Disclosure - Caracal (Album Review)

If there's one thing that has defined British music since the dawn of the millennium, it's gifted young bands' inability to recapture the magic of their first record on subsequent releases. Disclosure might not even count as a band - they're perhaps closer to a production duo - but their debut album, ‘Settle’, immediately presented the Lawrence brothers as unlikely rock stars.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Tuesday, 06 October 2015

Clutch - Psychic Warfare (Album Review)

“A shoot-out, right, is a shoot-out. Like a Western.” Tom Hardy, or Ronnie Kray’s, speech from Legend isn't about the new Clutch album, but it definitely could be. It's time for some telekinetic dynamite. Time for some 'Psychic Warfare'.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 05 October 2015

David Gilmour - Rattle That Lock (Album Review)

Pink Floyd's David Gilmour is one of the finest purveyors of electric guitar soloing ever to walk this here earth. His tone and phrasing are sublime, as is his ability to conjure up dreamy, meditative soundscapes. While those traits are typically exquisite on ‘Rattle That Lock’, his first solo album in nine years, the same flaws that have plagued his output for the previous three decades remain.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 05 October 2015

The Dead Weather - Dodge And Burn (Album Review)

‘Dodge And Burn’, the Dead Weather’s third full length, oozes rock’n’roll. Alison Mosshart and Jack White are the perfect musical sparring partners and here they deftly tread the line between control and chaos. But what else did we expect?

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Thursday, 01 October 2015

Chvrches - Every Open Eye (Album Review)

Photo: Danny Clinch Pressure isn’t a particularly welcome topic of conversation, nor it seems much of an issue, for Chvrches. Lauren Mayberry, while talking with Corin Tucker of Sleater Kinney for Interview, said that she might “explode” at the next question about it. Duly, when delving into ‘Every Open Eye’, the follow up to the synth-pop trio’s massive debut, ‘The Bones of What You Believe’, it’s not the first word that springs to mind.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 30 September 2015

New Order - Music Complete (Album Review)

Following bassist Peter Hook’s acrimonious isolation from New Order, the legendary band were thought by some to be dead and buried.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 29 September 2015

Sexwitch - Sexwitch (Album Review)

It was easy to be sceptical about Sexwitch upon its announcement. True, news of a collaboration between Natasha Khan, better known as Bat for Lashes, and middling psychedelic rockers Toy wasn’t something to be particularly concerned, or necessarily excited, about. Yet the modus operandi of the project’s self-titled debut – to rework and translate songs picked up in countries including Iran, Morocco and Thailand – did set alarm bells ringing. The line between influence and cultural appropriation is a fine one.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Monday, 28 September 2015

No Devotion - Permanence (Album Review)

“I know you can be overwhelmed and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?” The answer to one of 10 Thing I Hate About You’s burning questions is yes, if No Devotion’s debut, ‘Permanence’, is anything to go by.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Monday, 28 September 2015

Ought - Sun Coming Down (Album Review)

There was a time when Ought’s musical aesthetic threatened to become resolutely unfashionable. Their slacker blend of various indie and post-punk stylings hasn’t had much going for it since the beginning of the 21st century. It’s been old masters that have dominated the field, thankfully with enough conviction to ensure that those of us who grew up devotedly listening to Pavement records didn’t have to completely adjust our guitar music preferences.  

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 25 September 2015

Battles - La Di Da Di (Album Review)

In a nutshell, Battles have always suffered from being too good. Their own musical inventiveness, and playfulness, seems to overtake them at every given opportunity, to the extent that sometimes it feels – as an outsider – that you’re not invited to the party. Does their third album, ‘La Di Da Di’, with its ludicrous title, have the antidote to that?

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 25 September 2015

Crossfaith - Xeno (Album Review)

Heavy metal, when done properly, makes me want to rip my knackers off and swing them around my head like a wrinkly mace. Crossfaith are a band with the capacity to do this to people.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 23 September 2015

Ryan Adams - 1989 (Album Review)

Ryan Adams, alone at Christmas, sank into a funk familiar to most, one pitched somewhere between introversion and a need for escapism. His formula: ‘1989’ in the style of ‘Nebraska’.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 23 September 2015

Lana Del Rey - Honeymoon (Album Review)

While discussing 'Honeymoon', Lana Del Rey's most epic work to date, the album was likened to a movie soundtrack by Radio 1’s Huw Stephens. It is Del Rey’s score to her own mystical life, the backing track for a silver screen siren for the modern age.

Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Tuesday, 22 September 2015

The Libertines - Anthems For Doomed Youth (Album Review)

The Libertines’ lyrical prowess is as impressive today as it was way back then, before they disappeared. Having encapsulated the moment that cracked open a revelatory Pandora’s box of raw, British rock ‘n’ roll spunk for a generation disenchanted with auto-tuned, Photoshopped pop, the unlikely lads, Pete Doherty and Carl Barât, remain steadfastly anti-commercial domineers of modern chart music.

Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Friday, 18 September 2015

Kwabs - Love + War (Album Review)

The difference between hype and expectation is a subtle one. The former suggests an element of the unknown, the latter knowledge of the raw materials at play. It’s fair to say that, unlike some of his hotly-tipped peers, Kwabs is dealing with expectation on his debut, ‘Love + War’.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 18 September 2015

Bring Me The Horizon - That's The Spirit (Album Review)

People used to detest Bring Me The Horizon. Despite borrowing from the hallowed pages of At The Gates, melding it with electronic-tinged metalcore and delivering tunes heavier than a cruise liner full of Uruk-hai, nobody was having it. “They've got shit haircuts,” they said. “That's not metal,” they said. But the band stuck it out. Their fourth LP, 'Sempiternal', had everyone dribbling at the prospect of a follow-up. So two years later, here's 'That's The Spirit'.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 17 September 2015

The Wonder Years - No Closer To Heaven (Album Review)

These days The Wonder Years’ Dan Campbell could write a hit pop punk album in his sleep. Right from the first note, ‘No Closer To Heaven’ is full of anthemic tunes, just like its predecessors. Campbell’s sincere lyrics and passionate vocal delivery are a slick lesson in emotional manipulation, as every line begs to be shouted back at the band. The Wonder Years skilfully swing between delicate melodies and thundering choruses that will suckerpunch you.

Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Friday, 11 September 2015

Slayer - Repentless (Album Review)

“But is it really Slayer, though?”, asks a man in a cardigan, sipping herbal tea from the comfort of his rocking chair. Of course it's Slayer!

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 11 September 2015

FIDLAR - Too (Album Review)

Pelting along as fast as your bones will allow only works for so long. FIDLAR, though, appeared to be one band willing to test the boundaries of the theory. Until now.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 08 September 2015

Iron Maiden - The Book Of Souls (Album Review)

Preface 666: I fucking love Iron Maiden. This band is the living, breathing, triple guitar-playing embodiment of heavy metal. Bruce Dickinson is indestructible. Janick Gers likes putting his leg on things. These are facts.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 07 September 2015