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

The Weeknd - Beauty Behind The Madness (Album Review)

Since releasing his debut mixtape, ‘House of Balloons’, The Weeknd, aka Abel Tesfaye, has had the world waiting eagerly for each mysterious new collection. Keeping details of his personal life and music watertight, while harmonising on the subjects of drugs, sex and all things between, his ability to write music to entice and instigate some murky menage-a-trois may appear shocking as a concept, but his tones are seductive beyond compare.

Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Monday, 07 September 2015

Against Me! - 23 Live Sex Acts (Album Review)

Against Me! have made damn sure that ‘23 Live Sex Acts’ is a career spanning insight into their live show and, although at some points a little rough around the edges, it’s genuine and honest, choosing the warts and all approach over a slick, edited sheen.  The band have been touring almost constantly for the last two years, since the release of ‘Transgender Dysphoria Blues’, and it makes perfects sense for them to frame a snapshot of this moment in their career.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Monday, 07 September 2015

Bon Jovi - Burning Bridges (Album Review)

Although the title of this record suggests a swipe at departed guitarist Richie Sambora, it's actually a bitter parting shot at Bon Jovi's long-time, soon to be former, label, Mercury Records. Initially billed as “special release for the fans” to accompany a forthcoming tour, the album now represents the dreaded filling of a contractual obligation.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 03 September 2015

Foals - What Went Down (Album Review)

Foals represent a perfect storm of emotional anarchy, characterised by their staggering new record, ‘What Went Down’. Here, the sinister intent that reflects in the band’s aesthetic evolves into a standalone beast. They are a raging ego, covered in wounds.

Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Thursday, 03 September 2015

Yo La Tengo - Stuff Like That There (Album Review)

Photo: Dusdin Condren A new Yo La Tengo release is usually a cause for celebration. As one of the most outstanding bands of their generation, the New Jersey indie rock trio have a discography most bands their age would die for. From the graceful swells of 1993’s ‘Painful’, to the krautrock-infused pop of 1998’s ‘I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One’ and the concise beauty of 2013’s ‘Fade’, this is a band that rarely fail to deliver.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Thursday, 03 September 2015

Destroyer - Poison Season (Album Review)

Along with stints elsewhere, most notably as a member of the New Pornographers, Dan Bejar has been knocking out albums under the Destroyer moniker for the best part of two decades. While the much-revered ‘Kaputt’, released in 2011, was of his most accessible collections, ‘Poison Season’ offers the listener a far more challenging experience, at times reflecting his own rough edges.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 02 September 2015

FKA Twigs - M3LL155X (Album Review)

Since the release of 'LP1', FKA Twigs' world has been one of perpetual motion. First came the boundary-pushing videos, then the live shows that fused her music with dance and thematic musings bordering on performance art.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 02 September 2015

Beach House - Depression Cherry (Album Review)

How do you solve a problem like Beach House? Adored by an ever-growing cult fanbase, and by many critics, Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have been crafting consistently gorgeous dream pop for a decade now. Their last three albums, ‘Devotion’, ‘Teen Dream’ and ‘Bloom’, have almost single-handedly proved that there is still life in a genre that was beginning to look irrelevantly twee even during its late '80s/early '90s heyday.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 28 August 2015

Motorhead - Bad Magic (Album Review)

Your government has bent you over a barrel, your employment prospects have dwindled and a Freddo bar now costs more than your mortgage. In a world polluted by uncertainty and doubt, it's reassuring to hear Motörhead's 22nd LP, 'Bad Magic'. It sounds exactly how you'd want a Motörhead album to sound in 2015.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 27 August 2015

Queen Kwong - Get A Witness (Album Review)

Carré Callaway snarls and screeches her way through Cold Daggers, the first song on Queen Kwong’s debut, ‘Get A Witness’, sounding something like the love child of Karen O and Lux Interior. But on a record produced by the notoriously spiky Joe Cardamone, he of The Icarus Line, you’d expect no less.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 26 August 2015

Jess Glynne - I Cry When I Laugh (Album Review)

Jess Glynne’s remarkable recent run - five number one singles in the UK since the start of last year - is a nostalgic treat. It speaks of a time when the charts were dominant and streaming revenues were the preserve of only the most forward-thinking. It’s fitting, if disappointing, then, that her debut album, ‘I Cry When I Laugh’ feels more than a little outdated.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 26 August 2015