Reviews (page 4 of 7)
Cool sound- I think if I got into them earlier I would have really enjoyed this. I think the singers got an attractive and confident voice, and the band plays in this same un-timid way. Sometimes the singer sounds like Marilyn Manson. The album went by surprisingly quick for me. I liked the change of pace in "Getting Bright At Night" but I feel like it came too late in the album. I wanted it a little earlier. Nice listen. Will try to remember to listen again but if I forget I don't think it will hurt too much. Had some nice tunes on it but I don't know if it has to be on this list.
Icarus Line Genre: Garage rock, Noise rock 2004 Third Listen: 2, 2 (I feel like I've never heard it before) Standouts: None Others: Meatmaker, On the Lash, Spike Island, Big Sleep, White Devil. 3.5
I only had one listen but will want to explore further. I can't believe I wasn't familiar with this. It's good the prog Rocky tendencies could get on my nerves
Lo que he podido escuchar me ha gustado, aunque no está en abierto por ningún lado. En Spotify o YouTube Music no está y de Tidal no tengo ya acceso. Veré si puedo oírlo por otro lado.
Not feeling optimistic given the track titles, but who knows? It definitely rocks and rocks hard. It's pretty messy and processed which isn't my favorite sound but I see the appeal. Party The Baby Off was good, but otherwise no standouts for me. 3/5 stars
Some were ok and some were pretty bad on first listen
Weird one. I've got used to not seeing one of my favourite genres on here as it's not the usual 1001-vibe they go for. So one finally appears and it's a bit lacklustre? I can think of 10 very similar albums that are miles better than this. Good in parts but goes on too long. Some songs just a waste of time. Not terrible though.
It’s a 2004 album, so given how this list works, I’m immediately suspicious of this album’s staying power. A lot of the 2004/2005 picks are very… suspicions. I really thought the first few records were sick! It’s a more intense, dangerous, noisy take on this kind of garage rock thing happening. On my iPhone speakers it sounds terrible, on my proper headphones and my good system it sounds AMAZING! Kind of funny how some of the biggest losers in the transition to computer / iPhone speakers have been the heavier rock groups. That stuff is just hard to get to sound good on small speakers like that, without compromising. This record sounds REALLY good on a proper set of speakers, and I’m glad I didn’t just put it on in the car or something. I think it sounds pretty unique, not very cookie cutter. Not cheesy, not trying to hit a chorus, just really aggressive rock. Just goes 10-20% harder than others, and they really play into the noisiness. I assume they have 0 hits, there’s no real hit here, it’s just an hour of all-out assault. But can’t say I didn’t have fun with it! 3/5
I liked this now
This band has 1329 monthly listeners on Spotify at the time of me writing this. I absolutely did not need to listen to such a minor band's record before I die. Music's passable tho, nothing special.
It's okay, but no thanks.
I didn't mind the first half and thought it would be a solid three, but the second half kinda dipped in quality in my opinion. It became more unlistenable and less interesting. A low three. I think my favourite song was On The Last, but I honestly had some trouble telling the songs apart.
Imagine these are great live
When I saw this was post-hardcore, I was expecting to hate it but it was much better than expected.
2004. A " best album " I never heard of it. ... Curious. But the ugly portentous cover threatens a forgone conclusion it might not be my taste. (Because it's going to be intentionally jarring and ugly and hard to love?. But let's see. ) Ok. You really have to be in the right mood for this...! Their music is wild and rough and original and varied. And also I sure and hard to get access to via streaming. Important to include a struggling stark and different voice. Even if it's not easy
I swear that I owned a book in the early 70’s with the same title as Track 1 on this. So I googled the phrase & what a good read that was. Could not locate the book I was thinking of but it was a good excuse to drag out The Worst Of Jefferson Airplane LP & listen to We Can Be Together, where they use the phrase. I wasn’t sure if I was up to this album until I got to Spike Island. After that, I enjoyed what I heard. The 9-minute track, Getting Bright At Night was terrific - the beginning of a wonderful trifecta with Big Sleep & White Devil. Both also winners. And the closing track, Party The Baby Off, was a great closer. Pity I was not able to see Virgin Velcro or Sea Sick. I was able to read the lyrics. Can’t believe I’d never heard of this band. Loved the singer’s voice & the music was totally interesting.
cool rock record with a tinge of punk and post-hardcore, but i like the more bass driven tracks and the rest doesn't really hold my attention
Like less good Strokes or White Stripes.
I liked it, a post-hardcore sounding Jack White/White Stripesy mix
It's another early 2000s post-hardcore band taking from the bluesy garage style of the White Stripes, but they really crank up the feedback and distortion to create cool industrial effects. The most popular songs are near the front, and yet I thought they were the most generic and least interesting. "On the Lash" had a pretty sick industrial second half, but other than that, it was forgettable. It picked up for me with "Kiss the Lizards." Great work on the guitar and drums with an outstanding bridge. The transitions from here are seamless and keep hyping up the next track. "Getting Bright at Night" was the song that got me to start paying attention. It's an epic jam track with highs and lows. "Big Sheep" was a bluesy followup with cool industrial effects, just found the middle section a bit boring. "White Devil" was my favorite cause of the strong bluesy sound (this is where White Stripes influence is most prominent), and the psychotic free sax. "Meatmaker" is definitely a modern rendition of the early industrial band Suicide (with that motorik-like beat). It's frightening and shocking. It doesn't fit in and it feels like an experimental miss, but I found it pretty cool. The last 3 tracks is where it dropped in quality. "Seasick" was pretty good, maybe a homage to Jane's Addiction. Didn't need to go on for 6.5 minutes though with how repetitive it was, and that ending dragged on too much. "Party the Baby Off" is a power pop finale, also doesn't fit in, but it's a pleasant finale, especially with the double tracked vocals. Biggest cons: too long, several filler tracks, the good tracks dragged on a bit too long without much variation Almost every track could definitely be improved, but it does a lot of things well, and there are some cool styles here. Not essential, but I found some new impressive things from the genre.
Never heard of them, but I'd listen to this again. Pretty enjoyable.
Though it definitely has noisy, less approachable tracks like Spit on It and Meatmaker, there are high energy, buzzy and loud tracks that carry good energy and are engaging. Liked Spike Island, Getting Bright and Big Sleep. There's enough here that even though it can be a challenging listen, it is a worthwhile listen.
men rappelle de rien. rater quelques jours plus tards. semblait écoutable
That bass sound is something else - I think would have been good to see live, lots of energy. But feels a bit contrived.
Garage rock. Ni fu ni fa.
Garage rock, noise rock
Dad says good voice, songs are rubbish, good after a few beers and a joint.
first listen love the energy but starts to sound all the same
I have to be in the mood for this kind of album, but it has its moments. Noisy, swaggering, ramshackle fun with echoes of the Stooges, Suicide, Jesus & Mary Chain. If your main attribute is that you sound like a bunch of other, better artists, it's a bit of a problem. A solid listen, but not something I see myself coming back to. Fave Songs: Caviar, Getting Bright at Night, Party the Baby Off, Spike Island, On the Lash, Seasick
Garage rock, noise rock
Quality alternative rock. A little like the Strokes or White Stripes, but definitely heavier, so it reminds me of 90s rock more than 00s rock. Good energy throughout
Great album, angsty LA rock. Fave track is Big Sleep.
