Review / 200 Words Or Less
Matadors
Flame the Whisper

Devil Doll (2007) Kevin Fitzpatrick

Matadors – Flame the Whisper cover artwork
Matadors – Flame the Whisper — Devil Doll, 2007

Yippeeeee! It's Matadors time! Plug it in and lets party like it's 1992! Yes, that's right. 1992! Forget those bands of way back when. Gas Huffer. Mother Love Bone. The Mono Men. All great bands that never had a tribute band

until now (zing!).

Fifteen years late, but who the hell's counting? Matadors work on Swedish time, baby. It's not their fault - nobody told them that the war's over, and Seattle lost. Hell, for all I know they're keeping it real and trying to do a Dave Clark Five impersonation. Christ, at the very least you'd think The Hives would have dropped by to tell 'em.

Don't let the ads or press fool you. Billing Matadors as "Stoner Rock" is not accurate. Unless Poison 13 ever counted as stoner rock. Nope, these boys are straight outta tha' garage and let me tell you their garages are a whole lot cleaner than ours. What does that mean? Well it means that Flame the Whisper is sixteen tracks of competent-yet-senseless Sub-Pop nostalgia for the kids too young to remember - and trust me this album isn't exactly gonna have them asking their slightly older uncle if they could borrow his Mudhoney collection. It'll bore them to tears and reinforce the apathy already coursing through their Skyy Vodka soaked designer-drug addled brains. So for heaven's sake, won't someone please think of the children.

Matadors – Flame the Whisper cover artwork
Matadors – Flame the Whisper — Devil Doll, 2007

Recently-posted album reviews

Real Numbers

Was It Always This Way
Slumberland Records (2026)

I feel like this may be the first 12", 10-song release in my collection from Real Numbers, a dreampop meets jangle-indie rock band from Minneapolis. I'm not going to fact check my statement, because I mean it as a metaphor. Real Numbers play exactly what you'd expect based on my short description so far, but there's always something just a … Read more

Alien Nosejob

How A Mosquito Operates
Anti Fade, Iron Lung (2026)

The one-man band of Alien Nosejob continues to crank out short, angry hardcore in quick bursts. I've lost count of how many records Jake Robertson has now released under the name. I'll just say that while the first couple took some direction changes, the project seems to have found its footing in 1980s-influenced hardcore. With 17 songs in 24 minutes, … Read more

Cancer Bats

Give Me Dirt
Marshall Amplification PLC, New Damage records (2026)

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS – “Bright Eyes of Gold”, “Give Me Dirt”, “Long Tooth”, “Fools Like You” Almost exactly two years ago, on 8th August 2024, Cancer Bats played Conne Island in Leipzig – a choice they would live to regret. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the centre had slowly become renowned for its radical politics and, more recently, the ban … Read more