The Chevin - Borderland (Album Review)

I’m not sure whether I’m being prematurely Christmassy, but this album has real wintery notes, with falsetto vocals mixed with the big-band style percussion making for a fitting yet emotive soundtrack to the cold months. It’s an album that you can build memories to, nurse a hangover to, cry to, and laugh to.

Written by: Joey Green | Date: Monday, 12 November 2012

Steve Hauschildt - Sequitur (Album Review)

As part of Emeralds, Steve Hauschildt is involved with one of the most in vogue ambient / drone acts around (if any such acts can ever be ‘in vogue’ at all) but 'Sequitur' is something at once more accessible and yet more obtuse as well. Perhaps this is down to Hauschildt’s attempts to provide a more densely electronic release than anything he has done to date with his band, or maybe it is more down to a lack of focus.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Monday, 12 November 2012

Deftones - Koi No Yokan (Album Review)

Some bands are not just artists, they are forces of nature. They are unstoppable, no matter what the world might unjustly throw at them. Deftones are one of those bands. In the aftermath of 2006’s 'Saturday Night Wrist' the future for them looked somewhat bleak. Lukewarm critical receptions had replaced the indiscriminate praise that had surrounded their mid-career high point of 'White Pony', and then bassist Chi Cheng was placed in a coma after a car accident. Most bands would cave in at this point; very few would come back as strongly as Deftones did.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 09 November 2012

Funeral For A Friend - Best Friends And Hospital Beds (Single Review)

Funeral For A Friend’s follow-up single to 2011’s critically acclaimed 'Welcome Home Armageddon', an album which saw the band approach their music with a new sense of forceful application after the addition of new members, 'Best Friends And Hospital Beds' is set for release by Distiller Records early next week.

Written by: Catherine Rea | Date: Thursday, 08 November 2012

Calexico - Algiers (Album Review)

Ever since the release of debut album ‘Spoke’ in 1996, Calexico have been perfecting their unique, emotive blend of Latino-infused rock and with latest offering ‘Algiers’, they continue to evoke the darkest depths of your soul.

Written by: Brian Thompson | Date: Monday, 05 November 2012

The Enemy - This Is Real (Single Review)

Now that Oasis have left us, someone has to take the mantle of Britain's favourite parka-inspired lad rock. Only those who have an unhealthy obsession with a distortion pedal, write anthemic sing-a-longs designed for people holding plastic pint glasses and sneer vigorously through a microphone need apply. Beady Eye do not count, for the record.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Monday, 05 November 2012

Girls Aloud - Something New (Single Review)

Girls aloud are, without doubt, the UK's premier former reality-show girl group. Some may argue that due to the amount of time they consistently bothered the charts before their hiatus a few years ago, they could even unseat the Spice Girls from girl group domination. A lot of that was down to having a great mixture of catchy and emotional songs the kids loved, the girls loved, and the boys had guilty pleasures for secretly loving too, and in many ways 'Something New' ticks all those same boxes.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Monday, 05 November 2012

The Secret - Agnus Dei (Album Review)

'Agnus Dei' is not all which it immediately appears. This record seems very much to be the result of pent up fury all giving way to true rage in a series of indecipherable blasts of extremity. There is more to The Secret than that, however. The brevity exercised by much of this record does not make it less effective, or less brutal. In fact, the sheer velocity of the anger pouring from The Secret makes it apparent that there is more to their carnal ferocity than just a desire to provoke a sea of headbanging disciples.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 02 November 2012

Pop Goes Punk Vol 5 - Compilation (Album Review)

Pop Goes Punk 5 is the fifth compilation (usually one is released every year) of fairly recent pop songs covered by bands with a usually less generic or mainstream approach to music, however the way they have performed these songs brings a much more approachable insight into the bands in general - in other words, those who may have given bands such as Memphis May Fire a miss for whatever reason may find themselves becoming fans.

