Bombay Bicycle Club - So Long, See You Tomorrow (Album Review)

By embracing their desire to dabble, Bombay Bicycle Club have produced something remarkable on ‘So Long, See You Tomorrow’, sketching abstract pop on a canvas splattered with colour.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Friday, 07 February 2014

Katy B - Little Red (Album Review)

Having picked up a Mercury Prize nomination for her critically acclaimed debut album, 'On A Mission', not to mention a few high profile commercial endorsements, Katy B faces a new challenge with her sophomore record, ‘Little Red’. It must be equally on point, but also display three years’ worth of artistic growth. Luckily, she’s largely succeeded in doing just that.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Thursday, 06 February 2014

Cayetana - Hot Dad Calendar

When delivering his best of 2013 list to Punknews, Paint It Black’s Dan Yemin wasn’t afraid to talk up his adopted hometown. He said, simply: “Philadelphia owned this year. So proud. But please don't move here from Brooklyn and drive the rents up.”

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 05 February 2014

The Treatment - Running With The Dogs (Album Review)

At what point does a band cross the line between being inspired by their idols and copying them? It's an increasingly prevalent question when it comes to young rock ‘n’ roll acts, and particularly relevant when discussing the Treatment's hit and miss second album.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 05 February 2014

Xiu Xiu - Angel Guts: Red Classroom (Album Review)

Over the duration of Jamie Stewart’s Xiu Xiu project there have been few givens. Band members have come and gone, as have sonic hallmarks, but Stewart’s serially uncomfortable musical (and non-musical?) persona has remained fairly constant. A Xiu Xiu album not laden with despair and self-loathing would scarcely be a Xiu Xiu album at all, which perhaps explains the indifferent reaction to ‘Nina’, the muted Nina Simone tribute record Stewart put out last year.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Tuesday, 04 February 2014

Behemoth - The Satanist (Album Review)

Back in 2009, Behemoth reached an artistic and commercial peak with the release of 'Evangelion’, which trumped all of their previous outings and topped the album charts in their native Poland.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 03 February 2014

Within Temptation - Hydra (Album Review)

When it comes to following the best album of your career, the question is whether to stick or twist. 'The Unforgiving' found Within Temptation imbuing their symphonic metal with polished pop melodies, which ensured sizeable crossover appeal. On 'Hydra' they vary things a little, but mostly regurgitate that successful formula without the same level of consistency.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 03 February 2014

Maximo Park - Too Much Information (Album Review)

Maxïmo Park have certainly done their share of experimenting since releasing their debut, ‘A Certain Trigger’, almost a decade ago.

Written by: Katie Vowles | Date: Friday, 31 January 2014

The Gaslight Anthem - The B-Sides (Album Review)

As with many collections of this kind, the Gaslight Anthem’s ‘The B-Sides’ is an uneven affair, one undone ever so slightly by the fact that its contents are readily available elsewhere.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 30 January 2014

The Lawrence Arms - Metropole (Album Review)

The well-worn phrase tells us that good things come to those who wait. Broadly speaking, and in musical terms, that’s bullshit. But, when you’re talking the Lawrence Arms and ‘Metropole’, their first full-length in almost a decade, it’s a different story altogether.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 30 January 2014

Ektomorf - Retribution (Album Review)

Hungarian groove-metallers Ektomorf have worn their influences proudly on their sleeves for years now. But on their ninth album, 'Retribution', they may have taken it a step too far.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Augustines - Augustines (Album Review)

Augustines, formerly known as We Are Augustines, set a flag in the ground a few years back with 'Rise Ye Sunken Ships', a raw journey that also worked as a joyous reminder of how brilliant music can be.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Dum Dum Girls - Too True (Album Review)

You can’t accuse Dee Dee Penny of not investing in Dum Dum Girls’ partial reinvention on ‘Too True’. She’s taken a chunk out of the surf guitars and bubblegum pop of ‘Only In Dreams’, installing a new vein of neon lights, synths and a goth-pop sensibility. Just seconds into the record, on opener Cult Of Love, she sings: “We touch beneath our skin, right down to the bare wires.”

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 28 January 2014

Caliban - Ghost Empire (Album Review)

Caliban have always, through no fault of their own, failed to make the sort of waves that their abrasive brand of metalcore perhaps should have. On ‘Ghost Empire’, the latest fluctuation in their sound has seen them embrace down-tuned guitars in the same vein as Meshuggah - could it see Caliban rise to the top of the pile?

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 28 January 2014

Tom Brosseau - Grass Punks (Album Review)

Tom Brosseau has been on the sidelines for a while. ‘Grass Punks’ is his first solo record in five years and as such will serve as a handy introduction for some into his world of acoustic folk.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Monday, 27 January 2014

Red Dragon Cartel - Red Dragon Cartel (Album Review)

Following his sizzling tenure as Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist in the 1980s, Jake E Lee went on to form lauded blues rockers Badlands before largely vanishing from the musical landscape. After nearly two decades in semi-retirement, he's finally re-emerged with Red Dragon Cartel, who draw upon contemporary and classic metal influences with enjoyable, albeit inconsistent, results.  

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 27 January 2014

Skindred - Kill The Power (Album Review)

So, Skindred. You know the drill by now: slick nu-metal riffs, infectious reggae beats, samples, swinging your clothes around in the air at the end of a gig...basically, one of the most inventive bands currently plying their trade in the UK.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 24 January 2014

Mogwai - Rave Tapes (Album Review)

As we’re all now aware, the title of Mogwai’s latest record is somewhat misleading. ‘Rave Tapes’ does not herald a new direction for the Scottish post-rock veterans; they are, artfully it has to be said, fucking with us again.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 23 January 2014

Warpaint - Warpaint (Album Review)

Warpaint’s debut album, ‘The Fool’, was all about mood and texture, never stooping to engage with what would traditionally be expected from a band positioned on the periphery of the ever-expanding, but not necessarily diversifying, indie scene.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Wednesday, 22 January 2014

Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues (Album Review)

For Laura Jane Grace and Against Me!, ‘Transgender Dysphoria Blues’ is an important record. It’s the first since Grace sat down with Rolling Stone and came out as a transgender woman, and it also follows a period of line-up changes and label upheaval that could have sunk another band.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 21 January 2014