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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)

Paysage d'Hiver

Im Wald
Kunsthall Produktionen (2020)

Im Wald begins on the slow, crunching footsteps of "Im Winterwald," while howling winds build a canopy of sound, offering a vision of how the succeeding time will unfold. That crackling, blanket of snow motif is one that will be familiar to anyone who has spent many a solitary evening with Paysage d'Hiver's - and it sets the tangible scene of a lonesome wanderer, trudging their way home after a long, arduous journey as the cold fingers of winter creep through the landscape. Forming in Switzerland in the late 90s, Paysage d'Hiver (winter landscape when translated from the original French) is the work of Tobias Möckl, or Wintherr, and is an expression of how it feels to wander a land wholly covered by ice and snow, that it can feel like home and it will embrace every fibre of your being. Being transported to another world is a constant theme in Paysage d'Hiver’s black metal, with Wintherr creating snow-laden landscapes through flurries of sound - distorted vocals, synthesised melodies and layers of fuzzy guitar. It is black metal at its core with passages of dense ambient built into the fabric of the songs. With Im Wald - curiously the first … Read more

Houseghost

Houseghost
Rad Girlfriend Records (2020)

2020 is the year of a lot of things -- and a lot of concept records.But not a lot of … Read more

SpiritWorld

Pagan Rhythms
Independent (2020)

Remind me to kick myself for sleeping on this album, but in my defense, its description as a combination of … Read more

Attic Salt

Get Wise
Jump Start (2020)

A big part of why I do this is to discover new music. Attic Salt are a new band to … Read more

Aesop Rock

Spirit World Field Guide
Rhymesayers (2020)

Spirit World Field Guide is Aesop Rock’s first full-length in a few years. He’s been busy in the meantime, working … Read more

Nothing

The Great Dismal
Relapse (2020)

It’s strange, how the metal scene embraces certain genres as one of its own, enabling said genre to become “metal … Read more

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One from the archives

I Against I

Small Waves
White Russian Records (2018)

Last year White Russian Records made me very happy by releasing Travoltas’ comeback album Until We Hit The Shore, which ended up being my favourite record of last year. Next to a couple of interesting up and coming bands White Russian Records is now releasing another comeback album of another Dutch punk legend: I Against I. Legendary in part because I Against I were the first European band to be signed to Epitaph Records. I Against I released three albums, toured extensively and then called it quits in 2008. As we all know, blood is thicker than water and in 2017 the band got back together. With a different drive though. As they say in their press release: “Back then we were kids, now we have kids of our own. … Read more

More album reviews

Almøst Human

XS2XTC
Fastball Music (2019)

As most of you non-essential workers I have been working from home for what seems like forever now. What I see as one of the positive sides is that I get to decide what music to listen to (for those moments I am not in an online meeting that is). No discussions about what radio station to tune into. I … Read more

Pallbearer

Forgotten Days
Nuclear Blast (2020)

Pallbearer’s evolution from their early days as a dark, funeral doom leaning band into a prog-embracing emotive force is well documented in their back catalogue and as Forgotten Days expands the horizons of their sound, Pallbearer open up their hearts for all the world to see. This record is vulnerable and honest in its humanity and much like their previous … Read more

The Cavemen

Euthanise Me
Slovenly (2020)

The Cavemen are a garage band from New Zealand with a ton of releases to their name. You know the style: it’s abrasive, it’s risqué, and full o’ swagger. But it’s also catchy, highly energetic and upbeat -- perversely positive, if you will.This 4-song EP runs at about 10 minutes (to be generous) and delivers a wallop. Fittingly titled Euthanise … Read more

Dave Hause

Patty EP
Independent (2020)

I reviewed Hause’s Paddy EP before this. The two came out the same day and, as name implies, somewhat work together. The concept for each is similar: highlighting the work of some of his favorite songwriters, albeit from different directions.I’m also coming at the Patty EP from a new perspective. With Paddy I was well versed in Dillinger Four. This … Read more

