Recent reviews

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

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

Grouper

AIA: Alien Observer
Yellow Electric (2011)

Oh the dreamy sounds of Grouper, how is it that you so mellifluously consume my both my conscious and subconscious mind while your records turn on my turntable, and why can I not control my hand each time that it flips your vinyl platters in a near incessant buffeting of my weary mind? AIA: Alien Observer is the sister album to the simultaneously released AIA: Dream Loss and somehow accomplishes similar musical motifs (and emotional affectations) while also having subtle shifts and ever so hard to notice differences to make AIA: Alien Observer stand on its own two feet. Spellbinding is one word that anyone listening to AIA: Alien Observer might describe the album's musical effect on them while Harris's vocals bewitch their mind with their swirling siren call, and while the vocals seemingly tale more of a central role for this record, the voices still blend in to the intense sonic tapestry that the music weaves as if they are another instrument with which to create the dreamy atmospheres (check out "Moon Is Sharp" and "Vapor Trails" for example). Every one of the six compositions that make up AIA: Alien Observer further pulls the listener beneath the undulating waves … Read more

Grouper

AIA: Dream Loss
Yellow Electric (2011)

Where have you been all my life, and why in the name of hell have I missed out on you … Read more

Ash Borer

Ash Borer
Pesanta Urfolk (2011)

YES! So this is without a doubt one of the five black metal releases that I can point to as … Read more

Gnaw Their Tongues

Per Flagellum Sanguemque, Tenebras Veneramus
Crucial Blast (2011)

Nightmares are a hard thing to quantify. As they happen without any control or uniformity. The terror invoked can be … Read more

Sutekh Hexen

Daemons
Dead Section (2011)

At this point, Sutekh Hexen is one of those groups that has reached full on obsession with me to the … Read more

Boris

New Album
Sargent House (2011)

New Album is a bit of a misnomer, at least on this side of the pond. It was actually released … Read more

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One from the archives

These Arms Are Snakes

Easter
Jade Tree (2006)

Easter, the second and highly anticipated full-length from These Arms Are Snakes, is finally upon us. But just how anticipated was this album? Well it is no coincidence that the album leaked to the Internet three months prior to its official release date. It's also no coincidence that every review that I've read has been written by a journalist smitten by Easter. People love this band, a lot. I am no different; I have been dreamy-eyed with These Arms Are Snakes since hearing This is Meant to Hurt You and am just as infatuated now as ever before. It is often said that the first song on an album sets the tone for everything that follows. Though I doubt These Arms are Snakes took this into consideration, they really know … Read more

More album reviews

Action Bronson & Statik Selektah

Well Done
Dcide (2011)

Individually it has already been a busy year for both of these East Coast cats. Well Done marks the third release of 2011 for the culinary chemist-turned-rapper Action Bronson—following the the Bon Appetite…Bitch! mixtape and the impressive Dr. Lecter album—and the fifth for producer/DJ extraordinaire Statik Selektah, who dropped collabo joints with Freeway, Freddie Gibbs, and Freddie Foxxx, as well … Read more

Locrian

The Clearing
Fan Death (2011)

OK, so I finally get to sit down with album number four (or three depending on who you ask) from Locrian and not because I did not want to listen to this sucker; but rather I waited and waited to hear this spin on my turntable first until at last I gave in and listened to the advance copy that … Read more

Banner Pilot

Heart Beats Pacific
Fat Wreck Chords (2011)

I’ll be honest. I was kind of hoping somebody else would review this record. I like Banner Pilot. A lot. The reason I didn’t want to do this myself has more to do with the fact that I’ve reviewed their past couple releases and I’m not sure I can bring much new insight to the table. Nate Gangelhoff and Nick … Read more

Lonesummer

There Are Few Tomorrows For Feeding Our Worries
Music Ruins Lives (2011)

Philadelphia based one man band Lonesummer deal in black metal. Sorta. It's an interesting take on a genre which in recent years has become even more experimental, bands such as this adding layers of personality and tone to a style of music most people would likely associate with early 90's Norway. Thank the dark lord then for bands like Lonesummer. … Read more

Uneven Structure

Februus
Basick (2011)

It takes a lot of chutzpah to have a double-disc debut. That doesn't seem to faze French/Swedish band Uneven Structure, as proven by their debut release on Basick records, the 90-minute opus Februus.The first disc is one 55 minute unbroken suite. It takes a lot of cues from the thick, layered ambiance of bands like Dirge and the deep-seated spaciness … Read more

Sutekh Hexen

Luciform
Wands (2011)

After a number of demos and EPs the members of Sutekh Hexen have unleashed their debut LP upon the world. Unleashed seems to be the only fair way to describe the release of this record as any other terminology feels as though it is undermining the nastiness of this recording. While the band play a form of black metal it … Read more

Fucked Up

David Comes To Life
Matador (2011)

It was one of the most anticipated albums of the year, and was welcomed with such positive reception. Needless to say, my expectations were high. Chemistry of Common Life was one of my favorite albums of 2008 and the idea of Fucked Up writing a rock-opera was intriguing to me. Now it's months later, and I'm still trying to figure … Read more

Seven Sisters Of Sleep/Children Of God

Split
A389 (2011)

Dear lord is this ever one of the heaviest split records in quite a while, and I am sure that I don’t have to explain how that is saying something; but both bands on this could wreck your speakers on their own anytime so having them both on one slab of wax is a completely different kind of punishment altogether, … Read more

A Death Cinematic / Ekca Liena

Preternatural
Small Doses (2011)

Don’t you just absolutely love when split releases reveal some new band or musician that completely changes how you listen to certain types of music or even just end up being what you need to listen to at the moment that you sit down and listen to it? Luckily for me (and you if you have already heard this split), … Read more

Vildhjarta

måsstaden
Century Media (2011)

Let's face it: djent is beginning to sound really, really homogeneous. Though we've known for a while that every single band in the genre is cutting their music the same mould as Meshuggah, I'm beginning to suspect they're using the same knife and cutting board, too. A lot of the bands in this genre just don't do much to distance … Read more

John Cate & The Van Gogh Brothers

X
American Music Partners (2011)

The newest John Cate & The Van Gogh Brothers album X has been released and I am happy to say it does not disappoint. The album has twelve tunes on it that fit well with what you have come to expect from John and the band, great melodies, three part harmonies, and lyrics that make you think. I have been … Read more

Sabertooth Zombie

Human Performance III
Twelve Gauge (2011)

The guys of Sabertooth Zombie have been doing their own thing for awhile now. That "thing" as it were is a mash up of hardcore, stoner metal, and outright rock n roll with not a fuck to be given. While they don't really tend to add onto what they already do they over the course of their last couple 7 … Read more

Cloudkicker

Let Yourself Be Huge
Independent (2011)

Frankly, I'm just as surprised as you are. Ben Sharp, known to many only as Cloudkicker, had warned earlier this year that he was not going to be releasing new material for a while. I guess Sharp's conception of a long time is drastically different from the norm, because the year hasn't even ended yet and he's already let loose … Read more

Street Eaters

Rusty Eyes and Hydrocarbons
Plan-It-X\Bakery Outlet (2011)

There’s a level of familiarity in Street Eaters that I can’t put my finger on. That said, I’ll do my best to in reviewing their debut release, Rusty Eyes and Hydrocarbons. I discovered the band at Fest 10, and it didn’t take long for the two-piece bass-drum combo to pull me in. Devoid of guitar, they build melodies around John … Read more

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