by Anthony Aughtman Sitting down with all 3 members of Placebo is an honor and enriching experience as you will soon read. Placebo is Brian Molko (voice, guitar & keyboards), Stefan Olsdal (bass, guitar) & Steve Hewitt (drums) Do you…
Mortician ““Domain of Death”” (Relapse Records) Death-grindcore two-men-and-a-drum-machine metal combo Mortician present you with their “magnum opus” (thus spake the press sheet) Domain of Death. Although they use semi-wooden, acoustic drums live, I prefer the “drums in a box” percussion…
Fabulous Disaster ““Put Out or Get Out”” (Pink and Black Records) Members of Detroit’s Inside Out, Mudwimmin and proto-riot grrls Frightwig bring you a batch of melodic pop-punk-and-roll tunes somewhere between the Go-Go’s, Joan Jett and Bad Religion. Says here:…
Crom ““The Cocaine Wars 1974-1989”” (Pessimiser Records) Black-death-speed metal in arctic barbarian packaging. On the cover is a half-naked warrior chick riding a polar bear and inside are renderings of our Vikingesque heroes and there’s another nice sketch of one…
D-12 ““Devil’s Night”” (Shady Records / Interscope Records) D-12 (or the Dirty Dozen) is the rap group made up of Eminem and five of is boys from Detroit: Bizarre, Proof, Swift, Kon Artis, and Kuniva. While none of these guys…
Diffuser ““Injury Loves Melody”” (Hollywood) Having established the measured, proper amount of indie-cred as Flu 13 (a detail repeatedly cited by their glossy, excessive press kit, which includes big, real, b+w photos, stickers, volumes of corporate mag clippings and postcards…
Amorphis ““Am Universum”” (Relapse Records) Every now and again I hear a band that sounds exactly like another band that I love. Amorphis is one of those bands. Making clever use of the same techniques and sounding really close to…
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals ““Live From Mars”” (Virgin Records) Years of touring have made this double disc inevitable. Disc One features the Innocent Criminals, while the second is just Harper and his guitar. He has the frightening ability…
Brother’s Keeper ““Fantasy Killer”” (Trustkill Records) When I was in high school I was the singer in a band called Brother’s Keeper. Unfortunately, we sucked. These guys don’’t, which explains why they’re out touring and making music while I’m sitting…