Smirnoff is one of a few companies that actually have looked to continually innovate and change what individuals should expect from their vodkas. To that end, they have went and released two new offerings – Spiced Root Beer and Dark Roasted Espresso (review to come) – late last month. We have gotten a chance to sit down with the spirit and really see what the company has came up with.…
This is the first time that we have done up a review of a Facebook game, but we received a pre-release link and really dug what it was about. The wife even picked up on it, so there is some considerable cross-over allure provided by the title. The star power that has been associated with the game is fairly impressive, as well. This means that upcoming rappers, singers, or DJs…
For those crunchy individuals, New Belgium’s Mothership Wit is the brewery’s first organically-crafted beer. Where it seems like in the last few years that companies have been more than happy to slap an organic tag on a shoddily-produced or crafted good, New Belgium has made one of the best beers that I’ve had this year. The white head and incredibly lightly-colored yellow of the beer itself hide how delectable the…
We want to give you a set of tickets to any date on the Fair to Midland / Karnivool / Something to Burn tour. If you want to enter yourself in the contest, simply comment this post. You don’t need to put any personal information in the post itself, but give us an email and if you win, we’ll get you the set of tickets.
In celebration of their tour with Nickelback, Sick Puppies and Virgin Records are giving you a chance to win a 32″ Flat Screen TV and 8.0 megapixel camera phone, brought to you by Samsung Mobile and Virgin Records. To sign up for the contest, hit up http://www.totalassault.com/contests/id/02715/ . Three (3) lucky runner-ups will get a Samsung Bluetooth headset. Check out the tour dates with Nickelback below! 4/08 Toronto, ON 4/09…
Tommy James may best be known for boarder-line clean cut pop hits like “Mony Mony†and “Crimson and Cloverâ€, but in realty his life was more Henry Hill from the Good Fellas, than squeaky clean pop singer. Me, the Mob, and the Music, details the early childhood of Tommy James (born Thomas Jackson), his discovery by a Pittsburgh DJ and through his career at Mob-run Roulette Records. The book focuses…
While we have had a few years of SLUG delivered to us for review, there was well over a decade of material that we have never had a chance to check out. #254 is an issue that looks to rectify that, as it provides readers with a set of articles that the staff felt was integral for properly appreciating the early years of the magazine. In fact, pretty much the…
Harlem is the first kruiden that we have ever received. Apparently (this is from a Google translation of a Dutch Wikipedia entry), a kruiden is nothing more than an herb-infused liqueur. Harlem has heavy notes of anise, wormwood, cinnamon, and even vanilla present. Repeated tastings will bring forth other lesser, but still integral, hints of spices such as clove and basil.
If Seth Grahame-Smith were allowed to pen textbooks, you can only imagine how many more students would actually pay attention in History class. Granted they’d also end up believing that vampires were in charge of keeping slavery alive in the South, but at least they’d be paying attention. Grahame-Smith, author of the surprise best seller Pride, Prejudice and Zombies, does a brilliant job of weaving actual history with a fantastical…
Yup. Our minor vacation went without a hitch, and we’ll be bringing you the latest in news, interviews, and the like for the foreseeable future. Check out this video to get an idea of where our minds are at now.
The first track on “Royal To The Bone†does not do much in the way of forwarding Heideroosjes’ sound. The repetitious nature of the track just gives individuals a few minutes to pick up something to eat or get properly situated in their favorite easy chair. The second track is “Psychicâ€, and it is a track in the traditional sense.
As one can probably guess, what Heiarii opens up eir “Dance!†with is something that resembles the boy-band dance music of the Backstreet Boys. The style of dance music may seem to be dated by a few years but that does not hinder Heiarii from creating tracks that are interesting in their own right. The production is good for a small-market dance act (many of the albums seem unnaturally digitized…
The laid back rap meets R&B that opens up “Back 2 Base X†gives individuals a much different opinion of Hed (PE) than will the meat of “Listenâ€. In a sense, Hed (PE) plays a style of music that resembles that of Rage Against The Machine if Rage was much more bipolar. There is that same mixture of rap and rock that RATM made famous during Hed (PE)’s “Novus Ordus…
Doing covers of jazz classics in a heavy metal vein might seem odd, but to be real, this is just a noisier version of a traditional jazz band. What they qualify as “Heavy Metal†on this disc is as tame as a Doors record, and about as clichéd as those California hucksters. I can say I have a fan of the decision to make the bass lines audible as per…
Something that strikes me about The Heavenly States is the tremenous amount of restraint that they maintain throughout the earliest states of the disc. While lead vocalist Ted strains eir vocals during tracks like “Pretty Lifeâ€, the entire band’s output is very sedate. Tracks like “Black Comet†are so dense that they can work on four or five distinct levels without blending the distinct instruments into a muck. The density…
I don’t do many personal posts here on the online version of our ‘zine, but just wanted to update everyone. The staff is on our first lengthy vacation for about four or five years – literally. We’re going to keep updating as best we can, but our reviews until April Fool’s Day will be going back into our massive archives. There will be pieces here that have not seen the…
A Heartwell Ending starts out their “Trust Us We Lie†with some of the most genuine and impressive new emo since Amber Pacific cut their “Fading Days†EP. Whether the band is able to live up to that comparison for the rest of the disc is the $64,000 question. While the vocals created by A Heartwell Ending are good purveyors of information, they also work admirably with the guitar works…
The inclusion of a more electronic sound to a hard, modern rock sound is something that I’ve personally never heard in the genre. Kudos to Bulletproof Messenger for having the cohones to blend together this style, making “Arm Yourself†an intense, impassioned bit of rock that soars on the wings of this electronic side. Nowhere is this captured as well as during “Lose It Allâ€, which bounces back and forth…
Thursday, April 1st — the new LAIR OF THE MINOTAUR video will be unleashed via a special premiere on Decibel Magazine’s “Deciblog.” The video is for “Evil Power,” the title track to the band’s menacing upcoming fourth full-length release. Directed by Ryan Oliver of cult horror cinema company Deathblow Productions, the video features more blood, gore, violence and nudity in under three-and-a-half minutes than some full-length slasher films, and shall…
I should have expected experimental music from one of the Einsturzende Neubauten band members, but still, the opening track “Minnie & Me†shocked me at the first go around. The vaguely-tribal, ghostly vocals present on that track cannot be anything but disjointed, and I almost feel as if Hacke’s purpose with this track is provide a disjointed viewpoint. The second track, “Sister†is just the incorporation of Bon Jovi-esque guitar…