Joe's Big Toe
Album Reviews
Daniel Clark — British Summertime EP
As Broken Stones echoes around my living room, I reflect on the aptness of the title of this EP. The music has a distinctly summertime feel, minimal acoustic guitar with simple bass and percussion, at a relaxed tempo. The production and quality of the recording is superb, and allows Clark’s voice to stand out. The […]
OneState — Migratory Patterns
OneState have been making a few ripples in the big pond that is UK punk of late, supporting Sonic Boom Six and Random Hand, being compared to Propagandhi, and picking up favourable reviews from all over the internet. And I can understand why. Their debut EP, Migratory Patterns, is a very powerful punk record. There’s a […]
KLOGR — Till You Decay
KLOGR are an Italian outfit that refer to themselves as sitting “on the thin line between alternative rock and alternative metal”. The first track on the record, “Live Dying” blows this out of the water — Till You Decay is very definitely a metal album. It’s not particularly heavy metal, but it’s metal nonetheless. Within ten seconds, […]
Shoshin — City of Patience
City of Patience is the debut album from Shoshin, an independent band hailing from North West England. I’m struggling to work out what to say about the album — it’s nothing like what I was expecting. Reading up on the band, it becomes apparent that their ethos is very much in line with the punk […]
Alkaline Trio — Damnesia
A little over a year ago, we covered This Addiction. The record marked a bit of a return to Alkaline Trio’s punk roots. It’s interesting then, that the follow-up should be such a risky move. Damnesia has only two original tracks on it (the rather weak Olde English 800, and the decent I Remember a […]
Rise Against — Endgame
Recently, I’ve become somewhat disillusioned musically. I’ve strayed away from my favourite bands, or listened to their old albums on repeat. I’m fully aware of how Pitchfork this sounds, but most of the stuff that’s come out in the past year or two has just been of a much lower quality than before. Less innovative, […]
The Pretty Reckless — Light Me Up
At first glance you can easily misjudge this band, lead singer Taylor Momsen looks like an L.A hybrid of Courtney Love and Cherie Currie. Although Momsen seems to try too hard to be rock and roll, thinking mounds of black eyeliner, confessing her love for knives and swearing before every word is edgy, she will […]
Richard Haswell — Safety In Movement
Richard Haswell has previously been known as “Rhubarb” and “G for Gnome”. For his latest album, however, he has ditched the monikers and is using his real name. This move reflects the overall feel of the album. It is accomplished and grown-up, and his twenty self-released album experience shines through. The album starts slowly. The […]
Obsessive Compulsive — Dreams Of Death and the Death Of Dreams
Dreams Of Death and the Death Of Dreams is Obsessive Compulsive’s debut album, released on their own label, Vociferous Records, yesterday. Over the course of the past few years, the band have released two EPs, and built up a strong, nationwide fan base through touring. They describe themselves as dark punk/metal/alternative. Their metal influences are […]
Alkaline Trio — This Addiction
“This Addiction” is the first album that Alkaline Trio have released since they parted ways with Epic Records in 2009. Now established on their own label; Heart and Skull, its clear the band have made a few changes to their sound as well… Now before we go any further I have to explain that I approached […]