Month: October 2013
Review: The Flatliners – Dead Language
I’ve got a thing for rough-voiced, fast-paced punk rock. Done right, it resonates in my soul like nothing else. Done wrong, it’s nothing that’s going to change my life, but it’s a damn fine time. I have a hard time criticizing the latter, which is why I’m not going to. … read more
Review: The Growlers – Gilded Pleasures
The second 2013 release from The Growlers picks up right where Hung at Heart left off. Although technically an EP, the nine tracks on Gilded Pleasures play like an LP. … read more
Review: the band in Heaven – Caught in a Summer...
Annoying name aside, the band in Heaven combine dream pop with California nostalgia. Straightforward lyrics about ocean swells and summer romanticize adolescence. Honestly, it’s something I’ve heard a million times before, and the band’s whole image is something I grew tired of, like, five years ago. … read more
Review: Sundowner – Neon Fiction
Themes of coldness, loss and drifting permeate the album, but there is a wistfulness that seems almost hopeful. Neon Fiction lacks some of the more aggressive songs from previous Sundowner albums, but it is easily the most consistent and fully realized album under the name yet. … read more
Review: Tadzio -
Queen of the Invisible
Want to go to a Renaissance fest, but there’s not one happening in your town, or it just isn’t happening soon enough? Here’s a solution: play this album, dress up in your royal gear, and stuff turkey legs down your throat like a knight. … read more
Review: Take Offense – United States of Mind
When Take Offense first started making waves beyond their native Chula Vista, the predominant buzz surrounding the band was a seamless integration of heavy metallic hardcore with a funky Venice thrash kick. On their second full-length, they continue in the same vein with some more of the metallic embellishments that have kept them a head above many of their contemporaries. … read more
Review: Sleepmakeswaves – …and so we destroyed everything
Sydney Australia’s Sleepmakeswaves have the ability to move from the sublime to sublimely heavy in a half-breath’s time. … read more
Review: SISU – Blood Tears
Blood Tears is bristling with synths and heavy bass riffs, and in between, Vu’s voice creates melodramatic tension. Most of the tracks recall the current ’80s pop revival, but there’s something refreshing about the sleeker production here, especially on the awesome single “Harpoons.” … read more
Review: Skeletonwitch – Serpents Unleashed
Honestly, I wasn’t a huge fan of Forever Abomination, but in my eyes, the band has transcended their sound on this record—the technically modest solo of “Beneath Dead Leaves,” for example, demonstrates Skeletonwitch’s penchant for song construction rather than stereotypical, dick-swingin’ metal guitar solos. … read more
Review: Spindrift – Ghost of the West
The wide-open spaces of places like Joshua Tree, animal corpses rotting under the blazing sun and the myth of the desert have marked all of their records, but for Ghost of the West, Kirpatrick Thomas wanted something different. He wanted to make an album that didn’t emulate the myth of the West, but embodied the West—what it actually was. … read more
Review: Shitfucker – Suck Cocks In Hell
All the profanities and vulgarities aside, and belligerent and unabashed as Shitfucker’s tunes are, they’re not quite as vulgar as the eye-catching band name and vulgar album title suggest. … read more
Review: Seams – Quarters
Quarters utilizes crisp, unadorned beats that snap and pop in crystal-clear hi fidelity. These simple chord progressions and beats are then added on layer by layer with buzzing synths and serrated arpeggios until the sum eventually outweighs its parts, but not without leaving a golden thread back to the beginning. … read more
