The Slow Death
No Heaven
Rad Girlfriend Records (2013)
If you haven’t heard of The Slow Death by now, you probably aren’t as depressed as the majority of us. Luckily their new album No Heaven hits the spot for the more cynical listener. Which, lets face it, punk rock has never been about sugar coating the bullshit that comes with life. If it wasn’t the album cover with a … Read more
The Slow Death
No Light To See
Don’t Sing Records (2025)
Few bands have as fitting a name as The Slow Death. They play forlorn, self-deprecating punk that’s heavily influenced by lonesome country. The music itself is more driving and punchy, but many of the lyrics would fit just well in a somber old-timey country ballad. It’s forceful music that punches inward instead of at The Man. The first song is … Read more
The Slow Death
Punishers
Rad Girlfriend Records (2017)
Punishers is the third LP from The Slow Death, fronted by ex-Pretty Boy Thorson & the Falling Angels mouthpiece Jesse Swan Thorson and backed by a rotating cast that includes Falling Angel Dave Strait, Dillinger Four’s Paddy Costello, The Ergs! Mike Yannich, and a slew of others depending on availability any given night. It’s also a natural extension of Pretty … Read more
The Smith Street Band
More Scared of You Than You Are of Me
Side One Dummy (2017)
There’s something oddly humbling and comforting about listening to the Smith Street Band, it’s like they’re that hometown band you watched put on shows in garages and living rooms growing up. It just feels like you know them—their lyrics are very real and they as people are very much real, which overall creates this very humbling, raw effect to their … Read more
The Smith Street Band
Throw Me in the River
Side One Dummy (2014)
Summarizing The Smith Street Band is a bit difficult. While I want to lump them in with folk-punk, that’s only true in song structure. There’s far too much electric guitar to drop that name on them—and maybe too much to just label it “punk.” Think Against Me! without the shouting. The roots are in a louder version of folk-punk, but … Read more
The Snake The Cross The Crown
Cotton Teeth
Equal Vision (2007)
In late 2004 when folk was just breaking through and about to become the new emo, I was caught off guard by a band called The Snake The Cross The Crown. Opening for Owen, I was dumbfounded by the passion these gentlemen brought to the stage. Shortly after witnessing the spectacle that was their live show, I picked up their … Read more
The Sonics
This is The Sonics
Revox Records (2015)
Upon hearing that legendary northwest garage rockers The Sonics were releasing a new album – their first in (gulp!) nearly fifty years – in 2015, I didn’t know if I should be excited or very, very afraid. Here was a band that helped to invent the signature, rowdy rock and roll sound in the early-to-mid ‘60s and delivered songs such … Read more
The Sons of Adam
Saturday’s Sons-The Complete Recordings 1964-1966
High Moon Records (2022)
If ever a band from the mid-’60s was underappreciated I would have to surmise that The Sons of Adam might top that list. The band comprised of Randy Holden of Blue Cheer and The Other Half, Jack Ttanna of Genesis, bassist Mike Port and drummer Michael Stuart Ware of Love! High Noon Records have compiled The Sons of Adam’s complete … Read more
The Sorely Trying Days
Survival Mode
Useless World (2009)
I knew next to nothing about this band before checking out this album but the fact that they are "recommended for fans of: Dinosaur Jr., Black Flag, Hüsker Dü, and Black Sabbath" was enough to spark my interest. This was a tad misleading as the band doesn't have too much in common with those four bands, with the exception of … Read more
The Spill Canvas
No Really, I'm Fine
Sire (2007)
Patient: The Spill Canvas Brought in by: Sire Records, after a missed bandwagon. Previous History/Notes: Patient claims No Really, I'm fine!. Third commitment to facility. This session a follow up to patient's most recent visit; the One Fell Swoop incident. Symptoms: Suffers from extreme emotional stagnation; clinging firmly to the belief that the year is permanently 2004, and as such … Read more
The Spill Canvas
One Fell Swoop
111 (2005)
The Spill Canvas's debut LP Sunsets and Car Crashes showed us that in high school the members of the band were very, very, sad. With their sophomore follow-up, One Fell Swoop, it looks like the boys are out to prove they're still not over it. Self proclaimed as 'intense and emotionally driven,' The Spill Canvas are the type of band … Read more
The Spirit of 76
The Spirit of 76
Independent (2009)
There's probably nothing else that I hate worse that when bands I've never heard of because they happen to know the same people I do and they want me to review their latest release. For some reason they know I "work" for an online music site (which, by the way, they can never remember the name of) and it would … Read more
The Spits
V
In The Red (2011)
Dirty, spacey punk rawk—in a nutshell, that’s what The Spits are bringing. We could talk costumes, we could talks subgenres, and we could talk recording quality (and we will), but The Spits are a concept best described in those few words. Sound-wise, it’s largely Ramonescore run through a fuzzy filter, so much so that it sounds like half of the … Read more
The Splits
II
Dirtnap (2015)
I really like Dirtnap Records, but they can’t all be winners. The Splits start off II with a really positive vibe in “Rotten Me,” with a powerful and familiar rock ‘n’ rollin’ base behind music that’s emphatic and emotional. I really like the enunciation by singer Helena throughout this song.Unfortunately, the majority of the record doesn’t hold up to the … Read more
The Spotlight Syndicate
Forget the Static Past
Substandard (2003)
So I get this girl up in my room and we start licking each other's tongues, and before you know it, our clothes start to come off. But then all of a sudden, bam! I realize I need to put on some good love making music, or I ain't gonna get no gerjiner tonight. I start flipping through possible albums … Read more
The Stargazer's Assistant
Fire Worshipper
House of Mythology (2023)
Making their first appearance in 2007 with The Other Side of the Island, it felt like The Stargazer’s Assistant would just be a one-off. Luckily, David Smith, David Knight, and Michael J. York found something worth revisiting through the drone and ambient layers of their early release. Returning with their third record since 2016 in Fire Worshipper, The Stargazer’s Assistant … Read more
The Starting Line
Based on a True Story
Drive-Thru (2005)
I am glad that i am not a radio personality because my voice is less then stellar from being that guy you see in his car trying to sing along with his CD player. Yes, the album is that good. It's been 3 days and i already have the first half of the album memorized. I don't think we could've … Read more
The Starting Line
Direction
Virgin (2007)
I'm sure most people reading our reviews here at Scene Point Blank won't care about clicking on this album. The Starting Line is a pretty "mainstream" band; not something the readers would jump to buy, or even care to listen to at all. I know you're thinking that there was that slew of early 2000's Drive-Thru pop-punk bands that were … Read more
