Local Review: Ben Q. Best – Apricot Exorcist

Local Review: Ben Q. Best – Apricot Exorcist
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Though his songs are tinged with a kind of delicate earnestness, Ben Q Best excels most in his ability to craft unique melodic passages that carry the darker themes of this album. His voice warbles and wanes through layers of shoegazey post-rock and quiet piano passages. … read more

Review: Gladenfold – From Dusk To Eternity

Review: Gladenfold – From Dusk To Eternity
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Even though it sounds like a smooth blend of bands from Spinefarm’s early years, Gladenfold mixes just enough power metal into their synth-driven melodic death metal to breathe life into a genre I had given up on years ago.  … read more

Review: Flotsam and Jetsam – No Place for Disgrace

Review: Flotsam and Jetsam – No Place for Disgrace
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This re-recording of No Place for Disgrace sounds overproduced and heartless, like a rote imitation of the original work. … read more

Review: Erik Enocksson – Apan (Reissue)
Review: Evil United – Honored by Fire

Review: Evil United – Honored by Fire
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Mired in their own mimetic banality, Evil United stand out only in their unusual brand of terribleness. … read more

Review: Desaster – The Oath of an Iron Ritual
Review: Death Karma – The History of Death & Burial Rituals Part I
Review: Dawnbringer – Night of The Hammer
Review: Culted – Oblique to All Paths

Review: Culted – Oblique to All Paths
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Oblique to All Paths sounds like a musical rendition of a passive-aggressive argument at band practice. Embarrassingly self-indulgent and lacking any kind of major, defining characteristic, Culted end up writing the doom metal equivalent of cold oatmeal.  … read more

Review: Cathedral – The Last Spire

Review: Cathedral – The Last Spire
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Cathedral’s final full-length serves as the dreadful denouement to their career. It seems rather odd that Lee Dorrian and his merry band of self-styled metal outcasts would follow up The Guessing Game with an album so unbearably dull as The Last Spire. … read more