Category: Reviews – Vinyl
Metal still sounds best on large, round pieces of pressed vinyl. The smell, the artwork – and it gets played through a needle.
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DeeCRACKS – 20 Years. A Frantic Effort (3×10” set)
DeeCRACKS 20 Years. A Frantic Effort (3×10” set) (Pirates Press Records) Since vinyl has retaken the amount of interest that it has among music fans, a fairly impressive amount of time and money has been spent repackaging and reissuing records to let interested parties re-examine a multitude of songbooks – but such endeavors have never…
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The Low Budgets – Leave Us A Loan LP
The Low Budgets Leave Us A Loan (Picture Disc reissue) LP (Schuylkill Records) Alright, the fact is that not every punk rock record is golden. Any fan of the music can begrudgingly admit that, and every fan should – because it is the definition or critical thinking. The first step to truly appreciating any music…
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The Drowns – Blacked Out LP
The Drowns Blacked Out LP (Pirates Press Records) While the number of ways that a band may choose to change their sound in the name of refreshing it or updating it are almost innumerable, what The Drowns have done on Blacked Out is genuinely impressive. This time out, the band has left most of the…
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Various Artists – For Family And Flag Volume 2 LP
Various Artists For Family And Flag Volume 2 LP (Pirates Press Records) While it took a little longer for Pirates Press to return to their For Family and Flag series than anyone likely expected [Volume One of the comp was originally released in 2020 –ed], there’s no question that the label couldn’t have picked a…
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The Complicators – s/t LP
The Complicators s/t LP (Pirates Press Records) While it’s very easy for any critic to come off as surprised when a band reassembles a set of well-used, time-honoured musical cliches and presents something which works, it’s far more difficult to find the flaw which ultimately causes that very familiar structure to fall apart and/or come…
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Brigata Vendetta – This Is How Democracy Dies LP
Brigata Vendetta This Is How Democracy Dies LP (Pirates Press Records) Okay, after the last few years of pundits both educated and ill-informed questioning the health and longevity of democracy and looking at the concept so closely the eye-strain could easily be attributable to a migraine, the idea of another punk band stepping forward to…
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The Vapids – Revenge Therapy LP
The Vapids Revenge Therapy LP (independent) Beyond a certain point, it’s understandable how fans of any given punk band lower their expectations of new albums, when they’re announced. Part of that might have to do with the age of the band playing a role; whether they admit it or not, fans of four-chord punk expect…
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Spencer Burton – North Wind LP
Spencer Burton North Wind LP (Dine Alone Records) Since going solo in 2010 with Grey Kingdom (his project following the first lapse in Attack In Black’s activity), there’s no question that Spencer Burton has successfully developed an excellent and unique authoritative voice both as a singer and songwriter – but the greatest surprises have come…
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Billy Liar – Crisis Actor LP
Billy Liar Crisis Actor LP (Pirates Press Records) It feels unlikely on the surface because, like Henry Ford, punks often want to proclaim that, “history is bunk” – but the fact is that some of the permutations of punk rock that have passed through the mainstream are possessed of an undeniably accessible quality. Even on…
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The Dwarves – Concept Album LP
The Dwarves Concept Album LP (Greedy Media) To say that The Dwarves have been around and weathered a lot of pop cultural storms is an understatement. Since forming in Chicago in the mid-Eighties, The Dwarves have reinvented the concept of the revolving door; they’ve gone through band members (dozens of them – but guitarist Pete…