Album review
Time In Place
Mike Stern
Time In Place gives Mike Stern's electric guitar a strong connection to melody and composition. The sound has the force of rock, but the lines remain shaped by jazz. Saxophone…
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Album review
Atlas
Parkway Drive
Atlas gives Parkway Drive more ways to make a song feel large. Strings, acoustic guitar, extra voices and changes in tone broaden the arrangements, while Winston McCall's hars…
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Album review
Hear You
toe
The singing has more room on Hear You without costing toe their feel for instrumental interaction. Clear guitars and detailed drums keep the music moving. They make space for …
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Album review
But Here We Are
Foo Fighters
Rescued puts a recognisable Foo Fighters sound to unusually direct use. The guitars open out, Dave Grohl pushes his voice hard and the chorus reaches for company in the middle…
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Album review
Buffalo Nichols
Buffalo Nichols
Buffalo Nichols keeps his debut small, but its feelings are large. Guitar and his rough voice carry most of the music. Additional backing only occasionally becomes prominent. …
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Album review
From Here to Infirmary
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio have a useful gift for making a terrible situation sound almost inviting. From Here to Infirmary is full of drinking, disappointment and badly managed relationsh…
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Album review
Love Is Not Enough
Converge
Converge waste very little time getting to the point on Love Is Not Enough. The title track barely clears two minutes, and most of the first half keeps that same sense of urge…
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Album review
Altered State
TesseracT
The bass gives Altered State much of its personality. Amos Williams moves through TesseracT's tightly controlled guitar patterns with a rounded, flexible sound, making their c…
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Album review
Vitalogy
Pearl Jam
Vitalogy can offer a huge chorus and then immediately make you wonder whether Pearl Jam want anyone to sing along. The songs pull towards an audience, while the little experim…
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Album review
All Hail Bright Futures
And So I Watch You from Afar
All Hail Bright Futures brings the sunny side of And So I Watch You from Afar firmly forward. The Belfast band still play busily, but heavy guitars more often make room for br…
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Album review
Terrible Animals
Lage Lund
Terrible Animals gives Lage Lund's guitar an unsettled setting. He uses effects and unusual layers of sound without letting the melodies disappear. Pianist Sullivan Fortner, b…
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Album review
Suffer
Bad Religion
Greg Graffin makes speed sound articulate on Suffer. Bad Religion race through fifteen short songs, yet the voice remains clear and melodic enough to give each argument a shap…
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Album review
A Fortress Called Home
Seven Spires
Adrienne Cowan keeps giving A Fortress Called Home a different face. She sings softly and clearly, reaches for large melodies and switches just as easily to fierce screams. Se…
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Album review
Above
Mad Season
Above gives Layne Staley room to sing without a heavy guitar pressing against every line. That alone makes Mad Season worth exploring. With Pearl Jam's Mike McCready on guitar…
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Album review
Wildhoney
Tiamat
Wildhoney lets Tiamat change gradually as the record unfolds. Heavy riffs and rough vocals do not disappear immediately, but increasingly share space with acoustic guitars, ke…
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Album review
In the Court of the Dragon
Trivium
The orchestral introduction to In the Court of the Dragon makes a promise that the rest of the album can support. Trivium follows that opening with music that is physically fo…
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Album review
Riot Music
Dropout Kings
Riot Music makes its intentions clear quickly. Dropout Kings connect rapping with heavy guitars and trap's rapid electronic percussion. The sound is polished and voices emerge…
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Album review
Effloresce
Oceansize
Effloresce makes three guitars feel like several different instruments. Oceansize can use them to create a thin, suspended texture, a tightly wound rhythmic pattern or a wall …
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Album review
Does This Look Infected?
Sum 41
A little extra weight does Sum 41 a lot of good on Does This Look Infected?. The guitars have a sharper attack, the solos are more prominent, and the band move between pop-pun…
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Album review
Houdini
Melvins
Houdini makes the Melvins' strange heaviness relatively accessible. Riffs have clearer shapes, and some songs possess a directness that comes close to ordinary rock. That rema…
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Album review
Fleshwork
Pupil Slicer
Fleshwork brings Pupil Slicer’s strange ideas into a more direct attack. The London trio keep the abrupt rhythms, harsh vocals and uncomfortable textures of their earlier work…
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Album review
In Verses
Karnivool
Karnivool have taken thirteen years to follow up Asymmetry. That's a serious amount of waiting for ten songs. In Verses gives you plenty to work with, though: big bass lines, …
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Album review
Powerslave
Iron Maiden
Powerslave starts in the air and finishes at sea, with Iron Maiden sounding comfortable at both extremes. Its strongest songs combine immediate excitement with the patience to…
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Album review
The Science of Things
Bush
The electronic pulse in The Chemicals Between Us suits Bush surprisingly well. It gives the familiar guitars a firmer outline and makes Gavin Rossdale's vocal sound part of th…
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