Relapse Records – Page 10 – Lollipop Magazine

Contaminated 5.0 – Review

July 2, 2003

Death, technical, sludge-y, grinding, stoner, and occasionally “weird.” The best are death metal gods. Some decent stuff with horrible crap in between.

Nile – In Their Darkened Shrines – Review

January 31, 2003

Extreme, guttural, thick and progressive, Nile delivering the somewhat expected snaky Middle Eastern lead patterns, twinned and beyond.

Mastodon – Remission – Review

November 22, 2002

Every chug of the guitar, every insane drum fill, every melting-face scream hits like a tsunami of Eyehategod records on fast-forward.

Burnt By The Sun – Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution – Review

June 28, 2002

Could this really be the same band that created a clumsy, directionless EP a year ago? Or did Botch and Mastodon fuse together without telling anyone?

Mastodon – Lifesblood – Review

April 12, 2002

Exquisite technicality embracing neo-Sabbath doominess coupled with eerie melodies of early ’90s death metal, punctuated by Clutch’s down and dirty aesthetics.

Pig Destroyer – Prowler in the Yard – Review

March 8, 2002

Three-piece, no bassist, all-out gore/grind madness. All the songs fall under a minute-and-a-half. Down and dirty, raw as fuck, and violence-inducing.

Amorphis – Am Universum – Review

February 22, 2002

This singular sound is a combination of doomy, death-like melodies with completely conventional rock instrumentation. I find it a bit naggingly fence-sitting.

Deceased – Behind the Mourner’s Veil – Review

February 22, 2002

Three excellent originals plus a video track (for a creepy Blair Witch-style tale) and covers of Tankard, Anthrax, D.R.I., and Warfare.

Burnt By The Sun – Review

February 22, 2002

All the enthusiasm and none of the focus that grindcore/tech metal requires, just like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, every band on Hydra Head.

Neurosis – A Sun That Never Sets – Review

February 8, 2002

Welcome to a kindler, gentler, and less brutal Neurosis, and one of the best albums of 2001.