SLUG Magazine’s collection of reviews covering the latest and greatest of Utah-based music, covering all varieties of genre, style and type.

Local Review: Juse – Concentrate This!

Local Review: Juse – Concentrate This!
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Juse Concentrate This!  Self-Released Street: 09.01 Juse = Social Distortion + Rancid + The Offspring Juse (pronounced like “Juice”) have been throwing out their brand of punk influenced rock in Ogden for almost four years. With Concentrate This!, Juse presents some interesting songs with plenty of energy, but it’s a little too rough around the

Local Review: Junk Drawer – Album of the Same Name

Local Review: Junk Drawer – Album of the Same Name
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Junk Drawer Album of the Same Name Self-Released Street: 11.21 Junk Drawer = 311 + Dinosaur Jr. + Lansing Dreiden There is something inherently 80s about the band Junk Drawer. Maybe it is the vintage synths or the verse chorus nature of some of their songs, but what can definitely be said is that they

Local Review: Cross-Eyed Slut Rough

Local Review: Cross-Eyed Slut Rough
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Cross-Eyed Slut Rough Hump! Records Street: 2006 Cross-Eyed Slut = Guttermouth + The Cramps + System of a Down We are lucky in these days of information to have access to many different types of musical influences. Sometimes it is a hindrance to bands when they try to incorporate too much into their music, but

Local Review: De La Vega – 5-song demo

Local Review: De La Vega – 5-song demo
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De La Vega 5-song demo DLV= Incubus + Phish As if their full-length wasn’t enough, De La Vega sends another rap-metal-reggae release that wants badly to be Rage Against the Machine spooning with, say, Staind, but comes off like a horrible suicide-drink slime Sublime/Phish/P.O.D. hybrid. It’s grounded in some pretty catchy riffs, but is still

Local Review: Erin Haley – Catastrophe Fantastic

Local Review: Erin Haley – Catastrophe Fantastic
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Erin Haley Catastrophe Fantastic Erin Haley = Ani DiFranco + Regina Spektor + Russian accent It’s clear Erin Haley is loaded with talent, and luckily, she has a great recording to promote herself. I probably hear two or three new hopeful major-label piano/singing divas appear on the musical horizon every month, and Erin has just as

Local Review: Die Monster Die – Only the Dead Will Survive

Local Review: Die Monster Die – Only the Dead Will...
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Die Monster Die Only the Dead Will Survive Dr. Cyclops Records Die Monster Die = Misfits + Slipknot It’s another Die Monster Die release, and nothing is different from previous releases, but it’s still good. For those not aware of DMD, they are heavily Misfits-influenced with a straight-ahead rock sound and an obsession with zombies,

Local Review: Day of Less – Porcaria

Local Review: Day of Less – Porcaria
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Day of Less Porcaria Exigent Records Day of Less = Gaza (of course) + High on Fire + Converge (kind of) Um. Yeah. This is probably the heaviest music I’ve heard come out of Salt Lake since The Kill. I don’t even think Iodina was this heavy, cowboys. I’m glad it fell on my last

Local Review: Beard of Solitude –  Broken Brain EP

Local Review: Beard of Solitude – Broken Brain EP
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Beard of Solitude Broken Brain EP, Beardo II EP, Fun in the Afternoon single Croakfrog Records Beard of Solitude = your mother’s record collection , the crappy, cheesy stuff Y’know, I don’t even know if I was supposed to review this, but hey, it’ll be fun. It’s a whole buncha Beard stuff on one CD for

Local Review: Agape – Self-titled EP

Local Review: Agape – Self-titled EP
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Agape Self-titled EP Agape = (ABBA + I Am the World Trade Center + Wesley Willis) x (insert any GSL band here) One might compare Agape to Gold Standard Laboratory Records bands, and yeah, that’d be accurate, but one-man-band Ryan Powers kind of leaves ’em all in the dust if you ask me. (Ask me.)

Local Review: The Awesome Possum Band – Blendn’ In

Local Review: The Awesome Possum Band – Blendn’ In
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The Awesome Possum Band Blendn’ In  The Awesome Possum Band = Willie Nelson + Tenacious D + The Frogs Quirky alt-country with deep redneck roots sounds like it came straight from the heart of Alabama moonshine country. Songs are about Blue, the hound dog, corndogs, crawdads, prison and the office. Covers include the Southern-accented “Wish