3/5 You know that feeling when you get excited about a song and it's progressing nicely and then all of a sudden in the middle it gets experimental and weird and dissonant? That's like 90% of this album. I especially liked Getting Bright at Night, until it broke down the one middle. I just kind of felt like my hopes were lifted then dashed repeatedly so I had a hard time enjoying it fully.
Not my favourite. Seemed like something from around the grunge era however apparently it came after. Not a convert and not intrigued to find any more music by these guys.
competent noisy rock.
Nothing really grabbed me
Solid mid-'00s rock (which is fairly rare, in my experience).
I like the noisiness of much of the album. Not such a fan of the vocal style.
Ish.
I didn't hate this. But I also didn't love it. Which was surprising since I'm usually here for angry, post-punk shenanigans. It was just so noisy. Such a mess. Shame, really.
With a band name and album title that fucking pretentious, I'm gonna say indie rock? The album isn't on Spotify, have found 5-6 songs from it on YouTube though. Ok yep it's p standard 00s indie, and at the noisy end. Jack White is clearly the biggest influence, but the singer very, very obviously idolises Chris Cornell... sadly though, in this case effort doesn't trump talent. He screams a LOT. To describe the overall sound in a word, I'd say "abrasive". I haven't read any other reviews yet but I can't imagine this will get much love. It's not really my thing either but I didn't mind it for the few tracks I heard. 3/5.
I liked the energy and chaotic-ness of the instrumentals in some of the tracks. I would have liked if the singer amped up his angst a bit on those. Needed some at the drive in level delivery. The slower ones didn't do much for me. I wouldn't come back to this project as not enough resonated with me, but I did enjoy a good chunk of the instrumentals - unfortunately the vocalist didn't fit what I needed to match those instrumentals.
I liked this quite a bit. Cool moody stuff with careful songwriting
Not bad, made it past the desire to skip after 4 seconds. Will listen again
Big MCR vibes from this one. I didn't like this album that much, but I could really get into this artist if I wanted to. 3/5. Favorite Track: On The Lash
Enjoyed it, but nothing revolutionary. 3.5
Garage noise rock, made to be listened to at a high volume. Burning guitars and ferocious vocals
Litt nice egentlig
There's the core of a great album here but unfortunately a lot of it gets lost for me with a lot of the songs just being overdone. I think if just a few extra elements had been edited down/out this would have been a 4 or even a 5 for me, but as it stands it's just been buried in too much extra stuff. Best tracks: Spike Island, Getting Bright at Night, White Devil, and Seasick
Good solid rock album, just not my style.
3.5
Not really my thing.
stand-outs: "On the Lash," "Spike Island," "Big Sleep," "Seasick."
I’ve never heard of The Icarus Line, but alt rock often doesn’t go wrong with me. I quite like the album art of this - it gives off White Stripes vibes but more greasy. Songs I already knew: none Favourites: On The Lash Maybe I shouldn’t have set my expectations so high. There were definitely some meaty riffs on this album (as a vegetarian, riffs are the only meat I consume), but unfortunately not much else. I’m can’t say I like the singing - it’s not awful, but it’s also not great. I feel that any rock loses a lot of its charm when too well produced, which might sound a bit silly, but a lot of what I like about bands like Plumtree or Smashing Pumpkins is that they sound like they could have been recorded in a garage. As the album went on, it did start sounding more rough and ready, but the quality of the songs also declined so it didn’t really seem to get better despite this. Maybe that’s just me though.
I liked this to a degree. I do enjoy the raw, garage rock sound/energy it has. None of the tracks blew me away, but none of it was bad either.
Very noisy, but solid tunes in there somewhere too. Clear influence on royal blood and the white stripes, hints of the strokes, queens of the stone age, and plenty of grunge. Not one of the best 1001 albums, but an interesting one I would never otherwise have heard 3 🌟
What the hell just attacked me? I feel completely run over by the sheer amount of feedback, heavy bass and noise. Hidden underneath it all is a palette of punk, hardcore and garage rock that works perfectly on itself; the overlaying elements of aggressive noise just further adds to the experience. Especially the guitars are extremely well mixed almost slapping you in your face every time a solo is about to start. Towards the end I feel like more and more of the songs start blending together and I’m left wishing that this would have been cut to 11 songs. Quite the thrilling ride nonetheless that left me exhausted and my ears pleading for some smooth jazz.
I mean, it was alright, like... The use of noise in music is something that can be really good, but I don't think this band did it well. It also seems like they don't know what their style is, so it's really weird.
I had more of an appetite for this kind of thing in my past; it’s appeal - the frenetic racket of the instrumentation and the particular afflicted affect of the vocals - have greatly paled for me. There’s very little post punk/hardcore alternative I still feel inclined to give time to and this ain’t gonna join that list. Given the sneery LA attitude dripping off it I’m resisting the urge to knock off an extra star on general principles, but it was competent and reasonably listenable, just not my thing anymore
Hmm, yeah. Good. Not outstanding, but definitely good. Never heard of these before. Getting Bright at Night is pretty excellent. I love a good 9 minute epic that goes in directions. White Devil, singer doing a massive Black Francis impression which actually isn't bad.
A little surprised I hadn't heard this given that it falls sonically close to my taste. If I had heard it when it came out it probably would have been too intense. There are parts I like, the Stooges influence is clear, but I just don't know if there's much here other than face smashing aggression.
Genuinely surprised I hadn't heard this before. Not sure it deserves to be on this list but it's alright. Kinda like it when they get noisier and more experimental. Wish they'd lean into that more.
Decent garage/post-hardcore rock. It was still just sort of "there" for me except for some interesting musical elements, but generally not my style/interest. Was a bit surprised how low the Spotify plays were, seems like they were quite popular back in the day?
A lot of noise and dirt. There's some good tracks through this record but by no means is it perfect, sadly have to listen on YouTube where the quality is crap. There's a punk Iggy pop vibe going on, on some tracks. A bit different to other "Garage Rock/BluesPunk/Rock going on at the time. 2.5 Stars
I didn’t mind it, a bit too buzzy in guitar. Far from a scene pioneer, sounds like a melting pot of everything from the late 90s/ early 00s.
First half slogged a bit for me, loved the second half. Pretty decent, might listen to some more of their works
So this is one of the lowest rated album...... It's not that bad to be honest and musically is quite accomplished, cohesively engineered and produced. If I felt in a sleazy-glam-rock type of mood I'd put this on. It sounds like a lot of other bands which is ok- they've taken what they wanted. Overall it's not as bad as some make out.
honestly this wasn't even that bad
I am not very familiar and have only dabbled in post-hardcore, but I liked this album and felt they sounded a little like Hot Snakes. His vocals range from the Cult, to STP, to his own thing. Album has a lot of punch.
good
this is something I could work out to. Rock focused - sounds like the time early 2000s
Garage rock. Ni fu ni fa.
Not come across these guys before. I enjoyed it. I would definitely listen again.
Nice to get a different genre in there and it sounded proficient, but not really my thing.
Was zwischen 3 und 4.
Post Rock mood setter . Like !
Good music, became repetitive this album
Hard rocking metal
Un rock molto rumoroso. Ah è proprio un genere, di quello che non capisci bene le parole e ti fa venire mal di testa. 'Caviar' non è male. Mi sono ricreduto, non è malvagio
Ninguna canción disponible en Spotify. Imposible opinar.
