Kayo Dot – Stained Glass

Follow @hearwax Stained Glass is given to us, graciously, as 2010 high watermark Coyote only reached ears last April. Whether it is extended play or a mid-cycle effort to keep attentions focused is inconsequential – This is Kayo Dot. It was hard not to ‘top-down’ some emotional expectation on Coyote given the album’s proposed content, [...]

Killing The Dream – Lucky Me

Follow @hearwax It’s best to approach Lucky Me as an experiment rather than experimental.  The compelling aspect of the disc, as well as being its most glaring detractor, is that it finds the band seeking their most essential and immediate expression; it’s hardly finished, but should it be? This question is all the more pertinent [...]

Energy – Walk Into The Fire

Follow @hearwax Energy has gotten a bad rap over the years. They were unquestionably the victim of a tidal wave of hype heading into their first full length, Invasions of the Mind.  Once heralded as one of hardcore’s next big things, many reviewers didn’t find the record to be as solid as I did. In [...]

Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Follow @hearwax The last few years of Kanye West‘s life have been a mirror of his musical career; The high praise of The College Dropout and Late Registration, or his unabashed popularity; Graduation, or his venture into the point-the-finger portion of the mainstream (ahem MVAs); 808s & Heartbreak, or the ‘what the fuck’ moment that [...]

Atheist – Jupiter

Follow @hearwax Many people consider the early nineties the heyday for death metal.  Though shows weren’t financially supported by big name sponsors, promoted vigorously using the internet, or headlined by bands that had a long history and a tendency to fill venues in every city they visited, the art of crafting devastating music (be it [...]

STREAM: Mountains for Clouds’ New EP! (RIYL: The Appleseed Cast)

Follow @hearwax 1. Operation Latte Thunder 2. Here Pep Pep (You Murderous Rascal) 3. Gumption 4. This Island is Death 5. Sounds on Paper 6. Sea of Nurnen Primarily instrumental, and all awesome.  Such a short and concise statement can be riddled with hyperbole, but after a listen to Mountains for Clouds‘ Some People Buy [...]

Review Roundup: Bars of Gold, The Great Explainer, The Holy Mess, and Hostage Calm

Follow @hearwax Bars Of Gold - Of Gold There are enough quirky, off-kilter indie acts to fill a circus tent and initiate a bonanza. For every band like Los Campesinos! or Johnny Foreigner that have the prowess and personality to get it right, there are a dozen artists calling attention to themselves in the vain attempt of emulating Jeff [...]

Intronaut – Valley Of Smoke

Follow @hearwax In 2008, Valley Of Smoke is more along the lines of what I was asking of Intronaut in their post-Void fallout. Some semblance of naivety has parted in 2010, but the DNA of the band is still producing as per original instructions – Intronaut crafts and exploits layers of heavy music history, and [...]

Complete Failure – Heal No Evil

Follow @hearwax I’m not totally sure what exactly inspired it, but the wave of hardcore bands adopting a strong influence from Entombed is certainly pleasing to my ears. When Cursed was still around, I loved their gritty style of “Death ‘n Roll” influenced hardcore, and I’m happy to see that a couple years after their [...]

War From A Harlot’s Mouth – MMX

Follow @hearwax Not so much an innovative band but a reactive one, Germany’s War From A Harlot’s Mouth (let’s settle for WFAHM) have consistently taken the current tropes from the youth metal scene and crafted something better out of it. Far be it to say that this was always the case, as their original LP [...]