Label: Facedown Records Released: October 16, 2007 Unlike most of the Facedown stable, Remove the Veil takes it’s cues from gritty hard rock, grunge and stoner rock rather than more technical metal. Interestingly enough, the album still fits well with the label’s catalog. Their ability to use this in a powerful hardcore format sets them apart from their peers. The… Read more »
Label: self-released Released: September 18, 2007 There are bands that do most things right, but the few things they lack make all the difference between being good and lousy. Fell Far Behind is just such a band. They have many of the pieces in place: They’re tight, they understand hooks, they’re polished and the production on Reaching the Red Line… Read more »
Label: Equal Vision Records Released: September 4, 2007 After finding a fair amount of success with 2005’s All’s Well That Ends Well, Chiodos were in a position to coast safely into their next album. Instead, they chose to further break out of the emo-screamo scene that spawned them and follow their arena-sized prog-rock dreams. Bone Palace Ballet has some leanings… Read more »
Label: Irish Voodoo Records Released: October 31, 2007 Chain Shot plays hardcore like they don’t often make it anymore. It isn’t overly metally or technical, just fast, hard and angry. They forgo the indulgent solos and the now dime-a-dozen growls. Instead, they stick to the raw passion that made hardcore exciting in the first place. The sons aren’t complex, but… Read more »
Label: Vice Records Released: September 11, 2007 The Black Lips exude the dark undercurrent of lo-fi 60s garage rock, but unlike other revivalists, they haven’t filtered it through the present. Good Bad Not Evil is a minimalist affair with a harsh, thin sound made up of tinny guitar, echo-laden vocals, wild, loose rhythms and production right out of some hole-in-the-wall… Read more »
Label: Roadrunner Records Released: 2007 I’m gonna cut to the chase here. “Shout” is the biggest slice of musical joy I’ve heard since U2 released “Beautiful Day” seven years ago. The song bursts with unadulterated happiness. It’s hooks and harmonies grab you right from the start. A tide of pop beauty rolls in on driving rhythms, infectious bass lines and… Read more »
Label: Eleven Seven Music Released: October 23, 2007 With the possible exception of Dr Feelgood (and that’s even pretty questionable), Motley Crue hasn’t done anything meaningful since 1983’s Shout at the Devil, so it is quite beyond me why anyone would waste their time and money to see them. That being said, Carnival of Sin turned out to be a… Read more »
Label: Alive Natural Sound Records Released: February 27, 2007 Radio Moscow is a modern day power trio whose influence reaches back to the days when the sub-genre first reared its head with the likes of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. Radio Moscow don’t ignore everything that’s happened since the late 60s, but their influences don’t stretch too far beyond… Read more »
Label: Facedown Records Released: October 2, 2007 Twenty years or so ago, most hardcore bands relied on raw aggression rather than technical prowess to drive their point home. Over the intervening years however, likely under the influence of metal as much as anything, many hardcore bands developed more and more chops. The result has been a mixed blessing, with some… Read more »
Label: Facedown Records Released: October 2, 2007 If I had to make up a name for Inked in Blood’s music, it would be “pop-punk-core.” They play a brand of hardcore that is a strange marriage of the Descendants and Gorilla Biscuits and they have varying success with it. On one hand, Sometimes We Are Beautiful is typical of hardcore over… Read more »