I've never heard of them before. Not too bad post hardcore. This album was hard to find. *not on Spotify playlist*
This album is not available by streaming as we speak in my country so i had to find it elsewhere online, and now that found it at last i have to say, it gave me a headache. This album is mostly a bunch of noise with stoner elements and dark lyrics. Probably the singers were on drugs. Although there are some good moments on some songs like "Spike Island" 'Getting bright at night", and maybe "Seasick" nothing else got me more interested so, If you are looking for something new maybe you wont find it here but, definitely it sounds genuine and some will like it better than me
The White Stripes are already on this list. Do we need their imitators, too? Best track: Spike Island
it was not bad for a nirvana ripoff
Comme vous le savez tous je suis le bras droit désigné de Robert, tout puissant du générateur, et de par ce statut spécial, je suis en contact direct avec les différents artistes du générateur (ou leur dépouille physique, dans le cas d'artistes tels Leonard Cohen). Parmi tous ces artistes, j'entretiens une relation toute particulière avec le leader des The Icarus Line. Nous avons fait les 400 coups ensemble dans notre jeunesse, et je lui ai par conséquent demandé une faveur. En effet, connaissant parfaitement les goûts - hautement discutables - de mon camarade robtenaillère -, j'ai demandé au leader du groupe de composer un album regroupant absolument tous les codes musicaux que rob deteste. Ainsi, je pourrai lui faire passer une écoute pénible sans uq'il s'en rende compte. Je m'attends donc à ce que rob attribue un 1/5 à cet album, avec une review emplie de critiques.
Not bad
I'd never heard this at the time. Smacks of early Soundgarden (when they were interesting and good). Maybe a little overlong, but - apart from the occasional spot of self (or, over) indulgence - highly entertaining.
This band sounds a little like The White Stripes, especially Up Against the Wall and Spit on it. However, the songs don't pop like the Stripes's songs do. Spike Island is a nice change from the heavy guitar, metal sound. I do like alternative rock, and I think they have a polished sound for sure. The lyrics are intense and the singer clearly has some issues he works out in these songs regarding his opinion of himself and falling in love. At times this album also reminds me of the 90s too with STP or Alice in Chains too, but I'm not won over.
Energetic, noisy, needs a second listen
Never heard of this band or album. It rocks hard enough but it actually failed to grab me -- I couldn't find its uniqueness. 3 stars anyway, for the rock.
Not a bad time--good metal, but just missing a specialness and polish that my favorite metal features.
Some pretty nice noise punk. I liked it, but didn’t love it; I feel like I’ve heard the same thing done better before and since.
2000s Brit rock got it
A fine bit of post punk/hard rock. Some tracks reminded me more of stuff like Siouxsie and the Banshees and others reminded me of Wolfmother. First few tracks were the best. The album kind of overstayed its welcome by the end.
Vulgar, both musically and lyrically speaking. Normally I’d be kinda into that, but I’m not feeling it today. Middle of the road for potential enjoyment
I thought I wouldn't like this album when it first started to play. It reminded me too much of the typical angst of edgy rock bands. But it's a slow burn, and easy and calming to listen to. It's not the most inspirational stuff, but at the very least it does not make me cringe. I can probably listen to this to get to sleep.
Wasn't feeling the first half of this album but the second half really picked up and got crazy. Not a bad record.
Pretty decent I guess. Nothing too special but was very grungy, also vocal style kinda reminded me of Strokes for some reason.
Fun messy punk. A bit of Stooges and Strokes in them.
This was interesting album. Felt a little samey after a while. Also, I'm not sure I would classify it as post hardcore like Wikipedia does, but maybe.
Didn't listen. Couldn't find album.
Un rock assez dejante. Pas pour tout le monde ou pour une journee calme a hidden. Ahah mais pour un lundi matin de travail, ca feveil et c’est bien fait. 3.75
Objectively is seems like a good album, but not really my genre.
Oh man. This takes me back to the early days of the oughts and checking Buddyhead every day. Never thought this band was as good as they thought they were, but I appreciate the effort. I dig “Caviar.” The song. Never had the food, cause I ain’t Richie goddamn Rich.
pretty rad. QOTSA vibes
was ok, good compared to the others and kinda fun or whatever but really noisy and annoying too
Decent but not really for me
Ruthlessly heavy a lot of feedback and distortion not really my thing
Not bad. Solid 3
Don't love the vocalist but they sure can rock out. Standout Tracks: Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers, Kiss Like Lizards, Seasick
Ruido raro, podría ser peor pero no repetiría.
Mucho ruido. A veces me daba la sensación de que cada miembro del grupo estaba tocando una canción distinta.
Whenever Wikipedia lists this book in the description, I know it’s bad. The album is much like the cover: dirty, confusing, and offensive.
The aural equivalent of mud. Not quite completely unlistenable, but much closer than was necessary.
No es del estilo q me gusta la verdad
not as good as Joni Mitchell’s Blue
Mostly sounds manufactured and pretentious. "We dress, sneer, and sound like this because we are a rock band!" Some of it is ok, but once again why this album and no Tool?
Surprisingly noisy and forgettable.
This is #day690 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… well, yeah, that was fucking noisy and, I must admit, unenjoyable for the most part. I have nothing else to add, except that I'm not a fan of garage rock. This is a 2 out of 5. Looking forward to #day691.
Not into it. It's punk/rock so it has noise and raw energy, but doesn't have any catchy melodies. These songs don't have a lot of plays on spotify. I don't know what it's doing on this list.
I can get behind noisy, angst rock but this just comes off as a charisma-free version of Alice in Chains. A good portion of the Wiki article is dedicated to winging
There were moments when this approached something like decent garage rock, but most of it was pretty uninteresting, unintelligible, and noisy. What I picked up of the lyrics wasn’t great. While not consistently bad, it’s not something I feel the need to return to. 2.5
complete noise, nothing worth listening to, really, when basically all the songs sound alike mediocre, at best
Never heard of them. Pretty unterrible sometimes melodic punkish rock. I didn't mind it 2.5 stars
Mix of 80's no wave, vegas cock rock and hardcore 90's grunge. I hear influences from Sonic Youth, Temple of the Dog and Alice in Chains but it is nothing new or exciting except one song. The majority of the album is unoriginal and kind of boring. No reason this should be on the list.
usually enjoy post-hardcore but i'm afraid there's just not any juice here. the song titles and the tone all reflect that they quite deeply want to be Saying Something but i can't feel any of it, it's over my head or not there
I was close to enjoying this, but I just couldn’t get there. It reminded me of my other bands at different times, but every band I thought of did it better.
Noise
Muito barulho, to velho pra isso.
I'd love to say I went into this with an open mind but I absolutely did not. Ended up enjoying it more than I expected even though it overstayed its welcome and is pretty reductive/forgetable. RYM: N Saved a song: N
Something about it doesn’t work. The music is good but the singer - his style and delivery - feels out of sync far too often. Like he’s just screaming over top of a recording. Perhaps intentional? Certainly distracting. Hit your post, man. Carry a melody or two. I’m all for discordance if it sometimes offers relief. This never does. Props for Getting Bright at Night - Billy Corgan would’ve done it better though. 2/5
Too much angst for me, maybe listening to it in the morning was a bad idea...
