It needs time to be savoured and reveal its full flavours, a satisfying move in a world of glib instant gratification. [Apr 2022, p.83]

He's done his old boss proud. [May 2019, p.89]

Walks For Motorists cascades, scalds, oozes ectoplasmically and revisits the rusting futures of rock past. [Jun 2015, p.92]

TSOM's strange, taut, heroic beauty invariably transcends irony. [Dec 2018, p.89]

With the other 10 tracks, featuring Roger C Reale’s gruff blues shout and robust brass section, he’s more content to let his liquid economy embellish, deliver spine-tingling solos and drive the funky soul grooves of She’s So Fine and The Go-Getter Is Gone, deploying Soul Man-style hammer riffing on the title track and evoking his Dock Of The Bay on One Good Turn

This eleventh album - earthy, grain-infused Americana folk rock and eerie noir-country in tone - sounding like Hersh sinking deep into the southern soil. [Apr 2025, p.70]

His seventh album is another celebration of the simple things in life. [Jun 2015, p.93]

Living On Mercy finds the songsmith at his sweetest and breeziest. [Oct 2020, p.85]

Though neither Pierce nor Interior vocally, his twang's the thang: brooding, epic, immense. [Jul 2024, p.82]

It's not quite up there with Majestic hey-day offerings, but there's loads to reinvigorate the enthusiasm if fans disenchanted by recent ill feelings. [Summer 2013, p.93]

A must for serious Velvet-heads. .... Something of a mixed bag. [Nov 2024, p.87]

Clever, articulate and big dumb and sparkly, the Mael brothers are still pulsating, foot to the floor, full throttle.

Mostly, Underneath is confrontational and exhilarating - just as metal should be when it's doing its job properly. [Jun 2020, p.87]

Despite its lack of Pistols and Clash this is an accurate representation of the year punk broke, which wasn't quite as great as all those of us that were there like to pretend. [Aug 2019, p.88]

Sublime harmonies rule on You Don't Have TO Cry and The Lee Shor, both featuring guest Daid Crosby. But once the Memphis horns kick in during the show's second half, Stills seems to be fighting for pace, resulting in an overwrought For What It's Worth and Bluebird Revisited. [Jul 2023, p.92]

If the band’s grander statements are buried beneath the record’s bursts of crushing speed-punk and pounding buzz-rock, though, their vivifying passion and excitement for a genre too often ploughed through like a chore makes it utterly forgivable. Depths do emerge. [Nov 2024, p.78]

One of the most upbeat albums in his catalogue. [Mar 2019, p.91]

Luke Winslow-King capably swirls the myriad strands of Americana. [Aug 2018, p.89]

The Pineapples drift towards anodyne politeness at times, but their deceptively doomy ruminations reward close listening. [Sep 2018, p.87]

It's the record's crazed detours that make for the most interesting moments. [Jun 2020, p.89]

It's hard to resist. [Apr 2015, p.99]

A tangibly effervescent romp. [Sep 2022, p.77]

A measured, but unwaveringly honest, portrait of middle age with all its elation and tribulations. [Aug 2020, p.82]

Genre-defying angst never sounded so good. [Nov 2025, p.80]

A spectacular squall of uber-MBV sungaze dream-pop propels indigenous Swinowish/Inupiaq woman Katherine Paul's jouney. [Apr 2023, p.79]

James Hunter's scuffed, sepia-toned soul holler remains something to here on this latest release. [Feb 2026, p.81]

Brothers of the 4X4 is as lively as a flea with ants in its pants, fizzing with tongue-in-cheek humour, and his lawless punk attitude runs through it like a poisoned river. [Nov 2013, p.89]

This is a fine album which continues to plough the Gong furrow with seasoned aplomb.

A lockdown album like no other. ... From full-blown fuzz-pedal rock monster to drones and shimmering interplay, highs and stupefying lows. [Aug 2022, p.66]

d Three Men’s engaging mix of heaviness of duty and lightness of touch resonates timelessly.

It's an insider's wink, an unchallenging throwback to a more challenging time. [Apr 2015, p.100]

Unatoned isn't the best Machine Head alum, but it's a top-tier one for sure. [Jun 2025, p.75]

What metal's fundamentalists will think of it is anyone's guess, but this is the sound of the genre's future. [Nov 2021, p.77]

There are some great songs here, it just that one or two will make you want to look away and not think too hard about the one that got away. [Oct 2020, p.83]

Mo’s resonant vocals and articulate guitar work shine across the styles.

Heady stuff. [Apr 2026, p.79]

In a different musical climate, the driving No Love Lost, the U2-aping Dance The Night and the beautiful Birds Of Paradise would all be hit singles, but even if The Cult’s commercial heyday is firmly in their rear-view mirror, album number ten is a reminder that they’re gracefully assuming ‘national treasure’ status.

