rock

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t initially underwhelmed by Swans’ 90s output, especially coming in as a fan of the sonic destruction that was Filth, Cop, Greed etc. – Omniscience however, the live album I believe for the Love Of Life album, showcases those rigid and dark folk songs in the stretched out sprawling live incarnations one would expect from Swans. Even the morose electronic-laden and acoustic guitar driven rock melodies that the…

I hate it when shit like this happens to bands. I guess something similar happened with Gorgoroth, where several instances of the band existed (also with Von if I recall). I tried to give this a fair go, but CKY without Deron Miller is not something I think I can get my head around. Sure, there are plenty of bands that can shed vocalists and reinvent themselves in the process, but personally I think Deron…

I was lucky enough to discover this band for the first time after catching them as the support act at a Pixies show. I mega enjoyed and was intrigued by them. “How have I not heard of these before?” I asked myself. Purchasing this album was then an absolute no brainer for me, and I immediately got into it; what a cool sound we have going on here, cracking melodic harmonies, and a big dreamy…

This is the debut solo release here from Hayley Williams of Paramore (despite other current members of Paramore actually having a part to play in the album at various points throughout). An unique and refreshing sound – and move away from Paramore – adapting a clever and dark sort of indie pop vibe. A fantastic selection of songs here, and a really tight bunch that fit perfectly together as an album and compliment each other…

My mother is a big Pink Floyd fan. Naturally, once I got my first “car” when I was 20 (a pre-Defender-era Land Rover 90, of all vehicles!) I “borrowed” a bunch of their cassettes, and this beaten copy of Meddle was one of the ones that got the most plays. I’m no expert in the world of the Floyd, but the early 70s were of course the main portion of their astronomical rise to fame….

This is just glorious. I have, admittedly been snoozing on Earth recently, so I was energised to go back and find that this solo record brought so many of those classic 90s Earth vibes with it. Conquistador is a smokey record, carried with that wild west swagger, but delivered like a low voltage dose of electricity coursing through your body. These riffs are simply alive and it is nothing less than an absolute pleasure to…

Uncle Acid sit in that mire between lazy indie rock and that stonery, Sabbath-worshipping area of proto-metal, which explains The Deadbeat’s recent support slot with the aforementioned Sabbath nicely. As much as I enjoy Mind Control I find nothing original or special here, which to be honest, probably sounds really harsh, but its nice sometimes to just enjoy a record without losing my head over the intricacies of such; this is rock and roll, and…

I’m not entirely sure what struck me to finally listen to Motörhead. Over the years I’ve written them off as a band that sounds exactly the same for decades, peddling the same muddy rock and or metal as the years go by. Several times have I seen Motörhead live, mainly at festivals, where I have remained in much of the same school of thought. I’ll admit, starting at their self titled release from 1977 has…

Vol. 4 is often regarded as one of the very best albums that Sabbath put out, but I’ve always found it kinda hit and miss. It seems to me like the album is arse-backwards; side A for the most part being rather weak, with the hideous “Changes” and the irrelevant “FX”. Side B completely outguns it however, with a veritable bevy of sonic titans in its arsenal. As a whole though I love how dirty…

Telekon is a diamond. I won’t claim to be versed in the history of Gary Numan’s career, but for me, Telekon is one of the early solo records that saw Numan continuing his dreamy, robotic synthesizer compositions on from his time with Tubeway Army. Following on from the excellent Pleasure Principle, Numan and his band channel Kraftwerk-inspiried sterility into more stunning rock-based pieces. 

This is, traditionally, in the days before I decided to go through the entire discography, where my Sabbath listening would end. There would be many insults thrown at this album during drinking sessions “back in the day” (and a few defences bandied about too). The main sticking point would be about how high Ozzy is singing on some of the tracks here. Don’t get me wrong, he can get shrill at the best of times,…

I vividly remember not being very impressed with Fuckin’ A upon its release. I was baying like a crazed hound for more nasty noisecore, but instead we got this nonsense. However, I can thankfully say that in my old age I have grown to appreciate this bizarre album. Like, its Anal Cunt but doing hair metal rock and/or roll tracks, of course it sounds awful! But y’know, considering the band in question, the songs are…

There are many elements to Tom Waits’ records that are odd or abstract, but The Black Rider seems to take this formula one step further. As far as aural textures go, tonally it is not a million miles away from Real Gone. The difference in this particular little pudding is the songwriting; the tracks are almost vignettes, little insights into bizarre microcosms that are weaved for our aural enjoyment.

