Category: Reviews
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Killer – Volume One: The Mausoleum Years 1981-1990
As time passed heavy metal became broken into many sub-genres, but conversely the New Wave of British Heavy Metal continues to grow in stature and regard. It is rightly seen as a time of innocence, where heavy metal was played for fun, for the love of the music, and where song-writing really mattered. But the…
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Sofy Major – Total Dump
What do you do when a French noise rock outfit shits on you? Such is the question posed by Total Dump, the fourth album from Clermont-Ferrand’s Sofy Major. Well, if you’re a fan of the mid-90’s Melvins, Big Business and a bit of Unsane on the side, you would eat it all up! The title…
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I’m A Freak Baby 2
A Further Journey Through The British Heavy Psych and Hard Rock Underground Scene 1968-73 I didn’t hear the first volume of this series which is a shame as it is brilliant; it’s like a proto-metal box set for ‘Life On Mars’. It is a veritable musical time machine, aural archaeology spread over three splendid discs.…
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Jon Spencer – Spencer Sings The Hits LP
That the fidelity, equalization and overall sound found on a vinyl recording is unmatched by any other musical medium to date is a claim which has been proven several times over in many places by a great many people (including by several in this column, several times over too), and one of the great examples…
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Phenomena Reissues
Phenomena began life in the 80s as the brainchild of Ton Galley. Tom wanted a return to the concept album of the 70s but in an 80s style. This he certainly achieved with Phenomena’s self titled debut. Featuring the talents of Tom, his brother Mel (Whitesnake, Trapeeze), the voice of rock himself Glenn Hughes (Sabbath,…
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The Traveling Wilburys – Volume 1 (Picture Disc reissue LP)
The term “classic” gets thrown around a lot and, often, where the term isn’t actually deserved. A true, genuine-article classic is a thing that sets an enduring impression and standard to which others aspire, and/or would claim to be of a similar lineage; it’s an important portrait of a moment. The Traveling Wilburys’ first album…
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NOi!SE – Mass Apathy 12″ single
It might not sound like the single most glowing endorsement of a single on the surface, but the first thing that NOi!SE‘s new, milled “Mass Apathy” single illustrates is that it’s never wise to underestimate a novelty, or write one off. The bullet casing silhouettes which encircle the exterior rim of this one-sided single (the…
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Great Falls – A Sense of Rest
I’m always somewhat partial to bands from Seattle (more because I’m a Seahawks fan, and less of a grunge thing), but this noise-rock trio captured my attention with their tuneage more than anything. Let’s just say that if you dug the latest KEN Mode record—and I did—you will want to get your ears on A…
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Domkraft – Flood
There has been no shortage of powerful Swedish power trios – think Truckfighters, or Monolord. But while continuing in the Swedish tradition, Stockholm three-piece Domkraft comes off as a cross between Lowrider and Neurosis. Apparently, you don’t need seven people in your band to play progressive stoner/sludge? Flood, their sophomore album, opens with “Landslide,” a…
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Yatra – Death Ritual
This doom trio hails from Maryland, but rather than worshipping at the church of Wino or the altar of Pentagram, their sound is more akin to muddy “stoner doom” a la Sleep or the Georgia sludge of Zoroaster. Yatra‘s debut album on Grimoire Records features 8 tracks clocking in just shy of 45 minutes. “Hour…