Brendan Benson – My Old, Familiar Friend

My Old, Familiar Friend also holds a few surprises. A track like “Garbage Day” can open with Motown-inspired strings, morph into a neo-psychedelic run reminiscent of The Beatles, then head back to Motown. “Don’t Wanna Talk” opens with the rumbling drums of Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll” before it suddenly turns into a sunny pop romp. The songs tread familiar territory — broken hearts and troubled relationships — but mix the dark imagery with a wink and touch of wit. (Read the Full Review)

Mount Eerie – Wind’s Poem

When it was touted that Mount Eerie’s newest record would be a black metal album, dubious sentiments were certainly aroused. It’s completely understandable in regard to Phil Elverum, as he is arguably one of the most innovative independent musicians to be gracing our ears in recent times, but the way in which one could imagine Elverum to execute the Mount Eerie style in a black metal aesthetic would undoubtedly be plagued by problems.

Nevertheless, it is safe to report that Mount Eerie have progressed in perhaps the most perfect manner; this ‘black metal’ element which was originally claimed is very subtle. My initial expectation of Elverum screeches fortunately turned out to be only a speculation, and what Wind’s Poem actually is as an album is the continuation and development of the raw sound greatly explored on the Black Wooden Ceiling Opening record.  (Read the Full Review)

Behemoth – Evangelion

Produced by the talented Colin Richardson (Carcass, Napalm Death), Evangelion has the core ingredients of a classic metal album: well orchestrated song writing, a thunderstorm of riffs and rapid, tommy-gun drumming. “Ov Fire and the Void” eerily sounds like it should be playing over loud speakers in Afghanistan. This is war music; full of force, cruel intentions and pain. It’s hard to describe music this brutal; if extreme metal is not appealing to you I would suggest you run… now. Run far, far away. Clutch that Fleet Foxes CD close to your heart and don’t ever look back. For the rest of us: rejoice. (Read Full Review)

Gwar – Lust In Space

I’m a fanboy of all of GWAR’s material. Their debut album Hell-O has some classic cuts but the disc is near unlistenable for me. Live the songs sound awesome. I always thought the rest of their albums prior to Violence were pretty solid. Albums like Scumdogs Of The Universe and This Toilet Earth are classics. They experimented a little with their sound and tried to gain some of the old punk influence back with Carnival Of Chaos and We Kill Everything. It was met with mixed reviews but I still dig those two releases. Due to the lack of positive reviews from those two albums it seems that they decided to experience with their other obvious influence in metal. It has been met with generally positive feelings. I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard people talk about how they can finally listen to GWAR because they are playing legitimately good music. (Read Full Review)