Music
▼ National Reviews
Review: Succubus – Descend Unto Gehenna
Succubus take the chaotic approach of their slashing over grooves fixing on great—for a lack of a better term—“old school” qualities of the death metal and thrash genres, but do it without sounding like a hack or re-hash artists. … read more
Review: Storm of Light – Nations to Flames
This album takes a completely different direction with its post-metal influences than I was expecting. Instead of the gentle surges and mellow refrains, Nations to Flames takes you by the collar and shakes you again and again with its unrelenting chaos. … read more
Review: SQÜRL – EP #2
Coming off a brilliant collaboration with lute revivalist Josef van Wissem, this largely instrumental, sprawling compilation of psychedelic guitar explorations of dissonance and repetition is as good as any Jarmusch film: disconnected, adjacent to popular culture and unmistakably idiosyncratic. … read more
Review: Soviet Soviet – Fate
When Fate begins, the full richness of the music, along with the double-time dance beat, doesn’t prepare me for the voice of Alessandro Costantini. It’s not that his voice doesn’t mesh well with the overall sound—it does. It’s perfect for the crunchy bass that sits on the forefront of the album’s mixes, allowing the guitars to create texture or melodic leads reminiscent of Holograms’ synth work. … read more
Review: The Sounds – Weekend
The Sounds have released another album similar to their two most previous creations both in style and content. Indie folk influences with their typical electro-pop base won’t throw off or impress faithful fans. This album is about what you’d expect. … read more
Review: Schooner – Neighborhood Veins
Spooky country songs bleed into ’50s rockers and soulful harmonies accent slow ballads. Like I said before, this is what indie should be: With every chance they get Schooner exercise the freedom they’ve cultivated for themselves. … read more
Review: Saxon – Unplugged and Strung Up
Over the course of a 36-year career, Saxon have proven themselves to be the undisputed masters of heavy metal songwriting. Unplugged and Strung Up is a cavalcade of re-recordings, orchestrations and acoustic takes on a selection of Saxon’s greatest material. … read more
December National Music Reviews
National Album reviews for December 2013. … read more
Review: Said The Whale – hawaiii
Hawaiii is an album that sounds exactly like what you’d expect radio-friendly indie rock to sound like. This means that it’s just as likely that a preteen girl will play their music as it is that your mom will. … read more
Review: Psalm Zero – Force My Hand
It’s tough to rate the band on this debut single, because one of the two songs is a cover of Today Is The Day’s “Willpower,” which they transformed from its distorted, noise-metal roots into a gothic dirge with what the band calls “medieval vocal harmonies.” … read more