Silent Era

Rotate the Mirror
Nervous Intent Records (2020)

What did I know about Silent Era coming into this review?Nothing.So I’m speaking based on first impressions and a lot of repeated listens instead of preconceived ideas from a previous release or live show. My general description of Rotate the Mirror is that the band plays driving DIY punk. It has influences from the genre’s origins in the ‘70s-early ‘80s … Read more

Uniform

Shame
Sacred Bones (2020)

Uniform’s music is aggressive; it’s harsh, noisy, power electronics with smatterings of industrial, metallic hardcore and rumbling chords and overseeing it all is Michael Berdan’s voice – a voice that has lived through more than most can ever imagine and one that underpins their fourth full-length, Shame, as its narrator.Shame is the study of the in between, the moments that … Read more

Dave Hause

Paddy EP
Independent (2020)

There’s a lot to unpack in this new Dave Hause EP, released in conjunction with the Patty EP. While there’s a lot in these five songs, it’s also somewhat on the surface: Hause has released two new covers EP paying tribute to songwriters he admires. Paddy contains five songs written by Patrick Costello aka Paddy of Dillinger Four. To paraphrase, … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Partial Traces

Can’t Come Down / Nights I Dream
Independent (2020)

This synth punk group hails from the headwaters of the Mississippi River. A mighty mass of water that connects Minnesota to Louisiana and sings all the way south. Water seemingly makes music as it flows and this super group (FFO: The Soviettes, Dear Landlord) is actively tapping into that source. Raw emotive vocals give me chills on the first spin. … Read more

Aidan Baker

An Instance of Rising/Liminoid
Gizeh (2020)

Aidan Baker’s experience as a musician encompasses solo work, collaborations, bands, remixes writing books of poetry, and with this release, composing pieces to be performed by orchestras. His career is defined by experimentation and a willingness to explore new and diverse avenues for his sounds and while he may be best known for his work with Nadja, he is also … Read more

Kid You Not

Thanks, I Hate It
Deep Elm Records/Bypolar Records (2020)

I was tempted to start this review with a “for fans of” reference, but that’s both lazy and mean. Kid You Not aren’t reinventing the punk rock wheel here but, c’mon -- if you’re listening to punk that’s not what you should expect in the first place. It’s a derivative style that’s more about energy, emotion and community than art.Based … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Supreme Commander

Tooth and Nail
Basement Records (2019)

Supreme Commander is a prototypical, overtly masculine, DC hardcore quartet. Points for extremely proficient galloping drums, and a Slayer-like metal break on “…Jonestown.” The singer mimics Dave Smalley of Dag Nasty, a 1980s DC hardcore group, past the point of remaining original. I love Dag Nasty’s 1986 album Can I Say as well, so all is soon forgiven. This well … Read more

Book Review

Ronen Givony

Not for You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense
Bloomsbury Publishing (2020)

Almost three decades after Pearl Jam’s career-changing album Ten catapulted them from an independent act with a knack for channelling their alchemy in fusing their angst and alienation with a love for hard rock of the seventies, British independent music and punk rock to a veritable mainstream act. While some of their contemporaries have famously imploded or their careers taking … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Huraña

Brujas, Cholas e Inventadas
Iron Lung (2020)

Brujas, Cholas e Inventadas is a fast-paced 7” with 7 songs in maybe 10 minutes. It’s concise but probably the right dose for this style of lo-fi punk by Huraña, a four-piece from Chiapas, Mexico.With Spanish lyrics and muddy production, the EP is all heart and energy. It’s fierce without being aggressive. It’s melodic without being singalong. It’s potent without … Read more

Enslaved

Utgard
Nuclear Blast (2020)

Experiencing a band grow and evolve is one of the most rewarding parts of being invested in music and for Enslaved, their fanbase has been given plenty of opportunities to be in awe of just how progressive and inventive the Norwegian's have been since their inception almost thirty years ago. The core of the band - Grutle Kjellson and Ivar … 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)