Brian Varney – Page 29 – Lollipop Magazine

The Glasspack – Powderkeg – Review

June 14, 2002

Rock and roll bands sing about drugs. The Glasspack sing about drugs. The Glasspack says “Fuck the system.”

The Catheters – Static Delusions and Stone-Still Days – Review

June 14, 2002

Guy at the label said it sounded like Mudhoney circa 1989, but the attack is too clean and furious, the guitars aren’t as fuzzy, and the songs are too catchy.

Judas Priest – Turbo – Review

May 31, 2002

The most reviled item in the original lineup’s catalogue, the one title whose mere mention garners a snicker. This is unquestionably the band’s low point.

Judas Priest – Ram It Down – Review

May 31, 2002

Launching with a trademark Halford scream, the album launches into the speed metal of the title track. Though the Turbo influence has not dissipated completely.

Judas Priest – Painkiller – Review

May 31, 2002

Scott Travis’s double kick-drum energizes the band. Downing and Tipton whip out some of their best guitar work and Halford does some of his finest screaming.

Judas Priest – Live – Review

May 31, 2002

As live albums go, it’s OK, but because of its reliance on the weak Turbo material, it pales in comparison to Unleashed in the East.

Lost Goat – The Dirty Ones – Review

May 31, 2002

Treading some odd middle ground between angular, atmospheric indie rock and floorboard-rumbling ’70s-flavored hard blues rock, it’s familiar yet also fresh.

Electric Frankenstein – Supersuckers – Welcome to Splitsville – Review

May 31, 2002

Supersuckers and Electric Frankenstein are two of the better and longer-lived bands playing punk & garage-derived rock and roll, though their approaches differ.

Down – II: Bustle In Your Hedgerow – Review

May 31, 2002

The Southern-Sab-metal-dragass is all over some tracks, but the pallet has been expanded. Surprises include the ragged acoustic beauty of “Where I’m Going.”

The Dictators – D.F.F.D. – Review

May 31, 2002

First Dictators album in 23 years, D.F.F.D. opens with “Who Will Save Rock and Roll?,” a single from a couple of years ago that should cast aside any doubts.