Album review
Issues
Korn
Issues builds a room you might not want to remain inside. Short interludes, low guitar textures and Jonathan Davis's uneasy melodies make the album feel connected even when th…
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Reviews
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Album review
Even in Arcadia
Sleep Token
Sleep Token make it fairly difficult to have a quiet opinion about them. Even in Arcadia is full of big emotions, smooth vocals, electronic beats and sudden heavy guitars. It …
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Album review
Mental Jewelry
Live
The bass tells you quite a lot about Mental Jewelry before Ed Kowalczyk has finished the first verse. Live's debut has a spring in its rhythm that is easy to miss if you know …
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Album review
Everyone into Position
Oceansize
Music for a Nurse gives Everyone into Position its most beautiful moment by allowing the guitars to move slowly around a small emotional centre. The voice is part of the atmos…
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Album review
Ascendancy
Trivium
The guitar melodies on Ascendancy have as much importance as the heavy riffs. Trivium makes fast picking, harmonized leads and broad vocal choruses part of the same musical la…
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Album review
Break the Cycle
Staind
It's Been Awhile works because Aaron Lewis sounds tired before the chorus has even arrived. The song doesn't need a dramatic explanation of its mood. The acoustic guitar and r…
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Album review
Of Valleys and Mountains
Pull Down the Sun
Of Valleys and Mountains gives Pull Down the Sun a strong foundation for their progressive metal. The New Zealand band combine heavy, sharply accented riffs with clean singing…
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Album review
Chameleon
Trauma Ray
Chameleon works through the pressure of layered guitars. Trauma Ray build their debut album around a heavy shoegaze sound, with melodies rising through distortion rather than …
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Dust and Disquiet
Caspian
Dust and Disquiet gives Caspian plenty of room to use their full range. The band move from softly picked guitar to much heavier passages, but the record's appeal goes beyond t…
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Album review
Life in the Wires
Frost*
Frost* give their melodies plenty of space to develop on Life in the Wires. The British band’s fifth album is a long, ambitious double release, with guitar and keyboard solos …
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Album review
Wildlife
La Dispute
Wildlife gives La Dispute's restless post-hardcore a strong narrative focus. Jordan Dreyer moves between spoken delivery and a strained shout, telling stories that connect pri…
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Album review
We Salute You, You and You!
EF
We Salute You, You and You! has the scale of a large instrumental rock record, but voices play an important part in its appeal. EF mix soft singing and occasional harsher mome…
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Album review
The Bedlam in Goliath
The Mars Volta
The Bedlam in Goliath starts at full force and rarely lets up. The Mars Volta’s fourth studio album brings its ideas into shorter pieces than the huge suites of earlier record…
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Album review
Only Constant
Gel
Only Constant gets considerable energy from a small amount of space. Gel's hardcore is abrasive and fast, but the songs also have clear rhythmic hooks that make the force feel…
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Album review
Heart of Oak
Anciients
Heart of Oak brings several kinds of heavy guitar music into a convincing whole. Anciients use the drive of stoner rock, the force of sludge and more elaborate progressive arr…
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Album review
I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven
The Callous Daoboys
The Callous Daoboys have found more room for songs inside their chaos. I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven moves through jagged metalcore, pop melodies, jazz and softer electron…
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Album review
The Space
Somali Yacht Club
The Space gives its songs enough room to grow. Across six tracks, Somali Yacht Club combine thick guitar riffs with softer melodies, patient rhythms and vocals that often sit …
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Nightroamer
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers
Nightroamer opens Sarah Shook & the Disarmers' country sound towards cleaner rock and pop melodies. The pedal steel and drawling voice still give the music its roots, while pr…
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Album review
They Fear Us
Ithaca
They Fear Us gives Ithaca a wider emotional range without removing the force of their heavier music. Djamila Azzouz's singing is central to that change, moving between fierce …
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Album review
The Room's Too Cold
The Early November
The Room's Too Cold gives The Early November a wider musical range than a simple sequence of loud guitar songs. Acoustic parts, strings and open arrangements sit beside energe…
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Album review
Jar
Superheaven
Jar makes its heavy guitars feel personal. Superheaven, who originally released the album as Daylight, draw on grunge and alternative rock while keeping the directness of thei…
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Album review
Find a Light
Blackberry Smoke
Find a Light moves easily between the harder and gentler sides of Blackberry Smoke. The guitars have weight when the songs need it, but country melody and acoustic playing are…
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Album review
Be Right Here
Blackberry Smoke
Be Right Here gives Blackberry Smoke's familiar sound enough small changes to keep it lively. The songs draw on rock, country and soul, with the guitars sharing space with cle…
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Album review
Time & Space
Turnstile
Time & Space gives Turnstile's hardcore a wider range of colours without removing its force. The riffs remain substantial and the rhythms have a strong bounce, but melody and …
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