Reviews

Teenage Bottlerocket Stealing the Covers FILE UNDER: Obscure punk covers ROCKS LIKE: Bad Cop/Bad Cop, Ramones, Bracket WHAT'S DIFFERENT: For this album, Wyoming punks Teenage Bottlerocket reinvent the covers disc, taking material only from bands that they’ve personally come across during their 15 years of rockin’ out. So you’re not getting punk classics here, you’re […]

Electric Century For The Night To Control FILE UNDER: Power, Corruption and Guys ROCKS LIKE: Atlas Genius, Depeche Mode, BØRNS WHAT'S DIFFERENT: The debut LP from multi-instrumentalists Mikey Way (My Chemical Romance) and Dave Debiak (New London Fire) doesn’t rock at all. With an immersion into trebly guitars, plenty of synthesizers and Debiak’s vocal style […]

Night Argent The Fear EP FILE UNDER: Pop-Rock Anthems ROCKS LIKE: Imagine Dragons, AWOLNATION, X Ambassadors WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Pasco, Washington, four-piece Night Argent’s sophomore EP expands on the infectious rock sound presented in their 2016 self-titled debut. Lead vocalist Chase Manhattan offers a unique kind of flow on the opening “Mannequin,” setting precedent for much […]

Silverstein Dead Reflection FILE UNDER: INVENTIVE POST-HARDCORE ROCKS LIKE: From First To Last, Beartooth, Chiodos WHAT’S DIFFERENT: Dead Reflection sees Silverstein continuing to reinvent themselves 17 years into their career. The tussle of clean vocals and melodic guitars versus screams and breakdowns remains, but it’s never sounded so accomplished.  This album also sees Shane Told […]

Broken Social Scene Hug Of Thunder FILE UNDER: (Other) Great Canadian supergroup strikes again ROCKS LIKE: Chvrches, the New Pornographers, Grizzly Bear WHAT’S DIFFERENT: It only took seven years, but they finally got the band back together—all 15 original members of the group, too, including Leslie Feist and Metric frontwoman Emily Haines. Their secret weapon […]

Public Service Broadcasting Every Valley FILE UNDER: Sociopolitical art-pop ROCKS LIKE: Spoon, Radiohead, Tunng WHAT’S DIFFERENT: This U.K. prog-pop duo set aside cheeky nostalgia for at least one album to address a more serious topic: the rise and fall of the coal industry in Wales. A niche subject, to be sure, but one they bring […]

Sworn In All Smiles FILE UNDER: Extra Emo Noise-Core ROCKS LIKE: Botch, Chelsea Grin, My Chemical Romance WHAT'S DIFFERENT: With openly emotional noise, Sworn In deliver a cohesive sound that surpasses screaming and half-heartedly singing over jarring instrumentals that sound like they were churned out by kids who went to undergrad for music composition. As […]

Stone Sour Hydrograd FILE UNDER: Hard rock as life coach ROCKS LIKE: Alice In Chains, Metallica, Sevendust   Branding himself a rock ’n’ roll Han Solo (with a leathery larynx in place of a light saber) (Han doesn't have a lightsaber, he is not a Jedi. —Star Wars obsessive ed.), Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor […]

LANY LANY FILE UNDER: Dream pop for the next generation ROCKS LIKE: the 1975, Phoenix, the Griswolds WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Taking a different approach to introducing themselves to the world, the LA-based trio released four EPs before delving into their first full-length album. The result? A self-titled debut that sounds nothing like a debut. It’s better. Fully […]

Envy On The Coast Ritual EP FILE UNDER: An Unapologetic ROCKS LIKE: Glassjaw, Bayside, Thrice WHAT'S DIFFERENT: The formerly “final” Envy On The Coast album, Lowcountry, thrust the band from polished hooks into dirtier aggression, making for a cult classic. The band’s surprise return via Ritual is the full realization of those Lowcountry ambitions, unafraid […]

Manchester Orchestra A Black Mile To The Surface FILE UNDER: Wondrous, widescreen rock ROCKS LIKE: Fleet Foxes, My Morning Jacket, Band Of Horses WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Where to start? A Black Mile To The Surface sounds more like the logical follow-up to 2011’s complex Simple Math than it does 2014’s nonetheless great, grungy Cope. Here, Manchester […]

The White Noise AM/PM FILE UNDER: Radio punk    ROCKS LIKE: The Story So Far, My Enemies & I, Story Of The Year WHAT'S DIFFERENT: The White Noise are more willing to explore their vulnerable side with their debut full-length than on their previous EP, Aren’t You Glad? Fans of the band still get the […]

Algiers The Underside of Power FILE UNDER: Nonstop diversa-pop brilliance ROCKS LIKE: The Pop Group, the Veldt, TV On The Radio WHAT'S DIFFERENT: This Atlanta-based act’s 2015 debut, which gave us the sound of a soulful ghost in the post-punk machine, was rightfully called a stunner. And its deft interpolations of everything from dub to […]

Jule Vera Waiting On The Sun FILE UNDER: BADASS COUNTRY MEETS LOVELORN ROCK ROCKS LIKE: We Are The In Crowd, Set It Off, Against The Current WHAT’S DIFFERENT: The debut album gloves have come off: Jule Vera are ready to take some risks. For something this diverse, there’s still cohesion on Waiting On The Sun, […]

Color Film Living Arrangements FILE UNDER: Neo new wave from familiar faces ROCKS LIKE: Duran Duran, Heaven 17, Yazoo WHAT'S DIFFERENT: The debut album from this kaleidoscopic new-wave project featuring Glassjaw’s Daryl Palumbo and ex-Men, Women & Children bassist Richard Penzone (both in the somewhat comparable Head Automatica) certainly has its differences from the pair’s […]

Broadside Paradise FILE UNDER: FEEL GOOD POP-PUNK ROCKS LIKE: Hit The Lights, Yellowcard, State Champs WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Broadside packed up and moved their entire lives from Richmond, Virginia, to Los Angeles, funneling that change of scenery feeling into another record with producer Kyle Black (Paramore, New Found Glory, Comeback Kid). Paradise takes a sandblaster to […]

Ride Weather Diaries FILE UNDER: A working shoegaze reunion ROCKS LIKE: Title Fight, Nothing, Beach House WHAT’S DIFFERENT: For their first new album in over two decades, this U.K. quartet don’t dare to try and replicate past glories. Just as their 2015 reunion tour proved, they’re approaching the “dream pop” sound they helped cultivate in […]

Rancid Trouble Maker Rancid? Oh, them. The grumpy punk bastards who can’t be bothered to go on tour to support a record, do press for it or get in step with whatever trends are happening in contemporary music. Whatever, man. Trouble Maker, their ninth album, has 17 songs on it. How stupid is that? Any […]

CKY The Phoenix FILE UNDER: REBORN ROLLER RAGERS ROCKS LIKE: Alice In Chains, Queens Of The Stone Age, HIM WHAT’S DIFFERENT: Somewhere between now and CKY’s last album (2009’s Carver City), the acclaimed alternative-metal band suffered a schism that led to three-fourths of them keeping the name and the frontman playing his own music under […]

Rise Against Wolves FILE UNDER: Revolution Rock ROCKS LIKE: Anti-Flag, Alkaline Trio, Green Day Donald Trump wasn’t president when Rise Against started writing their eighth album Wolves, but they were in the studio when he was elected. While the band have always kicked against the pricks, having biggest prick of all sitting in the Oval […]