Pacer - "Pacer" - Cassette
(Pacer 910-762-1872 Wilmington, NC)
{Grog}
E-mail Pacer Pacer Web Site

The Paladins - "Slippin' In" - CD
(Ruf Records / Platnium Distribution)
The Paladines are a three piece rock-a-billy outfit that will take you back in time to a place where greased backed hair, leopard skin apparel, and motor cycle jackets were king. The songs are a collection of stripped down version of country music. The songs are powerful and efficient. They cover Strong Boy by Graham Parsons. The guitars will set you on fire. A guaranteed toe tapper. This record ain't for no squares. {Gail}

Pennywise - "Straight Ahead" - CD
(Epitaph 2798 Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90026)
Pennywise is back with their second release since the death of their bassist. This one finds PW heading back to their older sound, after their last which was more or less a memorial to their old bass player. For those of you unfamiliar with PW, I find them to be a good melodic hardcore band in the vein of early Bad Religion and many "Epitaph" bands. {Grog}
Epitaph Web Site

The Pietasters - "Awesome Mix Tape #6" - CD
(Hellcat Records 2798 Sunset Blvd 211 Hollywood, CA 90026)
Another great release from the Pietasters. They play some of the best mellow ska in the world. They have a very smooth, stylish and sultry feel to their songs with a bit of swinger hipness. Their song Wasted could be this issues theme song. "Drinking beer for breakfast, makes the whole day painless..." Smooth looking back cover photo where they look like they are in "Resivior Dogs". Great, get this now and chill. {Grog}
Epitaph Web Site

Piz - "The Zid" - Cassette
A Cornucopia of noises, samples, dubs, blurbs, vague movie references, clamor, hubbub, and pure pandemonium. In simple terms, a hootenanny that will make you feel like your doctor slipped Ritalin into your Pez dispenser and that you are watching a marathon of Pee Wee Herman cartoons. There are a total of fifty songs in all brought to you by the McFee brothers: Jonbobby, Bobjohnny, Bobbobby, and Jonjohnny. I love it!!!! {Gail}
The Piz Web Site

Rose Polenzani - "Anybody" - CD
(Daemon Records P.O. Box 1207 Decatur, GA 30031)
The thing that kills this release is the "sameness" of all the songs. At first I thought that the first tune was overly long, however when I looked at my c.d. player I saw that I had listened to the first four tunes already. Too bad, because I found the vocals and the acoustically mellow music to be quite lovely. They just needed something more to be done with them. {Mite}
Daemon Web Site

Dan Potthast - "Eyeballs" - CD
()
I'm sorry but this c.d. just got on my nerves. I don't know if it is his voice, the "sameness" of the songs. I think that it's more of a combination of the two. What you basically have here is vocals and an acoustic guitar. I would say the underlying sound is closest to a combination of Billy Bragg and Guided by Voices. {Mite}

Potshot - "Rock'n'Roll - CD
(Asian Man Records P.O. Box 35585 Monte Sereno, CA 95030)
(Potshot c/o TV-FReak Records Kikuchi Bld 2F 2-1-9 Kitazawa Setagaya-ku Tokyo Japan 155-0031)
This is a Japanese ska-punk band who sound similar to Catch 22 (who happen to be one of my favorite ska-punk bands) in style, ability and sound. However, the vocals just throw me. I just can't get used to the heavy Japanese accent. I wonder how it would sound if the lyrics were sung in Japanese? It's like he's trying too hard to sound American. Other than that they are a top notch band. {Grog}
E-mail Asian Man Asian Man Web Site

Pressure Point - "Cross to Bear" - CD
(GMM Records P.O. Box 15234 Atlanta, GA 30333)
{Superchunk Steve}

Prophecy - "Contagion" - CD
(Pavement Music Inc P.O. Box 50550 Phoenix, AZ 85076)
A cool as hell mixture of industrial and death metal. Basically a mixture of Fear Factory/My Dying Bride/Stabbing Westward. Faster than humanly possibly industrial drum blasts (ala fear factory), kewl kreepy keyboards , and goth / death metal mixed vocal styles. A must have for fans of any of the previously mentioned bands ! 10/10 {Johnny Death}
E-mail Pavement Pavement Web Site

Reach the Sky - "So Far from Home" - CD
(Victory Records P.O. Box 146546 Chicago, IL 60614)
Can you say Obsessed? I started to listen to this disc and heard some standard hardcore, with lyrics about a girl who broke the singer's heart. Then this continued throughout the whole release, except for the one song about runaways. Anyway, I can understand about getting your heart broken and going on a bit (I'm guilty of this), but to do a whole album is just beyond. Hopefully this was about more than one girl…but then I'd have to say he has rotten luck. One cool thing is they list and support two organizations that help with missing and exploited children. {Grog}
Victory Web Site

