Reviews Music
Top 5: Eagle Twin
The fable of the crow continues in this year’s release, The Feather Tipped the Serpent’s Scale. Guitarist and vocalist Gentry Densely is a master storyteller, guiding listeners through his dark, mythical narrative with low, throaty vocals. On some tracks, he sings the part of the narrator, while in others, he sings in first person, detailing Crow’s battle against the sun and Crow’s metamorphosis into a snake … read more
Top 5: Crystal Castles
Ethan Kath begins with a heart-heavy siren—your chest caves as your ears ache to understand what is coming. You feel yourself stepping onto a spaceship, and, before you know it, you are counting down, beat by beat, three, two, one … blastoff. Vocalist Alice Glass’s signature, scathing voice yells, “I am the plague,” and you succumb to the darkness that they breathe. … read more
Top 5: Baby Ghosts
Baby Ghosts are one of those surprise bands who were kind of overlooked when they arrived in 2010, but slowly grew on audiences as they got around and played all-ages gigs in Provo and Salt Lake City. The aggressive pop-punk rockers are one of those groups that, quite frankly, we may not deserve yet in the music scene. … read more
Top 5: Atom Age
The second full-length album from this Berkeley, Calif. quintet blows the doors right open with “Dig the Future,” blistering with punk rock fury and garage rock swagger. Brendan Frye’s sax is easily the standout element of The Atom Age’s sound, as he gives an extra gallon of rocket fuel to the band’s already frantically fast numbers , but is an equally effective attitude enhancer in slower songs. … read more
Top 5 of 2012
Whether you’re a Pitchfork diehard or a Metalsucks connoisseur, there’s no doubt that some drool-worthy albums hit the sound waves this year! Take in SLUG contributors’ Top Five albums to make sure you didn’t miss a beat from the rad releases of 2012 … read more
Movie Reviews
What do you mean it’s time to do another batch of Top 5s for the end of the year?!? Where in the hell did 2011 go? While we still have time before the one-year countdown to the end of the world commences (thank you very much, Mayans), here’s the list of 2011’s best and worst movie offerings … so far! … read more
Top 5: Yuck
You’d be hard-pressed to find a review of Yuck’s self-titled debut in which the reviewer doesn’t mention the band’s admiration for ’90s indie rock. Fine. I just did it. But dwelling on Yuck’s meticulous sound doesn’t fully explain why this record was so beloved this year. After all, it’s not like they are the only ones who’ve been copping Dinosaur, Jr’s sound lately. … read more
Top 5: Wugazi
I hate mash-ups. I hate DJs. I hate dance music in general and the culture that surrounds it. However, I love Fugazi and I love the Wu-Tang Clan. Wugazi was made specifically for people just like me. … read more
Top 5: Spindrift
When Spindrift played Urban in November 2010, they opted to play a set of songs off of their then-unreleased album, Classic Soundtracks Vol. 1. The songs seemed moodier and spookier than their earlier work, but just as sexy. When the albums was released, my initial impressions of what I had heard were confirmed. Spindrift’s Classic Soundtracks unfolds much like the name suggests it would—a soundtrack to some long-forgotten, dusty spaghetti western. … read more
Top 5: Satan’s Host
After twenty-four years away from the group, original vocalist Leviathan Thisiren (aka Harry Conklin of Jag Panzer) rejoined Satan’s Host in 2010, which spawned an album filled with the best evil and nasty heavy-metal ferocity released this year. The combination of black/thrash/death metal with a classic heavy metal-styled vocalist pushed Satan’s Host out of the realm of mediocrity and into the realm of pure awesome evil metal. … read more