Ryan's Hope
Ryan’s Hope Apocalypse In Increments [4/5] Anyone who’s spent time on Punknews.org could imagine Apocalypse In Increments, the Punknews Records debut from Ryan’s Hope, being an amalgamation of everything that website’s community enjoys (or at least doesn’t dismiss upon first glance), and those assumptions aren’t far off the mark. Uniting the pop-punk sincerity of the...
New Mexican Disaster Squad
New Mexican Disaster Squad Don’t Believe [3/5] New Mexican Disaster Squad have tightened their musical chops and wielded deeper-sinking hooks on Don’t Believe; and though these sort of changes seem slight, they can go a long way when you’re playing pissed-off, ’80s-reverent hardcore punk. Granted, there are enough tempo let-ups and momentary clips of melody...
Moneen - The Red Tree
Moneen The Red Tree Do you know what it’s like to be hit by a Mack truck and immediately nursed back to health, only to have that same damned truck hit you again (and again and again)? This is relative to the experience of listening to The Red Tree, on which Moneen exhibit the power,...
The Ducky Boys
The Ducky Boys The War Back Home [4/5] With the Ducky Boys, that age-old old axiom “What you see is what you get” pretty much holds true. No gimmicks. No posturing. All these Boston dudes are about is bringing the rock. Armed with their working-class “everyman” punk rock à la Hudson Falcons and the Loved...
Controlling The Famous
Controlling The Famous Automatic City [4/5] Understatement in rock music usually leads to underdog status for bands, but give Controlling The Famous’ debut album, Automatic City, just a few notes to sink in, and it’s that same understatement that’ll win you over. Produced by Alex Newport (The Mars Volta, Some Girls), City is as jagged...
The Classic Crime
The Classic Crime Albatross [4/5] It’s summer, people. We don’t need a nation of bands who can rewrite Rodgers & Hammerstein or reinvent modern rock; a few free-spirited sing-alongs will do just fine, thanks. This bodes well for the Classic Crime, a young band who share the same high-ceiling playlist potential as, say, Acceptance, and...
Be Your Own PET
Be Your Own PET Be Your Own Pet [3/5] Forget sugar, spice and everything nice: Jemina Pearl Abegg, vocalist for Be Your Own Pet, is made of sass, attitude and hellfire–just like the Nashville quartet’s self-titled debut. For the most part, the band’s jagged guitars and bludgeoning backbeats play by the punk rulebook (the lurching...
Against All Authority
Against All Authority The Restoration Of Chaos & Order [4/5] Ironically, though its title is inspired by one of George W. Bush’s famously discombobulated speeches, Against All Authority’s fourth proper album is among the band’s most musically focused yet. The gutter-punk sloppiness of past outings has been replaced by a razor-sharp guitar attack that rivals...
Whirlwind Heat
Whirlwind Heat Types Of Wood [3/5] Whirlwind Heat are best known for being the first band signed to Jack White’s Third Man imprint–but the Michigan trio may also have been the first band to leave. Can you really expect to tame a group this frenetic, though? Their last album, 2004’s Flamingo Honey, was a collection...