Ryker's - "Life's A Gamble" - CD
(Century Media Records 1453-A 14th Street #324 Santa Monica, CA 90404)
More hardcore / heavy metal crossover music from Century Media. This is hardcore for the new millennium. This release will probably be enjoyed more by the hardcore fan that the death metal heads. The band throws in a few covers of their favorite hardcore bands like Hyrax and Gerry and the Pacemakers. Heavy and aggressive. 7/10 {Johnny Death}
Century Media Web Site

Scared of Chaka - "Tired of You" - CD
(Hopeless Records P.O. Box 7495 Van Nuys, CA 91409-7495)
{Superchunk Steve}
Hopeless Web Site

Scrap - "Scrap" - Cassette
(Scrap 411 S. 17th Street Wilmington, NC 28401)
The band is fronted by a James Hetfield look alike and is based in North Carolina.

Pretty good sound for a demo tape. A good sound mix on the tape, obviously mixed on some professional equipment . Much better than other demos I have heard in terms of quality and production. Probably best described as a hardcore metal outfit. Pretty good demo release. 7/10 {Johnny Death}

Scratch Habit - "Scratch Habit" - Cassette
(El Sabado Records 1442 A Walnut St #407 Berkeley, CA 94709)
Nasty sounding death metal. The cassette I listened to seemed to have pretty poor quality.

Guitars sound like they are tuned way too high for a metal band. Drum sound is equally poor. You need to heavy and aggressive drums if you are going to have a metal band. Vocals are cool and nasty sounding. Get some better production and you might have something guys. 5/10 {Johnny Death}
El Sabado Web Site

Screamfeeder - "Kitten Licks" - CD
(Time Bomb Recordings / BMG)
This band reminds me of the type of bands that you would here on college radio stations in the early 90's(Blake Babies, Dinosaur Jr., etc.) The sound is guitar/bass/drums based with either male or female vocals taking the lead on various songs. {Mite}
Time Bomb Web Site

Showoff - "Showoff" - CD
(Maverick Records)
Yet another alternative musi-clone? It's that punk-pop sound that all the alternative rock radio stations love to play intermixed with that cheesy alternative-pop sound that the same stations like to play as well. Maybe I'm being a little to rough on this band, but then I hear another 'made-for-radio' song on this release and realize that bands need to start doing something original for a change. {Mite}
Maverick Web Site

The Skatalites (Meet King Tubby) - "Heros of Reggae in Dub" - CD
(Guava Jelly P.O. Box 862558 Los Angeles, CA 90086-2558)
The Skatalites were form in Jamaica in 1964. They defined ska as a "driving, assertive, and truly homegrown music appropriate for Jamaica." This collection was recorded in 1975 over a two month period. King Tubby mixed the record and he left his musical signature of each of the tracks. King Tubby is known for single handedly inventing dub by bringing up the bass and the drums, dropping the vocal in and out of the mix, and bringing in a range of reverb and sound effects. The music is light, bouncy, soulful, and at times hypnotic. A classic!! {Gail}
Guava Jelly Web Site

Solar Twins - "Solar Twins" - CD
(Maverick Records)
No sooner than I tell someone that Maverick Records puts out nothing but good releases, Grog hands me Solar Twins to reviews. To put it in a nutshell, this band sucks. It's nothing more than cookie-cutter music. The song that really pushed me over the edge is their cover of Rock the Casbah. They managed to mutilate this song even worse than Tori Amos did Nirvana's, Smells Like Teen Spirit. Once again this sucks. {Mite}
Maverick Web Site

Speak No Evil - "Speak No Evil" - CD
(Universal Records)
Creed meets Soundgarden…you do the math. {Grog}

Static-X - "Wisconsin Death Trip" - CD
(Warner Brothers Records)
A roller coaster ride of death metal, industrial, and a hint of disco. I swear I hear a little influence from K.C. and the Sunshine Band and Rob Zombie. Play this one loud kids. It will piss off your parents and your neighbors. Static X seem to be fasinated by death row, weapons,and cartoons. The music full of rage and loathing with a great disco beat. They are touring with Fear Factory and Dope. Get this one. You won't be sorry. {Gail}
Warner Brothers Web Site
Static-X Web Site

