Recent reviews

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)

NOFX

They've Actually Gotten Worse Live!
Fat Wreck Chords (2007)

"Ever done something you regret while drunk like...recorded a live album?" the press sheet states. As NOFX open the CD and Fat Mike announces, "Oh, shit, we have to go to work," the tone is set. Within five minutes, the president has been insulted and you're told that, if you believe in God, you're wrong. There are also a number of intelligible statements muttered by the drunken band members. By now, you must be wondering, who are these belligerent chaps? Apparently, NOFX is a band from San Francisco. They've released dozens of records since 1983, and five full-lengths since 1995's I Heard They Suck Live. I'm just going to assume from here that you already know them. On November 20, 2007, the band released their second live album, They’ve Actually Gotten Worse Live!. On this go around, the band played a three-night gig at Slims in San Francisco and spliced the results into a tight little package available for home consumption. According to stage banter, the first show was relatively sober, while the latter two grew increasingly sloppy. What results is a twenty-four-track time capsule that Fat Mike and company likely needed to remember what happened on the Slims' stage. … Read more

Envy

Abyssal
Temporary Residence (2008)

Seriously, I think that I am still atoning for not paying more attention to this Japanese band earlier. I mean … Read more

The Dauntless Elite

Graft
Plan-it-X / Bombed Out (2007)

The Dauntless Elite hail from Leeds and hold the honor of being the first international Plan-it-X band. With Graft, their … Read more

Disfear

Live the Storm
Relapse (2008)

After what is quickly becoming a normative hiatus for this Swedish five-piece band, Disfear delivers their latest blast of d-beat … Read more

Creature Feature

The Greatest Show Unearthed
Sumerian (2007)

When reviewing an album, it can be difficult to summarize thoughts and feeling elicited from the music you're listening to, … Read more

This Will Destroy You

This Will Destroy You
Magic Bullet (2008)

It wasn't long ago that Texas natives This Will Destroy You were nothing more than a well-kept secret. But thanks … Read more

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One from the archives

Elliott

Song In the Air
Revelation (2003)

It's always sad to see a pioneer go. Especially when it feels like they have reached the peek of their game. This was the case for Elliott. Since their birth back in 1995, Elliott has cemented themselves as a trailblazer in the "emo" game. With every release, they set new standards on how the game should be played. Your first listen with this release, you might feel as if they have quit the game, when in fact, they are once again just bending the rules. With half of Elliott gone, mainly the lead songwriter, most were found uncertain as to how they could recruit new members and still be Elliott. Fortunately, newcomer Benny Clark breathed new life into them and helped contribute to their best release yet. Strings, more guitar … Read more

More album reviews

Life Long Tragedy

Runaways
Deathwish Inc. (2008)

Evolution in the music world results in one of two things: fame or infamy. Life Long Tragedy have slowly grown from a group of young individuals writing blazing, punishing, and angst-ridden metallic hardcore jams into a group that has honed their craft to construct cathartic, brooding, and dark songs that blur the definition of hardcore music, all while maintaining a … Read more

Able Baker Fox

Voices
Second Nature (2008)

A little over five years ago The Casket Lottery and Small Brown Bike released a collaborative 12" EP that proved to be more than a split recording as the two bands collaborated on most of the songs giving listeners quite a good record. Now, in hindsight, this effort served as a portent of things to come with the release of … Read more

The Mongoloids

Time Trials
Collapse (2007)

There's something about over-hyped hardcore bands that makes me want to hear them. It has something to do with my connection with the hardcore scene that when I hear the kids talk and talk about a new upcoming band so fervently that I think when I pick up the latest offering from "Oh my god this band is amazing" number … Read more

The New Dress

Where Our Failures Are
Red Leader (2007)

The New Dress certainly knows how to make a first impression. Twenty seconds into Where Our Failures Are the tandem sings out, "I'm setting of alarms and planning bombs instead of songs / And if the cops ask I'm their man!" The New Dress holds nothing back, singing stripped down folk-punk about socialism and society, covering Billy Brag and Ed … Read more

Come Sleep

The Burden of Ballast
Version Studio (2007)

That old saying attests that "you only get what you give." Nowhere does this apply better than heavy metal. The genre can somehow simultaneously be an embarrassing parody of itself and push musical boundaries to new creative planes. The resurgence of "thinking man's metal" came with an increased presence of amplifiers, New York Times profiles, and expensive LPs. It's safe … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Skeletons with Flesh on Them

The Fish Don't Mind
Independent (2007)

Some bands just have cool names. Skeletons with Flesh on Them, an indie rock band from Seattle, are one of them. This four-piece indie/rock group show obvious signs of influence from the pioneering and currently established bands of their neck of the woods - Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, Roy, etc. - on their debut EP, The Fish Don't Mind. … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Endgame

Distracted
Get Outta Town (2008)

Endgame is the latest band to emerge from the New Jersey hardcore scene. The four-piece outfit has returned after a split CD with Movement that was released last year. Distracted is a five song EP of upbeat melodic hardcore. Musically, Endgame have concocted a very catchy mix of fast-paced hardcore and melodic hardcore that draws similarities to Crime in Stereo, … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Orgone

The Goliath
Independent (2007)

Orgone is an interesting term that refers to the "life energy" of humans. It may exist; it may not. That's all up for debate. One thing that is certain is that Orgone, the metal band from Pittsburgh, plays some seriously intense tunes. This four-piece group of fellows fused together technical metal, grindcore, and even dashes of hardcore and drone metal … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Fight Pretty

Rewiring the Human Body
Dwell (2007)

How do you review an album plastered with a tagline from a review you wrote? We're both about to find out. Rewiring the Human Body is Fight Pretty's first full-length release following a slew of other recordings that were compiled on a discography release. The first thing that catches my attention about Rewiring the Human Body is the more focused … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Fire on Fire

Five Song EP
Young God (2007)

I have never been to Maine, but the visual in my head is that the state is a quite tranquil location. I know they have cities and I'm sure some of them are fairly large, but I can't help but picture a vastly rural landscape and unindustrialized setting. Fire on Fire is a group of five individuals that all live … Read more

200 Words Or Less

No Apologies

Survival
6131 (2007)

Survival is the debut full-length from No Apologies. This five-piece outfit comes from the land of koalas and aborigines. This album is filled with plenty of moshy New York-inspired hardcore, but there is also a hint of Westcoast flavor - not a surprise when one discovers Todd Jones (Terror, Carry On) wrote two songs for the album. Tracks like "Survival," … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Various Artists

Change!
Hopeless/Sub City (2007)

Change! is the latest compilation from the team of Hopeless/Sub City Records and Hot Topic. Included in this release are one CD and one DVD. The CD has twenty-one songs. The majority of the songs here are your run-of-the-mill screamo-core acts: Chiodos, Saosin, The Devil Wears Prada, etc. I despise this stuff. I would say there are only a handful … Read more

Trash Talk

Plagues
Malfunction (2008)

2007 was a huge year for this group of young men from Sacramento. A relentless touring schedule in support of their debut full-length, Walking Disease, fueled a hype machine - not necessarily in a bad way - that landed them on Malfunction Records and onto a lot of hardcore kids' favorites of '07 lists. Plagues picks up where the band … Read more

Arms and Legs

Arms and Legs
Closet Trekkie (2007)

With today's music scene escalating into an ever-expanding number of sub-genres, it seems a little risky to invade a style that's already been done many, many times over. Then again, if you think you can capture a genre differently (and better presumably) than anyone else, why not try it? Hailing from the New York City area, twenty-four-year-old Scott Daly decided … Read more

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

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