Manipulation's debut album delivers eleven tracks of intense and frantic hardcore that is relentless from start to finish. In a little over sixteen minutes, there is absolutely no let-up in any way, shape or form in the absolute pummelling that is produced. Not a hint of a breath is taken as Manipulation go out to crush everything in its way. That might make Manipulation seem somewhat one-dimensional and in all honesty, it is: The favoured approach is direct and fast (tempos do vary on occasions, but not by much) and packed with venom. [more]

Following a string of EPs and split releases, Crazy & The Brains have issued their first proper full-length, Let Me Go. C&tB's previous releases were rooted in garage rock and spiced with a xylophone. These releases were energetic, fun and quirky, but it was unclear if the arrangement could lead to a fulfilling full-length. Perhaps against the odds, Let Me Go maintains the the frantic energy of the band's earlier releases, but expands into a fulfilling, textured experience. As before, the band is based in equal parts San Francisco hyped up garage rock and '50s frat rock. [more]

Morning Glory's 2012 LP Poets Were My Heroes was surprising for a few reasons. Namely, records with long gestation periods are very rarely good and usually wind up being decadent, bloated and overblown. But while Poets, in the works on and off for almost a decade, was ambitious, it was also really, really good. The album's endcap, "Born to December" which is now being released as a single and probably as an endcap to the album's promotional cycle, summed up why the album was so successful. It opens with a live orchestra. [more]

"My War" is the first official media released by FLAG, the group featuring former Black Flag members Keith Morris, Chuck Dukowski, Dez Cadena and Bill Stevenson, as well as Descendents guitarist Stephen Egerton. It's a daring choice that underscores Black Flag's formidable catalogue as well as the inherent talent of each of the members of FLAG. Penned by Dukowski, "My War" is one of the most enduring Black Flag numbers. [more]

This has got to be one of the most anticipated releases of 2013, or at least for me it has been. Big Eyes' debut album Hard Life, which came out back in 2011, was all about catchy tracks that gave a sense of bands such as The Ramones and The Muffs. However, subsequent releases including the single Back From The Moon which was also on Grave Mistake, have hinted at a band with some space to grow. As such, the appreciation for this threesome (once of Brooklyn, NY but now firmly ensconced in Seattle, WA) has been growing steadily, to the point where they're no longer flying so far under the radar of the music fans and press. [more]

Getting a two or four-track split isn't ever really enough to digest, especially when it's a great record. Boxer and Eyes Wide up the ante with three tracks each and this represents another one of those times, when you go in with no real expectations, only to be blown away by the sheer power of the album. Each band offer something with so much emotional tissue and connectivity in this untitled split, that it'll surely be on repeat for a little longer than you'd initially anticipate. It has that strong sense of urgency in its musical push. Boxer hail from Richmond, VA, and I've always been fascinated with the art, comics and music scene down there. [more]

Chicago has long been known to provide a plethora of punk bands that aren't afraid to infuse their music with massive chunks of melody, and to list them would be pointless as well as take up too much room in this review. Suffice to say, The Fur Coats can be added to any such list with immediate effect as this four-track 7-inch doesn't hang around in nailing its melodic colours to the mast. [more]

This is how you do a live tribute. This is how you do a DVD of said tribute. Legendary Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton passed away suddenly in 2009. Although the band didn't actually get to a tribute until mid-2011, they certainly do his memory justice. The show opens with Henry Rollins giving a quick introduction. Scott Asheton gives a quick tribute to his brother. Rollins returns and pays tribute to the band and then the band suddenly snap into "Raw Power" with Rollins on vocals. Rollins fires up the crowd with a raw and energetic performance. The band is at 10 but then, Iggy literally bounces on stage and it goes up to a twenty. [more]

Night Birds. In a perfect world, the above two words would be enough to constitute a review of this release, but the sacred oath signed as a Punknews reviewer requires us to write a minimum of 250 words and I doubt I could get away with repeating those words 125 times, so off I go with another 179 words to get this through the stringent regulations imposed. This four track 7-inch is a precursor for Night Birds' new album due out on Grave Mistake Records later this year, and basically it kicks ass in a way that only Night Birds do. That is to say, this is cracking snotty punk laced with a surf guitar that adds an extra dimension to the music. [more]

Released in 2011, Mammal felt like a culmination of the stark, hellish sound Ireland's Altar of Plagues had been working towards for years. It's an exhausting album, a quasi black metal masterpiece that throttles the listener. When I hear that record, I think winter and snow and despair, and I love it. Just two years later, Altar of Plagues have topped that effort by going in the opposite direction with Teethed Glory & Injury. Oh, there's still plenty of dissonance and shrieking and blast beats. But the songwriting has taken on this completely different energy. Mammal could be sludgy, hazy even. [more]

