Short Sharp Shock
Short Sharp Shock
Dead & Gone (2006)
Anyone who's read any of my reviews probably has a pretty good idea of my old-school sensibilities when it comes to music. I've been listening to music for my whole life and it's tough to find anything that sounds fresh these days. So the reasons for my old-school tastes are simple. I'm old. I've heard a lot in my life. It's all been done before. Most of it was done before I even came into this world, so to expect anything wholly original 37 years later is ludicrous. But nostalgia? It has its place, though it is a defeatist mindset. It usually says, "Fuck it. Why try? We can't sound new, so let's just sound old." It's nothing new to embrace a genre for your specific sound - in this case, thrash metal - but to co-opt an era as well? That, my friends takes balls. Short Sharp Shock, known more commonly as SSS, takes the thrash and makes no apologies that what they're trying to achieve is the mid-eighties thrash sound. Now, anyone who knows what this is knows it's a very specific sound indeed. A sound that I happen to absolutely love, but reading the band's promo, I … Read more
xDeathstarx
We are the Threat
Facedown (2007)
Maybe I am the only one that can see the irony in a Christian straightedge band having a song called … Read more
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
Living with the Living
Touch & Go (2007)
Like a well-deserved punch to the face, a breath of fresh air in a smog-ridden city, or indeed, a good … Read more
Since the Flood
No Compromise
Metal Blade (2007)
New Hampshire natives Since the Flood have worked hard to get where they are today. In their five years of … Read more
Nicole Atkins
Bleeding Diamonds
Columbia (2006)
What is it with the recent explosion of male singer/songwriters? Almost like buses, none show up for ages and then … Read more
Call it Fire
Demo
Independent (2007)
Oh wow, another Long Island hardcore band? Seriously? Man, I can't really say I saw this one coming. All sarcastic … Read more
