Category: Reviews – Audio

Glorious metal in all its earthly forms, compressed onto shiny plastic discs or into digital files. Which ones will become the soundtrack to your life?

The Monsters – You’re Class, I’m Trash LP

The Monsters You’re Class, I’m Trash LP (Voodoo Rhythm Records) Arguably the greatest compliment one can pay to a punk record is not to call it “good” or “great” or anything like that (because such terms can be – and have been – dismissed as a matter of opinion or as a matter of perception),…

January 10, 2022
Various Artists – Voodoo Rhythm Records Label Compilation Vol. 5

Various Artists Voodoo Rhythm Records Label Compilation Vol. 5 LP (Voodoo Rhythm Records) I confess that label compilations have never been my favorite thing. Not that I’m definitively against the form (I have heard some good comps over the years, and labels like Sub Pop, Killrockstars, Epitaph, Fat Wreck Chords and Pirates Press have a…

January 10, 2022
Acid – Acid Box [3LP]

Acid Acid Box (3LP box set) (Narnack Records) There’s no question that bands have come up with some pretty unusual items to include with their albums and/or box sets in the twenty-first century, but Acid – the band formed by Jeff Hassay and Imaad Wasif (Wasif – the guitarist who filled in for James Iha…

January 5, 2022
Black Label Society – Doom Crew Inc. [2LP]

Black Label Society Doom Crew Inc. (2LP) (eOne) Funny thing about the bands and/or projects launched by guitarists, they tend to focus heavily on guitar. It is not uncommon, for example, for songs on such albums to feature extended examinations of the guitar as the central thematic and sonic element of every composition; the instrument…

December 28, 2021
Long Range Hustle – I Am Alive But Only If You Say I Am LP

Long Range Hustle I’m Alive, But Only If You Say I Am LP (Sans Shoes/Anti-Fragile) While the nature of the album’s title seems inherently soft, on its face (most bands want to exclaim, “We are here,” but the title of Long Range Hustle’s sophomore full-length album seems to ask for the validation that most other…

December 28, 2021
TK and The Holy Know-Nothings – The Incredible Heat Machine LP

TK and The Holy Know-Nothings The Incredible Heat Machine LP (Mama Bird Recording Company) It isn’t always easy for this writer to get into country music (there often has to be a “alt-country” plank in the floor to make it easier to enter on), but it didn’t take me long to find my way to…

December 9, 2021
HRH ABC Fest 2021, Great Yarmouth, UK

This is what happens when two HRH festivals – HRH AOR and HRH Blues vs. C.R.O.W.S. get combined into one. A massive three day event spreading across the three stages of Vauxhall Holiday Park with over 50 bands playing. HRH ABC was taking place on November 11th-13th in Great Yarmouth, UK at the Vauxhall Holiday Park. Day 1 Line Up:…

December 3, 2021
HRH Punk Fest, Sheffield, UK 2021

After a successful start in 2019, the 2nd edition of the HRH Punk Fest was taking place on the 2nd and 3rd of October at the O2 Academy Sheffield – Birmingham, UK. Day 1 Line Up: Stage 1 Stage 2 Medusa MC16 Hung Like Hamratty The Outcasts The Members 999 UK Subs Barking Poets Litterbug…

October 22, 2021
Bridear – October 7th, 2021 – Birmingham, UK

It is not very often we see a Japanese band playing in Birmingham; therefore I did not want to miss the chance to catch Bridear – an all female heavy metal band performing live at the Castle & Falcon. Setting sights on the global stage, Bridear began hitting the road at the end of September to tour Europe…

October 14, 2021
The Bobby Lees – Skin Suit LP

The Bobby Lees Skin Suit LP (Alive Records) It gets said a lot, but it’s only in the moment when one actually hears the right sound at the right moment that they realize just how powerful it can be. It’s only in the right moment, for example, that a sound can make a listener’s blood…

July 30, 2021