Here we have the latest and 3rd album from the Haim sisters. A straight up sixteen track offering too which is quite rare to often see. Certainly delivering the content here. The album kicks off with the laid back smooth jazz sound of “Los Angeles”. It’s difficult to quite label but it has a certain kind of smooth groove to it, with the horn/brass sounds that introduces the record, and with that really nice under-groove…

What is this that stands before me? What indeed. Imagine hearing this, in the early days of 1970 – I’d love to have a time machine to see how things really went down. I suppose us modern-day hipsters will just have to contend for crackly old vinyl copies of this and be done with it. Whether you think Sabbath invented heavy metal or not, they absolutely took that downering, bluesy sound to the mainstream. I…

Dragontown was the Alice record that was out when I first got into him. My dad had been a fan for donkey’s years, but when we finally went to see my first ever live show together (the 2002 UK arena version of Monsters Of Rock), Alice was touting Dragontown. I had fond memories, but I was expecting this to suck. It doesn’t. Sure, there are some absolute floaters here – fillers than curse any hard…

I caught Swans on their final tour and was very disappointed to find that they had run out of copies of this hand made gem before the date I attended. Since then, I have been slowly but surely telling myself “one day, one day” but lets be honest, I’m never going to pay Discogs collectors prices to silly pricks who are just tryna scalp me. So, I’m afraid, I have gone against Gira’ wishes and…

Before Godflesh, there was Fall Of Because, from what I can tell a fairly short lived project when members were also involved in Napalm Death or Head Of David. Featuring a trio of which would collaborate freely in the coming years, Fall Of Because plays bare bones industrial rock, where the incredibly influential noise from New York’s Swans had been trickled through Brum’s own industrial culture. It’s not quite Godflesh yet; think early Swans meets…

In 2013, Sigur Rós dropped Kveikur, a much rockier and noiser affair than some of the earlier records. Sigur Rós are not a band that I would expect to sit still and stagnate with each passing record, and Kviekur harks back to memories of bands such as Muse or Radiohead, but with that unique Icelandic feel. Worth a goosey! Kveikur by Sigur Rós

The artwork on the front of Ágætis Byrjun is very apt; here we can see the gestation of Sigur Rós as they develop their bizarre yet gorgeous brand of unique music first presented to the world on Von. The music is growing; the post-rock moments are starting the sprawl and these tracks are beautiful and progressive. I’m not the world’s biggest expert on Sigur Rós but this is a beautiful release. Ágaetis byrjun by Sigur…

This is one of those records that just makes me feel good, so I’m really glad that I checked it out. Honestly, I’ve heard of Mr. Costello but hadn’t ever heard his music until a track from this record was used as the theme song for the second season of HBO’s stunning The Deuce. This Year’s Model is a feel good (mostly!) romp through new-age rock and roll, tinged with the snot of the American…

Creeping, brooding, claustrophobic. Yet, somehow beautiful, delicate and sprawling. Perdition City came earlier in the band’s discography, as they veered away from black metal to making these contemporary and what I can only describe as urban soundscapes. Glorious stuff.

Christian Death’s discography has been spotty; and is very hit and miss. Sex Drugs and Jesus Christ pretty much embodies that fact for me, being a meandering journey through a variety of different material, all of which being perplexingly “trademark” Christian Death, yet varying wildly between track to track. This should, in all honesty, showcase the pair’s musical chops, but some of the time, the record just completely loses its way as it jumps here…

I’ve been putting off this listen for as long as I remember. Thanks go then to one of my fellow night shift colleagues for pumping this out through the communal sound bar. I’ve never sat down and listened to Radiohead before, so it was an eye (ear?) opening experience to hear what all the fuss is about. Is it for me? I’m not sure, but this is a solid and at time morose album that…

What a mixed bag of craziness. Think classic / occult rock vibes meets prog weirdness. Refreshing, but definitely a bit meandering in places.

