Being Cold
Twee Pop, Minimal Synth, Powerviolence, Death Metal, Alternative Rock and more.
Hello y’all!
Over on the Rosy Overdrive discord, the topic of punk zines came up again and one user posted some images of Punk Planet before making their own RateYourMusic list for a 2001 edition.
It inspired me to revive my defunct attempt at creating my own lists, and so I worked through Issue #07 (May-Jun, 1995). As a result, you’ll find some reviews of stuff that caught my eye through revisiting my lists, which you can find here:
Some other stray items from the past week or two:
My love for Strawberry Switchblade is relatively well documented, so I’m surprised it has taken me this long to check out Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands (2024). Highly recommended!
An addendum to my Prince Daddy & the Hyena review from my last post:
I’ve been coming back to this record a lot for its fizzy energy and hooks the past few weeks.
I think the elements of this that don’t work (the Green Day-ish sound of “Sure Could” I mentioned in my review and the verses of “30days...”) have become less and less a thorn in the albums side and more just some bumps along the way to hooksville.
About ready to say this latest release is their best, most overall satisfying album to be honest. Gets a bump up to 3.5 stars as a result!
Otherwise, here’s some music reviews. Hope you enjoy ‘em!
Emoji legend:
⛏️ denotes picks of the week, my favs.
🌱 seedling denotes albums like a lot and expect could grow on me over the year.
✨ albums I would recommend to fans of the genre (i.e. it might not convert new listeners, but you should check it out.)
✂ denotes favourite tracks from a given record.
As always, feel free to reach out over on BlueSky or join the Rosy Overdrive Discord server where I can be found now and again.
You can also find me in the corners of Rate Your Music scrounging for obscure emo, hardcore, indie rock and pop punk.
Don’t forget: if you’re reading this in your email it will be cut off.
Read on the web for the full list of reviews!
⛏️ Nedgravd - Ascension (2026)
Genres: Death Metal, Death Doom Metal, Brutal Death Metal
Incredibly dank, evil sounding death metal out of Norway. Production rides the line between relative clarity and sounding like you are listening to a crusty cassette someone handed you in a really balanced way. You absolutely will not find any mention of this band without someone bringing up Infester. I am not familiar with them so I don't know how hard this rides their coat-tails and whether or not they do it in a way that is good or redundant.
What I do know is that this was really satisfying. At times they stretch out into brutal and doom-y moments (the back half of "Sentinential Incantation") but I was particularly impressed by their ability to jump around into groovy asides and back again. Something about their balance of ingredients is really well tuned; they don't rely on a riff salad approach, and their asides and left-turns don't feel random or uncalculated. For an 8+ minute song "Sentiential Incantation" really kept my interest in the back half. They even sprinkle in some distant, spooky keyboards in good atmospheric measure ("Paragon of Impiety").
Any complaints (3-minute sample-forward interlude, relatively useless outro) only make this feel like maybe they have a lot more to offer when it comes to a follow-up. Maybe this is all youthful imitation and bluster, but it impressed me for sure. A lot of potential here, and could get a bump in score after repeated listens.
⛏️ lulamoon - Lambspring (2026)
Genres: Southern Hip Hop, Jazz Rap, Political Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop
I have no personal attachment to the furry music scene but every once in a while an album breaks beyond the scene and catches my attention. Opal was one of those albums, which ended up being one of the most interesting rap releases of that year; I loved the production and tone in particular, where it reminded me a lot of the casually experimental yet political 90s records by acts like Digable Planets.
This definitely feels like an extension of Opal, it has a lot of similarities, and feels a bit like a "if you liked this, here's more of it" type release. Which, hey, works for me. Their production still kicks ass, too. There's a lot of great experimental hip hop from the past few years, but these two from lulamoon stand out as sounding truly original to me.
🌱 Touch Girl Apple Blossom - Graceful (2026)
Genres: Twee Pop, Slacker Rock, Jangle Pop, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, C86
Touch Girl Apple Blossom seem poised to be one of the new "it" bands in twee pop it seems, as they released a warmly received EP and now drop their debut LP on Perennial (home of Slippers, Sharp Pins and others.)
