Album Reviews
At the Gates Open the Door to Experimentation on The Nightmare of Being: Review
The Lowdown: Swedish death metal giants At the Gates made one of heavy music’s most influential albums – 1995’s Slaughter of the Soul, which had a huge influence on the wave of American metalcore that followed it. In 2014, the band returned after a long hiatus, and have since delivered two respectable albums that mostly follow the template that they created in the ’90s. Their latest effort, The Nightmare of Being, bucks that trend in favor of wild experimentation. The Good: While Slaughter of the Soul solidified the melodic death metal template — Iron Maiden riffs over thrash beats filtered through the famed Swedish Buzzsaw guitar tone, with a little industrial here and there to spice things up — in some ways it ended that genre’s period of vast exploration. The irony is that At the Gates’...
McKinley Dixon Deftly Navigates Grief and Healing on For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her: Review
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-07T15:45:52+00:00“>May 7, 2021 | 11:45am ET The Lowdown: From the first track of McKinley Dixon’s For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her, you’ll be floored by the Richmond, Virginia-based artist’s ability to marry extremely personal storytelling with dazzling, and often unpredictable, instrumentation. The final installment in a five-year trilogy, the record builds on the legacy of 2016’s Who Taught You to Hate Yourself? and 2018’s The Importance of Self Belief. Across each of these works, Dixon sounds like a highly-trained musician, with melodic arrangements that induce a visceral reaction. Coupled with his gripping delivery and impeccable lyricism, it’s hard to believe Dixon h...
Weezer’s Van Weezer Is All Big Riffs with Little Payoff: Review
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-06T22:09:22+00:00“>May 6, 2021 | 6:09pm ET The Lowdown: We’ve spent the first months of 2021 wrestling with some truly difficult questions. How will the pandemic end? Can America recover from its increasingly violent political polarization? Is Weezer actually good again? While the answers to those first two are still forthcoming, the last one seemed more straightforward — upon its surprise arrival in January, the band’s 14th studio album, OK Human, delivered some of Weezer’s most lyrically confessional and musically adventurous songs in recent memory. That record largely succeeded thanks to its grounded relatability, two words which seem unlikely to describe the followup to OK Hu...
Iceage Bring the Storm on Fifth Album Seek Shelter: Review
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-04T04:00:21+00:00“>May 4, 2021 | 12:00am ET The Lowdown: Danish rock experimentalists Iceage will return with their fifth album Seek Shelter on May 7, just a few days past the three-year anniversary of their 2018 acclaimed album Beyondless. Seek Shelter acts as Iceage’s own sonic laboratory, where they test hypotheses about introducing a significantly wider array of soundscapes into their catalogue. Seek Shelter is proof positive that these experiments paved the way to successful results, as it’s the band’s most inventive album to date. Their latest not only illustrates the breadth of Iceage’s range, but also that they’re not afraid to creatively roll the dice — and in the case o...
Dropkick Murphys Turn Up That Dial with a New Collection of Sing-Along Punk Anthems: Review
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-30T18:05:08+00:00“>April 30, 2021 | 2:05pm ET The Lowdown: Dropkick Murphys have been going strong for 25 years, churning out infectious Celtic punk anthems and playing to raucous fans at sold-out shows all over the world. The Massachusetts band is back with its 10th album, Turn Up That Dial, marking the veteran outfit’s first new LP in more than four years. Founding co-vocalist Ken Casey stopped playing bass after a 2018 motorcycle accident left him with nerve damage in his fingers, leaving him to roam the front of the stage with co-vocalist Al Barr. After a couple hundred shows performed like this supporting 2017’s 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory, this new dynamic has spar...
Manchester Orchestra Retain Their Majestic Magic on The Million Masks of God: Review
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-27T15:55:23+00:00“>April 27, 2021 | 11:55am ET The Lowdown: Manchester Orchestra have evolved considerably since 2006’s relatively rowdy and simplistically produced debut LP, I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child. That’s not to imply that it’s lackluster in any way, but rather to note how it offered only glimpses of the grand, luscious, and welcoming Americana/indie rock that they’d achieve fully with 2017’s A Black Mile to the Surface. Led by songwriting duo Andy Hull and Robert McDowell – and rounded out by Andy Prince and Tim Very – it was a gracefully melodic, emotional, and dense collection that ranked alongside the best modern entries into those styles. Luckily, follow-up The Mi...