One of the band's most reflective releases (here she works toward acceptance of the fragility of her body while also reasserting its many strengths) but also one of their most defiant. [Jul 2025, p.78]

It's Korn's most significant album in a long time. [Nov 2013, p.94]

Their alt.rock energy remains, but their overwrought nu-metal bombast is dialled down. [Jul 2025, p.74]

The Roadside EP is every bit as cool and continues to the unexpected good form that the Rebel Yell legend displayed on his last studio records. [Nov 2021, p.77]

While you may never be able to fully forget that Berry's tongue is in his cheek, the love, attention to detail and panache of Kill The Wolf make it a trip worth taking. [Summer 2013, p.95]

Kowalewicz’s oration on the similarly punky Hanging Out With All The Wrong People adds a Broadway-esque dynamism, while stand-out single End Of Me is brimming with chemistry from alt-rock behemoth Rivers Cuomo. The track’s pastiche of twangy Blue Album-era riffs and kitschy Weezer choruses showcase all that was good about yesteryear.

Music-wise there’s little not already on the 2007 box set 1977, including the alternative mixes of Dum Dum Boys, Baby, China Girl and Tiny Girls placed among assorted singles edits on the new collection’s Demos & Rarities disc, or the London Rainbow gig on another.

Packed with pop nuggets and the odd surprise. [Jul 2019, p.81]

For all its retrospection and melancholy there's a determination on Saloman's part to relight past fires, face down the miseries of This Britain. [Oct 2021, p.77]

Bolder and more confident in its experimentation. [Jun 2024, p.77]

When they play to their traditional strengths, most exhilaratingly on anthem-to-be Cryin’ In Your Beer and the breezy Caught By The Wind, they’re all walloping choruses and galloping guitars, but when they take chances things get really intriguing.

Still favouring extended excursions (see White Rose), their acquaintance with melody is developing into first-name terms to create a fabulously hypnotic trip.

Luciel Brown's deadpan helps fuel the no-wave madness. [Jun 2024, p.81]

Existence Is Futile is vintage latterday Filth. [Nov 2021, p.72]

He barrels unrepentantly into a sixth Gogol Bordello album that once again sounds like the traditional house band in Urals bear-meat restaurant going berserk on Green Day covers. [Aug 2013, p.85]

A 70s classic rock party, then, but one with a few new guests.

There's no lioght, no shade, no nuance, no reflection--just a sheer onrushing, hurricane force. [Aug 2013, p.85]

There is enough fire-breathing mania and lusty exaltation on Live God to make it a reliably thorough document of the Bad Seeds in full autumnal glory. [Feb 2026, p.78]

All four musicians have their moment in the sun to shine, while their closing take on Joni Mitchell's Woodstock bring things circle. [Nov 2018, p.83]

It may not quite give you the sheer electric shock jolt of their classic Meantime and Betty albums, but Helmet are still capable of bloodying your nose from 100 paces.

If him being grumpy over excellent R&B riffs isn't too much of a shock for the listener, then this is an enjoyable album. [Jun 2021, p.78]

Fans of Santana’s first trio of albums have wished for this project to happen for years. Now it’s here, most are likely to be very pleasantly surprised by how successfully it’s been done.

Hardcore doom-metal dummies may not get with this new plan, but the combination of airy psychedelia, lumbering riffs and shamelessly poppy hooks turn headbangers like Shockwave City, Bloody Runner and the epic, seven-minute title track into cinematic works of art. [Nov 2018, p.81]

If you like your country with a side order of maudlin, saddle up. [Jul 2018, p.88]

Overall this live album confirms how solidly he has established his post-Smiths identity. [Oct 2025, p.78]

The band's greatest strength has always been that combination of voices, and when Avett brothers Scott and Seth swirl around each other, any shortcomings are quickly forgotten. [Aug 2024, p.70]

The core message here is that Soft Play are back harder than ever. [Aug 2024, p.74]

Alkaline Trio's fangs are still sharp after all these years. [Jul 2013, p.92]

At times the effect is mildly schizophrenic, and Linda's personal lyric give the songs a feeling of listening to a diary, but overall it works, even if, as with the Thompson family's 2014 album Family, it seems a bit self-referential. [Aug 2024, p.75]

Punk never sounded more soulful. [Dec 2025, p.83]

All told, a refreshing update of 90s guitar rock for a headier age. [Sep 2024, p.72]

There’s little variation in sound over the 11 tracks, but bucketloads of yearning, wistful emotion that is elegant and uplifting, with just a touch of schmaltz.

