Album review
Into the Wild Life
Halestorm
“What Sober Couldn't Say” is an important test of Into the Wild Life. Halestorm can make an immediate impression with a shouted hook or a heavy riff, but this song asks for so…
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Reviews
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Album review
Headspace
Pulse Ultra
Headspace brings a more restless instrumental approach to a familiar alternative metal sound. Pulse Ultra use substantial guitars and melodic singing, but the bass often moves…
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Album review
Antidepressants
Suede
Suede sound very awake on Antidepressants. The guitars are sharp, the rhythms keep pressing forward, and Brett Anderson gives the songs enough drama to make their anxious thou…
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Album review
Diamond Eyes
Deftones
The title track of Diamond Eyes gives Deftones a clear melodic centre without reducing the weight around it. A low, deliberate guitar figure leaves room for Chino Moreno's voi…
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Album review
Satellite
P.O.D.
Satellite makes P.O.D.'s melodic side a more important part of the music. The band retain heavy guitars and rhythmic force, but Sonny Sandoval gains more room to sing. His voi…
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Album review
Contraband
Velvet Revolver
The bass entrance to Slither is one of Contraband's smartest decisions. It gives the song somewhere to go before the full guitar riff arrives, creating tension that the chorus…
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Album review
Leviathan
Mastodon
Mastodon make the sea feel unstable on Leviathan. The guitars surge forward, the drums move restlessly underneath, and the vocals sound strained by the effort of staying above…
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Album review
Symbolic
Death
Symbolic makes complicated metal surprisingly easy to follow. Death give their riffs a clear melodic character and keep allowing the songs to find new directions. The techniqu…
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Album review
A Dark Euphony
Blackbriar
Zora Cock's singing can quickly turn a simple melodic idea into something distinctive on A Dark Euphony. Her voice is clear, but also strange and unsettled. Blackbriar give th…
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Album review
The Colour and the Shape
Foo Fighters
Everlong is a very good reason to make an album. Fortunately, The Colour and the Shape has plenty of other reasons too. Foo Fighters' second record takes Dave Grohl's straight…
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Album review
Real Life
Magazine
Real Life keeps punk’s energy while giving the instruments much more room to change its direction. Magazine’s songs are driven by Barry Adamson’s bass and Dave Formula’s keybo…
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Album review
...And Out Come the Wolves
Rancid
Matt Freeman's bass solo in Maxwell Murder is an entertaining way for Rancid to announce that simple punk songs can contain some very busy playing. The opening track races pas…
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Album review
All I Was
Tremonti
All I Was brings Mark Tremonti's heavier guitar ideas into a melodic hard rock setting. The riffs have plenty of weight, and the faster passages show a clear interest in metal…
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Album review
No. 4
Stone Temple Pilots
Down leaves very little doubt about Stone Temple Pilots' intentions on No. 4. The guitar is thick, the rhythm is blunt and Scott Weiland sounds ready to meet both head-on. Yet…
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Album review
Slipknot
Slipknot
There is more going on in Slipknot's self-titled album than its blunt aggression first suggests. Samples scrape across guitar riffs, turntables interrupt the beat, and extra p…
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Album review
Tore Down House
Scott Henderson
Tore Down House takes the direct appeal of electric blues and gives it some unexpected turns. Scott Henderson brings a jazz guitarist's ear for harmony into music that still h…
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Album review
The Music That Died Alone
The Tangent
The Music That Died Alone brings the sounds of classic progressive rock together with an unusually light touch. The Tangent use long compositions, busy keyboards and plenty of…
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Album review
Goliath
Exodus
Rob Dukes is back, and Goliath gives him plenty to shout about. Exodus' latest album has the speed, aggressive guitar work and ugly sense of humour that belong with the name. …
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Album review
White Jesus Black Problems
Fantastic Negrito
White Jesus Black Problems is one of Fantastic Negrito's most restless records. Taking a family love story shaped by slavery and racism as its starting point, it moves through…
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Album review
Dookie
Green Day
The bass line in Longview tells you plenty about Dookie. Green Day can write a simple song without making every part simple. Mike Dirnt slips around the beat, Tré Cool keeps t…
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Album review
The Distance to Here
Live
Live make a fairly clear choice on The Distance to Here: give the melodies more room and let the choruses do their work. The darker guitar atmosphere of Secret Samadhi gives w…
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Album review
Transcendence
Devin Townsend Project
The guitar solo in Failure provides one of the clearest moments on Transcendence. After the dense rhythm and layered singing, its searching phrases create a more exposed emoti…
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Album review
With the Magic of Windfyre Steel
Power Paladin
With the Magic of Windfyre Steel wastes little time establishing Power Paladin's approach. Fast guitars, bright keyboards and high singing move together. Choruses are large an…
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Album review
Killing Joke
Killing Joke
Killing Joke’s debut turns a small set of ingredients into a powerful, unsettling sound. Geordie Walker’s guitar is heavy and dissonant, but the rhythms make the music move ra…
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