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Local Reviews: Eagle Twin
If you live in Salt Lake City and you are even remotely into heavy music, you, at the very least, have heard of Eagle Twin. Master craftsmen Gentry Densley and Tyler Smith return with their highly anticipated follow-up to 2009’s epic, The Unkindness of Crows, and the anticipation is far from unwarranted. This fucker is heavy, and I don’t mean just a little. … read more
Local Reviews: The Dhoon
I appreciated Bright in No Light after my second listen quite a bit more than the first—which was on a sunny day in busy traffic. Listening while outdoors at night happens to be the better way to get into this music. … read more
Local Reviews: Def Letter
Def Letter is Salt Lake’s own MC Dumb Luck and veteran DJ Linus Stubbs. Social Introduction is a very literal title for this album, as it is Dumb Luck’s premiere headliner. The album screams the white-boy angst of early Slim Shady with 20 tracks of high-speed life-struggle raps. … read more
Local Reviews: Daisy & The Moonshines
Daisy & The Moonshines’ second release is six tracks of mediocre garage rock. It’s not bad rock music, but it is forgettable. The rhythm guitar feels like it’s mindlessly picked along with the drums, as if someone who didn’t know the music was playing along with a chord chart. … read more
Local Reviews: Brad Stock
The Atomic Clock promised a “rare mixing of genres” and life-changing songs that would send my mind reeling into unknown space, but the whole thing plays like generic radio rock you’d hear at the mall. His lyrics are (occasionally laughable) elementary rhymes—“Watch out, this is mace/pointed straight at your face”—and, on track “Conspiracy of 2,” he even rips off George Carlin’s Napalm and Silly Putty book title. … read more
Local Reviews: Visigoth
Nobody can resist headbanging to Final Spell. Visigoth gets right to the point in “Creature of Desire” as frontman Jake Rogers’ perfect falsetto crescendos into “whoa-oh-oh”s with the aid of the front line, exhibiting vocal prowess akin to Rob Halford. … read more
Local Reviews: Starvist
Just as their album art suggests, Starvist saw off rhino horns with Taker Mythology, a fresh gulp of contemporary hardcore. Drummer Chase Cluff is a technical beast in his own right as he seamlessly transitions from technical rolls on his snare and slides into a smooth 6/8 beat with fluffy ride taps in “You Just Don’t Fool Me Twice.” … read more
Local Reviews: Stalemate Flesh
First impressions of this metal/punk duo from Salt Lake City should be shunned—Stalemate Flesh may have the tendency to scare listeners away. The tones on Freedom 2020 initially are in the one-note realm—the guitars don’t move far from their roots, nor do the vocals—but that’s the band’s point: They’re not trying to be dramatically proficient with their instruments. … read more
Local Reviews: South of Ramona
Aside from the cheesy 25-second intro that kicks off this five-song EP, this record is made up of some pretty good tracks from the local four-piece group. Although the first couple of songs, “Carnival Court (Step Inside)” and “Purple Sky,” feature a punk reggae vibe, the remaining tunes are different in style. … read more
Local Reviews: Parlor Trix
This four-piece rap outfit from Salt Lake is ambitious—they acknowledge they are less about the hooks and more about lyricism. This release finds three MCs trading verses over beats by DJ Drix.While the energy and devotion to hip hop culture are evident, it’s hard to see at first what sets these guys apart, aside from being local. … read more