Didn't totally hate it
One of the last couple of songs reminded me of Metallica. The rest was very meh.
Maybe it’s not as bad as I feel it is, but it ruined my streak of FOUR women, and therefore I have nothing but disdain for it.
It was not as bad as people were claiming it to be on here, but its inclusion on the list is truly mystifying because it is not a good record, that's for sure. Messy, boring, and immemorable.
“Can I get some White Stripes, Mom?” “We have White Stripes at home.” The White Stripes at home: Can’t believe these jokers have the nerve to compare themselves to Black Flag and The Stooges in their Spotify bio
It all started to the same by the end. I remember when this album came out it got a lot of buzz and I never quite understood why. Very underwhelming. 2.5
2.5. Decent mid 2000s noise rock.
4/10 I’d never heard of this band until now, and the tag of “post-hardcore” was somewhat intriguing. This is their second of 8 albums released over 18 years as a band suggests that they were at least able to maintain a decent fanbase for a good period of time. Unfortunately, what it appears that post-hardcore means, is that a band has bought all of the equipment of a hardcore band, only to write and perform some fairly middle-of-the-road indie songs with it, in a confusing and slightly jarring blending of style and tone. Across the over-long record, they do prove themselves capable of moments of real quality; Kiss Like Lizards is an excellent track, as is Virgin Velcro, and if those two tracks had been used as a starting point and the rest of the album developed from there, this could have been an original and exciting album, but sadly, those moments were few and far-between on and album that not only spent too much of its run time lulling, but also outstayed its welcome quite significantly. There are some solid riffs in here, and I think the drumming is largely excellent, but the standard level of indie songwriting doesn’t manage to be hooky or engaging enough to work, and the fact that it’s shrouded in a wash of noise and distortion doesn’t really help it either. The production and instrumental tones would be great in the right context, but apart from occasional moments, it feels like they are mostly unable to find that context. As a result, the record does feel a little lacking in intention and direction, which is only exacerbated by Joe Cardamone on vocal who seems intent on trying to sound cool, but just isn’t able to sell it in a way that I find convincing. And when a band doesn’t manage to sound completely convinced by their own material, it makes it hard to connect with as a listener. Up Against The Wall Motherfuckers - There’s a decent swagger to this and I like the rhythm of the riff. When the beat kicks in it’s got good weight and power to it, but it’s a little bit on the bland side. It kind of feels like fairly middle of the road early 200s indie being performed on the equipment of a heavy rock band. There’s some decent bits and pieces in there, but it’s just not vastly exciting and lacking in pace or intensity, one of which I feel it needs more of. Spit On It - I can’t get on board with the production here, there’s too much high end distortion and noise that makes it quite hard to listen to and everything else gets lost underneath that, but it’s not done in an artistic or particularly intense way, so it juts sounds messy and hard to grok. At least it’s pretty short. On The Lash - This is a bit better, tonally, but still feels a bit like an indie band who’ve picked the wrong producer for their project. There are some really nice touches here and there, particularly from the drummer, who plays powerfully and with cool flourishes. But the rest of the band kind of feel like they’re just playing by numbers really, and I don’t feel the emotion or passion in it, despite it seemingly wanting to present as aggressive and furious music. Caviar - The groove here is much more satisfying and for the first time, it feels like everyone in the band is pulling in the same direction. The noise and grit of it works much better and there seems to be much more intention and throbbing intensity to what they’re doing. There are some cool guitar riffs in there too and the drummer gives it a really engaging thrust. Not bad. Spike Island - Now we get our first real moment of respite from the noise. It’s quite musically straight and bland though and there’s a sort of mundane guitar solo that just meanders along while everyone else continues plodding on. The underlying rhythm is ok, but doesn’t really offer much development or range. I’m not really sure what they’re trying to say with this, and it doesn’t really feel like they’re sure either. Someone ought to give vocalist Joe Cardamone something to believe in. Kiss Like Lizards - There’s a very Queens Of The Stone Age riff in this and this is the most interesting thing that they’ve done thus far, including some 11/4 time! Lovely stuff. There’s loads of range and development of musical ideas on this one, and even the vocals feel like they’ve started to get a bit of life to them in places. It’s got great drumming, interesting riffs, and tonally it feels really coherent in a noisy, on the edge of falling apart way, particularly as it crumbles to the end. I really liked this one. Getting Bright At Night - A slow burn of a track now, but it’s also one of the most egregiously middle-of-the-road indie tracks on the album so far. They try to hide it with some sweeping noise, but even abandon that after the first minute and a half. Some of the choices of rhythmic combinations between the instruments here are totally baffling and create a really incoherent, messy sound. It’s almost like all of them are trying to play different songs at the same time. It does improve, but it’s incredibly one paced and plodding, and boy oh boy does it drag. How on earth they think they’ve got enough in here to justify a 9 minute track is completely beyond me. A lot of it is aimless meandering and I’m not really sure what they’re actually trying to achieve. It finally does something after 6 minutes, but what it does then is still quite boring, despite having a bit more punch and weight to it. Big Sleep - The sneering vocal does just seem a bit try-hard doesn’t it? When this finally gets going a minute and a half in, it’s got s decent bit of punch and I’m convinced that Jeff Watson on drums is far and away the best member of this band. Agin, it kind of feels like a fairly bland indie track put through heavy guitars and punchy drums. There’s not much in the way of melodic writing and the noisy stuff feels lacking in intent or direction to me, which is a shame, because noise music can really work in the right context. This just feels a bit like a slightly unsatisfying union of styles and is quite boring as a result. White Devil - There’s a slurring, swampy cool to this, and it’s better than some of the other stuff, but I’m still not buying what Cardamone is selling with the vocal. After a while, the lumbering, plodding groove just starts to weigh it down too. Unconvincing. Meat Maker - Noisy and quite cool, this would work really well in between better songs as a sound design focused interlude. The bass work and clashing tones work are great and it feels like a pulsing, building monster. But it just feels a bit of a shame as there’s not been enough good stuff around this to make it shine. Virgin Velcro - This is better. Cool grooves, great drumming and riffs and a lot of dirt and punch. The vocal works better here too. I think the slow down towards the end is an interesting way to end it. It’s not an amazing track, but it’s pretty good, and if this was the starting point for the record, pressing forward through stuff like Kiss Like Lizards, we could be cooking with gas. But we’re not. Seasick - While being quite plodding, the general thrust of this is still not bad. The noisiness seems to be serving a bit more of a purpose here and there seems to be a bit more intent and direction to the songwriting. But good god, is this too long. It just goes on and on and on. And in the end, I’m just kind of getting lost in the soupy, swamp of a mix. Party The Baby Off - Back to some generic indie-rock stuff played through the backline of a hardcore band to finish us off. It’s not very good, and frankly this singer thinks he’s cooler than he really is. Big old meh bucket.
I hadn't been aware of this band prior to this album. It's got some good/interesting guitar work: think of the dirty, bluesy but still firmly hardcore riffs with the heavy filmy bass that you can find in garage rock bands everywhere now. Vocals are not fun. I repeat, they're not fun. A real drag to listen to. He's expressive but lacks any genuine talent or unique qualities that would make him consistently listenable. One real positive for this band is how they leverage dissonance and purposeful breakdowns — there's some really cool bits where the instruments fall apart asynchronously but in an artful and pleasant way. It's a lot of noise though. It's tough to get through unless you want something aggressive, messy, and barely on the wheels.
