Category: Reviews

  • Mayhem & Mortiis Live Review – Glasgow, UK

    Mayhem & Mortiis Live Review – Glasgow, UK

    Finally, infamous Norwegian black metallers Mayhem are in Glasgow. A show initially penned for two years ago pre-plague. It’s third time lucky for this rescheduled date and the city is ready for it – the show is entirely sold out.  Support comes from fellow Norwegian band, Mortiis. He was in an early incarnation of the seminal…

  • The Drowns – Lunatics 12” EP

    The Drowns – Lunatics 12” EP

    The Drowns Lunatics EP (Pirates Press Records) It would be easy enough to curse The Drowns out for what the band has done with the Lunatics EP. Not unlike what innumerable other acts have done, over the years (Hot Water Music, NOFX and John Lennon all leap to mind), The Drowns have elected to take…

  • Sweat – Gotta Give It Up LP

    Sweat – Gotta Give It Up LP

    Sweat Gotta Give It Up LP (Pirates Press Records) On the surface, the cliche that, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” writes itself into any discussion about Gotta Give It Up. Yes – from the opening notes of “Hit & Run,” the opening cut on Gotta Give It Up, Sweat presents itself like…

  • Charger – Warhorse LP

    Charger – Warhorse LP

    Charger Warhorse LP (Pirates Press Records) After releasing a couple of singles to introduce themselves last year, Charger (Rancid bassist Matt Freeman’s side project) has finally elected to give listeners a full-course meal of exactly everything they’re all about with the Warhorse LP. How, let’s be honest here – some side projects have all the…

  • Leprous and The Ocean – Live Gallery: Charlotte, NC

    Leprous and The Ocean – Live Gallery: Charlotte, NC

  • Jane’s Addiction – “Stop!”/”Three Days” and “Been Caught Stealing” 12” singles

    Jane’s Addiction – “Stop!”/”Three Days” and “Been Caught Stealing” 12” singles

    Now thirty years and several significant cultural movements later, it’s difficult to get a sense of how much excitement and promise there was surrounding Jane’s Addiction at the height of the band’s fame. Simply said, the band represented a way to transition from the staid, well-established values and forms evident in classic rock to the…

  • Come Closer – Pretty Garbage LP

    Come Closer – Pretty Garbage LP

    Come Closer Pretty Garbage LP (Pirates Press Records) While it’s very easy for me to get excited about a new punk band that I’ve never heard before (I’ve been listening to a lot of punk, for a for a lot of years), running across something which makes me excited because I can’t immediately qualify it…

  • Paradise Lost & Moonspell – Glasgow, UK

    Paradise Lost & Moonspell – Glasgow, UK

    It seems things are creeping back to… normal *touch wood*. Pioneers of goth metal Paradise Lost and Moonspell take over Glasgow for their Obsidian Moon Tour. With both pioneers crafting music for over three decades, it’s very welcome that there are no supporting acts, permitting both veterans to deploy longer sets to better reflect their careers.…

  • Richard Hell and the Voidoids – Blank Generation [reissue] LP

    Richard Hell and the Voidoids – Blank Generation [reissue] LP

    Richard Hell and the Voidoids Blank Generation (Record Store Day 2017 40th Anniversary reissue) (Sire/Warner Brothers) Not so very long ago, I was muddling through the stacks at my favorite record store when the sight of something surprising gave me pause. There, on a reasonably cool spring day, I found a copy of the Record…

  • The Lorrainas – Party ‘Til It’s Dark [Reissue] LP

    The Lorrainas – Party ‘Til It’s Dark [Reissue] LP

    The Lorrainas Party ‘Til It’s Dark LP (Reissue) (Surfin’ Ki’ Records/Mom’s Basement Records) Sure, this vinyl reissue of Party ‘Til It’s Dark – The Lorrainas’ first and only full-length studio album – may seek to re-introduce material which is now seventeen years old, but anyone who hears it will excitedly admit that the music sounds…