It wasn't until 2012's Bleeding Kansas that Abolitionist really grasped their own identity and were able to stand fully apart from their influences. That's why it's so daring for them to undergo such a significant style change on their second LP, The Growing Disconnect. The band still have their Dillinger Four/Spits-ish vocals. But, where Kansas left the pop-punk in lieu of post-punk, it's interesting that on Disconnect, the band opt for their most classic sounding punk record to date. [more]

Laura Stevenson was born with musical blood in her veins. Stevenson's grandparents are both notable musicians. Her grandfather Harry Simeone wrote the Christmas classics "Little Drummer Boy" and "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and her grandmother sang in Benny Goodman's band. Holy crap! For Laura, after singing with multiple choral groups in high school (can you say a cappella nerd?), she joined up with the punk community, eventually landing in a keyboard role with Bomb the Music Industry! She started writing her own songs, and came into some popularity after a split 7-inch with Bomb in 2009. [more]

It would be remiss not to mention that Swedish band AC4 include a member of the much (overly?) venerated band, Refused, and now I've shared that piece of information with those of you who were not aware of this fact, I can safely move on with this review. Burn The World is the second long player offered up by these Swedes, following on from 2009's self-titled release, a debut that really took a short, sharp, shock approach to hardcore mixing in a 1980s fury with a more modern sound, as fifteen tracks were unleashed in a frenzied and enjoyable attack. [more]

Some records hit you at exactly when you need them to. For this writer, Clutch's 2004 stoner-rock masterpiece Blast Tyrant was one of those records. It caught me in my awkward teen years, right as my tastes were transitioning from the Iron Maiden and Metallica albums I grew up with to the punk rock records that dominate my record player to this day. It had the aggression of metal with the attitude of punk, and it was downright weird. [more]

Touche Amore started 2013 brilliantly with "Gravity Metaphorically" and come Record Store Day, and this 7-inch split with Title Fight acts as a thank you to fans for following both bands over the past few years, and also culminates a lengthy friendship between the two units. Given that Title Fight have been no slouch lately in their recent material, this is a most appreciated addition from them as well. Swapping songs should be done by more bands just to test the waters and this proves why. Touche Amore run the gauntlet with "Crescent Shaped Depression" and they did it justice. Jeremy Bolm adds the layers of grit and emotion needed at the right points and notes. [more]

While the wait for Found, Rival Schools' real second album, isn't quite on par with the delay behind My Bloody Valentine's m b v (about 20 years) or Wire's Change Becomes Us (about 24 years), it's still another great addition to 2013 releases I never thought I'd see. Sure, the tracks leaked years ago, and a few even ended up on reunion LP Pedals, but there's nothing like holding the real deal in your hands. Here, some 10 years later, is that follow-up to United By Fate. When Rival Schools resurfaced with Pedals in 2011, plenty of Walter Schreifels devotees squealed with glee, but the record sounded like a totally new project. [more]

By my count, the Melvins have already officially released 42 covers of other composers, and there are probably another five or more that I am missing. Indeed, their seminal Lysol album is about 50% covers and The Crybaby is just over that ratio. But, despite their penchant for reworking other people's music, Melvins covers never have really felt like covers, but rather, Melvins tunes that were written by other people. The question is then, on Everybody Loves Sausages, the band's first all covers album, can they maintain the originality that seeps through their reworkings for an entire album? Yes, yes they can. And how. [more]

Many bands have paved a way for others to follow over the years, and in some cases, those that have done the following have enhanced what their predecessors did and taken a sound/genre to new places. There are a handful of bands, however, that for whatever reasons remain as the standard bearers of a sound, a genre, an identity or a combination of those elements. The Big Boys would be one of those bands. I'm coming at this review with only owning the two compilation CDs released by Touch and Go Records in 1993 (The Fat Elvis and The Skinny Elvis) and having read numerous articles/interviews with the band from years ago. [more]

A lot can be achieved when four lads get together with nothing more than a huge chunk of individual musical ability, some time on their hands and a short-term plan. In this particular instance, Rad Pitt is the result of such an equation and its endeavours are to be found on this five track release which could well be the full extent of its recorded output, if as it seems, the band's existence is purely set up for this one release and a singular first/last live appearance. [more]

Spokenest is what happens when two-thirds of the band God Equals Genocide get hitched and decide to use money received as a wedding gift to record and release nine songs. [more]