Bad Brains: I Against I
How do you sum up a band that seems to contain several universes at once? With I Against I, released in 1986,…
How do you sum up a band that seems to contain several universes at once? With I Against I, released in 1986,…
If youth crew had a bright, fraternal side, Judge embodied its dark half, the cold anger and the conviction pushed all the…
Some records define a movement so completely that they become its face. Break Down the Walls, released in 1986, is one of…
Some records are a punch in the face, others a burst of sunshine. Start Today, released in 1989, belongs to that rare…
By 1994, Sick of It All was no longer a well kept secret of the Lower East Side. The band was carrying…
Some records do not just deliver music, they draw a map. Victim in Pain, released in 1984, is one of them. In…
Few records distill an entire scene into a handful of songs. The Age of Quarrel, released in 1986, is one of them.…
Fifth album, in 2019, Boneshaker extends Airbourne’s trajectory without deviating one iota. Produced by Dave Cobb, it is the band’s shortest and…
Fourth album, in 2016, Breakin’ Outta Hell sees Airbourne tighten the bolts after a Black Dog Barking judged a little routine. The…
Third album, in 2013, Black Dog Barking finds Airbourne exactly where we left them: foot on the accelerator, cap screwed on tight…
Two years after a debut that had won everyone over, Airbourne go again in 2010 with No Guts. No Glory. The principle…
Hard to be more explicit: with Runnin’ Wild, in 2007, Airbourne storm out of Warrnambool, a small coastal Australian town, with a…
Denmark's blackgaze spearhead delivers one of the year's highest-rated records (85/100), but the gap with the public marks it as divisive.
Trilogy finale bordering on critical genuflection: 9.8/10 at Sonic Perspectives. Out September 4.
Rapturous early reviews: "the fury has metastasized". Out September 4.
The season's best-reviewed record: 83/100, zero reservations. Instrumental post-metal at its peak.
Mastodon's first post-Hinds album is an acclaimed grief record (83/100 Metacritic), cathartic and often magnificent.
Press applauds (77/100), listeners check out (49/100). The season's biggest gap.
Beartooth's pop-rock turn: press applauds (77/100), fans grumble (59/100). Divisive, therefore interesting.
Karevik masterful, formula unchanged: press splits (8/10 vs 2.5/5), consensus lands at 6.5.
From Elton John to Dying Fetus, twenty-two wildly uneven reworks: not an album, a flex.
Bordeaux tech-death dares to be vulnerable. The craft is unanimous; the pacing divides.
87/100 across nineteen reviews: the alternative-metal masters return to near-unanimous acclaim.
89/100: the new benchmark for modern metalcore, driven by Courtney LaPlante's extraordinary voice.
83/100 across twenty-one reviews: the blackgaze pioneers reconnect with fury.
79/100 across twenty reviews: the drone kings' self-titled album, a mass of low frequencies.
77/100: the Norwegian black-metal legends deliver a solid if debated record.
86/100: the Californian "ecstatic black metal" crew turn darkness into light.
85/100: the wildest mathcore around reaches an unexpected maturity.
83/100: the improbable return of the 1990s chaotic-metalcore pioneers.
83/100: the French mad scientist returns, between metal, baroque and breakcore.
81/100: the Canadian tech-death masters hold their rank.
81/100: the Californians' atmospheric, cosmic death metal regains its shine.
79/100: the English goth/doom godfathers confirm a second youth.
81/100: the inventors of European power metal, reunited, keep the flame.
80/100: the English progressive-sludge outfit confirm the hype.