Lollipop Magazine

Cursed – III: Architects of Troubled Sleep – Review

March 1, 2008

This Canadian noise/hardcore band deliver the blackened goods. One for Deathwish Inc., two for Goodfellow, home to bands who don’t fuck around.

Intronaut – Void – Review

January 5, 2007

This is progressive in that it experiments with sounds, fucks with rhythms, and features odd tempo constructions to cause a big bang of brutal cacophony.

The Handshake Murders – Usurper – Review

January 1, 2007

No emo metal for these Arkansas noise mongers. Feedback and D-tuned goodness like Machine Head’s debut, and some pit-swirl breakdown for the moshers.

The Smackdown – Someone Has to Kill the Headwriter – Review

October 6, 2006

Miles from NY hardcore; think of Refused with the Energizer bunny up their rectums and you’d have a clearer idea of what Sweden’s The Smackdown sounds like.

Passion – The Fierce Urgency of Now – Review

September 1, 2006

The Darkest Hour riffs are a little simple, but the drummer is a freakin’ beast, tackling death, blast, thrash gallop, and all else under the blackened sun.

The Abominable Iron Sloth – Review

April 14, 2006

Members of Will Haven and Oddman playing sludge metal like EyeHateGod. Screamo vocals, trudging riffery, and the odd d-tuned swing of an ogre lumbering along.

Quell – One Man’s Struggle with the English Language – Review

May 12, 2005

Quell is like falling down a flight of stairs. Dizzy, panicky, sometimes painful, but it takes you somewhere.

Premonitions of War – The True Face of Panic – Review

July 2, 2003

Seven songs in just over 18 minutes, there’s no time to jazz up with melodies or anything cute and fancy; they serve up dirty metal, grindcore, and noisecore.

Shogun – What Sin has Twisted – Review

August 16, 2002

Colorado’s Shogun have always impressed me with their kinetic, hyper-noise filled numbers, but for some reason, this four-song EP does nothing for me.