White Light, despite being heavily appreciated by the Swans fan community, took a long time to unfold for me. It wasn’t until I got the vinyl version (paid out the nose for it, but it has since been remastered) that I could truly appreciate the songs as they unfold. Now the remaster is also on Spotify, so I’ve been able to spend some more time with these tracks. Honestly, its like listening to a different…

It’s hollow, menacing, ethereal and brutal. Yes, of course, it’s early Swans. I often hear of Jarboe’s presence in Swans described as a “thawing” of their sound. Sometimes that doesn’t really sit right with me, considering how punishing the records continued to be up until, and maybe even including, Children Of God. Jarboe’s presence perhaps, is a “thawing” of the jagged edges which were present on Filth or Cop; the band are simply choosing a…

This could probably be a contender for underwhelming listen of the year. How I have constantly put this off, year after year. Unfortunately, Parallel Lines lacks any sort of impact for me. It is fairly soulless, flat and devoid of any real substance. I have a lot of respect for Debbie Harry, but this is shit.

How can Swans follow up on “the trilogy”? The increasingly transcendent musical journeys that the full band put out before folding in 2017 are on that pedestal for me, up on high with the musical greats of all time. It is perhaps a bit easy then, to be underwhelmed with Leaving Meaning on first impressions. The lush, dense soundscape formula is very similar, although the tracks here are much less demanding, sonically at least (is…

Joy Division are of course absolutely legendary at this point, but I for one had never really given them that much though (which is weird, because I love New Order), Unknown Pleasures then, really lives up to its name for me. Glorious stuff. Very sad in hindsight, knowing the frame of mind in which Ian Curtis and co wrote the songs, but heavily enjoyable. My only regret is waiting so long to give it a…

There’s prog… and then there’s Return To Forever. Boy, is Romantic Warrior a trip. Insane keyboard work, and bass lines that will melt your head. The drums are weirdly distorted, but its easy to live with and does not detract from this instrumental work of genius. Jazzy as fuck. I will be looking for more of this band!

Thankfully I gave in to my work colleague’s endless insistences that I check out Black Midi. This bizarre piece of work conjures up terrifying visions from the past, such behemoths as Swans or Big Black, and mashes them into a modern freakout sensibility. Did I just write that? I don’t really know what is going on here, or why it is so popular, but its fucking genius.

I’m a glowing man I am! Rounding out the trilogy is one thing, but topping or even equaling To Be Kind and The Seer is no easy task. However, in retrospect it’s easy to see how the reformed Swans’ sound became less punishing and more ethereal as the trilogy unfolded. Glowing Man is, and I apologise for repeating words found elsewhere online, absolutely transcendent. I really can’t think of an easier way to describe this…

I remember my parents had this album on cassette. When I had a bunch of money given to me on my 18th to contribute to my tattoo sleeve, they put the cash inside this cassette case and wrapped it up. Haha! As far as the record goes, its a bridging gap between the Stones’ world famous earlier work and the more divisive mid-to-late career outputs of the 80s and 90s. You can sense the changes…

This record was my first foray into the crazy world of Mr. Bungle. While the true craziness and musical tomfoolery would mostly came later on, this self titled offering is a slightly disturbing trek through ska-meets-metal, with a cheeky undercurrent. I’d love to know what inspired the guys in Mr. Bungle to come together and make music like this. Truly, there is no band like Mr. Bungle, not even with other experimental / avant-garde jazzy…

Carver City is the final studio album by CKY (or the incarnation of CKY that we all know and love). Unfortunately, after this the band split into two tangents; two simultaneous existences – an act that has plagued many bands before when members have departed or separated bitterly. Don’t let that detract from this album, though. (2020 edit: I can’t believe it took me 10 years to write this joke of a review hahah)

A tidy little trip through olde worldes invoked by classic rock and or roll. Imagine it… a warm, analogue recording provides caressing guitar riffs with just the right amount of crunch, along with dry, robust percussion. The bass line booms and rumbles front and centre, and the vocals caress you into relaxation along with some sparse keys for good measure. Yeah, it is a bit hokey, but what a bloody enjoyable album. (2021 edit: I was…

I’ve been looking back recently at a few things that I remember from the nu-metal era, and I have to admit that this is one of the more interesting things that I’ve come across. With the opening track’s first lyrics of “shakaka-pow!” (or some such nonsense), you’d never think this was a mature and well constructed record, which has more in common with  post-hardcore than nu-metal, if I’m honest. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, especially…

