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Our latest album reviews, featuring the records we've most enjoyed (or not) over the past few weeks.

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Browse our album reviews according to score: Highest (9.5/10 or more) or Lowest (2/10 or less)

Guilty Pleasures

Summer Strange
Dusty Medical (2012)

Originally recorded at Ghetto Recorders in Detroit back in 2000, Summer Strange came to be under the pretense of simpler times. Although it’s taken 12 years to finally find a proper release and Guilty Pleasures is no longer alive and kicking, it’s an album that couldn’t have picked a better time to see the light of day as the dirty, sloppy brand of garage rock packed into its 33 minute running time is seeing a resurgence among the autotune and dance beats that pack today’s airwaves. Back in the earlier part of the 21st century, garage rock was at the height of its popularity with bands like The Hives and The Vines churning out raw, catchy songs that stripped rock and roll to its bare bones. Guilty Pleasures do a stand up job at keeping up with their peers, as Summer Strange flies along at a blistering pace, overflowing with tight riffs and spine tingling guitar licks. “Sum Thin Wyld” kicks things off with a cymbal heavy introduction and distorted guitars that drive the entire record. It’s as good an opener as any as Guilty Pleasures don’t stray much from the sound initially presented, layering raunchy vocals over energetic rock … Read more

Spektr

Cypher
Agonia (2013)

The origin of black metal could easily be traced back to the early 80’s and the British band Venom. However, … Read more

Broadway Calls

Comfort/Distraction
No Sleep (2013)

Broadway Calls has been around the pop punk scene for quite a while, originally hailing from Rainier, Oregon and now … Read more

The Flower Kings

Banks Of Eden
Inside Out (2012)

The Flower Kings is one of those bands that's been floating around my periphery for a very long time without … Read more

The Shame

The World Is Ours
Profane Existence (2013)

Profane Existence kicks off their Limited Edition Single Series—a subscription service that delivers a new 7” each month—with The World … Read more

Self Evident

We Built A Fortress on Short Notice
doubleplusgood (2012)

Self Evident have been a band for over 15 years, but unfortunately, I’ve been in the dark until I heard … Read more

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One from the archives

Various Artists

Let Me Out & First Cut - Swedish Hardcore Split
Akashic (2009)

Ah, split CDs of two bands I've never heard of before. The bane of my existence. Anyway, Sweden's Let Me Out play tuneful melodic hardcore in the vein of early H20. There's plenty of catchy riffs and some decent mosh parts. I've heard a million bands like Let Me Out and I always find them enjoyable as the next guy. Actually, I usually enjoy them more than the next guy does. However, there is really nothing that stands out in these six tracks. Let Me Out is decent but nothing groundbreaking. If I were in Sweden, I'd probably be friends with the band. First Cut is also from Sweden. No shit, really, on a split entitled Swedish Hardcore split, doesn't that just beat all? First Cut sounds like Verse, Another … Read more

More album reviews

Snailking

Samsara
Consouling Sounds (2012)

If you're going to name your band after a record by one of your genres chosen greats, then you better have the musical balls to back it up. And damn, do Snailking back it up. Taking their name from Ufomammut's second album, Snailking tread in their path whilst building their own identity as a massive and heavy prospect in the … Read more

Defeated Sanity

Passages Into Deformity
Willowtip (2013)

I feel the need to preface this review by declaring that I am a fan of death metal. I like the idea of any music that challenges the average listener and in the early 90’s, death metal bands were doing just that. Bands like Cannibal Corpse, Death, and Obituary were leading the charge to push heavy metal to its most … Read more

Various Artists

ROBOCOP / DETROIT - Dead Language, Foreign Bodies Split LP
Give Praise (2012)

sharing similarities that reside more than just their names Robocop and Detroit both play blinding fast powerviolence indebted grind. While neither band have anything besides a name in relation to Michigan they share a relationship with Grindcore Karaoke which may give somewhat of a clue as to what the listener could be in for. Maine's Robocop take up the first … Read more

