I have a weak spot for these guys. Not because of their music, but because they used to be a Punk band, one that was busking around with Crass and the Clash and the likes back in the days, and even though they chose a different musical path then those 2 aforementioned bands, they'll always get props from me for at least doing that. Always. So my friend (OK my drug dealer) just saw the Cult play a few weeks ago, and he asked me if I heard the new CD. I told him No, but that I saw them play on Jimmy Kimmel a while back and didn't like what I heard or saw. He gave me this CD to listen to and jokingly told me to slag it off on the website. He really wanted to know what I thought about it. So I went home, threw it into the ol' iTunes player, and the first song, Honey From A Knife, is just classic Cult sounding stuff - borderline Glam, heavy Rock N Roll good time arena rock music, perfect for airplay in strip clubs everywhere, and it's not too bad. It's loud, it's guitar driven, the drums are thunderous, the bass is booming and Ian's voice is a bit road weary but still sounding good. I wish the rest of the CD sounded like that opening song though. After that track it's pretty much hit or miss, with the band delving into some boring cock rock balladry land, boring Alternative BS, and the best songs on here, like Amnesia, For The Animals and The Wolf (complete reworking of She Sells Sanctuary) are only good because the riffs for the songs were 'borrowed' from bands like the Foo Fighters, Foghat and I swear to Gawd Fugazi! LOL Oh, what does it matter? The Cult are back and in as good as shape as they've ever been, and you either Love them or Hate them. If you're a fan you'll dig this CD. If you're not, well, you will hear these songs somewhere - either in a TV commercial or a strip club - guaranteed. As a bonus, you get 4 songs from some EP they released last year which pretty much stink, but whatever. Available from Cooking Vinyl Records.

hahaha Well, as long as labels are silly enough to send me EPK's for their latest releases, I kind of feel obligated to say something about them, ya know? Most of the stuff I check out is garbage. Anything with the words 'Emo' or 'Indie' in the description gets deleted immediately. I saw this name Thick As Blood, and it rang a bell somewhere, and when I saw them being described as 'Metallic Punk', well, of course I had to hear it, ya know? And after a quick couple of listens, this stuff isn't bad. Maybe it's the meds talking, but I kind of like this. The music on here is more Hardcore than Metal or Punk, but it's done well, and the sound on here is most excellent. The drums sound large and loud! The vocals are growled, screamed and angry sounding. The guitar riffs are absolutely punishing. It's got a bit of an Industrial feel to it as well, which keeps things interesting. Thick As Blood sound a lot better than most bands I hear doing this type of music, and the only bands I can even think to compare them to are bands like Terror or Hatebreed, stuff like that. Standout tracks on here are Headaches, the title song Living Proof, Full Measure, and Diente Por Diente. Oh, and History Of Violence (Fearless) is a pretty sick song as well. When the urge to hear some monster riffs and mosh pit breakdowns hits you, Living Proof from Thick As Blood will definitely fulfill your needs. Available from Rise Records or from the band directly. Become a friend of theirs on Facebook by clicking here.

I have no idea where Bob found this CD at when we were in Denver a few weeks back, but he grabbed it for me and said I should review it for the website, so I threw it in my purse and added it to the pile on my desk of stuff I need to get done. When I got around to it I popped it into my player and did a Google search to see what the fuck this CD is all about, and what it's about is being a part of a series of releases from people who are participating in some marathon run in the city of Boulder, CO. If you're in a band and you run the marathon, you can have some of your music put on a CD that gets pressed up and handed out to anyone wants one and to everyone who participates in the event. Pretty cool. So with all that in mind, I started listening to this and I gotta say, it's pretty craptacular... LOL As you can imagine, this gathering of musical material runs the gamut from anything and everything goes, which, apparently in Boulder, CO., is lots and lots of Country and Easy Listening, although a couple of bands on here have some pretty decent tunes, like Ska band The Dendrites, Instant Empire do an OK Pop-New Wave-Dance song, Filthy Children Funk shit up and the best band name ever, Zyzzyx Road, do the Rock thing the best they can. Nothing radical or revolutionary on here, but it's an eclectic collection of songs for a good event with a few nuggets to be found within. Cool stuff.

Finally!! The long anticipated release from Local heavyweights Demon Lung is upon us and man, is this stuff ever good! Heavy as fuck, mountain leveling Metal that sounds like what the Oarsman from the river Styx would have on his iPod. Doom, Gloom, Black Sabbath influenced dirges that pummel your ear drums relentlessly until you're just left a quivering, whimpering, depressed glutenous mass of nothing on the ground. Gawd damn is this stuff tasty!  It kind of reminds me of Pentagram and Tool the more I listen to it. Is this really a chick on vocals? Fucking impressive. This chick must be Evil personified to get a vocal sound like she does on this CD. Wowsers. Opening track Lament Code has got to be one of the heaviest things I've ever heard. The title track Pareidolia is a close second. Those 2 songs perfectly captures the cacophonous blend of razor sharp guitar riffs augmented with pig squeals galore, and absolutely ghastly and haunting vocal work, with a rhythm section playing beats so slow and powerful that Cthulhu himself would arise from his house in R'lyeh just to head bang to what Demon Lung is playing. For a debut release this is simply stunning, showing a maturity and a level of songwriting and aural assault that's years ahead of everyone else in the Scene. There's only 4 songs on here, but the CD is over 22 minutes long and yeah, it kind of drags a bit in some places, but that's a minor complaint at best. This stuff is incredible, and I seriously implore you to check this shit out if you haven't already. This release is available from the band on their website (click here) and at every gig the band plays. Like them on Facebook by clicking here. Demon Lung. Fuck yeah. Amazing release.

So Bob comes over to my house uninvited, as he is prone to do as of late, and he reaches into his back pocket and hands me this CD and tells me some random guy gave it to him and that I should Review it for the website. I grab it out of his hand and check it out, digging the whole Raiders thing these guys have going on. I pop it into my computer and tell Bob we should both give it a write up, but he deflects that, saying that he knows nothing about Rap - like I do, right? hahaha So it's only 2 songs, and I'm listening to the first track, Solidarity, and it's OK. It's got a sample from the movie The Warriors to start things off with, and from there it goes into some hard hitting musical journey with loud ass drums and lots of bragging and bravado about their Love for the best team in the NFL, the Oakland Raiders, and about the Raider Nation that supports them proudly, win or lose, a subject that I can definitely get behind. That's why Bob kept this and gave it to me, because he knows my Love for all things Raiders related. :-) The second and last song on here is just an instrumental version of the Solidarity track, so whatever. This sounds pretty legit to me. I don't Love it, I don't Hate it, but you can go to hazmatboyz.bandcamp.com and check it out for yourself. Is it Football season yet?? GO RAIDERS!!! hahaha