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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)

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 24,325,636 that I think I'll be hearing best thing to come down the pike since Rollins joined Black Flag or Ian started Fugazi. Sometimes I like to kid myself into thinking these things about new hardcore bands. This time it's New Jersey's The Mongoloids that has been the "it" band as of late and already this album is pissing me off. It is labeled to be played at 33 1/3 and that makes the first song, "Orchestrated" sounds way too slow. At 45 rpm it's chipmunk time. Then all of the sudden the vinyl catches a groove or whatever it takes to make it played at the right speed. However by that time I don't even want to listen anymore do my numerous trips to the record player to see what the fuck is going on. Maybe it's my copy. … 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 … 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 … 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 … Read more

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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 … 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 … Read more

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One from the archives

Botanist

Collective: The Shape of He To Come
Avantgarde Music (2017)

Botanist belongs in this new generation of black metal bands, of acts attempting to reinvigorate the genre by expanding its scope. Post-rock influences and avantgarde notions find their way into Botanist's music, leading to a very successful series of releases, with 2014's VI: Flora standing out in particular. At the same time, stylistically the band departed from not only the traditional extreme metal instrumentation, implementing the hammered dulcimer instead of guitars, but also lyrically, the focus has shifted to an ecological perspective, where the Botanist entity aims to bring about the end of mankind due to its destruction of the environment. The one-man project of Otrebor has been extremely successful in conveying all these messages, and has also been very productive, releasing new music every year since 2011. But, it … Read more

More album reviews

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

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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

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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

Darkthrone

F.O.A.D.
Peaceville (2007)

Those who know, love, and used to love this genuinely cult Norwegian band will probably know what to expect from their latest disc. Darkthrone have decided to take further musical steps away from the genre they will always be considered legends of and deliberately make all the puritan black metal fans furious. I'm not going to say that they decided … Read more

The Absence

Riders of the Plague
Metal Blade (2007)

The Absence hails from Tampa, Florida. Anyone with a sense of history knows that in the late eighties this meant something. Death, Obituary, Deicide, and Morbid Angel all hailed from Florida and significantly helped mold the clay into what we now know as death metal. The Absence are fully aware of their roots and have set forth to continue the … Read more

Have a Nice Life

Deathconsciousness
Enemies List (2008)

Have a Nice Life is a two-piece outfit from Connecticut that includes a member of the hardcore band, In Pieces; although, this double CD collection has nothing in the way of sound that can compare to that outfit in any sense of the word. Instead, Have a Nice Life actually has a sound that pulls from a variety of influences … Read more

Mouse Fire

Wooden Teeth
Lujo (2007)

Lakeland, Florida has given birth to spawn that has been attempted by many. Consisting of four members, Mouse Fire's debut album Wooden Teeth slices, blends, sometimes smothers, and completes the emo-pop sound forged in the beginning of the 2000's. Musically enchanting in its own right, every one of the twelve tracks contains a sense of musical prowess. Undoubtedly, the talent … Read more

Dub Trio

Another Sound is Dying
Ipecac (2008)

In the year 2008, one might question the relevancy of reggae and dub on today's music. When you take a closer look at things, you'd be very surprised at the answer. Sure, artists like Bob Marley and The Clash aren't around anymore. But others still carry the torch that they brought forth to the mainstream. Tim Armstrong released a reggae-based … Read more

Witchcraft

The Alchemist
Rise Above (2007)

If you have heard of this band recently then chances are that it will be related to a certain "southern super group" and their recent resurgence. These Swedes embrace the seventies and are said to be the sole reason that Down, with former Pantera screamer Phil Anselmo at the helm, were revitalized and released arguably their finest recording in 2007. … Read more

The Huguenots

Discography
Hydra Head (2007)

The Huguenots were a band that existed at some point during the late 1990's, or at least that is what I can conclude based on the limited information available on the band's history and their wardrobe in the select pictures available of the band - no offense. Members of the band have spent time in several popular acts, including Converge, … Read more

Robots and Empires

Omnivore
Trip Machine Laboratories (2007)

For a while it seemed like people in hardcore bands would undergo this metamorphosis that changed them from raging balls of adolescent angst into sensitive young adults channeling that angst with more subtlety in their music. This initially spawned the post-hardcore movement where bands like Into Another and Quicksand came into existence. This cycle seems to continue on in one … Read more

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