Whilst I enjoyed the Polyphonic Spree’s first album “The Beginning Stages of…” they were never really a band that I explored further than that one album and perhaps this has been a mistake on my part given how much I loved “Yes, It’s True”. The first album was a gloriously positive and uplifting offering from […]
This is not a new album having been released in 2004 but it looked interesting and so I thought I’d give it a whirl anyway. It’s a collaboration between Jim Lampi and the German producer Zeus B Held (what a fabulous name that is!) with input from Australian musicians including Craig T and Damian Armstrong […]
Voigt is owner of the Kompakt label and on the occasion of its 20th anniversary, was invited to contribute to Art Cologne, Colognes highly respected art fair. For the event, Voigt designed the sound installation “Inter Alia” which was situated in the entrance area of the art fair. On this album Zukunft Ohne Menschen (Future […]
OK, I must confess that Phantom Limb completely passed me by and it is more by good fortune than good planning that I find myself writing this review of their first, eponymous album …admittedly coming a little late to the party. Sadly it would seem that in January of this year they split! Formed in […]
Heavy progressive music is in an interesting state of flux circa 2013. There are certainly some amazing and inspired bands kicking about, but conversely there is a disturbing number of pale imitators flooding the market with their own sub-par take on djent/prog-metalcore/mathcore… or whatever moniker will next be self applied by some mediocre & generic […]
You’ve all heard the hype. First album with Ozzy in 35 years, Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine replacing Bill Ward on drums, yet another metal album referencing the number 13, a huge world tour etc etc, blah blah. Sure it’s big news. Massive in fact. The whole rock world has been salivating over […]
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 […]
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… […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 second album by Leo Kottke and one that possibly contains a few of his better known tracks too. The album features (as the title suggests) a number of 6 and 12 string guitar solos, which are for the most part pretty engaging and upbeat in the American Folk Guitar style. In fact […]
Rounder Records Corp:0602517032798
Columbia 82876834391
Ronald Corp conducting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Dutton Epoch CDLX 7233. Released 2009