They tried too hard for attention and had too little to offer.
fairly abrasive all the way through - i didn't particularly enjoy this one
I’m pretty sure all of the streams on Spotify for this album are coming from the people on this website. I didn’t hate or dislike this album at all, I just don’t know why it made the list.
Pretty noisy, didn't get a lot from it
boring
Not enough distinction between noise and music for me. I’d love to hear this remastered with a more vocals forward mixing, but as is…. I’m overstimulated. The first song was great and I had high hopes. Not awful, but not good either.
nah.
Hey AI program, generate the single most generic “hard rock” album possible. I mean, like, zero originality. 53 minutes of totally bland genre cliches. Nothing about it that has any value whatsoever unless you are looking to set a cheesy TV show in a “tough” bar and need establishing music. I mean, complete garbage that no one should ever listen to unless they hate themselves and want to be punished. Can you do that? *Here’s “Penance Soirée” by The Icarus Line* Little on the nose, don’t you think? Stupid robot.
It was fine, punk adjacent, nothing too exciting.
Heard Before? Finally, a real surprise from the list! Completely unfamiliar. Notes: - instantly sounds like it was released exactly ten years too late. - dirty, claustrophobic, buried-vocals mix perfectly suits this kind of noise and aggression. bass tone is monstrous and the drums are a blur of cymbals. i love it. - songwriting just isn't there. I'm not necessarily asking for pop structure, but some hooks would be nice, or a dive into mathy complexity. instead we get an endless barrage of forgettable riffs. - i was expecting the surprisingly enjoyable nine-minute "Getting Bright at Night" to close the album, but it just keeps going after that for no discernible reason. - there's a sax solo somewhere, and a noise coda on "Seasick" that mixed things up a bit, but too little too late for me. Verdict: If your two favorite ever songs are "White Heat White Light" and "Raw Power", this is your album. Listen Again: Probably not. I gave it a good twice over today, but I know too many similar-but-better albums.
Sunday, 24 May, 2026 Solid album. I’d listen again. But it didn’t blow me away. Better albums in the same genre.
Not especially good harder Indie rock. Didn't like most of it very much
The opening track was the worst but the rest didn’t get that much better.
Loud and obnoxious - but could've been worse. Jeez, what kind of series is this?
One of those bands that if you wait two days to review them, you’ve completely forgotten everything about them. 4/10
4/10- This sounded heavily influenced by early 2000’s rock (White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, The Strokes, etc.). On paper I should have liked this more but this felt loud without direction.
It feels like pretty middle of the road garage/noise rock from the early 2000's. It's a bit of a copy of the White Stripes, but just worse. It's not unlistenable by any means, but it is a bit one note. 5/10
I hate when there is stuff that I can't read about in here.
A pretty good album, I liked Spike Island and White Devil the most.
Just really bland and dull Best Song: Spit On It Rating: 4/10 Stars: 2
Although it was loud it didn't really grab my attention, won't be returning to this one. Another random inclusion on the list.
meio pombo, meio qualquer coisa meh
This... isn't really for me. It's fine.
I dunno, this just sounds like an average rock album by an average rock band. Don't @ me, but I can't really hear the significance of it, I'm sorry to say. Meatmaker is kind of a different and interesting track, I guess.
Almost interesting, noisy, whiney....not for me, but better than Sonic Youth
boring; sort of reminds me of geese tbh...
It's okay.....
It is genuinely surprising to me when a post-2000 album by an American band pops up and I have never heard of the artist, but this is one such album. About halfway through the opening track, these guys sound to me like nearly all the other "hot" rock bands of circa 2004. The second track sounds like noise for noise's sake. This might have appealed to me more back in 2004, but as an old man this doesn't really do anything for me. On track 6 ("Kiss Like Lizards") I noticed a headache coming on that I am pretty sure is caused by this music. I didn't really like this at all but it feels more like 2 stars than 1.
No private session used for Spotify. This is straightforward rock, absolutely nothing stands out about it. Why it made it this list makes me question this entire endeavor.
Just sounds like a worse version of better bands, and it’s overlong. Noise noise noise with nothing interesting going on. Melts together into a grey bore. Hard to believe they’re not on this list because the lead singer looked and dressed like a young Nick Cave and we know the guy who made this list has a boner for anything Nick Cave lol
O típico e triste caso de quando eu queria gostar mais de um álbum. Curti a capa do disco, o título dele e da banda, e eu aprecio Indie Rock. Queria que essa fosse uma descoberta lendária, queria que esse se tornasse um dos meus achados favoritos da lista. Mas não foi o caso. Há simpatia noise aqui. Não sou fanático por noise, mas talvez eu seja entusiasta. Gosto de Sonic Youth, gosto de Swans, e de outros grupos semelhantes. Mas achei tudo aqui bem pedestre. Nada chamou muito a atenção. Na verdade, o disco em si passou bem batido. Possui também seus momentos mais melódicos. Passagens que aprecio, até possui uma canção ou outra que vale a pena salvar e ouvir mais vezes. Mas no âmbito geral, o disco não me agradou totalmente. O grande problema é o quão derivativo tudo aqui é. Nada se destaca. E a sonoridade do álbum é dispersa demais, dificultando o apreço maior a qualquer um de seus muitos elementos. Uma pena. Mas a vida segue em frente. E a minha vida, especificamente, seguirá sem este disco. 2.5
Not in my edition of the book! 2004. 2 stars. Average US indie millennium garage band trying desperately to be edgy and original, and failing. Well done of its kind, but there is nothing essential here. The rule still holds true: if no-one is talking about an album 5 years after it's release, you don't need to listen to it.
I like the sound of the album. Unfortunately there were only three songs (give or take) that I can remember enjoying.
Big and loud. The good parts and ideas are hard to hear under the monotonous noise but theres just enough to save this from a 1
generic sloprock. the MVs are cool
Intense.
This band only has 1510 monthly listeners on Spotify for a reason. They do so much and achieve so little. The comically low listener count got me thinking. My high school had about 1600 students, which means that if some kids held an assembly, playing tunes, they'd have more views than these guys. A busker on a busy street would also get more listeners. I'm sorry to bully The Icarus Line, but it's just the fact that they're on THIS LIST that really gets me. A question came over me: about how many listeners are from this website? There are 61500 active projects at the time of writing. I don't know if "active" means that the account has been used in the last week (or something like that), or if it just exists at all, but for the sake of argument I'll assume the former. The likelihood of getting any one album is about 30/1089, ignoring the days where someone famous dies. (30/1089)6150≈1694 users receiving any given album per month. Let's assume half of the site uses Spotify. That makes 847 Spotify listeners that are coming from the generator... more than half of the band's listeners. Gee golly.
Meh
Not bad but nothing memorable
Booooo tomato tomato
If the Stooges really sucked:
Boring album, nothing really set it apart from others within this same genre.
The Wikipedia page for this band was clearly written by a devoted fan, if not the band itself, because the music is not widely streamed, the article mentions no specific publications aside from the book responsible for this very website, and the music is unimpressive, if not irritating. It sounds like pretty generic early 2000's punk rock, with too much distortion and shrieking guitars that drown out everything else. This album is basically the White Stripes if their music had far less appeal, catchiness, or anything else that makes music enjoyable. Really, this album could be replaced by any other album of greater influence and repute among this genre.