Tegan and Sara

Heartthrob
Warner Bros. (2013)

Canadian sisterly duo Tegan and Sara Quin seem to think they’re fools in relationships. Just look at some of their song titles—“Fool to Cry,” “I Was A Fool,” etc. Something they’re not fools about? Making synth pop perfection on their latest full-length album, Heartthrob, their first since 2009’s Sainthood which was a huge commercial success for them. After an album … Read more

Affector

Harmagedon
Inside Out (2012)

The multinational progressive metal act Affector certainly made a startling entrance to the prog metal scene last year. Their debut, Harmagedon, told the story of the literal Biblical apocalypse, and several prolific musicians lent their talent to the release to muster up some interest. It made quite a splash--but the substance didn't quite live up to the promise, sadly.Affector want … Read more

My Bloody Valentine

m b v
Independent (2013)

In what might be one of the longest case of collective breath holding since a band’s last previous album, My Bloody Valentine finally release the follow up to their landmark 1991 album, Loveless; and the single biggest question on many people’s minds has to be whether or not m b v is as good as the astoundingly enduring and growing … Read more

Convul

سأكون رؤيتكم (I'll Be Seeing You)
Glory Kid (2012)

The band formerly known as Convulsions decided to set their sights pretty high apparently before writing their most recent record. Beyond shortening their name and deciding to use Arabic for their album title They may have looked towards their own outer limits. The band seemed to resind their previous influences and gestures for a more thought out but certainly different … Read more

Δ (ALT-J)

An Awesome Wave
Canvasback (2012)

Calling your band a shape is probably a bad career move. It’s corny, at the very least, which is part of the reason I didn’t pick up ?’s album sooner. It turns out you pronounce the delta symbol like “Alt-J” in the instance of this up-and-coming British indie rock group. Their debut, An Awesome Wave, is a special breed of … Read more

Kongh

Sole Creation
Agonia (2013)

As I begin writing this review, we have barely scratched the surface of the new year. Still, I somehow find myself compelled to proclaim that I have already heard the best album of 2013. In 2009, Kongh released Shadows of the Shapeless. The album was an impressive example of the band’s epic take on doom metal. Now, the Swedish trio … Read more

Continents

Idle Hands
Victory (2013)

Continents from South Wales, UK are a Moshcore band that formed in 2010. Their self released video for “Trials” was released in 2011 and propelled them to the top of the UK hardcore scene sharing the stage with such bands as Emmure and Comeback kid. “Idle Hands” is their debut album on Victory Records.This album starts out like all too … Read more

The Bronx

IV
White Drugs / ATO (2013)

When we last left The Bronx, they were masquerading as their alter ego with the release of a second album under the Mariachi El Bronx moniker. This second helping of mariachi-style tunes confirmed that the venture was far from a gimmick. It also gave the band an opportunity to embrace their obvious love for the more melodious side of music. … Read more

Iroha

Shepherds & Angels
Denovali (2012)

Sometimes it feels strange championing a band, but I feel as though Iroha are one of those bands that deserve to be heard but people (at least here in the U.S.) seem to consistently overlook the three-piece outfit, in part because of their consistently being left in the shadow of another band almost to the point of being called a … Read more

Dawn McCarthy and Bonnie “Prince” Billy

What The Brothers Sang
Drag City (2013)

The Everly Brothers were a staple in my house musically when I was growing up back in the early ‘60s; they were one of the biggest duos around and were known for their soaring harmonies and fusion of the current country sound with rock and roll. They toured and recorded from the late ‘50s through the early ‘80s and amassed … Read more

Sonance

Like Ghosts
Independent (2012)

Like Ghosts is the debut from Bristol based Sonance, a band so disgustingly heavy that they are currently drowning the car alarm that's been going off in my street for the past half hour. Writhing with sickness and masses of doomed out symphony, Sonance curl around the psyche with a terrifying grip and their tightly woven structures spin out into … Read more

Reviews by score
Browse our album reviews according to score: Highest (9.5/10 or more) or Lowest (2/10 or less)