Tag: review
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Earthless / Harsh Toke split
Two of SoCal’s most far-out jam bands collide on this two-track, 34+-minute split EP, out on Tee Pee. Earthless starts us off with “Acid Crusher,” a 15-minute acid trip that begins as a nice, slow blues—I think I even hear an organ—before things get a little funky with some congas around the five-minute mark. Unfortunately,…
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Scorpion Child – Acid Roulette
Scorpion Child kinda caught the tail end of the Led Zeppelin revival scene with their self-titled debut album, which came out in 2013. I still haven’t actually heard that record, but I saw ‘em live twice on the supporting tour, once opening for Clutch, and again on a smaller, headlining gig with the likes of…
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Harrington Saints – Pride & Tradition (reissue)
Now that the band has reached out a bit and found some fresh and receptive ears (the Fish & Chips EP which came out last year helped toward that end) it’s no surprise that Harrington Saints‘ next step was to reissue their Pride & Tradition album to help reel in the new recruits who are…
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Melvins – Basses Loaded
In case you’re wondering about the title, the Melvins have been through about as many bassists as Spinal Tap had drummers—although we’re still waiting for one to spontaneously combust on stage. It’s also a lesser-known fact that King Buzzo once blew off backstage passes with Dave Grohl and Josh Homme because he had Dodgers tickets.…
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Hopeless Youth – Devil, Walk with Me
Vancouver has seemingly got the Canadian market cornered when it comes to sludgy hardcore, so I was somewhat surprised to see that this band hails from Montreal. And while the name Hopeless Youth recalls so many of the “youth-oriented” 80s hardcore outfits (Youth of Today, Youth Brigade, etc), their sound is much more aligned with…
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Cough – Still They Pray
Virginia doomsters Cough return with their long-awaited third album, following 2010’s Relapse debut Ritual Abuse. This is not a band that moves particularly fast, as the 8 tracks on this 68-minute effort would attest. And while they do tend to drag out and drone on at times, the longest song on this one still falls…
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Honky – Corduroy
This Texas trio channels ZZ Top right down to the tip of their beards, playing old-school, southern boogie rock in the vein of the sharp-dressed men. Starting off as a Butthole Surfers side project in the mid-90’s, Honky now have a handful of records under their novelty belt buckles, with this being their first one since…
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Warped Cross – Abbot of Unreason
Right away, I’ll say that this sounds like High on Fire. The good news is I don’t find myself believing that the guys in Warped Cross heard Matt Pike’s most prolific band and decided just to copy his approach. The members of Warped Cross are veterans of the German doom scene, and their experience pays…
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Conclave – Sins of the Elders
Though they’re a relatively new name on the Boston sludge scene, Conclave includes members of notable 90’s acts Warhorse and Grief. No word as to whether their debut album’s title is self-referential. What we get here is over an hour of punishing sludge, with most songs ranging between 7 and 10 minutes. After an eerie…
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Astrakhan – Reward in Purpose
I’ve been a big fan of B.C. sludge band Astrakhan ever since the release of their 2013 EP, The Pillarist. Their next EP was pretty good, too, combining the rugged grooves of locals like Bison and Mendozza with a bit of Baptists thrown in for good measure. Man, there is such an embarrassment of riches…