It’s been a logical progression from the bong-laden wonderment of REZN’s 2017 debut to the band’s newest effort Burden (Sargent House), which finds Chicago’s sonic sorcerers expanding their minds and sound, with their newest offering feeling darker than previous offerings, though in a more hazy moonlit laced with a dopamine deficit-induced depression fashion, as the mood to the underlying themes. Continue reading
Rising from Hastings, England, Punk quartet Kid Kapichi unveils their third album There Goes The Neighbourhood (Spinefarm Records), the blunt and cheeky follow-up to 2022’s Here’s What You Could Have Won. The album maintains the distinct personality the group is known for, utilizing it to present their political ideologies while keeping the music light and fun. Continue reading
If every action has an equal and opposite reaction (or some such other attempt to pretend I paid attention in Science class all those years ago), it is no surprise that Dark Rainbow (International Death Cult) thinks where Sticky bounded in head-first, that it shows vulnerability where its predecessor presented a larger-than-life gregarious face.
Fifth dance for Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Dark Rainbow sees Frank and partner-in-crime Dean Richardson continue their approach of creating a sound and style for each album that, while it has definable elements that ensures that despite any skin that is shed the remaining vipers are undeniably “Rattlesnakes”, sets each release apart from it’s siblings. Continue reading
Thermal count is rising in perpetual writhing, the primordial ooze of albums continues, and the sanity they lose choosing their favorites of the year. Awakened in the morning, to more ear-pollution warnings…
Now I can only laugh, as I read our epitaph – we end 2023 with cheer, in the light of our Albums of the Year.
May you all rust in peace…Continue reading
After such a fine introduction to the albums that have soundtracked our 2023 (Part 1 – 75-41), we now get into the belly of the beast and plunge on through the never, a testament to the diversity and abundance of alternative and heavy music that availed and impressed us this year.
So, without further ado (fewer words, more riffs…)Continue reading
Sludge is what happens when hardcore kids play doom metal. Bristol’s Sugar Horse might not replace all the Black Sabbath with Black Flag on their new EP Truth or Consequences, New Mexico (Fat Dracula Records), but their anger owes a debt of gratitude to the bands who did. This is felt on the volatile side of their good cop / bad cop formula.
Hailing from Salt Lake City and formed by Cult Leader bassist Sam Richards, Rile are a band with fine credentials who have recently landed on the Church Road Records roster and have created a solid debut for the UK label, which unashamedly takes inspiration from Converge, Trap Them and the like.
Ex-SubRosa leading member Rebecca Vernon embarks on a solo project journey four years after SubRosa’s disbandment under the moniker of The Keening, presenting a full-length consisting of Gothic Chamber Doom elements, accompanied by the feature of a handful of instruments, being flute, strings, harp, French horn, piano, organ, and hammered dulcimer – creating a vast multitude of echoed soundscapes.
Much like the Atlanta band’s name is a mocking twist on the Dallas Cowboys, their take on metalcore is a mocking twist on the genre. Normally this sort of thing is not my personal taste, and I write it off as MySpace metal, however these guys have perverted in such a manner that it appeals to me. They are aggressive yet highly skilled in the mathematics of their contorted riffing.
If the sea had teeth what would they look like? (You’ve probably never wondered). If you have asked yourself such a question, you’ll likely have to keep pondering. As to what they would sound like, well Sam Barton, Mike Bourne and Jimmy Martin, known collectively as Teeth of the Sea, have been providing an answer to that question since their first record (2009’s Orphaned by the Ocean). Hive (Rocket Recordings) is the group’s sixth full-length release.