It's the amped-up riff in the middle of Offspring Are Blank that best sums up their playful approach. They often flex their muscles without feeling the need to land a killer blow. [Aug 2012, p.97]

They offset their cosmic silliness with molten rock surges and spacey interludes. [Dec 2012, p.99]

They're intriguingly ambivalent, but the conundrums are so beautifully and hauntingly put, you'll want to revisit them. [Jul 2009, p.125]

It's all wilfully haphazard, though the fact that they never sound like they're taking things too seriously happily dispels the whiff of pretension. [Sep 2006, p.110]

This could be the most finely realised piece of work by a teenager since Arctic Monkeys released Whatever People Say I Am... in 2006. [Dec 2012, p.104]

This is actually a deeply groovy album, beautifully produced and full of sparkling detail. [Sep 2013, p.108]

She's gone big and bold. [Aug 2017, p.107]

A66 is made thrilling by the gear change midway through, ditching its Sabbath crawl for a brutal climax. Nothing else quite succeeds in cutting through the downtuned murk, although riffs are uniformly monolithic and frontman Matt Baty's throaty bark is never less than entertaining. [Nov 2018, p.112]

It's the sound of grand ambition realised. [Jun 2020, p.98]

Anyone expecting an album of unchallenging fodder is in for a shock. Like the voyage faced by its desperate, stateless subjects, I Tell A Fly is no easy ride. [Oct 2017, p.101]

This follow-up goes the whole hog. ... Frank Ocean's Blonde reportedly influenced the tech-driven songwriting process, but there are echoes, too, of U2 at their more exploratory, and, on the twisty-riffed In Waves, last year's QOTSA album. Olympian. [Jun 2018, p.110]

Gloomy and wonderful. [Apr 2013, p.105]

Perfect rainy day music. [Nov 2006, p.147]

Much of the material here would fit seamlessly on any of their records since 1996's No Code. ... Gigaton is a reminder that Pearl Jam are a band totally comfortable in their own skin. [Jun 2020, p.104]

It's honest, uncomfortable and bonkers, but therein lies its charms. [Apr 2016, p.115]

Face Stabber finds him in cosmic wigout mode, double majoring in late-'60s psychedelia and early-'70s Krautrock. [Sep 2019, p.115]

The whole thing is raw, exhilarating and completely compromised. [Aug 2013, p.102]

A heroic performance. [Nov 2006, p.147]

A draining, rewarding journey. [Aug 2008, p.143]

Their third album pulsates in glorious obliviousness to all interim "developments" in rock. [Feb 2016, p.115]

Up there with her best. [Dec 2005, p.144]

God only knows how they stay this angry, or this compelling. [Sep 2015, p.110]

There's a mesmeric quality to the layering of divergent sonic textures. [Mar 2009, p.98]

Fever Dream's AOR and folk stylings see Watt picking over the bones of his life, ruminating on such themes of love, loss and family in a wry, wise and unsentimental manner. [Jun 2016, p.117]

Melodic, understated, yet with much natural warmth too, Ritter's time has surely come. [Apr 2006, p.119]

Loaded with delights... that highlight their soft, uniquely beautiful sound. [Sep 2004, p.135]

Antics is ridiculously good. [Oct 2004, p.112]

Quite an achievement. [Apr 2017, p.116]