Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt (Album Review)

For just over nine minutes at the start of ‘Lightning Bolt’, Pearl Jam are on a roll. The grunge legends have been away for a while - ‘Backspacer’ is now four years old, the ‘Ten’ reissue two - but Getaway, Mind Your Manners and My Father’s Son find them in eye-popping form.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 15 October 2013

Strange Names - Strange Names (Album Review)

Walk into any club today and you'll be bombarded with loud music - it might be catchy and make you want to move, it might have exotic influences or attack you with unrelenting beats. Whatever your fancy, give it a margarita and a beach chair and let it soak up the sun, and you'll have created Strange Names.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Tuesday, 15 October 2013

Paul McCartney - New (Album Review)

It’s easy to feel sympathy for the plight of Paul McCartney. Being an elder statesman is a tough gig, and being an elder statesman in a field as fast-moving, reactionary and technologically-driven as pop music is something else. With ‘New’, his playfully-titled comeback after a few years on the sidelines, he’s taken shots at multiple targets and hit a few of them square between the eyes.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Monday, 14 October 2013

Flying Colors - Live In Europe (Album Review)

In 2012, these prog rock Galacticos hit the road to promote their impressive debut album with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it world tour, capturing this gig in Holland on CD/DVD for the benefit of fans who weren't able to attend those shows. The result is an entertaining, albeit surprisingly workmanlike, package that adds enough extras to just about make it a worthwhile purchase.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 14 October 2013

The Fratellis - We Need Medicine (Album Review)

​   The Fratellis have a certain way with guitars and managed to cram their share of chunky riffs into their first two albums. ‘We Need Medicine’, their first release since ‘Here We Stand’ in 2008,  is a change in direction but thankfully still retains their signature style.

Written by: Katie Vowles | Date: Monday, 14 October 2013

Dave Hause - Devour (Album Review)

Tallying the hits and misses of Dave Hause’s career is a pretty easy task. From guitar duties in the earliest days of Paint It Black via two largely pristine records with the Loved Ones, his route to life as a solo performer has been one shot through with great songs.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 11 October 2013

Anathema - Universal (Album Review)

As this DVD's opening credits twinkle into life, it’s clear that their star-spangled surroundings typify the band's boundaries - there are none, and they shoot for the sky. Over two decades into their career, Anathema don't just make music for themselves, but put on a show that fans won’t forget in a hurry.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Friday, 11 October 2013

The Body - Christs, Redeemers (Album Review)

It’s an appropriate time for a new record from the Body. The Rhode Island sludge duo’s work is lined with clouds of sonic misanthropy and carries the full sonic weight of a musical lineage that can be traced back to the unrelenting doom of Crowbar, as well as the more expansive sounds of Neurosis. It’s also messed up, seriously so.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 11 October 2013

Stone Temple Pilots With Chester Bennington - High Rise

When Stone Temple Pilots and Scott Weiland parted ways in February, it wasn’t the biggest surprise of them all. There had been numerous spats since their ‘90s heyday, Weiland’s well-publicised drug addiction and successful spell as frontman of Velvet Revolver, so in the eyes of many it was only a matter of time before the inevitable came to fruition.

Written by: Gemma-Louise Johnson | Date: Thursday, 10 October 2013

Korn - The Paradigm Shift (Album Review)

Paradigm Shift. According to genius physicist and all-round boff Thomas Kuhn, that’s a “series of peaceful interludes punctuated by intellectually violent revolutions”, in which “one conceptual world view is replaced by another”. Given that Korn basically released a dubstep album in 2011, and have since reunited with original guitarist Brian 'Head' Welch, it seems that ideas and concepts are being tossed about like loose change. This is not the same band that wrote 'Life Is Peachy', and they're all the better for it.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 10 October 2013

Panic! At The Disco - Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! (Album Review)

Panic! At The Disco have had to do things the hard way at times. Since 2009, when Ryan Ross and Jon Walker left the band to explore other creative directions, frontman Brendon Urie has taken hold of the reins.

Written by: Katie Vowles | Date: Wednesday, 09 October 2013

Pelican - Forever Becoming (Album Review)

For all their predictability, there’s no denying that Pelican remain one of the best bands in the world at what they do. There are hundreds of instrumental post-rock/metal bands around nowadays, but few have the assuredness of touch and quality control that the Chicagoans have demonstrated over the last decade and more. 

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Wednesday, 09 October 2013

Miley Cyrus - Bangerz (Album Review)

Miley Cyrus has commanded a large slice of the public’s attention for a while now, for reasons good, bad and weird. She’s undergone a remarkable transformation from twee Disney popstar to rebellious, largely naked, twerker and her exploits have recently earned candid, differing responses from Sinead O’Connor, Annie Lennox and Amanda Palmer.

Written by: Katie Vowles | Date: Tuesday, 08 October 2013

Eden's Curse - Symphony Of Sin

Following a biblical sized bust up with their former singer, Eden's Curse rise from the ashes with a cracking new vocalist and album that blows their previous releases out of the water. If this heavyweight collection of guitar driven anthems doesn't see them ascend to the major leagues then it's surely the end of days for quality rock music.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 04 October 2013

Vulture Industries - The Tower (Album Review)

Every once in a while a metal band pops out of nowhere, grabs the world by the bollocks and demands to be heard. Slipknot did it with their self-titled masterpiece and this year Crossfaith have been receiving obscene amounts of media attention off the back of their 'Zion' EP and latest opus, 'Apocalyze'. Hell, Avenged Sevenfold are headlining Wembley Arena in a few months.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 03 October 2013

Fenech-Soler - Rituals (Album Review)

The time is now for Fenech-Soler. They’ve been knocking around for a while, with their profile slowly on the rise since the release of their self-titled debut three years ago. Likened to Friendly Fires and Delphic by the Guardian earlier this year, they’re packing that upbeat, electropop kind of sound that you know and love.

Written by: Emma Dodds | Date: Thursday, 03 October 2013

Drones - Free Marked Kid

Angry, loud, melodic and passionate - Camberley's Drones have all the ingredients for success when it comes to punk rock. Their new EP 'Free Marked Kid' pays serious homage to their influences, including Rise Against, Strike Anywhere and Anti-Flag, but manages to make an exciting dent of its own.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Thursday, 03 October 2013

Soulfly - Savages (Album Review)

Right, let's get something out of the way right now. We're not going to be comparing this album to anything Sepultura have churned out post-’Roots’. Why? Well, because they're a completely different beast now and Soulfly are arguably a bigger draw in 2013.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 02 October 2013

Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2 (Album Review)

There’s nothing understated about the second instalment of Justin Timberlake’s ‘20/20 Experience’. It’s an unwieldy proposition, its bloated running time conspiring to overpower the few fresh, exciting ideas that made the cut.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Wednesday, 02 October 2013

A Storm Of Light - Nations To Flames (Album Review)

Josh Graham’s A Storm Of Light project will always remain in the shadow of Neurosis, the band with whom he collaborated on visuals for over a decade until the release of their ‘Honor Found In Decay’ album last year. But if any record in the Storm of Light discography is going to allow Graham and company (drummer Billy Graves and bassist Domenic Seita) to escape the Neurosis shadow, then it’s ‘Nations To Flames’.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Tuesday, 01 October 2013