Sodom “One Night in Bangkok” (SPV) Sodom releases their third live album, “Mortal Way of Live” and “Marooned” being the two predecessors, and this one is a double CD doozy containing twenty-four songs that span their lengthy career (over 20…
The Early November “For All of This” (Drive-Thru Records) Combining elements of quite a few of today’s more wussy acts (Simple Plan, Dashboard Confessional), The Early November croon their way through their eight-track EP with decidedly mixed results. Flying the…
Solefald “In Harmonia Universali” (Century Media) A mixed bag this band is. With contemporary kinship lying in such bands as Moonspell and Alchemist, Solefald is forging their own ground into odd musical niches. The overall feeling is quite melancholy even…
Pennywise “From the Ashes” (Epitaph) When you put on a Pennywise album, it’s just like putting on an old coat–you know you can always count on it to meet your expectations. However, although putting on an old reliable coat is…
The Locust “Plague Soundscapes” (Anti) The Locust are one of those strange things that don’t emerge into the mainstream very often. Aspects of the underground are always infiltrating and eventually becoming the mainstream; like the way a bunch of kids…
Selfmademan “The Daylight Robbery” (Smallman) I could never really wrap my head around these bands that want to get all scientific on you while they’re “rocking out.” Thanks to Selfmademan though, I might drag out my protractor and equate a…
Rage “Soundchaser” (SPV) Rage is a band that goes back to 1983. They’re German; they’ve been incredibly prolific with over twenty five Lps, Eps, live and acoustic releases. No light weights, eh? I was digging the Rage sound back in…
Paul Westerberg “Come Feel me Tremble” (CD and DVD) (Vagrant Records) “Come Feel me Tremble” is 13 all-new tracks from Westerberg. The focus is on the man himself with his songs and guitar in the arrangements. The basic delivery and…
Radio Berlin “Glass” (Action Driver) This isn’t an import compilation of songs from the German radio station but a fuckin’ rad post-punk-pop-wave album from Canada’s Radio Berlin. Usually band’s that sound like this get pushed into the ‘been there, heard that’ pile of…
Self-Evident “Angular” (Blue Worm Records) All of Southern California is on fire. As you read this, the Modern Fix compound is being evacuated and is preparing for the worst. Of course, I’m in Santa Barbara and the only fire around…