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)

Transit

This Will Not Define Us
Barrett (2008)

Imagine it's the last part of 90's and you're some wide-eyed kid who thinks you're older late-teens brother is the coolest person in world. Your older brother also plays guitar in a cool band and owns records by bands named Texas is the Reason, The Get Up Kids, The Movielife, and Braid. One sad day your brother heads off to college, however before he goes he gives a final Chinese Haircut farewell, he gives you his guitar and a few mix CDs of 90's emo greatest hits. That scenario must have happened a lot in the last decade since there's been a sudden influx of scrawny kids playing melodic emo rock whose influences are worn as blatant as that all over print hoodie and those skinny jeans they all clad themselves with. Transit is yet another one of these bands. Everything on This Will Not Define Us reminds of emo's past even though its done by people ten years my junior. This Will Not Define Us is a bubbly snappy record with drifting melodies flowing from east to west of the songs only to be defined by moody breakdowns. The bridges use every emo trick in the book from screaming, … Read more

Kayo Dot

Blue Lambency Downward
Hydra Head (2008)

Kayo Dot is still creating music that's "eerie as fuck," but that comes as no surprise. The band seems to … Read more

Prizzy Prizzy Please

Prizzy Prizzy Please
Lets Pretend (2007)

The band is named Prizzy Prizzy Please. They have bright colors and octopus tentacles on their cover. Instruments included: keyboards, … Read more

Muse

H.A.A.R.P.
Warner Bros. (2008)

Muse is a band that has long had their music overshadowed by comparisons to the giants that are Radiohead, U2, … Read more

Diamanda Galás

Guilty Guilty Guilty
Mute (2008)

Diamanda Galás is unlike any artist in music. Take a moment and think about this. That statement is not embellishment. … Read more

Moving Mountains

Pneuma
Deep Elm (2008)

Let me get this out in the open right off the bat; I wanted to hear this because the band's … Read more

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One from the archives

Dodenbezweerder

Vrees de Toorn van de Wezens Verscholen Achter Majestueuze Vleugels
Iron Bonehead (2020)

You ever get lost while driving in the woods at night? I grew up in Wisconsin and this happened to me often before I got a GPS. It will spook you good if you're not careful. The roads stretch into the night and disappear into the surrounding landscape. The roads become more narrow the longer you drive. Low hanging branches reaching out to scrap your windshield and the roof of your car as you pass. When you have to stop to look at a map, you can hear dry leaves rustling all around you as well as the disquieting crack of fallen branches dividing under the foot of an indiscernible creature. You can drive through those purgatorial woods for hours and never find your way back to the highway, all … Read more

More album reviews

Plain

Different Not Strange
Independent (2008)

One could say Lugano, Switzerland’s Plain is a risk-taking collection of artists simply for the sheer bravery (or stupidity) of giving themselves that moniker. For those that wouldn’t care for their brand of music, professional critics and aural consumers alike, the door is wide open for the same kind of juvenile puns that your typical Garbage naysayer would dish out. … Read more

Jonquil

Lions
Try Harder (2007)

As a staff member here at Scene Point Blank, I get to choose the promotional discs that I review. Bands from across the globe send in their EP's and LP's so we can give them our input. I chose Jonquil's Lions, because the press sheet said they have played with A Silver Mt. Zion, formed by members of Godspeed You! … Read more

Gnarls Barkley

The Odd Couple
Atlantic (2008)

Since the arrival of the 80's and the consequent death of the era when there were true funk/soul titans, each passing unit of time discouraged any hope of a similar era ever resurfacing. No offense to R. Kelly and Alicia Keys, but the modern acts would get eaten alive by the likes of Curtis Mayfield and Funkadelic. Plus, I think … Read more

Tides / Giant

Split
Teenage Disco Bloodbath (2007)

Level Plane Records and Teenage Disco Bloodbath Records have partnered together as they team up two extremely underrated artists, at least in my eyes. Originally released on vinyl format last year, this split release is finally available as a CD (from what I can only assume to be the success of the vinyl version). For this offering Tides, now hailing … Read more

