Lollipop Magazine

The Sights – Got What We Want – Review

February 14, 2003

The Sights, like Cheap Trick, so deftly combine the raw, sleazy swagger of classic Stones with the sterling pop sensibilities of the Beatles.

The Shakedowns – Move – Review

February 14, 2003

Nice-guy punk’n’roll with hard rock touches in guitarville. Feel like they germinated out of a hopped-up power-pop combo, whittled into more of a gut punch.

Avantasia – The Metal Opera Pt. II – Review

February 14, 2003

An army of vocalists, many distinct, some cliché, each committed to enunciation like a diction school, most recalling the many facets of Bruce Dickinson.

Assemblage 23 – Defiance – Review

February 14, 2003

While Assemblage 23 projects the image of high energy and fast-paced music, the songs “Cocoon” and “Lullaby” offer a break, clocking in at well under 100 bpm.

The Paper Chase – Hide the Kitchen Knives – Review

February 14, 2003

He got the band together and cut a solo thing. That thing is this, and it’s a hair-ripping, nail-biting stress factory, especially when it’s quiet.

Theory of Ruin – Counter-Culture Nosebleed – Review

February 14, 2003

Lopsided, skewed, painfully dissonant, and never dull. Reviving the lost art of orgasmic noise metal; may the lost souls mourning AmRep look this way.

The Last Drop – Where Were You Living in a Year From Now? – Review

February 14, 2003

Guitar rock with legit rhythm section workin’ mid-tempos. So it’s not far off Bush or Silverchair, really, a little “groovier”/”thuddier.”

The Kovenant – In Times Before the Light – Review

February 14, 2003

Before they went industrial metal, The Kovenant were an industrially-noisy Norwegian black metal band. This is the band’s reworked and remixed ’95 debut.

The Great Kat – Wagner’s War – Review

February 14, 2003

Man, ya gotta love The Great Kat. An absolute demoness shredder on both guitar and violin, plus screaming vox, blood-drenched and bursting-boobie photos.

The Epoxies – Review

February 14, 2003

Tinfoil hat “new wave” ’80s roots intensified and streamlined away from the hinky-jerkiness in favor of a pushier punk and roll take on such goofiness.