Issues: Issue 190 - October 2004
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: The Waxwings – Let’s Make Our Descent
THE WAXWINGS LET’S MAKE OUR DESCENT Rainbow Quartz Although you can hear the garage influences Detroit’s The Waxwings pull a few tricks from the glory days of the Rolling Stones by way of the Dandy Warhols rather than jumping The White Stripes bandwagon. Not that there isn’t any blues to be found, there’s more than
Review: The Shore – Self-Title
THE SHORE THE SHORE Maverick In a time when labels are scrambling to capitalize on the space Coldplay has left while they record their new album with UK bands like Snow Patrol and Keane it seems fitting that the most suitable replacement should be from California. Not that The Shore are going to be confused
Review: The Thrills – Let’s Bottle Bohemia
THE THRILLS LET’S BOTTLE BOHEMIA Virgin The Thrills debut So Much for the City was greeted with so many fantastic reviews, awards and a wallop of hype that you’d think they’d invented rock’n’roll. I was unimpressed. For Let’s Bottle Bohemia I wiped the slate clean, ignored the inevitable hype and the result? They’re a good
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: 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: 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: 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: Panzer AG – This Is My Battlefield
PANZER AG THIS IS MY BATTLEFIELD Accession Records 4/5 Somewhere between Icon of Coil and Combichrist, Andy Laplegua finds time for another project, Panzer AG. This first release under the Panzer AG moniker is titled This is my Battlefield and fits comfortably among the sounds of his other two projects. Take the synth stylings of
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