Allow Embraced For A Second As We Die to wash over you and it's superior AOR. .... Given time though, Bergman's melodies and phrasing come to fore, revealing the strength of her writing. [Mar 2026, p.102]

Great stuff. [Mar 2026, p.105]

The music is at its most interesting when it veers off at a tangent - the snappy organ fuelled Social Climbing Scene and the loping gait of the title track. [Mar 2026, p.104]

They whack the volume up to 11 million, and warp familiar songs with a blend of manic posturing and slick postering. [Mar 2026, p.105]

Epic stuff. [Mar 2026, p.105]

At times it is bracing. .... But the piano ballads are often delightful. [Mar 2026, p.103]

Hen Ogledd make music on their fifth album which feels rooted in something more timeless than simple pop. [Feb 2026, p.101]

Filled to the brim with explicit language and sexual overtones and charged with throbbing beats, it would be right at home in any queer club in Amsterdam. [Mar 2026, p.105]

These are assured, solid songs by very good musicians, albeit lacking a killer punch or any wild, barrier-pushing inspiration. [Feb 2025, p.102]

Rather than simply regurgitating their heroes, the classic songwriting at the heart of the tension ensures it's an instantly welcoming experience. [Feb 2026, p.101]

Strange Life makes for a very agreeable comeback. [Feb 2026, p.101]

Matt's gobby vocals recall Popscene-era Blur, with Issey's guitars driving the Britpop-y enthusiasm of Geraldine, Newsflash's staccato New Wave and Throwing in a chewy solo among Come On Now's glam racket. [Feb 2026, p.102]

All in All, a fond if sometimes overly polite farewell. [Jan 2026, p.101]

Smith's career detour feels like a rather wan aside from a singer spread somewhat thin. [Christmas 2025, p.135]

often esoteric and elusive, EXPO is also a warmly alluring art-rock declaration of determined intent. [Feb 2026, p.103]

As closer I'll Ask Her lands a sharp-edged critique of closed-ranks machismo, URGH's urgency of purpose is the loudest takeaway here. [Feb 2026, p.101]

The result is a truly international Americana classic. [Feb 2026, p.100]

Sébastien Tellier appears to have got his mojo back on his eighth studio album. [Feb 2026, p.103]

Miran deep dives into ambient territory. [Feb 2026, p.102]

The ideas - hardly in short supply - fail to crystallise in the way they did on recent high-water marks Aulos (2000) and Multiversum (2002). [Feb 2026, p.103]

Ratboys have definitively made one of 2026's first brilliant albums. [Feb 2026, p.103]

Not Here Not Gone reaffirms Blackwater Holylight's status as metal elites. [Feb 2026, p.101]

The Buzzcocks are back. Pete Shelley is, sadly, no more but Steve Diggle does a rip-roaring job in reinventing the band, even if we miss the nasal vocals. [Feb 2026, p.101]

An endearing compendium of styles, if perhaps lacking any real headline-grabbing tunes. [Feb 2026, p,101]

I Know Where Mark Chen Lives and The Opossum, both of which race by in a blur of sawtooth guitars, spring-loaded basslines and earnest vocals. Yet there is dynamic range here, too. [Jan 2026, p.101]

It sounds like it must have already existed, but therein lies the appeal of a record that is tribute to perseverance and belief, and the power of truly, great timeless songs. Mark it down as the first great album of 2026. [Jan 2026, p.102]

The excellent PP Arnold featuring lead single Poison Vine is a good indicator of the move towards a very Stones-y type of uplifting soulful rock and blues; the swelling gospel rock of Don't Look Away is the most stirring thing they've done yet. [Jan 2026, p.101]

Adamson's score is suitably eclectic, reflecting both his mastery of film scoring as well as the broad range of content that once thrilled London audiences. [Jan 2026, p.100]