And this is a really tasteful and well-rounded album of twee, slackery and jangly pop. As noted in trisarahtops' review, the weak element here seems to be the "pop" side of the equation; none of these choruses really grab you by the ears and beg to be played on repeat. But what they succeed at (in particular, their incredibly warm and slightly hazy production and atmosphere) they do very well. This album floats by on vibes and production alone and feels a bit like a nice, comfortable pillow.
When they toss an upbeat song in the mix (like "Heart-Go") they remind me a little of Go Sailor, which is high praise. Nudge up the hooks on their next release and I think they're really going to be onto something.
🌱 Prefect - In Everything You Do (2026)
Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop Punk, Melodic Hardcore
Had no expectations for this, as it was something I randomly scraped out of the 2026 pop punk genre chart, but it's not bad actually. Needs some adjustments - as always I'd love the hook-catchiness levels to be upped by at least 25% or more - but this is muscular, melodic punk music that oscillates between reference points like Small Brown Bike ("Numbers on the Door") and near-poppy melodic hardcore ("Accomplice", which also gets into some light widescreen theatrics by the end). Definitely some varying emo influences peppered in as well, mostly on the closer "Glass House".
Very promising, would listen to whatever they do next to see what angle of their influences they expand upon.
🌱 Anadol & Marie Klock - Manivelles (2026)
Genres: Art Pop, Minimal Synth, Progressive Electronic, Chanson, Spoken Word, Neo-Psychedelia
Very cool minimal synth and progressive electronic works with psychedelic and French spoken word moments. Sometimes this bops along at a kraut-like pace, and sometimes it gets freaky ("Symposium"). Title track and "Rentrer à la maison" have big time Casio-tones and rhtyhms going on, which at time threaten to become a little circus-y. I liked this most when it was drone-y and repetitive and really hazily psychedelic, but there's so much going on here that I enjoyed quite a bit of it.
🌱 Lago - Vigil (2026)
Genres: Death Metal, Dissonant Death Metal, Technical Death Metal
Pretty cool dissonant death metal, which I'm no expert in but this felt right down the middle in terms of satisfaction and enjoyability. Maybe it's just me, but felt like I detected a smidge of blackened death in here? I could be way off though. The blend of technicality and not-too-dissonant riffing has every review I've seen online naming the same names (Immolation, Gorguts, some Morbid Angel) which makes sense. I'm a broken record when it comes to trying to explain this stuff, but I think how memorable this actually is remains to be seen until I spin it a few more times. Initial reaction is that this seems dope and I'd like to hear it again.
Koyo - Barely Here (2026)
Genres: Pop Punk, Emo-Pop, Melodic Hardcore
This sounds further calculated towards the emo-pop and pop punk side of the equation, compared to their earlier stuff that had more melodic hardcore (though it's still in here, for sure.)
I am the exact type of person that wants to be stoked on bands playing this kind of music, but something about their full lengths just do not take it over the top for me. This is totally alright stuff, goes down easy, doesn't drag on at 28 minutes, but they struggle with memorability of their hooks. This stuff needs addictive earworms to really seal the deal, and they've got some average hooks, but nothing that I could remember once this is over. Some of this also sounds too much like role play, with "Saying vs. Meaning" cribbing seemingly-directly from Take This to Your Grave-era FOB (outside of the welcome hint of aggression via Drain's Sammy.)
On their last record, I was a bit more positive just based on my enjoyment of this overall sound, but this one seems to confirm they just do not have the juice when it comes to hooks.
⛏️ Fracture - Fracture (1994)
I snagged a copy of this on vinyl years ago, knowing that it was Adam Goren's (Atom and His Package) old band and having heard a) "No Way DNA" tacked on the end of A Society of People Named Elihu and b) a couple others as covers on Making Love.
Revisited this today and surprised to see that it only has 3 ratings for some reason, though it makes sense despite it having been re-released as a part of No Idea Records's compilation of the band's output (Fracture, which only has 6 ratings!).
So, if you're the mood for 15 minutes of scrappy, melodic punk rock this is relatively underrated. The aforementioned "No Way DNA" is a highlight, but even when these songs aren't as strong as some others, they get by with multiple out of tune singers yelling their heads off and their guitar riffs loosely flying all over the place.
RIYL: Radon, Dillinger Four etc.
