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?
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Crusty Culprits, part four
Welcome to Crusty Culprits #4, where I shine a light on some rough fvckin’ diamonds from the world of D-beat, crust, hardcore, and all punk rock points in between. In recent years, Bandcamp has proven to be a goldmine for finding pick-sliding punks, so that’s where Crusty Culprits’ pool of provocateurs is drawn from. Thanks…
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Buzzard Canyon – Hellfire & Whiskey
If one were to judge a book by its title, you might surmise that Buzzard Canyon was an outlaw country outfit — Hellfire & Whiskey sounds like a deep cut you’d hear on a Hank Jr. record, or something from modern-day Nashville darling Chris Stapleton. But there’s a half-decent chance this band has never even been…
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Crusty Culprits, part three
Welcome to Crusty Culprits #3, where I shine a light on some rough fvckin’ diamonds from the world of D-beat, crust, hardcore, and all punk rock points in between. In recent years, Bandcamp has proven to be a goldmine for finding pick-sliding punks, so that’s where Crusty Culprits’ pool of provocateurs is drawn from. Thanks…
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Cokegoat – Drugs and Animals
Cokegoat first caught my ear over three years ago with their debut album Vessel. This Chicago sextet (three guitars, one keyboard) brings the sludge, brings the doom and a bit of black metal, too. And could there possibly be a better, more fitting album title? Sophomore effort Drugs and Animals starts off with some unassuming…
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Various Artists: Lazarus – Original New York Cast (2CD)
There’s a certain salacious irony about the fact that the final recording to feature David Bowie‘s music (including the last song the singer recorded before he died) is a soundtrack which is largely comprised of actors singing his music. In that, it could be said that the original cast recording of Lazarus renders the singer…
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Illyrian – Round 2: Fight!
Previously known by the impressive monicker of Hellborn Death Engines (which sounds like a great lost 80s film), Illyrian impressively fuse such influences as classic thrash, death metal in the vein of Obituary, and a lot of 80s influences into a profoundly impressive package. First impressions, that’s a great cover, instantly grabs the eye. Secondly, the band…
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Year of the Cobra – …in the Shadows Below
Man, if I could get all the right documents and permits together, I’d move to Seattle in a heartbeat. It’s got a great food scene, my favourite football team, and some seriously heavy bands like Year of the Cobra, a husband/wife bass/drums stoner/doom duo, which just released its debut album on STB Records. Coming off…
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Great Apes – California Heart
It may have taken a few releases for the band to get the bugs worked out of their sound (they’ve already got one full-length album, one comp which collected a bunch of previously released tracks and a bunch of singles and EPs on top of that too), but Great Apes have truly found their magic…
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Superjoint – Caught Up in the Gears of Application
Now, I’m not one of those people who worships the ground Phil Anselmo walks on. (Hell, I skipped Down to catch Beelzefuzz at Psycho Las Vegas.) And I don’t really remember Superjoint Ritual all that well—I couldda sworn I had a copy of Use Once and Destroy somewhere, but I can’t seem to find it.…
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Winterfylleth – The Dark Hereafter
This style of black metal has ruffled many feathers of metal fans, upset that these tree-hugging hipsters are ruining the “evil” or “kvlt.” Winterfylleth are a band of heathens trying to preserve the heritage of their homeland in music form. I can respect that. I think this atmospheric subgenre has its roots in early Ulver,…