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)

The Wives

Erect the Youth Problem
Cold Sweat/Sweet Nothing (2005)

Let's get the formalities and the predictabilities out the way right off the bat. Wives are a straight up rock band from Los Angeles whose main claim to fame is that their singer's car got hit by a reckless driving Backstreet Boy - the blonde one, if memory serves. The money from the resulting settlement allowed him to set up his own record label, Post-Present Medium, which has in turn released the bulk of Wives records thus far. That's the blatant copying from the Press Kit out of the way then. The band has been around for a few years now releasing a handful of 7"s and splits; Erect the Youth Problem is their first full-0length which was originally released stateside on Cold Sweat a year ago and has just been licensed to Sweet Nothing for a UK release. Erect the Youth Problem should see the band taking a significant step upwards in terms of exposure and touring further a field, so if not quite a "make or break" record it's certainly an important one in the bands admittedly young career. After taking a quizzical glance and one or two previous reviews for this album I was struck by two … Read more

Against Me!

Searching for a Former Clarity
Fat Wreck Chords (2005)

Music fans are fucking assholes. For those of us in the world who obsess about music, we fail to realize … Read more

Hoods

The King is Dead
Eulogy (2005)

Hoods, the reigning kings of Sacramento hardcore, have endured a lot throughout their decade of existence. The band have released … Read more

Brian Posehn

Nerd Rage
Independent (2005)

Stand-up comedians aren't funny. With very few exceptions, this is a truism that has become stronger and stronger over the … Read more

Head Wound City

Head Wound City
Three One G (2005)

Let's get the roster out of the way because that usually draws people in like moths to a blowtorch. Jordan … Read more

Scarling

So Long, Scarecrow
Sympathy for the Record Industry (2005)

It's going to sound silly, but in recent months, Scarling has taken on Moby Dick-like proportions in my life. They … Read more

Browse our review archives

Reviews by year

Choose a year to view reviews of albums released in that year.

Reviews by artist name

Choose a letter to view reviews ordered by that letter (band name first).

Review categories

200 Words Or Less

749 reviews

Book Review

42 reviews

Classic Album

25 reviews

Multiple Authors

300 reviews

Review

4865 reviews

Video/DVD Review

19 reviews

One from the archives

Pulling Teeth

Vicious Skin
Chainsaw Safety (2006)

Baltimore based Pulling Teeth released an extremely impressive demo and all expectations of what a proper release would be are exceeded on this recording. Vicious Skin is eleven tracks of fast-paced hardcore and crossover goodness served up over the course of fourteen short tumultuous minutes. On Vicious Skin, Pulling Teeth draw heavily from two schools of thought, paying homage to mid-90's metallic hardcore and the pioneers of the crossover scene of the early 80's. The intro track, "Weeds," and the succeeding song, "Never Wrong," lean in the hardcore direction. Both prominently feature wicked guitar solos provided by guitarist Dom Romeo over a backdrop of heavy metallic hardcore - think Integrity's Systems Overload. And when he's not shredding a solo in Melnick fashion, Romeo and fellow guitarist Tony Hare are laying … Read more

More album reviews

Green Day

Bullet in a Bible
Reprise (2005)

You could almost imagine the epitaph on Green Day's headstone from the moment Reprise got into the whole contract-fulfilling kiss-of-death releases that beset Green Day just this side of the turn of the millennium. A "best of" collection and then the certain doom of the "rarities" compilation followed in quick succession and it seemed that a dying cash cow was … Read more

Since By Man

Pictures from the Hotel Apocalypse
Revelation (2005)

Was it really only two years ago that Since By Man unleashed their debut CD, We Sing the Body Electric? Granted, an EP in the form of A Love Hate Relationship was designed to tide over their salivating audience in between tours and writing sessions, but personally it feels like a great deal more time has passed in between. Enter … Read more

With Honor

This is Our Revenge
Victory (2005)

I have a boom box where you load the CD's on the top, so when I put in This is Our Revenge into my kickin' stereophonic listening system I thought I accidentally left in my copy of Ignite's Past Our Means. Todd Mackey's vocals sound so eerily close to Zoli Teglas that I actually thought I had just left in … Read more