✂ Martha, Getaway Car, No Way DNA, Thresholds To Adult Living (lol yes all the ones Atom covered but they're the strongest!)
⛏️ Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal (2005)
Genres: Death Metal, Groove Metal
Fuuuck, I was feeling bad about giving Mercenary (more on that later) only three stars but then I skipped over Honour · Valour · Pride to this one and it really sounds like they decided to focus up and deliver everything they could here for what ended up being their final record.
The riffs are diamond-clear and heavy as shit, the drumming is way more active than on Mercenary and really seals the deal. The groove elements they've been toying with since Mercenary are absolutely dialed in to perfection—not too much, not too little, just enough to drill these riffs into your brain without starting to bore straight through the skull to the other side. As someone else mentioned in the comments box too, the bass tone here is just right; lightly fuzzed out and sitting where it needs to be (hard to compare to Mercenary which felt like it was buried a little on that album which is admittedly more wintery and sludgier in tone.)
This is a distillation of what you come to mid- to late-career Bolt Thrower for in the best kind of way. I still mourn the removal of their punk/grind elements from their early work, but on an album as good as this one it doesn't really matter.
⛏️ Plutocracy - Sniping Pigz (2000)
Genres: Powerviolence, Grindcore
Came to this via No Less (they shared members, see my review elsewhere in this report) who themselves I came to via some guy's t-shirt I saw in a live video of SPAZZ on YouTube (continuing the connections, this era of Plutocracy had Battle Axe Max aha Hirax Max aka Anthrax Max aka Max 625 aka [you get the idea] of Spazz on drums.)
This is no muss, no fuss powerviolence and grind that jumps from breathless speed to pummelingly slow and sludgy riffs with varying types of guttural howls, high pitched hoots and gargling gremlin-esque screams. Retains the surreal and absurd nature of the No Less tape I listened to, but focuses it to just the right level (while retaining all the hip hop samples and weird shit they toss in for good measure.) Even some stuff you could say approaches melodic nature like the Sabbath-esque riffs that pop up on "Single File Line". As you can tell from the name of this record, they hate cops (hell yeah). Pretty dope shit, through and through.
✨ Chopper - Last Call for the Dancers (1998)
Genres: Pop Punk
Melodic punk from the UK that spreads itself across a few sub-genres, but always with a chewy, hooky center to it. Has that kind of vaguely weenie vibe to it, but with lots of chugga-chugga start-stop skate punk influence as well. They dip into bubblegum-esque territory with their backup vocals ("Mainspring" in moments reminds me of early Allister) but it's always filtered through that kind of active octave chord use type of pop punk.
Like a lot of this type of music from this era, the energy takes this a long way and it held my attention all the way through. I wouldn't go as far to say that much of this is "catchy", but the melodies are strong enough and they're selling them with conviction. Pretty strong bass performance under it all as well ("F.Perry") helps seal the deal. I'm feeling a little generous but they're giving this material their all and it worked for me.
⛏️ VCR - Power Destiny (2006)
Originally posted as a stand-alone piece, but I re-listened and re-reviewed this recently and made some changes/updates to it.
Genres: Synth Punk, Dance-Punk Revival
Was it just me or did the dance-punk explosion of the aughts contain very few bands who actually showed a distinct punk-influence? Looking back, it’s hard to see past all the hype and disco hi-hat beats to find anything that actually had some punk DNA. Sure, there were highlights of the genre that proved it could work wonderfully regardless—a personal favourite was Thunderbirds Are Now!’s Justamustache—but very quickly it dissolved into the watering down of a quickly outdated sound.
Into the ring stepped VCR (not to be confused with the Toronto-based band) with their 2003 self-titled EP released on the small Richmond-based record label Pop Faction Records. The trio’s sound featured a bevy of synthesizers over shouted vocals and punk-influenced drumming—their sound owed more to guitar-less synth-punk pioneers like The Screamers or Scenes One Through Thirteen-era Hot Hot Heat than it did to the aforementioned genre they got lumped in. As interest in their self-titled EP grew, SideOneDummy Records re-issued it in 2005–as well as handled the release of their only full-length Power Destiny in 2006.
