Album review
Wanderer
The Intersphere
The Intersphere keep their songs compact on Wanderer. The German band combine alternative rock with progressive details, but the ten tracks favour clear melodies and immediate…
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Album review
Flying in a Blue Dream
Joe Satriani
Flying in a Blue Dream gives Joe Satriani's guitar music a wider range of settings, including several songs with his own vocals. The instrumental melodies remain the strongest…
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Album review
Surfing with the Alien
Joe Satriani
Surfing with the Alien makes its technical guitar playing easy to enjoy through clear melodies. Joe Satriani can move quickly across the instrument, but the strongest pieces g…
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Album review
Another Language
This Will Destroy You
Another Language makes a strong case for texture as the main voice of an instrumental band. This Will Destroy You combine heavy guitars with blurred electronics, quiet keys an…
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Album review
The Last Days of Oakland
Fantastic Negrito
The Last Days of Oakland makes blues feel urgent and closely connected to the world around it. Fantastic Negrito brings rock guitar, soul singing and strong rhythms into songs…
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Album review
The New Normal
Cog
The New Normal gives heavy rock time to grow. Cog build their songs around thick guitar riffs, active bass and drums, and Flynn Gower's direct singing. The music has some of T…
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Album review
Heart
Eric Church
Heart brings Eric Church's country-rock writing into a concise nine-song sequence. There is room for driving guitars and large choruses, but the album spends just as much time…
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Album review
Mr. Misunderstood
Eric Church
Mr. Misunderstood gives Eric Church's country-rock sound a more concentrated shape. The ten songs move easily between guitars, soul and quieter reflection, with Jay Joyce keep…
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Sci-Fi Crimes
Chevelle
Sci-Fi Crimes gives Chevelle's heavy rock a darker, more varied setting. The thick guitar sound and large choruses remain familiar, but Pete Loeffler explores a wider vocal ra…
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Album review
Unmaker
LLNN
LLNN get to the point quickly on Unmaker. The Danish band’s third album combines rough guitars, heavy bass and drums with electronic sounds that make the music feel even more …
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Jolene
Dolly Parton
Jolene is most convincing when Dolly Parton's clear, expressive singing meets a song with an equally direct emotional purpose. The production gives her a rich country setting,…
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Endangered Species
Flaw
Endangered Species gives Flaw's heavy sound a smoother, more melodic direction. Chris Volz's voice remains the main attraction, but the arrangements allow the singing to carry…
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Saturate
Breaking Benjamin
Breaking Benjamin sound impatient on Saturate. Their debut puts heavy guitar riffs and sharp changes in vocal intensity ahead of subtlety, but it also shows a clear instinct f…
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No Code
Pearl Jam
No Code finds Pearl Jam making more room for quieter playing and less predictable rhythms. The guitars can still hit hard, but the record does not depend on a constant supply …
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The Weight Of The Mask
Svalbard
The Weight Of The Mask brings heavy music and difficult feelings into close contact. Svalbard combine the urgency of hardcore with ringing guitar melodies, fast black metal rh…
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Album review
The Weight of These Wings
Miranda Lambert
The Weight of These Wings gives Miranda Lambert a large, unhurried setting for songs about leaving, uncertainty and the habits that make change difficult. Its twenty-four trac…
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Cure
ERRA
Cure finds ERRA making their technical metalcore feel direct without removing the detail. Jesse Cash's melodic singing and J.T. Cavey's harsher delivery give the songs a clear…
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Marching in Time
Tremonti
Marching in Time gives Tremonti's familiar heavy rock sound several useful changes of emphasis. The choruses remain broad and melodic, and the guitars still move between fast …
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Here Comes the Zoo
Local H
Here Comes the Zoo gives Local H's two-person rock sound a heavier, busier rhythm. Scott Lucas' guitar and voice remain the main point of connection, while Brian St. Clair's d…
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Album review
Colourmeinkindness
Basement
Colourmeinkindness puts Basement's melodic instincts inside a heavier, slower-moving sound. The guitars carry plenty of grit, but the songs rarely depend on speed alone. There…
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Album review
The Wilderness
Explosions in the Sky
The Wilderness gives Explosions in the Sky's instrumental music a different sense of scale. The pieces are shorter than many of their earlier compositions, and electronics pla…
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Album review
Venus Isle
Eric Johnson
Venus Isle places Eric Johnson's guitar inside a richer, more layered sound. The playing is still precise, but the album gives equal attention to atmosphere and the way one pi…
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Deep Sage
Gouge Away
Deep Sage finds Gouge Away making more space for melody without removing the tension from their music. Christina Michelle can move from quieter singing to a much harsher deliv…
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Album review
Aphelion
Leprous
Aphelion finds Leprous moving between spare electronic passages and much larger rock arrangements. The Norwegian band keep Einar Solberg's expressive voice at the front, but s…
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