back through the ages to some vaguely remembered race memory locked in the genetic code in safe guarded in our cells, and Amenra not only appreciates this phenomenon but exploit our collective unconscious to produce some rather breathtaking performances that at this point has … Read more
