Category: Reviews
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Bardus – Stella Porta
When I think Philly, I don’t usually think noise rock, but French label Solar Flare Records, home to the likes of Sofy Major and The Great Sabatini, thinks highly enough of this young trio to offer them a deal—which is reason enough for me to give this a listen. Stella Porta comes crashing out of…
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Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas – Mariner
This collaborative effort between the Swedish Neurosis [Cult of Luna] and New York noise rocker Julie Christmas appears to be a concept album about live on the high seas—a theme perhaps not unfamiliar to ISIS, another notable (though sadly long defunct) post-sludge outfit. With five tracks spanning nearly 55 minutes, tis a rather lengthy voyage.…
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The Psychedelic Sound of The Thirteenth Floor Elevators LP
It’s unlikely that anyone would disagree that The 13th Floor Elevators are a really important band in the evolution of rock. Most would cite the band’s debut album as all the proof anyone could need to make the point: “What is it which makes The Psychedelic Sound of The Thirteenth Floor Elevators a classic album?”…
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Conan – Revengeance
Just caught this U.K. trio’s debut Toronto performance on the heels of Detroit’s Berserker Fest. Conan had been kicking around the British sludge scene for a few years before their breakout sophomore effort, 2014’s Blood Eagle on Napalm Records, and now, striking while the iron is hot, Revengeance comes out less than two years later.…
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Slavestate – Illicit Mandate
With some albums, my response is immediate. I push ‘play’, and I don’t even have to try. A band does something so right within the first seconds of the first song that I can’t help but approve. I know that I’m in for a treat because the band says, “Yesss, fuck all that bullshit, time…
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Zun – Burial Sunrise
Every scene has its unsung heroes. When it comes to desert rock, for every John Garcia, Brant Bjork and Scott Reeder, there are guys like Gary Arce and Mario Lalli, scene stalwarts that have received plenty of underground praise, if not much mainstream recognition. Let’s just say the type of people who buy Small Stone…
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Altarage – Nihl
After offering an explosive sample of ruinous devastation last year via their titanic 2-track demo MMXV, Spanish metal-of-death brutalists Altarage (apparently comprised of several incognito underground Spanish scene vets) return in 2016 to clearcut an unforgiving swath through the cluttered DM landscape with their cavernous debut LP, Nihl. Co-released across various physical and digital media…
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Boris with Merzbow – Gensho
OK, so here’s the deal with the new Boris/Merzbow album. It’s actually two records, but you’re supposed to play them at the same time—which is fine if you have two turntables or multiple CD players. For the purpose of this experiment, I’m listening to Boris in Windows’ Groove Music and Merzbow on iTunes. This may…
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David Bowie – Earthling LP
Leave it to David Bowie to wrap a perfectly tongue-in-cheek idea in populist medium and make a celebration of it. That is, of course, precisely what the singer has done in licensing Earthling for a fresh vinyl pressing now, almost twenty years after the album was originally released. Confused reader? Let me clarify it for…
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Novallo – Novallo II
Novallo II is a new entry from the Columbus prog five piece Novallo. This short but sweet album wraps technical showmanship inside the bubble gum stylings of pop music. Novallo II is an eccentric progressive pop metal album that provides listeners a good entry point into more technical metal and fusion without being overwhelming. The…