Cop Shoot Cop, "All the Clocks are Broken"
One of the things that set Cop Shoot Cop apart from the other acts they were usually lumped with, often other industrial bands, was that Tod Ashley was never afraid to deploy some genuine emotion in his songs. It wasn't all just pummelling, fury, noise, and aggression. Songs like this would presage the work that Ashley would later turn in with Firewater.
Future of the Left, "Real Men Hunt In Packs"
It hadn't really occurred to me before today, but there's actually some commonality between Future of the Left's sound and Cop Shoot Cop, especially around the bass tone that both Andrew Falkous and Tod Ashley use in their songs. At any rate, Curses! is such a fun album.
Weezer, "Death and Destruction"
The optimal number of Weezer albums for any individual to own ranges from zero to two. The case for zero is pretty simple to make: nobody ever really needs any particular slab of mid-tempo pop rock, it's all pretty fungible. The case for one is also pretty simple: Pinkerton is really good! Two is stretching it, as you have to make the case that the Blue Album is worth having around as opposed to just remaining in your memory as a bunch of songs you know. But, you know, you can try to make the case.
Having four albums, like I somehow do, is a goddamn war crime. Maladroit? Why? Was I drunk? Is that a thing that happens? Do people drunk buy Weezer? Probably.
Pyrolatrous, "Hallowed Ground of the Night"
There's something in the water in Brooklyn. I mean, there's probably lots in the water in Brooklyn. But the metal scene there is easily my favorite anywhere. Krallice and Pyrrhon are honestly enough to achieve that distinction, but Pyrolatrous also hails from Brooklyn, and this is pretty fun stuff. Fun! "Fun"! Whatever. I like noise, ok?
The Budos Band, "Budos Rising"
Hell yes. I actually think that Budos Band II is the weakest of the four Budos Band records so far, which means that it's only "smokin' hot" instead of "apocalyptically incendiary".