
Anti-Flag: Against The Odds
It seems deliberately discordant in many ways, but some bands need to fight their battles on an uphill incline in order for them to…
It seems deliberately discordant in many ways, but some bands need to fight their battles on an uphill incline in order for them to…
I’ve heard all sorts of mixed reviews of this new Electric Wizard record, though most tend to be favourable (perhaps none more so than this…
Cognitive by Lopez and Co is an excellent debut album, full of intelligent and engaging song material which should thrill the Porcupine Tree, Tool, A Perfect Circle, Oceansize and Amplifier crowds.
In short, MMXII by Killing Joke is one mighty fine follow-up record to its illustrious predecessor. The album has all the hallmarks of a great record. It has the songs, boundless energy and all the apocalyptic themes to do for.
Emerald Forest And The Blackbird by Swallow The Sun will satisfy my craving for Finnish quality metal for a long time to come and I wouldn’t be surprised if this record would end up in my year list for 2012.
“I don’t want to live up to anything. I want to act like how I feel. It did come to the point sometimes where people, when they saw me sober, just drinking a bottle of water, they’d come to me, like, ‘Dude, are you okay?’ [Laughing] ‘Yeah, I’m fucking fine.’ [Laughing] Then when they see me passed out on the floor holding an empty bottle of Jameson’s, then they’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s Alexi.’ [Laughing] I only have myself to blame.”
Adrien Begrand in conversation with Children of Bodom’s Alexi Laiho
Back by popular demand, here are the Staff Playlists for February 2011!
The music world is filled with similar smoke and mirrors acts. We’re told over and over and over again that so-and-so’s new album is the one that’ll re-define the genre. How many times have you heard in the last couple years that this-and-that’s “stunning” comeback album is “highly anticipated” and their best yet? Better than Bonded by Blood? Not bloody likely! The lies haven’t stop piling up since the music industry released its ad campaign for Elvis’ second record and this month’s Rimshots lifts the veil, cuts through the crap and saves you some money and/or hard drive space.
At its core, New Moon is about what Swallow The Sun have been doing at their best — infectious, melancholy, and swaying lead guitar melodies eventually overwhelmed by crushing fuzz surging against the backdrops of subtle keyboard ambiance. It’s quite possible that there will be time when Swallow The Sun’s sound is in need of a new direction, but New Moon ensures that for now it’s still well worth another trip down the beaten path.
That lighter spirit is what makes Skeletons In The Closet worth listening to because they make the spirit in the rest most obvious; it’s all for fun. These seventeen covers showcase every side of the band, but the most recurring of the lot is that the band is obviously having fun as they pay tribute to the bands they respect, but treat the outrageous steps out with equally good humour