I recall spending the majority of the year 2010 balancing the workload of my freshman year of college with constant gigging for various projects I fronted. The genres of my musical endeavors spanned from metallic hardcore to pop punk, but all of these shows managed to have the words Free Beer! on the flyer. Unfortunately […]

Chelsea Wolfe has returned this year with her most solid release yet. Abyss is a melting pot of darkwave, synthpop, goth rock, folk, noise rock, industrial rock, heavy metal, and the result of this massive recipe is spectacular. Never before has Ms. Wolfe sounded so full and powerful. Vocals have always proved to be the […]

Fear Fun was on constant rotation at my place of work upon its release. J. Tillman’s new persona crafted a fun collective of songs with well-written and silly lyrics. Every track was extremely catchy and well-composed. I Love You, Honeybear is Father John Misty’s sophomore release under his new moniker and it is an entirely […]

I have always had a love-hate relationship with current mainstream rap. The rise of artists such as Lil Wayne or Drake have made it impossible for me to take the genre seriously. I approach its authenticity on a completely different scale than other music because its main objective appears to sacrifice well-written lyrics or any […]

Emo is not the only genre that has made a powerful return in recent years. If anyone reading this knows me on a personal level, they recognize my unending love for the genre of shoegazing. Loveless is my favorite record ever released, and I absolutely adore the likes of Slowdive, Ride, and Chapterhouse. Shoegazing has […]

California’s Xibalba has laid to rest their signature slow-paced Doomy/Sludge influenced hardcore sound in favor of a more straight forward Death Metal approach for their latest LP Tierra Y Libertad. Zeroing in on one genre may sound like a step backwards for these guys, but traveling down the road previously paved by acts such as […]

The biggest trend found in the pop punk scene around late 2010/early 2011 was to stop being pop punk. Title Fight paved the way into 90’s era emo nostalgia with the battalion of Basement, Daylight, Citizen, and many others marching only mere steps behind. One of these bands was Turnover. 2013 saw the official departure […]

Protomartyr is a Post Punk band from Detroit that deserves some attention. 2014 saw the release of their second LP titled Under Color of Unofficial Right which turned out to be easily one of my favorite releases that year. The guitars were textured with an 80’s feel, the drums were loud and pounding, the basslines […]

Recent years have made way for Metalcore acts with a strong sense of melody along the lines of Counterparts, The Ghost Inside, or Hundredth to explode with popularity. It never quite made sense to me that such a talented and passionate band like It Prevails was never able to catch up with their brother bands […]

Florida’s rock quartet Torche has made a name for themselves in the alternative music community for bravely taking attributes of aggresive genres including Sludge metal, Stoner Rock, Doom metal, etc. and adding a poppy layer to the mix. The band has continued this year’s ongoing theme of applying a “less is more” tactic to their […]