90s Album Reviews

On 1993's Sunrise On The Sufferbus, Masters Of Reality gave us desert rock riffage while exploring quieter moments, for better or worse

On their third album In On The Kill Taker, Fugazi expanded and redefined not only their own sound but the post hardcore they helped create

On his second album as Sparklehorse, Mark Linkous expertly combined painful intimacy and pop exuberance on Good Morning Spider

On his 1997 sophomore solo album The Lateness Of The Hour, Eric Matthews' orchestral pop mastery is in full bloom

On the 1997 album Free Mars by Lusk, a potent mixture of psychedelia, shoegaze, and experimentation makes for a heady trip worth taking

The 1999 self-titled debut by Owsley has been touted as a power pop masterpiece, but our ears were not tuned to the same wavelength

On their 1995 debut Empty, can God Lives Underwater add their own take on industrial rock or are they weighted down by their influences?

What would be more shocking, the music of Gwar, or that we actually enjoy it? We check out their 1990 album Scumdogs Of The Universe

On Keep It Like A Secret, Built To Spill attempt to make a record that indulges the indie rock guitar while keeping melody at the forefront

On the 1995 album Stomp 442, Anthrax threw their thrash fanbase for a loop, embracing hard rock, post hardcore and alternative metal

On the 1998 album Since, Richard Buckner crafts an album that manages to sound grounded in tradition but timeless in execution

We revisit Beck's major label debut Mellow Gold, was it a warm-up for the multi-platinum Odelay, or is Loser the only worthwhile nugget?

Can Craig Finn deliver a lyrical gut punch without The Hold Steady big rock bombast? We find out on Half Dead and Dynamite by Lifter Puller.

Local H managed a rare twofer on their 1998 concept album Pack Up The Cats - songs that shine within and outside the context of the concept

In another dimension, 1993's Frosting On The Beater elevated The Posies the biggest band in the world, instead of a masterful footnote

With the Dave Grohl produced Into The Pink, was writing off Verbena as a Nirvana clone accurate or lazy?

On their third album Tin Cans With Strings To You, Far become victims of the loudness wars while taking post hardcore in a new direction

The self-titled 1995 album by Prick manages to capture the urgency of industrial at its harshest without abandoning melody and song craft

Mansun expanded the sound on their expansive sophomore album Six, but was it to detriment of the songwriting?

English post-punk cult band The Fall embraced electronic music in the early 90s, creating an uneasy combo with Mark E. Smith's unique vocal

With Foma did The Nixons make the album that, for better or worse, perfectly encapsulates what people think the 90s sounded like?

Fini Scad released their lone album Wider Screen in 1998 and disappeared, is it time to discover a diamond in the rough or leave it buried?

On the Jesus And Mary Chain's 1998 album Munki, is there a great album buried in an overlong and inconsistent seventy minutes of music?

The Falling Joys 1992 sophomore album Psychohum is the eclectic mixture early 90s alternative promised but could not consistently deliver

Eric Melin and Bill McShane of Ultimate Fakebook join us to discuss the 1999 release (and 2000 Sony rerelease) This Will Be Laughing Week

On her fourth album, Tori Amos assembled an all-star band to bulk up her minimalist piano sound but at the expense of melody

On their sophomore album The Proximity Effect, Nada Surf attempted to shed their one-hit wonder tag with mixed results

Ringo Sheena combines melodic pop vocals with a wide array of styles covered in layers of fuzz and distortion on her 2000 album Shōso Strip

Is there more to James 1993 album Laid than a quirky and catchy radio single?

Can immaculate production and well-crafted songs help Stabbing Westward elevate Darkest Days above the late 90s industrial rock pack?

On their eighth album The Process, Skinny Puppy imploded personally and expanded sonically, splitting fans and critics

With his debut solo release 12 Bar Blues, Scott Weiland moved away from the sound of Stone Temple Pilots with abandon and aggrevation

What happened to Marcy Playground after they scored a hit with Sex and Candy? We find out on their uneven sophomore album Shapeshifter

On her 1998 album Little Plastic Castle, Ani DiFranco expanded her sound from punk folk to incorporate mariachi horns and jazz saxophone

Out latest visit to the world of underappreciated and overlooked power pop is the 1997 album Wonderful Life by The Tories

On their fifth album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, the Manic Street Preachers process death and depression with radio friendly sheen