I remember this coming out when I was a wee lad. Back then, I couldn’t really appreciate what was going on, although I thoroughly enjoyed the track “Black History Month”, which I think was the second single off of this album. Since then however, I’ve been able to go back and appreciate what Death From Above 1979 were doing. For a two piece, the band really concocted some all-encompassing compositions and have made some interesting…

Jarboe is just a treasure, having offered so much to Swans in countering the sheer terrifying impact of their music with her lush and iconic vocals and keyboard melodies. In light of this, I suppose, I’ve also found the unhinged lunacy of her solo stuff a bit intimidating in comparison. Anhedoniac is a meandering, hour long trip through hell. It begins with these fantastic Middle Eastern elements to the first few tracks, and trials off…

This is probably the best Rolling Stones record to come out in known modern history. For a band that constantly re-hashes ‘best of’s over and over and over, hearing an album full of blues covers was very unexpected, for me at least. The record lurches into life, and at first seems a bit clumsy, with the Stones showing their age in comparison to the energy of their earlier efforts. After the initial adjustment however, the…

Ship Of Fools is a name that I’ve seen thrown about here and there, but I had absolutely no idea that they were an instrumental prog band. Their links to the likes of Cradle Of Filth and Anathema had me thinking that they would be some sort of doomy keyboard offering, but Close Your Eyes (Forget The World) is a cerebral trip through the meandering yet blissful sea of keyboard-driven prog. Some of the tracks…

Alternative 4 marked the biggest departure for Anathema from their original doom metal sound. Sure, the melody had continued to creep in on both The Silent Enigma and Eternity, but Alternative 4 jumped ship from metal completely, laying the blueprint for the alternative (lol) rock sound that the band would continue to expand on throughout the rest of the nineties. The production is a little flat, but there are some Anathema classics here. Also, what…

I recently added “This Corrison” to a whopping playlist that I was working on, so was inspired to finally go back and check out the album that it came from. Some of the other tracks don’t seem to hold up so well compared to it, but “Lucretia My Reflection” and “Driven Like The Snow” are brooding goth classics. The drum sounds on “Never Land – A Fragment” are stunning too. I love the mysterious simplicity…

Dub War, for those that don’t know, were the group that more or less became Skindred. In the 90s they released two or three albums of increasingly diverse ragga/dub infused rock, and whilst – to Earache Records at least – they ended up on the Wrong Side Of Successful, they are still highly regarded. Sure, it all sounds a bit dated now (but so does the first Skindred album), but in a cool way this…

This haunting classic still sounds fresh and relevant today. Jazzy, snazzy and well, just a bit creepy, if I’m honest; it is easy to see the influence of Roxy Music on a large majority of bands that I love. The stand-out tracks for me are the droning “In Every Dream Home A Heartache” and the funkier-than-thou “Bogus Man”.

I’ll admit that I didn’t have high hopes going in to this; its a 90s industrial / hip hop style pop album that isn’t exactly concocted out of the best elements of the era, but after the first few tracks I really found myself getting into it. The penultimate song, “RSVP” was the theme to the horrendously gruesome 1995 shoot ’em up PlayStation game Loaded, I remember absolutely loving the song at the time, even…

I can’t really remember what possessed me to buy this record as a teenager. I was never really into grungy / desert shit, but I really found myself digging Blues For The Red Sun. It is easy to overlook just how heavy this record is. The band were still finding their feet, I think, but some of the heavier bits just grind out perfectly. Some beginning of an era shit right here. Best track: “Yeah”.

If you compare this stuff to the Christian Death of old, it comes across as a total fucking mess. Granted, that is part of what makes it so great. Female vocals (from the demonic Maitri) really work well with Christian Death’s macabre, sexy approach to industrial and gothic rock. Tracks are filled with punk venom but are delivered with metal velocity and a splattering of electronic sleaziness. Equally sprawling and ambitious as it is puerile…

Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned always stood out like a sore thumb for me in The Prodigy’s history. I was in comp (high school for all y’all Yanks out there) when this came out and I remember in the press / build up to it that there was some sort of uneasy feeling that everyone had because Keith and Maxim weren’t going to be in tow as vocalists (I think Maxim sneaks in on “Spitfire” in…

I’m unsure if Tom Waits is a genius or a raving madman (why not both?), but Real Gone is my favourite record of his that I have heard thus far. It brings the throaty, terrifying blues that he is known for and drags into into an either dirtier sound with a more modern sensibility. Even though it came out in 2004, it sounds like it could have been made yesterday.

