72 Seasons isn't an easy listen; it demands work. ... Metallica's only concern is making the best Metallica album possible irrespective of what's going on around them. On that score, 72 Seasons is a ringing success. [May 2023, p.76]

The Groovies are indeed back, still majestic, supernatural and magnificently defiant, and as a result the rock‘n’roll world feels back on its axis.

It’s obvious that under the production guidance of Andy Sneap, the band have been pushed on every level. The result is one of the best metal albums of 2016--one that proves Testament can match anyone.

Characteristically dramatic readings of festive favourites. [Dec 2018, p.89]

While he’s not straying too far from the mothership, nothing here is phoned-in. As befits the craftsman he’s always been, he’s taken the time and trouble to fashion a bunch of songs worthy of standing alongside anything in his catalogue. Hats off.

As with most of Anathema’s records, this is one that fans of Elbow and Radiohead would love every bit as much as fans of Opeth or Marillion.

Palms is a marriage made in post-rock heaven. [Aug 2013, p.86]

This is no means a case of Brock and co serving up space rock comfort food to the faithful. But at the same time the final, nine-minute The Fantasy Of Faldum would be welcomed onto any Hawkwind album of the last 40 years. [Nov 2019, p.80]

Lazarus--partly because it’s a show with a great band, partly because many of David Bowie’s songs are peculiarly adaptable to the musical format--works as a record.

Occasional bursts of fierce, psychotic guitar evoke the spirit of punk-rock alter ego, Rikki Nadir. Otherwise it’s voice and piano and very little else. The intimacy is at times so intense it’s almost frightening. It is, to borrow the title of a VdGG song, ’eavy mate. There are some clever subplots too, Hammill being at the very top of his lyrical game.

It's a credit to the line-up's combustible chemistry and Setzer's twinkle-in-eye storytelling that these songs feel fresh and often thrilling. [Jul 2019, p.84]

This record pumps Royal Blood forward without diluting their strengths. They might have to tweak something next time around, but by then they could well be the biggest young rock band in the world. Two boys making true noise. It’s in their veins.

Lady Gaga adds majestic soul diva clout to Find Yourself, Nelson proves to be a sterling guitarist and the whole thing is hellacious, meaning good.

Sharp, bright, brilliant. [Summer 2023, p.79]

Together they craft a devastatingly detailed fictional portrait of a married couple falling apart in a maelstrom of drugs, regret and the sort of silence that "murders the heart." [Summer 2021, p.87]

An urgent half-hour adrenaline surge that will lodge itself in your brain after just one listen. Impressive. [Dec 2023, p.73]

What's surprising is that Anderson can kick up more menace with his flute than any number of hoarse roaring voices and thrashing guitars. ... The music lightens up when Anderson moves on to the sagas themselves, but the intricacies remain. As do the idiosyncratic allusions. [Jun 2023, p.78]

It's a brimming grab-bag of brilliance and a total joy. [Oct 2022, p.77]

What is surprising is just how good it is. [Jul 2019, p.82]

Some early Talking Heads fans would say something was lost when the band lost their preppy soul edge and went down the Byrne and Eno art-school alleyway with their next pair of albums. Others might say More Songs About Buildings And Food suffers from being a halfway house between the band’s early sound and what it would become under Eno and Byrne’s constrictive guiding hand. But even as a transitional record More Songs About Buildings And Food is extraordinary. [Aug 2025, p.83]

A richly dense experience that also channels syncopated avant-pop, semi-symphonic prog and luxuriant soft-rock. [Sep 2021, p.74]

It's the culmination of four years during which Megadeth have continuously raised their game. [Jul 2013, p.92]

Their fifth album, their first in just shy of a decade, is perhaps their most purely enjoyable, eschewing the furrow-browed genre-jumbling of earlier work. [Apr 2022, p.80]

A deeply rageful affair. .... Heavy. [Jul 2023, p.79]

As with their nine albums before it, Get Rollin’ is crafted to satisfy their fan base rather than to pick up new but casual admirers. And they’ve succeeded completely. [Dec 2022, p.74]

For all its psychedelic abstraction, King's Mouth is often melodic and warmly accessible. [Aug 2019, p.80]

Well worth seeking out. A cracker. [May 2024, p.79]

An excellent snapshot of the post-punk, post-Iggy-tour Bowie, consolidating his past and present incarnations for the faithful in significant style. [Aug 2018, p.96]