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Review: Wartorn – Iconic Nightmare
Iconic Nightmare doesn’t fail to entertain, what with the leads in “No Sanctuary, No Salvation” and the barking crustoleum of “Permanent Blackout” and “Knee Deep in Blood,” but it’s certainly not leading the charge into territory that hasn’t already been exhaustively mined by the same label (Martyrdod? Wolfbrigade?). … read more
Review: Tera Melos – X’ed Out
Tera Melos range from bass lines and doom riffs on “Slimed” to glorious angular riff-spun melodies everywhere else on the album. “Slimed” is a methodical head-banger that’s not psychedelic enough to be stoner rock, but is heavy enough to unleash the beast inside me, if only just for fun. … read more
Review: Smoke Fairies – Blood Speaks
Coming into this album, I had my doubts. “Blood Speaks” felt like a period anthem, with the lyrics, “Your blood is speaking, and mine is speaking,” set to a marching beat with a droney, chanting voice fit for a haunted church performance. Yeah, the sheddings of my uterine lining are speaking, too, and I’m still crampy. … read more
Review: Senses Fail – Renacer
Opening with the heaviest song in their career, notably without a single scrap of clean singing, Renacer is the album I’ve secretly been waiting for since the first time I heard Buddy Nielsen scream at the end of “One Eight Seven.” … read more
Review: Sadgiqacea – False Prism
The sludgy sounds of False Prism conjure up images of grimy industrial waste, smog, litter and the general oily feeling of some of the industrialized cities on the East Coast. With that in mind, it makes this slugdefest from Philly duo Sadgiqacea all that much more sludged-up. … read more
Review: Pyrithion – The Burden of Sorrow
Apparently, Tim Lambesis doesn’t have enough hobbies between As I Lay Dying, Austrian Death Machine, his charity work, and all his iron-pumping; now he’s joined up with ex-The Famine guitarist Andy Godwin and Ryan Glisan of Allegaeon to create this surprisingly ferocious modern death metal EP under the name Pyrithion. … read more
Review: Night Club – Night Club EP
As soon as I listened to Night Club’s debut, I immediately decided it sounded almost identical to that Flight of the Conchords’ song “Fashion is Danger.” So in other words, I’m comparing it to a comedy group. … read more
Review: Neon Indian – ERRATA ANNEX EP
The first three tracks on ERRATA ANNEX are very dancy and clubbish-sounding. They all have the same idea, with similar tempos and distorted clips of Neon Indian over heavily remixed original instrumentals. If you aren’t paying attention during these first three, you won’t even notice a transition; they all sort of blend together into one long 15-minute mash-up. … read more
Review: Moira Scar – Scarred For Life
Moira Scar is an Oakland, Cal., trio fond of wordplay—”De/Monster/A-Tiff” is the title of the opening track on Scarred for Life. That first track is a good guide for the direction the album will be taking. It starts ugly, and stays that way. … read more
Review: Lower Plenty – Hard Rubbish
The Aussie quartet Lower Plenty seem to muster up some characteristically American blues tones in Hard Rubbish. Recorded solely on eight-track reel-to-reel tape, the album has a very raw but warming feel, despite its overwhelming melancholia. … read more