Iron & Wine…sort of rolls off the tongue nicely doesn’t it? Likewise does the name of the man who is Iron & Wine, singer/songwriter Samuel Beam. With a name like that, what else could he have been but a purveyor of gritty folk music and Americana? Say it again….Samuel Beam…Iron & Wine. Cellar door anyone? […]
No names, no faces, no identities, a ghoulishly papal stage presence & 2 albums….and we have Sweden’s Ghost. There’s been much hype surrounding their sophomore effort Infestissumam (Latin for hostile), and none of it appears to be self-propagated. The metal community seems to have gone bananas over it for whatever reason and praise for them/it […]
Any new release from The Flaming Lips is sure to be met with a degree of anticipation from critics and fans; they’ve recently put on some spectacular live shows and their catalogue of work contains some absolute classics. So when a band with their kind of reputation releases an album called “The Terror” you can’t […]
Right! What have you got for us after ten years then Dave…? Critiquing a new album from someone of Bowie’s legendary status (the first in ten years no less) might well fill many a reviewer with a sense of trepidation, however this little reviewer has made critical hamburgers out of some musical sacred cows recently […]
15 albums in nearly 20 years. So is the celebrated career of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. Their last offering Dig, Lazarus, Dig!! was released in 2008, but sating Cave appetites between the aforementioned and this release was the energetic Grinderman project which was a veritable adrenaline rush compared to most of the (impressively […]
An electronic project featuring Thom Yorke of Radiohead and Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers named after a speech by Dwight Eisenhower? Hmmm…. This is the debut effort from Atoms For Peace (the band, not the speech, although the speech’s ’53 debut is not to be sniffed at!). Of course, based on the appearance […]
“Nobody listens to a whispering fool. Are you listening? I didn’t think so. I’ve been quiet as a church house mouse. Tiptoeing everywhere I go…”. So goes the introductory lyric of opening track “Bombs Away”, and a poignant notion it is. Eels have indeed been quiet for the last few years. Wonderful, Glorious is somewhat […]
Any new release featuring Mike Patton is sure to pique the interest of many a musical pundit, and interests were more than piqued when the band described this album as being like “like a heavy version of the Beach Boys” prior to its release. I for one was intrigued about the concept, despite Tomahawk being […]
34 years. That’s how long Bad Religion has been a functioning entity! Occupying a genre not known for cultivating longevity in its participants, they’ve endured line-up changes, fluctuations in popularity and label changes and are (deservedly) absolute icons of punk rock. However to use sporting parlance, you’re only as good as your last game… so […]
This is the second album from Projected Twin, the brainchild of Adelaide local Shaun Holton. Following on from the similarly titled, self-produced debut Earth to World, Earth vs World was made possible by the increasingly successful Pledge Music organization. For those unfamiliar, Pledge and similar organizations take donations towards the cost of recording upcoming albums […]
Nuclear Blast Records Sophomore albums are always an interesting proposition. Not only because they are supposedly “difficult”, but also because they often give a more realistic representation of a band’s sound and future direction than their debut. Many bands skew off in a radically different direction on their second albums, eager to avoid stereotype and […]
Sixteen years. That’s how long it’s been since Seattle heavyweights Soundgarden have released a studio album! Down on the Upside was the band’s swansong, or so it seemed at the time. No one could have guessed we’d see another album from them, much less with the classic lineup. Can a band who’ve been apart for […]
Byron Bay’s finest are back with a brand new album. Following on from 2010’s Deep Blue, Atlas has seen a flurry of press releases waxing lyrical about the band being world beaters and the cream of the metalcore crop. That’s all well and good, but does the album live up to expectations? Here’s the verdict… […]
Let’s get something straight from the outset. Don’t bother with this review if you think Metallica are good, but Slayer are a bit scary. This album is brutal. This is as hard and heavy as it gets. If you’re an adventurous listener or you like your metal extreme and violently frenetic, then read on. If […]
