Epinions Recent Reviews for punkrawka

This is why I never write Epinions anymore

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 15:52:15 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - I've been stuck at 399 reviews on this site for months, partly due to being busy (just like everyone else), but also in large part because every time I get some free time, I debate between sitting down and writing a review, or going down to work on my...

Linkin Park stumbles while trying to extend their 15 Minutes

Sun, 20 May 2007 10:58:53 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - Linkin Park is releasing just their third studio album in seven years, but the band has cemented themselves as one of the last rap-metal groups that's still of mainstream relevance. Hy
brid
Theory and...

Chevelle slips just a bit with Vena Sera

Sat, 19 May 2007 13:57:26 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - With T
his
Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In), Chevelle instantly cemented themselves as heavyweights in the hard-rock/nü-metal scene. The album was a fusion of polished songwriting, raw emotion and heavy...

Soilwork balances Chaos and precision on their strongest release

Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:47:02 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - Soilwork is one of those odd cases where I developed a minor (OK, major) obsession with the band much faster than my Epinionating could keep up -- and so today, I find myself with the complete discography of a high-quality Swedish melodic metal band, and...

This doesn't Change the Pace of pop-punk, but it's a step forward

Sat, 31 Mar 2007 10:51:55 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - It's nice to see big-box chain stores pushing music that's genuinely new and undiscovered -- even major-label artists frequently lack exposure, and big "Find 'Em First" displays can be low-priced guides to such music. So I gambled on A Change of Pace's...

One-and-done major-label artist shows that Progress and pop-punk can mix

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 23:58:19 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - There's probably nothing worse than discovering a "one-and-done" artist after the "done" has already long since passed. Such was the case with my bargain-bin impulse buy of Fingertight's In the Name of Progress, the only major release from the...

Don't be a Foo, check this band out from their beginning

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 23:10:56 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - Today, everyone knows the Foo Fighters, one of the smash rock acts of the last decade. But in 1995, people knew only of the recently-demised Nirvana and its drummer, Dave Grohl. Grohl cut every instrumental and vocal track for a batch of songs that he...

Metal-core wannabes drop a Bomb in the scene

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:56:48 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - Computer-generated music recommendations are probably the wave of the future, bound to surpass traditional radio as the primary means of discovering new artists. But right now I'm pretty ticked off at them. You see, I got an E-mail from Amazon...

They're great live, if they don't Kill each other

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:33:11 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - "If you've seen one live/bio DVD, you've seen them all." If you've had the above thought about music DVDs from your favorite artists, you're not alone. For the most part, you get a severely edited glimpse into the band's career, in many ways...

36 Crazyfists doesn't Flame out on a much-delayed followup

Sun, 18 Mar 2007 11:11:23 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - At every turn, 36 Crazyfists have found a way to fly just below the radar of the US's burgeoning modern metal movement. They've been a major touring partner of metal-core giants Killswitch Engage, but either overseas or before the band became truly...

We get around -- with some help from our Garmin!

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 17:49:07 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - My fiance suffers the ill fate of having a birthday less than a month from Christmas. I always promised myself I'd never do the "birthday/Christmas" combined-gift thing for her, but then last year she asked for a GPS receiver. She said that since she...

Modern metal's Alpha males return for another round

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 21:40:13 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - Sevendust have established themselves, album after album, as a rarity in modern metal -- an uncompromising force with staying power. While the band has occasionally flirted with more melodic approaches, and seen recent sales declines, the basic formula...

An engaging follow-up to a breakthrough metal effort

Thu, 8 Mar 2007 23:13:58 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - Killswitch Engage cemented their status as the frontrunners of metal-core with T
he
End of Heartache, a seamless fusion of the brutal and the melodic that left fans hungering for more, and opened the floodgates...

Saliva Bloodies up a formula that had been working decently

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 00:21:33 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - Saliva has had a frustrating tendency to alternate their skill sets between albums, never pulling it all together at once. Their breakthrough Ev
ery
Six Seconds was gritty and full of attitude, but equally loaded...

Family Guy scores well on its first video-game adaptation

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 22:24:59 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - The tradition of video-game spinoffs from popular animated TV series is long and less than proud. The Simpsons franchise has pieced together a few enjoyable gaming experiences (to accompany more than a few duds), but for the most part, these...

Turn off the Sirens, it's just another metal-core band

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 21:46:02 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - With every musical movement comes a horse of followers to make a mockery of the pioneers. The latest example is the burgeoning metal-core movement, led into the mainstream by the likes of Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall, now spawning a slew of...

Ill Niño comes out from Undercover with an improved EP

Sun, 3 Dec 2006 22:20:25 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - Ill Niño represented a strange career track among their nü-metal peers -- after a strong debut, the band held together a decent sophomore effort before flaming out on a sloppy junior outing, an adventure that ended with an unceremonious drop...

Metal-core fails to Ruin its newcomers completely

Sat, 2 Dec 2006 18:16:46 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - With nü-metal more or less over and screamo basically DOA, the latest burgeoning movement in heavy music is metal-core, fusing traditional metal with elements of hardcore and producing efforts ranging from the popular Killswitch Engage to harder...

The Foo Fighters go bare-bones for their first live CD

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 18:26:28 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - To surprisingly little fanfare, the Foo Fighters dropped their first live album, Skin and Bones, recorded just this past August in Hollywood, during the band's acoustic tour. Note, I said acoustic -- nothing on the packaging indicates that...

Fear Before the March of Flames welcomes you to art-core

Thu, 9 Nov 2006 22:50:16 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - Fear Before the March of Flames was one of those bands whose names always darted around at the periphery of my musical experience, always associated with the metal-core scene that I cautiously enjoy but never quite getting my attention enough to actually...

Will the Deftones go gently into that good Night?

Tue, 7 Nov 2006 23:19:49 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - As nü-metal came and went, the Deftones displayed a staying power not granted to many of their peers, with a variety of visceral, powerful metal that got better and more varied with age. Even with a twist back toward a gritty style on their recent...

Trivium heads out on a misguided Crusade and falls flat

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 15:06:26 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - Trivium generated a lot of buzz with the release of A
scendancy,
even despite that album's maddening inconsistency. There was an ample dose of promise in that disc, that had critics tabbing the band as the next...

This debut isn't Fake, but it's less than original...

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 21:14:50 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and their debut Don't You Fake It have quietly assailed me from "New Music" and "Find Them First" displays, near a mix of artists I'm enjoying and artists I'm loathing. So it was with some hesitance that I grabbed the...

Welcome to modern rock's overlooked good side

Sun, 15 Oct 2006 16:13:49 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - Seeing some of the acts who persist in alternative rock leads many to the mistaken belief that rock has been all but killed by the growth of its many subgenres. But the truth of the matter is that, for every Nickelback out there, there's a much better...

Falling Away - Crossfade: Crossfade Falls Away on a weak sophomore outing

Mon, 2 Oct 2006 21:23:34 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author punkrawka - When Crossfade hit the map with their breakthrough single "Cold," their accompanying s
elf-titled
debut album was loaded with both predictability and promise. So their little-hyped follow-up Falling Away...