Album review
Giants & Monsters
Helloween
Helloween's expanded lineup could easily have become an exercise in keeping everybody happy. Giants & Monsters works because the voices and guitars mostly serve the songs. Mic…
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Album review
Polaris
TesseracT
A strong vocal melody is the main point of connection on Polaris. TesseracT keep their shifting low guitar patterns and detailed rhythm section, but Daniel Tompkins gives the …
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Album review
Leave a Whisper
Shinedown
Brent Smith is a strong reason to pay attention to Leave a Whisper. His voice can bring a rough lower register and a clear, forceful high line into the same song, giving Shine…
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Album review
Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
Blink-182
The best moment on Take Off Your Pants and Jacket comes when Blink-182 stop treating growing up as a punchline. Stay Together for the Kids moves from Mark Hoppus's low, restra…
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Album review
Mer de Noms
A Perfect Circle
3 Libras is the point where Mer de Noms makes its strongest impression. The picked guitar and strings give Maynard James Keenan a delicate setting, and the song grows around h…
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Album review
Cannibal
Bury Tomorrow
Cannibal gives Bury Tomorrow's familiar vocal partnership a particularly personal setting. Dani Winter-Bates's harsh delivery and Jason Cameron's cleaner singing move through …
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Album review
Until All the Ghosts Are Gone
Anekdoten
Anekdoten make a convincing case for their familiar sound on Until All the Ghosts Are Gone. The Swedish group combine forceful bass, rough guitar and rich Mellotron with room …
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Album review
We're Here Because We're Here
Anathema
We're Here Because We're Here reaches toward hope without making it sound effortless. Anathema give their songs a bright, open setting, yet the voices still carry hesitation a…
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Album review
No Closer to Heaven
The Wonder Years
“Cigarettes & Saints” is the heart of No Closer to Heaven. A friend's death becomes a struggle with religion, anger and the limits of what another person can do. The song star…
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Album review
Sundiver
Boston Manor
Boston Manor have spent several albums moving away from the pop-punk label, and Sundiver makes a strong case for giving them the room. Guitars, electronic textures and heavy r…
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Album review
City
Strapping Young Lad
City begins like a machine being forced into motion. The short Velvet Kevorkian builds pressure, then All Hail the New Flesh opens into a much larger attack. Strapping Young L…
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Album review
Diorama
Silverchair
Across the Night opens a door Silverchair had only partly approached before. Strings, brass and a twisting vocal melody turn the start of Diorama into something closer to an e…
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Album review
Good Mourning
Alkaline Trio
There is a cheerful cruelty to the opening of Good Mourning. This Could Be Love makes a grisly fantasy sound catchy enough to hum while doing something entirely ordinary. Alka…
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Album review
Ascension
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost have a very reliable relationship with misery. On Ascension, they make it sound surprisingly full of life. The guitars are heavy, Nick Holmes moves between clean…
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Album review
Ocean Machine: Biomech
Devin Townsend
The size of Ocean Machine: Biomech comes from layers rather than speed. Devin Townsend stacks guitars, keyboards and voices until the individual parts form a broad, shifting b…
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Album review
Dysfunction
Staind
Mudshovel begins with a bass line that does more than introduce a riff. It gives Dysfunction a recognisable movement, leaving the heavier guitar entrance somewhere definite to…
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Album review
Sing the Sorrow
AFI
The group chant at the beginning of Sing the Sorrow sounds like an invitation with conditions attached. AFI create a large, dark setting before the main songs even begin, but …
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Album review
Fever
Against the Current
Seven songs. Just over 22 minutes. Against the Current clearly aren't asking for your whole afternoon, and fever is better for it. The band put guitars back near the front aft…
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Album review
The Stage
Avenged Sevenfold
The Stage asks Avenged Sevenfold's musicianship to support a larger set of questions. Artificial intelligence, human ambition and the scale of the universe give the album a co…
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Album review
Lateralus
Tool
Lateralus turns a repeating figure into a moving landscape. Tool can stay with a riff for a long time while changing what the drums, bass and voice make it mean. The album's c…
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Album review
Punk in Drublic
NOFX
NOFX make a convincing case for taking unserious people seriously on Punk in Drublic. The jokes are obvious, Fat Mike's voice is hardly graceful, and the songs often arrive at…
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Album review
Sixteen Stone
Bush
Bush were never difficult to place on the musical map. Sixteen Stone has the thick guitars, quiet verses and explosive choruses associated with early-nineties alternative rock…
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Album review
Scream Aim Fire
Bullet for My Valentine
Scream Aim Fire puts Bullet for My Valentine's fast guitar work in the foreground. The title track begins with a tightly organized attack, giving the drums and riffs an immedi…
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Album review
Rubberneck
Toadies
Rubberneck makes a cheerful guitar hook feel slightly threatening. Toadies have a good instinct for a tune that sticks, but the voice delivering it often sounds strained, susp…
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