Tag: USA

  • Gaza: He Is Never Coming Back

    Gaza’s He Is Never Coming Back is a tumultuous collection of powerful, almost too emotional songs that are heavy – not for simply being dudes from Salt Lake City who want to show who has the biggest balls on the block, but simply because they have something very powerful to day.

  • Mondo Generator: Cocaine Rodeo (deluxe edition)

    Cocaine Rodeo is an offbeat mixture of plodding, bass-heavy alt rock, and sub- two-minute punk tunes.

  • Baroness: Blue Record

    Blue Record is a forward-thinking pastiche of all points of sludge/stoner/doom light as informed by a bunch of toothless, Smokey Mountain ban-jer pickers, the Thin Lizzy fanclub, the Melvins irreverence, Converge’s 21st Century output and Queen’s penchant for mini rock operas.

  • 3: Revisions

    It’s hard to think of any other contemporary progressive rock band that combines complexity, discipline, and catchiness better than 3. The upstate New York band has been steadily improving with each record, but it was their fifth album, 2007’s The End is Begun, that established them as one of the more promising prog acts today,…

  • The Red Chord: Fed Through The Teeth Machine

    From a musical standpoint, Fed Through The Teeth Machine is as strong as the Red Chord has ever sounded. Adrien Begrand reviews the new album by Boston-area metal quartet The Red Chord.

  • Hull: Sole Lord

    Vocals are one area that doesn’t get enough attention and analysis across the broad pantheon of extreme music. So, let’s talk vocals and how they apply to the Brooklyn-based band Hull.

  • Revocation: Existence Is Futile

    On the surface, the band is rooted in the same post-thrash groove that Lamb of God has dominated this decade, but unlike the otherwise likable Virginians, Revocation don’t dig themselves a safe little rut, instead using the sound as a launching pad for other, bolder musical excursions. The end result is their second album and…

  • Lynyrd Skynyrd: Gods & Guns

    My main problem with God & Guns is its lack of focus. It’s all over the place, almost a series of slow songs sketches loosely tied together rather than a classic 70’s-style Skynyrd southern rock album. I’m admittedly skeptical of anything from Lynyrd Skynyrd since that terrible Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991 record, but getting back to…

  • Children of Bodom/The Black Dahlia Murder/Skeletonwitch @ Odeon, Saskatoon, SK, October 1, 2009

    If there’s one band that fully deserves a “victory lap” tour, it’s Children of Bodom, who after a good dozen years plying their distinct brand of melodic extreme metal, is finally experiencing some significant success in North America. For most fans who live in the smaller centres, they best they could manage before was to…

  • Canis Dirus: A Somber Wind from a Distant Shore

    Overall, there is stuff to appreciate on A Somber Wind from a Distant Shore, but one hopes that Canis Dirus will have lots of time to surprise us with their growth in the coming and changing seasons.