Spitalfield “The Cloak and Dagger Club EP” (Sinister Label) A fairly used rendition of pop-punk meets americana. Think heavily gained distortion with emotionally driven vocals and chimey rhythm guitars (sound familiar?). It is becoming increasingly difficult to say that bands…
Matchbook Romance “West For Wishing” (Epitaph) Let me ask you a question. When you hear a band is on Epitaph what type of band comes to mind? Personally, I think the band will probably use heavy distortion, fast paced punk…
Kinski Airs “Above Your Station” (Sub Pop) In the same vein as Bardo Pond and the dearly departed Tristeza, come fresh from the underground, Kinski. They are one of the few instrumental bands to actually achieve success amongst a staunchly…
Drexel “The Inevitable is Available” (Fork In Hand Records) When I first threw this one in this sick ass hardcore comes on and I just started day dreaming about the title of this album, “The Inevitable is Available”. It’s like…
Dying Midwestern “This Killing Me Is Over” (Evil Owl Records) Although the name gives off the impression that the band is hardcore, it’s more of a Alkaline Trio meets Hagfish time of feel. The music is very Alkaline with a…
Party of Helicopters “Please Believe It” (Velocette) Call me a rube, but I’ve never heard Party Of Helicopters. Always wondered, but never heard any talk or read any descriptive reviews. So I went uninformed until this very moment. And goddamn,…
Comeback Kid “Turn It Around” (Facedown Records) I wish all hardcore albums sounded like this. Reminiscent of Bane and Strike Anywhere, Comeback Kid’s “Turn it Around” pounds out relentless hardcore action while keeping a bit of freewheeling harmonies and barking…
Various Artists ““Oil”” (Thick Records) Wow! What we have here my cool motha fuckas is a 19 track record of some of the finest underground Chicago bands of the day. To top it off the whole album was recorded in…
Breaking Pangaea “Phoenix” (Equal Vision) Frontman Fred Mascherino is having girl problems. She keeps sending him on a heart-wrenching rollercoaster set to a platitudinal emocore soundtrack. “The worst part is having no idea … I don’t know what you think/if…
California Speedbag“The Fire of Misery”(Smog Veil) If I was fat, had a beard, drank JB straight from the bottle, lived in Wyoming, drove a truck for a living, could recite the entire Merle Haggard library, knew the names of NASCAR…