Review: VNV Nation – Matter+Form

Review: VNV Nation – Matter+Form
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VNV Nation Matter+Form Metropolis Street: 04.12   VNV Nation fans have waited two years for Matter + Form and will delight in the latest efforts of Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson. Eleven tracks of Epic songs that are part of the future-pop founder’s repertoire reinvent the genre that blurs gothic, industrial and techno sounds. “Intro”

Review: Thee Heavenly Music Association – Shaping the Invisible

Review: Thee Heavenly Music Association – Shaping the Invisible
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Thee Heavenly Music Association Shaping the Invisible Rehash Records   Caught somewhere between Curve and Garbage (yes I know that’s a slim alley) with an over-apparent love for My Bloody Valentine, the combination of Helen Storer and Dave Hillis produce a nice wall of distorted pop that is good enough to make up for the

Review: The Perishers – Let There Be Morning

Review: The Perishers – Let There Be Morning
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The Perishers Let There Be Morning Nettwerk   The Perishers come sauntering in with a long list of hopefuls who would, if given the chance, knock that bloody crown off of Coldplay’s collective head. They’re stretching out for Radiohead’s The Bends but grasping something with a bit more sugar, not nearly the substance or the

Review: The Upwelling – Self-Titled

Review: The Upwelling – Self-Titled
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The Upwelling Self-Titled TheUpwelling   The Upwelling are the first unsigned band to get Virgin Megatore’s “Virgin Recommends” sticker stuck to their CD, and while it isn’t hard to see why Virgin would endorse them with a sound that lands right between Jimmy Eat World and next week’s British soft-pop contender I don’t know that I

 
 
Review: S. Sturgis – In a Haze

Review: S. Sturgis – In a Haze
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S. Sturgis In a Haze Positron Records Street: Out Now   The artist’s name alone tells you this album is excellent. In eight years, Scott Sturgis has already shown that he can do gritty industrial with Pain Station, pounding rhythm noise with Converter and experimental ambiance with Notime. After 13 releases of his other projects,

Review: Random Hymns EP – GSL

Review: Random Hymns EP – GSL
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Random Hymns EP GSL   This one might scramble your brains a bit in the traditional Gold Standard way. Punk in attitude, freeform in structure, drenched in organs thrust along by the occasional drum bit stolen from The Cure’s Pornography. Random Hymns drops you down the rabbit hole and dares you to climb out. It

Review: Phazm – Hate at First Seed

Review: Phazm – Hate at First Seed
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Phazm Hate at First Seed Osmose Productions   Phazm are a French band that sound more like Amebix than any of their death metal contemporaries. This came across during the first listen as kind of plain, as there weren’t any other elements added to their brand of brutal metal, but there is enough going on

Review: Origin – Echoes of Decimation

Review: Origin – Echoes of Decimation
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Origin Echoes of Decimation Relapse Records   Clocking in with nine tracks (no intros!) in just under half an hour, you might suspect that Origin’s newest release in well over five years is fast. Oh, yes—it’s fast, alright. With members in the past having ties to Nile, Hate Eternal and other bands, you know what

Review: Misery – Production Thru Destruction

Review: Misery – Production Thru Destruction
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Misery Production Thru Destruction Cah Records   Punks are always so much better than metalheads at playing metal. They know when not to play a useless solo, when not to play five minutes of blastbeats, and when not to use eight million riffs in one song. Misery know how to pour on the gloom and

Review: Mad E.P. – Eating Movies

Review: Mad E.P. – Eating Movies
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Mad E.P. Eating Movies Ad Noiseam Street: Out Now   When I am 6 was the first work of art by Matthew Peters of Mad E.P. and now he gives us the follow-up full-length, Eating Movies. Mad E.P. is completely uninhibited to experiment with hip-hop, piano keys, answering machine messages, flutes, cellos, street sounds, fist