Highly intriguing. [Oct 2013, p.97]

There's plenty to uncover within its slowly crashing waves of sound, but the main problem is that it all washes over you without leaving a lasting impression. Sumptuous, but forgettable. [Jul 2018, p.108]

A welcome return for a long-lost treasure. [Apr 2014, p.116]

For all its wit and occasional beauty, Passionoia lacks the killer anthem that would make the band genuine subversives rather than cult wags. [Mar 2003, p.102]

The tracks featuring Prince soundalike vocalist Harrison Crump are as fine as ever - dreamy, melodic, melancholy.... The trouble is, elsewhere, this ladies man seems convinced that a woman talking (especially in a European accent) is all the melody anyone could possibly need.

The fifth album from New Jersey's The Dillinger Escape Plan is another step back towards the math-metal that made their name. [Jul 2013, p.103]

Piano-led ballad rock songs tell their own story of heavy-duty emotional drag but Hansard's voice carries such weight you can forgive him. [Jul 2012, p.102]

It's unswervingly catchy stuff. [Aug 2010, p.116]

The rest of King Animal struggles to match "Been Away Too Long" for musical flair or raw energy. [Dec 2012, p.113]

While that may sound par for techno course, it's shot through with discordant sonics and a bubbling surface that makes even the most wildly different moments feel like part of the same voyage. [Dec 2013, p.107]

His humour counteracts the widely held assumption that Americans don't do irony. Folds does little else, and he never sounds less than terribly pleased with himself. [Oct 2008, p.142]

Warm acoustic folk is the dish of the day, with Reader occasionally dipping into chanson and Celtic tunes, never delivered in anything less than immaculate taste. [Mar 2014, p.119]

Vince Clarke's melodic electro-motifs and Andy Bell's dramatic voice may be in place, but laments for long romance and fake news alerts make for sombre listening. [Jul 2017, p.107]

Negotiate the idea that you're eavesdropping on a social anthropology seminar and ther are thrills to be had. [Nov 2009, p.110]

This album should seduce fans of Red House Painters or American Music Club. [Oct/Nov 2001, p.130]

When songs hit their mark, his latest incarnation squares up impressively to his Stateside heroes. [Dec 2002, p.97]

True, like an armful of regrettable tattoos it may have transitory allure, but its nasty, brutish and short appeal will do for now. [Jul 2015, p.104]

Spx's voice is a thing of wonder - rich, deep and stomach-tighteningly emotional. [Jun 2012, p.99]

This stands up as a decent album of far-out wandering in its own right. [Jul 2014, p.101]

At times--as on Providence or Interface--the music takes a serious tinge. [Sep 2014, p.117]

An album of palatable Radio 1-friendly alt-rock. [Mar 2007, p.110]

It's not going to challenge anyone, but it would bring a welcome touch of class to the charts. [Oct 2008, p.139]

The gauzy production effects on Lamplight are among the few concessions to modernity, though the opening credits theme proper--where Zeffira breathily channels chanteuse Francoise Hardy--is hauntingly gorgeous. [Apr 2015, p.98]

It turns out to be a bit of an understated charmer. [Dec 2010, p.114]

Octahedron bucks the band's trend for obfuscation, though; conventional song structures are very much in evidence, while its relatively trim 49-minute running time is on par with some of Mars Volta's more involved live jams. [Jul 2009, p.127]

Justin Hawkins' vocal histrionics can, at times grate, but for suckers of old-school guitar riffs and songs about the Viking invasion of East Anglia, there's much to enjoy. [Jul 2015, p.104]

Their technical reach may not yet match their imagination, but that'll come in time. [Jul 2014, p.102]

Sistrionix doesn't always keep up the consistency, but Deap Vally have enough swagger to fill in the gaps. [Aug 2013, p.96]