Conor Oberst - Upside Down Mountain (Album Review)

“Moved to a town that time forgot, where I don’t have to shave or be approachable. No, I can do just what I want,” Conor Oberst sings in the opening lines of Time Forgot, a song that gently introduces a man growing older both in a literal and creative sense.

Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2014

Coldplay - Ghost Stories (Album Review)

Break-ups have provided inspiration for many of the finest songs and albums ever written, with the accompanying loneliness and despair an all-too-relatable situation for many.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 20 May 2014

La Sera - Hour Of The Dawn (Album Review)

As Vivian Girls’ flame guttered out, Katy Goodman turned her attention to La Sera, a solo project begging for a little extra care and attention. Fleshed out to a four piece, the band laid down ‘Hour Of The Dawn’ in LA last summer, repurposing a little of the city’s punk energy in the process.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Only Crime - Pursuance (Album Review)

‘Pursuance’, the third album from melodic hardcore supergroup Only Crime, finds the band regrouping after a seven year absence and with a new home, having shifted from Fat Wreck to Rise Records, who continue to add a punk spine to their existing metalcore roster.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 19 May 2014

Foxes - Glorious (Album Review)

There’s little doubt that if you’re a fan of modern pop, then you like your tunes delivered in as slick a package as possible. ‘Glorious’, the debut album from Foxes, ticks that box like a champ.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2014

Sabaton - Heroes (Album Review)

Power metal isn't cool, and if we’re being honest, it never has been. Years of blokes singing in falsetto about dragons and shit have cemented the genre as the Crocs of the metal world, but Sabaton have always been content to buck this trend.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 13 May 2014

Michael Jackson - Xscape (Album Review)

There’s no getting away from it; posthumous albums make for a pretty ugly bunch. Almost universally cynical and money grabbing, they are right up there with musicals as the weapon of choice for destroying legacies worth protecting. ‘Xscape’, the second effort released since the death of Michael Jackson, though, has just enough about it to avoid the pitiful fate of its predecessor, ‘Michael’.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Tuesday, 13 May 2014

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Christmas Island (Album Review)

Taking on a new Andrew Jackson Jihad record is not a suitable task for the faint of heart, as it’s something that requires willingness to enter the world of Sean Bonnette, which is at times overwhelmingly sad, hilarious, colourful and loaded with pop culture references and in-jokes.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 09 May 2014

Lily Allen - Sheezus (Album Review)

So, ‘Sheezus’. A witty comeback record from an arch pop commentator, or an empty exercise in baiting? Well, as is so often the case, it’s a bit of both.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Friday, 09 May 2014

Black Stone Cherry - Magic Mountain (Album Review)

Although their last album cemented Black Stone Cherry's status as a major force in Europe and finally broke them in the USA, the band have since reacted to its overly slick formula, implying that it was the result of too much outside interference. It's something they rectify on an uncompromising fourth album that's more aggressive than anything they've done before.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 09 May 2014

The Horrors - Luminous (Album Review)

In under 10 years, Faris Badwan and troops have evolved from Bauhaus-influenced goth-tinged oddballs to an act that people sit up and take notice of whenever a release is thrust forth.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Thursday, 08 May 2014

The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band - Goin' Home (Album Review)

Photo: Mark Seliger This worthy follow up to 2011’s superb 'How I Go' finds Kenny Wayne Shepherd taking a trip down memory lane as he pays tribute to the artists that inspired him. Ably assisted by some famous musical chums and steering clear of the usual done-to-death-covers, 'Goin' Home' is a banquet of bluesy brilliance that will leave purists salivating like the proverbial Pavlovian canine.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 08 May 2014

Lykke Li - I Never Learn (Album Review)

The third act is always tough. ‘I Never Learn’ finds Lykke Li further expanding on the reverb-soaked world sketched out on ‘Youth Novels’ and ‘Wounded Rhymes’, with things taking a further sombre turn. After all, it’s not as though her last two outings were entirely comprised of sweetness and light.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Wednesday, 07 May 2014

Apologies, I Have None - Black Everything EP (Album Review)

Photo: Marco Christian Krenn As its title not so succinctly suggests, Raging Through The Thick And Heavy Darkness Of A Bloodlust is by some distance the bleakest, most suffocating thing that Apologies, I Have None have committed to tape to date.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 06 May 2014

Cradle Of Filth - Total Fucking Darkness (Album Review)

“Cradle of shit”. “Total fucking rubbish”. “Black metal ballerinas”. These names – and countless others – have been hurled at Cradle of Filth throughout a career that’s spanned a couple of decades, but very few delivering the insults actually possessed the brain cells to realise just how wrong they were.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 02 May 2014

Her Name Is Calla - Navigator (Album Review)

When Her Name is Calla released ‘The Quiet Lamb’ in 2010, it should have been the moment that they truly arrived. Showcasing the group’s ability to seamlessly merge the most elegiac characteristics of post-rock with the earthy solemnity of folk and the ambitious art-rock gravitas that originally catapulted Arcade Fire to stardom, that record deserved a lot more attention than it got.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Thursday, 01 May 2014

Imelda May - Tribal (Album Review)

On her fourth album, ‘Tribal’, Imelda May has further indulged her passion for all things rockabilly, adding just a little more bite to the formula established on ‘Mayhem’ a few years ago.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Thursday, 01 May 2014

Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots (Album Review)

It’s hard to define exactly what expectations were for ‘Everyday Robots’, Damon Albarn’s solo debut. As frontman of Blur and leader of Gorillaz he found novel ways to confound expectations, pausing only to do the same during collaborations with Africa Express and The Good The Bad & The Queen, a supergroup also featuring Paul Simonon of the Clash.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 30 April 2014

Brody Dalle - Diploid Love (Album Review)

It’s a cut-throat world, and very few things are as dangerous to new endeavours as a celebrated past. ‘Diploid Love’ is Brody Dalle’s debut solo record, in the strictest sense of the phrase, and her first outing since Spinnerette evaporated following the release of a single album in 2009.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 29 April 2014

Embrace - Embrace (Album Review)

Way back in 1999, Embrace followed up their debut offering, ‘The Good Will Out’, with a curveball of a single. Hooligan, sung by the younger McNamara brother, Richard, was a complete contrast to the miserabilism that had gone before it; a jaunty, fun cut full of spirited mayhem.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 29 April 2014