Album review
PUP
PUP
PUP make a rough entrance and then keep revealing how much control sits underneath it. Their self-titled album is packed with shouted hooks and distorted guitar, but the songs…
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Reviews
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Album review
The Blackening
Machine Head
Machine Head give their guitar partnership a great deal of room on The Blackening. Robb Flynn and Phil Demmel use extended arrangements to move between hard rhythmic attacks, …
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Album review
Purple
Stone Temple Pilots
Interstate Love Song lasts little more than three minutes. It has a lovely guitar opening, a chorus that seems to arrive exactly when it should, and enough movement to make th…
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Album review
A Go Go
John Scofield
A Go Go makes a strong case for keeping jazz complicated beneath the surface and easy to enjoy above it. John Scofield joins keyboardist John Medeski, bassist Chris Wood and d…
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Album review
Remedy Lane
Pain of Salvation
Remedy Lane makes technical playing feel uncomfortably personal. Pain of Salvation use shifting rhythms and abrupt changes of mood to express uncertainty, desire and loss, wit…
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Album review
No Time to Bleed
Suicide Silence
No Time to Bleed keeps Suicide Silence's attack recognisable while giving the songs more varied movement. Heavy guitar patterns and fast drums remain important. Within that fr…
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Album review
Mayday Parade
Mayday Parade
“Oh Well, Oh Well” lets Mayday Parade take their time before showing their full strength. Piano and strings leave Derek Sanders alone with his disappointment, then the band ar…
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Album review
Post Human: Survival Horror
Bring Me the Horizon
Post Human: Survival Horror moves quickly between panic and release. Bring Me the Horizon packs electronic noise, direct rock hooks and severe bursts of metal into nine tracks…
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Album review
Invitation to the Dance
40 Below Summer
Invitation to the Dance gets much of its character from the distance between its heavier and more melodic moments. 40 Below Summer use down-tuned guitars, forceful rhythms and…
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Album review
Your Favorite Toy
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters have decided to get on with it. Your Favorite Toy is a short, noisy record with very little interest in explaining itself. The songs move quickly, Dave Grohl spen…
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Album review
The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
Alice in Chains
Stone earns its name before the singing begins. The low riff has a blunt physical presence, while the vocal melody seems to lean against it rather than ride comfortably above.…
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Album review
Room On Fire
The Strokes
Room On Fire makes the small changes in the Strokes' sound worth following. The guitars keep their clearly divided roles, the songs stay brief, and Julian Casablancas still so…
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The Death of Peace of Mind
Bad Omens
The most interesting heavy sounds on The Death of Peace of Mind often arrive late in a song. Bad Omens lets a beat, a close vocal or a small synth figure establish the mood be…
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Album review
Life Starts Now
Three Days Grace
Life Starts Now sounds strongest when Three Days Grace allow a little energy to break through the grievance. “The Good Life” has a lively, percussive drive, and “Break” turns …
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Album review
Nowhere Sounds Lovely
Cristina Vane
Nowhere Sounds Lovely connects a journey through America with a search for an individual sound. Cristina Vane uses old blues forms while making room for country and bluegrass.…
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Album review
Black Classical Music
Yussef Dayes
Black Classical Music introduces Yussef Dayes as more than a remarkable drummer. He brings together jazz, funk, reggae and electronic influences with a strong sense of how oth…
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Album review
Keep Me Fed
The Warning
The Warning make a strong first impression on Keep Me Fed, and the songs give that impression somewhere to go. The Mexican trio's fourth album is full of heavy riffs and clear…
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Album review
Second Life Syndrome
Riverside
Conceiving You needs only a small piano figure to make its emotional position clear. Riverside allow the song to grow around that beginning, with Mariusz Duda's voice and Piot…
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Try It...You Might Like It: GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor
GA-20
On Try It...You Might Like It: GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor, the American trio look for the energy of an important influence. Hound Dog Taylor's music calls for sliding guitars…
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Album review
Foundations of Burden
Pallbearer
Foundations of Burden sounds huge, but its strength lies in how carefully Pallbearer place their melodies. Heavy guitars give the songs weight. Above them, voices and guitar l…
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Album review
Korn
Korn
The bass on Korn's debut sounds almost like another percussion instrument. Its dry clicks push against low guitar notes, while the drums leave spaces big enough for Jonathan D…
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Album review
It Leads to This
The Pineapple Thief
It Leads to This finds The Pineapple Thief making careful use of a relatively concise set of songs. The music remains restrained and often melancholy, but the guitars have eno…
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Album review
So Much (for) Stardust
Fall Out Boy
The strings at the beginning of So Much (for) Stardust suggest that Fall Out Boy have arrived with a large statement to make. Then Love From the Other Side brings in the guita…
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Album review
Arclight
Julian Lage
Arclight shows how much Julian Lage can do with a small group. Scott Colley's double bass and Kenny Wollesen's drums give his electric guitar room to move without letting the …
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