The Step Kings - "Let's Get it On!" - CD
(Fantastic Plastic Records P.O. Box 212 Summit, NJ 07902-0212)
These guys sound a lot like Hed Pe, with that Southern California blend sound. Except, The Step Kings are from Jersey and make a hell of a racket for a three piece. They throw in two joke soundclips regarding the proper usuage of the word fuck. Unfortunately they also have a horrid cover of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall Part II" on here. I like the band, however when I hear bands like this I always picture a bunch of testosterone laden jocks jumping into a pit thinking that it's a Limp Bizcut show... {Grog}

Basic heavy metal boarding on hardcore metal at times. Standouts include cover of Pink Floyds "Another Brick In the Wall". This is a unique punkish / hardcore version of the song. 7/10 {Johnny Death}

Stupid Babies Go Mad - "Turbo, Trash, Frenzy!" - 7"
(Acme Records P.O. Box 441 Dracut, MA 01826)
Get outta the way, this is fast pissed off Japanese punk played with abandon. I think the title sums it up. This is one of the best band names I have ever seen. If nothing else it would rate 4 out of five stars on the name alone. {Grog}

Subterra - "The Speed of Pain" - CD
(American Horse Records P.O. Box 90485 Houston, TX 77290)
{Superchunk Steve}
American Horse Web Site

Supersuckers - "The Evil Powers of Rock 'n' Roll" - CD
(Twenty 14 / Koch Entertainment 740 Broadway New York, NY 10003)
{Superchunk Steve}
Twenty 14 Web Site

Swim - "Safe Unless" - CD
(Light Sweet Crude Records 11 Semel Ave Iselin, NJ 08830)
(Swim 4717 Manchester Rd Middletown, OH 45042)
An alternative rock band from Middletown, Ohio. This is a really great cd that reminds me of Candlebox and the Goo Goo Dolls at times. Very cool violin and cello parts throughout the album. Check this band out if they are touring in your area ! 9/10 {Johnny Death}
E-mail Light Sweet Crude E-mail Swim

Templars - "Omne Datum Optimum" - CD
(GMM Records P.O. Box 15234 Atlanta, GA 30333)
{Superchunk Steve}

Sonia Tetlow Band - "Close to Me / Madness" - 7"
(Elbow Records P.O. Box 2461 Decatur, GA 30031)
This is a really great sounding release which brings to mind Siouxsie and the Banshees, but with a bit of punk-pop thrown in. Very different from what is going on lately and a welcome change. {Grog}

This Planet - "My Angel" - Cassette
()
{Grog}

Dave Thomas & the Pale Orchestra - "Mirror Man" - CD
(Thirsty Ear Records 274 Madison Ave Suite 804 New York, NY 10016)
Mirror Man sounds like a psychedelic poetry jam or the soundtrack to experimental theater. In other words it's very weird. The weirdness is appealing at first, but I suggest listening to this c.d. in little chunks because it can be a bit overwhelming at times. If you like freaky stuff then this is the perfect c.d. for you. {Mite}
Thirsty Ear Web Site

Trial Balloon - "Fool One Another" - CD
(Order online through www.cdbaby.com/tb)
This band was voted best band in a local paper last year despite having never played live. This stuffing of the ballot box helps this bands to write a bio that makes them look better than they really are. Actually the musicianship is pretty good. The sound has that "one-man musician" home-tape feel. The songs just never grabbed me though. In the end all I have to say is that if you are going to stuff a ballot box and tout yourself as "being voted best band" you had better live up to that claim. This band doesn't. {Mite}
E-mail Trial Balloon Trial Balloon Web Site

The Trouble - "Nobody Laughs Anymore" - CD
(GMM Records P.O. Box 15234 Atlanta, GA 30333)
Punk Rock dammit! They stuck in my mind but didn't sound to different, but I was intrieged by the picture on the back cover where the singer is wearing a Smiths shirt and the guitarist is wearing a Slapshot one. The vocals are maily hardcore but at times remind me of Minor Threat. Lots of great lyrics about growing up and consiquences of ones actions...Youth is wasted on the Young is very true. At the end they surprised me by doing a great cover of Insight by Joy Divison...Great! {Grog}

Walter Trout & the Free Radicals - "Livin' Every Day" - CD
(Ruf Records)
This cd is Blues period. Any fan of Stevie Ray Vaughn or any other great guitar related blues release will love this cd. 70 minutes of classic blues music. Get this cd and feel the blues. 9/10. {Johnny Death}
The Walter Trout Web Site

Back to Top