Hard rock from Carcass’ Bill Steer. Quite a bit of a departure from “Swarming Vulgar Mass Of Infected Virulency”, but who’s comparing the two? It’s pretty laid back and chilled, and it’s pretty decent background music. It does drag a bit, and I’m not a huge fan of the vocals, but it is hardly awful. I bought this on CD years ago but I have no idea where it is.

Nowhere near as trippy or “out there” as I thought it would be, from past efforts and from the frankly amazing album cover. Really chilled out, laid back, with long songs and meandering themes. Nice, but not their greatest.

Surely one of the most classic rock albums ever, right? The things Alice Cooper has done for the theatrical aspect of rock and metal really cannot be charted or appreciated here in just one review, but Billion Dollar Babies is the perfect example of his (edit: their) early work, balancing the commercial sensibilities of School’s Out with the bizarre horror elements that would later be found on Vince’s solo stuff like Welcome To My Nightmare….

I don’t have much in common with the type of people who relish a yearly visit to the Reading and Leeds festivals, but one thing I do have in common with a lot of them is a seemingly rabid appreciation of the early Muse records. Granted, anything the band has released since 2008 onward has been pretty much a disgusting wet fart to the face. But the early records mixed odd, dark indie a la…

Everything about this album is looooooonnnnng, including the amount of time it has been on my review “to do list” (about 7 years – my bad!). I first became aware of the Samsara Blues Experiment after a trip to Roadburn Festival in 2011, and I fell in love with their excellently balanced heavy / psych approach to prog. The songs are meandering, jam-like, but held together by an underpinning heavyness with stops the record from…

This band’s discography varies in quality for me, especially as time goes on. Perhaps amazingly, there are no massive, bulging stinkers, which is pretty impressive considering the length of their career and the apparent “simplicity” of the ingredients that make up their music. I feel that a dirgy, analogue sound lends itself to Cramps records much better than the clear, professional production jobs on their later albums. Stay Sick strikes a good balance between the…

Welcome to a world of cornier-than-corny rock and/or roll. Sacred Few few play metal in the metaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal sense of the word – metal so metal that it is basically bad hard rock. You know what I’m talking about right? Songs about riding bikes and coming and playing your town and all of that shit. But, there is something about this that is so deliciously more-ish, like a crap children’s cereal. If female fronted rrrrawk is…

Distant Satellites, upon its release, marked a quietly confident return for the band, with the band’s sound maturing further yet again. Just when you think Anathema could not have evolved any further, they came out and dropped this. Distant Satellites is subtle yet emotionally dense, restrained yet soaring in ravines of ups and downs, warm yet cold with tales of loss and despair. The Cavanagh brothers et al have song writing down to a fine…

Buried deep beneath the sedimentary layers of this wasteland we call a musical landscape, there is a carved plateau in which six unscathed gems wait to be excavated.  After a few days of digging around Spotify radio playlists, I hit gold… or diamond. Unlike the previous releases that these four New Yorkers have put forth DIY, the 2014 EP – Careful Kid – was recorded in an actual studio (Room 17). The clarity shines through…

Cracking Morrissey album, this! The strongest sounding Morrissey album since 2004’s You Are The Quarry, very easily so in my opinion – yeah Christ, I really enjoyed this one. Great sound here, especially from the very grand opener “My Love, I’d Do Anything For You”, with its horn section coming into play, adding to that nice big band vibe. I keep going back to this one – a definite favourite! I won’t waffle on about…

A colleague once said to me that regardless of your view on the David Lynch prequel movie Fire Walk With Me, there could be no arguing that the soundtrack for it is just simply incredible. I’m inclined to agree, as an avid Twin Peaks fan, my opinion on the jarringly bleak (and sans Mark Frost!) film seems to change daily. I cannot however, find fault with the hauntingly brilliant soundtrack, which was mainly composed by…

I have to admit, up until I recently Googled the movie “Zombie Strippers” (for err, personal reasons), I had completely forgotten that Roxy Saint existed. Recalling that the track “Firecracker” off her Personality Tapes DVD/Album (?) was a decent song, I downloaded this record onto my Spotify and gave it a spin. Honestly, I was surprised at what I found, and that it was pretty good. There will be no awards for originality here, but…

