Bones Brigade
I Hate Myself When I'm Not Skateboarding
Fight Fire With Fire (2003)
In a time where skate boarding is about as punk rock as a walk through Disneyland, where skateboarding movie soundtracks are infiltrated by hip hop and pop punk, Bones Brigade skids in just in time to skate hard and rock even harder. Everything about this will make you want to get off your ass and plunge down a hill, unless … Read more
Bongripper
Hate Ashbury
Independent (2008)
It's easy for people to dismiss a band like Bongripper. Instrumental doom metal isn't the most glamorous business out there, and the band's name just screams "gimmick." Every time I mention Bongripper to someone, I get scoffed at. "PFFFFFFFFFFFFFT oh real cool kid BONG you think that's funny? Grow up." I don't know if the band was trying to be … Read more
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Greatest Palace Music
Drag City (2004)
I will admit, I read a few reviews of this record before buying it and I still had no idea what it was. Even by the time I picked it up I was clueless as to what this record held in store. Was it other people covering Will Oldham songs? Was it Will Oldham Covering other artist's songs? Was it … Read more
Bonnie "Prince" Billy & Matt Sweeney
Superwolf
Drag City (2005)
What an album cover! It's the kind that would fit perfectly with the whole music sounding like album cover mantra that makes for a great last resort when you can't really come up with a good description of the music within on your own. With enough embellishing, it can work for almost every album ever created. But alas, Will Oldham … Read more
Boogeyman
Boogeyman
Deadly Distribution, ELB-Power Records (2022)
"Presenting new sounds from the darkness"...welcome to the mind of Boogeyman! This Arizona three piece have a wonderful world of spooks, darkness, death and demons to show you with this eleven track self titled full length debut album. Predominantly horrorpunk in nature but incorporating many elements from other genres too. You will find that this is not your average bog … Read more
Bootlicker
Self-Titled
Neon Waste, Static Shock Records (2021)
Rough and tough d-beat, oi-influenced punk with a boot on the cover. If you follow the scene you probably already have a sense of what Bootlicker sounds like based on that alone. Released on Neon Waste (USA/Canada) and Static Shock (UK), this is Discharge-influenced punk that pulls no punches. It’s angry, shouty, and aggressive as all get-out with memorable lyrics … Read more
Boris
Attention Please
Sargent House (2011)
I absolutely love Boris' work ethic. Four new albums of fresh material in one year is more than anyone should be able to ask of any artist whose name is not either Buckethead or Senmuth, and their dedication to stylistic diversity is a commendable trait that's generally unheard of in modern music. What's more, Boris have a history of significantly … Read more
Boris
Dear
Sargent House (2017)
I like the idea of certain types of metal paralleling the thought patterns of jazz. Whether it is the twitchy renderings of a Meshuggah beat, the sprinkle of jazz-like tendencies of an Intronaut record, or the experimental coo-coo of Fantomas. The immediacy, expansive sound, and improvisation can certainly draw comparison to a Miles Davis or John Coltrane offering. Those two … Read more
Boris
Heavy Rocks
Sargent House (2011)
Boris' sound is defined by their insistence on rocking the fuck out. Their earliest works, like the classic albums Heavy Rocks and Pink, revolve around taking heavy metal and, to borrow from Sp?n?al Tap, taking it up to eleven. These albums have an absolutely huge, dirty quality to them that leaves Boris' peers in the dust. So Boris released their … Read more
Boris
New Album
Sargent House (2011)
New Album is a bit of a misnomer, at least on this side of the pond. It was actually released all the way back in March in Japan, two months before Heavy Rocks and Attention Please were released globally. The rest of the world had to wait until November to get their paws on it. Somewhat frustratingly, there are actually … Read more
BÖRN
Drottningar Dauðans
Iron Lung (2022)
It seems like genre definitions change based on the era. I swear people were calling Sonic Youth post-punk for a while, but nowadays the tag seems to apply to a dystopian style with distant-emotionless vocals. Of course, genre is a tricky beast. It’s often useful for description and concept, but some artists fall into the trap a little too deep. … Read more
Born from Pain
War
Metal Blade (2006)
Born from Pain's fourth full-length, War, is the next logical step for the Dutch masters of hardcore. The music still draws heavily from the 90's New York hardcore scene as well as hints of late 80's thrash metal. But in addition to what you'd expect from Born from Pain, the band has thrown in a few surprises to spice up … Read more
Born/Dead
The Final Collapse
Prank (2008)
Ah, Born/Dead is one of the more notable crust/hardcore bands in the vein of groups like Tragedy (kind of but I would not say this is a good comparison as Born/Dead is a beast all to themselves. They also adhere to a heavy political message in their songs. Touring is also a huge part of this band as they play … Read more
Bosse-de-Nage
Further Still
Flenser (2018)
The San Fransisco based band, Bosse-de-Nage, was one of the acts to popularize the post-black metal style in its current form. It all begun with their release of their debut, self-titled record in 2010, with the band showcasing not only a way of combining the nihilistic black metal tone with the haze of shoegaze, but rather a more holistic approach … Read more
Bosse-de-Nage
iii
Profound Lore (2012)
Pushing the black metal blueprint ever further from its roots, San Franciscan four-piece Bosse-de-Nage deliver a record of complex intensity and distraught emotion with third full length iii. The enigmatic group very rarely play live and are averse to revealing their true identities, yet iii is a deeply personal collection and portrays an increasingly downward spiral and a descent into … Read more
Botanist
Collective: The Shape of He To Come
Avantgarde Music (2017)
Botanist belongs in this new generation of black metal bands, of acts attempting to reinvigorate the genre by expanding its scope. Post-rock influences and avantgarde notions find their way into Botanist's music, leading to a very successful series of releases, with 2014's VI: Flora standing out in particular. At the same time, stylistically the band departed from not only the … Read more
Botanist
VI: Flora
Flenser (2014)
The whole concept of one-man black metal projects is quite old. From back in the ‘90s you would have acts like Burzum and Ildjarn (although they would feature also Nidhogg occasionally.) Those acts were great and it was quite nice to see that other musicians today would adapt the same philosophy and try to create solitary projects, with excellent examples … Read more
Botch
Unifying Themes Redux / American Nervoso / We are the Romans (Reissues)
Hydra Head (2006)
How does one measure the influence and impact of a band on music? Sure, you could look at album sales, which in the case of The Beatles is a corollary that works, but then you could see how many albums a band like Godsmack or someone like Kenny Chesney has sold and just throw that idea out the window. Truly, … Read more
