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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)

Set it Straight

Live Your Heart and Never Follow
Twelve Gauge (2006)

Set it Straight is a band that truly deserves notoriety. Unfortunately, they really haven't gotten much attention outside of the Westcoast, which is both a shock and a shame. Last year the band released their debut full-length, My Favorite Words, an extremely promising LP, as well as a split EP with the now defunct Where Eagles Dare. On both of those releases the band demonstrated that they had a knack for writing fast melodic hardcore that you could tap your foot too as well as sing along to. One year later Set it Straight is back with a new album and things really haven't changed. For Live Your Heart and Never Follow the members of Set it Straight have honed their songwriting skills and assembled another well-written and focused slab of melodic hardcore. There is one notable difference though; this time around the music has a lot more punch to it. The guitars are a lot crisper, giving the songs a much fuller sound and the drums hit hard as hell. The album isn't overburdened with breakdowns, but when they are used, they sound awesome - my favorites being found on "Callouses" and "Percent." The vocals of Harry Petty fit … Read more

Raise the Red Lantern

Thunderfuck
Witch Trial (2006)

It's hard to say if stoner rock on a whole tries to be "epic" in a way that other instrumental … Read more

The Black Angels

Passover
Light in the Attic (2006)

In retrospect, the sixties were a time of incredible music. While many aspects of the sound have influenced, been watered … Read more

Brian Simpson

Postcard from L.A.
Independent (2006)

Brian Simpson plays that sort of music that you feel like you've heard before but can't really remember when or … Read more

Cinemechanica

The Martial Arts
Hello Sir (2006)

Cinemechanica are a math-rock quartet from Athens, Georgia. They are responsible for one of the most aurally exciting albums of … Read more

The Distance

The Rise, the Fall, and Everything in Between
Abacus (2006)

I like to look at pretty girls. It's easy for me; I live near a college and work at a … Read more

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One from the archives

Overcast

Reborn to Kill Again
Metal Blade (2008)

I would say ninety percent of the fans of the current bands (Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, Seemless) that the members of Overcast are in weren't even out of diapers when these metalcore rippers were originally in action. While the members have seen significant success with their current musical endeavors, it is the time spent crammed into a van touring the U.S. for little to no money at all with Overcast that they'd likely cherish most. Reborn to Kill Again features fourteen songs from the band's back catalog, including twelve of which were found on Overcasts two very popular full-length recordings - Expectational Dilusion and Fight Ambition to Kill re-recorded. The album opens with the combo-track of "Diluting Inertia / Grifter" from Expectational Dilusion. Immediately I am thrown back in time … Read more

More album reviews

Young Widows

Settle Down City
Jade Tree (2006)

You could see this coming. You could see it from miles away if you listened closely and or fanatically collected the 7"s and albums from Young Widows previous incarnation as the unapologetically loud and noisy Breather Resist. The last 7" that they released, Full of Tongues, showcased a noisier but less loud sound to go along with their lock tight … Read more

The Great Crusades

Four Thirty
Innocent Words (2006)

According to the press blurb provided with Four Thirty, Midwestern natives The Great Crusades approached the songwriting process for their latest album in a way thus far unique to the band: the lyrics were written after the music, created to fit around the existing song structure. While I'm sure that some artists may be able to pull this off, the … Read more

The Ergs!

Jersey's Best Prancers
Don Giovanni (2006)

Anyone who's been paying attention can see the writing on the wall: like Cock Sparrer in 1982, pop punk's coming back. Of course, it never really left; it's just seen a variety of mutations since the halcyon days of "Locket Love": The Descendents' heartsick catharsis, The Lillingtons' television city dreaming, and the thrift store angst of Saves the Day are … Read more

Janez Detd

Like Cold Rain Kills a Summer Day...
I Scream (2006)

Archetypal scene dude: So yeah these guys are like super huge in Europe; I am sure they are going to hit it big over here. But I saw them like three years ago in like a port-a-potty with no electricity and they had a generator going to plug in their instruments. But you know they are socially conscious, so it … Read more

Keene Brothers

Blues and Boogie Shoes
Fading Captain (2006)

Everybody's got a little something to say about Robert Pollard these days. Drunk, father, master singer-vocalist. Many years ago, long before the advent of the Internet a close friend remarked how Pollard could basically do no wrong as he has the gift of having the voice of a bell. True enough. Once again, it's all here on display in Blues … Read more

Isis & Aereogramme

In the Fishtank 14
Konkurrent (2006)

By now all of should know who Isis is and what to expect from them in terms of their music output. A good number of you are probably familiar with Aereogramme - for those of you not, they're a Scottish band that mixes punishing metal with melodic moments and alt-rock vocals. So what's the deal with this In the Fishtank … Read more

The Hope Conspiracy

Death Knows Your Name
Deathwish Inc. (2006)

For those that did not hear The Hope Conspiracy's recent teaser 7" Hang Your Cross (which was later released as a CD and in digital format), now is your chance. Let me just say, WOW! I figured that the new full-length, Death Knows Your Name, would be good (this opinion was solely based off of the quality of said 7"), … Read more

As Tall as Lions

As Tall as Lions
Triple Crown (2006)

It is an awful shame that so many great indie bands often go unnoticed. As Tall as Lions is the perfect example of one of these bands. Here is a group who's already coming out on a small label, but also a label whose target audience is the complete opposite crowd that As Tall as Lions would normally appeal to. … Read more

Lamb of God

Sacrament
Epic (2006)

Lamb of God and I go back a long way. Their second album, As the Palaces Burn, was the album that really got me into them. Actually, it was the album that got me into metal in general. It is one of the select few albums from the so-called "New Wave of American Metal" that has stood the test of … Read more

Nueva Etica

Inquebrantable
New Eden (2006)

Spanish is a very musical language. It flows naturally with any rhythm and can accentuate the beauty of a melody like no other. For any artist, this particular romance language is a highly favorable ally. Nueva Etica, an aggressive hardcore/metal band from Argentina, fully embraces their native language. They are also relentlessly direct in their approach to the hardcore genre. … Read more

Theta Naught & Alex Caldiero

Sound Weave
Independent (2006)

Sound Weave is a collaboration between Theta Naught and poet Alex Caldiero. Combining cello and bass ambiance with occasional drum theatrics, bewildering soundscapes, and the ardour and insanity of improvisational poetry, it aims to combine a musical experiment "in a symbiotic form with creative language-based explorations." In other words, it sets the words of Alex Caldiero to the music of … Read more

On a Warpath

On a Warpath
Hand of Hope (2006)

Within hardcore there lies a style of music that has come to known as beatdown. It is an interesting but narrow-minded sub-genre to the whole hardcore realm. Musically, the bands that play this style of music rely heavily on having ridiculously huge breakdowns. I wouldn't be surprised if they wrote the breakdowns first and then surrounded them with the rest … Read more

Latterman

...We are Still Alive
Deep Elm (2006)

I haven't paid much attention to anything that Deep Elm has put out since Emo Diaries Volume #5. I always thought this label's marketing of the term "emo" was cheeky as they pawned off any band that had black-rimmed glasses as the next poster boys for shy teenage girls to adorn their room with. Then I heard a buzz floating … Read more

New Found Glory

Coming Home
Geffen (2006)

CAUTION: This review was written by someone who DID NOT agree with the Scene Point Blank reviews of New Found Glory's previous album Catalyst. I am all about New Found Glory's discography, start to finish. With that being said, here is the review. You have been warned! When I was younger and up until I listened to this album, I … 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)