Tag: rock
-
Kinski – 7 (Or 8)
Without intending to sound condescending, things are really starting to get interesting for Kinski now – on their seventh full-length album. For the sake of context, Kinski willfully challenged themselves a couple of years ago when the (long thought to be) instrumental band released Cosy Moments, an album which defied convention because it featured lyric sheets…
-
Faith No More – Sol Invictus
The last time Faith No More released a new studio album (which was Album Of The Year in 1997, by the way), I was eighteen years old – it was literally half my lifetime ago. While it wasn’t the band’s best album (critics complained that the proliferation of side projects the band’s members were contributing…
-
Valkyrie – Shadows
Been a while since we’ve heard from these Virginia doomsters—split 7” with Earthling aside, they haven’t released a record since 2008. And yet, their profile has grown somewhat in their absence, what with guitarist Pete Adams joining Baroness. Suffice to say, the Baroness connection secured their record deal with Relapse, providing the resources—recorded by Sanford…
-
San Fermin – Jackrabbit
It might be considered an inconvenient truth, but some albums just aren’t the sort which immediately grab and hold imaginations – it can take a longer period of time for the seeds to germinate. San Fermin‘s second album is just like that; for me, it took a couple of listens to think it was anything…
-
Royal Thunder – Crooked Doors
I actually wasn’t that big a fan of Royal Thunder’s debut, CVI, when I first heard it. I gave it a cursory listen, and quickly determined that they were a buncha Led Zeppelin wannabes playing Reverend Bizzare-length snoozers who threw in a female singer for added media attention. But then I saw them play live, on…
-
Royal Thunder – Crooked Doors
Fair warning: Crooked Doors, the second full-length from Atlanta’s Royal Thunder, contains at least three songs that will burn into your unconsciousness with the ease of candy-coated crack to haunt your waking and un-waking hours. I wish someone would have warned me, but there’s little time – it happens almost instantly. The first song, “Time…
-
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Freedom Tower – No Wave Dance Party 2015
When The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion made its lustrous return with Meat + Bone in 2012 (after revisiting their catalogue with Shout Factory), fans were thrilled to discover that the band’s first desire was to just play straight and simply; there were no frills or fantastic embellishments on the band’s ninth album as there had…
-
Hawk Eyes – Everything Is Fine
I’ve reviewed a lot of albums in my time, and inevitably so many of them have to include lines like ‘sounds like such and such a band’; it’s inevitable. But in the case of Hawk Eyes, I’m happy to report they sound like themselves, which is as it should be. Musically, the band are adroit,…
-
Torche – Restarter
Haven’t seen or heard from Torche in a little while—their last album came out in 2012—but a new album means an excuse to tour, which makes Restarter a worthy release even without hearing a note. Few bands bring it live like these guys anymore, especially at the club level. No fancy pyros or elaborate stage props,…
-
Season of the Witch: How The Occult Saved Rock and Roll by Peter Bebergal
Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll is epic in every sense of the word. Author Peter Bebergal sees the influence of the occult in rock music from The Beatles to Black Sabbath and beyond. From Elvis to Led Zeppelin, he explains how the occult has not only provided fuel for rock music, but is an integral…