Contributions
Suburban Scum - Hanging By A Thread EP
Suburban Scum Hanging By A Thread EP New Jersey heavy hardcore crew Suburban Scum dole out the Slayer and Metallica riffs and add a mean streak of hardcore screams and breakdowns on Hanging By A Thread. From the opening E-chords of this EP’s title track, it’s clear we’re in for some serious punishment. While Hanging […]
Voodoo Glow Skulls - Break The Spell
Voodoo Glow Skulls Break The Spell Album No. 9 from Riverside, California-based aggro-ska-punk band Voodoo Glow Skulls offers little in the way of surprises—which, in their case, is a good thing. Their first album since 2007’s Southern California Street Music (and their first album not on Epitaph or Victory in nearly 20 years), the Skulls […]
Lionize - Superczar And The Vulture
Lionize Superczar And The Vulture Bands who combine Clutch-style boogie rock with reggae dub aren’t exactly a thriving subgenre in the alternative music world. In fact, we’re not even sure there’s been a genre pegged for the kind of multifaceted rock that Lionize crank out on Superczar And The Vulture, but we’re about to peg […]
Diamond - Don't Lose Your Cool EP
Diamond Don’t Lose Your Cool EP Sure, “The Feeling,” a frenetic dose of catchy-as-all-heck melodic rock, could have come straight off of Bleed American, but really, there are much worse crimes than writing a song that sounds exactly like Jimmy Eat World ca. 2001. Luckily, Diamond—featuring members of hardcore bands Trapped Under Ice and Down […]
We Are The Union - Graveyard Grins EP
We Are The Union Graveyard Grins EP Maybe it’s the horns, or maybe it’s the Nintendo-glitch outro in “Thank You,” but it’s pretty clear that the melodic hardcore on We Are The Union’s Graveyard Grins EP isn’t strictly of the loud, hard, fast and angry variety. These guys might be inspired by Kid Dynamite and […]
Handguns/Forever Came Calling - Split
Handguns/Forever Came Calling Split EP Handguns claim to play melodic hardcore, but really, they are a pop-punk band, through and through. Rollicking basslines make way for sing-along vocals in opening track “Smoke And Mirrors,” an ode to doing it your own way—or, in this case, the pop-punk way. The guitarists pick-sweep like demons, the drummer […]
Ghost Knife - Kill Shelter, Yes!
Ghost Knife Kill Shelter, Yes! With the rhythm section of J Church and the frontman of Riverboat Gamblers in their ranks, Ghost Knife already have a jumpstart on most pop-punk bands. But what becomes apparent only a couple of songs into Kill Shelter, Yes!, their debut album, is that the recently formed trio might just […]
The Slow Death - Born Ugly Got Worse
The Slow Death Born Ugly Got Worse On the Slow Death’s debut album, Born Ugly Got Worse, frontman Jesse Thorsen and his not-always-merry men hit all the melodic-punk sweet spots; the shouted-along vocals, bobbly bass-lines and fast-out-of-the-gate anthems about relationship squabbles (“Sleeping Somewhere Else”) and drinking (“Phantom Limbs” and “Sorry Sam,” among others). Some nice […]
A Lot Like Birds - Conversation Piece
A Lot Like Birds Conversation Piece It was only a matter time before the prog-emo stylings of Coheed And Cambria met the screamo scene. Singers Kurt Travis (ex-Dance Gavin Dance) and Cory Lockwood use too much of the “balls-in-vice” method of screaming, which generally results in too much caterwauling, especially on the more hyperactive numbers […]