Tag Archives: alternative

ALBUM REVIEW: Drill For Absentee – Strand of a Lake, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 – Expert Work Records

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Drill For Absentee are a Philadelphia trio whose original run lasted from 1995 to 1999. Their catalogue is hardly the most extensive. Since their 2021 covid era reunion the band, Kevin Kelly – Bass, Guitar, Vocals, Michael Nace – Guitar, Vocals and new Drummer Ken Kuniyoshi (replacing co-founding member Bryan Sargent) have been busy in the recording studio. What they’ve come up with are two EP’s which have been put together as one LP (Note – Vol. 1 was put out digitally on September 13, 2022) while Vol 2 was forged between August 2022 to March 2025, out now via Expert Work Records. Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Ailise Blake – Soave

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For Alice Ronzini (better known as Ailise Blake in her current musical guise) the visual component of her art is no incidental afterthought. Indeed the cover photo of her latest record Soave (These Hands Melt), with Blake sitting on a wooden frame, her face obscured, grass and trees around her, very well captures the mysterious, paganistic atmosphere of the music contained within.  Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: THE MON – Songs of Abandon

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In a way, every album has a story. In the case of Songs of Abandon (Supernatural Cat Records) though, the latest release from solo project THE MON, the story is a specific and unique one. Several years ago, Urlo (bass player and vocalist for doomy, heavy-rock unit Ufomammut) decided to try writing nine songs, each one in a day—just himself and an acoustic guitar. Fast forward to 2025 and Songs of Abandon comes as the first part of a two-album concept: Embrace The Abandon (to be followed by Songs of Embrace in the new year). The result is an intimate and eerie collection that favours subtlety over sonic extremes, while maintaining an understated power.

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