Pulling Teeth
Paradise Illusions Paranoid Delusions
Deathwish Inc.
Street: 03.31
Pulling Teeth = Slayer + Isis + Trash Talk
Pulling Teeth’s latest release is as close to a brooding, epic, multi-movement recording that a hardcore band can get. Simultaneously mixing aspects of doom, ambient and straightforward hardcore, Paradise Illusions Paranoid Delusions can be a challenging listen, if only for the fact that taken in its parts, no one song stands out. However, taken in its full 23 minutes over 5-song span, it is revealed to be an epic release that shows a dedication to nuance in textured guitars and slow pacing, and at times, maintains the scathing commentary and tempos of traditional hardcore. The lyrical content delves into everything from caution about putting faith into a messianic politician, to the scam of modern warfare: “Just wanted education/ It cost your free will,” to self-reflection. Although the five minute intro to Paradise Illusions gets long in the tooth, this recording taken as a whole is a well-crafted piece of forward-thinking hardcore. –Peter Fryer

 Richard Swift
The Atlantic Ocean
Secretly Canadian
Street: 05.07
Richard Swift = Spoon + M.Ward
The most appealing thing about Richard Swift is that he knows his parameters. He is what he is: A folk musician who sounds an awful lot like bands that are out there already, from The Decemberists to Wilco, etc. The title track opens the album with the recognition that yes, he is “part of the scene,” and yes, he’s “got the right LPs” and “the drum machine.” Yes, he gets it: he’s nothing new. Now let’s move on. He spends the rest of the album diving into his chosen genre and exploring its limits, and the deeper he dives, the better the album gets. Drawing from America’s history of music, from ragtime to soul, Swift makes an album that is timeless and comforting and consistently exploratory. –Devon Hoffman

The Rocketz
We Are … The Rocketz
Hairball8
Street: 04.28
The Rocketz = Reverend Horton Heat + Social Distortion + GBH
It’s amazing to me when a band comes into its own and just throws off all shackles of what they’ve been told they need to sound like. The Rocketz’s first record, Rise of the Undead, was a great psychobilly record, and definitely made every psycho that heard it stand up and take notice, but it was obvious that the vision of this band was much larger than any one subgenre could contain. Four years later, the Rocketz are back with a record that shows, simultaneously, more maturity and more aggression. From the harsh punk rock stylings of “Loser” to the entrancingly melodic, almost honky-tonk of “East LA,” the Rocketz take this record wherever they want, and any band with balls enough to cover the Dead Kennedy’s “Holiday in Cambodia” and immediately follow that with a cover of the classic 50s Sun Records tune, “Slow Down,” has got my respect. I know it’s early to call, but expect to see this record on my Top 5 list at the end of the year. –James Orme

Saga
The Human Condition
Inside Out
Street: 05.19
Saga = Asia + Dream Theater (extra light) + added cheese
Taking into account there is an audience for this style of what I like to call easy-listening prog-rock, I should set personal taste and bias aside when listening to this new album from Canadian progger’s Saga; they’ve had an illustrious career that began in the late 70s. Well, unfortunately for Saga, I’m not going to set my personal tastes aside for reviewing this record … why? Because even just judging the album on talent, songwriting and overall sound, it’s still a godawful piece of music that, while playing, makes you literally want to pull your hair out and run away. The Human Condition is filled with happy-sappy, syrupy sweet melodies purposely meant to sound pleasing to an idiot music-listener’s ears. I’m not an idiot, this album is torture and I’m stuck in an elevator in hell playing this as muzak. –Bryer Wharton