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Review: Eternal North – Children Ov the Cold

Review: Eternal North – Children Ov the Cold
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This Idahoan group makes me ponder the possibilities if In Flames and Children of Bodom hadn’t “moderned up” their sound. It kind of makes a guy feel like it’s the early ’90s and so many Scandinavian groups hadn’t become shadows of themselves. … read more

Review: Ensemble Economique – Interval Signals

Review: Ensemble Economique – Interval Signals
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Interval Signals, one of two recordings from Brian Pyle’s Ensemble Economique solo project released in December, is a 40-minute pastiche of field recordings, radio sounds, and as the album’s title implies—interval signals. … read more

Review: Ensemble Economique – Light That Comes, Light That Goes

Review: Ensemble Economique – Light That Comes, Light That Goes
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My first thought upon hearing the familiar “if you need help, please hang up and try again…” recording in Light That Comes, Light That Goes’ opening track, “If You Need Help,” was that it may be a bit too ubiquitous of a sample to be effective in another context. … read more

Review: Eraas – Initiation

Review: Eraas – Initiation
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Initiation, Eraas’ second full-length album full of trip hop beats, kraut rock tempos and ethereal vocal samples, is remarkably hermetic and cohesive. Like Chelsea Wolfe, Eraas infuse their vocals with haunting echoes to create a kind of ominous atmosphere, especially on the sinister tracks such as “Old Magic” and “Above.”  … read more

Review: Evan Ønly  – No Matter What EP

Review: Evan Ønly – No Matter What EP
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In his debut solo EP, Evan Brody takes an old sound and makes it new again. Most of No Matter What could easily be mistaken for classic ’80s music, which, as far as this writer is concerned, the world needs more of. … read more

Review: Drugs of Faith – Architectural Failures

Review: Drugs of Faith – Architectural Failures
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If any genre should be bulletproof to experimentation and expansion, it’s grindcore, but in 2013, strong releases by Call of the Void and Beaten to Death have challenged this notion, and Drugs of Faith are right alongside them.  … read more

Review: East of the Wall – Redaction Artifacts

Review: East of the Wall – Redaction Artifacts
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This album is one big derivative showcase: I hear a shit-ton of Opeth, Tommy Giles, Mastodon and The Ocean among others, so there’s an element of comfortable familiarity when I listen, but that familiarity is at the expense of any originality the band might be capable of. … read more

Review: Dot Wiggin Band – Ready! Get! Go!

Review: Dot Wiggin Band – Ready! Get! Go!
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Without this kind of stuff by the original outsider band, you wonder if someone like Daniel Johnston would’ve been possible, and it’s fitting that this is on the label of Jello Biafra, who discovered Wesley Willis. … read more

Review: Dead Hand Projekt – Control

Review: Dead Hand Projekt – Control
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First of all, I was completely amazed when I found out that some of the origins of this band are from Casper, Wyo. Luckily, they ventured out of the one-horse town and came across a Southern California influence.  … read more

Review: Dead Waves – Take Me Away EP

Review: Dead Waves – Take Me Away EP
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For their follow up to June’s Kill the Youth EP, this Queens-based trio fleshes out their penchant for abrasive melodies via six songs of fuzz-blasted caterwauling with a nod to early Pixies.  … read more