Every so often an album comes along that fills a reviewer with equal parts excitement and dread. A work by someone of Young’s musical credentials would seem to be best approached with caution. Critiquing an album by someone so revered in the music industry is a treacherous task. Get it wrong and you’re in for […]
Highly anticipated? A long time coming? Worth the wait? Certainly the first two are true. This is the first album from the Aussie hardcore/hard-rock mainstays since ‘This is This’ over a decade ago! It’s their fifth overall in an incredible career spanning three decades. So…what’s the answer to the third question? Read on to find […]
Neatly coinciding with the band’s 50th anniversary, this album is the TWENTY NINTH the band have released in their incredible career! Musical content aside, this album is noteworthy for a number of reasons; it’s the first album of new material they have released in twenty years, it’s the first to feature guitarist and vocalist David […]
So who’s this dude with the funny name then? Many of you may be wondering just that, but if you’re familiar with ’80s hardcore punks Husker Du or ’90s pseudo grunge act Sugar, then you’ve heard Mr Mould in action. Both groups produced critically acclaimed and hugely influential albums and Bob is certainly one talented […]
This is the tenth studio album from Joe, who most of you will know from his work as lead guitarist in ’70s superstars The Eagles and James Gang. He has also contributed his guitar playing to countless other works by famous artists including The Beach Boys, Steve Winwood and Bob Seger. Of course Joe is […]
This is album number ten from the Californian industrial metallers (if you count the remix album Remanufacture). Famed for their impossibly fast percussive sound and innovative technological approach, the band has been around for a long time now, so….are they still at the forefront of tech-metal? They have forgone an actual drummer altogether on The […]
After a twenty year hiatus, PiL (Public Image Limited) are back with a brand new studio album. It is the tenth from the band and the first since 1992’s That What Is Not. Most of you will be familiar with front man John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) from his very short stint in seminal British […]
The metal community has been eagerly awaiting the debut album from Primate, a metallic supergroup featuring Kevin Sharp (Brutal Truth) on vocals, Bill Kelliher (Mastodon) and Mike Brennan on guitars, Dave Whitworth on bass and Shayne Huff on drums. This album is most definitely metal, but it’s not what you might expect. Rather than try […]
This is the 8th studio album from the Dandys, following on from 2008’s Earth to the Dandy Warhols. So it’s been a while between drinks for the band and I was eagerly anticipating this release having been an enthusiastic fan of most of their previous works. Prior to the album’s release, front man Courtney Taylor-Taylor […]
Turbonegro. The worlds greatest cult band? Probably… For anyone unfamiliar with this enigmatic Norwegian 5 piece, imagine the bastard offspring of AC/DC and Motorhead jamming to the Ramones underpinned with a distinctly Scandinavian sense of humour and your getting somewhere around the mark! Sexual Harassment is the band’s ninth studio release and the first with […]
I have to admit that this was one of my most anticipated new releases of this year so far. The debut album from Philm, a supergroup (although I don’t really like the term) of sorts featuring Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Grip Inc., Fantomas) on drums, Francisco “Pancho” Tomaselli (War) on bass and piano and Gerry Nestler […]
This is the fifth full length album from the eclectic Canadian electro/indie four piece outfit. It’s a more introspective work than previous releases, dealing with what you see when you look in the mirror. In fact, all the lyrics on the cd release are printed backwards! Don’t worry though, included is a reflective piece of […]
The Aussie electronic duo had no trouble dealing with their “difficult second album” in Apocalypso which went triple platinum in 2008. And rightly so, as it won innumerable awards and contained some of the most interesting and intriguing EDM you’re ever likely to hear. So it’s been four years since that classic and the band […]
There have been some very impressive releases of late from thrash bands who’s glory days were ostensibly in the late ’80s, proving that persistence can really pay off, particularly in the metal sub-culture. Fans thereof are among the most dedicated and passionate of any musical genre, if not THE most dedicated and passionate. Metal fans […]
