Subtle, complex, and not always pacifying. [Mar 2023, p.32]

This is Forster in excelsis. [Mar 2023, p.22]

Regular frontwoman Ninja remains a ferocious force of nature on several tracks. ... Consistently great, routinely underrated. [Mar 2023, p.26]

Unhurriedly crafted songs full of bona fide thrills, unexpected twists, and an elegant but never gratuitous grandeur. [Mar 2023, p.33]

Another excellent set of verbose tunes delivered with the vocal swagger of Morrissey or Alex Kapranos, against a shimmering curtain of prime pop jangle. [Mar 2023, p.28]

"Illusion Pt II" is a deceptively buoyant album opener. ... Album highlight "Sniveller" kicks off with Dry Cleaning-esque new wave swagger before unexpected backing vocals from JG's Lan McArdle deliver a heart-rush. [Feb 2023, p.36]

A rich, evocative portrait. ... The album's raw honesty is also highly tuneful. [Mar 2023, p.34]

A few tracks fell like sketchy fragments, but the best have real grandeur and ambition. [Feb 2023, p.28]

The whole world's in crisis and Oozing Wound see no reason to ese off their righteous assault now, though their fifth flashes dark humour in titles. [Feb 2023, p.32]

Mostly they don't sound like anyone except themselves, multiplied by a thousand. [Mar 2023, p.36]

Every one of these songs is a big-hearted meditation on love and sex and faith and especially healing, as though what roots us to our own lands is loss and grief and recovery. [Feb 2023, p.34]

Bursting with raw energy and renewed vigour. [Feb 2023, p.25]

It's an effortless charmer. [Feb 2023, p.29]

Low-key arrangements are anchored by Henry's agreeably lived-in voice. [Mar 2023, p.28]

No one thought that Dylan would make one of his finest albums in 1997 (or maintain that hot streak for the next quarter-century). No one thought, either, that the outtakes from such sessions could fill a compelling, sometimes revelatory box set. But here it is.

The results are an intense juxtaposition of the intimate and the universal framed in beguiling chamber-folk arrangements. [Feb 2023, p.26]

Auerbach's stoic, close-mic'd vocals and gnarled tendrils of distorted guitar bring a devastating immediacy to an album that contemplates the death of love and, by extension, mortality itself, seeking closure. [Mar 2023, p.25]

His 2021 solo debut Times topped the UK dance chart and, the follow-up offers more of the same adrenaline rush. [Feb 2023, p.32]

An uneven, ugly set that's still weirdly compelling. [Feb 2023, p.25]

It's a fairly smooth and coherent affair. [Feb 2023, p.28]

She's brought feelings to the surface that previously she may have kept veiled. It feels like a significant breakthrough. [Feb 2023, p.22]

While some moments feel more familiar - the sneering delivery of "Leisure Activities" borders on John Lydon mimicry - they embellish this punk undercoat with rich textural and atmospheric explorations, as well as tracks that glide between moments of industrial, goth and new wave. [Feb 2023, p.29]

The Power & The Glory never sounds morose. ... Mantione invests the sentiment with immense compassion and concern. [Feb 2023, p.25]

A fairly ravishing seven-song set of instrumental jazz that reveals a softer, more considered side to the multi-instrumentalist. [Mar 2023, p.36]

Carvings is a more considered affair [than 2020's All Ears], stepping back from first-person confessional into a wider canvas of community, place and time. [Mar 2023, p.26]

Why only eight songs are included isn't clear, but it's academic when the trio sound this energised. [Mar 2023, p.35]

This new mix gives Phil Lynott's poetic vocals more room to breathe but without diminishing the venom of a fiery foursome at their hard-riffing peak. [Mar 2023, p.50]

The likes of "Downtown" and "1000 Miles" are modest but sumptuous ballads which suggest something of lo-fi Blue Nile, while "London Bridge," from the title downwards, is basically a Blur song, to which he is surely entitled. [Feb 2023, p.35]