Hey all! It's your loud rock genre director, back from another month getting down in the muck and mire to find you the best in new loud rock. I've got some good stuff for you this month, for sure, and left out the shit (Did you know there was a new Mindless Self Indulgence album?)

Restorations - LP2 (8/10) Restorations have just started to appear on the radar, so it took me some searching to find their new album, LP2, in the KPSU stacks. After a couple listens, I grew to love this thing. If you want to know what Gaslight Anthem would sound like if they weren't phoning it in, listen to LP2. It is a fantastic "adult-punk" record, if fantastic could describe anything adult-punk. Restorations take 40 minutes and pack in enough melody to totally offset the boring Springsteen worship everybody has going on these days. Listen to this.

Dead Confederate - In the Marrow (7/10) Dead Confederate's third album, In the Marrow, is much better than I thought it would be. The album holds some of the most ferocious and raw of any tracks I've heard this year. Unfortunately, it slows down a bit in the second half. Still good, just not as fast. Check out "Vacations" or "In the Marrow"


The Thermals - Desperate Ground(6/10) "Desperate Ground" is not "The Body, The Blood, The Machine," and The Thermals will likely never put out another record as good as that one in their career. However, "Desperate Ground" is a good record, full of fun tracks and more poetic social commentary than their earlier records. Check out "The Sunset" or the song below, "Born to Kill," if you haven't.

It took me a bit, but i finally gave The Restorations’ LP2 (Out Now, Sideonedummy) a proper listen. I had my doubts, because rarely does anything good and punk come through the download lists. But LP2 doesn’t really fit into the mold that it seems the promoters are trying to fit it into, and that’s why LP2 shines. LP2 is what Gaslight Anthem would sound like if they hadn’t been phoning it in since Senor and the Queen. LP2 is what Against Me! would sound like if they kept adding more and more of the adult alternative sound that has made so many ex-punk bands palatable to a mainstream audience. But LP2 isn’t there, and that’s what makes it so fantastic. Through the 9 songs on LP2, we find a deeper complexity than the washed-over faded jeans rock ‘n roll that bands like The Hold Steady have put together throughout their time, leaving an element that makes this album truly enjoyable, where so many other records have failed. Tracks like “D” and “Kind of Comfort” exemplify this, with a backwoods rock ‘n roll aesthetic while keeping a punk edge that keeps the songs interesting. Singer Jon Loudon’s lyrics are par for the course for this kind of music, but not to be written off entirely. Both the way he sings and the lyrics of “In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe” really livens up an otherwise dull song when it all falls apart, leaving his croaked, desperate line “I’ll take my time/watch the patterns pass down.” the stand out track on this record has to be “New Old” though, a three and a half minute blast of energy that calls no man mister. The track after that, “Quit” shows the band has serious range, throwing some Burning Airlines into their mix. I would say this is a purchaser. Pick up LP2, and pick it up soon. 8/10.

