Category: Reviews

There are some songs which sound like they were ripped from a moment and never tidied up after. Fight is just that. It is raw and spontaneous, and it’s something you can’t fake. Right from the opening riff it pulls you in, and the tension doesn’t let up throughout. This is why it’s so interesting. The guitars are fuzz-heavy and […]

When a song has a clear message and delivers it with this much enthusiasm, it’s just so satisfying. From the opening riff, Doing Fine has you by the short hairs and doesn’t drop you. It’s raw and immediate like the best punk and grunge songs are and it embraces that influence.There’s an honesty in the performance that makes every lyric […]

This track gets to you in a subtle way. It doesn’t shout or impress you immediately. It begins with a piano, simple, reverb-laden, and simply sits with you for a moment. The opening alone is enough to set the tone for something that feels like a true film, and a bit sad in the best way. Then the guitar comes […]

This is one of the few songs “The American Boys (The Ballad of Frank Gusenberg and the St Valentine’s Day Massacre)”, to bring a 90-year-old true crime story to life. With real style, Dave Omlor does it. The first few seconds you know what kind of ride you are in for. It’s loud, it’s fun, it’s this kind of energy […]

There are songs that feel like a warm hand on your shoulder. Bells of Silver by Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends is one of those. It is soft, deliberate and quite easy to sit with. As if it draws you back to it on lazy nights, perhaps when you just want a feeling of honesty and human nature to […]

It’s a thing about good synthwave, it’s like, I’m in a different place. Peel The Sun does that from first note. It immerses you into this cozy and somewhat disorienting universe, which seems like a movie you’ve already watched but forgot. It’s a feat seldom achieved. The production here is really amazing. Each layer is in the correct position. The […]

There are songs out there that just have a swing to them that you can’t help but get into. Decisions is a track of that sort. It’s immediately apparent when you start the track that there’s the groove in you, and it never leaves. It’s a song that will make you feel good without you realizing it. The track pulls […]

There are songs that have no description but are very easy to feel. Under Your Spell is just such a song. It slowly wraps itself around you and by the time you realise what’s going on you are already lost in it. That’s not a bad thing, it’s a good thing. This is a really satisfying instrumentation, breezy and layered. […]

Some songs simply make you want to turn up the volume. For the Weak is one of them. It comes in with a sense of urgency, a sense of restlessness, it’s alive, guitars crash in. No soft start here. It goes for it and that confidence is contagious. There’s something very immediate about the energy of the track. It doesn’t […]

There are some songs that take some time to show themselves. Let Us In by The Shrubs is one of these. It slowly fades in, like it’s sneaking up on you, and you’re all in before you know it. This gradual development is one of what makes it so effective. The drums established the mood from the get-go. This pulse […]

Some songs are instant hits and I believe that War Killer does just that. From the beginning there is this kind of unrefined energy that is continually moving forward. It is loud and urgent, but not faux. There’s a reason for this. There are many songs that attempt to be meaningful, perhaps, but this one does feel like it’s from […]

It’s a beautiful piece of music, and Filip Dahl brings it back with a new instrumental, Flying High. Aside from the guitar playing, there are no vocals in here and that’s exactly what the song needs. Already on the first few notes you can hear there’s someone who understands how to let the guitar sing on its own and not […]

Stainvarp have brought it with something that really matters with the complete. The new offering of the Swedish outfit does not conceal its subject–this is parental love in the distorted guitars and the high-flying tones, and it has the full value of its emotional load. The song begins with a lyrical closeness. Plucked guitar and voice, exposed and mesmeric. Then […]

The Spitting Pips have something maniacally decadent about their “Vicious Circles”–a song that does not merely recount disorder, but literally flings you down into its intense, swirling core. The Llandudno quintet have created something truly visceral, the type of rock that makes you feel a bit dizzy and uncertain of what exactly has happened. The opening screeches of the wah […]