Their bass-and-synth driven sound allowed VCR to avoid the usual pitfalls most dance-punk bands succumbed to—like the generic post-punk aping and angular guitar riffs, gloomy or sassy vocals, and the over-reliance on slick choruses. The music of VCR was more interesting due to the battling synth lines and punk vocals of Chad Middleton juxtaposing with the backing melodies of Mya Anitai. They manage to be energetic and hooky but still immediate and with grit as displayed on album highlights "Really Something / Destroy" or "Scaredofvcr.com".
I’m not too sure why they ended up a footnote in the crowd of samey bands that blew up, but there you go. VCR and Power Destiny are consistent records that deserve some attention by those who either loved this kind of stuff, or were cynical about the bands who rose to popularity by doing it wrong.
Like most people, I'd probably point to their EP as being a stronger (and shorter!) example, but their full length deserves some ears too even if it's a little one-note by the final few songs of its 38 minute running time.
✨ Appleorchard - Tacet (1996)
Genres: Emo, Melodic Hardcore
Pretty good mid-90s second wave emo that straddles the line between post-hardcore angularity and soft-loud outbursts. A lot of time, this kind of thing slides right off my brain but this felt down-the-middle-of-the-road in a non-derogatory way and went down easy. Don't need the "Untitled" instrumental in the middle of the record, though, and they aren't going to dodge accusations of being a little derivative of other bands at this time.
The CD (and streaming) version tacks on their Anything Could Go Right or Wrong EP as tracks 12 thru 15 so skip 'em if you want the album experience, otherwise it'll feel even more like it's dragging on.
RIYL: Broccoli, Texas Is the Reason, Hellbender etc.
✨ Swingin' Utters - The Streets of San Francisco.... (1995)
Genres: Punk Rock, Street Punk, Oi!, Folk Punk
I think I ended up on the Swingin' Utters bandcamp page after adding this to the 🧷 #07 Punk Planet (1995 May-Jun) list I was working on and I figured hey, why not listen to it? My experience until then was with their compilation contributions and having checked out Peace and Love recently. I also realized I've heard "Five Lessons Learned" a million times thanks to THPS2.
Anyway, this exactly what people say it is: 90s punk that homages the Stiff Little Fingers-type sound. A sprinkle of The Clash, a slight Oi influence. Not bad at all, but 3 days out from when I pressed play, I couldn't tell you much about any of these 19 songs. Might investigate some of their other records in the future to fill in the bookends I've got now, but I'm not running to do it.
✨ Bolt Thrower - Mercenary (1998)
Genres: Death Metal, Groove Metal
Seems like a divisive record to some degree, as they continue down the "crush you with a mid-tempo riff anvil" approach they started to lean into on certain songs from ...For Victory. Honestly, the biggest change here might be the drum performance from Alex Thomas, who seems much less flashy and technical, opting for a pretty straightforward and at times stripped back approach. Some songs, like "To the Last..." end up feeling like they are dragging on a bit too long as a result, and the segue into "Powder Burns" makes it seem like they're starting to repeat riffs. When they hit though, their sound still kills. Of their albums that I've heard, they still haven't made a bad one. I really wanted to be able to back this as an underrated entry in their discography, but it kind of rolled off my brain and part of me wonders if it's the drumming in particular? Still, there's some good tunes here for established fans.
✂ Zeroed, Mercenary, No Guts No Glory
Badger - Unhappy Life (1995)
Genres: Emo-Pop, Skate Punk
A split release by this band was reviewed in 🧷 #06 Punk Planet (1995 Mar-Apr) and described as "melodic, harmonic, emotional, interesting."
Emo-forward poppy punk with skate elements (dueling octave chords, flashy thrashy drumming, etc.) and a lightly theatrical nasally singer ("AYE KNOW IN TAHME, AHL GET IT RI-HIGHHHH-T"). This is the kind of stuff you can look back on and see how we got from here to early releases by bands like New Found Glory and The Starting Line, who would take this mix of punk and emo and crank up the hook levels. This doesn't have as much of the melodic hardcore Lifetime DNA that would keep that timeline moving though, admittedly. They do have a little bit of that croony alternative sound ("Last") that makes me think of Gameface.
Not bad, and I have a high floor when rating this kind of release, but with some more focused riffs this turns into the kind music I would have gone nuts for.