Luther Vandross Seized the Moment and Redefined R&B with Never Too Much: Classic Review
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-22T17:20:55+00:00“>April 22, 2021 | 1:20pm ET April 20th marked what would’ve been the 70th birthday of the late, great Luther Vandross. To celebrate his memory and musical legacy, we’re holding a giveaway for a one-of-a-kind prize pack, featuring Never Too Much and This Is Christmas on vinyl, plus a special plaque commemorating the icon’s gold and platinum singles. Visit here for more information and a chance to win. And in the meantime, enjoy Rashad Grove’s classic review of Vandross’ game-changing debut, Never Too Much, which will turn 40 later this summer. Nobody aware of his backstory would ever characterize the emerging stardom of Luther Vandross as an overnight success. Va...
Cannibal Corpse Expand Their Brutal Palate with Violence Unimagined: Review
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-15T18:14:52+00:00“>April 15, 2021 | 2:14pm ET The Lowdown: American death metal institution Cannibal Corpse continue their almost-unbroken string of gory and mosh-worthy killing sprees with Violence Unimagined, their first album with longtime producer Erik Rutan as a full-time guitarist. The result is one of their most subtle and disquieting albums – but subtle is a relative term here. Every Cannibal Corpse album is a nonstop metal assault, and Violence Unimagined is no exception. The Good: While the fortunes of American death metal as a whole have waxed and waned, Cannibal Corpse’s career has remained steady, thanks to a solid lineup and reliable recorded output. Their string of...
Amigo the Devil Digs Further Into His Own Voice on Born Against: Review
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-15T22:13:59+00:00“>April 15, 2021 | 6:13pm ET The Lowdown: Amigo the Devil is back with his second full-length album, Born Against, the follow-up to his acclaimed 2018 debut, Everything Is Fine. The Austin-based artist also known as Danny Kiranos has been winning over fans with his unique dark Americana vibe that pairs clever storytelling with an infectious musical soundtrack. While Amigo continues to tackle the macabre subjects that were featured on his first LP, Born Against offers a more introspective look at the dark side of the world. The Good: There’s not one single genre that can apply to Amigo the Devil, and that’s a good thing. While his music is deeply rooted in folk, h...
BROCKHAMPTON Get Introspective on the Soul-Searching ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE: Review
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-09T16:21:05+00:00“>April 9, 2021 | 12:21pm ET The Lowdown: We’re now deep into the heart of hip-hop’s psychedelic era. As modern-day rappers and producers have begun to embrace the use of psilocybin and LSD, the mind-altering effects are starting to bleed into the music. But for the same reason that shrooms are being legalized for therapeutic purposes, these drugs, if taken in the right doses and circumstances, can inspire deep reflection and serious psychological growth. Not that BROCKHAMPTON needed any help to gaze inwardly. This Texas crew opt for introspection over braggadocio and thoughtfulness over arrogance. But the tone of their sixth full-length and the subject matter wi...
Taylor Swift Honors Her Own Vision on Fearless (Taylor’s Version): Review
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-09T21:50:09+00:00“>April 9, 2021 | 5:50pm ET The Lowdown: “For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work,” Taylor Swift wrote in a 2019 social media post after her longtime label, Big Machine, sold her master recordings without her consent. Swift had been unable to gain control of her first six albums through contract negotiations, and then Scooter Braun, who’d demonstrated public enmity with the singer-songwriter, was collecting the checks. (Braun’s company has since sold the masters to Shamrock Holdings for $300 million.) What’s one of the world’s brightest superstars and the preeminent pop poet of a generation to do? The answer: Do it all again. Swift has begun to re-...
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Charge Forward into the Unknown on G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END: Review
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-07T16:31:02+00:00“>April 7, 2021 | 12:31pm ET Editor’s Note: Our review looks at the physical version of this release, which consists of four total tracks — two long, two shorter. On many streaming services, the longer tracks have been broken down into a total of eight tracks. The actual music remains the same. The Lowdown: Godspeed You! Black Emperor have always played at being impenetrable. The Montreal post-rock cooperative give their albums and songs difficult, often poetic names (Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress, “[…+The Buildings They Are Sleeping Now]”), and the group would much rather hide in the shadows of large, projected images at their live shows than drink in the sp...
