Contributions
Circa Survive - On Letting Go
Circa Survive On Letting Go Anthony Green is a really lucky guy. Not to discount his own incredible vocal abilities, but name another lead singer who has been surrounded by three different groups of insanely talented musicians and released groundbreaking music with each in just four years. From Saosin to the Sound Of Animals Fighting […]
Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me
Brand New The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me The first time I saw Brand New live was in August 2001—the band were touring on their four-song demo CD-R at the time. And as unknown bands are treated at shows all across America, the meager crowd dispersed outside for the mandatory smoke break as […]
Rise Against - The Sufferer & The Witness
Rise Against The Sufferer & The Witness At this point in their career, Chicago quartet Rise Against are, by all accounts, a well-oiled punk-rock machine. So when you put on The Sufferer & The Witness and hear galloping drumbeats, the powerful tenor of frontman Tim McIlrath, a sprinkling of gang vocals and a severe case […]
Angels & Airwaves - We Don't Need to Whisper
Angels & Airwaves We Don’t Need To Whisper Okay, let’s get this out of the way: No album in the world could live up to the hype Tom DeLonge has created around Angels & Airwaves’ debut, We Don’t Need To Whisper. That being said, if you’re one of the lucky few not yet run over […]
Saves The Day - Sound the Alarm
Saves The Day Sound The Alarm Assuming you read the massive oral history of Saves The Day in these pages last month, you already know all about the long and winding road the New Jersey band have taken to end up with Sound The Alarm, their fifth proper album. And after a few listens, it’s […]
Taking Back Sunday - Louder Now
Taking Back Sunday Louder Now Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past three years or so, you know all about the near-end of Taking Back Sunday and the subsequent splintering of the band, with vocalist/guitarist John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper starting up Straylight Run. But what you may not know about […]
Hawthorne Heights - If Only You Were Lonely
Hawthorne Heights If Only You Were Lonely Disclaimer: Regardless of what that ratings key says in the upper right-hand corner of this page, when it comes down to it, a 3 means “good.” And that’s what the new Hawthorne Heights album is: good. It’s not a 5 (perfect, if you will) or a 4 (great); […]
Boy Sets Fire - The Misery Index: Notes From The Plague Years
Boy Sets Fire The Misery Index: Notes From The Plague Years Boy Sets Fire have been forced to sit on The Misery Index: Notes From The Plague Years for more than a year, thanks to their (now former) label sitting on it, reportedly because they “didn’t hear a single.” Apparently, the label didn’t actually listen […]
Thrice - Vheissu
Thrice Vheissu If you think about it, Thrice are punk rock’s version of Deftones. Just as Deftones were lumped in rather arbitrarily with many a nü-metal mook, Thrice have been unceremoniously dumped into the screamo deep end, forcing the band to become the voice of a movement they didn’t really have their hearts in. And […]