Confused as to why this is on the list. There are a number of bands who have mastered better. Jesus and Mary chain, sonic youth, Spacemen 3 to name a few. This is mostly dull with only 1 or 2 good tracks.
There are some cool sounds but this sounds like hipsters to me and fuck that noise.
This album grew on me.... like flesh eating bacteria that needs to be removed so I don't die. It's like a modern version of punk, but I can't understand the lyrics so I don't know what they're angry about, and they had more effects pedals so the music is way more distorted. It's all just a big nope for me.
This wasn’t terrible but I’m not sure that I had to listen to it before I die either. I feel like this was some hip music snob’s idea of what was next in rock around the release of the first volume and then that prediction didn’t pan out as expected. I’d say the 1.4K monthly listeners for the band on Spotify is further evidence that this didn’t quite go the way people thought it would 20+ years ago.
picks: getting bright at night, on the lash
Had to look up why this was significant. Didn't sound significant. 2/5.
Very noisy. There are bones of good music here. But it's too noisy. I liked the first song.
not sure about this
dosadno i naporno, većinom nepodnošljivo. koji je ovo kurac?
Didn't hate it as much as y'all but not anything I would seek out.
I'm almost quarter of the way through and only now am I realizing what a daunting task going through this list is turning out to be. I already feel like I've been doing this forever. These completely mediocre 2000s rock albums absolutely nobody needs to hear before they die certainly don't help, but the list seems to have an endless supply of them.
2.5
The garage rock songs were kinda okay, but there were more noise rock which I didn't like. Not sure why this album is on the list as it sounds like any other album from the early 2000s.
It's alright but I didn't think any of the songs really stood out.
nah
Not good. One song that I could barely listen to...
I didn't appreciate someone blasting this at 6 in the morning to try to get me moving. Grubby and muddy and something to listen to when you're feeling cranky.
When to listen: working on my car in the garage, drowning out the neighborhood noise. Except I live in an apartment and I don't own a car. This is a situation where I can hear its influence on others, I can hear its influences from others, and I can see its value—just not my vibe.
I'd never heard of The Icarus Line before this popped up on my list. I now look back on that as the good old days. Pointless noise.
Not for me, liked a couple of tracks, but I disliked too many.
Solid opening track. Seasick was cool but it's weigh too long
All of this...and nothing. This is what I was hoping for. https://youtu.be/pWB4w4duj-0?si=xcj2Ai31GlrtJQ-F But in the end it just feel like something a major label wanted to be important. And in the end it has no cultural significance but also isn't a lost gem. It's not bad - at all. Some of the other songs are quite good. But irrelevant. It's solid and energetic. But that's it. No business being on a list that is in theory full of all times.
Has some cool moments but I thought it was pretty ahh
This was ok. I didn't mind it too much as background noise, but I wasn't really listening to it too hard.
Never heard of this band before. Would I listen to this again? No.
pretty forgettable noise rock, seemingly only buoyed by occasionally pleasant guitar work. the immediate issue to me here is that it's just not *interesting*. you've got the classic american shouty-wailing angsty type rock vocals especially popular around the early 2000s singing about nothing, largely uninspired simplistic bass/guitar/drums instrumentation (barring the brief sax on "white devil" that gave me false hope), and a lot of bog standard distortion drenching the whole thing. it's just so unbelievably boring. i'm on occasion a fan of noise-oriented genres (i'm a trans woman after all), so even if we're talking about this album in historical context rather than as a standalone today, it's not even remotely representative or noteworthy.
Not my type of music. Not horrible, just not my listening type.
Another album where it started cool and then waned as it continued.
Sounds like every other band from that era nothing special.
Doesn't go the places I want it to. This is the kind of music I theoretically like, but this feels empty in a way that I can't put my finger on. A simulacrum of harder, heavier stuff. Even when it gets a little inventive, it feels borrowed. Again, hard to say exactly what's not sitting right with me but it's just hollow. Better than the 2 I'm giving it but deserves to be dinged for its pillaging.
Let the record show that I once did sound for these guys in Manchester. My place in history is assured. In truth, there's not much to get excited by here. It's all a bit too much.
I think that these guys (and critics of the time) thought that this band's sound was more novel than it is. It sounds like a Soundgarden cover band hired a Cedric Bixler-Zavala soundalike to play heavy brit rock songs. There are some times on this record which are very impressive (the second half of Getting Bright at Night) but more of this felt purely derivative. 2.4/5 -> 2/5
So this album has just been removed from everything that I have, apparently. The only place I could find this album was on YouTube, but it was of poor quality in my opinion. That doesn't really matter that much though, since the album is just a lot of sound. Like a big wall of sound. Not in a good way either per se. I did like some tunes, but it didn't come across as one of the albums I must hear before I die.. this should not be on here. 4 / 10
Dit is geen gezellig album voor de zaterdag ochtend zeg, pfoe. Snoeihard en een gigantische bak herrie, zo zou ik dit album omschrijven, staan ook niet op Spotify en zijn verrassend moeilijk te vinden op YouTube, maar volgens mij heb ik het correcte album geluisterd. Tsja, wat kan ik zeggen; dit is gewoon niet heel erg mijn muziek. Het is zo snoei en snoeihard dat ik er gewoon niet echt de schoonheid uit kan halen. Ik kan gewoon heel slecht nummers hier uit halen, het is een bak met herrie en overstuurde gitaren met een schreeuwende zanger er overheen. Probeer daar dan nog maar eens iets moois in te vinden of enthousiast te worden van een los nummer. Dramatisch vind ik het alleen niet, het is gewoon echt niet mijn stijl en dat is prima. Om een 1 te krijgen moet ik het actief kut vinden, nu is het meer gewoon een soort herrie als achtergrondmuziek, maar irriteren doe ik dan weer niet. Tsja, misschien ga ik ooit nog eens post hardcore waarderen, maar voor nu is 2 sterren voldoende.
Indie sleaze. First track off the album is pretty good but the rest is a muddy mess, I suppose cynically called garage rock.
Bang average angst rock, it sounded fine but at the same time I didn’t really care all that much for it.
Pretty mid
Review - I had high hopes after hearing the bass tone on the first track - a punky mid-00s band I'd never heard of? But after listening to the whole album I can see why I'd never heard of it. Maybe an interesting mix of styles for the time, but the mix of almost interesting rocked up 90s indie with the vocals and swagger of late 80s hair metal is absolutely not for me. Rating - 3.5/10 Need to listen? NO
Eens met Jean, ik weet niet wat dit op de lijst doet
Whatever, was ook veel te lastig muziek vinden en vond het behoorlijk kak
Hard to pick between 2 and 3. There are more than enough points where I wanted to quit on this album but there was enough good to keep going. I definitely don’t love this but I’m stuck between “okay” and dislike
I love rock and there’s some good sounds here. But this just didn’t hit with me. Sorry.
Noisy and bad
Starts off strong, ends up a morass. This suffers from the same fate as a lot of early 2000s rock where everything mushes together with no variance in sound. It's a shame because the band is like Gang of Four meeting the Stooges for a grungier take on post-punk. But that line can't hold for an hour run time, and it just falls apart by the end.
