Halestorm - Everest (Album Review)
Photo: Jimmy Fontaine It has now been a decade since ‘Into the Wild Life’ applied a layer of gloss to Halestorm’s hard-rock and sent them into the stratosphere, but their sixth album shows that they’re not interested in resting in place. ‘Everest’ sheds expectations, exposing raw vulnerability and depth as they flex their creative muscles in new ways.
Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Thursday, 14 August 2025
Humour - Learning Greek (Album Review)
After introducing their gnarly avant-punk chaos on their 2022 EP ‘Pure Misery’, Glasgow’s Humour have been in a state of refinement recently. Honing their manic energy into something sharper, stranger, and far more personal, their debut album ‘Learning Greek’, fuses feral energy with reflective storytelling as frontman Andreas Christodoulidis explores heritage, grief, and identity.
Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Wednesday, 13 August 2025
Amaarae - Black Star (Album Review)
Photo: Salomé Gomis-Trezise ‘Black Star’ is the third album from Ghanaian-American pop star Amaarae, and it trades the occasionally introspective risk-taking of ‘Fountain Baby’ for a run at out and out dancefloor bangers. If the previous record was a blend of cheeky, confessional and often quite densely arranged songs, “Black Star” wants to push and pull you to all the different areas of a nightclub, especially the toilets.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 13 August 2025
Ethel Cain - Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You (Album Review)
Photo: Dollie Kyarn With ‘Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You’, Hayden Anhedönia cements herself as both an alt-pop auteur and a masterful storyteller. Her 2021 EP ‘Inbred’ quickly garnered a cult following, and critical acclaim soon followed with her debut album ‘Preacher’s Daughter’, where she introduced a wider audience to Ethel Cain, the doomed daughter of an Alabama preacher who flees her home in search of love and purpose, but is instead sold into sex work and dies at the hands of a cannibal.
Written by: Sarah Taylor | Date: Tuesday, 12 August 2025
Debby Friday - The Starrr Of The Queen Of Life (Album Review)
Photo: Stella Gigliotti Debby Friday’s second record follows her Polaris Prize-winning debut ‘Good Luck’ with more confidence, more openness, and more glittering chaos. On the surface, it’s an album obsessed with hedonism. Track titles like All I Wanna Do Is Party and In The Club aren’t hiding anything. But below the strobes, the Nigerian-Canadian artist is reckoning with self-discovery, love, and the uneasy comedown.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 11 August 2025
The New Eves - The New Eve Is Rising (Album Review)
Photo: Katie Silvester The New Eves’ debut has several strings to its bow, from relentless rock songs to supernatural rituals, and the fact that they can’t be pinned down into one style has become the Brighton band’s USP. Reflecting that, ‘The New Eve is Rising’ offers a series of fresh takes on how their music should be perceived, but it’s not without its faults.
Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Friday, 08 August 2025
Reneé Rapp - Bite Me (Album Review)
Photo: Zora Sicher Less than a minute into her second album, Reneé Rapp quips: “Can I tell you a secret / I’m so sick of it all.” The “it all” in question isn’t hard to fathom out. Alongside star-making turns in Mean Girls: The Musical and The Sex Lives of College Girls, in recent years a string of unfiltered press junkets, chaotic interviews, and YouTube compilations with names like “Reneé Rapp making her PR team question their life choices for 6 minutes” have rocketed the singer-actor to mainstream celebrity, where she’s remained boldly, unashamedly herself.
Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
The Armed - The Future Is Here And Everything Needs To Be Destroyed (Album Review)
Photo: Luke Nelson Few bands claim chaos as convincingly as The Armed, and fewer still deliver on its promise with such gleeful abandon. On their starkly titled sixth studio album, ‘The Future Is Here And Everything Needs To Be Destroyed’, the Detroit-based experimental hardcore collective tap into their most primal instincts, shaking off the sleek pop sheen of 2023’s ‘Perfect Saviors’ and diving headfirst into outrage, exhaustion, and mayhem.
Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Tuesday, 05 August 2025
Paul Weller - Find El Dorado (Album Review)
Photo: Dean Chalkley Paul Weller is not one for standing still. Fresh from the success of the well received ‘66’ in 2024, he returns with his seventh album in the past decade. ‘Find El Dorado’ is his second covers album and, like 2004’s ‘Studio 150’, it offers a breadth of material tied to the make-up of the man.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Monday, 04 August 2025
Madonna - Veronica Electronica (Album Review)
Released in 1998, Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’ fused digital atmospheres, UK alt-pop and introspective songwriting to reframe her artistry all over again, leaving a legacy as one of the most transformative records in a career studded with them. Almost 30 years later, ‘Veronica Electronica’ is a long-rumoured remix album that seeks to repeat the feat.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 01 August 2025
The Band Camino - NeverAlways (Album Review)
For the past decade, The Band Camino have lived at the intersection of emotional turmoil and euphoria. Doubling down on both counts with a sharp sense of clarity, the Nashville-based trio have hit the sweet spot on their third studio album, ‘NeverAlways’.
Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Thursday, 31 July 2025
Indigo De Souza - Precipice (Album Review)
Photo: Lea Garn Sometimes an album’s cover will lock you in before you even hear a note of its music. Indigo De Souza’s ‘Precipice’ arrives adorned with an incredible painting by the musician’s mother, whose colourful, unusual but warm hues adroitly capture the music contained within it.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Bleach Lab - Close To The Flame EP (Album Review)
Photo: Alex Eden Bleach Lab have quickly proven themselves adept at capturing a mood. The dream-pop specialists delivered one of 2023’s most captivating debuts as ‘Lost in a Rush of Emptiness’ soundtracked singer Jenna Kyle’s mental state post-toxic relationship, and its follow up ‘Close to the Flame’ is similarly breathtaking at its best.
Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
The Dirty Nil - The Lash (Album Review)
Photo: Drew Thomson In 2021, ‘Fuck Art’ catapulted Canadian outfit The Dirty Nil to fresh heights, encapsulating their colourful aesthetic and skull-rattling rock anthemics. ‘The Lash’ feels like a reaction to all that, with the now-duo hitting reset to offer a more cynical outlook on life and music.
Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Zac Farro - Operator (Album Review)
You could easily forgive Zac Farro for wanting a breather. His debut solo record follows a whirlwind period in the songwriter’s life, with new records by Paramore and HalfNoise emerging amid a year of stadium touring with Taylor Swift. Instead of sounding tired or jaded, though, ‘Operator’ finds him creatively unshackled, free from Paramore-level scrutiny and expressively building upon the psychedelic foundations of HalfNoise’s ‘City Talk’.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Tyler, The Creator - Don't Tap The Glass (Album Review)
Photo: YouTube It’s not even been nine months since ‘Chromakopia’ landed and we have yet another album from Tyler, the Creator. Even by his prolific standards — that’s nine albums now, and three in the past four years — this is unprecedented, especially when you take into account the aesthetics and themes he meticulously crafts for each album.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Monday, 28 July 2025
Joe Bonamassa - Breakthrough (Album Review)
Photo: Ian Potter On first listen, this splendid record from the king of genre-bending blues-rock might feel a tad too polished and accessible. The key to understanding its artistic choices is revealed during its epic centrepiece, Broken Record, when Bonamassa cries, “I’ve been on this road for too long, lost in the wilderness.” What initially sounds like standard bluesy exorcism is, in fact, indicative of an endearingly upbeat effort that, instead of wallowing under a black cloud, revels in the music’s capacity for emotional release.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 25 July 2025
Fletcher - Would You Still Love Me If You Really Knew Me? (Album Review)
Photo: Carissa Gallo Cari Fletcher has become a queer icon during the course of the past decade, her debut ‘Girl Of My Dreams’ something of a TikTok-fuelled cultural phenomenon within the LGBTQ+ community. Now, the New Jersey songwriter has taken a different approach with her third effort ‘Would You Still Love Me If You Really Knew Me?’, falling headfirst into heated discourse with songs that don’t quite stack up.
Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Thursday, 24 July 2025
Burna Boy - No Sign Of Weakness (Album Review)
Photo: Shot By Nee To simply call Burna Boy an Afrobeats artist does the Nigerian superstar a disservice. Across seven albums, he’s stirred dancehall, hip hop and R&B into his work to firmly establish himself as one of today’s most respected future-gazers. But despite the bullish nature of its title, ‘No Sign of Weakness’ shows the cracks starting to form.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Thursday, 24 July 2025
Billie Marten - Dog Eared (Album Review)
Photo: Frances Carter Billie Marten, five albums deep and still only 26 years old, continues her creative tear with ‘Dog Eared’, her most striking evolution in sound yet. Recorded in New York with producer Phil Weinrobe and a stellar cast of collaborators including Sam Evian and Dirty Projectors’ Maia Friedman, it offers a deliberate departure from the stark intimacy of her earlier work.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Thursday, 24 July 2025
Panic Shack - Panic Shack (Album Review)
Photo: Ren Faulkner Panic Shack are instinctively, unapologetically themselves, creating an authentic collective voice that their self-titled debut uses to Trojan horse topics such as sexism, body image, elitism and friendship into punk ragers that will soundtrack many a gig pre-gaming session this summer. The vibe here is very much double voddies all round.
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 23 July 2025
Alex G - Headlights (Album Review)
Photo: Chris Maggio Alex G’s ‘Headlights’ is a sombre, reflective album, the singer-songwriter exploring themes of loneliness and escapism while delivering a collection of songs almost perfectly suited for your next late-night drive to nowhere in particular. It’s almost there, with real ambience butting heads with lyrics that are too open-ended to dig much deeper than surface level.
Written by: James Palaczky | Date: Wednesday, 23 July 2025
Lord Huron - The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1 (Album Review)
Photo: Cole Silberman While Lord Huron might not be household names they are a streaming behemoth thanks to The Night We Met, a track that’s done Taylor Swift numbers after being used in the show 13 Reasons Why. It has generated renewed interest in the indie-Americana group’s other work, and the sturdy ‘The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1’ duly does a nice job of introducing their sound, delivering more of what fans have come to expect since their 2012 debut.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Wednesday, 23 July 2025
Clipse - Let God Sort Em Out (Album Review)
‘Let God Sort Em Out’ is a lot of things — the first Clipse record since 2009, a reunion of brothers, even side quest in the Kendrick Lamar-Drake saga — but chiefly it is a thunderous reaffirmation of their signature sound: coke rap.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Tuesday, 22 July 2025
Wet Leg - Moisturizer (Album Review)
Photo: Alice Backham Wet Leg’s self-titled debut set Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers on the road to stardom and success in 2022, scooping a couple of Brits while making the sardonic Chaise Longue into a breakout hit of note. Not many bands make such a splash so early on, making their return with ‘Moisturizer’ somewhat daunting, especially given its revamped aesthetic, fresh style and updated sound. This is a swerve in a new direction, then, but it’s an exciting one.
Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Tuesday, 22 July 2025
Gwenno - Utopia (Album Review)
Photo: Clare Marie Bailey During The Devil, Gwenno softly warns, “You’ll meet the devil in Brighton.” It’s a line freighted with personal history, feeling like a reference to her tenure with The Pipettes, a polka-dotted girl group that burned bright but left bruises. Their retro-pop sheen may have charmed the mid-2000s, but Gwenno’s own account of that period on ‘Utopia’ is one of fragmentation rather than fondness.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 21 July 2025
Justin Bieber - Swag (Album Review)
When a 15-year-old Justin Bieber released Baby in 2010, he became a global superstar overnight. Now aged 31, he seems hellbent on distancing himself from the teeny bopper image that catapulted him to the top of the world half a lifetime ago and his new album ‘Swag’, released as a surprise, suffers as a result. It is little more than an identity crisis set to tape.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Monday, 21 July 2025
Laura Jane Grace in The Trauma Tropes - Adventure Club (Album Review)
Photo: Pinelopi Gerasimou By now, Laura Jane Grace has proven she can write vital, visceral punk songs anywhere, but even might not have expected a whole record to emerge from a delayed flight and a deep dive into the Greek scene. But that’s exactly what happened to spur ‘Adventure Club’ into being.
Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Friday, 18 July 2025
Noah Cyrus - I Want My Loved Ones To Go With Me (Album Review)
Photo: Hannah Khymych Three years after ‘The Hardest Part’ established artistic credentials to match her famous name, Noah Cyrus returns with ‘I Want My Loved Ones To Go With Me’, which feels less like a difficult second album and more like a modern classic.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Wednesday, 16 July 2025
Kesha - . (Period) (Album Review)
Photo: Brendan Walter It’s been a full year since Kesha’s Joyride first teased an album that revives the glitter and neon fun of her breakout hits, but ‘. (Period)’ isn’t really it — it has flashes of the energy fans know and love her for but as a whole this is a lacklustre version of her blueprints.
Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Tuesday, 15 July 2025
Big Special - National Average (Album Review)
Photo: Isaac Watson / Whammoth To release a new album as a surprise remains a bold strategy; to tease one by projecting its egg and chips cover onto London Bridge and Buckingham Palace ups the ante further. But, then, Big Special are a bold band.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Monday, 14 July 2025
Kokoroko - Tuff Times Never Last (Album Review)
Photo: Delali Ayivi Kokoroko’s 2022 debut ‘Could We Be More’ marked them out as an act to watch, viewing an infectious blend of Afrobeat and jazz through the lens of the vibrant London scene. Its follow up ‘Tuff Times Never Last’ is another statement from the group, venturing even further afield in its search for sounds that feel like a perfect tonic for the summer months.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Friday, 11 July 2025
We Lost The Sea - A Single Flower (Album Review)
It can feel like We Lost The Sea move at the same glacial pace as their music. It’s been six years since the Australian post-rockers’ excellent ‘Triumph & Disaster’ last paired exquisite crescendos with emotional turmoil but on their fifth album ‘A Single Flower’, we’re treated to a slow-burning, beautiful exploration of the emotional spectrum.
Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Tuesday, 08 July 2025
Aitch - 4 (Album Review)
Photo: Jahnay Tennai Give Aitch credit where it’s due. In an oversaturated pop-rap scene, the Mancunian has been able to cut through the noise and establish himself as one of the UK’s most instantly-recognisable talents. On his second album, he leans into his stature on the scene while penning a love letter to his native Manchester.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Monday, 07 July 2025
Lorde - Virgin (Album Review)
Photo: Talia Chetrit Lorde’s ‘Virgin’ is about hitting reset. Four years on from the little-loved ‘Solar Power’, home to a sunny disposition that didn’t strike much of a chord with critics or fans, Ella Yelich-O’Connor has veered back towards the minimalist synth-pop that made her name.
Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Wednesday, 02 July 2025
BC Camplight - A Sober Conversation (Album Review)
Having walked a tightrope between tragedy and comedy throughout his seven studio albums, Brian Christinzio has established a reputation as someone unafraid to navigate the dark. His songwriting is wrought with turmoil but tinged with light-hearted quirks, and BC Camplight has become a vessel to wrestle with his mental health struggles amid life’s turbulence.
Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Monday, 30 June 2025
Yungblud - Idols (Album Review)
Photo: Tom Pallant After three albums of carefully cultivated chaos, Dominic Harrison finally lets the mask slip on ‘Idols’, moving away from manufactured provocation and into something that looks like genuine artistry. Here, he appears to be who he always wanted to be, rather than trying to be the person he thought the world demanded.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Friday, 27 June 2025
U.S. Girls - Scratch It (Album Review)
Photo: Colin Medley Over the course of almost two decades, Meg Remy has turned U.S. Girls into one of the most critically-acclaimed and intriguing indie projects of recent times. Her enigmatic, experimental pop style and vivid songwriting have won many admirers, but ‘Scratch It’ represents something of a curveball.
Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Friday, 27 June 2025
Loyle Carner - Hopefully! (Album Review)
On ‘Hopefully!’ Loyle Carner embarks on a journey of self-discovery, with his soulful voice serving as a guide for listeners to follow. Here he leans on an established sound, without getting too precocious or experimental, and it works for him — this is a powerful record that takes Carner to the next level.
Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Thursday, 26 June 2025
Hotline TNT - Raspberry Moon (Album Review)
Photo: Graham Tolbert Shoegaze never dies. Decades on from a crop of British bands adding layers of droning heaviness to the palette of neo-psych acts like Spacemen 3 and The Jesus & Mary Chain, the genre has, in its purest form, barely moved a dial on its many pedals, finding fresh pockets of interest with reliable regularity.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Benson Boone - American Heart (Album Review)
Photo: David Roemer With ‘American Heart’, Benson Boone will likely cement his spot as a chart golden boy, but rather than becoming known for his own distinctive sound, he’ll instead haunt the airwaves with an approach that reads like a jukebox stacked with other people’s hits.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
AJ Tracey - Don't Die Before You're Dead (Album Review)
Photo: Shamarke Abdi It’s been four years since Lambeth Grove’s finest released ‘Flu Game’, an album that allowed AJ Tracey to flex his versatility while cementing him as one of the UK’s finest rap talents. Now, on ‘Don’t Die Before You’re Dead’, he dials back the experimentation without sacrificing much in the way of quality.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Tuesday, 24 June 2025
Nxdia - I Promise No One's Watching (Album Review)
Nxdia’s ‘I Promise No One’s Watching’ is a debut mixtape full of emotion, catchy lyrics, forceful drops and genre switches — it’s experimental, certainly, but also offers the perfect payoff to each of its diversions, ending up as a real treat for fans of alt-pop contemporaries such as Towa Bird.
Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Monday, 23 June 2025
The Cure - Mixes of a Lost World (Album Review)
The Cure’s latest offering, ‘Mixes of a Lost World’, is an ambitious 24-track accompaniment to their acclaimed 2024 album ‘Songs from a Lost World’. With profits going to UK educational NGO War Child, the record assembles a diverse roster of remixes from collaborators including Ibiza trailblazer Paul Oakenfold and Norwegian techno mainstay Mental Overdrive to electronica luminaries such as Four Tet and self-professed superfan Trentemøller.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 19 June 2025
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Phantom Island (Album Review)
Photo: Maclay Heriot When you’ve made 27 records, uncharted territory is hard to find. But Australian psych-rockers King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are nothing if not ambitious. ‘Phantom Island’ is another big-brained odyssey from a band who have already covered everything from Dragon-slaying metal to inter-dimensional psychedelic epics. Continuing their fascination with orchestral rock, it is one of their most accomplished endeavours as well as a soul-enriching odyssey.
Written by: James Palaczky | Date: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Cynthia Erivo - I Forgive You (Album Review)
Photo: Norman Jean Roy Ever since her stunning turn as Elphaba Thropp in the film adaptation of Wicked, Cynthia Erivo’s stock has defied gravity. That performance was full of so much drama and theatricality, with powerhouse vocals that made every emotion hit like a truck, making anticipation for her new album ‘I Forgive You’ far greater than for her accomplished 2021 debut ‘Ch. 1 Vs. 1’.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Neil Young - Talkin To The Trees (Album Review)
Photo: Daryl Hannah Neil Young really needs no introduction. From his early days in Buffalo Springfield to work with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and a solo career spanning almost 50 LPs, he is a living legend who, nevertheless, must answer a question put to any artist at this stage in their career: do they still have a point to prove, or an audience to reach? For Young, the answer is a resounding yes to both. ‘Talkin To The Trees’ is an invigorating first album with The Chrome Hearts, while it arrives ahead of a headline set at Glastonbury.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Monday, 16 June 2025
Finn Wolfhard - Happy Birthday (Album Review)
Photo: Gep Repasky Finn Wolfhard might be best known as that guy from that TV show, but he is no stranger to the world of music, having previously released records as part of the now defunct band Calpurnia, before going on to form The Aubreys with bandmate Malcolm Craig, with the duo releasing their dreamy indie-pop debut ‘Karaoke Alone’ back in 2021. But ‘Happy Birthday’ marks the Stranger Things star’s bow as a solo musician, showcasing his songwriting and a passion for creating music that is both fun and thoughtful.
Written by: Nieve Elis | Date: Friday, 13 June 2025
Little Simz - Lotus (Album Review)
Photo: Thibaut Grevet With a Mercury Prize under her belt, arena shows in the diary and a Meltdown festival to curate at the Southbank Centre, Little Simz is in-demand and under pressure as her new album ‘Lotus’ lands. The London rapper turns away from inflated hype and braggadocio, though, delivering work that is humble, tranquil and, above all, sincere.
Written by: James Palaczky | Date: Thursday, 12 June 2025
Pulp - More (Album Review)
Photo: Tom Jackson “I was born to perform,” proclaims Jarvis Cocker during Spike Island, the electrifying opener of Pulp’s first album in 24 years. The Sheffield accent and gasps of excitement and arousal remain, and judging by 2023’s run of reunion shows, so do the convulsive dance moves. ‘More’ offers everything you could want from the Britpop legends and, well, more.
Written by: Sarah Taylor | Date: Thursday, 12 June 2025
