6.28.2017

ED GEIN


















"smoked + bad luck"
Year:  2017
Country:  US
City:  Syracuse
Label:  Hex
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  16
Time:  30 min.
Lyrical themes:  social issues, politics
Genre:  rock
Style:        Grindcore
















It’s always nice to see that cover art isn’t a dying detail in today’s downloading-obsessed times, and this latest from grind/hardcore guys Ed Gein entices with not only an excellent album title, but very cool art as well — showing humans with Mack trucks as heads. This New York-based trio are armed with a political lyrical edge to boot, which helps give an extra push to their tunes. With an equally skilled take on grind, hardcore, punk and sludge, Ed Gein tend to keep their songs short and sadistically violent. (The band’s motto, after all, is "Go fast!”) With all three members singing, the urgency of the frantic music is escalated into realms of AmRep-style noise rock and angry punk; while no one player sticks out as being particularly proficient on his instrument, the three no doubt gel together perfectly. With cool, angular, driving bass lines keeping the rhythm underneath the noise, this never degenerates into something too unhinged; although the listener would be hard-pressed to remember one of these songs when all is said done, it still resembles music. Somehow managing to pay homage to both Unsane and Napalm Death at once. The band's lyrics, primarily written by bassist Aaron Jenkins, are politically charged and features social commentary, on topics including racism, sexism, homophobia, animal liberation, etc. this bass-heavy, extremely cathartic release is highly recommended.
  Discogs  ,  Lastfm  ,  Download  ,  Wikipedia  ,  Web  ,  Myspace  ,  VK 














































6.20.2017

THE METHADONES





















"not economically viable"
Year:  2004
Country:  US
City:  Chicago
Label:  Thick
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  12
Time:  39 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Pop Punk



















The third full-length from The Methadones and second from the solidified lineup of Dan Vapid (Screeching Weasel / Riverdales / Sludgeworth), Mike Byrne (ex-Vindictives), Pete Mittler, and Mike Soucy finds the band taking a somewhat different route than the band's past endeavors. "not economically viable", an album loosely based on the movie Falling Down (in which a disgruntled office worker takes revenge on those causing his disposition), takes cues from both classic punk (yes, they still channel the Ramones a good deal) and the mature side of 90s pop, both likely due to Vapid's past projects, and is a little more guitar-driven this time around, with scattered solos thrown about, and devoid of any post-20th century influence whatsoever. Hower, despite the album being overall a strongly solid, forty-minute chunk of pop-punk, there's some noticable filler in the early-to-mid setting, . Nearly every track on the disc is catchy, even if the record ends up suffering from "every-song-sounds-the-same" syndrome as a result. "bored of television," "mess we made" and "million miles" are three of the best examples showing off the band's inherent ability to hook you like sidestage cane antics, but to be honest, it's tough to say how much lasting value the record as a whole has. The first couple spins I found myself relatively enjoying the album, if not drifting off around the aforementioned filler parts. Flash foward several listens later, I still drift off towards the same parts, and the ones I enjoy just seem less overwhelming than they were at first. The themes the album claims to have loosely attached itself too are even then a bit abstract to be noticeable - except for "Suddenly Cool," with its comments towards "climbing the social ladder" - and don't do much, if anything at all, to reward close attention to such. "not economically viable" is a brilliant album and perhaps the band's best effort (*Review by Brian Shultz).
  Discogs   ,   Lastfm   ,   Download   ,   Wikipedia   ,   Facebook   ,   Myspace   









































































































THE BROKEDOWNS





















"life is a breeze"
Year:  2014
Country:  US
City:  Chicago
Label:  Red Scare
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  16
Time:  36 min.
Lyrical themes:  politics, parody
Genre:  rock
Style:        Punk  Rock


















"To describe The Brokedowns as just another Midwestern pop-punk band would be to sell the Elgin, Illinois four-piece extremely short. Yes, they are from the Midwest, and yes, there are more than enough hooks and sing-along choruses to check all of the pop punk boxes, but there's so much more too, from impassioned shouts to clever, pointed lyrics, and it's all deftly assembled on Life Is A Breeze. The record shows a band that, after a period of evolution, has figured out a sound all its own, and is now making the most of it. If you are familiar with the band's past output, then you are already aware that after starting out with a heavier sound on early records, The Brokedowns infused much more melody, to great effect, on their previous full-length, 2010s Species Bender, and on a number of subsequent split 7-inches. On Life Is A Breeze, the band sticks with that sound and seems quite comfortable doing so. The record kicks off with Joliet, the Maui of the Midwest, which serves as a sort of a tourism jingle for the band's home region. It lays an effective foundation before the record launches into a series of standout tracks. The Gospel of Mustafa, Life Is A Breeze, "murder junkie/CPA" "everything is immoral" are all as good, if not better, than anything on "species bender", and "murder junkie / CPA" specifically hearkens back to that record with its similarity to "loyal looper" (theme from renegade), which is no bad thing. Unfortunately, there's little time to come up for air, as the next handful of tracks, starting with Born on the Bayou Too, are just as strong. In fact, the quality stays high all the way through to the closer, "a child's guide to Black Metal". As a whole, Life Is A Breeze is an extremely satisfying follow-up to Species Bender, taking everything that was great about that record and building on it. The one shame is that, coming so late in the year, Life Is A Breeze is likely to miss out on a spot on many year-end lists. It's certainly an honor lost, though I'm not so sure The Brokedowns care about that sort of thing (*Review writen by Adam Eisenberg)
  Discogs  ,  Lastfm  ,  Download  ,  Web  ,  Facebook  ,  Twitter  ,  Myspace