I listened to this and I think I kind of liked it, but that was a week ago and now I could not pick it out of a lineup.
kinda just noise
Aldri hørt om, hører uten å søke opp. Det begynner lovende, fine texturer, men beveger seg gradvis fra noise rock-nærliggende til å bli mer post-hardcore med metal-innflytelser. Etter hvert blir det mer blues, Spike Island er ikke mer enn et steinkast unna Led Zeppelin med fuzz. Det er flott at det er variert, men det beveger seg på en måte lenger og lenger vekk fra et interessant lydbilde. Det blir litt bedre igjen, og på skivas lengste låt gjør de sin beste Spiritualized. Jeg liker Spiritualized veldig godt, men jeg har jo allerede merkevaren hjemme...? Høres vokalisten mer ut som Marilyn Manson eller han som synger i Korn? På garage-pastichen White Devil er det definitivt MM. Tror albumet hadde vært bedre om de aldri sang, for vokalen drar alltid musikken i en datert retning hvor dårlig pop skulle inn i "alternativ" musikk. The Icarus Line kaster alle innflytelsene sine på veggen og ser hva som henger igjen. Resultatet er ikke bare et variert, men et varierende album. Det hadde nok funka bedre om de tok lydene de åpenbart er tiltrukket av og bare jamma i stedet for å huke av bokser på et genre-kart. Jeg liker aspekter av dette, men de klarer sjeldent å bryte fri fra sine egne konstruksjoner. Resulatet er at musikken føles påtatt og uten identitet. Og på bingoen min kan jeg krysse av for enda et post-90-talls album som ikke har noe på denne lista å gjøre.
Startet lovende, som et litt røffere og mindre retro Jet. Kanskje litt nærmere The Datsuns. To band fra rock revival-bølgen jeg holder høyt. Litt Iggy-aktig vokal oppå det hele. Men så rakner det litt. Det er litt som musikk og vokal splitter lag på "Kiss Like Lizards". Skjønner at det skal låte tøft, men syns det låter litt flatt. Begynner å minne mer om grunge. Kanskje det er fordi jeg måtte høre plata på Youtube. De prøver seg på noe dronegreier utover dette, men det funker sånn passe. Liker "Getting Bright At Night", men "Big Sleep" føles igjen litt som om vokal og instrumenter ikke spiller på lag. "Meatmaker" høres ut som en parodi på Suicide, men det virker bare malplassert her. Som om bandet gikk tom for ideer.
Pretty obvious White Stripes clone. Not terrible on its own but just pretty unremarkable.
Noisy
Was pretty sick of it by the end
At times this sounds like Primal Scream fronted by a low energy Bono. Somehow it’s not quite melodic enough, whilst also not being quite industrial enough. It feels like it needed to lean into one or the other a bit more to connect. Whilst there are glimpses of promises it all just falls a bit flat and boring.
- a few ok riffs ... the vocalist is .... nondescript. Somebody please tell me why I should care about this. -
As one of the more obscure albums in the project, I was excited to listen to this. It was too industrial / heavy for my tastes, but it was still cool to listen. Some cool moments in this, even if I did struggle with it at times.
not my cup of tea
Garage rock with a bit of grunge. The vocals remind me of Geese and early Radiohead. It's fine, but doesn't really stand out in any way and I don't think I'll come back to this. 2.5/5.
Decent hard rock album. It's a little whiny and suffers some of the tropes that always affect noisy hard rock from this time period though. Most of the songs sound the same so even if I didn't mind them individually there are diminishing returns as the album continues. After 30 minutes the whole thing is played out and you are ready for it to end. Even despite that I found most of it competent and didn't hate the listen. Always good to see a local band from LA hit the list even if I wasn't familiar with them previously. Might ask around as I expect I have a couple buddies that would enjoy this and might know of The Icarus Line. This isn't really my genre but I expect I would have enjoyed them had I caught them at one of the smaller venues like Chain Reaction (RIP) back in the day. I've mostly outgrown a lot of this and don't expect I'll revisit The Icarus Line but maybe it'll show up at a friends house without me knowing. Either way I can't complain about some new music that's a little more modern than most on the list, even if it somehow is 20+ years old already. Was 2004 really that long ago? 1.85 stars
Niet mijn ding 1,5
The story of this album in this band is really interesting, but I don’t think the album itself is very good
Lotta noise...
Sounds like a noisy training session.
Would rather just listen to The Stooges
Not my bag baby
Questionable lyrics; nice sound.
This albums biggest accolade was that it was included in this list....
Yay.. Yet another indie record, how many more of these will I have to endure? Once again, just few songs in I see absolutely nothing special about this, some Stooges influence, cool, some hardcore punk influence so at least it is a bit different from other indie offerings I got, but still I mean this is below average for me, not terrible but I can survive fine without this thanks
not availabe so idk
This album is intense and gritty. I can hear the quality, but I’m not interested in returning regularly.
This album initially gave the impression it was going to be quite interesting musically, even if the vocals weren't up to much. However, it soon descended into pretty typical American alt rock drudgery.
decent but too long
I really like the guitar sound on this thing. It's full, organic and gritty. The rest? Garden variety, abrasive melodic noise post hardcore that adds nothing new. A poor man's At The Drive In.
This went on way too long and the vocals really annoyed me - every vocal line was so repetitive and the intonation was really grating.
Way too much for me but I can see how some would enjoy.
2/5
This album should be up my street as it has a lot of elements I like (rock, punk, experimental) but for some reason it manages to be rather bad, regardless. Songs are rather random, it lacks the energy I want in this king of album. They seem to try hard, but fail... Some OK sections but all in all just noise for the sake of it.
Not quite as bad as I expected but still didn’t really like it 😅
Correcto
Not very impressed. I was excited to listen to this based on the Wikipedia description, but unfortunately was a mild example of this garage punk rock. Not really sure why it's notable enough to be on this list, but not an awful listen. Something new by a band I didn't know, at least.
First couple of tracks I was quite enjoying this. Unfortunately that wore off by track 4. By the end I was dying for this to end. Is this the worst album on here? Not by a long shot but it’s way too long and there’s just nothing interesting or unique about it. Top Track - Up Against The Wall Motherfucker
Very generic nothing stood out. Sounded like an early 2000s punk album.
This is bad. Don't like the singers voice and the guitars sound like grating metal.
Noisy but 2hiny
Jack White as produced by Ross Robinson. 1.5 Aaron North is often alleged to be an ‘interesting’ guitar player. I’d say he is more like Noel Gallagher playing with more confidence and less responsibility but still essentially a musical dullard. This is all energy and attitude without anything going on underneath for 53 minutes. Tiresome. 1.5/5
Een boel irritante jengelherrie, die (begrijpelijkerwijs) niet op Youtube staat. Af en toe is er een rustmomentje, om iets schoenenstaarderigs of Britpopperigs te doen. En dan gaan ze weer. Ik vond er niks aan.
