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)

Dälek

Abandoned Language
Ipecac (2007)

Dälek have the ability to produce an album that's so distinctively different from anything that have done before and yet still sounds characteristically like a Dälek album. As soon as you hear a song by this group, you know it's them. Not only have they consistently been able to do this album after album, but while doing so the quality of the music has never slipped. Their new album is a masterpiece of avant-garde hip hop, and of alternative music in general. Dälek are a hip-hop group from Newark, NJ, but they sound like no one else. Their music is dark, noisy and atmospheric, equally inspired as much by industrial music like Einsterzende Neubauten, the layered noise of My Bloody Valentine and the dense sound collages of Public Enemy. 2005's Absence was not exactly what you would call easy listening; it was filled with abrasive and noisy beats, thought provoking lyrics and a densely layered production. Despite this, the album had a crushingly hypnotic effect, which has been carried on with Abandoned Language stunningly. In fact, it could be seen as the ying to Absence's yang in regards to the atmosphere and mood of the album. Abandoned Language is a … Read more

Years from Now

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat
Get Outta Town (2007)

I have to admit, Years from Now do shed a tiny bit of warm sunlight into the dank black empty … Read more

Years from Now

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat
Get Outta Town (2007)

Those of you who read my "Top 5 Awesome Bands SPB Got Into in 2005" feature in the end of … Read more

Abel is Dying

Gazing from the Abyss
Still Life (2006)

Lasagna. Pizza. Mario Bava. This is what I think of when I think of Italy. Oh, and the mafia. No … Read more

Coke Bust

Demo
Independent (2007)

It's an odd thing to look back on the things that helped shape us such as the music we listen … Read more

Eluvium

Copia
Temporary Residence (2007)

Music has a way of bringing out many emotions in the listener. Whether it is fun music in the summer … Read more

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One from the archives

Year Of The Goat

Angels' Necropolis
Ván (2012)

Year of the Goat haven’t had the best of starts in life – injury, great upheaval, internal friction and possibly more has meant that the Swedish quintet have had to push back the release of their debut Angels’ Necropolis further than they imagined. Praise Satan then, that the record finally sees the darkness of their retro sound birthed into the shadows with classic tones and occultic structures. It’s been a funny old year for the Devil, bands have risen from the depths of Hell to glorify His name in many different ways yet the standard for mystical movements has been deeply rooted in the vibrations of the 1960s/70s landscapes. It’s curious that this type of music has somehow completely reinvented how we see bands calling on the Unholy one and … Read more

More album reviews

Explosions in the Sky

All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
Temporary Residence (2007)

To call Explosions in the Sky's new record, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, expansive would be a horrendous understatement. The guitars swirl around each other in a dizzying fashion that does nothing other than grip the listener in a strange catatonic envelope. On the outside, the individual looks completely serene and vacant while inside they are caught up … Read more

No Harm Done

Our Day of Days
Anchorless (2007)

It's hard to be original anymore when playing any form of rock music and even harder to stand out when you're trying to sound similar to already-existing acts. No Harm Done are a melodic hardcore band from Florida who play their style by the book and not much else, as the idol worship of Strike Anywhere is clearly heard in … Read more

The End of Six Thousand Years / Embrace the End

Split
Still Life (2006)

Still Life Records delivers another slab of aggressive metalcore as it teams up Italy's The End of Six Thousand Years and Sacramento, California's Embrace the End. Each band contributes three songs each of punishing metalcore that will no doubt please any fan of the genre, whether they feel the genre is played out or are just getting into the scene. … Read more

Jesu

Conqueror
Hydra Head (2007)

Okay, I am saying it. This just might be my number one album of 2007. Whatever I thought of Jesu prior to this record went completely out the window. Conqueror is absolutely breathtaking. The audible space that this record fills up is mind-boggling. It is lush. It is sweet and pretty. I am listening to it over and over again … Read more

Bloodlined Calligraphy

Ypsilanti
Facedown (2006)

You, the Scene Point Blank readers, are probably tired of reading about how awful metalcore is these days. But as stagnant and formulaic as the genre is, bands just keep putting out albums and apparently there is fanbase that keeps eating this shit up. But somebody has to review them, so here we are. When SPB writers, including myself, review … Read more

Lifetime

Lifetime
Decaydance (2007)

Alright, I'm just going to come out and say it. I've been battling an evil demon inside myself that's been eating its way through my soul ever since I heard that Lifetime was going to put out an album on Peter Wentz's Decaydance Records. I've lost sleep. I get a nasty case of heartburn every time I think about this … Read more

Lifetime

Lifetime
Decaydance (2007)

On the song "Can't Think About it Now," Lifetime vocalist Ari Katz notes in passing that "nobody knows if the kids gonna like it." No kidding. As anyone talking about this record will likely point out, expectations ride high. After eight years away from the fray, Lifetime returned in 2005 for a scattered series of shows before reuniting for real … Read more

As Hope Dies

As Hope Dies
Still Life (2006)

This self-titled affair is the final recorded material from the melodic death metal/hardcore outfit As Hope Dies. Prior to this five-song EP, the band had released two other albums: a full-length and an EP. Their first effort showed immense promise as it blended together their influences of European thrash and death metal with a healthy dose of American hardcore. Their … Read more

Agalloch

Ashes Against the Grain
The End (2006)

Agalloch formed in the mid to late 1990's as a studio project of sorts and have actually maintained that distinction for the most part, as they seem to play very infrequently and undertake little touring. Ashes Against the Grain is the third full-length from this outfit and represents a further evolution in their recorded output. "Limbs" opens with a reserved … Read more

Various Artists

Our Impact Will Be Felt: A Tribute to Sick of it All
Abacus (2007)

Let's face it; if you're a hardcore kid and you DON'T like Sick of it All, there's something really and truly wrong with you. For over twenty years, Sick of it All have been consistently releasing albums and 7"s of unwavering quality, and touring the world relentlessly. With the band's somewhat recent signing to Abacus Recordings, the label decided to … Read more

This Ending

Inside the Machine
Metal Blade (2007)

This Ending's Inside the Machine is a creeper. The first time I heard it, I really didn't care for it. It was alright, but the music seemed somewhat stilted and uninspired. Sure it was heavy, but so are a lot of groups - groups that manage to be more interesting, as well. Then, as I'm wont to do, I gave … Read more

Ignite the Will

Words Fail
Double or Nothing (2006)

I sometimes wonder what motivates individuals to be in a band full-time. That's a lot of devotion to one thing, and it comes with a lot of sacrifice, especially if you're a younger band. Well, Ignite the Will have recently made the decision to become a full-time band and their reasoning is as good as I've ever heard: "We would … Read more

Destroy Nate Allen

Awake O'Sleeper
Quiver Society (2006)

I'd like to start off this review by stating how much respect I have for Nate Allen. Just like G.G. Allin was committed to being the most sick and depraved human being he could possibly be, Allen is committed to prescribing to punk's D.I.Y. ethics and living his life by them. Using any means possible to tour and recording his … Read more

Cable

Last Call
Translation Loss (2006)

Cable might be one of the best bands that you have never heard. In today's punk and hardcore atmosphere there is a serious lack of the visceral disgust that bands like Cable have produced. Originally part of the burgeoning "noise-core" movement that included Deadguy and later Kiss It Goodbye, Cable outlasted their peers in both longevity and creativity with their … Read more

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

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