Album Review – Page 179

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From Wednesday 06 August 2014

Matahari – ‘Shameless’

Matahari’s debut album ‘Shameless’ feels decidedly retro. The album brings to mind numerous melodic hardcore bands from the mid 00s. The occasional slow-burning experiment in lumbering tempos aside, ‘Shameless’ builds upon a foundation of the corpses of bands such as Ruiner, Go It Alone and Life Long Tragedy. Meanwhile,

Tuesday 05 August 2014

Bracket – ‘Hold Your Applause’

‘Hold Your Applause’ marks the return of Bracket and is the first album in eight years from the ex-Fat Wreck Chords signings. Self recorded, mixed, and released, it was preceded and financed by a series of digital releases. Unfortunately it gets off to a weak start; opening song ‘Not

Cold World – ‘How The Gods Chill’

Whenever any album is years in the making, there is bound to be a certain amount of hype around it, particularly if the band in question has an underground legacy to live up to. Cold World have exactly that legacy, and in the time passed since their last full

Monday 04 August 2014

The Fur Coats – ‘A League of Extraordinary Octopuses’

With fourteen tracks of silly power pop, ‘A League of Extraordinary Octopuses’ isn’t overly sugary sweet, but it’s certainly a good time. The Fur Coats, from Chicago, feature Marc Ruvolo and Davey Houle (both of Das Kapital) and Devon Kay (Devon Kay and the Solutions/Direct Hit!). The three work

Martha – ‘Courting Strong’

If you’re familiar with any of Martha’s previous offerings you would be expecting infectious power pop – ‘Courting Strong’ certainly delivers its fair share and then some. Right from the off Martha hit us with punchy tunes and memorable lyrics. Firstly documenting teenage angst- whether it be the woes

Friday 01 August 2014

Charlie Simpson – ‘Long Road Home’

Charlie Simpson has carved himself quite a career these days. It could have been all so easy for him to return to his pop star past, joining his former Busted bandmates who have been touring up and down the UK in some of the country’s biggest venues. It’s a

Thursday 31 July 2014

Crows-An-Wra – Kalopsia

Crows-An-Wra’s debut album is an eclectic, colourful affair. The Cornish quartet builds from a wide range of influences and crashes them together fluently. Fundamentally, the connections to defunct UK screamo bands Ravachol and Crocus (3/4 Ravachol + 1/4 Crocus = Crows-An-Wra) are difficult to ignore. Crows-An-Wra essentially sound

Wednesday 30 July 2014

’68 – ‘In Humor And Sadness’

From his time fronting Norma Jean to ten years as vocalist of The Chariot, Josh Scogin’s career has, until recently, trodden a fairly similar path. With his latest endeavour ’68, Scogin has largely stepped away from what he knows. Superfluous elements such as multiple band members, expensive production, and

Tuesday 29 July 2014

Dikembe – ‘Mediumship’

Having played my You Blew It! / Dikembe split cassette to the tape’s literal death, “It’s been a long time coming” is a fitting opening line Dikembe’s new LP ‘Mediumship’. ‘Mediumship’ was released on Tiny Engines, who also released the band’s first LP, Broad Shoulders, the ‘Chicago Bowls’

Monday 28 July 2014

The Dead Rabbitts – ‘Shapeshifter’

The Dead Rabbitt’s latest release manages to simultaneously be both bland and entertaining – but for all the wrong reasons. Despite some killer riffs and great, engaging instrumentation, ‘Shapeshifter’ is blighted by awful vocals, hilariously terrible lyrics and repetitive, clichéd themes. ‘Shapeshifter’ as a whole has three lyrical topics: love,