Dan Slessor

Job For A Cowboy Gloom EP   With a sound that embraces classic death metal and makes no concessions to anything perceived as fashionable in contemporary heavy music, Glendale, Arizona’s Job For A Cowboy have been kicking up an ugly (if not exactly groundbreaking) noise for eight years now. Gloom, the follow-up to 2009’s Ruination, […]

Funeral For A Friend Welcome Home Armageddon   Celebrating their 10th anniversary with their fifth full-length, Wales’ Funeral For A Friend have shown some impressive staying power in a scene that has seen literally hundreds of bands abruptly appear only to just as swiftly vanish, and the sheer quality of their passionate music has certainly […]

Mae (e)vening   With (e)vening, Norfolk, Virginia’s Mae are not only rounding out the trilogy started with (m)orning and continued with (a)fternoon (both released in 2009) but also their career; while the members may have since gone their separate ways, they have left fans with one of the strongest releases of their 10-year existence. As […]

Innerpartysystem Never Be Content EP   Anyone who caught Innerpartysystem’s headline shows in support of 2008’s self-titled full-length was most likely struck that they had all the trappings of an arena-filling band crammed into a small venue. With a superior light show, a simply enormous sound and energy to burn, they were a riveting spectacle, […]

Mother Of Mercy IV: Symptoms Of Existence   While New York City and Boston seem to have the most prominent hardcore grounds (or at least the most visible), Philadelphia has consistently turned out bands who stand nose-to-nose with their East Coast brethren, and Mother Of Mercy’s fourth full-length is ready to fight all challengers. While […]

Pendulum Immersion     Over the years, a plethora of artists have set out to create a fusion of dance and rock music with varying results, and Australia’s Pendulum certainly sit near the top of the pack. Having started life as drum ’n’ bass DJs, the unit increasingly incorporated live instruments in their shows and […]

Farewell Continental Farewell Continental EP   Farewell Continental do not want you to know who they really are. The members’ names—Richard Kimble, Allie Fox, Rick Deckard, Jack Ryan and Dr. Norman Spencer—are stolen from Harrison Ford’s resumé.  Rumor has it they boast members drawn from the ranks of Trace The Skyline and Small Towns Burn […]

After The Burial In Dreams   When Swedish overlords of the technical-metal genre Meshuggah graduated to eight-string guitars, it was only a matter of time before those in their wake followed suit, regardless of whether they had the chops for such a beast of an instrument. Gratifyingly, Justin Lowe and Trent Hafdahl of Minnesota’s After […]

Koji Some Small Way EP   With a plethora of EPs and splits under his belt, Pennsylvania native Andrew “Koji” Shiraki’s latest release is an intimate, organic collection that is gorgeous in its simplicity. Each of the five songs on Some Small Way convey the feeling that they literally came together on the spur of […]