Category: Albums

Rock may be lagging behind, but Howler have produced the first important record of 2012.

If a band such as Disturbed — who have recently shared bills with Machine Head and Megadeth, not to mention the ten years of vast success in their own right — are concerned about the stability of the music industry, we know we must have a sector in trouble. But this was one of the […]

Grunge veterans Staind have had a colourful history. From the guttural power of the debuting Tormented to the eclectic charm of The Illusion of Progress, the Massachusetts quartet have proven to the globe that they are a songwriting force to be reckoned with. In 2010 the group vouched to “return to their roots” for the […]

In what has become a rich and diverse array of conscious hip-hop artists to have emerged since the 1990s, The Roots have always held a strong position with both critics and fans. Since their self-released debut Organix! in 1993, the Philadelphia group has responded to the violence and misogyny of gangsta rap with creative instrumentation and […]

Probably the best record we’ve seen from an X Factor contestant.

I took over this review from someone else who was having trouble articulating their views on this album. I thought I would easily manage to put my thoughts into words, and assumed the mantle of reviewing Kate Bush’s first album of original material in six years (or so) and her third since the year of […]

A strong, diverse and enduring collection of singles

The title of Portland-based electro band Starfucker’s reissued and reworked EP-sort-of-album Jupiter sets the listener’s expectations sky high. What the band have created, however, does not wholly represent the planetary level promise that they give. I think the main problem I had with the album is that each song is good, but it just doesn’t […]

When listening to lo-fi for the first time, a lot of people disregard it as overdone distortion, inaudible vocals and just general noise. Sadly, with Odonis Odonis’s Hollandaze, they may be right. Hailing from Canada, Odonis Odonis were originally formed as a solo project for songwriter and frontman Dean Tzenos, and only recently became a live […]

You would have had to have been living under a rock to be unaware of The Wanted’s presence in the UK charts, after their debut single ‘All Time Low’ hit the top spot last summer and launched them into the pop stratosphere. The follow-up to their self-titled album hit the stores recently and is sure […]

In these dark, gloomy times there’s nothing like a bit of upbeat, happy pop-punk to lift you up. Which is why it’s a bit of a drag that former party rockers like You Me at Six, Blink-182 and Four Year Strong have chosen 2011 to start getting serious and release darker, more ‘mature’ albums. It’s […]

“You’ve changed” would be my words to Kele Okereke since the break-up of his previous band Bloc Party. The guitar-based roots of the seminal band were left at the gym doors as Kele decided it was time to try something different, which also happened to be the same something that everyone else had already tried. […]

The Franco-Finnish two-piece make one of the records of the year.

After months of excitement and intrigue surrounding the record, Snow Patrol have released their sixth studio album Fallen Empires. Acclaimed as a step away from their well-established roots to a sound that better showcases their supposed secret love of techno, first impressions live up to expectations. The opening track ‘I’ll Never Let Go’ kicks off […]