One Sentence Review: Queensrÿche – Take Cover
Listening to Take Cover reminds me that the word “good” cannot be made from the letters in “Queensrÿche,” but the word “cheesÿ” can.
Category Archives: 2007
Review: Greenleaf – Agents of Ahriman
Label: Small Stone Records Released: June 11. 2007 Despite all of its tackiness, the 70s seem to have provided quite a well to which bands seem to return again and again, some for a small drink before moving on and others for their very sustenance. Sweden’s Greenleaf is among the latter group. Stoner bands and their 70s hard rock influence… Read more »
Live: Niki Barr Band, Action Action, The Cult
November 12, 2007, Rams Head Live!, Baltimore Maryland Surprises at a show are a mixed bag. Most often they’re of the unpleasant sort when the band you go to see doesn’t live up to your (often over-hyped) expectation. Every now and then though, there’s a good one. On Monday night at Rams Head Live, I got three of them. The… Read more »
Review: Hellcity 13 – s/t
Label: Break a Leg Entertainment Released: October 24, 2007 Going into this review, I was under the impression that Helsinki’s Hellcity 13 was just another Scandanavian glam band, but unlike the rest, they don’t just want to revive hair metal, they want to revive the 80s almost as a whole. There is hard rock bombast that runs throughout the album,… Read more »
Review: The Flairs – Shut Up and Drive
Label: Bad Reputation Released: November 2007 in Europe (June 13, 2006 in North America) The Flairs play a brand of hard rock that falls somewhere between glam and punk. Shut Up and Drive is a peppy album of chunky rhythms and snotty vocals that seldom lets up. Aside from a 3/4 female line-up, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. The… Read more »
Review: Paul Robeson – On My Journey: Paul Robeson’s Independent Recordings / Pete Seeger – American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 5
Label: Smithsonian Folkways Released: August 28, 2007 (Paul Robeson) & October 9, 2007 (Pete Seeger) On the surface, these two albums have little in common. But I happened to put them both on my iPod, and by hearing each artist’s songs randomly mixed with Primal Scream and Pedro the Lion and Picastro (it was a “p” kind of week), I… Read more »
Review: Agnostic Front – Warriors
Label: Nuclear Blast Released: November 6, 2007 One of the earliest NYHC bands, Agnostic Front was also one of the first to cross over into metal back in the mid 80s. The 90s found them getting away from the heavy riffs and more into the singalong Oi! that influenced hardcore in the first place. Their latest release finds them returning… Read more »
Review: Prize Country – Lottery of Recognition
Label: Exigent Records Released: 2007 Prize Country’s Lottery of Recognition comes off as a mix between the post-hardcore leanings of Fugazi and the dense hardcore of Quicksand. Or perhaps as the dark side of Hot Water Music. However, you describe it, their music is simply unrelenting. Its noisiness belies the band’s tightness. They are riffy, but without any of the… Read more »
Review: Awake and Alert – Devil in a Lambskin Suit
Label: Five One Released: September 11, 2007 Awake and Alert’s music centers around Maya Peart’s voice. She has great range and movement and is as dynamic and smooth as a jazz vocalist, but at the same time, her voice is down to earth as if she’s singing right to you. Unlike many gifted singers, she also trusts her voice enough… Read more »
Review: Papertrigger – Riot Lovers
Label: self-released Released: 2007 Papertrigger’s Riot Lovers EP is an odd pop record that does more than just dabble in cabaret music. It is dense and often organ-dominated with jazzy rhythms and a dark, seedy undercurrent. While they play it loose and perhaps even a bit sloppy, the album shows their innate sense of being a band instead of a… Read more »