No Less - Lesson II (1994)
Genres: Powerviolence, Grindcore
Unhinged, stream-of-consciousness vibe type powerviolence; starts with an incredibly long (for this type of stuff) intro with lots of samples and segues into a noisy extended jam. When this locks into its grooves and energetic outbursts, it's not bad, but at times it feels like its consistency is in how it's not giving you what you want. It's a demo after all though so you can forgive a band that seems to be fucking around most of the time for not "locking in" or something. I'm all for fucking with the format and tossing in weird instruments and noise/sample collages (they also seem to love using some hip hop beats a la SPAZZ) so the overall tone of this is an intriguing one but it's a bit all over the place for my mood today.
Apartment 213 - Vacancy (1994)
Genres: Powerviolence, Sludge Metal, Hardcore Punk
Reviewed in 🧷 #06 Punk Planet (1995 Mar-Apr), where they said "This is one of the best grindcore bands that I think I've EVER heard."
These 5 songs are mostly built around swapping between blasts of SPAZZ-esque powerviolence and slowing things down for beefy doomy heavy stuff. On "Kill for Christ" they try to milk all they can from a lumbering mid-tempo sludge riff and it gets repetitive fast, particularly since there's nowhere really to go from there. Apartment 213 do add a whiff of variety in here (the riffing on "John Wayne Gacy" is pretty dope) and more of an evil atmosphere, which is welcome.
I really hate to be that person, but I'm not sure why I'd reach for this when there are 100s of SPAZZ songs sitting right there. Maybe I just vibe with their kaleidoscopic silliness more? This is solid though, particularly if you want something that has the mid-tempo headbanger moments in there too.
The Wrench - Worry When We Get There (1994)
Decent stuff that sits in-and-around that overlap of 90s alternative rock and what Punk Planet would call "power-punk". When they're focused on poppy hooks with punk-forward backbone this works, but songs like "Can't Catch Me" show you how little gas is in the tank when they lean a little towards a "heavier" sound. Reaching for my well worn comparisons, but "No More, No Less" has a little bit of a The Figgs thing going on, which I appreciate.
I think this loses me a little in its attitude; the punky energy and focus on melody grabs me, but the singer and overall alt-rock air here doesn't totally click. I feel like they drag their songs out a little ("What's the Point") with rock and roll theatrics in a way that betray their sugariness a little bit. Definitely could have cut this down to 20-something minutes and ended up with a stronger release, but I can also say that about a million pop punk bands from the 90s, haha.
Blueprint - Come on By (1994)
Genres: Midwest Emo, Pop Punk
Reviewed in 🧷 #06 Punk Planet (1995 Mar-Apr) and described as "Very poppy. First thought in my head was Samiam, but a melodic hardcore influence, as well. Puts a spring in my step and a sparkle in my eyes." Most notable for having released a split with Jimmy Eat World in 1996.
I can understand the Samiam reference point, though with their dual singers on "Wintertime" they feel a bit simpler and poppier than the 90s Samiam stuff. Songs like "Gladhand" have that "we mashed a couple chord progressions together" type sound of a band figuring themselves out and kinda reminds me of those early blink-182 demos.
Didn't hate this or anything, but it's not going to rattle around my head now that it's over.
Dogs on Ice - Salt Wound (1994)
Genres: Punk Rock
Reviewed in 🧷 #03 Punk Planet (1994 Sep-Oct), and described as "a mix between Jawbreaker, Face to Face, and the early Descendents."
Based on the first few songs alone, I'd probably throw names like Leatherface and Nuisance in there instead. Can understand the Jawbreaker reference a little, because the singer kind of sucks and is produced at a distance in a way that does recall those first few records from them.
Unfortunately, at 46 minutes and 14 songs, they just don't have the tunes or the restraint. A couple of these songs are decent but nothing here screams memorable and they jump around in style just enough that it sounds like they weren't totally sure what direction to take their sound. Once in a while they hit on a melody that you can draw a direct line to orgcore from; gruff and punky, but melodic and bouncy. Elsewhere, they take some noisy, weirdo angular jam turns like on "Pancreatic Mess" that are understandable given the era but don't really add much to the songs surrounding them.
Maybe an EP from this band would satisfy, but this is too much and too messy as a full length for me.
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.