Blackberry Smoke - Holding All The Roses (Album Review)

When a band's career is on a sharp upward trajectory, they often hook up with a big name producer to capitalise on the momentum and strike gold.  With that in mind, Blackberry Smoke have recruited Brendan O'Brien - of Springsteen, Pearl Jam and AC/DC fame - to ensure that album number four takes them to the promised land. But have they sacrificed something of themselves in the process?

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 12 February 2015

Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear (Album Review)

Love songs are the backbone of pop music. They’re also mawkish, insincere and calculating. Father John Misty’s ‘I Love You, Honeybear’ is a response to that. The follow up to ‘Fear Fun’ is vulnerable, warts-and-all honest, very funny, a little jaded and unashamedly, inescapably romantic. It’s about loving someone who hates the same stuff you do.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Kodaline - Coming Up For Air (Album Review)

It’s crowded at the top. But it’s going to stay that way. U2, Coldplay and Take That are now stadium-filling pop-rock elder statesmen, with the Script and Snow Patrol also playing ambitious songs in the sort of halls best-suited to having ambitious songs belted out to the cheap seats. ‘Coming Up For Air’, Kodaline’s second album, is precision made to ensure that they make that leap sooner rather than later.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Two Gallants - We Are Undone (Album Review)

Two Gallants have always been partial to a bit of caterwauling. Their music, whether at the country-punk or bare-bones Americana ends of their spectrum, possesses an abrasive quality, a sense that as it pours out it’s doing some damage to the duo.

Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Monday, 09 February 2015

Title Fight - Hyperview (Album Review)

Title Fight have always been ambitious. ‘Floral Green’ may have been cut from the same hardcore cloth as their early thrashings, but it seemed far bigger, its aims grander in scope. ‘Hyperview’, the Kingston, PA quartet’s third full-length, fulfils that promise, but in a fashion that will almost certainly leave some long-term fans grasping at thin air.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 05 February 2015

Soto - Inside The Vertigo (Album Review)

According to a certain wizened Jedi master, an overload of anger is a one way trip to red lightsabers, planet smashing and eternal suffering. What the tiny green killjoy fails to mention, though, is that searing rage often creates fantastic music. That's certainly evident here, as Jeff Scott Soto ditches his nice-guy-of-AOR image to embrace the dark side, unleashing a tornado of expansive contemporary metal and expelling some vengeful personal demons in the process.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 05 February 2015

Rae Morris - Unguarded (Album Review)

‘Unguarded’ is, at its core, about Rae Morris’ voice. It’s a malleable thing, capable of snaking its way through a low-key ballad or blooming, Kate Bush-style, as part of an emotive chorus. There are some good songs here, but Morris makes them great.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 03 February 2015

Mark Ronson - Uptown Special (Album Review)

Perhaps the biggest compliment you can pay Mark Ronson following the release of album four is to say that it survives the threat of death by pop ubiquity. Uptown Funk, that snazzy, Bruno Mars-led megahit, is a huge standout on its parent record, ‘Uptown Special’, but it’s not the only one.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Monday, 02 February 2015

Enter Shikari - The Mindsweep (Album Review)

‘The Mindsweep’ is Enter Shikari’s third top 10 record in the UK. It’s also a fire-in-its-belly response to the idea that popularity equals an empty vessel making a shedload of noise. Their list of enemies is a mile long, their targets thoroughly deserving of their genre-mangling ire.

Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Friday, 30 January 2015

Meghan Trainor - Title (Album Review)

Your enjoyment of ‘Title’, Meghan Trainor’s soon-to-be-massive new record, will depend almost entirely on whether you really are All About That Bass. That superhit is the first song proper here and its giddy fusion of doo-wop with up-to-the-minute pop-R&B and mixed messages sets a distinctive tone for what’s to follow.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Friday, 30 January 2015

Aphex Twin - Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2 EP (Album Review)

Mitt at the ready, ‘cos here comes that curveball you wanted. After a 13 year wait for ‘Syro’, Richard D. James has unveiled ‘Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2’, an Aphex Twin EP that ditches the throwback, good-time squelches in favour of more experimental fare.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 28 January 2015

Belle And Sebastian - Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance (Album Review)

‘Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance’, Belle and Sebastian’s first record in five years, is proof that substance always breathes new life into style. One of pop’s stated aims is to engage hips and feet along with brain, and here they have crafted a collection that does just that. You know what, Belle and Sebastian can dance.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 26 January 2015

Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.$$ (Album Review)

A couple of years back, when Kendrick Lamar proclaimed himself the king of both coasts on his Control verse, it seemed natural that Joey Bada$$ would take umbrage. He was, after all, the most touted emcee from the east coast in years.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Friday, 23 January 2015

The Decemberists - What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World (Album Review)

‘What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World’, the Decemberists’ seventh album and the follow up to 2011’s ‘The King Is Dead’, has been in the works for the last 18 months and finds the band grappling with expectations of increased maturity and development. And they live up to them. Sort of.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Thursday, 22 January 2015

Funeral For A Friend - Chapter And Verse (Album Review)

A decade ago, for every My Chemical Romance, there were scores upon scores of Funeral For A Friends; bands who acquired massive followings due to the uncompromising nature of their music before slipping into the mainstream. The only problem being that their sonic wanderings eventually lost the support of radio-listening robots.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 21 January 2015

Fall Out Boy - American Beauty/American Psycho (Album Review)

‘American Beauty/American Psycho’, Fall Out Boy’s sixth album, is further proof of their ability to adapt to their surroundings. The scrappy pop-punk band of their debut met one of the sticky ends Pete Wentz so often alludes to a while ago, only to be replaced by a multifaceted, arena-bothering, chart-ready beast. That these underdogs look so happy at the top of the food chain is no little surprise.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 20 January 2015

Marilyn Manson – The Pale Emperor (Album Review)

When promo shots of Marilyn Manson wearing  (what we assumed was) bacon on his face emerged prior to the arrival of 'The Pale Emperor', the worry began to set in. Just what is he trying to be these days? Nihilistic menace, Hollywood headline botherer or purveyor of art films? More importantly, can he reclaim his corrupt crown with this, his ninth full-length?

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 19 January 2015

Sleater-Kinney - No Cities To Love (Album Review)

Photo: Brigitte Sire Sleater-Kinney’s return has made it it all too easy to grasp at low hanging fruit. They are “comeback queens”, this is the “return of riot grrl”. But, despite that, the truth is that the trio have completely blown all expectations out of the water with ‘No Cities To Love’.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Friday, 16 January 2015

Panda Bear - Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper (Album Review)

It’s a good idea to arrive at the door of a new Panda Bear record expecting the unexpected. Noah Lennox has been twisting and turning under the name since the late ‘90s, while populating the fringes of the mainstream with Animal Collective weirdness, and ‘...Meets The Grim Reaper’ is further evidence of a restlessly creative mind.

Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Wednesday, 14 January 2015

Wednesday 13 - Monsters Of The Universe: Come Out And Plague (Album Review)

There are many things Wednesday 13 excels at, and horror punk, outlaw country and puppet shows are all sordid strings to his bow. But concept albums? Aren't they exclusively for, like, balding prog-rockers and Cradle of Filth?

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 13 January 2015