Babyshambles - Sequel To The Prequel (Album Review)

As far as most of us were concerned, Babyshambles were dead, and we could have been forgiven for thinking so. It’d been six years since ‘Shotter’s Nation’, bassist Drew McConnell had shattered his spine in three places, and Pete Doherty was busy making French films and selling tin cups and union jacks from a pop-up shop in Camden. So, their return, with the Stephen Street-produced ‘Sequel To The Prequel’, was greeted with with a mixture of delight and anxiety.

Written by: Mina Minkoff | Date: Friday, 30 August 2013

The Beach Boys - Made In California (Album Review)

For many music fans, the promise of a 174-track collection of material by one of the world's most famous surf-pop bands is a dream come true. Knowing that the collection contains no less than 60 completely unreleased songs just puts the icing on the top of a very gooey, flavoursome cake. 

Written by: James Ball | Date: Thursday, 29 August 2013

Michael Monroe - Horns And Halos (Album Review)

On ‘Sensory Overdrive’, his 2011 album, Michael Monroe sang: “I’m keeping thin and my looks aren’t fading.” Two years later, it would appear that his musical prowess is something else that’s stood up well to the passage of time.

Written by: Gemma-Louise Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 28 August 2013

Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action (Album Review)

“Almost everything could be forgotten,” Alex Kapranos sings on Right Action, the lead single and opening track of Franz Ferdinand's 'Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action'. Almost everything doesn't seem to include the ability to write addictive, post-punk-infused pop songs though.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Tuesday, 27 August 2013

The Rides - Can't Get Enough (Album Review)

Featuring Stephen Stills, guitarist of Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills and Nash, six string hero Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Electric Flag pianist Barry Goldberg, the Rides deliver an enjoyably unoriginal collection of blues, folk and rock that serves as a love letter to the sounds of '60s and '70s America. Although this multi-generational supergroup don't forge a distinct sound of their own, some tasty musicianship and spirited performances bolster a debut album that's best described as a flawed success.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 27 August 2013

Avenged Sevenfold - Hail To The King (Album Review)

Avenged Sevenfold have a knack for starting albums off with a twist, and ‘Hail To The King’ is no different. Packing a haunting, atmospheric opening, brooding verse and a sleek Synyster Gates solo - one that pushes him a bit further than might be expected - Shepherd Of Fire is a subtle introduction to the band’s new sound on a record that’s got plenty riding on it.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Friday, 23 August 2013

Hawk Eyes - That's What This Is (EP Review)

Leeds quartet Hawk Eyes must be wondering what they have to do to get a bit more attention. Last year’s ‘Ideas’ was the kind of rock record that superlatives were invented for. It was heavy, catchy and, most importantly, full of hugely inventive, well, ideas. It was all you could possibly have wanted from the group following their early releases.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Thursday, 22 August 2013

DevilDriver - Winter Kills (Album Review)

There comes a time in every band's career when they peak; financially, artistically, commercially, whatever. Think Marilyn Manson's immortal hat-trick of albums between 1996 and 2000 or the Darkness' headline slot at Reading and Leeds Festival on the back of their first album. The rise is inevitable, the fall even more so. When the bar is raised so astronomically high, it's nigh-on impossible to clear it.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 21 August 2013

Dawes - Stories Don't End (Album Review)

On 'Stories Don't End', their third full-length, Dawes have continued to wind their way through the foothills of '70s rock, setting aside their love of Neil Young to throw their lot in full time with the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 20 August 2013

John Mayer - Paradise Valley (Album Review)

There aren’t many artists who can count their album sales by the million. John Mayer can, and it is easy to understand why.

Written by: Lee Johnston | Date: Tuesday, 20 August 2013

Bloc Party - The Nextwave Sessions (EP Review)

Bloc Party will soon retreat into the distance for another hiatus, leaving behind a legion of fans and 'The Nextwave Sessions' EP.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Monday, 19 August 2013

Arabrot - Arabrot (Album Review)

Årabrot are genuinely filthy. Not in the lewd, posturing sense of a Mötley Crüe or Steel Panther though. They are grimy and nasty, as they proved it on 2011’s ‘Solar Anus’, which was an obscene chunk of blackened noise sludge.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Monday, 19 August 2013

Superchunk - I Hate Music (Album Review)

The passing of time is something of a going concern for all of us. On 'I Hate Music', their 10th full-length, power-pop legends Superchunk have faced it head on.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 16 August 2013

SOiL - Whole (Album Review)

Their first album with original vocalist Ryan McCombs since 2004's 'Re.De.Fine', 'Whole' finds SOiL reclaiming their old sound in a welcome fashion.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Friday, 16 August 2013

Watain - The Wild Hunt (Album Review)

Rarely in recent years has a black metal record come as highly anticipated as ‘The Wild Hunt’. With ‘Lawless Darkness’, their 2010 album, Watain received accolades from the famously tight-knit black metal community, and also praise from many in the wider metal scene.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Thursday, 15 August 2013

Drenge - Drenge (Album Review)

Brothers Eoin and Rory Loveless, know to most of us as Drenge, have garnered plenty of attention early on in their career. A handful of singles, a blistering live show and the, somewhat unwelcome, love of former Labour MP Tom Watson can only take you so far though, so it’s a good job they’ve managed to hammer together a mightily impressive debut album.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Wednesday, 14 August 2013

White Hills - So You Are...So You'll Be (Album Review)

It appears that White Hills are no longer prepared to pull any punches. Their psych ramblings have always had a solid dose of Hawkwind’s proto-metal heaviness, and a fair dollop of their distinctive space rock tropes as well. ‘So You Are... So You’ll Be’, though, takes things to another level on both fronts.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Tuesday, 13 August 2013

CB6 - Succession (Album Review)

Metal, punk and hardcore have been cohabiting for some time, certainly since thrash reared its head in the early ‘80s, and it’s also been a good while since critics and artists alike began to roll their eyes instead of attempting to categorise the myriad sub genres.

Written by: Owen Sheppard | Date: Tuesday, 13 August 2013

White Lies - Big TV (Album Review)

Since their formation in 2007, Ealing post-punks White Lies have secured a comfortable spot alongside Editors and Interpol as purveyors of Joy Division-inspired doom and gloom.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Monday, 12 August 2013

AlunaGeorge - Body Music (Album Review)

It can be hard to get excited about new music when a lot of it has already been done to death. AlunaGeorge, then, are a welcome surprise.

Written by: Emma Dodds | Date: Monday, 12 August 2013