Weekly Releases 6.11.2021

By Dewinged Wednesday June 9, 2021

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of June 11th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: June 11, 2021 –

AFI: Bodies

Genre: Alt rock
Label: Rise Records

Azure Ray: Remedy

Genre: Indie folk
Label: Flower Moon Records

Cold Cave: Fate In Seven Lessons

Genre: Darkwave
Label: Heartworm Press

Crypta: Echoes of the Soul

Genre: Death metal
Label: Napalm Records

Danny Elfman: Big Mess

Genre: Alternative
Label: Anti-Records

Dean Blunt: Black Metal 2

Genre: Hip Hop
Label: Rough Trade

Distant: Aeons of Oblivion

Genre: Deathcore
Label: Unique Leader

Dornenreich: Du Wilde Liebe Sei

Genre: Black metal
Label: Prophecy Productions

Eremit: Bearer of Many Names

Genre: Sludge / Doom metal
Label: Transcending Obscurity

Garbage: No Gods No Masters

Genre: Alt rock
Label: BMG UK / Infectious Music

Ganeral Surgery: Lay Down And Be Counted [EP]

Genre: Death Metal
Label: Independent

Go Ahead…

Weekly Releases 6.4.2021

By Nocte Wednesday June 2, 2021

30 Comments

logo Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of June 4th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: June 4, 2021 –

Atreyu: Baptize

Genre: Metalcore
Label: Spinefarm

Ancient Wisdom: A Celebration In Honor Of Death

Genre: Black metal/Doom
Label: AvantGarde

Billy Gibbons: Hardware

Genre: Rock
Label: Concord Records

Boss Keloid: Family The Smiling Thrush

Genre: Heavy Rock
Label: Ripple Music

Crowded House: Dreamers Are Waiting

Genre: Rock
Label: BMG

Code: Flyblown Prince

Genre: Black Metal/Progressive
Label: Dark Essence

Desaster: Churches Without Saints

Genre: Blackened Thrash
Label: Metal Blade

Easy Life: Life’s A Beach

Genre: Pop
Label: Island Records

Flotsam And Jetsam – Blood In The Water

Genre: Metal
Label: AFM

Japanese Breakfast: Jubilee

Genre: Indie Pop
Label: Dead Oceans

King Buffalo: The Burden Of Restlessness

Genre: Rock
Label: Stickman Records

Liz Phair: Soberish

Genre: Pop Rock
Label: Chrysalis

Raheem DeVaughn: Lovesick

Genre: Hip Hop
Label: Mello Music Group

Red Fang: Arrows

Genre: Stoner Rock
Label: Relapse Records

Rhapsody Of Fire: I’ll Be Your Hero [EP]

Genre: Power Metal
Label: AFM Records

Rise Against: Nowhere Generation

Genre: Punk
Label: Loma Vista

Rostam: Changephobia

Genre: Indie Pop/Alternative
Label: Matsor Projects

Seputus: Phantom Indigo

Genre: Technical Death Metal
Label: Willowtip

Sojourner: Perennial [EP]

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Label: Napalm Records

Sordide: Les Idées Blanches

Genre: Experimental Black Metal
Label: Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions

Wolf Alice: Blue Weekend

Genre: Alt Rock
Label: Dirty Hit

Van Canto: The Power Of Eight

Genre: Acapella Metal/Power Metal
Label: Napalm Records

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Weekly Releases 5.28.2021

By Dewinged Tuesday May 25, 2021

37 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of May 28th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: May 28, 2021 –

Alastor: Onwards and Downwards

Genre: Stoner Doom
Label: RidingEasy Records

Alluvial: Sarcoma

Genre: Progressive Metal
Label: Season of Mist

Bachelor: Doomin’ Sun

Genre: Indie Pop
Label: Lucky Number

Black Midi: Cavalcade

Genre: Post Punk
Label: Rough Trade Records

Bloodbound: Creatures of the Dark Realm

Genre: Power Metal
Label: Season of Mist

Brodka: Brut

Genre: Electro-Pop
Label: PIAS Recordings

Burning Witches: The Witch of the North

Genre: Heavy Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast

The Datsuns: Eye To Eye

Genre: Garage rock / Stoner rock
Label: Hellsquad

DMX: Exodus [Posthumous release]

Genre: Hip Hop
Label: Def Jam

The Flight Of Sleipnir: Eventide

Genre: Black metal
Label: Eisenwald

Ghastly: Mercurial Passages

Genre: Black metal / Death metal
Label: 20 Buck Spin

…

Weekly Releases 5.21.2021

By Nocte Wednesday May 19, 2021

38 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of May 21st, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: May 21, 2021 –

