For any given sideman, a Bowie gig was invariably an occasion to rise to, and on this particular night rise they did. ... “And it’s fucking great.” He’s not wrong. [Dec 2018, p.99]

As displayed by the title track and the pumping Brutalism, Oxymore feels stuck in the 90s rather than the work of two trailblazers, though at least Epica’s hands-in-the-air dynamics feels fresher. [Nov 2022, p.71]

It gets a bit samey, as if noise alone is enough of a statement of intent. Thankfully, things pick up in the second half. [Dec 2014, p.104]

Passwords is full of lustrous folk, as on My Greatest Invention and I Can't Love, with the odd innocuous AOR moment, though there's hidden bite. [Summer 2018, p.89]

Sick Scenes is among LC!’s most accomplished collection yet.

The basic country sounds frame a compelling singer. [Apr 2015, p.97]

Although these notes from an underground that was basically dug 50 years ago, they crackle wit contemporary need. [Jun 2018, p.88]

Longtime fans of the band's intense, neck vein-popping hardcore rock'n'roll have to hunt and peck their way through this album to find the good stuff. [Jun 2019, p.89]

The sloganeering surfs in on a wave of ultra-catchy punk melodies, dragging the listener along in its wake. [Jul 2021, p.85]

Archive Material is teeming with wonky, everyman charm. [Mar 2022, p.80]

Ironically, without really trying, ZZ sound more soulful and vital here than they have for years. [Summer 2022, p.74]

An evocative semi-concept work based in the 1890s. [Jun 2022, p.83]

A bumpy ride overall, but with enough peaks to excuse the more pedestrian sections.

Tunes like Autograph and Hometown Blues rush forward with purpose and verve. [Jul 2014, p.95]

The drunken waltz of Bad Reputation offers a few minutes of interest, but the album fails to adequately raise the temperature. [Nov 2025, p.81]

Recorded with Thomas’s snarl up front and the band on screeching overload, they pile through new titles such as Welcome To The New Dark Ages and revisit Sonic Reducer and Final Solution, plus the Sonics’ garage classic Strychnine.

A little bit of growing up wouldn’t go amiss.

Sure, there are standout, radio-ready moments, with Song #3 and Fabuless, while the bounce-along Friday Knights propels your arms into the air, but the grit has been sandblasted away and the edges polished. And with 15 tracks, it’s a bit of a slog. Still, when it hits, they know how to hit hard.

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

Hitchcock strips away all the production embellishments of its musical highlights and presents them as they would have been written. The resulting album is a decidedly mixed bag. [Nov 2024, p.73]

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]

Like all Bush albums this is really Rossdale’s. When they take a breather on Creatures Of The Fire, his Eddie Vedder-esque croon seizes the moment, and on the outstanding Identity he deals with paranoia (‘Please keep your kids indoors’) and loss of status (‘We used to be someone, now we’re nobody’) in swashbuckling fashion.

Recent converts need not be overly alarmed, however, for while Ellipsis contains some of the most aggressive material Biffy have yet recorded (Wolves Of Winter, the gloriously infectious Animal Style and On A Bang) there are equal measures of fragile beauty.

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.

Weird, beautiful music to get lost in space--or at least a hammock--to.

As a stand-alone album, it’s a trip. Where it fits in Dwyer’s canon is another kettle of bananas entirely.

A niche but strident record. [Aug 2013, p.88]

It's an excellent reminder that a great band with a great back catalogue can be just as beautiful without make-up. [Summer 2014, p.99]