Tag: REVIEWS
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Heavy Seas – By Degrees LP (Engineer Records)
By Degrees carries so much weight, emotion, and power at the same time. Heavy Seas distilled over a decade of melodic punk and emo core practice into a comprehensive collection of meaningful, soulful, marvelous songs. From the first notes and beats, it’s more than clear you’re dealing with the band working at the intersection of…
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Calathea – Flowers And Knives 12” (Engineer Records)
Calathea’s Flowers and Knives 12” hits you even before you know what’s coming up and remains in your ears long time after the last note comes to an end. The Spanish underground post-hardcore scene has never been short on intensity, but few releases this year balance rage and reflection with the precision, finesse, and sonic…
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Verse, Chorus, Inferno / Weekend Cigarettes – Weekend Inferno LP (Various Labels)
When two bands with aligned energy and vision collide, the result can either feel fragmented or, as with Weekend Inferno, perfectly symbiotic. Weekend Cigarettes and Verse, Chorus, Inferno created a body of work arriving as a cohesive statement about what melodic punk rock can achieve in 2025. Thirteen tracks across the skate punk, pop punk,…
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Datura – Songs From A Dark House LP (Engineer Records, Sell The Heart Records, Bat-Cave Productions)
Datura has never been a band to coast, and with Songs From A Dark House, they prove that they have moved beyond the tentative experimentation of their early EPs into the confident articulation of a fully realized sound. This sophomore LP, arriving three years after Arcano Chemical, finds the band embracing the shadows without succumbing…
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Middle-Aged Queers – Theater Of Shame LP (Engineer Records)
Middle-Aged Queers’ Theater of Shame hits hard from the first track. Oakland’s punk veterans have never hidden their personality, and this third LP shows a band that knows what it wants. The record is loud, playful, and confident, full of catchy riffs, strong rhythmic structures, and vocal harmonies that stick in your head even after…
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Tricky Business By Ruby Dee Phillipa (Earth Island Books)
Ruby Dee Philippa’s Tricky Business is a brilliant, unfiltered continuation of her vivid portrayal of San Francisco’s early 1980s punk scene. Picking up where Bag of Tricks left off, the book once again places the reader inside a moment in time when chaos, art, rebellion, and self-destruction collided in ways that shaped an entire generation.…
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Audio Graffiti Society – Nope
“Nope” is the recent release by Audio Graffiti Society, an outstanding American independent artist based in Lincoln, California. It represents the first track from “Human Ponzis,” a debut full-length released on October 17th, and a perfect example of what you might expect from the remainder of the material. Lyrically, “Nope” serves as a critique of…
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Kallai – We Are Forever
Kallai returns with another excellent release that will immediately resonate with anyone who appreciates cleverly written, thoughtfully composed, and flawlessly performed music. “We Are Forever” is their debut full-length album, arriving after a self-titled extended play released last year. Heavily promoted with “Falling” and “The Wave,” two excellent compositions that vividly showcase what you might…
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CowboyZ – We Are Here As One
The regional metal scene has thrived in recent years, with many excellent bands emerging from all possible parts of the Balkan Peninsula. Sadly, it seems that many of them are chasing a particular sound, as if they’re trying to reinvent the same old wheel crafted by the greats decades ago, overly exploiting their influences, or…
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Fore Fader – Great Pretender
“Great Pretender” is the latest release by Fore Fader, an outstanding American music outlet based in Los Angeles, California. Arriving after “Chrysalis” and “All I Ever,” two exceptional singles released earlier this year that vividly showcase what you might expect from the remainder of the material, “Great Pretender” represents their debut full-length album, packed with…
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The Family Battenberg – Spider Rock Forever EP
The garage rock scene has thrived in recent years, with many new music outlets delivering excellent music. Still, it seems like the majority overly exploits their influences, experiment too much with various music genres, or try to reinvent the same old wheel by mimicking something the greats recorded and performed decades ago. Thankfully, there are…
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Casual Drag – The Master
“The Master” is the latest release by Casual Drag, an outstanding Scottish trio based in Glasgow. It’s their first piece of work this year, arriving after “Can You Hear Me Now?” and “Revolution Will Eat Itself,” a standalone single and extended play released in 2024 and 2023 that you should also check out as soon…
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