Als je de feedback-piep op je album laat staan, dan ben je moedwillig je eigen muziek aan het verpesten. In 2004 nog... Een nummer als 'Spit it on' is niet te luisteren. Zonde, want aan nummers als 'On the Lash' hoor je dat ze best wat in huis hebben. Nee, best boek, dit is geen 'verklaring van muzikale onafhankelijkheid'. Dit is kopieergedrag een aantal decennia nadat dit al standaard werd gedaan. En nee, best boek, dit is al helemaal geen stellingname tegen verveling. Ik verveel me net zo sterk als bij de mede-copycat Dwight Yoakam. Gaaaaaaap. 1,5 ster
Dit had in theorie best fijne muziek kunnen zijn, als het niet zo'n pijn aan mijn oren zou doen van de matige kutkwaliteit. Het is blikkerig en schel aan alle kanten, ik krijg er gewoon koppijn van. Ik vermoed dat dit expres is, dit is wel zo'n band die in een klein zaaltje op standje gehoorschade wil spelen. En dat is denk ik zonde, want op zich had ik deze chaotische noise rock best ok kunnen vinden. Ik hoor er wat At the Drive In in, een goede vleug vuige rock n roll a la the Datsuns. Maar het subtiele sneeuwt nu totaal weg onder een muur van herrie. Ik weet niet zo goed wat ik hiermee aan moet. Het heeft potentie tot een 4, maar als ik het nu aan luistergenot af moet meten, dan kom ik niet hoger dan een schamele 2. Ik zou graag een 3 geven, maar ik vrees dat ik dit absoluut nooit uit vrije wil nog eens op ga zetten.
Not going to give it a 1 because there is some redemption here. Yes it is derivative and pretty par for the course of this era of trying to usher in the “new rock” unsuccessfully with a lot of noise. Some of the songs were cool and I stopped to listen but a lot just sounded like the background of a busy brain.
This is one of those albums where the reputation overshoots the experience. Based on the reviews, I expected something actively miserable. It’s not that. But it’s also not something I particularly enjoy. The aggression feels intentional rather than expressive, and the repetition comes across as confrontational without giving me much to latch onto emotionally or musically. I can appreciate what they’re going for. There’s a stance here, a rejection of polish and accessibility that feels deliberate and sincere. But sincerity alone doesn’t carry it far for me. The songs don’t stick, the textures don’t reward repeat listens, and the overall effect is more exhausting than compelling. So no, I don’t hate it. But I don’t like it either. It lands in that narrow space where respect for intent doesn’t translate into enjoyment. A two-star record for me: tolerable, occasionally interesting, but not something I’d choose to revisit.
This is a tough sit. Goddamn, it is TEDIOUS. I don't even want to expand on my notes lol. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions - On The Lash - White Devil
Started strong but quickly grew grating and tiresome.
Tortura não é entretenimento
Very hit or miss song to song for me
I found this album super repetitive. I liked the first track, but it everything just sort of blended together after that.
It's not terrible but why is it on the list?
Didn't interest me at all.
Couldn't understand why an album like this would be enjoyable for anyone until I saw the top comment on Getting Bright at Night: "Great song. Shot a lot of heroin to this entire cd" and then I got it.
Meh. This is the sort of forgettable rock that takes up way too much space on this list. Maybe it was influential or groundbreaking in some place or time, but I don't really care. Give me more jazz. Give me more electronic. Give me more hip hop!
Average overhyped noise band from the early 00’s.
I like Aaron North but this kind of sucked
I'd say this is an acquired taste, but only if you like noise rock. I like loud, I like metal, but I'm not that found of this.
just boring
Descent alt rock, but nothing inspiring me here. At times they sound a bit like the white stripes, or even Suicide, but that’s all I took away.
Gear: Moondrop Variations Artwork: 👩🏻🦱👁️🪱 Production: 🎛️📢🤏 Music: 🤯🌀😴 Rating: 🪽☀️(💥)/5
Thoughts before listening: Gothy indie pop or something I think. I never really paid these guys much attention. Review: Nope. Totally wrong on this one. This is punkish alt rock, pretty similar in vibe to stuff that I was listening to in the 00s like At the Drive-In or Queens of the Stone Age. This is okay although I'm not hearing any songs as good as those other bands, and I don't really see anything to justify their inclusion on this list. Feels like another swing and miss from the editors to choose a contemporary album that deserved inclusion. 2-stars
Why is this here? Like, genuinely. I'm not trying to dismiss this as irrelevant garbage or anything, even if I don't care for this album myself. I just want to know how this entered the radar of the people who made the book and why they felt this was a must-listen. Wikipedia says it was one of 2004's most critically acclaimed albums, but I know that that's a load of BS since I can name at least 10 albums from that year that are more acclaimed off the top of my head. Man, 2004 was a good year for music. It's a shame that only like half of the albums included on this list from that year even matter at all. Too much obscure noisy indie albums, not enough MF DOOM. Both Madvillainy and Mm..Food should've been included over... this. Whatever. This album's not horrible, I guess. However, I don't really see a reason to enjoy it that much. It's a bit too noisy for my taste. Don't get me wrong. It could be worse. I mean, this isn't even the worst noise album of 2004 on this list! That Liars album was WAY worse! However, this album still has moments on songs like "Meatmaker" that I did not enjoy at all. Some parts were alright. I thought "Up Against The Wall Motherfuckers" was a solid opener. The vocals could've been more annoying. They kinda reminded me of a more compressed version of Cedric Bixler-Zavala from The Mars Volta. In fact, this whole thing kinda feels like a noisier, worse version of his other band, At the Drive-In. The writing is certainly fitting of the album's sound. It's a bit too long. This isn't horrible, but I can't say that I enjoyed it much. 2/5.
This is pretty terrible. They sound like a really bad Marilyn Manson, and that’s not saying much to begin with. This band falls short on so many levels starting with the guitar work that is flat, boring, and weak.
Okay, not really into this sorta "noise rock", but I can see how it's an evolution of a sound that has been going on for decades. There's a straight line from the Stooges to these guys.
Would not listen to again.
the occasional enjoyable riff sullied by constant screaming and chaos Would I listen again: no Deserves to be on this list: maybe 1.9
This one track, Getting Bright At Night, was a great post-rock song. The rest of the album was pretty boring. Sometimes feels like early Nick Cave, Fugazi, etc.
meh
Sounds well produced but not my thing
These guys sound how my parents thought my music sounded growing up.
I’d never heard of this band, which is crazy because in 2004, this was the exact type of music I was listening to. Admittedly, a lot of rock music sounded like this at that time, which probably contributed to the flatlined-dead state of rock that we live in now. Penance Soirée is hardly listenable, and even if you allow yourself to bop your head to a segment in the middle of a sprawling nine minute song, not enough joy is supplied to prompt a revisit. There are no singles here. It wouldn’t be defined as ‘artistic’ by the majority. For the most part, it’s drudgery. I will say, however, that in the most literal sense, it ‘rocks.’ This whole album is loud and intense and chock-full of guitar freak-outs. It’s not a representative sample of this era’s rock music. It’s more of a deep cut, so I do appreciate the exposure via this generator. In 1001 albums, I want to get knee deep in different eras and genres, not just listen through the same classics I’ve already heard a million times. It’s obvious the singer was a led zep/ Jack White fan, but apparently the guitarist was enough of a Stevie Ray Vaughn fan to break a display case at a Hard Rock Cafe and steal his guitar. So, mirroring their music, his actions were insufferable, but then again, despite how psychotic causing a scene at the Hard Rock Cafe is, it technically does ‘rock’. Dude plays for NIN now, so at least someone saw value here.
Meh … individually, each song was fine but I didn’t want to listen to 13 of them in a row.
2 Stars. I just want to skip every song. It's not bad per-say, just annoying and noisy - Not as dark as the album name and cover implied. Not terrible rock - Quality dropped rapidly on 2nd song