Tag: hard rock
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Lung Flower – Effigy
Once more, an independent band puts higher profile bands to shame. Lung Flower play seriously heavy groove metal in the vein of Pantera and Black Label Society. The packaging and art for this CD shows a commendable commitment to the physical product of music, and for that they should be applauded. The production is clear…
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Woodhawk – Beyond the Sun
I’ve been hearing a bit of buzz about the Calgary fuzz-rock scene lately. Apparently, there’s a whole legion of bands now that musta grew up on Chron Goblin and the recently reunited Hypnopilot (a personal favorite from back in the day), so many that Cowtown is actually hosting a three-day stonerfest on 4/20 weekend. When…
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Mastodon – Emperor Of Sand
After having spent the last few years stretching stylistically in a few different directions (The “White Walker” single found a home as the lead track for a season of HBO’s Game Of Thrones, 2014’s Once More ‘Round The Sun saw the band get leaner and almost blurring the lines between metal and punk rock a…
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Sweat Lodge – Tokens for Hell
When Sweat Lodge opened for Monolord in Toronto last year, some people were saying these guys could be the next The Sword, i.e. the next big heavy-rock band from Texas. (Turns out that might actually be Mothership.) Alas, twas not to be, as this four-track, 16-minute effort marks the band’s swansong—their farewell EP, so to…
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Hark – Machinations
Hark now hear the second record from this heavy-ass Welsh outfit! They may not sound like a choir of angels, but these Swansea slammers bring the riffs for 47 minutes on the follow-up to their 2014 debut Crystalline. And hey, their lead singer’s name is Jimbob, and he used to be in a band called…
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The Wallflowers – Bringing Down The Horse LP
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Twentieth Anniversary 2LP reissue of Bringing Down The Horse by The Wallflowers It might not have been the single most obvious thing, but those who remember the times during which The Wallflowers released their sophomore album know the world was a very strange place from an…
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Soggy – self-titled
My introduction to Soggy came when I saw their frontman get up and jam with The Shrine at Pyscho Las Vegas. The Shrine covered Soggy’s 1981 single “Waiting for the War” a couple years back, so they went online to see if they could find the guy… and the rest is history. I had no…
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Thundermother – Road Fever
I first became aware of the existence of the splendidly-named Thundermother in the pages of the hallowed Iron Fist magazine. It was obvious that this all-woman group have taken their image for the halcyon days of leather and lycra we see in the photos on albums by ’80s legends like Girlschool and Rock Goddess. Grand…
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Crobot – Welcome to Fat City
Does mainstream hard rock even still exist? It seems you hardly hear anything new on the radio nowadays—mind you, I stopped listening to radio back when the CRTC took my baby away. But I know that everyone from Staind’s Aaron Lewis to Default’s Dallas Smith is cutting country-music records now, and judging by the bill…
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Tesla – Psychotic Supper LP (vinyl reissue)
It’s a little hard to believe now but, twenty-five years ago, the music business seemed to be getting suddenly and violently pulled in several directions at once. At that time, glam metal and hard rock were still pumping out some pretty important albums. Guns N’ Roses would release both Use Your Illusion albums in ’91,…