It's when they channel the early days of '70s metal on the Deep Purple-ish Endless Night that they're at their best.... A little more such magic, and Graveyard would be great. [3 Nov 2012, p.53]

Like its two predecessors, this is solid Skunk that doesn't quite have the songs to match their ground-breaking first two albums. [9 Jan 2016, p.51]

It's an energetic debut that certainly shoes that this band is full of--as yet untapped--potential. [11 Feb 2012, p.52]

It's just that Dirty work is merely a good album, when it should be a great one. [4 Jun 2011, p.51]

It has one or two fine songs, A Song For A Son is probably Billy's best since Adore in 1998 but , decent though it is, it's not a Smashing Pumpkins record. [5 Jun 2010, p.50]

While this is as trying and testing as it is unique, it's certainly not without its charms. [4 Jun 2011, p.51]

Cheap Girls aren't the most original band around, but they rock in all the right places. [10 May 2014, p.54]

Good in the dark on headphones, but it's not going to get the party started. [25 Jan 2014, p.54]

On this third album, his gnarly riffs and garage-level production are as unpolished and far-out as ever, but the element of surprise has turned into comforting familiarity. [5 Sep 2015, p.52]

Opener The Funeral presents a far less cartoonish performer than he was on 2020's overly-cute second album Weird!. This alone makes the whole thing magnitudes more enjoyable. The energised electro-pop of Memories (a duet with WILLOW) and the brooding Sex Not Violence continue on a similar tack, showing a width of creative goalpost while actually keeping things together.

Its lo-fi, organ-heavy, cheap drum machine-driven jams reveal his ear for fusing classic team-dream rock'n'roll with demented pastiche. [Sept 17 2011, p.51]

Thirty years on from the release of their earth-jolting, trouble-divining self-titled debut, Killing Joke show no signs of either mellowing or cracking a smile. [Sept. 25, 2010, p. 51]

There may not dispense with metalcore's regular musical motifs, then, yet the ire throughout is genuine enough that you can feel flecks of venom melting vocalist Matty Mullins' microphone. [4 Jun 2011, p.53]

This new solo album is at its strongest when Greg finds new ways to express himself. Where there are traces of the Whigs’ soul power, as on Sempre and The Tide, it’s hard not to compare the songs unfavourably to his day job.

The overall result being that Dananananaykroyd have finally made actual songs rather than the exercises in unpredictability they have in the past. [11 Jun 2011, p.51]

The sextet have stepped up their game on this record, boasting some real song writing chops too. [2 Jul 2011, p.51]

The whole thing is suitably drenched with nihilism, once more conveying the sense that, in their world, smiles should result in a beating, because everything is truly hopeless. [1 Jul 2017, p.52]

Minus The Bear are back on track. [22 Sep 2012, p.51]

However much it lacks the crunch and thrust of classic Helmet albums like Meantime or Betty, though, Seeing Eye Dog is still a fine addition to the band's catalogue. [4 Sep 2010, p.52]

It finds the band indulging their darkest urges, often using nothing more than noise and soundscapes. Like everything the Melvins do, however, it remains compelling, clever, and absolutely unique. [24 Jun 2017, p.53]

It's another diverse and engaging album from a band proudly aging like a fine malt whiskey. [28 May 2011, p.51]

The Industrialist doesn't quite live up to the band's former glories. [[9 Jun 2012, p.53]

This is the first suicide Silence album where each song has an identity of its own, and the first suggestion that true greatness is within their reach. [16 Jul 2011, p.51]

While at some points their aversion to easy melody and obvious structure hoists them by their own petard, there’s more than enough strange stuff here to quicken the pulse and capture the heart.

For the most part, this is an awkward journey that sounds like no-one else. Try it but don't expect an easy ride. [9 Jan 2016, p.52]

Rancid don't do anything new here, but they sound more fired-up than ever. [1 Jul 2017, p.51]

While the progression through the bracing cinematic drama of Sleep Shake, the gorgeous neo-ballad Scared, the heads down industrial charge of Medic and the hauntingly climatic Hypoxia require a few listens to really gel in the listener's mind there is some truly stunning stuff here. [5 Feb 2011, p.51]

This is an interesting unexpected extra--pretty, rather than essential. [Sep 2011, p.51]

It's all business as usual for Exodus, but business is still good. [11 Oct 2014, p.53]

Wait for Love sees them largely sticking with what worked last time. [24 Feb 2018, p.51]

It's an easier to admire than to love. [18 Sep 2010, p.58]

Lyrically, [frontman Pierre Bouvier] and his bandmates have barely matured from the whimpering youngsters they were when they made it big 14 years ago.... However, if you accept Taking One For The Team for what it is, which is just another Simple Plan album, then there's lots to enjoy. [20 Feb 2016, p.50]

This is music that has no mind for the commercial, which is a quality we all might applaud. But be warned, this is intense stuff. [16 Apr 2016, p.53]

It feels harsh to criticise a Panic! At The Disco record for being bold and exploring its brash nature to the fullest. ... But there's no getting around the fact this one feels like it could have done with a defter touch and some sonic restraint. [30 Jun 2018, p.53]

Robert Schwartman may well looted Rivers Cuomo's brain given how wonderfully Weezer-y it gets. [6 Aug 2016, p.52]

An album that might not test the limits of artistry, but as with this closing track [Window], leaves you with a fuzzy feeling. [5 Aug 2017, p.51]

Away from the band which he made his name, the fingerprints of one of America's finest rock bands are present and correct. But away from the stripped down monster-balladry of It Ain't Easy, under his own wing Steven is capable of a few surprises. [6 Aug 2016, p.52]

Corpse Flower is an album for completists. [15 Sep 2019, p.55]

The one thing holding Diaspora Problems back, save for its disappointing lack of hooks, is that it doesn’t exploit its strengths as fully as it might.

