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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Reviews
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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
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
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
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
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
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
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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Album review
Three Days Grace
Three Days Grace
Adam Gontier can make a simple phrase sound as though it has been held in for too long. That quality gives Three Days Grace's debut much of its force. The band uses compact gu…
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Album review
Setting Fire to the Sky
Urne
Urne sound ready to reach a bigger room on Setting Fire to the Sky. The riffs still have plenty of force, but the choruses make more space for clean singing and direct melodie…
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Album review
Blues Funeral
Mark Lanegan
Ode to Sad Disco is an excellent title and an even better change of setting. Mark Lanegan's voice sounds entirely at home above an electronic pulse, carrying its usual gravity…
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Album review
System of a Down
System of a Down
System of a Down's debut has an unusual sense of humor for such a threatening record. Serj Tankian can sound mocking, theatrical and completely serious within the same song. T…
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Album review
Evolver
Smash Into Pieces
The saxophone at the start of “Like This!” is a useful warning that Evolver has other plans besides straight guitar rock. Smash Into Pieces bring funk movement, electronic bea…
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Album review
Dirt
Alice in Chains
Dirt wastes very little time being polite. The opening scream on Them Bones arrives with a guitar riff that seems to trip over its own feet, then land exactly where it should.…
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Album review
Asymmetry
Karnivool
Asymmetry puts friction at the centre of Karnivool's sound. The guitars can seem to pull away from the rhythm beneath them, and a vocal melody may arrive without making the su…
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Album review
From Mars to Sirius
Gojira
The repeated guitar figures on From Mars to Sirius are unusually expressive. Gojira use them to suggest weight, movement and exhaustion, changing the pressure through the drum…
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