Occasional, more straightforwardly anthemic moments approach the mawkishness of Nickelback, but Slipknot remain showmen at heart. [Oct 2008, p.108]

Treading familiar terrain on a succession of tracks that adhere to his comfort zone of mannered electro-pop. [Sep 2022, p.29]

There's something awkward about the whole: the album wins attention but doesn't keep it. [Jun 2010, p.95]

Trad ballads, Americana and well-chosen contemporary folk covers mix with smart original compositions sung in a plaintive voice, while his virtuoso finger-piking is augmented by splashes of electric in a style clearly modeled on Richard Thompson. [Oct 2017, p.39]

A fairly straightforward indie offering, covering mid-tempo jangle with layers of guitars, and lyrics about growing up and suburban escape. [Oct 2016, p.25]

A murky return to the denim'n'leather heartlands of 2000's Thirteen Tales. [Oct 2005, p.96]

The LP struggles a little in variation of pace and tone, and the auspicious spark fizzles out somewhat but the end. [Jan 2017, p.24]

You wish Neil and Chris had hooked up with a younger, switched-on, even more sympathetic producer. [Jun 2006, p.110]

The excellent "Misheard" and "Useless" swirl with a cathartic sense of rage and helplessness, but while it's effective, the entirety is a lot to take. [Apr 2018, p.30]

Songs like 'Turkey Sandwich' are nothing new, exactly, but win out on guts. [Jul 2009, p.91]

More than just rote electro workouts, Carey successfully transforms 'Can't Stop Feeling' and 'Turn It On' into rich, dubby bleepfests. More of this invention on the album proper wouldn't have gone amiss. [Jul 2009, p.88]

There's excitement her in 'ATX' and the title track, but when the bluster's died down, disappointingly little is left. [Oct 2009, p.89]

It's hard to begrudge the Boos this sunny, mellifluous midlife comeback. [Aug 2023, p.25]

The Charlatans make commendable attempts to expand their creative horizons. [Oct 2010, p.88]

There is, as usual, a lot of brass on cake's sixth album, a flourish that seem idiosyncratic 20 years ago but now leaves them sounding a little stale. [Feb 2012, p.83]

The songs are raunchy and resentful, idealising and vocally aching for a lover, or wrestling with more complex feelings. [Nov 2022, p.26]

Yet vocal gymnastics cannot compensate for an unmemorable set of tunes. [May 2011, p.91]

Cool or not, at least they're going for it. [Sep 2015, p.76]

Still shambles too freely but features stellar moments. [Jun 2005, p.108]

The result can be a thrilling hybrid of Muse and Magazine, but also a bit of a dog's dinner. [Sep 2010, p.96]

The listenable authority of Campbell’s voice, especially on Foo Fighters' 'Days Like These,' confers the poise you suspect Richard Ashcroft was looking for while solo, but never found.

This is an exercise in extravagant claustrophobia, not nostagia. [Apr 2009, p.86]

On the fifth album this East Coast trio make it patently clear this is not the same band whose 2005 debut placed them in the rustic shadow of former Young God Records labelmate Devendra Banhart. [Jun 2009, p.83]

Like recent Tindersticks albums, these ballads need time and attention before sounding tailor-made for misery. [July 2002, p.103]

It's not the kink in the tail of FTP's impeccably groomed pop that makes them so intriguing, but rather their unembarrassed, first-level readability, which is such that you begin to suspect fiendish subversion. [Sep 2017, p.28]

[The album] is not so much a radical departure as a dalliance with a marginally more brooding, textural musical aesthetic. [Sep 2014, p.75]

Riley has mellowed with age, so the politicking is shot through with humour. [Jun 2006, p.94]

The problem... is that size seems to be used as an excuse for the lack of musical ideas. [Nov 2006, p.102]