On my first listen to Alkaline Trio’s ninth album, My Shame is True, I wanted to destroy it. I wanted to twist it and turn it on itself. I wanted to collect every copy of it and throw them into a fire, a sacrifice to the Smoking Popes. I wanted to compare it’s every shortcoming to Goddamnit, Maybe I’ll Catch Fire, Alkaline Trio or even Good Mourning. But I realized that I’d be comparing this album to a different iteration of the band. It would be a disservice to My Shame is True to do that, awful Costello pun be damned. So instead I tried to forget those albums, and approach their new record from a different perspective. My Shame is True is not bad. In fact, it might be the closest Alkaline Trio has gotten to a record as good as their early releases since Mike Felumlee left the band in 2001, and drummer Derek Grant began to move the band in that moody-alternative-pop-punk/emo-with-tinges-of-bad-goth-rock direction. Though it’s unlikely this record will make it onto my top 10 list for this year, it wouldn’t be on any hypothetical bottom 10 lists, either. Tracks like “She Lied to the FBI” and “The Torture Doctor” are great, and belong among their best. “The Temptation of St. Anthony” follows the formulaic big hook/droning chorus nature of a lot of their songs, and reminds me of “We’ve Had Enough” or “Continental,” which isn’t terrible, but isn’t terribly exciting either. My Shame is True does suffer from some of the problems that Crimson and Agony and Irony had, though. Among these great songs are droning, one or two minute too long songs that don’t go anywhere, aren’t interesting and only support themselves on Skiba’s moody and generally corny lyrics. “Only Love” comes to mind here, Skiba crooning “How young are you gonna be when you die/I guess I’ve never really thought about that/You’re dying when you start thinking like that/All I know is time is undefeated so far.” I’ve always considered Skiba’s lyrics to be one of the weaker points in the band anyway, so I generally have to give this a pass. His lyrics have always reeked of a pseudo-intellectualism, bad poetry turned into lyrics, hollow and lifeless. They’re just clever enough to seem clever without actually being so. I went back and listened to Goddamnit recently, an album that I would easily categorize within my top 25 albums of all time. Dan Andriano’s most notable track on there “Enjoy Your Day,” is a fucking disaster compared to his contribution to My Shame is True with “Young Lovers.” While I would put the track solidly in the middle if I made a best to worst list of this collection of tracks, it is about a thousand times better than the sloppy, sobbing track that “Enjoy Your Day” is. I’ve never really gotten into any of Andriano’s solo stuff, and thought his song contributions to Alkaline Trio’s records were mediocre at best, but “Young Lovers” is solid. Overall, I think I’d have to give My Shame is True a 6, about four points higher than I ever thought I’d give an Alkaline Trio record post-Good Mourning. The album is streaming in it’s entirety on YouTube, Consequence of Sound, and Spotify. Listen to it there, but I wouldn’t recommend buying it. Alkaline Trio's My Shame is True is out now in Epitaph Records.

Hey all! It’s me, Ben, the Loud Rock genre director, here to give you a taste of what’s awesome, and what you should be listening to, that gets the ‘Loud Rock’ distinction thrust upon it. Loud Rock is everything that’s loud, and what’s loud isn’t necessarily what’s good. So I wade through the shit to give you the best, the beautiful genius pressed into plastic, to treat your ears to some radness. This month was particularly tough to get through. 1. Off with Their Heads - Home By far one of my favorite albums that came up through the floor this month was “Home,” the third proper album by Minneapolis punks Off With their Heads. Though “Home” follows the somewhat derivative and overproduced footsteps that “In Desolation” started going in, it is still one of the best records of the month. The desperate angst used to guide the band’s music and the lyrics, and while ‘Home’ keeps the lyricism, the Epitaph gloss takes a lot of the raw energy out of the music. There are bands whose sound lends itself to glossy production. Unfortunately, Off With their Heads are not one of them. “Home” is good, but not great. 6/10. 2. The Photo Atlas - Stuck in a Honeytrap The Photo Atlas describe themselves as ‘dance-punk,’ but on their second album, “Stuck in a Honeytrap,” the band sounds more like a poppy math rock band, similar to a Minus the Bear, or a Fall of Troy turned down. The album is super bouncy and pretty enjoyable, but there’s a lack of emotional depth or real musical complexity that will give this album a spot on many year-end lists. Definitely enjoyable for what it is, but not fantastic. 6/10. 3. RVIVR - The Beauty Between As I said before, not a lot of fantastic stuff came across my desk in March for whatever reason, so I’m instead going to feature what is likely going to be my album of the year, which dropped this month. From the beginning of “The Seam,” to the end of “Party Queen,” this thing is a fucking masterpiece. The Olympia band brings themes of community, vulnerability and social justice and wrap it in a delicious pop-punk package. On their self-titled debut, RVIVR introduced their fantastic sound, but on “The Beauty Between,” they perfected it. This will be on my top 10 albums of 2013, for sure. 9/10.