Album review
Holy Hell
Architects
Grief gives Holy Hell a clear emotional center, but the songs do more than state that grief. Architects turns it into changes of pace, strained melodies and repeated guitar fi…
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Reviews
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Album review
Typhoons
Royal Blood
Typhoons makes Royal Blood's riffs move differently. The drums often point toward the dance floor, the melodies are brighter, and the electronic details give Mike Kerr's disto…
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Album review
Beastland
Author & Punisher
Beastland draws its weight from machines Tristan Shone built himself. As Author & Punisher, he makes industrial music in which distorted sounds take the place of riffs. Low fr…
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Album review
Dosage
Collective Soul
Heavy is an admirably clear title for a song with a riff like this. Collective Soul don't spend much time explaining themselves: the guitar arrives, the rhythm locks in and Ed…
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Album review
Perihelion
Sungazer
Perihelion sounds remarkably cheerful for music in which so much happens at once. Sungazer combines jazz, electronic production and uneven rhythms with melodies and grooves th…
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Album review
We Are Not Alone
Breaking Benjamin
So Cold gives We Are Not Alone an unusually strong centre of gravity. The guitar figure has room to establish its uneasy atmosphere before Benjamin Burnley's voice rises above…
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Album review
The Mortal Coil
Polaris
The Mortal Coil makes a familiar musical language feel sharply performed. Polaris uses technical guitar figures, clean vocal refrains and forceful breakdowns without trying to…
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Album review
Caipi
Kurt Rosenwinkel
On Caipi, Kurt Rosenwinkel gives his songs more room than extended guitar solos. He plays many of the instruments himself, bringing jazz, Brazilian music and pop together. His…
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Album review
You'll Be Fine
Hot Mulligan
The guitar parts on You'll Be Fine are often more patient than the voice above them. Hot Mulligan let small, winding melodies develop while Nathan “Tades” Sanville sounds read…
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Album review
This is the Second Album of a band called Adebisi Shank
Adebisi Shank
Adebisi Shank's second album shows how cheerful complicated music can be. The Irish trio pile sharp guitars, electronic sounds and shifting rhythms together, yet the enjoyment…
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Album review
I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me
Lorna Shore
Lorna Shore make a fairly serious commitment to excess on I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me. The title is long, the songs are large, and Will Ramos sounds capable of pr…
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Album review
Louder Than Love
Soundgarden
Subtlety is not the first thing Louder Than Love offers. Chris Cornell sings as if he is trying to get above the entire building, and Kim Thayil's guitar gives him a sizeable …
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Album review
Opposites
Biffy Clyro
Opposites gives Biffy Clyro room to explore a larger version of their melodic rock sound. Across two discs, the band combine sharp guitar patterns, broad choruses and a wider …
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Album review
Damnation
Opeth
Quietness does not make Damnation a comfortable record. Opeth remove the growled vocals and most of the heavy guitar attack, leaving the melancholy in their writing unusually …
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Album review
A Blaze in the Northern Sky
Darkthrone
A Blaze in the Northern Sky has little interest in polished presentation. Its guitars are rough, the drums sound dry and the voice fits that environment. Yet its strength come…
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Album review
Moral Panic
Nothing But Thieves
Moral Panic is more interesting as a record about pressure than as a collection of answers. Nothing But Thieves move between public anxiety and private difficulty, using elect…
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Album review
Saviors
Green Day
The most convincing moment on Saviors is Dilemma. Billie Joe Armstrong sings about losing control of his drinking with a directness that gives the song real weight. The melody…
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Album review
New Long Leg
Dry Cleaning
On New Long Leg, Florence Shaw talks as though the band behind her have no particular reason to hurry. The guitars and rhythms tell a different story. Dry Cleaning find tensio…
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Album review
Bilateral
Leprous
Forced Entry keeps finding another way to move. A guitar figure changes its rhythmic setting, a vocal melody opens a different space, and the band bring those ideas together w…
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Album review
Horizons
Parkway Drive
Horizons gives its melodies to the guitars. Winston McCall keeps his voice harsh throughout, so the contrast between beauty and aggression happens inside the instrumental writ…
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Album review
Swan Songs
Hollywood Undead
Swan Songs aims for an immediate reaction. Hollywood Undead combine rapping, electronic beats and heavy guitars with choruses that take little time to stick. The songs have si…
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Album review
The Dream Is Over
PUP
The handover between “If This Tour Doesn't Kill You, I Will” and “DVP” is a small triumph of bad temper. PUP turn exhaustion with one another into an opening that keeps tighte…
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Album review
Isn’t Anything
my bloody valentine
Isn’t Anything sounds as though the music is continually being pulled out of position. Guitars bend, drums make forceful entrances, and soft voices hang between those movement…
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Album review
There Is Nothing Left to Lose
Foo Fighters
Aurora is a useful place to understand There Is Nothing Left to Lose. The guitars shimmer, the rhythm moves easily and Dave Grohl sounds comfortable letting the melody carry h…
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