I had gone out with a bunch of friends to the Bigfoot Lodge in Los Feliz, one of my favorite bars on the planet. On the way back we stopped at someone’s friend’s house, and I went straight to the hi-fi stereo system, which happened to be nearly identical to the one I had put together when I was eighteen or so, the one through which I first played most of the best albums the 90s had to offer. The architect of the system was more than happy to show it off.

Every hardcore audiophile has their go-to album to sample the range of a sound system. It’s the one they’ll use most while calibrating for room dynamics, the one they’ll take with them when shopping for an amp or speakers, the one they’ll reach for when music is the only thing that can clear their head after a harrowing day. Mine, for instance, is Dirt, by Alice In Chains. Particularly track four, Down In A Hole. Well, this kid’s was a live Donny Hathaway album, titled simply, Live. He dropped the needle on track two, The Ghetto, and instantly I was completely entranced.

I have a problem. It’s an ugly habit that is destroying my life. When everyone else hates an album I love, a syndrome kicks in- its severity proportionate my peers’ collective hatred for said album- and I find myself compulsively determined to convince everyone that they’re wrong, that they just need to give it a truly objective chance.

Forgive me, but I am unable to stop loving The Distillers’ 2003 album Coral Fang.

In 2003, a friend made me listen to Silverchair’s fourth album. It was called Diorama, and it was produced by the talented David Bottrill, known for his work with Tool and King Crimson.

I was shocked to find anything but a three chord grunge band.

Today I want to talk about a UK based band called Taint, whose 2005 album The Ruin Of Nová Roma will forever have a place on my iPod.

When I first saw their name (likely on some “illegal” torrent site), I figured they had to be some silly, obnoxious crust punk band. I’m not sure what made me look closer, but I was shocked to find an extremely mature hardcore sludge / ’stoner’ metal band (perhaps I’m splitting hairs), along the lines of Neurosis and Isis, but with much more energy, richer dynamics, and sharper teeth. Imagine Converge crossed with Circa Survive, sans whine.

Another way to describe them would be to say they’re what Refused would sound like now if they stayed together.

Editor’s note: Yeah, another new feature. Retro Reviews. Just like you, we often stumble upon great albums weeks, months, even years after they were first released. And of course there are plenty of albums we’re still in love (or hate) with that came out before we launched Antiquiet. So here’s something Johnny wrote about the Mars Volta record that came out in January. It holds up.

The Mars Volta have taken the art of the concept album to a new level.

The sixth-dimension latin-funk math rockers, founded by vocalist/lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist/composer Omar Rodríguez-López, returned from the ether earlier this year with The Bedlam In Goliath: a relentless, uncompromising juggernaut of an album that, as they put it, “didn’t want to be born.”