October 26, 2007

Tomahawk Anonymous [3/5] At worst, it seems like the pinnacle of cultural carpetbagging; at best, a colossally bad idea: An all-white avant-rock band featuring ex-members of the Jesus Lizard (guitarist Duane Dennison), Helmet (drummer John Stanier, also of Battles) and Faith No More (vocalist Mike Patton, also of about 200 other projects/bands) appropriate...

Still Remains The Serpent [2.5/5] Still Remains’ 2005 Roadrunner debut, Of Love And Lunacy, revealed great promise of a band who could successfully fuse the cacophonous thrash of heavy metal with mellifluous melody and a unique take on interlacing keyboards. Unfortunately, the band-who have lost several members since the release of Lunacy-mostly...

Nile Ithyphallic [3/5] Five albums into their career, South Carolinian death-metal masters Nile have etched their style in stone as hard and permanent as the pyramids that provide the backdrop for their lyrics: Hyper-technical riffs, solos and blastbeats that careen, frantic and ferocious, into a tornado-like blur; guttural vocal incantations that invoke the spirit...

Ion Dissonance Minus The Herd [3/5] Didn’t Ion Dissonance used to be, well, not groundbreaking or anything, but at least good, in a second-tier sort of way? Well, no more. Even a cursory glance at their new album reveals the mistakes they’ve made. There 2005 release Solace had song titles like “Play Dead…And...

Death Killer New England Is Sinking [3/5] Members of Deathkiller might list Hatebreed and Most Precious Blood on their résumés, but Deathkiller ask neither moshing nor vegetarianism from you: Put simply, they want to rock you. New England Is Sinking is full of raw and pounding, rock ’n’ roll-injected hardcore a la their...

Damination A.D. In This Life Or The Next [3.5/5] Before metalcore was a real genre, Damnation A.D. and a few other bands from the ’90s hardcore scene were tuning their guitars down to L and bringing the misery-filled mosh. It doesn’t even matter that half of Fall Out Boy appear on this record, or...

Baroness/Unpersons A Grey Sigh In A Flower Husk [4/5] Since the days when CoC and D.R.I. injected some Sabbath into their Flag, hardcore and metal have intermingled and copulated like rabbits, producing countless inbred, mutant offspring. The results aren’t always pretty. Yet Savannah, Georgia’s favorite unwashed, noisy sons produce music that heaves with...

3 The End Is Begun [3/5] Progressive rock is by nature a self-indulgent form-though once in a while, a Queen or Mars Volta will come along and attract listeners not possessing music degrees, thanks to a dedication to songcraft that at least matches their devotion to practice time. While the oddly named 3 might...

Various Artists Guilt By Association [2/5] The concept of the Guilt By Assocation compilation-well-respected underground artists covering their guilty-pleasure songs-isn’t new. (Just consider how many indie rockers covered Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” in concert last year.) And so while the lack of originality alone isn’t enough to dismiss this collection, the lack of truly...