H2O

Nothing to Prove
Bridge Nine (2008)

Time lapses between albums can be a tricky phenomenon and this tends to ring especially true for punk and hardcore bands. The conventional wisdom holds that return albums are lackluster and leave longtime supporters wishing the band simply played shows and left their recorded legacy in tact. But H2O never adheres to convention. Their widespread appeal is a result of … Read more

Polar Bear Club

Sometimes Things Just Disappear
Red Leader (2008)

Every once in awhile a new band comes down the pike and reaffirms your love for music. A couple years ago it was Crime in Stereo before they decided to become Brand New. This year's candidate is Rochester, NY's Polar Bear Club. It's not that Sometimes Things Just Disappear is an adventure into new musical landscapes as Polar Bear Club … Read more

Farmers Market

Surfin U.S.S.R.
Ipecac (2008)

Those familiar with Ipecac Recordings know that regardless of the release, whether the listener likes it or not, it will, above all else, be different. Farmers Market is a Norwegian band specializing in Bulgarian folk music presented at an even faster tempo, with a smattering of just about everything else you can think of. The result can most assuredly be … Read more

Primordial

To the Nameless Dead
Metal Blade (2007)

When I think of "folk metal," I think of the scene in This is Spinal Tap with the dwarf dancing around the tiny Stonehenge. This is because I'm incredibly immature. The term is actually used to define any metal band that incorporates its country of origin's indigenous sound within their own. Within this framework, Enslaved, Bathory and later year Burzum … Read more

The Delicious

The Delicious
Independent (2008)

Recently signed to Joyful Noise Recordings, The Delicious is a Bloomington, Indiana quartet that just bug the shit out of me more with each subsequent listen. This super-fun-happy cuddle-core twaddle is not good. They want to be The Pixies. Bad. You can almost see that desperation stink wafting from every sad little note like a little green cloud floating from … Read more

Shit Outta Luck

Family Tradition
Organized Crime (2007)

Not to be confused with Hayward's Shit Outta Luck, a ska band - this is Milwaukee's Shit Outta Luck, a meaty, Midwest "hardcore" band. The quotes are for the mere fact that the hardcore term is thrown around with such carelessness these days as to render its true meaning useless. Is S.O.L. hardcore? Not quite by my definition, but they … Read more

Dust is Everywhere

Attics and Catacombs
Creeping Vine (2008)

Dust is Everywhere. D.I.E. Get it? [cough] Anyway it could be worse. Ask their labelmates, Rumplestiltskin Grinder. D.I.E. is a band in the black metal ilk, somewhat on the amateurish side, Attics and Catacombs provides a look into the deep, dark recesses of um, Havertown, Pennsylvania - pop: 36,711. Featuring the musical stylings of "Dust" on "Chains, Shackles and Screams" … Read more

Slap the Culture

Slap the Culture
Cock Suck (2008)

Fast pissed off old school hardcore from Japan. Sounds straight from the American Hardcore soundtrack with a better production. It's speedy, furious, and somewhat entertaining. For some reason this is what I expect when I hear people talking about Japanese hardcore. This stems from the fact the only two Japanese hardcore bands I've heard (That was before Michael sent me … Read more

Now or Never

Now or Never
Cock Suck (2007)

Now or Never features members of Gordon Ivy & The Jaybirds and play fast melodic hardcore that came from Scandinavia in the mid to late 90's. I see your Pridebowl and raise you a Wizo and a Satanic Surfers. Now or Never are completely nuts with the breakneck songs and completely inane lyrics. "Fuck this Asshole" includes this lyrical masterpiece; … Read more

Gordon Ivy & The Jaybirds

Happy Couples Never Last
Cock Suck (2008)

I have never been a big fan of bands from the Island Nation of Japan. They were always so over the top and the "Engrish" lyrics were never worth anything than a couple of giggles. Oh, I am such the ignorant American. Anyhow, one would think that a band called Gordon Ivy & the Jaybirds they would sounds like the … Read more

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