Album review
Downward Is Heavenward
Hum
Isle of the Cheetah is a convincing argument for taking the long way through a rock song. Its guitars spread outward while Matt Talbott sings with a calm that makes the scale …
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Album review
Into the Wild Life
Halestorm
“What Sober Couldn't Say” is an important test of Into the Wild Life. Halestorm can make an immediate impression with a shouted hook or a heavy riff, but this song asks for so…
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Album review
Headspace
Pulse Ultra
Headspace brings a more restless instrumental approach to a familiar alternative metal sound. Pulse Ultra use substantial guitars and melodic singing, but the bass often moves…
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Album review
Antidepressants
Suede
Suede sound very awake on Antidepressants. The guitars are sharp, the rhythms keep pressing forward, and Brett Anderson gives the songs enough drama to make their anxious thou…
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Album review
Diamond Eyes
Deftones
The title track of Diamond Eyes gives Deftones a clear melodic centre without reducing the weight around it. A low, deliberate guitar figure leaves room for Chino Moreno's voi…
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Album review
Contraband
Velvet Revolver
The bass entrance to Slither is one of Contraband's smartest decisions. It gives the song somewhere to go before the full guitar riff arrives, creating tension that the chorus…
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Album review
Leviathan
Mastodon
Mastodon make the sea feel unstable on Leviathan. The guitars surge forward, the drums move restlessly underneath, and the vocals sound strained by the effort of staying above…
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The Colour and the Shape
Foo Fighters
Everlong is a very good reason to make an album. Fortunately, The Colour and the Shape has plenty of other reasons too. Foo Fighters' second record takes Dave Grohl's straight…
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...And Out Come the Wolves
Rancid
Matt Freeman's bass solo in Maxwell Murder is an entertaining way for Rancid to announce that simple punk songs can contain some very busy playing. The opening track races pas…
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Album review
All I Was
Tremonti
All I Was brings Mark Tremonti's heavier guitar ideas into a melodic hard rock setting. The riffs have plenty of weight, and the faster passages show a clear interest in metal…
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Album review
No. 4
Stone Temple Pilots
Down leaves very little doubt about Stone Temple Pilots' intentions on No. 4. The guitar is thick, the rhythm is blunt and Scott Weiland sounds ready to meet both head-on. Yet…
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Album review
Slipknot
Slipknot
There is more going on in Slipknot's self-titled album than its blunt aggression first suggests. Samples scrape across guitar riffs, turntables interrupt the beat, and extra p…
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Album review
The Music That Died Alone
The Tangent
The Music That Died Alone brings the sounds of classic progressive rock together with an unusually light touch. The Tangent use long compositions, busy keyboards and plenty of…
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Album review
Goliath
Exodus
Rob Dukes is back, and Goliath gives him plenty to shout about. Exodus' latest album has the speed, aggressive guitar work and ugly sense of humour that belong with the name. …
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Album review
White Jesus Black Problems
Fantastic Negrito
White Jesus Black Problems is one of Fantastic Negrito's most restless records. Taking a family love story shaped by slavery and racism as its starting point, it moves through…
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Album review
Dookie
Green Day
The bass line in Longview tells you plenty about Dookie. Green Day can write a simple song without making every part simple. Mike Dirnt slips around the beat, Tré Cool keeps t…
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Album review
The Distance to Here
Live
Live make a fairly clear choice on The Distance to Here: give the melodies more room and let the choruses do their work. The darker guitar atmosphere of Secret Samadhi gives w…
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Album review
Transcendence
Devin Townsend Project
The guitar solo in Failure provides one of the clearest moments on Transcendence. After the dense rhythm and layered singing, its searching phrases create a more exposed emoti…
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Album review
Never Enough
Turnstile
Turnstile don't seem especially worried about where hardcore is supposed to stop. Never Enough has heavy guitars, electronic passages, bright pop melodies and enough changes o…
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Album review
The Sufferer & the Witness
Rise Against
The Sufferer & the Witness gains much of its force from how quickly Rise Against can change the pressure of a song. The band move from restrained verses into racing choruses w…
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Album review
fromjoy
fromjoy
fromjoy fit a surprising range of sounds into this short self-titled record. Harsh metallic hardcore, fractured electronic beats and softer melodic passages sit close together…
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Album review
Bubblegum
Mark Lanegan
Hit the City makes a strong case for putting Mark Lanegan's voice somewhere noisy. The organ and guitars supply a rough forward motion, while PJ Harvey's vocal adds a presence…
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Album review
A Thousand Suns
Linkin Park
A Thousand Suns asks to be heard as a sequence. Short passages, sampled speeches and changing electronic textures connect the full songs, making the spaces between them part o…
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Album review
3 Rounds and a Sound
Blind Pilot
3 Rounds and a Sound is a gentle record, but the songs have more purpose than that description might suggest. Blind Pilot work with acoustic guitar, a light rhythmic touch and…
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