Written by: Marcus Colley | Date: Thursday, 01 November 2012

Dragged Into Sunlight - Widowmaker (Album Review)

It’s a good time for nihilistic heaviness at the moment. The new Neurosis record has just dropped (review here) and, following in its wake, the world is plunged into ever more disturbingly powerful territory with the release of 'Widowmaker'. Dragged into Sunlight’s debut record was deranged enough to drive an alligator to a lunatic asylum, but 'Widowmaker' really takes the biscuit. Comprised of one forty minute track, this is about as close to easy listening as George Osborne is to being named ‘Britain’s Favourite Politician’.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Wednesday, 31 October 2012

Neurosis - Honor Found In Decay (Album Review)

“I walk into the water, to wash the blood from my feet”

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Monday, 29 October 2012

Moya - Making Me Fall (Single Review)

Well, well. This girl's really on the up and up! Moya is gaining some real momentum at the moment, and her latest single is only going to push her further. She's already a youtube hit, and Perez Hilton has declared her 'the female Bruno Mars."

Written by: V O'Hagan | Date: Monday, 29 October 2012

Pat Dam Smyth - Friends (Single Review)

Pat Dam Smyth used to suffer from Melophobia. No, that’s melanoma you’re thinking of. Melophobia is a fear of music.

Written by: V O'Hagan | Date: Monday, 29 October 2012

Helen Boulding - Jerusalem (Single Review)

The follow up to her last single 'The Innocents', Helen Boulding is back with her new single 'Jerusalem'.

Written by: V O'Hagan | Date: Monday, 29 October 2012

Yes Sir Boss - Desperation State (Album Review)

“So, we were driving to some gig in the arse end of nowhere. We were hopelessly lost and I tried to call the promoter but ended up calling Joss Stone by mistake...”

Written by: V O'Hagan | Date: Sunday, 28 October 2012

Band Of Horses - Mirage Rock (Album Review)

2010 marked the real emergence for Band of Horses with Grammy-nominated album 'Infinite Arms'. Two years on, and the Seattle folk-rockers return with indifferent follow-up 'Mirage Rock'.

Written by: Brian Thompson | Date: Thursday, 25 October 2012

Stone Sour - House Of Gold And Bones: Part 1 (Album Review)

Bold declarations can often oversell an album, but then again it's a pretty ballsy move when it's in the recording stages. But, Corey Taylor does not care to play it safe with his statements, and his comparison of this record to a cross between Alice In Chains' 'Dirt' and Punk Floyd's 'The Wall' at least proclaimed that the first instalment of their double record 'House of Gold and Bones' was to be different, for Stone Sour.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Rolo Tomassi - Astraea (Album Review)

There are some bands that follow and some bands that lead, and sometimes the bands that lead are the ones you would least suspect. Rolo Tomassi have probably suffered from preconceptions more than most innovators. Fresh faced and, shock horror, with a pretty female lead singer (who, it so happens, can out scream most hardcore legends), there are many out there who would look at Rolo Tomassi and dismiss them immediately out of hand.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! (Album Review)

In a way, the surprise release of a new album by Godspeed You! Black Emperor should not have come as a shock at all. Any fan of the legendary Canadian ‘post-rock’ master craftsmen should know that, for this band, a reunion necessitates the release of new material. Of course, detractors will argue, the bulk of 'Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!' is not actually new at all. The two lengthy tracks on this record, 'Mladic' and 'We Drift like Worried Fire', are actually cuts the band initially wrote before their disbandment nine years ago, but the strength of their appearances here alone arguably makes the band’s reunion worthwhile.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Swn Festival 2012 - Cardiff - 18th-21st October 2012 (Festival Review)

Quickly building itself a reputation as the premier urban city festival in the UK, Cardiff's Sŵn festival is over for another year with more satisfied punters than ever going away with four days of memories and a list as long as their arm of new favourite bands.

Written by: David Ball | Date: Tuesday, 23 October 2012