Music
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: Victrola – 5-Song demo
Victrola 5-Song demo Victrola = Mission of Burma + Pinback SLUG got 5-Song Demo by Victrola for a Sabbathon demo in June but it’s so hot I took the liberty of reviewing it anyway. Down-home original indie rock like Dinosaur Jr. blends with a pinch of modern indie-rock jangle like Trail of the Dead, Pinback,
Local Review: Vomit – Self-titled
Vomit Self-titled Vomit = Pantera + Eyehategod + Napalm Death I hate Pantera. Ogden’s Vomit are repeatedly compared to Pantera—but Vomit BLOW them AWAY no contest!!! The music is very crunchy and heavy, and tuned down much lower so they’re more on par with Napalm Death or Eyehategod. This band is also fucking brutal
Local Review: DulceSky – Media-Luna/Half-Moon
DulceSky Media-Luna/Half-Moon Eden’s Watchtower DulceSky = The Cure + Violet Run – Nirvana worship Once again, DulceSky have delivered a glazed-honey concoction of dense, multi-layered goth-tinged shoegazer; a smooth, dark glide down a river with no reflection, like Ophelia’s ride to her final resting place. The female harmonies are especially potent on Media-Luna, and the
Local Review: Last Response – Have You No Sense of...
Last Response Have You No Sense of Direction? EP Last Response = AFI + Taking Back Sunday + Sunny Day Real Estate Yes, I never thought I’d put AFI and Taking Back Sunday in the same equation, either, let alone Sunny Day, but once you hear Last Response, you’ll hear what I mean. Sanguine anthems
Local Review: Purr Bats – Soft Fluff EP
Purr Bats Soft Fluff EP State of Deseret Purr Bats = Virgin Prunes + Rope or Bullets + candy necklaces Purr Bats, a jeweled rainbow Phoenix risen out of the bleak, life-affirming wasteland that was Utah County band Puri-do, are a fleck of unadulterated talent in a grey fog of bombastic music caricatures. They
Local Review: Yield – Self-titled demo
Yield Self-titled demo Yield = Alice in Chains + Metallica’s “Sanitarium” + Extreme Mid-80s chunka-chunka low-end metal parleys with tender, suicidal Alice-in-Chains ballads touching on themes of mind-rupturing confusion with plenty of guitar-pick’d arpeggios and minor chords (choicest example: “Brainwash”). It’s been done before, but Yield succeeds at a much-traversed genre because they’re completely
Local Review: Terra Noir – Emperors of the Black Earth
Terra Noir Emperors of the Black Earth Hellspawn Creations Terra Noir = Mayhem + Dark Throne + Burzum When you look up and see the gray skies of death above your head, your final thoughts will be about the haunting voice of hell that wafts through your mind … Terra Noir have a unique
Local Review: Malignant Inception – Black Death
Malignant Inception Black Death Slaughterhouse Records Malignant Inception = Malevolent Creation + Suffocation + Decapitated Malignant Inception have everything the die-hard death metal fan needs—relentless double-bass drumming, ever-changing guitar and bass technicality and trademark dual low vocals topped off with the screeching highs that made this band notorious. Black Death is a bloody, throat-wrenching
Local Review: Powerhouse Rock – Self-Titled
Powerhouse Rock Self-Titled Powerhouse Rock = Alice Cooper + Ted Nugent Good God. Someone in the 80s invented a time machine and sent a butt-rock group to the new millennium to see if it could still survive. Unfortunately, it landed in SLC and somehow made it into my hands. I’m guessing the entire band consists
Local Review: Two and a Half White Guys – Self-Titled
Two and a Half White Guys Self-titled Gringos Productions Two and a Half White Guys = The Good, The Bad and The Ugly soundtrack + Aquabats + Bob Marley Jazz-inflected ska calypso reggae jam bands aren’t really my thing, but Two and a Half White Guys are good at what they do, and they