WHO: Paint it Black WHAT: Famine WHY: Did YOU know Paint it Black was going to release new music? I didn’t. They said that no good hardcore band has released more than 3 good albums, which is why the band’s last full length was released in 2008, but Famine with its speed, heavy riffs, breakdowns, smart lyrics, and hooks just proves that this band is still relevant and needs to get back in the studio to produce another full length....
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Heavy Machinery EP by SLIP-ons. There aren’t many ways for a band to write songs which sound unmistakably similar to the work of another group without sounding derivative. The only way that it’s possible to walk such a narrow and treacherous line is to be completely ignorant of it; the band in question just has to bull their way in and boldly be themselves – and any similarity that the group...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Ouroboros EP by Kirkby Kiss. It might sound unlikely, but working in the music press can be surprisingly frustrating. The reason for that is simple, really – most bands believe that what they’re doing is unique enough that they couldn’t possibly be forgettable or mistaken for any other band. The problem is that, at a certain level, the name of a release can be mistaken for a band’s name and has...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the So Dumb, So Stoked 7” by Teenage Bottlerocket. In 2023, calling something instantly gratifying feels as though it might be a setup to defuse potential disappointment, but that is simply not the case when it comes to the So Dumb, So Stoked 7” – Teenage Bottlerocket’s first release for Pirates Press Records. In about nine minutes’ time, Teenage Bottlerocket illustrates that they haven’t slowed down, haven’t lost a step and haven’t...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Light one-sided 12” EP by Hunting Lions. While the quality of Hunting Lions’ Dark EP can’t be denied, anyone who hears the band’s Light EP (which will be released later this month and in the same format – with all the music on one side and a graphic on the other) may be inclined to argue that the band really held the best songs back for this release. From note one,...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Hunting Lions’ Dark EP. While I can’t keep myself from wondering why Hunting Lions elected to keep the music on the Dark EP contained to just one side of this 12” (there’s five songs on one side and a graphic on the other), there is no question that the songs on this EP are excellent. In addition, it is pretty nice that the record needs no flipping to get the full experience...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Animal 12” EP by Suzi Moon. Important point: there are three songs on Suzi Moon’s Animal 12” EP. All three songs appear on both sides of said single so, where most vinyl releases are characterized by the movement from front to back, this single seeks to reprise its progression from one side to the next. That statement is not made as an indictment – it is made as an observation as...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Raising The Roof 12” EP by Booze & Glory. It’s funny how, over time, the purpose of EPs has seemed to change. In the Nineties (read: when I began paying attention), EPs took on a pretty lauded and/or respected position as several such titles came up from the underground . Of course, all things must come...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Lunatics EP by The Drowns. It would be easy enough to curse The Drowns out for what the band has done with the Lunatics EP. Not unlike what innumerable other acts have done, over the years (Hot Water Music, NOFX and John Lennon all leap to mind), The Drowns have elected to take a moment that they’re capable of stretching out from their musical comfort zone (which has tended to stay...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the To Victory EP by Lars Frederiksen. After a career spent tirelessly writing, recording and performing music with a celebrated list of bands on an incredible number of releases (to date, that list includes no fewer than forty-five releases recorded with bands including Rancid, Stomper 98, Old Firm Casuals, The transplants, The Bastards and Oxley’s Midnight Runners), it seems genuinely surprising that, only thirty-eight years after he started, Lars Frederiksen has added...