December 6, 2006

The Hope Conspiracy Death Knows Your Name [4/5] There is something deliberately raw about the Hope Conspiracy that has always distinguished them from others working the “-core.” Yet Death Knows Your Name-their grimmest release to date-remains extremely listenable, despite its most forceful and desperate moments. Like their logical forbearers (Deadguy or the oft-likened Unbroken, for...

Hatebreed Supremacy [5/5] Even with the addition of legendary underground guitarist Frank “3 Gun” Novinec (ex-Terror, Integrity), it’s hard to imagine Hatebreed’s Supremacy not sounding exactly like the band always does. But with the recruitment of Novinec, the magnificent four gunslingers have added an uzi. The metalcore standard-bearers’ combined experience (they’re all elder statesmen at...

Fear Before The March Of Flames The Always Open Mouth [4/5] On The Always Open Mouth, the members of Fear Before The March Of Flames have linked arms and jumped off a cliff into an ocean of possibilities. Not everything on the disc is powered by uzi-strafing BPMs, but rest assured, the quintet aren’t trying...

Envy Insomniac Doze [4/5] Long-standing veterans of the Japanese experimental hardcore community, Envy temper their ‘90s screamo even more so on Insomniac Doze, reeling in all forms of chaos in exchange for sweeping post-rock epics. Hang on-this is on Temporary Residence? There’s your alibi for a sound that’s extremely well-crafted and appropriate alongside such TempRes...

William Elliott Whitmore Song Of The Blackbird [5/5] The third and final album in a trilogy that began with 2003’s Hymns For The Hopeless and last year’s Ashes To Dust, Song Of The Blackbird sees Iowa singer/songwriter/farmer William Elliott Whitmore-a 28-year old white man-performing another sparsely beautiful batch of instant country/folk classics, at least half...

Umbrellas Illuminare [4/5] They say comedians are often the most miserable people on the planet. So the irony isn’t lost on the fact that the second release from vocalist/songwriter Scott Windsor’s latest project was recorded in a converted comedy club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Windsor’s high-pitched-and quite pretty, actually-vocals deliver one dour experience after another, often...

Jim Noir Tower Of Love [4/5] On his first full-length release, Jim Noir, the U.K.’s latest bedroom genius, takes his cues from the whimsical side of Pet Sounds-era Brian Wilson and the Zombies’ Odyssey And Oracle, as filtered through the languid neo-psychedelic haze of artists like A Band of Bees. It’s a summertime record guaranteed...

Page France Hello, Dear Wind [4/5] No, it isn’t déja vu and no you’re not reading this wrong. It’s almost fall, and not only is Page France releasing an album the same time as last year, it’s the same record. Well, sort of, except this re-release version of Hello, Dear Wind is the spiritual-folk auteurs’...

Micah P. Hinson Micah P. Hinson And The Opera Circuit [2/5] At the age of 19, Micah P. Hinson went on a crime spree with a Vogue cover model and ending up going to prison for forging prescriptions. Unfortunately, Hinson’s life is much more interesting than his music, a largely uninspired mish-mash of caterwauling vocals...