Live for Today
Taking it Back
Our Pride/Positive Outlook (2006)
No pun intended, but good Lord, how gosh darn posi can one band be? I know straightedge hardcore is supposed to be a positive outlook on one's life and choices, but how much glee club positivity can one muster up and still consider themselves hard? Everything on Northern California's Live for Today debut EP Taking it Back is not just … Read more
Livimorket & Sequences
Voidness
Sunyata (2011)
Do you know why I find collaborative efforts so appealing in musical and other such sonic arenas (besides that they signal more work by artists that I follow / collect / obsess over)? There is an element of wonder and anticipation surrounding what exactly the final work will sound like once either collaborators or sets of collaborators work their respective … Read more
Living Hell
The Lost and the Damned
Revelation (2007)
Revelation Records has made quite the turn-around in the past two years. Besides mainstay Shai Hulud, the once hardcore-proud label has returned to its roots following a divergence in the indie-rock realm - Elliot, Christiansen, Since By Man, etc. The label has recently released several top-quality hardcore albums: Shook Ones, Down to Nothing, and Sinking Ships. Living Hell's debut full-length, … Read more
Living With Lions
Dude Manor (Reissue)
Adeline (2009)
Dude Manor was originally released two years ago on Black Box Recordings in Canada but it's now being re-released on their new label, Adeline Records where their full-length, Make Your Mark will also be re-released very soon. This up-and-coming band is looking to follow in the footsteps of former Adeline label-mates Broadway Calls as the label's next rising star and … Read more
Living With Lions
Holy Shit
Adeline (2011)
After their introduction to the more mainstream world Make Your Mark a few years ago Living With Lions went through a few things. This includes losing a bass player and vocalist and signing a deal with Adeline. In the meantime the band regrouped and recorded a new album. The big question is after losing members, especially a vocalist, how does … Read more
Lizzy Borden
An Appointment With Death
Metal Blade (2008)
Lizzy Borden are only one of very many grizzly old metal bands that have either picked up the sticks again and decided to have one last shot at glory or that have ultimately experienced a revival of sorts and made their sound more in sync with the modern times. This new attention to their music and the other musicians' new … Read more
LKN
In the Leap Year
Greyday (2004)
LKN is the side project of Laura K. Newman, who could previously be found playing in the Pensacola, Florida act, Stellamarie. This is her second full length under the LKN moniker and with it, she pulls out all the stops to see that she gets noticed. This album was recorded in several different studios with different gear setups, which detracts … Read more
LLNN
Unmaker
PELAGIC RECORDS (2021)
How I missed this is beyond me. I am a fan of The Psyke Project and I knew that LLNN was formed by a few guys from The Psyke Project. I can not explain how Unmaker is the first LLNN album I heard. Not only is it LLNN’s third album, also it has been out for the world to hear … Read more
LMI
Excess Subconscious
HANDSTAND RECORDS (2020)
Oh my god, where should I start with this one? Saying you’re something doesn’t make you that thing! Just because this band smokes weed does not make them the genre “stoner punk.” LMI process elements of hardcore, punk and stoner music. But not the parts I enjoy about those sounds. Their logo and various cover illustrations are the most honest … Read more
Local Natives
Hummingbird
French Kiss (2013)
Three years since their infectious first effort, Gorilla Manor, LA's Local Natives return in folk-frenzied fashion. The quartet spawned attention and praise for the self-funded debut, going on to build the studio in which the band's latest, Hummingbird, was recorded. Subsequently, their sound is fuller and refined, ripening these eleven tracks.Youth was a prominent quality of Gorilla Manor - seething … Read more
Locrian
Infinite Dissolution
Relapse (2015)
Locrian’s approach to metal is to disassemble the core structures, push them further away from their crude beginnings and delve into building them back up again into towering walls of sound and phases of light and dark. Infinite Dissolution is a record that shares small similarities to the genre that it’s born from, mostly in Terence Hannum’s hoarse screams and … Read more
Locrian
Return To Annihilation
Relapse (2013)
Holy mother of god I was clearly not ready for Return To Annihilation from Locrian, and I guarantee that “Eternal Return” will do the same to you; now, my reaction has more to do with the shockingly uplifting sound and mood that the song seems destined to pop on people as they press play for the first time than the … Read more
Locrian
The Clearing
Fan Death (2011)
OK, so I finally get to sit down with album number four (or three depending on who you ask) from Locrian and not because I did not want to listen to this sucker; but rather I waited and waited to hear this spin on my turntable first until at last I gave in and listened to the advance copy that … Read more
Locrian
The Crystal World
Utech (2010)
Hauntingly beautiful, The Crystal World is precisely that; and I seriously cannot believe that this almost slipped beyond my notice because Locrian has just simply blown me away with this record of harrowing soundscapes and buried melodies that coax your subconscious into a dream like state. I sincerely mean it; this record is one of those have to hear records … Read more
Locrian & Horseback
New Dominions Split
Utech (2011)
This collaboration between Horseback and Locrian was a hotly anticipated one in several musical circles (particular if you were a fan of either outfit prior to hearing of this release), and the prospects of what these two projects might create together induced some mind blowing (think the head explosion scene in Scanners) possibilities in the heads of those of us … Read more
Locrian & Mamiffer
Bless Them That Curse You
Sige\Land Of Decay\Profound Lore\Daymare (2012)
Without a doubt in my mind, Bless Them That Curse You is one of those releases that without hearing a single note of music, people will immediately become excited by the prospects of just such a pairing (hell, I know I did when both groups of musicians began posting pictures of recording sessions and pictures of pieces of paper outlining … Read more
Locrian With Christoph Heemann
Self Titled
Handmade Birds (2012)
There is definitely an incredibly creeped out vibe coming out of my speakers right now, and I mean that in only the best possible way because the tension building dark ambience of this inspired collaboration is a work of what could be a singular artist as the music is so spot on in its execution and delivery that the idea … Read more
Logh
A Sunset Panorama
Hydra Head (2005)
Is Sweden even cold? Whenever I think of Northern Europe, I think of mountains, yodelers, and folks with Princess Leia hair wandering around in big coats. Yet the continent keeps popping out some of the ââ¬Â¦well, warmest albums I've ever heard. Par example: the new album from Logh, a band I didn't care about until this year. I started caring … Read more
