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)

Tragedy

Nerve Damage
Tragedy (2006)

Honestly, Tragedy has to be considered one of the best punk bands going right now. Their music is super tight and just awesome. Their lyrics are poignant. The vocals are down right devastating to hear (coming from both of the vocalists). A few weeks ago, I was commenting how it had been too long of a gap between their last album, Vengeance and anything new. I know they had their Euro tour 7" and the split with Totalitar, but I wanted a new full-length goddamnit. When my brother sent me a package that upon opening contained Nerve Damage, I was psyched. It completely took me by surprise that this album was out/ coming out. I simply could not wait to pop this on. As the sirens wail to signal the beginning of "Eyes of Madness," you quickly begin to realize that something about Tragedy is slightly different on Nerve Damage. The heavy riffing and melodic interplay are still there and still bulwarked by the rasping vocals, but there is a new type of urgency. This new album is darker than its predecessor. The volatile anger that was ever present on Vengeance seems to be replaced by an overwhelming sense of … Read more

Defiance, Ohio

The Great Depression
No Idea (2006)

In 2004, Defiance, Ohio released Share What Ya' Got. While I really enjoyed the record, I often found that the … Read more

Multiple Authors

Sinking Ships

Disconnecting
Revelation (2006)

This is a pleasant surprise. This is a hardcore record, a good hardcore record. The vocals are just the right … Read more

Multiple Authors

Sinking Ships

Disconnecting
Revelation (2006)

The Northwest hardcore scene recently lost an undeniable force with the breakup of fan favorite Champion. Fortunately there is a … Read more

Mass Movement of the Moth

Outerspace
Exotic Fever (2006)

Mass Movement of the Moth is a band doing it the right way. Playing together for years and making a … Read more

Escape the Fate

There's No Sympathy for the Dead
Epitaph (2006)

Brett Gurewitz clearly smells money like band mate Greg Graffin smells fat teen pussy from Wisconsin, and it gets him … Read more

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One from the archives

I Killed the Prom Queen

Music for the Recently Deceased
Metal Blade (2006)

I'm not going to lie to you, kids. I have an affinity for most things from Down Under. I had family who lived there for fifteen years that I had the pleasure of visiting many moons ago. I've been on the Sydney Harbour Cruise, record shopping in Melbourne, held a wombat in Ballarat, and found my way back to a strip club in King's Cross. All of which, I might add, are highly recommended if journeying over. Now this isn't to say I like everything the land of Aus has ever produced, but their track record is somewhat better than most continents with fewer marsupials. With that said, I must admit that even after numerous listens, Music for the Recently Deceased really isn't a very good album. With their second … Read more

More album reviews

Men's Recovery Project

The Very Best of Men's Recovery Project
5 Rue Christine (2005)

The idea of releasing a "Greatest Hits" package for a band like Men's Recovery Project seems laughable on the surface. Emerging out of the scorched carcass of Born Against, Men's Recovery Project left an embarrassing stain on the face of mid-'90s hardcore, offering messy, aberrant punk fueled by primitive, farting electronics and a defiant sense of weirdness. This isn't the … Read more

Multiple Authors

The Killer

Better Judged by Twelve than Carried by Six (Reissue)
Organized Crime (2006)

If there is one hardcore band in Chicago that truly defines the conventions of "Chicago Hardcore," it is The Killer. The various musical backgrounds of each member leads to an interesting fusion of the heavier metalcore bands as well as Southern Rock, and even a bit of doom metal. Everything about this album is solid from the production to the … Read more

Multiple Authors

The Killer

Better Judged by Twelve than Carried by Six (Reissue)
Organized Crime (2006)

If Myspace, YouTube, and various messegeboards have shown me anything in 2006, it is that kids love to mosh. From videos of kids moshing in their bedroom, living rooms, classrooms, and even in the middle of the street, kids across America love throwing the fuck down. The problem is that the soundtrack they are wind-milling and spin-kicking to is complete … Read more

