Album review
Déjà Vu (Première Partie)
Novelists
Novelists move towards a more electronic, chorus-led sound on Déjà Vu (Première Partie). The French band still use technical guitar playing and heavy metalcore riffs, but the …
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Album review
Weather Diaries
Ride
Weather Diaries gives Ride's rhythm section plenty of room. Bass keeps the songs moving and drums offer more than backing beneath a wall of guitars. The familiar vocal harmoni…
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Album review
Home
Sevendust
Home gets much of its character from the space between Sevendust's heavy instruments and Lajon Witherspoon's voice. The guitars are low and tightly controlled, the drums push …
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Album review
Suite for Max Brown
Jeff Parker
Rhythm gives Suite for Max Brown its sense of unity. Jeff Parker combines short loops, electronic details and freer ensemble playing with guitar parts which often arrive at ju…
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Album review
Blindfaller
Watchhouse
Blindfaller gives Mandolin Orange a fuller band sound while keeping their close singing at the centre. The extra instruments create more room for changes in rhythm and texture…
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Album review
Notes on a Conditional Form
The 1975
The 1975 give themselves a lot of space on Notes on a Conditional Form. Their fourth album moves through guitar pop, harsh punk, quieter acoustic songs and several kinds of el…
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Album review
III
Fuzz
III makes the force of Fuzz immediately clear. The guitar is heavily distorted, but bass and drums remain audible beside it. Each instrument keeps a distinct role in the movem…
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Album review
Pageant Material
Kacey Musgraves
Pageant Material gives Kacey Musgraves a soft, traditional country setting for songs about being comfortable with yourself. Steel guitar, strings and easy rhythms create a war…
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Album review
Hopium
Kingcrow
Hopium moves Kingcrow towards a more atmospheric form of progressive rock. The Italian band keep enough guitar weight to give the songs force, but rhythm, vocal melody and car…
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Album review
Raise
Swervedriver
Raise gives Swervedriver's layered guitars a strong connection to hard rock. The music has the blurred edges associated with shoegaze, but the rhythm section keeps it moving w…
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Album review
The Last Emperor
Judicator
The Last Emperor moves forward almost constantly. Judicator put fast guitar parts beneath large, layered vocal melodies and keep the drums working hard. The record has the dir…
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Album review
Inviolate
Steve Vai
Inviolate finds Steve Vai turning unusual guitar ideas into a varied instrumental record. There is plenty of demanding playing, but melody, rhythm and changes of texture give …
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Album review
The Heart Of Everything
Within Temptation
The Heart Of Everything lets Within Temptation think big without losing the recognisable song. Heavy guitars, strings and choirs support melodies that quickly become clear. Sh…
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We're Not Here To Be Loved
Fleshwater
Fleshwater fit a great deal into a short debut. We're Not Here To Be Loved brings heavy alternative rock, shoegaze and a harder rhythmic edge into nine songs, keeping the melo…
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Rat Saw God
Wednesday
Rat Saw God joins loud guitar music to stories that feel close to ordinary life. Wednesday draw from country, shoegaze and alternative rock, with Karly Hartzman's voice moving…
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Album review
The Burden of Restlessness
King Buffalo
The Burden of Restlessness gives King Buffalo's heavy psychedelic rock a tighter, more anxious shape. The songs still have room to stretch, but the repeated riffs feel purpose…
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Luminiferous Aether
Mare Cognitum
Luminiferous Aether creates atmospheric black metal through its guitars rather than adding atmosphere afterwards. The sound is spacious and richly layered, but the riffs remai…
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Album review
Rest Inside the Flames
36 Crazyfists
Rest Inside the Flames gives 36 Crazyfists' mixture of melody and heavy playing a more confident shape. The guitars have a stronger presence, and Brock Lindow moves between hi…
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Album review
Grimspound
Big Big Train
Grimspound gives Big Big Train another rich setting for their stories, combining progressive rock with folk detail and carefully arranged voices. Violin, flute and acoustic gu…
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Album review
Age of Excuse
Mgła
Age of Excuse remains recognisably Mgła: melodic guitars move above precise drums and a harsh voice which never eases the tension. The band choose no new direction, but carefu…
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Album review
Quiet Signs
Jessica Pratt
Quiet Signs begins with a small step inside. Opening Night consists of sparse piano notes that seem to drift slightly. The mood is established immediately: Jessica Pratt makes…
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Album review
Desolation Rose
The Flower Kings
Desolation Rose gives The Flower Kings' melodic progressive rock a darker setting. The guitars have more weight, the mood is often uneasy, and recurring musical ideas connect …
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Album review
Promise Everything
Basement
Promise Everything is easy to get into, and sometimes a little too comfortable. Basement keep the heavy guitars and emotional singing of their earlier work, but the songs lean…
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Album review
The Valley
Whitechapel
The Valley gives Whitechapel's heavy sound a clearer melodic side. Low vocals and hard guitars remain present, but are joined by restrained passages and clean vocal lines whic…
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