German heavy-metal band Deserted Fear are discovering a renewed spirit with the release of their sixth record, Veins of Fire. The LP dropped Friday via Testimony Records and stands as their strongest material to date as the band enters its 18th year. Read my New Noise interview with guitarist Fabian Hildebrandt.
Deserted Fear Fight the Good Fight Against ‘Injustice’ on New LP
Posted in Interviews with tags Deserted Fear on 04/29/2025 by Kurt OrzeckViagra Boys’ ‘Viagr Aboys’: Two Cent Review
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Viagra Boys on 04/28/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Viagr Aboys, the new album by Viagra Boys, is a great example of a band making fun of its own audience for thinking their cleverly “in” on a joke that doesn’t actually exist. Make my FLOOD review of the record, which will make you long for Beastie Boys (if you ever liked them, either).
Death SS Vocalist’s Cats Gave Him New Outlook on Life
Posted in Interviews with tags Death SS on 04/28/2025 by Kurt OrzeckOn Friday, Death SS rear their head again with the release of The Entity on Lucifer Rising, with a listening party slated for the day before. But look past the band’s image, and the indelible mark that vocalist Steve Sylvester has had on the metal community in Europe and beyond, and you’ll find a dyed-in-the-wool–so to speak–animal lover. Read my interview with the metal legend on New Noise.
Shadows Fall Frontman Calls MNRK Signing ‘A Perfect Match’
Posted in Interviews with tags Brian Fair, Shadows Fall on 04/27/2025 by Kurt OrzeckCheck out the new issue of Music Connection to read my interview with influential metalcore band Shadows Fall and frontman Brian Fair’s comments about the Massachusetts marauders signing to MNRK Heavy.
Cloth on ‘Cracking Jokes’ With Mogwai Frontman
Posted in Interviews with tags Cloth, Mogwai, Stuart Braithwaite on 04/27/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Go to FLOOD to read my interview with electronic-rock duo Cloth on their irresistibly intimate and inviting new record, which comes courtesy of Rock Action Records, the label run by fellow Glaswegians Mogwai.
Sunflower Bean’s ‘Mortal Primetime’: Two Cent Review
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Sunflower Bean on 04/26/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Has the shoegaze craze got you down? Try Sunflower Bean on for size. With a soft and fuzzy post-stoner-rock sound that can’t be resisted, the New York trio makes magic on their fourth record—and makes it sound oh-so-easy to pull it off. Read my FLOOD review of their new LP, Mortal Primetime.
Monk Vocalist: ‘There’s an Appetite in the Corporate World for Hardcore Punk’
Posted in Interviews with tags Frank Bach, Monk on 04/26/2025 by Kurt OrzeckMonk’s new album, Dark Side of the Mind, is a taut and focused batch of seven songs that assail the destructive aspects of Western culture while abiding by his zen ethos. Read my New Noise profile on the hardcore-punk band here.
Cellista: ‘Creating and Existing Under Trump’s America Is My Act of Radical Resistance’
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Cellista on 04/25/2025 by Kurt OrzeckIf you read one story about the role of artists in our lovely new authoritarian America, please let it be my interview with cellist, composer, aerial performer and resistance artist Cellista. Props to New Noise for publishing this critical interview.
Ex-Sprain Chief Introduces New Project, Shearling, With First Proper Interview
Posted in Interviews with tags Alex Kent, Shearling on 04/24/2025 by Kurt OrzeckThis morning, New Noise brings you an wicked-special surprise: the first proper interview by Alex Kent, formerly of Sprain, regarding his wicked-ambitious new project, Shearling, and its first album.
Tennis’s ‘Face Down in the Garden’: Two Cent Review
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Tennis on 04/23/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
As if staying true to their (non-matrimonial) vow as a band that reliably delivers tranquil, escapist music, Tennis calmly issue forth their always whimsical yet never overly precious musical blend of psych-tinged pop on their final record, Face Down in the Garden. Read my full review on FLOOD.
The Bad Penny (beta) 