Review by Steve K Irregularities in life have resulted in the irregularity of my updates lately; I’m sorry, and I’m working on it. This week I’ve got three albums in my aural crosshairs; here’s what I thought: Dirty Ghosts: Metal Moon This is Pop Punk done right, with the added advantage of a female lead vocal! Simple, unpretentious, punk-inspired instrumentation [...]
Review by Steve K Young Empires: Wake All My Youth If you’re looking for a quick dose of 1980s New Wave – inspired Technopop with big beats, trippy elements, bleak and energetic vocals and clever, compact and complex lyrics, you definitely owe it to yourself to check out Young Empires’ debut, ‘Wake All My Youth’ The songs make good use [...]
Review by Steve K Cranking It Up To 11: The 11 Worst Albums Of 2011 This year’s worst of – one of my favorite columns to write – list isn’t limited to 10, as the Best of was, last week. That’s 2011’s 10 best albums, plus a special place in Worst of Hell that I’d promised had been reserved for [...]
By Steve K I took a little longer than usual to put this one together, owing to a really nasty cold and a very busy holiday schedule. However, I’m ready to have at it, so let’s begin! #10 – Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues 9.5/10 Sub Pop / Bella Union Hypnotic, haunting and poetic, Folk-Rock duo Fleet Foxes’ second album offers [...]
Review by Steve K Korn: The Path of Totality This is my year for Jonathan Davis music; the latest album from Korn is a fabulous amelioration over the last couple of releases. Collaborating with a host of Metal, Nu Metal and electronic artists to create a simultaneous triumphant return to form and spectacular reinvention of the sound we’ve always associated [...]
Review by Melissa Ever After- Marianas Trench After the success of their last album ‘Masterpiece Theatre’ in February 2009, the Canadian pop/rock band is back with a brand new record called ‘Ever After’. The 12-track CD is reminiscent of the catchy, orchestrated ‘Masterpiece Theatre’- a much more mature release compared to their edgier debut ‘Fix Me’ which came out in [...]
Fallstaf: Bastard Son of a Pure Breed The inclusion of Brass Winds into Metal might, on the first notion, seem an unlikely idea; probably because it is. But Montreal Metalheads Fallstaf manage to make it work, though not with the sort of bombastic overkill you might expect from, say, Lord Of The Rings – obsessed, Viking-helmet wearing, wine-drinking Scandinavian [...]
Jane’s Addiction: The Great Escape Artist Jane’s Addiction is one of those bands who just should have left well enough alone. After 1997’s ‘Kettle Whistle’ compilation, the subsequent feud/breakup/hiatus/end of the salad days should have been “it” for the band. Instead, 12 years after their first breakup and 6 years after the release of their farewell compilation, they released ‘Strays’. [...]
Current Swell: Long Time Ago The Folk-Rock melodies on the fourth album by Toronto singer-songwriters Current Swell are simple and understated, smart and poetic. There’s a sentimental, and sometimes bittersweet tinge to the music and lyrics. They’re a little too Country-Bluegrass for my taste, but they do it damn well on songs like the title track and opener, “Long Time [...]
Machine Head: Unto the Locust Album #7 from Machine head is one of the best sounding Metal albums I’ve heard this year. Powerful, visceral lyrics, layered and complex musical composition, all performed by expert musicians and masters of their craft. Besides being a classic example of Metal grown from the soil of the mid 1990’s, ‘Unto The Locust’ is an [...]
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