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Review: Enthroned – XES Hareticum
Enthroned XES Hareticum Napalm Records Ah, Enthroned … one of the best and most underrated black metal bands around. While most BM bands annoy me with their vocalists constantly screeching into the microphone, Enthroned’s vocalist is actually the focal point of the band for many people. The band has learned that light-speed fast all the
Review: Usurper – Cryptobeast
Usurper Cryptobeast Earache Records Usurper started out as a band called The Dead Youth, a very unpromising grindcore band. Since then, they have reformed as essentially a faster, heavier version of Celtic Frost. Usurper have endured a few lineup changes since the release of their first few records, and it seems as though they have
Review: Codeseven – Dancing Echoes/Dead Sounds
Codeseven Dancing Echoes/Dead Sounds Equal Vision Apparently Codeseven were once a screamcore band whose high watermark was a cover of “Boys of Summer.” One day they got older, heard Radiohead and traded in their metal for something more mother-friendly. They of course lost nearly the entirety of their original fanbase. I can only imagine the wonderful
Review: Dynasty – Black Box
Dynasty Black Box Mysterious Media I’m not really overwhelmed by the majority of electroclash; Dynasty, however, are rather enjoyable in that they take all the hand claps and mix it with a certain sleazy sound that has the same texture as a Soft Cell album. They distort things up a bit, don’t rely completely on
Review: Starflyer 59 – Talking Voice VS. Singing Voice
Starflyer 59 Talking Voice VS. Singing Voice Tooth & Nail I’ve listened to this album for a couple months trying to sort out how I feel about it. I’ve come up with this: Starflyer 59 make sugar-coma pop music. It’s epic in a small box theater, but not exactly made for big booming stadiums. It
Review: Kasabian – Self-Titled
Kasabian Self-Titled RCA Kasabian have been a guilty pleasure of mine since hearing the opening of “Club Foot.” Granted, they aren’t completely original. You can pinpoint various points in Manchester’s history of music that pop up in abundance throughout the album, fitting in somewhere post-Happy Mondays and the Charlatan’s happier days with a dash of
Review: Peter Murphy – Unshattered
Peter Murphy Unshattered Viastar Odd how a Peter Murphy album can be released and some six months later, they’re finally sending it out to the press. I’ve had the album for quite some time now and even though my opinion of it has improved over time, Unshattered is a little hard to swallow. Still fresh
Review: Cyness – Loony Planet/Industreality CD
Cyness Loony Planet/Industreality CD Sound Pollution I haven’t been into grindcore since the glory days of Napalm Death, Brutal Truth and Assuck. I guess I got sick of the constant barrage of noise in my old age and started listening to much catchier music in the way of 80s hardcore punk. Now that 80s-style
Review: Massgrav – Napalm Ofver Stureplan CD
Massgrav Napalm Ofver Stureplan CD Sound Pollution Now here’s a record that’s right up my fuckin’ alley. These fat Swedish drunks wear their influences proudly on their sleeves. They love the heavyweights of Swedish hardcore like Anti-Cimex, Moderat Likvidation, Mob 47 and Crudity, but so do I. Oh yeah, and lots of Discharge, too.
Review: Misery – Production Thru Destruction
Misery Production Thru Destruction Cah Records Punks are always so much better than metalheads at playing metal. They know when not to play a useless solo, when not to play five minutes of blastbeats, and when not to use eight million riffs in one song. Misery know how to pour on the gloom and