The songs aren't works of staggering compositional genius, or bursting with heartbreaking lyricism. But as air-grabbing alt.rock fun instilled with a charming honesty, there's an ocean of possibility yet for these fine young fellows. [Sep 2014, p.94]

Melvins have made exactly the album they wanted to. The result? This is one for dedicated followers only.

COS is a lot darker and more claustrophobic than Thomas's press notes propose. [Sep 2014, p.94]

A classy, slick, impeccably executed album of covers, but a disappointing successor to US No. 1 Before This World. [May 2020, p.83]

The more abiding feeling we're left with, though, is that high-octane hard pop like this needs just a few more piercing hooks to really raise The Dirty Nil above all the other generic good-time rockers that will give you a fun half-hour in a festival tent but rarely capture your imagination. [Feb 2021, p.84]

While it's infectious, it tends to miss as much as it hits. [Sep 2014, p.95]

Collects three albums and apposite era odds 'n' sods. [May 2021, p.97]

The sloganeering surfs in on a wave of ultra-catchy punk melodies, dragging the listener along in its wake. [Jul 2021, p.85]

Thirty years later, Documents And Eyewitness works best in the way its name describes: as an account of a moment when bands would do the wrong thing and do it brilliantly. [Sep 2014, p.98]

Album number three takes Anna Meredith-style neoclassical and jumbles it with a woozy mix of Broadcast, Hounds of Love and glockenspiel gamelan. [Oct 2018, p.89]

Cool Planet is a messy indie sprawl for the patient faithful. [Aug 2014, p. 204]

Sweet-voiced grrrl-angst vocals meet grunge dynamics; non-committal Veruca Salt do post-Nirvana loud bit/miserable bit. I Mean, it's fine, but... meh. [Summer 2022, p.79]

He delves into lesser-known parts, like Wheel, a 1973 song about tragic, rural cycles, and he sings Old Road, as a sparse holler, akin to the original. Other songs celebrate the ‘gonzo country’ aims of Jerry Jeff, but Mr Bojangles and his worn-out shoes is still best in show.

Volume X is not a dud album, just a little short on X Factor. [Aug 2014, p. 206]

This odd, understated record is both strange and affecting. [Feb 2014, p.94]

Some imaginative arrangements--notably on a brass-heavy Ghost Of Santa Fe--can’t disguise the fact that the transcendent qualities this music demands are too often absent.

It's all getting a bit too formulaic. [Apr 2022, p.83]

Their music, while distinctive, is a rather rudimentary and static thing, with a limited melodic spectrum. [Mar 2013, p.96]

C91 is an overstuffed hit-and-miss banquet of bittersweet popstalgia, great in parts but far from definitive. [Feb 2022, p.86]

Tail-chasing indie adequacy. [Summer 2020, p.89]

Rise is long, sprawling, rather unfocused record that could have done with editing down to the strongest points, but when Hollywood Vampires are good they distil the spirit of classic rock as effortlessly as you’d hope from men of Cooper and Perry’s calibre.

At 17 tracks, it becomes a bit of a repetitive slog towards the end, but it's good to see that this old dog has just as much bite as ever when he strays. [Aug 2014, p. 209]

Divorced from the visual spectacle--puppets, illusionists, avian transformations, ticker-tape poetry--and the thrill of watching actual Kate Bush actually singing, this audio recording is akin to John Lennon being resurrected to perform the Wedding Album--i.e. only mildly amazing.

An eclectic work, Lazaretto shows off White's multi-instrumental, seasoned-producer lineage with some charismatic flashes. As a complete exercise in songcraft, however, it's a little thin. [Summer 2014, p.88]

This is classic, turn-of-the-century-style emo for those old enough to remember the scene before the eyeliner an hairspray brigade came along and spoiled it all for everyone. [Mar 2013, p.98]

If there’s a disappointment about Genexus it’s that it only really delivers to hardened FF fans, that it’s essentially more of the same winning formula.

Bela Lugosi's Dead was a happy accident. The rest of the material finds a band fumbling for direction, even touching on ska, before an eerie delay appeared to invent their sound for them. [Dec 2018, p.93]

The album was written on the hop, Newcombe spilling his brains right onto tape, and it shows – imperfections are made into a positive, the songs allowed to just naturally come into being.