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Review: Singapore Sling – Life Is Killing My Rock’N’Roll
SINGAPORE SLING LIFE IS KILLING MY ROCK’N’ROLL Stinky Singapore Sling’s debut album, The Curse of Singapore Sling, was greeted by over-anxious critics who hailed this Icelandic import as the rising sun. I was numbered among those critics. This isn’t to say they weren’t worthy of a little attention. Their sonic wall of distorted haze was
Review: Skinlab – Nerve Damage
Skinlab Nerve Damage Century Media As a thank-you to their fans and to mark 10 years as a band, Skinlab are releasing Nerve Damage. What started out originally as an EP of unreleased songs soon turned into a full album of unreleased material, which ultimately morphed into the double album Nerve Damage. This two-disc set
Review: Bad Acid Trip – Lynch The Weirdo
Bad Acid Trip Lynch The Weirdo Serjical Strike Even your worst acid trip isn’t as bad as Bad Acid Trip’s Lynch The Weirdo. This band is a signing of Serj Tankian (System Of A Down) on his Columbia imprint label. My first impression of their music reminded me of a cross between Green Jelly and
Review: Therion – Lemuria
Therion Lemuria Nuclear Blast The last time I received a Therion release, it was a slipcase promotional copy. As if that’s not bad enough, there were only two full songs on the slipcase; the rest were edited to fade out after about a minute. I took the slipcase out of my mailbox, brought it in
Review: Chastain – In An Outrage
Chastain In An Outrage LEVIATHAN I’ve been listening to David Chastain’s music since his ‘87 solo album, Instrumental Variations. By 1987, David was already well into his recording career, having released albums with Spike, CJSS (as David Chastain—solo albums—and as Chastain). Albums released by his band Chastain were more of a band effort and up
Review: Nonpoint – Statement
Nonpoint Statement Lava Even from their first album, Struggle, in 1999, the band Nonpoint wasn’t a simple metalcore band. This band’s music has always had substance lyrically, vocally and musically. The band continued their hard-hitting approach on their major label (MCA) debut in 2000 with Statement. I lost touch with the band for a while
Review: Otep – House Of Secrets
Otep House Of Secrets Capitol Otep is back with House of Secrets, the follow-up to their major-label full-length debut, Sevas Tra. The music this band plays revolves around female singer Otep Shamaya’s self-loathing lyrics that tend to get a little stale after a song or two. During “Buried Alive,” Otep hates her life, during “Autopsy
Review: Terrorfakt – Cold Steel World
TERRORFAKT COLD STEEL WORLD Metropolis 4/5 If you’re not familiar with them already, then now is a good time to discover the caustic rhythms and dance-club war-zone created by Terrorfakt. With only the second release, Cold Steel World, they have raised the bar for acts to follow. Simple yet powerful rhythms compose each of the
Review: Reality Crisis – Who Is Your Messiah?
REALITY CRISIS WHO IS YOUR MESSIAH? Crust War This sounds a lot like Conflict when they used to write two-minute anthems instead of lengthy anarcho-epics. Of course, being a Crust War band, Reality Crisis turns the “crud” settings on their amps up to 11 and gouges eardrums with their Extreme Noise Terror-inspired screaming. Still, there’s
Review: Effigy – Grinding Metal Massacre
Effigy Grinding Metal Massacre Crust War Side A starts with a somber intro that builds up to a plodding, heavy pace, just like Amebix. The main riff sounds a lot like Antisect, so Effigy is still within crust-punk territory. Uh oh; the thrash metal riff just started. The singer sounds like he did time in