rock/metal albums
Album Review: Ecstatic Vision – Sonic Praise
Ecstatic Vision are a band that linger in a class of chunky, driving metal that only a few can do right without coming across as ludicrous. It’s THC-fueled space rock that falls somewhere between fuzzed-out caveman Krautrock, and a less doom-and-gloom Black Sabbath. These Philly guys are steeped in 70s progressive rock and 90s doom, …
Album Review: Young Guns, Ones and Zeros
From absent fathers, a discontent with the places that have remained the same since childhood, as well as having much woe to channel into a creative form, all resulted in Young Guns’ debut album; the effortless, flowing and poetically weighted All Our Kings Are Dead. After that came Bones; slightly mellower but far bigger, it …
Album Review: Paul Weller – ‘Saturns Pattern
Songwriter, national treasure, and eternal mod Paul Weller, now 56, could have carved out a nice little niche career playing various mod incarnations forevermore after his Jam and Style Council years, but luckily for us was too restless and easily bored to do so. Like his previous two albums of surprises, Saturns Pattern is full …
Not Forgotten – David Bowie – Station to Station
Station to Station is an odd album for me, in that I feel I would probably have a higher opinion of it than I do were it not for the album that immediately preceded it. It’s not that I prefer Young Americans, far from it, but I feel that if Bowie had been able to …
Album Review: Motörhead – Overkill / Bomber / Ace of Spades vinyl reissues
Out today (March 30th) on Santuary / PIAS comes the first installment a mammoth nine album Motörhead vinyl reissue series. It starts with the bands second, third and fourth albums – Overkill, Bomber and Ace of Spades. They were the three albums that propelled the group into the peoples consciousness (and, lets not forgt, the …
EP Review: Little Brother Eli (Self Titled)
Releasing a self titled EP can bring a few ideas to mind but the truth of it is it a self titled EP shows the confidence a band has with their material, and in this case that confidence is justified. Four musicians showing the best of their ability with three songs that are brilliantly written …
Album Review: The Wave Pictures – Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon
With a name like Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon, you would expect The Wave Pictures’ incredible 14th studio album to be quite exuberant. But really, Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon is less bells and whistles and more straight talking Bluesy Rock. The Wave Pictures have taken a modernist blues sound and mixed it with lyrical …
Album Review: Hesitant Alien by Gerard Way
Gerard Way has never been one for just settling with how things are. As the ex frontman of one of the decade’s biggest rock bands, My Chemical Romance, Way was continuously reinventing his band’s image, sound and message. The world first saw My Chem in the form of angsty punks straight out of New Jersey, …
Album Review: White Fence – For The Recently Found Innocent
I’ll start off by saying I’m not the diehard fan of this garage rock revival that so many others are. I recognize the greatness guys like Ty Segall, John Dwyer, and White Fence’s Tim Presley possess. Their musical output is quite staggering, and to the newbie it can be rather intimidating. Much like someone walking …
Album Review : Corrosion of Conformity – IX
I didn’t start listening to Corrosion of Conformity till 1994. It was the next phase in their sound. Before the album Deliverance they were a hardcore punk band. They had street cred and lots of hardcore punk fans. But Deliverance saw the band head in more of a dirge-filled, Sabbath-oozing direction. Pepper Keenan as lead vocalist the band embarked …