Pylon is the latest (at time of writing) in a long line of consistently excellent contributions from the legendary Killing Joke. It would be rather cheap of me to say the ol’ “if it ain’t broke…” thing that I always say, but that is somewhat true here: Pylon offers nothing new to the Killing Joke palate of sounds, but that is absolutely not to say that it doesn’t offer a whole new menu of phenomenal…

Crazy Clown Time is, for the most part, a journey through rusted Americana with treated, dense beats. Repetition is God, repetition is key! Lynch has openly admitted that he is neither a singer nor a guitar player, but it only seems right that the all-encompassing artist releases his own music as well, and it does not disappoint me in the slightest. I mean, I kinda half-braced myself for some Mr. Bungle / John Zorn style…

Ah man, this is just, like, so lush. That was probably the Welshest sentence I’ve ever written to describe music, but I feel like it is somewhat entirely justified in this instance; you tend to hear the term “nice” black metal bandied about to describe acts such as Alcest, but I don’t usually rate those types of acts. However, Deafheaven for some reason seem to be an exception for me. This band have managed to…

I find that Nine Inch Nails’ release history is constantly hit-and-miss. This latest EP is absolutely no exception to that rule. How can something that is only 5 tracks long be so “meh”? I mean, surely it is either going to be shit or it is going to be great? No. Not Nine Inch Nails. Not Not The Actual Events (see what I did there?). Below is easily the best track on the whole release….

So here we have Eisley’s first release since the departure of Stacey and Chauntelle (as well as drummer Weston who remains as a studio member but not a live member), leaving vocalist Sherri Dupree Bemis and bassist Garon Dupree to pick up where the band left off and move forward. It is always tough to lose band members, especially ones that brought a lot to the table and in this case, the loss of the…

This Becomes Us is the solo collaborative release from Future Of The Left (and not forgetting ex-Million Dead) bassist Julia Ruzicka. This debut contains ten tracks of absolute pure gold, featuring a different vocalist on each track, including Black Francis from The Pixies, among others. Opener “The Picture of Delorean Gray”, is a cracking little number; a nice and fast-paced, hard-hitting, fuzzy, punky number that leads into the bouncy “Undervalue Love”, which has a kind…

Ghost (or is that Ghost B.C.?) have easily become one of the most over-rated bands in modern rock and metal, and it is sometimes easy for me to forget about their fairly awesome beginnings. It would possibly be super-hipster of me to consider them to have entered the realm of plebs and rocker dads (I played this for my Dad in 2011 and he didn’t like it, FYI) but I’m gonna be unprofessional as fuck…

(I don’t have a cover with my copy, but here’s a cover anyway, because I’m too good to you. Happy new year!)As ridiculous as this sounds, this 7″ will always hold a special place in my record collection. I’ve been putting off writing this post for years, mainly due to Lines In Wax evolving away from just speaking about my physical vinyl records, but also due to not really being able to face writing about…

Blacklands is the second album from female-fronted occult metallers, Castle (who have, quite possibly, one of the simplest yet coolest band names ever). Blacklands is more towards the rockier side of doom, rather than falling off the edge into the void of sludge. The cover art here is very striking, and I find myself drawn to it. Despite its quasi-surrealism, it is fairly simplistic, however every time I study it, I pick out little extra…

(words by dance, Gareth, dance!) I decided to say a few words on this album after seeing the band perform live a week or so ago, where I was actually lucky enough to see all 3 versions that have been of the band perform since all current and ex-vocalists were present as part of the band’s 10 year anniversary tour. So, here we have Mothership, the latest release from the Tilian Pearson era of the…

When Blues Pills first came about it was a refreshing, very accessible take on the done-to-death blues rock template. With the resurgence of both stoner and occult rock, Blues Pills offered a simpler route without any of the ridiculous satanic pomp and edgy marijuana references. When Bliss was released in 2012, I fell in love with the band’s dusty, authentic rock and roll music. Blues Pills inevitably got signed to a big label, and it…

(Words by Burra, who recently gave back Wednesday) I really like this album. Overall, it feels so much more alive with energy than any of the more recent releases; maybe with a slight return to their classic sound at times. Although nothing they do will ever be as good as Tell All Your Friends or Where You Want To Be, unfortunately thats just how it is! So anything they do always lives in the shadow…

