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The Messthetics Impress with Their Free-flowing Improvisation and Endless Experimentation
Two ex-Fugazi members are joined by guitarist Anthony Pirog as the Messthetics, and they produce a hellish improvisational etude at their Manchester show.
11 Feb 2019
Music
Extreme Music Fiends ENDON Return with Another Chaotic Offering in 'Boy Meets Girl'
On Boy Meets Girl, Japan's ENDON carry down the same path of aggression tilting towards their hardcore-esque origins.
25 Jan 2019
Music
Brits in Hot Weather #10: Swindle, Team Picture, Sasha, I Cried Wolf + Dirty Nice
In this edition, we have the talents of London-based producer Swindle, the slow-burning new song from Team Picture, minimalist electropop from Sasha, bruising post-hardcore from I Cried Wolf, and a little Christmas ditty from Dirty Nice.
19 Dec 2018
Music
Cyclone Static Meditates on Commitment with Powerful Track "Walk This Line" (premiere)
New Jersey punk trio Cyclone Static blends tradition with a sense of the now on "Walk This Line".
13 Dec 2018
Music
Pig Destroyer Craft One of the Year's Stand-out Metal Albums with 'Head Cage'
Pig Destroyer are strange and brutal on their most contemporary work to date, Head Cage.
02 Oct 2018
Music
Are Vein Hardcore's Next Big Thing?
Vein's feverish spirit on record is, without question, their unique selling point.
22 Jun 2018
Theatre
The Dusk in Angelica Liddell: The Transgressive Post-Hardcore Theater of 'Esta Breve Tragedia de la Carne'
Spanish avant-garde theater-maker Liddell and veteran metalcore band Converge try to make sense of the brief tragedy of the flesh.
07 May 2018
Music
Mob Terror Contemplates All of Us "People" (premiere)
Powerful Philly metal trio Mob Terror gives listeners a taste of new EP, Superstimulus, with "People".
Jedd Beaudoin
10 Apr 2018
Music
Svalbard on the Plight of the "Unpaid Intern" (premiere)
Svalbard turns pen into sword via single from English band's upcoming, It's Hard to Have Hope.
26 Feb 2018
Music
Darkest Hour: Godless Prophets & The Migrant Flora
No matter your take on Darkest Hour, the D.C. outfit reminds us that passion is nine-tenths of metal law on its newest effort.
07 Mar 2017
Music
Planes Mistaken For Stars: Prey
Post-hardcore outsiders reconvene to unleash a harsh and harrowing assessment of modern society.
22 Nov 2016
Music
Super Unison: Auto
Poetic justice at once ferocious and dreamy, Auto sees Super Unison as a voice that takes you and grabs your attention.
13 Nov 2016
Music
Balance and Composure: Light We Made
The Pennsylvania post-hardcore band Balance and Composure have changed a bit. Is it a slick and successful movement toward a fresh sound, or is it an awkward stumble?
09 Oct 2016
Music
At Folsom Prison: Every Dream and Every Crisis Means the Rise
Nervousness and talent make the band’s third album a brilliant departure point from which to venture into unknown territories.
28 Jun 2015
Music
Title Fight: Hyperview
Hyperview, the third studio album by the punk outfit Title Fight, finds the band wandering in a more melodious direction, for better or worse.
19 Feb 2015
Music
Ratos de Porão : Século Sinistro
Brazilian thrash veterans Ratos de Porão's first offering in eight years is certainly nothing worth dancing over.
11 Dec 2014
Music
Famous Last Words: Council of the Dead
Famous Last Words is an enjoyable group, but they aren’t going to light the metal world on fire with originality.
16 Sep 2014
Music
Mask the Wretch: Age of Deception
It’s telling that there’s a song here titled "Integrity", and this is something that the band seems to possess in spades.
12 Aug 2014
Music
Boris: Noise
This is probably Boris’ most accessible record to date and the overall feeling is that it has, once again, managed to mould its inspiration while remaining quintessentially "Boris".
08 Jul 2014
Music
The Fascination with Fundamentalism in Hardcore Punk
Some bands echoed the Dead Kennedys' anti-Moral Majority messages; others embodied right-wing religion.
19 Jun 2014
Music
Priests: Bodies and Control and Money and Power EP
The newest EP from these DC punks is heavy on rage and passion, but the notes they hit are all too familiar.
01 Jun 2014
Music
A Minor Forest: Flemish Altruism / Inindependence
A Minor Forest didn’t live long enough to see their craft surpass their inspiration, and for this reason their legacy is safer now than it was 20 years ago.
24 Apr 2014
Music
Memphis May Fire: Unconditional
Despite a tighter focus and compelling theme of faith, Memphis May Fire still wallows in the mediocrity of the faux-hardcore.
24 Apr 2014
Music
Special Request: Hardcore EP
Special Request's (aka Paul Woolford) Hardcore EP, featuring remixes from newcomer Anthony Naples alongside jungle re-constructualist Lee Gamble, varies in tempos and styles, mashing influences together to create a work that will work just as well in the club as it does at home.
23 Jul 2013
Music
Funeral for a Friend: Conduit
Somewhere tonight this record is the soundtrack for a boy sitting alone in his room staring at a photo he snapped of someone looking the other way. A candle drips upon his desk and he drips of angst. Together they smolder in the orange glow of melancholy -- despite fully functional track-lighting.
11 Mar 2013
Music
Wartorn: Iconic Nightmare / Kromosom: Live Forever
Southern Lord kicks of 2013 with two crust-punk LPs that differ very significantly in both methodology and success.
14 Feb 2013
Music
Parkway Drive: Atlas
The Aussies have returned to form after a brief experimental style shift on their previous album, and they've gotten even better as a result.
24 Jan 2013
Music
Nails: Obscene Humanity
Befitting the band's moniker, Nail's new 7-inch is seven minutes of ugly noise hammered home in ear-splitting fashion.
21 Jan 2013
Music
Converge: All We Love We Leave Behind
All We Love We Leave Behind is proof positive that the incandescent flame of Converge's fury is fully under their direct control.
25 Oct 2012
Music
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead: Lost Songs
It's not difficult to admire ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead's tenacity ten years after Source Tags & Codes, but it's still evident that they haven't found their footing since.
25 Oct 2012
Music
Dissident Dissonance: The Rites of Springs Demos
The scrappy demos of Rites of Spring reveal the passion, fury, and profundity of an entire genre recasted and re-imagined.
23 Oct 2012
Music
J. Mascis and Me
But of all the ways J. has ever been there when I needed him, nothing comes close to the song he wrote for me: “Over It” from 2009’s Farm.
08 Aug 2012
Music
Split Cranium: Split Cranium
On the surface, Split Cranium is just one in a tired tradition of crust punk bands, but before tossing this record in the trash, give it another listen. Far from parroting of subgenre clichés, Split Cranium affectionately reinterprets them through an artist's lens.
10 Jun 2012
Music
Love, and Other Indelible Stains
PopMatters new metal column, Craig Hayes' Ragnarök, debuts with a love story. Like all great love stories, punk rock and heavy metal's romance began with a fair amount of mutual loathing.
29 May 2012
Music
The Avengers: The Avengers
Formed in 1977, the Avengers were pioneers of West Coast punk. This phenomenal double-disc release of their classic recordings make these Avengers the real superheroes of the season.
17 May 2012
Music
Black Breath: Sentenced to Life
It's all there in the cover art: A sledgehammer shattering a pane of glass.
25 Apr 2012
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