SLUG Magazine’s collection of reviews covering the latest and greatest of Utah-based music, covering all varieties of genre, style and type.

Local Review: MONSOON SEASON – THE LAST COMMUTE

Local Review: MONSOON SEASON – THE LAST COMMUTE
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MONSOON SEASON THE LAST COMMUTE Narrl Recording Co. Street: 01.01 Monsoon Season = Sting + Late night NPR Jazz + any shred of relevance Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a SLUG reviewer faster than when a band compares itself to someone as musically worthless as John Mayer. What’s even sadder is listening to the

Local Review: Her Candane – No Battle!

Local Review: Her Candane – No Battle!
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Her Candane No Battle!  Tribunal Records Street: 11.07 Her Candane = Himsa + Dillinger Escape Plan + Every Time I Die + noise Salt Lake City homeboys, Her Candane, come out screaming and ready to fight on their Tribunal Records debut, No Battle! Blending metal, hardcore, all the bloody screaming and layering of screaming you

Local Review: Glacial – Self-titled

Local Review: Glacial – Self-titled
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Glacial Self-titled Exigent Street: 2006 Glacial = Red Sparowes + Black Sabbath + Dixie Witch The unmistakable finesse of Drew Smith, Glacial’s late drummer, shines through the recordings on this album, bringing an intricate Pelican feel to Glacial’s material. Andy Patterson’s heavier-than-hell chunk-drumming, in recent live settings, points Glacial in an almost Goatsnake/Isis direction. Pick

Local Review: COSM – Microphone Boutique

Local Review: COSM – Microphone Boutique
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COSM Microphone Boutique Pseudo Recordings Street: 02.19 Recorded at Deep Red Records Studio by Alex Vazques Well, for starters … their website is broken. Maybe it’s just under construction while they remove all of the haplessly outdated pictures of Wendy (the former COSM frontwoman). The reason I brought it up is because I don’t think

Local Review: The Tenets of Balthazar’s Castle – Terror in Twelve Parts

Local Review: The Tenets of Balthazar’s Castle – Terror in...

The Tenets of Balthazar’s Castle Terror in Twelve Parts A. Star Recordings Street: 12.05 The Tenets of Balthazar’s Castle = Prurient + Wolf Eyes + Merzbow Ah noise. It is all around us, and for most people it becomes a hindrance of day-to-day existence. Occupational therapists make great effort to help employees reduce the amount

Local Review: Phono – The Changeover

Local Review: Phono – The Changeover
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Phono The Changeover 10 Degree Productions Street: 2006 Phono = NIN + VNV Nation Joe Ashton terrorizes electronic music with a focus bent on rhythm. Were you to spread the parts out, name checking the various influences that are prevalent on The Changeover you’d find just about every industrial/EBM clich,  minus Skinny Puppy’s vocoder. Violence,

Local Review: Juse – Concentrate This!

Local Review: Juse – Concentrate This!
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Juse Concentrate This!  Self-Released Street: 09.01 Juse = Social Distortion + Rancid + The Offspring Juse (pronounced like “Juice”) have been throwing out their brand of punk influenced rock in Ogden for almost four years. With Concentrate This!, Juse presents some interesting songs with plenty of energy, but it’s a little too rough around the

Local Review: Junk Drawer – Album of the Same Name

Local Review: Junk Drawer – Album of the Same Name
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Junk Drawer Album of the Same Name Self-Released Street: 11.21 Junk Drawer = 311 + Dinosaur Jr. + Lansing Dreiden There is something inherently 80s about the band Junk Drawer. Maybe it is the vintage synths or the verse chorus nature of some of their songs, but what can definitely be said is that they

Local Review: Cross-Eyed Slut Rough

Local Review: Cross-Eyed Slut Rough
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Cross-Eyed Slut Rough Hump! Records Street: 2006 Cross-Eyed Slut = Guttermouth + The Cramps + System of a Down We are lucky in these days of information to have access to many different types of musical influences. Sometimes it is a hindrance to bands when they try to incorporate too much into their music, but

Local Review: De La Vega – 5-song demo

Local Review: De La Vega – 5-song demo
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De La Vega 5-song demo DLV= Incubus + Phish As if their full-length wasn’t enough, De La Vega sends another rap-metal-reggae release that wants badly to be Rage Against the Machine spooning with, say, Staind, but comes off like a horrible suicide-drink slime Sublime/Phish/P.O.D. hybrid. It’s grounded in some pretty catchy riffs, but is still