Wolf Alice - Visions of a Life (Album Review)

By the time their debut, ‘My Love is Cool’, picked up a nomination for the Mercury Prize, Wolf Alice had already displayed their aptitude in a plethora of styles and variations on their sound. Sophomore effort ‘Visions of a Life’ continues to do so, but this time their eclecticism spreads even further.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Thursday, 05 October 2017

Hurts - Desire (Album Review)

Photo: Bryan Adams ‘Desire’ is Hurts’ fourth album in seven years and sees the Mancunian synth-pop duo moving confidently into new areas such as gospel, light jazz and funk. It’s a satisfying creative direction for a band who were unveiled with major label fanfare in 2011, but who have since retreated to become a bit of a left-field concern.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 05 October 2017

The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Always Foreign (Album Review)

Photo: Shervin Lainez The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die really bring home emo’s ethos that the personal is political on their third album, ‘Always Foreign’.

Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Wednesday, 04 October 2017

Shania Twain - Now (Album Review)

To the under-25s, Shania Twain might require a bit of explaining. In her ‘90s heyday, the Canadian singer-songwriter’s country crossover albums ‘Come on Over’ and ‘The Woman in Me’ were absolutely ubiquitous, and formed the essential soundtrack for Texan truck stops and Sussex school discos alike. To date, she’s sold roughly 100 million albums over a 25-year career that also provided the blueprint for Taylor Swift, among many others.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 04 October 2017

Cradle of Filth - Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay (Album Review)

Another few years, another Cradle of Filth album. Grist for the Satanic mill, as frontman Dani Filth might put it. But the thing the band’s detractors fail to acknowledge, the thing that makes Suffolk’s spookiest outfit so damn idiosyncratic, is that they never release the same record twice.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 03 October 2017

Wand - Plum (Album Review)

‘Plum’ is the fourth LP from Los Angeles band Wand, following up the quickfire trio of ‘Ganglion Reef’, ‘Golem’ and ‘1000 Days’, which were released in little over a year between 2014 and 2015. It marks a departure from the psych-garage-rock pigeonhole the band found themselves slung into and finds them standing out in a burgeoning crowd of peers.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 03 October 2017

Mastodon - Cold Dark Place (Album Review)

Mastodon did something special earlier this year. ‘Emperor of Sand’, the Atlanta metallers’ seventh full-length, branded 2017’s haunches with a ferocious stamp of quality. It had spleen-splitting riffs, it had heartfelt melodies. There were progressive passages to sate the strokiest of beards. It was wonderful.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 02 October 2017

Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger In The Alps (Album Review)

Phoebe Bridgers might be in her early 20s, and ‘Stranger in the Alps’ might be her first LP, but it sounds like the product of a wealth of experience.

Written by: Helen Payne | Date: Friday, 29 September 2017

Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun (Album Review)

Photo: Bill Crisafi Chelsea Wolfe’s name has become synonymous with a sense of melancholy. On ‘Abyss’ she lamented her tempestuous psyche, but on its follow up, ‘Hiss Spun’, she delves further in an attempt to find the beauty hidden within the pain and purge it in the process. This time round she is embracing her emotions as a means of control.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Friday, 29 September 2017

Macklemore - Gemini (Album Review)

Seattle rapper Macklemore has carved out a niche through a combination of fun, bouncy pop tracks and an identity as hip hop’s most woke whiteboy wordsmith.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 28 September 2017

The Horrors - V (Album Review)

Since the release of their debut LP, ‘Strange House’, in 2007, the Horrors have been in a state of constant evolution. Its critically acclaimed follow up, ‘Primary Colours’, took their goth-garage-punk sound and gave it an injection of psychedelics, while 2014’s ‘Luminous’ saw them dabble with a more danceable core.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Thursday, 28 September 2017

Tricky - Ununiform (Album Review)

It’s a little surprising to learn that ‘Ununiform’ is Tricky’s 13th studio album. Hugely prolific in the years following the release of 1995’s ‘Maxinquaye’ - a top five album in the UK - things had begun to tail off by the time 2001’s ‘Blowback’ came around.

Written by: Ben Gallivan | Date: Thursday, 28 September 2017

Starsailor - All This Life (Album Review)

It’s difficult for any band to fashion a long-awaited comeback album that both satisfies existing fans and reboots their sound to fit in with a different musical climate. Fail to evolve and you risk being seen as a creatively bankrupt nostalgia act, change too much and you risk losing the audience who waited patiently. There are many impressive things about ‘All This Life’, Starsailor’s first album since splitting in 2009, but top of that list is the confident way they’ve negotiated such a quandary.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 28 September 2017

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Luciferian Towers (Album Review)

If we’re being blunt, Canadian collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor are one of the few second wave post-rock bands still worth a damn.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Wednesday, 27 September 2017

Van Morrison - Roll With The Punches (Album Review)

Alongside the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, Van Morrison is now firmly in the septuagenarian rock idol club. As such, he can be forgiven for relaxing his creative output, and his decision to release an album chiefly comprised of bluesy standards mimics recent release by the Stones (‘Blue and Lonesome’) and Dylan (‘Triplicate').

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 27 September 2017

The Killers - Wonderful Wonderful (Album Review)

On the Killers’ fifth studio album, ‘Wonderful Wonderful’, the Las Vegas natives open with the title track, which is a sprawling overture that recalls U2’s ‘Achtung Baby’ in its gritty, industrial production.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Tuesday, 26 September 2017

Black Country Communion - IV (Album Review)

Is there anything less final than an acrimonious rock ‘n’ roll break up? Hell froze over and the Eagles reformed. Axl Rose and Slash have reconciled in this lifetime and it surely won’t be long until Oasis stop looking back in anger and reunite. Cynics, or possibly realists, will cite money as a key factor in those instances, but Black Country Communion’s return likely won’t reap any kind of financial whirlwind. As such, this is one truce motivated by friendship and music. And boy, does it show.  

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 26 September 2017

Metz - Strange Peace (Album Review)

The current political climate has been a spark of inspiration for many musicians. A growing number have written lyrics that call attention to important issues, while others have less directly alluded to more general concerns. Metz, though, have bottled up all that anxiety in order to sell it back to us in the form of their third album, ‘Strange Peace’.

Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Monday, 25 September 2017

Foo Fighters - Concrete and Gold (Album Review)

Setting aside the fact this boundary-pushing release from the Foo Fighters is already being praised and pilloried in equal measure, you have to applaud Dave Grohl. Well aware of the creative coma many stadium headlining bands slip into, he’s spent the last decade trying to make sure his gang don’t follow suit. Such artistic restlessness has largely been successful, so why does ‘Concrete and Gold’ flatter to deceive?

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 22 September 2017

Enter Shikari - The Spark (Album Review)

“Enough. Our next album will bring our message to the masses. I want to reach as many people as possible. We will give this everything. No more self-indulgence. We’re coming for you narcissistic pop. We will replace you.”

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 22 September 2017