Seven hours. Versions, the new recording from David Daniell and Douglas McCombs, is all about seven hours. The pair’s previous release, Sycamore, sprang out of seven hours of improvisation, looping and fiddling. Versions is culled from the same seven hours, but this time the selecting comes from former Tortoise member Ken Brown.
Based in Vancouver by way of West Auckland, West of Hell hammers down influences from Iron Maiden to Judas Priest on their Spiral Empire. The band’s debut is a rock-solid compendium of 80s metal clichés mixed with just a touch of West Coast flavour. It is a devilishly fun piece of work, as a result, cementing these cats … Continue reading »
Making her debut with I Love, singer/songwriter Cristina Morrison proves to be a performer with potential. She is a skilled vocalist and has certainly studied the craft, but there are moments where it feels as though she’s holding back somewhat and that keeps this record from sticking as much as it should.
Halestorm cheerfully nails down every single girl-fronted rock band cliché in existence on their second album, complete with slapdash slides from vulnerability into overcompensating toughness, but somehow The Strange Case of… still works out okay.
Vinnie Paul was sifting through the Pantera vaults for the 20th anniversary of his band’s landmark album Vulgar Display of Power and came across a little something called “Piss.” The track was from the original recording sessions for Vulgar Display of Power and is, according to Paul, “the only unheard complete Pantera track in existence.”
Based out of Fort Collins, Colorado, Allegaeon is a metal act blessed with an intelligent sense of melody. The band still brings its death metal chops to the table, but behind the wall of growls and scowls is a divine musical foundation that comes largely because of guitarist Greg Burgess’ classical background.
Jens Wendelboe is putting together some terrific stuff with his big band and Fresh Heat is the latest in what should be a regular occurrence on the jazz release calendar.
With a name like Cattle Decapitation, you have to know you’re probably not getting smooth jazz. Monolith of Inhumanity is the San Diego “deathgrind” outfit’s seventh full length release and it is a blistering, grisly blast of metal malice.
Brother and sister duo Holobody emerge with a fuzzy, filmy, glittery patch of indie pop with Riverhood, their debut record.
On their third release, Demonocracy, Arizona death metal outfit Job for a Cowboy wastes little time and goes straight for the jugular. Backed by a somewhat reordered line-up and a mound of impressive guitar solos, the latest release is a nourishing hunk of metal.
