This summer, Beauregard and the Downright released their album Steppin’ Out, a ten track masterpiece that embodies the obscure balance between grit and grace. If you are not familiar with these guys, Beauregard and the Downright is a refreshing blend ...
CD Review: “Eat the Elephant” by A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle hasn't had a new album for 14 years, despite promising one for the last ten. Between other projects and creative squabbles, it felt like the super group might be finished until a steady trickle of singles started showing up ahead o ...
CD Review: “The Sciences” by Sleep
The seminal stoner metal band Sleep has been dormant nearly 20 years while the side projects of guitarist Matt Pike (High on Fire) and vocalist/bassist Al Cisneros (Om) took the spotlight. There had been rumors and rumblings, the occasional tour an ...
‘Designed To Disappear’ by Dead Empires
“Rock ‘N Roll never felt so good.” When we last left our musically-inclined heroes, Dead Empires, they were releasing their sophomore album, Secret Snakes / Silent Serpent. Since that time, they’ve done something rather unusual: this instrumental ...
CD Review: “Sterilize” by Unsane
After a five-year hiatus, New York noise trio Unsane returns to its roots on its eighth album. The dour disposition of the band’s previous release (Wreck) is long gone. Sterilize is raw and angry and relentless. It sounds like a band that’s young a ...
CD Review: “Cold Dark Place” by Mastodon
The Cold Dark Place EP bears the Mastodon moniker and the members of Mastodon are performing the songs, but this is only technically a “Mastodon” album. Fans still high on Emperor of Sand should temper their expectations. That’s not to say this ...
CD Review: Arcadea – “Arcadea”
Arcadea is proof that Mastodon’s Brann Dailor is a huge nerd. Fresh on the heels of Mastodon’s seventh studio album, Dailor’s side project debut, the eponymous album Arcadea, reveals an unyielding love of proggy, synth-laden rock operas and a fascina ...
CD Review: “Spüken” by Ninjaspy
Before I even knew their name, I found myself dumbfounded and adoring that Vancouver threesome known as Ninjaspy. By mere happenstance, I witnessed them in concert and reveled at the tumultuous exhibition. Here were three men, producing a mo ...
CD Review: “Emperor of Sand” by Mastodon
Emperor of Sand is a chrysalis of an album. Like Crack the Skye before it, it’s a harbinger of a new sound. Not that Mastodon ever really stops tinkering with its sound, but the band’s seventh album gives every indication that it’s ready to shed th ...
CD Review: ‘The Similitude Of A Dream’ by The Neal Morse Band
It’s been a long day. A very long day. But luckily, The Neal Morse Band’s newest release, an immense double-LP concept album, The Similitude Of A Dream, is the perfect companion. I have been glued to this album for two weeks straight, and I can a ...