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MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER

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Shirley Manson dishes on Garbage's return

The Vow
Lots of folks are calling this outing by Garbage a reunion, but according to frontwoman Shirley Manson, it's nothing of the sort; it was just the right moment for the alt-rockers to rev it up again after a seven-year chill period.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | May 23, 2012

Shadows Fall | Fire From The Sky

Razor & Tie
Are Shadows Fall still feeling the fan backlash from two albums ago?

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | May 23, 2012

The Cult | Choice Of Weapon

Cooking Vinyl
Second acts are hard enough to deliver successfully in the pantheon of hard rock, so it's surprising then that the Cult, now well into their third go-round, still give their audience exactly what they crave.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | May 15, 2012

Pantera | Vulgar Display Of Power [20th Anniversary Reissue]

Rhino (2012)
By 1992, metal fans were in desperate need of fresh bombast. Metallica had gone mainstream with radio-friendly singles like "Nothing Else Matters," Rob Halford left Judas Priest the year prior, and Iron Maiden had long ago stopped delivering vital material.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | May 08, 2012

Eleven Boston rock bands go for a Ride

Nowhere, Mass.
Out of all the bands that toed the line between shoegaze and Britpop at the dawn of the '90s, perhaps none have been more overlooked than Ride.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | May 03, 2012

Silversun Pickups | Neck Of The Woods

Dangerbird Records (2012)
Following a somewhat disappointing sophomore release, it appeared as if the jig was up for these alt-rock throwbacks that made a name by nicking the best of the Smashing Pumpkins.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | May 01, 2012

Dry The River | Shallow Bed

RCA (2012)
Just what the world needed: Mumford & Sons put into a blender with Fleet Foxes, served with an Arcade Fire garnish— it's like a late-aughts hipstercocktail.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | April 17, 2012

Lords Of Acid | Deep Chills

Metropolis (2012)
It's been more than a decade since Praga Khan dropped a proper Lords of Acid release, and in that time the Belgian electro-industrial mastermind has learned some new tricks on how to deliver his message of fuck.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | April 10, 2012

Beak | Eyrie

Someoddpilot (2012)
One word describes this debut EP by Chicago foursome Beak: brutal.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | April 03, 2012

Spiritualized | Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Fat Possum (2012)
Whenever an artist looks back to a high point in his or her catalogue for inspiration in building a new work, it's typically "uh-oh" time.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | March 28, 2012

Gotye finds himself riding a YouTube smash

Somebody that you know
Wouter De Backer has heard it all.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | March 20, 2012

Modern Day Escape | Under The Gun

Standby Records (2012)
The second album by Orlando quintet Modern Day Escape doesn't reinvent the post-hardcore wheel, but there are still some tracks worth digging into.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | March 21, 2012

The Cranberries | Roses

Downtown (2012)
As a gift, roses are generic. It's fitting, then, that this would be the title of the Cranberries' first effort in more than a decade.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | March 13, 2012

Exclusive: Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone on the new Van Halen record

Inconvenient Truth
Last month, after Van Halen dropped A Different Kind of Truth (Interscope) — the rock legends' first album of all new material with original singer David Lee Roth in almost three decades—fans and detractors alike took to the Internet to vote yea or nay on the comeback gigs.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | March 08, 2012

The Black Keys rise to the arenas

Key bumps
When it was announced that the Black Keys were headlining the TD Garden, it looked like a mistake.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | February 28, 2012

Identifying with the sonic haze of Crocodiles

Psychic reaction
There are loads of bands out there that defy, don't want, and often downright despise categorization.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | February 15, 2012

Emo: it might as well be a four-letter word

De-evolution
Back in 2001, when Bleed American was exploding all over modern-rock radio, I sat down with Jimmy Eat World guitarist Tom Linton and frontman Jim Adkins and asked about the emo label with which their group had been saddled.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | February 08, 2012

Van Halen | A Different Kind of Truth

Interscope
Who would've thought Eddie Van Halen would still be innovative in his late 50s?

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | February 08, 2012

Off the record: The Asteroids Galaxy Tour

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour | Out of Frequency

BMG Rights (2012)
Getting a boost with songs from their 2009 debut, Fruit , featured in iPod and Heineken ads, and getting handpicked as concert openers by a then-still-functioning Amy Winehouse in their native Copenhagen, the Asteroids Galaxy Tour rode a lucky streak out of the gate.

By: MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | January 31, 2012