Fantastic heavy stoner rock from Italy. Think Samsara Blues Experiment but heading off in a more straight-forward, Kyuss-themed direction, rather than becoming lost in endless songs. The psych here is well controlled and reigned in, but do not fret – there is plenty of “woah!”, “man!,” and “duuuude!” moments here to keep perpetuating the frrrreakah enough to space these bluesy numbers out into the stoner territory. Hey, there’s even a Peter Frampton-style wah part towards…

(words by Burra; eater of worlds, rustler of Jimmies) Here we have the band’s latest 11 track release: Integrity Blues; a beautiful sounding record from start to finish, and one that definitely shows off the slower, softer side to the band (which I love) with lots of atmosphere and lots of emotion. Haunting, soothing and yet, at times, harder hitting. It’s very difficult to pick any stand-out tracks from this album, simply as this is…

Future Of The Left are one of those rare bands that my friends are into that I can also get into. I’m a stubborn fucking dickhead, so when someone tells me to listen to something, I usually don’t. So, the fact that I love this album is nothing short of a total miracle, but the love comes in heaps, and for good reason. I initially gave the whole thing a chance on the strength of…

So pretty much, if you’re not already a fan of The Beatles, then there’s an extremely slim chance you’ll be buying this record, as a live album is pretty much in my eyes a fan-targeted release. Normally I’m not a fan of live albums, I’ll be completely honest. There are exceptions, however I just feel that some moments you can’t recapture when it comes to this type of thing, kinda like how 90 percent of…

One of my biggest gig regrets of the last few years has been missing Xiu Xiu’s tour in anticipation of this record, as this is one of the best covers albums I’ve ever heard. Covering a song is one thing, covering an entire soundtrack is something else. I’ve been meaning to review this since it came out but I’ve been back and forth to it for quite some time not really sure on how to…

(Words by Burra; The 6th Beatle) This is the debut EP from fresh on the scene South Wales-based female-fronted four piece, Montreaux Fires. The EP starts with a quick spoken word intro taken from the recording process (it’s worth noting that this was self-recorded by the band’s bassist in his living room) before launching into the track “Our Little Life” – a cracking opener and one I can imagine would go down really well live,…

Computers And Blues was, sadly, the final record by The Streets (2020 edit: they’ve dropped a few singles recently but no full length for nearly a decade). For me, Streets records tend to follow a fairly defined pattern of progression. After the almost ethereal chill out of Everything Is Borrowed, Computers And Blues seems like a bit of a step backwards (only in the order of how things unfolded, not in quality). This final release…

(words by Porth’s man-in-thon-know, Gareth Burra) Here we have the new 6 track release – The Great Depression Act 1 – from South Wales 5 piece Calling Apollo. What a huge sounding record this is; production wise, instrumental and vocal wise – it’s great! A very wisely chosen opening track comes in the form of “Light The Way”; I love the guitar tone in this, it’s very reminiscent of a lot of the 2000’s era…

Yo dawg, we heard you liked Korn so we made you a Korn to release after your Korn (but not before the other Korn). Who’s putting out all this Korn you ask? Well, fucking Korn, of course. I mean, how much Korn could a Korn fan konsume, if a Korn fan could konsume Korn? Korn obviously don’t think that kontinuing to kall albums Korn, even though they already have records kalled Korn – now totalling…

I was recommended this band to check out, and having known literally nothing about them I was interested to hear what was going on. The LaFontaines are a very difficult band to pigeonhole; I’m finding myself presented with rapping, smooth sounding vocals, riffs, indie guitar licks, lovely guitar tones amongst really big sounding anthems. What a mental combination! On paper this shouldn’t work, it really shouldn’t… however these guys have seemed to pull it off…

The Jesus Lizard are one of those bands that I had been meaning to check out for all eternity but never seem to get around to listening to (until now, obviously). I picked their Goat record to try out at random, simply because the art looked kinda cool and abstract so I just dove in and went for it. Anyway, I’m not sure if it’s just because I’ve taken so long to jump onto this…

I’ll admit this was actually my first time listening to a full ELO studio album, having only really been familiar with the singles (i.e. the greatest hits) of the ELO brand, but I’ve been meaning to check this lot out for a while. This is a really great sounding album, it sounds like I’m listening to a big, iconic classic rock record despite this being a moderately new release – it just has that kind…

