Music
▼ Local Reviews
Local Review: Purr Bats – Soft Fluff EP
Purr Bats Soft Fluff EP State of Deseret Purr Bats = Virgin Prunes + Rope or Bullets + candy necklaces Purr Bats, a jeweled rainbow Phoenix risen out of the bleak, life-affirming wasteland that was Utah County band Puri-do, are a fleck of unadulterated talent in a grey fog of bombastic music caricatures. They
Local Review: Yield – Self-titled demo
Yield Self-titled demo Yield = Alice in Chains + Metallica’s “Sanitarium” + Extreme Mid-80s chunka-chunka low-end metal parleys with tender, suicidal Alice-in-Chains ballads touching on themes of mind-rupturing confusion with plenty of guitar-pick’d arpeggios and minor chords (choicest example: “Brainwash”). It’s been done before, but Yield succeeds at a much-traversed genre because they’re completely
Local Review: Terra Noir – Emperors of the Black Earth
Terra Noir Emperors of the Black Earth Hellspawn Creations Terra Noir = Mayhem + Dark Throne + Burzum When you look up and see the gray skies of death above your head, your final thoughts will be about the haunting voice of hell that wafts through your mind … Terra Noir have a unique
Local Review: Malignant Inception – Black Death
Malignant Inception Black Death Slaughterhouse Records Malignant Inception = Malevolent Creation + Suffocation + Decapitated Malignant Inception have everything the die-hard death metal fan needs—relentless double-bass drumming, ever-changing guitar and bass technicality and trademark dual low vocals topped off with the screeching highs that made this band notorious. Black Death is a bloody, throat-wrenching
Local Review: Powerhouse Rock – Self-Titled
Powerhouse Rock Self-Titled Powerhouse Rock = Alice Cooper + Ted Nugent Good God. Someone in the 80s invented a time machine and sent a butt-rock group to the new millennium to see if it could still survive. Unfortunately, it landed in SLC and somehow made it into my hands. I’m guessing the entire band consists
Local Review: Two and a Half White Guys – Self-Titled
Two and a Half White Guys Self-titled Gringos Productions Two and a Half White Guys = The Good, The Bad and The Ugly soundtrack + Aquabats + Bob Marley Jazz-inflected ska calypso reggae jam bands aren’t really my thing, but Two and a Half White Guys are good at what they do, and they
Local Review: The Contingency Plan – Self-titled demo (2002)
The Contingency Plan Self-titled demo (2002) The Contingency Plan = Drive-Thru Records + sincerity Oops … this is what happens when you lose a band’s press kit in your car’s trunk for two years. This four-song demo is a neat, tight conglomeration of polished emo pop-punk with sharp production (Boho Digitalia), tight performance and
Local Review: Rope or Bullets – Call It for What...
Rope or Bullets Call It for What You Want Rope or Bullets = Atom and His Package + Modern English From the band that brought you “I Love Personality,” the outright best song on the Death By Salt compilation, comes a six-song precursor to a full-length album. Rope or Bullets, though not the rockin’est
Local Review: Pagan Dead – Mors Janua Vit Æ Et...
Pagan Dead Mors Janua Vit Æ Et Vita Janua Mortis Self-released Pagan Dead = Misfits + Accused When I first received a copy of Pagan Dead’s debut album, I was a little leery, thinking, “Rockabilly? Next!” But after giving it a chance, I was instantly hooked! Relentless drumming by Jodie Hecate, demonic guitars by
Local Review: NSPS – Timeless Towns and Haunted Places
NSPS Timeless Towns and Haunted Places Nutra Stick NSPS = They Might be Giants + Barenaked Ladies NSPS might not be too bad of a band, if it weren’t for the vocals. They’re gruff, tongue-in-cheek and strained, not unlike Van Morrisson’s, but unlike Van Morrisson’s, they’re painfully out of tune, making portions of this