Review: Communiqué – Poison Arrows

Review: Communiqué – Poison Arrows
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COMMUNIQUE POISON ARROWS Lookout Had Duran Duran grown up listening to themselves and pop punk rather than the glam appeal of Bowie, T-Rex or Roxy Music and stole their image from a less fashionable Interpol over David Sylvian they would have looked and sounded like Communiqué. Well you might also have to add a bit

Review: Singapore Sling – Life Is Killing My Rock’N’Roll

Review: Singapore Sling – Life Is Killing My Rock’N’Roll
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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

Localized: Victrola

Localized: Victrola
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Localized is a monthly showcase of local bands. This 8th of October, we bring you (although you clearly don’t deserve it) On Vibrato and Victrola. This would be a good time to mope over your last ineffectual and failed relationship or to pensively sip a beer and consider the hypothetical events following. As always, the

Localized: On Vibrato

Localized: On Vibrato
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Localized is a monthly showcase of local bands. This 8th of October, we bring you (although you clearly don’t deserve it) On Vibrato and Victrola. This would be a good time to mope over your last ineffectual and failed relationship or to pensively sip a beer and consider the hypothetical events following. As always, the

Local Review: DulceSky – Media-Luna/Half-Moon

Local Review: DulceSky – Media-Luna/Half-Moon
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DulceSky Media-Luna/Half-Moon Eden’s Watchtower DulceSky = The Cure + Violet Run – Nirvana worship Once again, DulceSky have delivered a glazed-honey concoction of dense, multi-layered goth-tinged shoegazer; a smooth, dark glide down a river with no reflection, like Ophelia’s ride to her final resting place. The female harmonies are especially potent on Media-Luna, and the

Local Review: Last Response – Have You No Sense of Direction? EP

Local Review: Last Response – Have You No Sense of...
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Last Response Have You No Sense of Direction? EP Last Response = AFI + Taking Back Sunday + Sunny Day Real Estate Yes, I never thought I’d put AFI and Taking Back Sunday in the same equation, either, let alone Sunny Day, but once you hear Last Response, you’ll hear what I mean. Sanguine anthems

Local Review: Purr Bats – Soft Fluff EP

Local Review: Purr Bats – Soft Fluff EP
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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

Local Review: Yield – Self-titled demo
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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

Local Review: Terra Noir – Emperors of the Black Earth
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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

Local Review: Malignant Inception – Black Death
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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