Contributions
Open Hand - The Mark Of The Demon EP
Open Hand The Mark Of The Demon EP The latest by California prog-rockers Open Hand is a one-track, 10-minute sweep through the band’s inimitable career, combining a mesmerizing assortment of outtakes, demos, live snippets and random ideas into one uninterrupted stream of musical consciousness. If Open Hand’s creative lives were flashing before their ears, this […]
Jamie's Elsewhere - Reimagined EP
Jamie’s Elsewhere Reimagined EP Over the last seven years, post-hardcore hopefuls Jamie’s Elsewhere have been through a seemingly never-ending array of lineup changes, with founding guitarist Matt Scarpelli the only constant. In 2008, however, they found their franchise player in vocalist Aaron Pauley. The singer’s pure talent and keen melodic sense—first showcased on the group’s […]
Matt Pryor - May Day
Matt Pryor May Day Putting it mildly, there are some really “interesting” projects folks try to get funded via Kickstarter. But what makes the site/mechanism so compelling is that for all the countless deluded nutbars out there looking to finance pillow art, books about their cat or edible drinking cups, every now and again true […]
Blessthefall - Awakening
Blessthefall Awakening Phoenix headbangers Blessthefall aren’t looking to reinvent the wheel—their third full-length, Awakening, isn’t going to shock you with some radical reinvention of modern metalcore or death metal that the likes of As I Lay Dying, Darkest Hour or At The Gates somehow neglected to unleash over the years. Instead, BTF use the balance […]
This Time Next Year - Drop Out Of Life
This Time Next Year Drop Out Of Life It’s really too bad that Drop Out Of Life, the sophomore full-length by Walnut Creek, California, pop-punks This Time Next Year, didn’t drop into our iPods at the start of the summer, rather than now, with fall already upon us and another winter not far behind. Loaded […]
Gregory Attonito - Natural Disaster EP
Gregory Attonito Natural Disaster EP The great luxury of being a punk-rock elder statesman whose primary band run their own DIY label means you can pretty much do what you like creatively. For Bouncing Souls frontman Greg Attonito, at the present moment that indulgence is mellowing out with an acoustic guitar and embracing his softer […]
Various Artists - Rave On Buddy Holly
Various Artists Rave On Buddy Holly It’s no small achievement that bespectacled ’50s rock icon Buddy Holly—who was tragically killed in a 1959 plane crash, aged 22—still inspires countless artists today. However, his impact runs much deeper than merely informing some retro, geek-chic fashion aesthetic or providing a kitschy, Happy Days-themed hook for a Weezer […]
Emery – We Do What We Want
Emery We Do What We Want The first thing you really notice on We Do What We Want, Emery’s fifth full-length, is how heavy it is. Like, ridiculously heavy. Between the ubiquitous A Day To Remember-styled chugga-chugga breakdowns and frantically shrill screams, it’s the hardest performance the band have served up in a long time, […]
Mayday Parade - Valdosta EP
Mayday Parade Valdosta EP Mayday Parade have a ton to prove with their next full-length, and pretty much everyone from singer/pianist Derek Sanders to your grandmother knows it. It still all boils down to the ever-present 500-pound gorilla in the room—whether the Tallahassee, Florida pop-punk five-piece have any creative juice without original singer/guitarist/songwriter Jason Lancaster […]