On the fantastic Pick Up Your Head, Middle Class Rut has exceeded all expectations regarding how a second album should sound. That sound itself is fuller, the songwriting is stronger, and the musicianship is just brilliant. While both albums are great in their own right, Pick Up Your Head is definitely a step beyond No Name No Color. “Born Too Late” is, to put it bluntly, an explosion and might be the remnants of No Name No Color being shed [...]
Killing Joke, The Singles Collection 1979-2012: Album Review
Saying that a Killing Joke best of album is going to be good is like saying that the sun is going to rise in the morning. It’s inevitable in both cases. On Spinefarm’s 3-disc The Singles Collection 1979-2012 fans of their earlier post-punk anthems can join together with fans of the heavier band the mid to late ’90′s saw them become. If you’re not a fan already then this is the perfect introduction because in addition to the 2-disc best [...]
A Pale Horse Named Death, Lay My Soul To Waste: Album Review
A Pale Horse Named Death is near and dear to me in the Pop!Blerd world. Nevermind that the band features both of Type O Negative’s former skin bashers, APHND’s debut And Hell Will Follow Me was one of my my first “Metal Monday” volumes, one of the first bands I even mentioned in my absolute first column for the site and the first to get shared online by someone other than me and the P!B staff. But enough about me, [...]
Filter, The Sun Comes Out Tonight: Album Review
Filter is back with a vengeance on The Sun Comes Out Tonight, the band’s sixth album. Richard Patrick and his newest partner-in-crime Johnny Radtke (Formerly of Kill Hannah) have concocted an incredibly solid release that moves the band forward but has its roots firmly planted in Short Bus/Title Of Record territory with some hints of The Amalgamut thrown in for good measure. “We Hate It When You Get What You Want” is the way to start an album. It immediately [...]
Battlefield of the Mind soundtrack: Album Review
Never mind the ridiculously heavy subject matter in the documentary of the same name for the moment, it’s the heavy music of Battlefield Of The Mind that has a “mind” of its’ own and sets this apart from other film companion pieces. Spearheaded by Staind’s Mike Mushok, the soundtrack features collaborations from Mushok, Dave Ellefson, Pete Murray, Troy McLawhorn, and a plethora of hard rock’s elite. Eye Empire begins with the fitting “War Isn’t Over Yet” pummeling your senses into [...]
Today In Timberlake News: 20/20 Part 2 + Tour Dates Announced!
Justin Timberlake has reclaimed his throne as the biggest artist in pop music without breaking a sweat-never mind the six year layoff he took between FutureSex/LoveSounds and this year’s 20/20 Experience, which is already closing in on double-platinum status. It looks as though JT is compensating for having been absent from music for so long, though. A 20/20 sequel is already in the works and scheduled for September 30th. Interestingly, that date also comes just as the deluge of big-name [...]
Metal Monday Volume 121 (5.6.13)
The magic that Kylesa mainstays Phillip Cope and Laura Pleasants continually bring to the table is so apparent on their latest, Ultraviolet. With Ultraviolet, Pleasants and Cope are finally off into the stratosphere and making the music that Kylesa is supposed to make: brooding, heavy, and unequivocally different from their peers. On their latest, the Georgian rockers are out of the sludge as Pleasants takes center stage and Cope takes a step back vocally. From the opening slammer “Exhale” it [...]
!!!, THR!!!ER: Album Review
A band I will never be allowed to see live because my wife has called “dibs” and needs to get her dance on solo whenever they’re in town, !!! (Chk Chk Chk) is bringing the groove back once again on their latest album entitled THR!!!ER. Welcome to the party, the after party, and everything in between. This is the kind of setting !!! provides the soundtrack for and THR!!!ER is, quite simply, the best party album of 2013 Whether it’s [...]
T.W.i.N.S., “Found A Flat”: The Viewfinder
Like the deranged cousin of “Our House”, T.W.i.N.’s debut single “Found A Flat” is hypnotic pop that will stick in your head long after the final note plays itself out. Duo Laurence and Hugo went from composing the gay porn series “Indie Boys” to this and while I can’t say I was previously familiar with their score work, I can say that if it sounds like this it might be worth checking out (Kids, ask your parents first)! One of [...]
Ghost BC, Infestissumam: The Pop!Blerd Review
Being a heavy music fan, I had definitely heard the rumblings of praise in regards to then known as Ghost, now known as Ghost BC. Somehow, a promo of their first album remained ignored until I eventually found myself being drawn in after the Decibel cover feature this year and the subsequent unveiling of “Year Zero” in advance of the release of Infestissumam, their sophomore release. That said, I’m not sure if listening to and liking Ghost BC makes me [...]
Metal Monday Volume 119 (4.22.13)
This is not the same Hacride who released Lazarus back in 2009. This is a more focused and determined Hacride sporting a new vocalist and drummer and a positively destructive fourth album called Back To Where You’ve Never Been. The other French metal band you need to pay attention to, Hacride deliver a more concise yet just as potent opus with songs never lingering past the five minute mark on average (Lazarus opened with a fifteen minute track by comparison) [...]
Metal Monday Volume 118 (4.15.13)
Rob Zombie has been a hit or miss artist for years now. At least for me, nothing he ever produced musically after 2001′s The Sinister Urge has been as solid as his late White Zombie work and early solo releases. That’s not to say he’s put out bad albums or singles, it just felt like nothing had that spark or focus that his earlier output had. Perhaps directing was a distraction as well considering that Sinister’s… follow up Educated Horses took [...]
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