Acausal Intrusion: Nulitas

Genre: Avant Garde Death Metal

Label: I, Voidhanger

An Autumn For Crippled Children: As The Morning Dawns We Close Our Eyes

Genre: Post Metal, Shoegaze, Black Metal

Label: Prosthetic Records

Amorphis: Live At Helsinki Ice Hall

Genre: Progressive Metal

Label: Nuclear Blast

Borgne: Temps Morts

Genre: Avant Garde Black Metal

Label: Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions

Blake Shelton: Body Language

Genre: Country

Label: Warner Music

CHAI: Wink

Genre: Punk Pop

Label: Sub Pop

Colleen: The Tunnel And The Clearing

Genre: Electronic

Label: Thrill Jockey Records

Counting Crows: Butter Miracle Suite One

Genre: Rock

Label: BMG

Dayglow: Harmony House

Genre: Indie Rock

Label: Very Nice Records

Esoctrilihum: Dy’th Requiem For The Serpent Telepath

Genre: Black Metal/Cthulhu

Label: I, Voidhanger

Fly Pan Am: Frontera

Genre: Noise

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Weekly Releases 5.14.2021

By Dewinged Wednesday May 12, 2021

19 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of May 14th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: May 14, 2021 –

Bala: Maleza

Genre: Stoner / Punk
Label: Century Media

The Black Keys: Delta Kream

Genre: Indie rock
Label: Warner

Cadaveric Incubator: Nightmare Necropolis

Genre: Death Metal / Grindcore
Label: Hells Headbangers

Cake Pop: Cake Pop 2

Genre: See above
Label: Mad Decent

Caliban: Zeitgeister [EP]

Genre: Metalcore
Label: Century Media

Canvas Solaris: Chromosphere

Genre: Instrumental / Progressive metal
Label: Tribunal Records

The Chills: Scatterbrain

Genre: Indie rock / Dream pop
Label: Fire Records

Current Joys: Voyager

Genre: Singer Songwriter / New wave
Label: Secretly Canadian

Damien Jurado: The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania

Genre: Singer Songwriter / Americana
Label: Maraqopa Records

Djevel: Tanker Som Rir Natten

Genre: Black metal
Label: Aftermath

Dødsferd: Skotos [EP]

Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Label: Transcending Obscurity

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KILL or KEEP: E•MO•TION (Sides A and B)

By JohnnyoftheWell Tuesday May 11, 2021

54 Comments

KILL or KEEP Vol.3

Carly Rae Jepsen – Emotion

Welcome back once again to KILL or KEEP, where we take a classic album that everyone knows but not everyone loves, and run it through a set of users with conflicting takes. They will jam the album for public entertainment and post their hot takes for all to see.

Except this time it is different.

It is time for change. It is time for an album that, perhaps, everyone does love. The last two installments in the series were directed at bloated capital–penis-shaped–M Masterpieces by men with huge egos and poor evaluations of the limitations of their talents.

This must be the opposite.

We will examine a female songwriter whose attention is entirely occupied with relatable subject matter, whose songwriting models is excessive in its leanness, whose sound has been diluted to the perfect vanilla average by wave upon wave of unseen collaborators. We turn now to true greatness. It is time for Carly Rey Jepsen.

Carly Rae Jepsen

Some would say that it is always time for Carly Rae Jepsen; we respectfully counter that now is the time for specifically KILLing and KEEPing her lauded sugaropus Emotion, by which we mean both Side A and Side B. That’s 20 tracks: primo K/K territory (but no bonus tracks because we don’t have that time)!

We have read…

Sputnikmusic Album of the Month: April 2021

By DrGonzo1937 Monday May 10, 2021

12 Comments

Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks of God

The Million Masks of God came at the perfect time. Overall, the record’s musicianship is as tight as ever, Andy Hull is at his most ambitious, and the overall songwriting is possibly the best it’s ever been in a Manchester Orchestra album. However, it’s the album’s themes – the feeling of grief and guilt, emotional and spiritual crises, the moment where you lose a loved one – that make this album so great. Just about everyone can relate to this album in some way. I’m not saying that hypothetically of course; just about all of us here has had to deal with some horrible experience over the course of a year, including me. 2020 was a fucking horrendous year, it was depressing, traumatic, and incredibly scary. Yet at the same time, The Million Masks of God isn’t an album that reflects on those horrible experiences, it doesn’t toy with or exploit your emotions in that way. If anything, it’s more of an acceptance to what happened – that in spite of all the shit that we’ve gone through, it’ll all be okay. It’s hopeful, optimistic, and at times, happy, and right now, I think all of us could use a bit of that in our lives. We’ve been stuck at home, grieved and cried for far too long. It’s unsure when all of it will end, but it will at some point, and…

