Album review
Alienation
Three Days Grace
Adam Gontier is back with Three Days Grace, and Matt Walst has stayed. This gives Alienation a more interesting premise than a simple reunion. Each voice brings a different ki…
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Reviews
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Album review
Broken Machine
Nothing But Thieves
Broken Machine gives Nothing But Thieves a strong, restless shape. The guitars can sound heavier and more electronic, the drums take an active role, and Conor Mason has room t…
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Album review
The Sound a Body Makes When It's Still
Hot Mulligan
Hot Mulligan's song titles remain a fairly unreliable guide to what is inside. Monica Lewinskibidi is about grief. That probably tells you something useful about The Sound a B…
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Album review
Why Would I Watch
Hot Mulligan
Hot Mulligan hide very little behind the absurd song titles on Why Would I Watch. Family damage, illness, grief and discomfort with your own body all receive unusually direct …
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Album review
Walk the Sky
Alter Bridge
Walk the Sky adds a subtle electronic layer to Alter Bridge's established hard rock sound. The guitars still carry plenty of weight, and Myles Kennedy's high singing remains c…
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Album review
All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us
Architects
The guitars on All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us rarely occupy the whole picture alone. Electronic layers gather behind them, long notes stretch across the rhythmic stops, and th…
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Album review
Dark Before Dawn
Breaking Benjamin
Failure is an appropriate place to hear what Dark Before Dawn does well. A patient guitar opening leaves room for Benjamin Burnley's voice, then the chorus expands without los…
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Album review
Sonic Excess in Its Purest Form
Crowbar
Sonic Excess in Its Purest Form lives up to its title without forgetting the songs. Crowbar build the music from huge guitars, hard drums and Kirk Windstein's rough voice. Yet…
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Album review
The Art of Letting Go
Myles Kennedy
Myles Kennedy's voice gets most of the attention, which is understandable. On The Art of Letting Go, his guitar playing gives it some proper competition. This third solo album…
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Album review
Down on the Upside
Soundgarden
Mandolins are an unlikely way to make a Soundgarden song more aggressive. Ty Cobb manages it anyway, turning a bright acoustic texture into the starting point for a furious ru…
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Album review
Follow the Leader
Korn
Follow the Leader makes Korn's strange rhythms easier to enter without removing their rough edges. The bass is still dry and percussive, the guitars still bend and scrape, and…
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Album review
Screamnasium
O.R.k.
Screamnasium brings a strong rock focus to O.R.k.'s changing arrangements. The songs move between heavy riffs and quieter details, with the rhythm section keeping the music ac…
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Album review
Billy Talent III
Billy Talent
The slower pace on Billy Talent III changes more than the amount of time between beats. The band give their riffs greater weight and their choruses more room, which makes the …
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Album review
My Own Prison
Creed
My Own Prison is a serious record. Scott Stapp sings as though every question needs answering before the song ends, and Mark Tremonti gives him guitar parts with enough weight…
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Album review
In Absentia
Porcupine Tree
Blackest Eyes makes the central idea of In Absentia clear within one song. A heavy guitar riff gives way to a bright, carefully layered melody, and neither part feels like an …
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Album review
Mortal
Necrot
Mortal shows how much movement there can be in death metal which, on paper, tries very little that is new. Necrot keep the harsh vocals, heavy guitars and direct songs, but di…
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Album review
War of Being
TesseracT
Daniel Tompkins gives War of Being an unusually wide vocal range. A breathy phrase can become a clear, high melody or a harsh attack without losing its connection to the surro…
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Album review
Folie à Deux
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy put an extraordinary amount of activity inside Folie à Deux. Horns, strings, guest voices and changing rhythms compete for attention, with Patrick Stump singing a…
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Album review
Let All That We Imagine Be the Light
Garbage
An album called Let All That We Imagine Be the Light sounds unusually hopeful for Garbage. Shirley Manson hasn't suddenly become easygoing, though. There is still anger here, …
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Album review
Ultraglide In Black
The Dirtbombs
Ultraglide In Black shows how close garage punk and soul can be. The Dirtbombs put songs from the Black popular music of the sixties and seventies through a forceful guitar am…
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Album review
Odd Fellows Rest
Crowbar
Odd Fellows Rest gives Crowbar's heaviness more colour without making the music lighter. The guitars remain low and massive, but the melodies and Kirk Windstein's voice gain r…
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Album review
The Dark Side of the Moon
Pink Floyd
The heartbeat at the start of The Dark Side of the Moon establishes a human scale for everything that follows. The clocks, machines and voices can make the world sound overwhe…
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Album review
Dopesick
Eyehategod
Dopesick keeps Eyehategod's heavy blues moving by allowing hardcore to break through it repeatedly. The album sounds dense and aggressive, but it does not stay at the same low…
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Album review
Brainwashed
While She Sleeps
Brainwashed sounds like an argument being carried by a whole group. Lawrence Taylor's harsh vocal is joined by Mat Welsh's rougher melodic lines and shouted collective parts, …
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