The Black Angels - Wilderness of Mirrors (Album Review)

The message delivered by the Black Angels’ sixth studio album ‘Wilderness of Mirrors’ is clear: survive these turbulent times in your own way but wake up to the dangers and deceit that lie at every turn. The band spent a year and a half creating their first LP in five years thanks to lockdown, crafting a dose of reality and a response to the chaos of recent times.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Thursday, 29 September 2022

Sports Team - Gulp! (Album Review)

Photo: Lauren Maccabee ‘Gulp!’ is the second album from Cambridge indie band Sports Team, and sees the sextet deliver 10 tracks of rousing rock with smashy, humorous lyrics and shoutalong choruses, if not much in the way of a unique personality.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 28 September 2022

Rina Sawayama - Hold The Girl (Album Review)

Photo: Thurstan Redding Rina Sawayama exploded into the public consciousness with her debut album ‘Sawayama’ in 2020—delivering the perfect introduction to an artist who wanted to mash together pop and R&B with fiery blasts of nu-metal. Since then, she has been rising up festival bills and collaborated with Charli XCX and Elton John.

Written by: Matty Pywell | Date: Tuesday, 27 September 2022

Mura Masa - Demon Time (Album Review)

‘Demon Time’ is the third album from the UK producer and songwriter born Alex Crossan, and sees the Guernseyman call on a starmix of hot talent to deliver a sugar rush of fizzy pop tracks.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 26 September 2022

The Mars Volta - The Mars Volta (Album Review)

The Mars Volta’s self-titled comeback album has been described as the band ‘going pop’, but it’s nowhere near as radical a shift as has been made out. Their previous full-length, 2012’s underrated ‘Nocturniquet’, was a notable shift towards this revamped style, as was the more recent solo work of guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Monday, 26 September 2022

Ozzy Osbourne - Patient Number 9 (Album Review)

Photo: Ross Halfin Despite the odds being stacked against it, somehow you just knew The Prince of Darkness’s 13th solo album would be a special affair that befitted its numerical placing in his discography. Deliberately funnelling much of his, and by extension Black Sabbath’s, iconic musical strokes and unmistakable character into an epic retro-modern aesthetic, Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Patient Number 9’ is a vital, bold record that celebrates and enhances his legacy without feeling contrived.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 23 September 2022

Suede - Autofiction (Album Review)

Photo: Dean Chalkley Somewhat surprisingly, it’s already been 12 years since Suede reformed. As unlikely as a reunion once seemed, it was perhaps even less likely that their comeback after a seven year absence would yield four sumptuous albums that increasingly moved into cinematic storytelling.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Thursday, 22 September 2022

Whitney - Spark (Album Review)

Photo: Tonje Thilesen A cursory listen to ‘Spark’ might result in an unexpected experience for existing fans of Chicago’s Whitney, formed of Julien Ehlrich and Max Kakacek. Despite their knack for a strong pop hook, their harmonious melodies have to date always sat upon a bed of gentle folk and Americana, like a slightly psych-tinged Neil Young.

Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Thursday, 22 September 2022

Death Cab For Cutie - Asphalt Meadows (Album Review)

Death Cab For Cutie have been growing old with style and grace for over a decade now. The departure of guitarist-producer Chris Walla in 2014 tore a hole in the hull of the group, but it didn’t sink them. And on 2017’s ‘Thank You For Today’ and the subsequent ‘Blue EP’ and ‘Georgia EP’ they reaffirmed themselves as the elder statesmen of the alternative scene, a beacon of hard won success and consistency.

Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2022

Lissie - Carving Canyons (Album Review)

Secluded on her 45 acre farm in Iowa while dealing with a sudden and devastating breakup as Covid rampaged around the globe, Lissie Maurus faced the unenviable task of working through a grief cycle informed by both her own and the wider world’s loss. Every shade of despair and loneliness informs the forthright, familiar and, ultimately, sanguine material on ‘Carving Canyons,’ the fifth record of the singer’s career.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2022

The Beths - Expert In A Dying Field (Album Review)

“Can we erase our history?” This is the question posed by Elizabeth Stokes on the first line of The Beths’ new record ‘Expert In A Dying Field’. As much a plea as it is a request, it suggests that Stokes is looking to draw a line in the sand—romantically, platonically or professionally—to allow bygones to be bygones in the pursuit of a happier future.

Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Tuesday, 20 September 2022

Marcus Mumford - (self-titled) (Album Review)

Photo: Robin Harper Marcus Mumford operates in a fairly unique space. As the frontman of (arguably) the biggest folk band in the world, he has professional success beyond most musicians’ dreams, and yet there is something quite brittle about Mumford & Sons.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 16 September 2022

Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B (Album Review)

Photo: Eddie Whelan It is possible to build an exciting, long-lasting career in music from one really good idea. Just ask AC/DC or the Ramones. It’s when they start to pile up that things can get dicey—if you assemble a thousand ideas for one record, there is a good chance that quite a lot of them won’t be up to snuff. That makes Jockstrap’s debut LP ‘I Love You Jennifer B’ a remarkable achievement.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 15 September 2022

Parkway Drive - Darker Still (Album Review)

Photo: Dave LePage Given their recent track record it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Parkway Drive’s seventh album underlines the fact that the Byron Bay bruisers aren’t a metalcore band any more. Since branching out into modern metal and stadium-sized writing with 2015’s ‘Ire’ and its 2018 follow up ‘Reverence’, the band took some time out to figure out how to speed Parkway further down that road.

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Wednesday, 14 September 2022

John Legend - Legend (Album Review)

Titled 'Legend' and adorned with a sleeve photo of John Legend bathed in a warm golden wash, hands clasped against his bare chest as if to say "welcome back to me", there's something outwardly self-congratulatory about his eighth studio release. 

Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Tuesday, 13 September 2022

Preoccupations - Arrangements (Album Review)

Photo: Erik Tanner The music of Canada’s Preoccupations, despite its family tree of identifiable influences, has always held a futuristic quality. Matt Flegel, Mike Wallace, Scott Munro and Daniel Christiansen are well equipped when it comes to weaving barbed intrusions into a dystopian future, and theirs is a world of shimmering silvers and soul-sapping greys where their particular brand of post-punk seems perfectly at home.

Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Monday, 12 September 2022

The Callous Daoboys - Celebrity Therapist (Album Review)

Mathcore is a difficult genre to get a handle on as both a musician and listener—it’s abrasive, unconventional, and its mishmash of sounds and time signatures can often end up in a jumbled, unlistenable mess. Atlantan septet The Callous Daoboys neatly circumvent these problems on their second album ‘Celebrity Therapist’, making a compelling case for the kind of genre dominance not seen since The Dillinger Escape Plan hung up their spurs.

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Thursday, 08 September 2022

Embrace - How to Be a Person Like Other People (Album Review)

Although a more consistent and sure-footed effort than 2018’s ‘Love Is A Basic Need’, Embrace’s eighth album is still plagued by some of the same issues that rendered its predecessor plodding and predictable. Nevertheless, thanks to stronger songwriting, a re-energised band and vocalist Danny McNamara giving the performance of his lifetime, such failings are less of a bugbear on this mostly splendid effort.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 07 September 2022

Yungblud - Yungblud (Album Review)

Arriving at his third album, Yungblud is in an interesting spot. To his fans, who sent album two ‘Weird’ to the top of the UK charts, he is a relatable emblem of rebellion and freedom. Outside of that passionate group, though, he’s a sometimes confusing jumble of influences: scene kid eyeliner, ‘77 punk iconography, a lip-curling sneer over 1975-style pop.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 07 September 2022

Ezra Furman - All of Us Flames (Album Review)

Photo: Tonje Thilesen Ezra Furman has long been capable of encapsulating deep feeling and emotional weight for an audience. On her latest album ‘All of Us Flames’ she takes her search for community and makes it tangible for listeners.

Written by: Rebecca Llewellyn | Date: Monday, 05 September 2022