Weekly Releases 5.07.2021

By Nocte Tuesday May 4, 2021

31 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of May 7th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: May 7, 2021 –

Artillery – X

Genre: Thrash
Label: Metal Blade

Candlemass – Green Valley [Live]

Genre: Doom
Label: Peaceville

Ereb Altor – Eldens Boning

Genre: Viking Metal
Label: Hammerheart

Feed Them Death – Negative

Genre: Death/Grind
Label: Brucia Records

Ghost Iris – Comatose

Genre: Metalcore
Label: Long Branch

Grey Aura – Zwart Vierkant

Genre: Post/Black Metal
Label: Onism Productions

Inferno – Paradeigma (Phosphenes Of Aphotic Eternity)

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Debemur Morti Productions

Iceage: Seek Shelter

Genre: Punk Rock
Label: Crunchy Tunes

Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert & Jon Randall – The Marfa Tapes

Genre: Country
Label:

Kataan – Kataan

Genre: Black/Death Metal
Label: Prosthetic

Methadone Skies – Retrofuture Caveman

Genre: Doom/Post Rock
Label: Haywire Records

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – When God Was Great

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Weekly Releases 4.30.2021

By Dewinged Monday April 26, 2021

54 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of April 30th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: April 30, 2021 –

Amy Shark: Cry Forever

Genre: Indie folk
Label: Wonderlick Entertainment

Ashley Monroe: Rosegold

Genre: Pop
Label: Mountainrose Sparrow

Axewitch: Out Of The Ashes Into the Fire

Genre: Heavy Metal
Label: Pure Steel Records

Beachy Head: Beachy Head

Genre: Shoegaze
Label: Graveface Records

Birdy: Young Heart

Genre: Singer Songwriter
Label: Atlantic Records

Bowerbirds: Becalmyounglovers

Genre: Indie Folk
Label: Psychic Hotline

Dawn Richard: Second Line: An Electro Revival

Genre: EDM / Dance
Label: Merge Records

Del Amitri: Fatal Mistakes

Genre: Alternative rock
Label: Cooking Vinyl

Devoured: The Curse of Sabda Palon

Genre: Death metal / Black metal
Label: Sadist Records

Domkraft: Seeds

Genre: Doom / Sludge / Kraut rock
Label: Magnetic Eye

Dropkick Murphies: Turn Up That Dial

Genre: Punk
Label: Self Released

Evile: Hell Unleashed

Genre: Thrash metal
Label: Napalm Records

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Live Review – Manchester Orchestra Presents: A Black Mile To The Surface (The Concert Film)

By Sowing Thursday April 22, 2021

8 Comments

I guess modern problems require modern solutions.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, so many bands have struggled to make ends meet. Without the ability to perform live, they’ve turned to platforms like Patreon to build a subscription-based fandom. Another more frequent occurrence is recording and streaming live shows. Even then, without the energy of the crowd, it’s nearly impossible to replicate the level of excitement that folks go into such an experience seeking. It’s not an easy time to be an artist – but in spite of the challenges, most of them are persevering. It’s a testament to the passion and dedication they pour into their work. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

One band still finding a way is Manchester Orchestra. As one of indie-rock’s more well-known acts, they’ve released five LPs to date including the wildly popular Mean Everything to Nothing and the sleek/grandiose Simple Math – but perhaps none were better than A Black Mile to the Surface, their 2017 emotional magnum opus. Manchester Orchestra Presents: A Black Mile To The Surface (The Concert Film) serves three different purposes. The first is to provide longtime fans with a glimmer of hope during dark times through a live adaptation of Black Mile in its entirety. Secondly, it is to usher out the Black Mile era in a special, memorable way befitting of the four years that fans spent both enjoying it and healing with it. Finally, it teases the release of…

KILL or KEEP: The Fragile

By JohnnyoftheWell Thursday April 22, 2021

77 Comments

KILL or KEEP Vol.2

Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile

Welcome back to this series, where we take a classic album that everyone knows but not everyone loves, and run it through a set of users with conflicting takes. They will jam the album for public entertainment and post their hot takes for all to see.

The rules are simple: for each track, our valiant competitors must give one of two verdicts: KILL or KEEP. To give things a trademark Sputnikmusic positive spin, each user must KEEP at least two tracks. To keep things alive, they must KILL at least one.

