ARMORED SAINT – Punching The Sky
Heavy fucking metal. (8)
ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS – Apocrypha
Burton C. Bell quits Fear Factory and does post-punk/semi-goth. Lots to like here for Killing Joke fans, but the Deftones crowd should also appreciate. (7)
JELLO BIAFRA & THE GUANTANAMO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE – Tea Party Revenge Porn
The timing is perfect for a new Jello album featuring songs like “Satan’s Combover” and “Taliban USA”, which I figure the Trump campaign won’t be using anytime soon. (8)
DEAD LORD – Surrender
Shameless Thin Lizzy worship. We like that. (7)
FUZZ – III
They call themselves FUZZ for chrissakes, what do you think this sounds like? (7)
PALLBEARER – Forgotten Days
The best doom metal album of the year, probably. (8)
PUP – This Place Sucks Ass
Leftovers from the 2019 sessions for one of last year’s best albums, plus one new track, from Canadian pop-punks. (8)
ZEAL & ARDOR – Wake Of A Nation
Moving further away from black metal and getting more political, less satanic. Still interesting. (8)
THE OTHER STUFF
CLIPPING. – Visions Of Bodies Being Burned
The Yin to Run The Jewels’ Yang. (8)
FAITHLESS – All Blessed
I was listening to these guys in 1995. We were ALL listening to these guys in 1995. And I stopped listening to these guys around 2004, and a new Faithless album in 2020 when the idea of a rave or a big club night seems preposterous for all kinds of different reasons makes me feel really fucking old. But if you were even into the whole 90’s UK dance/post-trance scene, these guys were the cream of the crop back in the day and still deliver, even without Maxi Jazz. (8)
FUZZTONES – NYC
Garage rock revivalists celebrate their 40th anniversary with a tribute to their hometown covering the Ramones, New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Cramps, Blue Oyster Cult and, of course, Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York”. Fun as a novelty, but there are better Fuzztones albums out there. (6)
STURGILL SIMPSON – Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1
After being declared the Savior of Country Music he released a WTF synth-rock album, and now he does bluegrass versions of his songs. Obviously, this guy has zero fucks left to give. (7)
SONGHOY BLUES – Optimisme
Africa’s best band rocks like Tinariwen on steroids on spectacular third album. (8)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – Letter To You
Recorded live in the studio with the E Street Band over just 5 days, this feels urgent and sounds epic and it’s his best album since 1984’s “Born In The USA”, if not since 1980’s “The River”: A true late-career masterpiece. (9)
THIS IS THE KIT – Off Off On
Kate Stables’ strong fifth album is one of the better folk-infused albums to come out of the UK in the past few years. She brings to mind a strange time-warp combination of Sand Denny fronting a bearded Brooklyn-based indie rock band. (8)
FRANK TURNER & JON SNODGRASS – Buddies II: Still Buddies
Musician buddies kill some time during quarantine on distance collaboration album. Written in just one day and sounds like it. (6)
LAURA VEIRS – My Echo
Produced by her (now ex-) husband and this midst of them growing apart, Veirs’ new album can be read in multiple ways but every time it’s still a strong modern folk record, with rich, expansive strings adding texture to her storytelling. (8)
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