Multiple Authors

Propagandhi

Potemkin City Limits
Fat Wreck Chords (2005)

Propaghandi has always held a place in many people's hearts for their impassioned and political stances that they take on their record, and I always respected that political basis of much of their lyrical content and overall message of the band. Musically though, they had always been missing something for me. Every genre of punk and or hardcore has had … Read more

Multiple Authors

Propagandhi

Potemkin City Limits
Fat Wreck Chords (2005)

The time is 7 a.m. as I pace frantically across empty parking spaces towards a vacant Tower Records. I know I'm three hours early, but after waiting patiently for four long years my heart is about to catharsis all over the asphalt if my ears aren't satisfied ASAP. All week I had been ranting on about the new Propagandhi album … Read more

Daggermouth

Stallone
Feeding Frenzy (2005)

Recently I was talking with (read: bitching to) my friend Brian about how there hasn't been any new bands lately that have really caught me and pulled me in. Granted, there have been many bands I've really gotten into over the last year or so, but none of them really caught my ear and made me love them. It's not … Read more

David Gray

Life in Slow Motion
ATO (2005)

I'd like to begin this review by thanking the kind people at Dictionary.com and Google.com for their unwitting assistance in the writing of this here review. God bless you. boring adj. Uninteresting and tiresome; dull. boring adv. boringness n. Synonyms: boring, monotonous, tedious, irksome, tiresome, humdrum These adjectives refer to what is so uninteresting as to cause mental weariness. Boring … Read more

Immolation

Harnessing Ruin
Olympic (2005)

Hey Immolation, I just received a call from 1989 and they want their music back. Harnessing Ruin is the sixth release from legendary death-metal act Immolation, and they show us once again why they're "legendary." The nine songs off this CD deliver 2005 a blast from the past. This death-metal time-warp makes me think back to when death-metal bands came … Read more

American Werewolves

1968
Fractured Transmitter (2005)

If you were to randomly walk into a concert venue while American Werewolves were performing you would be extremely fortunate. The four-piece punk outfit from Cleveland delivers a unique blend of Misfits-worship punk, but with an oh so sweet twist. That twist is their incorporation of early - I'm talking 1950's - rock-n-roll, B-movie keys, and hints of early hardcore. … Read more

A Day in Black and White

Notes
Level Plane (2005)

On Notes, A Day in Black and White's debut full-length, they get to point quickly; in one minute and twenty seconds to be precise. After an at-times impressive first release, My Heroes Have Always Killed Cowboys released on Level Plane in 2004, A Day in Black and White looked like it would slowly join the hardcore-band graveyard as member changes … Read more

Logh

A Sunset Panorama
Hydra Head (2005)

Is Sweden even cold? Whenever I think of Northern Europe, I think of mountains, yodelers, and folks with Princess Leia hair wandering around in big coats. Yet the continent keeps popping out some of the …well, warmest albums I've ever heard. Par example: the new album from Logh, a band I didn't care about until this year. I started caring … Read more

Ulver

Blood Inside
Jester (2005)

Have you heard the myth about prisoners stubbing out cigarettes into a bucket of water in order to create enough poison to use on their fellow inmates? Evidently, someone slipped a copy of the mastertapes to Ulver's latest sonic delivery into that foul brew as well. Opening with the slow-burning near opera of "Dressed in Black," the stage is thoroughly … Read more

Maria Taylor

11:11
Saddle Creek (2005)

A spotlight can show a lot about a person. Over the course of her career Maria Taylor has been, arguably, the driving force behind both the bands Azure Ray and Now It's Overhead, as well as lending her talents to various other artists including Crooked Fingers and Moby. Despite gaining moderate recognition for her work with groups, Taylor's delicate style … Read more

Project X

Straight Edge Revenge (Reissue)
Bridge Nine (2005)

"I'm as straight as the line that you sniff up your nose / I'm as hard as the booze that you swill down your throat / I'm as bad as the shit you breathe into your lungs / And I'll fuck you up as fast as the pill on your tongue / STRAIGHT EDGE REVENGE!" Oh. Fuck. Yes. There's no … Read more

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