Our competitors today are: MiloRuggles, Pheromone, DivergentThinking, johnnyoftheWell and Nocte.

That’s a lot of bois for one album, but if you’re worried that things were getting cramped, we chose thise one for legroom: our target is Nine Inch Nails’ very famous double-album statement landmark The Fragile. It came out in 1999, which is a long time ago (this year is 2021). Since then, mastermind Trent Reznor has been ripped off by a load of godawful bands and turned his primary career instincts towards OSTs for people with leather sofas. Fascinating stuff! Just what will this megascoop uncover? Let’s delve!

Starting Impressions

Each user, please briefly explain your feelings on the album going in, and what you hope to achieve here? Do you want…

Weekly Releases 4.23.2021

By Nocte Tuesday April 20, 2021

56 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of April 23rd, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.

– List of Releases: April 23, 2021 –

Alan Vega: Mutator [Posthumous release]

Genre: Rock
Label: Sacred Bones

Alfa Mist: Bring Backs

Genre: Jazz/Hip Hop
Label: ANTI-

Altarage: Succumb

Genre: Extreme Metal
Label: Season Of Mist

Aphonic Threnody: The All Consuming Void

Genre: Funeral Doom Metal/Death
Label: Transcending Obscurity

Art d’Ecco: In Standard Definition

Genre: Rock
Label: Paper Bag Records

Blackbriar: The Cause Of Shipwreck

Genre: Metal/Gothic
Label: Independent

Bodom After Midnight: Paint The Sky With Blood

Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Label: Napalm Records

Body Void: Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth

Genre: Doom/Drone/Punk
Label: Prosthetic Records

Big Brave: Vital

Genre: Experimental
Label: Southern Lord

Cold Cell: The Greater Evil

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions

Crypts Of Despair: All Light Swallowed

Genre: Death Metal
Label:…

Digbox #7: Digging with Kompys2000

By JohnnyoftheWell Sunday April 18, 2021

20 Comments

Kompys2000 is a mystery, a connoisseur, a shrewd cookie, and an always-welcome voice of reason.

Welcome to their Digbox!

As is custom for this series, list is, in fact, digs. No real theme or throughline, I don’t have the mental capacity to get cute about it right now. Tried to cover a good variety of sounds and styles so hopefully there’s something here for everyone. Also tried to keep things at least nominally “obscure”, if for no other reason than because I spend quite enough time already writing about music everyone has heard a million times. Here we go!

[“Digbox” – reimagined by SandwichBubble, 2021]

#1: Car Seat Headrest- Hey, Space Cadet (Beast Monster Thing in Space)

At this point, it seems your Dream Ons and November Rains and Champagne Supernovas are destined to become relics of a time when the music industry was willing to pour a lot more money and/or cocaine into guitar music… but that doesn’t mean there’s no one still trying. “Hey, Space Cadet” is a stadium-rock anthem for an era where bands have to record albums in their bedrooms and most of the fans will only ever hear those albums in their bedrooms. It’s a climactic, adrenaline-fueled victory lap squeezed into the confines of a shabby studio apartment, and it is glorious. As it turns out, a songwriter as erudite and discursive as Will Toledo can be…

KILL or KEEP: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

By JohnnyoftheWell Monday April 12, 2021

132 Comments

KILL or KEEP Vol.1

Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Welcome to this series, where we take a classic album that everyone knows but not everyone loves, and run it through a set of users with conflicting takes. They will jam the album for public entertainment and post their hot takes for all to say.

The rules are simple: for each track, our valiant competitors must give one of two verdicts: KILL or KEEP. To give things a trademark Sputnikmusic positive spin, each user must KEEP at least two tracks. To keep things alive, they must KILL at least one.

Our competitors today are: Pheromone, DivergentThinking and johnnyoftheWell. The album is none other than Smashing Pumpkins megaopus ‘90s-affirming double-album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. How well does this album hold up? Is it a timeless classic or an overworked sack of hot air? Let’s find out!

Starting Impressions

Each user, please briefly explain your feelings on the album going in, and what you hope to achieve here? Do you want to KILL/KEEP as much as possible? Or is this just about trimming some fat?

Pheromone: Hello fan, I anticipate a more negative vibe than my rating. It’s been years since I’ve craved any Smashing Pumpkins not named “Mayonaise”. I expect to still super love some of the songs but I’d be surprised if out…

Weekly Releases 4.16.2021

By Dewinged Monday April 12, 2021

30 Comments

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Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of April 16th, 2021. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.