The Futureheads

News and Tributes
Vagrant (2006)

In late 2004, The Futureheads punctured the mope-heavy indie rock bubble with the delivery of their hyperactive post-punk debut album. The harmony laden, adrenaline fueled romp immediately caught my attention and remained in my CD player well into the next year. Now, it appears that the cycle has started anew with the release of the bands sophomore effort, News and … Read more

Crime In Stereo

The Troubled Stateside
Nitro (2006)

The lead off track on Crime In Stereo's The Troubled Stateside is titled "Everything Changes/Nothing Is Ever Truly Lost." This title could be used as a fitting description for the band themselves. Crime In Stereo began to receive recognition when they released their Blackout Records debut, Explosives, And The Will To Use Them, in 2004. The record was a raw, … Read more

Saviours

Crucifire
Level Plane (2006)

I had been listening to this record for almost three weeks trying to place the sounds and get some kind of footing for writing about Crucifire. After completing some minor bit of research, I was shocked to learn that this album is the product of members of Yaphet Kotto, Bread and Circuits, and others. Saviours do not sound anything like … Read more

Hard- Fi

Stars of CCTV
WEA (2006)

The preamble about Hard-Fi is something about DIY, self-financing, self-promotion and the dole. There's something about the middle-English wastelands in which the band live. Something else about inner city tower blocks adds weight to the working class credentials about which, no doubt, Virginia Woolf would have something or other to say. Some quasi-pretentious blurb about wanting to sell records in … Read more

Neko Case

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Anti (2006)

According to Playboy.com, Neko Case is the "Sexiest Babe of Indie Rock." Fortunately for the listening public, such a lofty title hasn't gone to Miss Case's head. "I'm not out to become Faith Hill," she says. "I never want to play an arena, and I never want to be on the MTV Video Music Awards, much less make a video … Read more

Hank Williams III

Straight to Hell
Bruc (2006)

Weak. Shallow. Lame. Insipid. All of these words have been used at some point (by me) to describe country music. I fucking hate what passes for country music today and thankfully, so does Hank Williams III. He knows that the crossover into pop music in the late eighties/early nineties signaled the death of whatever creativity or credibility was left in … Read more

Slayer

Eternal Pyre
American (2006)

It's been a quite wait for Slayer fans, who are as rabid as music fans come. We last heard new music from the metal masters on 2001's God Hates Us All. Well here in 2006 we have been graced - an ironic choice of words I know - with Eternal Pyre featuring a brand new Slayer song, "Cult." On "Cult" … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Aoria

If I Slow Down Everything Will Disappear
Independent (2006)

I love unsolicited review materials, especially when it's a band I've never heard before, and even more so when said band turns out to be surprisingly good. Aoria is a four-piece outfit from Sweden that plays rock music with the electro-pop influence of The Cure. The songs of this three-song EP are strongly written and the intricate composition of the … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Defcon 4

File Under Fuck
Black Box Recordings (2006)

A lot of bands claim influence from early hardcore favorites like Black Flag and Minor Threat. Nine times out of ten it is complete bullshit and nothing more than a marketing ploy - "We blend the intensity of Minor Threat with the brutality of Slayer and the social awareness of Catharsis." Actually that band sounds kind of sweet, but you … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Apiary

Lost In Focus
Ironclad/Metal Blade (2006)

Lost in Focus is the debut release from a Southern California five-piece know as Apiary. I listen to a lot of music, and have jaded fucking ears that just don't prick up the way they used to. It takes a good shot of aural Viagra to get my attention. My attention was grabbed not long into "Pain Is The Reason" … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Guiltmaker

Driven By Arms
Kiss of Death (2006)

Despite featuring ex-members of Combatwoundedveteran and Reversal of Man, Guiltmaker is distinctly less heavy than you might initially assume they would be. In fact the band does a fairly catchy take on the mid 90s emo rock/ post hardcore sound. Reminiscent of both bands like Rival Schools, Jets to Brazil and Jawbreaker, as well as uber popular present day acts … 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)