Return of the Clowns
By
Trevor Curtis
Staff Writer

There’s a lot of hype concerning the new ICP disc. Notably that longtime producer Mike E. Clark, the studio wizard behind the first five Joker’s Cards, is back to do the entire disc. The Clowns themselves have also said that this is the return of the Dark Carnival, the force that drove ICP’s best discs, such as Riddle Box and Great Milenko. So how good does the new disc sound?

Chilly Grooves
By
Michael C. Riedlinger
Editor-In-Chief

Opening for Tori Amos on her North American tour this summer, One EskimO is a band most Americans have likely never heard of. They hail from London, to be precise, and the lead singer, Kristian Leontiou, isn’t well known over here, and was little more than another random pop star back home. Still, here they come, and you may have already heard of them without even trying.

British Invasion
By
Michael C. Riedlinger
Editor-In-Chief

            The last time The Prodigy really hit it big in the United States, a Democrat was in the Oval Office, and the band consisted of three main members: Liam Howlett, Maxim Reality, and Keith Flint. Now, the stars seem have realigned for something of an American comeback, and their latest record, Invaders Must Die, is absolutely as fulfilling as their efforts from the late 90s.

Death Is Not The End...

A review of Death Magnetic by Metallica
By
Kenneth Holm
Senior Staff Writer

            Imagine that suddenly the world changed and it was 1986 all over again. You remember those days? Sure, I was only a boy then, but 1986 was a good year for metal. That was when Metallica dropped what some people consider to be the crowning achievement in their musical career, Master Of Puppets. Their hair was long, the songs were longer than that, and the guitars screeched and wailed like a chorus of the damned. Well, fast-forward twenty-two years, and the songs are long again. Better than that, the guitars are good. Damned good. Kirk Hammett even has long hair again. But does this mean that the CD is worth buying? Well, I say... (Continued after the break)

Who’s on Third By Michael C. Riedlinger Editor-In-Chief             When word broke that Portishead would be releasing their first album in a decade, I could barely contain my excitement. I have been a fan of the trip-hop act from the U.K. since their first album, Dummy, came out in 1994. The band’s blog teased fans with progress reports and they played some new songs at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in England. One would expect a triumphant return, a bold comeback to remind fans why they fell in love with Portishead all those years ago, but then one would be disappointed.

New Flogging Molly Doesn’t Sink the Boat By Michael C. Riedlinger Editor-In-Chief             Describing the band Flogging Molly to the uninitiated is difficult. They have defied clear genre classification since they released their debut album, Swagger, in 2000. Eight years and three more albums later, they’ve evolved into the penultimate in Irish folk/punk, if such a genre exists. Hell, it may as well, and their latest record, Float, is one of the greatest to date.

Alive 2007 Daft Punk A CD Review by Kenneth Holm             When I first listened to Daft Punk all those years ago, I remember thinking how awesome it was, but I thought then that they would get lost in the glut of other bedroom producers that were making their way onto the scene at the time. Now, more than ten years after I first purchased the “Da Funk / Musique” single with sweaty hands, I can see how wrong I was.

R3M1X3D R1GH7 0N 74RG37 By Michael C. Riedlinger             Fans of Nine Inch Nails have come to expect a remix album after the release of any record over the last 17 years. Typically, these records are collector’s pieces, featuring crunchier sounds and unedited studio mixes that were later cleaned up. On the whole, they were fairly inaccessible to the casual fan, but this has been a banner year for Trent Reznor’s Electro-Pop-Industrial outfit.

A Riotous Cacophony By Michael C. Riedlinger             In 2004, Skindred released their debut album, Babylon to some acclaim and little fanfare. They spent the next three years touring their asses off across the globe, keeping in touch with fans via the internet and promising a sophomore disc to rival their first effort. Now it is 2007, and that disc was well worth the wait.

Rock Out With Your… By Michael C. Riedlinger
Rob Zombie is an artist first, and a filmmaker/musician second. Another view might hold that his films and music are part of his artistic body of work. In either case, he shows his ability to assemble seemingly unrelated pieces into a whole better than ever before on the new soundtrack to his remake of Halloween. This is the kind of album that rips your balls off and uses them as a makeshift hood ornament on a ’76 Dodge Charger.