System Of A Down
System Of A Down Hypnotize [3/5] System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian recently told an interviewer that the purpose for releasing two new albums six months apart was to reconcile the band’s love for short records with the ADD inherent in contemporary culture (i.e., music fans). Tankian went on to say that both Mezmerize...
Harvey Danger
Harvey Danger Little By Little… [4/5] Most of you remember Harvey Danger as the group responsible for 1998’s unlikely hit “Flagpole Sitta.” What most of you probably don’t know is that the track came from a near-flawless debut (Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone?), which was followed up with 2000’s even nearer-flawless King James Version....
Th' Faith Healers
Th' Faith Healers Peel Sessions [5/5] Th’ Faith Healers came up through the British underground of the early ’90s alongside acts like Stereolab, PJ Harvey and other folks assembled on the Too Pure label. They had a steady rhythm section, a wiseguy guitarist in Tom Cullinan and a confusing frontwoman in Roxanne Stephen, who could...
Sunn0)))
Sunn0))) Black One [5/5] It’s cool if you can’t immediately tell whether Black One is–as the members of this extreme-doom collective purport–the darkest Sunn0))) recording yet; it takes a special sort of dedication to break down auditory blackness of this caliber into varying degrees of nihility, and an altogether more committed level of listening to...
Scarling.
Scarling. So Long, Scarecrow [5/5] With So Long, Scarecrow, Scarling. singer Jessicka Fodera has officially made the break with the suburban goth scene that still clutches Marilyn Manson and Jack Off Jill discs to their bosoms when they go to sleep at night. Scarling’s 2004 debut EP, Sweet Heart Dealer, was a necessary bridge that...
Cryptopsy
Cryptopsy Once Was Not [5/5] Most of the attention being given to Cryptopsy’s first new album in five years focuses on the fact that original vocalist Lord Worm is back in the fold, having finally replaced longtime fan punching-bag Mike DiSalvo to restore these Canadian technical death-metal gods to their rightful place at the top...
My Chemical Romance: Escape Artists
With a uniquely defined vision and a geek-like obsession with detail to see it through, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE avoided mere rock-critic shorthand to stake out their own post-emo territory. Now that the field is crammed with pretenders seeking a similar opportunity, the band plan on taking the next big riff out of the compound they...
The Most Anticipated Albums of 2006: Taking Back Sunday
Taking Back Sunday have only been in Los Angeles for two months recording the follow-up to their gold-selling sophomore album, Where You Want To Be. But with production expected to run into the last days of December, frontman Adam Lazzara is missing the East Coast–bad. “It’s way different out here, and I’m ready to go...
The Most Anticipated Albums of 2006: Angels & Airwaves
“The best way to describe this album is that it has taken me 12 years to learn how to write songs like this,” says Angels & Airwaves mastermind Tom Delonge. “It’s taken 20 million records sold and arenas sold out across the world with Blink-182 to learn how music affects people, how it should be...