While they might not whip up the same adoration, Another State Of Grace shows that there continues to be life beyond Lizzy. [Sep 2019, p.84]

By making music that reflects on their lives both personally and also as part of a wider, global community, they're managing that high-wire balancing act without the use of a safety net. [Apr 2023, p.78]

[Mike Crossey's production] effectively strips them of their core classicism. [Dec 2020, p.85]

It's ace, but he's not a man you'd trust with secateurs. [Jun 2021, p.83]

The gravel-voiced 62-year-old coasts along on foot-stomping jukebox cliché at times, but his howling murder ballad Fixin’ To Die burns with an agreeably ragged fury, while plaintive finger-picking story songs such as News From Colorado are welcome reminders that he can sometimes out-Springsteen The Boss himself in the heart-stirring Americana stakes.

The combination of Chuck D and B-Real’s wholly different vocal deliveries is a revelation throughout: the former’s commanding baritone and preacher’s power contrasting beautifully with the latter’s nasal sneer and street-smart menace. Similarly, the chemistry between Morello, drummer Brad Wilk and bassist Tim Commerford has never been in doubt, and here, while generally less aggressive than they were in their youthful pomp, that effortless ensemble groove ensures that none of these tracks will fail to free minds and asses.

This much MOR anguish does get draining.... Still, wonderfully cathartic for when you need a god cry. [Oct 2013, p.88]

Texas have gone back to basics, reconnecting with the solidly crafted simplicity of their earliest albums, Southside and Mother's Heaven. [Jul 2013, p.90]

For serious fans--and them only--this album is a revelation. [Oct 2018, p.83]

The best moments aren't the straightforward boogie tunes--some of the album sounds like a backwater George Thorogood--but on the numbers where other influences creep in. [Mar 2015, p.93]

Altogether, tons of twang for your buck. [Summer 2021, p.83]

As ever, and in the best sense, Farrell aims high and wide. [Jul 2019, p.80]

Southern rockers like Under The Gun, Get Yourself Together and Breaking Down are as infectious as mad cowboy disease. When they do branch out, it's into Fleetwood Mac gossamer balladry and adorable Stealers Wheel soft rock. They'll find that the world has not changed the locks. [Aug 2019, p.83]

A set of songs whose freshness reflects the spontaneous manner in which they were recorded.

["It's A;right, It's OK" is] Yet another foray into shameless retro pastiche, then, but it concludes this gloomy, ear-bashing album with a welcome blast of rousing optimism. [Jul 2013, p.90]

The re-inclusion of guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch to the band has seen Korn embracing their dense roots and they’re all the better for it.

24-track double album of brittle, emotive folk pop and alt.rock.

Red Fang might not take themselves too seriously, but thankfully Arrows rocks pleasingly hard indeed.

In some ways the club-sized audience helps Hendrix, who hated large open-air shows, and he’s positively chatty at times on the first set, which includes a feisty In From The Storm and a trebly-sounding Foxy Lady. The second set is looser and in danger of falling apart at times, before Hendrix wakes up and rips through Stone Free.

Ultimately, every track on this masterfully sculpted set courses with life-affirming pop-rock passion.

A must-buy, if only for the brilliant soap-opera twist of watching Johnny Borell rise from the ashes. [Nov 2018, p.81]

Encapsulates shoegaze, garage, grunge, self-analytical Gen Z catharsis and off-the-leash, anything-goes, fourth-album-itch experimentation, yet still retains its key pop core. [Nov 2023, p.81]

Some of Stomping Ground sounds much as expected, like the chunka-chunka boogie of If You Wanna Rock’n’roll and My Stomping Ground, assisted by Eric Clapton and Billy Gibbons respectively. Elsewhere there are more surprising moments. [Dec 2021, p.69]

This is not easy listening but it is arguably Laibach's most sonically rich, least ironic, most mature work to date. [May 2022, p.81]

There's way more Breeders-reminiscent 90s alt. meat on the bones. [Nov 2023, p.81]

The cover of Tift Merritt’s Bramble Rose is affecting too, a stately country shuffle that finds Henley trading verses with Lambert over pedal steel and mandolin, while Jagger blows harmonica and sings like a cat pleading to be let in from the rain. At other times, the album is less successful, particularly when it falls back on weepy honky-tonk tropes.

Play The Goddamned Part sounds like an annihilated sci-fi war zone haunted by the ghosts of nightclubs and patrolled by warbots constructed from the shrapnel of jazz saxophones. The more ambient I’m Not From This World feels like sticking your head into an alien death race’s knackered fusion drive and getting a face full of proton beam. Elsewhere, remnants of rock’n’roll survive the sonic desecration. ... It all reflects the corrosion of the millennial age, personal, political and ecological.

That it's as listenable as it is intelligent sweetens the deal. [Sep 2025, p.80]

Forever sounds like a Bon Jovi album. Rock songs, power ballads, it's a big-sounding record designed to be played to big rooms. Admittedly it's no New Jersey, but that's like expecting to still fit the T-Shirt you bought on that late-80s tour. [Jul 2024, p.76]