Album review
The Octopus
Amplifier
Minion's Song gives The Octopus a surprisingly gentle point of entry. Piano and a small guitar line gradually acquire voices and drums, making Amplifier's large musical world …
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Reviews
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Album review
Meteora
Linkin Park
Meteora makes its strongest impressions in small spaces. Most of the songs are brief, but their opening sounds are distinct: a string loop, a processed guitar fragment, a flut…
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Album review
Ixnay on the Hombre
The Offspring
Gone Away changes the terms of Ixnay on the Hombre. Dexter Holland usually delivers his words as though volume might solve the problem. Here, his strained voice makes grief so…
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Album review
Bright as Blasphemy
Chevelle
Chevelle are good at making a song feel as though something is about to happen. Bright as Blasphemy is full of tense guitar parts, controlled rhythms and Pete Loeffler's uneas…
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Album review
Affinity
Haken
Affinity finds a productive use for synthetic sounds that can seem deliberately dated. Haken place bright keyboards and electronic drum colours inside heavy, changing arrangem…
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Album review
Obsidian
Northlane
Obsidian often feels closer to a dark dance record than its low guitars first suggest. Northlane lets electronic patterns control the motion, with heavy instrumental attacks e…
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Album review
In Contact
Caligula's Horse
Songs for No One gives In Contact an early emotional centre. The guitar can stand beside Jim Grey's voice, answer it with a clear melodic line, then push the whole arrangement…
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Album review
Blackbird
Alter Bridge
The title track on Blackbird is almost eight minutes long. Alter Bridge use that space well: a gentle opening, a chorus with real emotional weight and a pair of guitar solos t…
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Album review
Clarity
Jimmy Eat World
Clarity begins quietly enough to make you lean towards it. An organ tone, measured drums and the gradual arrival of voices give Table for Glasses a sense of careful attention.…
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Album review
Highly Irresponsible
Better Lovers
Highly Irresponsible makes a strong case for familiar musicians finding a useful new combination. Better Lovers bring abrasive hardcore riffs, active drums and Greg Puciato's …
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Album review
The Joy of Motion
Animals as Leaders
The groove in Physical Education gives The Joy of Motion an immediate point of entry. Animals as Leaders make the guitar feel percussive without losing its melodic role, using…
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Album review
Dark Matter
Pearl Jam
The drums make the first argument on Dark Matter. Matt Cameron gives the title track a hard, forward push, and the guitars answer with the sort of riff that seems designed to …
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Album review
No Place Like Home
Badflower
Badflower are most interesting when the uncomfortable details make it into the song. No Place Like Home has plenty of those details: grief, imagined escapes, family fears and …
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Album review
Past Lives
Against the Current
The clearest decision on Past Lives is to put Chrissy Costanza's voice at the center. Against the Current lean into synthesizers, programmed rhythms and the clean shapes of po…
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The Shape of Colour
Intervals
Aaron Marshall gives the guitar a clear speaking voice on The Shape of Colour. The melodies are bright and direct, while the faster passages extend their character instead of …
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Album review
Love, Fear and the Time Machine
Riverside
Riverside give their melodies an unusually clear view on Love, Fear and the Time Machine. The guitars retain their expressive detail, but Mariusz Duda's voice carries more of …
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Album review
God of Angels Trust
Volbeat
Volbeat sound willing to disturb their own routine on God of Angels Trust. The familiar melodies are still there, and Michael Poulsen remains impossible to mistake for anyone …
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Album review
This Is How the World Ends
Badflower
The quiet opening of This Is How the World Ends gives Badflower room to sound uncertain before the volume arrives. “Adolescent Love” uses an acoustic setting and a restrained …
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Album review
Countdown to Extinction
Megadeth
The strongest riffs on Countdown to Extinction do not need many notes to leave a mark. Megadeth simplify their arrangements, put the choruses closer to the front and let the r…
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Album review
A Crow Left of the Murder...
Incubus
Megalomaniac gives A Crow Left of the Murder... a restless opening. Its shift into a hard guitar song feels confrontational, and Brandon Boyd uses a sharper edge in his voice …
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Album review
Throwing Copper
Live
Ed Kowalczyk rarely sounds half-interested in anything on Throwing Copper. A quiet verse can suddenly turn into a full vocal outburst, and even the gentler songs seem to be re…
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Album review
Feeding the Wolves
10 Years
Feeding the Wolves aims straight at the chorus. 10 Years give the guitars a cleaner punch, tighten the arrangements and keep Jesse Hasek's voice close to the front. The approa…
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Album review
Exclamation
Chin Up!
Chin Up! describe themselves as "a positive-pop-punk band". I'm not entirely sure about the pop-part, but it's definitely punk. They say: "We're all about spreading positivity…
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Album review
Handmade Cities
Plini
A short clean guitar pattern opens Electric Sunrise, and Plini quickly makes it feel like the beginning of a larger place. The rhythm has an uneven turn, but the melody remain…
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