Album review
Ghost Reveries
Opeth
A keyboard can change the temperature of a heavy song without becoming its main attraction. Per Wiberg's playing does that repeatedly on Ghost Reveries, adding organ, atmosphe…
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Album review
Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop
Stone Temple Pilots
Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop is a wonderfully odd title for an album that makes so much of its music immediately approachable. Stone Temple Pilots fill these…
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Album review
No Joy
Spanish Love Songs
The title No Joy sets up a harsher experience than Spanish Love Songs actually deliver. Their writing still has plenty of dread, but the music opens windows around it. Synthes…
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Album review
The End of Heartache
Killswitch Engage
Howard Jones gives The End of Heartache a striking vocal center. His clean singing has a broad, rounded power, while his harsher delivery remains severe enough to match the gu…
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Album review
Karma and Effect
Seether
Remedy is a very efficient Seether song. A firm riff, Shaun Morgan's strained voice and a chorus that arrives with enough lift to make the frustration feel almost enjoyable. K…
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Album review
A Southern Gothic
Adia Victoria
On A Southern Gothic, Adia Victoria examines her connection to the American South. It offers a sense of belonging while carrying a difficult history. The music keeps both side…
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Album review
Celestial Lineage
Wolves in the Throne Room
Celestial Lineage expands Wolves in the Throne Room's music without losing its rough core. Guitars, rapid drums and a harsh voice remain important, joined by more keyboards, c…
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Album review
Thirteenth Step
A Perfect Circle
Thirteenth Step understands the tension in a quiet voice. Maynard James Keenan often sings close to a whisper, but the music around him makes that restraint feel charged. A Pe…
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Album review
Progress
Ultraspank
Progress gives Ultraspank's heavy guitar sound a strong melodic centre. Pete Murray's singing can rise above the substantial riffs, while smaller electronic touches add atmosp…
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Album review
-!-
Dead Poet Society
Dead Poet Society build much of -!-'s appeal around a striking difference in register. Jack Underkofler can move easily into a high falsetto, while the low-tuned guitar parts …
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Album review
After Forever
After Forever
After Forever bring their different strengths together convincingly on this self-titled 2007 album. They can play heavy, direct metal, introduce grand orchestral arrangements …
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Album review
You Are We
While She Sleeps
The title track of You Are We makes its intention clear through the voices. Harsh lead lines, rough melodic hooks and collective shouts all take part in the same argument, giv…
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STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS
FEVER 333
STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS has enough anger to fill an entire album, but FEVER 333 take it further. The band connect heavy guitars and rap with melodic choruses, electronic rhythms…
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Guided Tour
High Vis
High Vis make an interesting kind of invitation. The guitars on Guided Tour can be bright enough to welcome almost anyone in, while Graham Sayle sounds like he has an urgent p…
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Album review
Karibu
Lionel Loueke
Karibu shows how easily complicated music can move. Lionel Loueke plays with bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth, forming a trio with considerable trust. His gu…
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Album review
Lightbulb Sun
Porcupine Tree
A song as restrained as Feel So Low can be a more unsettling ending than a grand finale. Lightbulb Sun closes by reducing its scale, letting a damaged relationship hang in the…
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Album review
Casino
Al Di Meola
Casino is a guitar record with plenty of speed, but its appeal reaches beyond the number of notes Al Di Meola can fit into a phrase. Latin rhythms, electric intensity and acou…
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Album review
Cavalier Youth
You Me at Six
You Me at Six make their intentions easy to hear on Cavalier Youth. The choruses are large, Josh Franceschi sings clearly above the band, and almost every arrangement points t…
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Untitled
Five Pointe O
Untitled gives its heavy guitar sound a dramatic character through keyboards and a restless vocal performance. Five Pointe O combine cleaner singing, screaming and lower growl…
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Album review
Paranoid
Black Sabbath
The riffs on Paranoid are famous enough to seem obvious, but Black Sabbath make them feel remarkably unsettled. Tony Iommi's guitar figures leave spaces that Geezer Butler and…
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Album review
VOL. 4 :: SLAVES OF FEAR
HEALTH
VOL. 4 :: SLAVES OF FEAR gives HEALTH a heavier, darker sound. Drums hit hard, electronic textures scrape, and guitars provide short, firm accents. Jake Duzsik's soft voice re…
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Album review
Legends
Sabaton
Sabaton broaden their history lesson on Legends. The focus moves beyond the world wars to individual figures from much earlier periods, while the music keeps the marching rhyt…
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Album review
The Stories We Tell Ourselves
Nothing More
The Stories We Tell Ourselves combines direct hard rock songs with a more elaborate surrounding structure. Nothing More use electronic textures, spoken interludes and changes …
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Album review
Something Like Human
Fuel
Brett Scallions gives Something Like Human its human centre. His voice can sound bruised without losing its pitch or purpose, which matters when the band around him plays with…
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