Music
Review: Lie In Ruins – Towards Divine Death
Hail Satan, hail death, indeed. This album is the band’s second full-length since they were resurrected from the heyday of early ‘90s death metal to bring back what is a decidedly old-school sound to the genre. It’s longer on both song and album length than most death metal works, which seemed to give the whole thing a more cohesive feeling. … read more
Review: Mad Choice – Safety Net
The main reason to listen to this album over and over again would be for the opening track, “Swallowing A Shotgun”—combining elements of California skate punk and post-hardcore made for some heavy, mosh-inducing music. … read more
Review: Malthusian – MMXIII
With members from Altar of Plagues and Mourning Beloveth, the band’s already got a great doom-type pedigree, but MMXIII is more of a batch of death and black metal with tints of the rotten kind of doom. … read more
Review: Noir – Darkly Near
This release is packed with archaic, simplistic synthesized sounds reminiscent of the ’80s. The remaining dark tracks provoke the cobweb-clearing dance movement, which is a bit too “goth” for me. I do know that those who are truly black at heart will love it. … read more
Review: Preston Lovinggood – Shadow Songs
Before my first listening of Shadow Songs, I was preparing myself to sit through another guy with a guitar singing cliché love songs. What I got instead was a pleasant surprise of dreamy pop melodies with morbid lyrics, creating happy little ears that felt alright about listening to cliché love songs. … read more
Review: Rawhide – Murder One
This is raucous death-flected RnR monster, which clutches at its NWOBHM and D-Beat influences with equal aplomb. The band’s a semi-mystery, with precious little information available online. … read more
Review: Scott H. Biram – Nothin’ But Blood
Songs like his cover of “Backdoor Man” will put you on your ass. Biram, to me, has become the Southern roots music modern Hemingway, expressing honestly the dark parts of this life like only he can. … read more
Review: Secret Boyfriend – This Is Always Where You’ve Lived
It’s a strange, varied affair, playing like a lost soundtrack to something doomed, yet beautiful. The music ranges from synth-based melody and filtered noise (“Summer Wheels/ Mysterious Fires”), to tape-hiss-laden acoustic ballads. … read more
Review: Selaxon Lutberg – Simboli Accidentali
Straight up, this album will be playing when your soul goes through purgatory and wanders wistfully from heaven to hell. Fully ambient music is not my cup of tea, but this is something I’d listen to if I wanted to have a drug-induced, life-changing experience. … read more
Review: Sherman Baker – Self-Titled
Is it just me (it usually is), or are our soundwaves over-saturated with quiet, reflective singer songwriters, playing the kind of bland folk that attracts men who use mustache combs and apprentice beekeepers? Sherman Baker might quell this problem. … read more