In the Nineties, if you knew who Melt Banana was you were in the minority and were probably a small group of underground hardcore enthusiasts or on a Slap a Ham Records 7” mailing list. Melt Banana has managed to survive the years and gain a wider audience. Maybe because of their stylish spazz and experimentation in hardcore, the band has outlived the legion of tough-guy hardcore bands that refused to go beyond what was expected of them. Now, almost...

It’s been over forty years since the acid wave swept through music and gave birth to a genre dependant on mind-altering drugs and extended jam sessions. Unlike ska and swing, psychedelic rock hasn’t had a resurgence…but why not?  With driving guitars which are, by turns, loud and melodic along with bold and haunting vocals, this is music with a fan base which could totally belong in the mainstream. Black Angels are proudly of the psychedelic genre. Epic and dark and mysterious,...

After almost forty years as one of the most influential Heavy Metal bands of all time, the mighty Judas Priest announced earlier this year that their "Epitaph" tour would be their last and, after witnessing the tour's stop at the Sleep Train Pavilion last week, I can honestly say that the band will be going out on the same level that they have been on since day one – on top. For this farewell tour, Judas Priest will be playing...

Some artists can elicit a very strong reaction from listeners, even after just a few bars. When Neil Young appears on the radio, for example, one camp of listeners embraces his non-traditional style and finds comfort in his elaborate vocal intensity while others race to turn the station as quickly as they can and by any means necessary. I imagine Jolie Holland has a very similar polarizing effect. With her fifth studio album, Pint of Blood, Holland stays true to...

After thirty-five years and a path marked by both line-up and label changes, it could never be said that The Damned don't still cut a bedeviled image on stage. Currently backed by longtime, on-again-off-again guitarist Captain Sensible, keyboardist Monty Oxy Moron, bassist Stu West and drummer Pinch, Damned singer Dave Vanian took the stage at Slim's in San Francisco on October 29, 2011 and showed concertgoers how gothic a punk band can be. Now celebrating their thirty-fifth anniversary, The Damned...

The mixture of music on Alesana's fourth LP (first for punk stalwarts Epitaph), A Place Where The Sun Is Silent, is unlike that of any one band I’ve ever listened to before. By that I can say that Alesana sounds like a melange of several different styles and influences, all of which come together into a cohesive union – right up until the band overreaches and falls, awkwardly (more on that later).

 Alesana have been labeled a post-hardcore band and...

It may have taken almost ten years of hard work, trading record labels, touring constantly and building a devoted fan-base out of almost nothing, but on The Brains' newest album lies the proof that this band has finally hit its stride. This time out, the Quebec-based rockabilly trio has dodged all of the pitfalls that hobbled its previous albums (poor, grainy production and weak, paint-by-numbers songwriting) and produced a record which represents a true high-water mark; the sound is perfectly...

Sometimes you never know which way the wind will blow, or what those winds may bring your way. So when editor extraordinaire Bill Adams sent me a new album, unsolicited, for review with a note attached saying he thought I should check it out because it was my cup of tea, I felt like I owed him one. 

Here is where fate dealt me a wonderful blow. Joe Henry, someone I had never heard of before, released a new album...

Sometimes there's just no way to explain how a musical collaboration between two artists could have happened because, like oil and water, they just don't seem capable of mixing. In the case of oil and water, a mixture is impossible because, on the most basic molecular level, the liquids are incapable of combining into a solution; the best that can happen is that they haphazardly come together as a suspension like salad dressing, but the liquids will still separate if...

2011 has been a red letter year for Touche Amore. The band has spent the year touring hard – appearing at festivals like FYF, SXSW, Chaos in Tejas, Hevy Fest (UK), the House of Vans in Brooklyn, and cutting a swath across most of the globe. While all that was happening, the band also released Parting The Sea Between Brightness and Me, to staggering critical acclaim earlier this summer; from the first strikes of their angular yet melodic chords, it's...