I went into this release not sure what to expect, but what a fun record! Opener “Double Trouble” immediately sets the mood with John Lydon’s spoken intro; a catchy number with a catchy, repetitive bass line and an indie pop guitar sound. There is a similar vibe and sound throughout the whole record, instrument-wise, mixed in with angst-ridden yet humorous vocals and lyrics from Mr Lydon. I think what really draws me in to this…

(Words by Burra, Porth’s last hope for redemption) I’ll be honest, I went into this album not expecting a great deal, and with the mindset it would never be another Mechanical Animals (for me Marilyn Manson’s finest hour). However, I was actually quite surprised by this record; it holds itself up quite well as an album. I think it is definitely the best thing to come out of the Marilyn Manson camp, in recent years…

Sad Strange Beautiful Dream is a solo album from Taking Back Sunday guitarist/backing vocalist John Nolan. I’ve been meaning to give this a listen for a while, after being a fan of Taking Back Sunday since the beginning as well as enjoying the Straylight Run project, so I thought I’d actually sit down and give it a good listen. This is a very mellow and minimalist album. I actually find it quite refreshing and laid…

Having considered Weezer’s Blue Album a fantastic debut and one of the best of its era and genre, as well as a being a big fan of their earlier releases (yet admittedly my attention dipped somewhat in and out of Weezer’s more recent releases), I was very keen to hear if Weezer would really grab my attention with the self titled “White Album”. This is overall a very upbeat sounding Weezer album, and also one…

This is a strange one: I’ve never really considered myself a fan of Coheed and Cambria – in fact, growing up alongside the “emo” trend in high school, hearing Coheed’s high-pitch croons would send shivers up my spine. But then, with Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness came a maturity that took a while to sink in, although it added a progressive element to Coheed’s already…

(Words by Richard Lewis, Doomfinder General) Coven are one of those bands that time forgot. They are pretty much entirely responsible for creating the occult rock genre (along with Black Widow) and had they been around today they would probably be huge, but since their debut came out in 1969 there was a lot of negativity around their lyrical themes. Instead, they were dropped from their record label and had their debut album taken out…

Killing Joke have a long and varied discography but Absolute Dissent is the album I end up coming back to again and again. Everything since the 2003 self titled record has been brilliant (even the dub remix album) but Absolute Dissent takes the crown for me, every time. It possesses a clarity and melody that is equally matched with heaviness and bite. All the songs here seem to follow a certain method or blueprint, but…

I have been beyond in love with Jucifer (or maybe it’s just frontwoman Amber Valentine ;D) ever since I saw them playing in Temples Fest last year. They have always been one of those bands that I wanted to check out but I never got around to doing so. I was expecting some half-arsed female-fronted stoner rock bullshit that’s all the rage these days, but Jucifer tore me a new arsehole and blew away most…

It’s easy to write off a band like Deafheaven as pure hipster fodder, but looking past that probably media-perpetuated stereotype (I’m contributing in my own little way by even mentioning it) you will find an extremely talented band with really awesome music. Sunbather opens up to me sounding like the bastard lovechild of post rock and black metal, with “Dream House” punishing you not only in the feels with the melody, but in the face…

A recurring theme in my posting to Lines In Wax is my reluctance to approach my absolute favourite bands. I eventually get to it with most of them (look how many Agoraphobic Nosebleed posts I’ve done!) but with Swans I always hit that wall. How in the fuck am I supposed to describe this album in only so many words? I was still getting my head around The Seer when To Be Kind was announced….

What a trip! What a dream! I was busting to write about this a few months ago – on my first listen I absolutely fell in love with this smorgasbord of musical tomfoolery, but after every subsequent listen I’ve not been able to replicate my interest for it. That was until I realised that you have to give this album your complete attention; it works as background music but to truly appreciate what it is…

I picked this up because a few of my mates really like Exit_International, and swear by their unusual bass guitar driven sleazy rock swagger. It was also nice to see a 7″ for sale locally, of a local band, so that swayed me. I love bass guitar focussed stuff, and I’ve heard a fair amount of it over the years, but this, well, it just bores the guts outta me. Exit_International have got their sound,…

Well, this is… different. I’m aware of the influential impact that Suicide and Mr. Alan Vega have had on some of my favourite artists, so it was only fair that in time I go back even further and plumb those original depths. After a bit of research, and conversing among friends, I came to rest on Suicide’s debut album; a puzzling affair of cheap synths, almost early Lou Reed-like vocals and linear narrative and repetition…