As Desolation Sounds progresses, so the mood becomes more considered and expansive. [May 2015, p.105]

Their second album has much to recommend it. For the most part, songs fizz by succinctly. [Aug 2015, p.106]

It's an immersive experience you'd need to be a right old fuddy-duddy not to plunge into. [Sep 2016, p.114]

Even if Avenged Sevenfold are guilty of occasionally overreaching in places here, it's undoubtedly made them more interesting. [Feb 2017, p.117]

The title track sounds like it was written for a TV movie and Lower The Tone is a sexless sex-jam, but it's an energetic return regardless. [Mar 2018, p.113]

There's nothing here likely to be adopted as a stadium chant, but in its tethered imagination, Boarding House Reach is the most surprising and eccentric record White's made. [May 2018, p.110]

A four-part story in the record's centre is propelled by a whirligig of percussion that rapidly becomes total overwhelm[ing]. But in its final 20 minutes the album finds steadier ground, allowing space for Deacon's undaunted imagination to come into its own. [Mar 2020, p.117]

Bang Zoom Crazy... Hello is their best version this century. [May 2016, p.107]

Ultimately, only the flintiest hearted won't respond. [Jan 2016, p.111]

If not Elliott's most inventive album, The Cookbook is certainly her most colourful and entertaining. [Aug 2005, p.124]

Here their sound is largely sharpened and polished by their unmistakable anger. [May 2017, p.98]

Like Beck before he developed the Prince fixation, Fog's anti-puritanism makes this a constantly startling, wholly addictive joy.

Another triumph, brimming with soulful, languid grooves, deft samples and well-chosen guest singers.

As ever, when the beats go uptempo, things go awry... but there's life in the giant-haired lady yet. [Jun 2003, p.98]

Another complex, atmospheric set. [Apr 2004, p.120]

Their best yet. [May 2003, p.102]

It all feels so much more intentional than before, the mix of pop and experimentation they've long striven for. [May 2004, p.99]

It's a highly evolved, sometimes claustrophobic take on warm but angular Scandi-pop. [Oct 2012, p.103]

If many tracks sound like the back-half of an extended mix, the effect is never short of mesmerising. [Sep 2016, p.106]

The results are highly satisfying. [Aug 2017, p.110]

While there is no denying the heady rush of the band in full flow, predictability creeps in over 45 minutes. [Apr 2008, p.113]

The songs occasionally thrill but tonally it all becomes just a trifle exhausting about halfway through. [Jun 2015, p.107]

The melodramatic clatter of Corridors and Meridian's airborne melodic spores mark then out as rare species, but their underlying pomposity remains an albatross around their necks. [Mar 2010, p.108]

It's a good move, supercharged power pop melodies and sparky guitars combining to good effect on tracks such as "Gimme The Wire." [Jun 2010, p.127]

It's arty and possibly proggy, but the warmth of Duncan Wallis's voice never lets it get distant. [Feb 2013, p.103]

It's strong medicine for sure, but also an astonishing record that will haunt you long after it's finished playing. [Aug 2013, p.98]

The results are quietly measured and beautifully judged. [Sep 2014, p.115]

These records might not eclipse Channel Orange, but they have their own mercurial gleam, mapping the spaces between people, reaching for a hazy intimacy that almost feels real. [Nov 2016, p.112]