Blaqk Audio deliver faithfully realised fare, then, but about as 2012 as Betamax videotapes [22 Sep 2012, p.53]

Where it fails as a cohesive piece of art is the lack of continuity, save for Travis' own considerable drumming. [26 Mar 2011, p.51]

This album is long. [10 Jun 2017, p.51]

As ever, the line between sincerity and mawkishness is down to the ear of the beholder, but maturity is creeping into Beach Slang’s songs of eternal punk rock youth, and here their bleeding heart is in the right place.

It's an often thrilling listen. [17 Jan 2015, p.52]

The Raven is a solid offering, it's just not particularly as progressive as we know Steven Wilson can be. [2 Mar 2013, p.52]

Deceiver Of the Gods is bold, manly metal with a beard, a beer belly and a big old cry to it. [22 Jun 2013, p.51]

On this ninth album, they sound largely the same. [30 Mar 2013, p.54]

There's nothing here that Cradle of Filth haven't done much better elsewhere. [10 Nov 2012, p.55]

Some of the tracks judder with a rhythm to which you cam only dance when in the throes of an electric shock. But as wearisome as these sections tend to be, they are almost wholly redeemed by moments of musical brilliance, moments which border on the sublime. [25 Jun 2016, p.50]

Year Of The Hare might need multiple listens, but if you can spare the time, you just might uncover it's secret. [20 Jun 2015, p.52]

It's an uneven album. [10 Jan 2015, p.53]

They're at their best when they're at their harshest, with the grindcore attacks of Saintpeelers and Sovereign Through The Pines proving as exciting as this stuff gets. [12 Mar 2011, p.52]

Wonderfully inessential as anything off their 2012 full-length, Self Entitled. [7 Dec 2013, p.54]

Wolf Alice have a great album in them, it's just not this one. [20 Jun 2015, p.52]

NOTHING, a band noted for their none-more-dour demeanour using a black hole as inspiration might be a little too on-the-nose for some tastes. At a time when hope feels in scant supply, wade into the blackness of these waters at your own discretion.

They offer no hits or immediately accessible anthems, but when they do engage, they show why they're beloved of so many. [25 Aug 2012, p.54]

10 tracks that are easily the weirdest, the boldest and – yes – most powerful material that the group have stuck their name on.

The fact that the real Black Sabbath are currently in the studio makes this fell more like a curtain-raiser than the real event. [10 Nov 2012, p.55]

There's enough gritty social commentary and songwriting class amid the occasional cheese to suggest that, on the long road to credibility, Bon Jovi are finally more than halfway there. [9 Mar 2013, p.52]

It's hard to shake the feeling that this is music more learned than lived. [12 Nov 2016, p.52]

This painstaking revival of past glories is every inch a labour of love. [22 Feb 2014, p.54]

For all the whiskey-soaked swagger on offer here, there's little to distinguish these tracks from one another. [16 Mar 2013, p.53]

It's not perfect, but a once-a-decade check-in from Desaparecidos sounds perfectly acceptable to us. [20 Jun 2015, p.53]

Rituals is a bold, yet ultimately auspicious step forward. [4 Aug 2018, p.53]

Perhaps a little of the sparkle the absent Alkaline Trio two bring is missing here, yet pleasingly little else is. [12 May 2012, p.54]

John Frusciante’s performance is effective and restrained, and drummer Chad Smith shines when he’s let loose, notably on These Are The Ways. There are, however, way too many tracks that miss their marks, trying to supplant the old energy with wisdom; the magik with maturity.

Mr Wilson has travelled all over the musical map, but appears to be more direct in wanting bigger results this time around. Is it better than what he’s done before as a result? Not always, but it’s the next blockbusting step from an artist who’s always done things on his own sonically strange terms.

This is almost dangerously infectious stuff from ASIWYFA. [23 Mar 2013, p.54]

Admittedly, they do occasionally disappear up their own collective backside, with too much noodling trying your patience, but their ambition and scope show no signs of diminishing. [10 Mar 2018, p.55]

Songs For Singles has a throwaway feel, albeit one with a lot of juddering, earth-shaking weight behind it. [25 Sep 2010, p.52]

Accomplished but a little safe, perhaps, Palms is nevertheless an intriguing project worthy of a sequel. [22 Jun 2013, p.52]

While the band delights in surprising you, it's still slowburning doom that finds Wino at his best. [23 Jul 2011, p.51]

Wovenwar lack a bit of bite. [26 Jul 2014, p.52]

This feels more like a collection of songs than a coherent album. That said, it's still the best album to bear the Queensryche name in years. [29 Jun 2013, p.55]

Greetings From California is an album that shines a light on The Madden Brothers' mature side. [13 Sep 2014, p.53]

Perhaps more a flight of fancy than a labour of love, this is still a striking offering from the Transplants. [29 Jun 2013, p.54]

In Silverstein's hands--a decade and five albums deep now--these very same, well-worn tricks work surprisingly well and it speaks volumes for the Ontario five-piece that this, their Hopeless records debut, fizzles with life and vitality from start to finish. [23 Apr 2011, p.51]

Mostly, though, Red Fang rock, with pile-driving riffs and monstrous grooves that you can't simply laugh off. [15 Oct 2016, p.53]

While their towering riffs and melodies at times bring Korn to mind, they bring back some of the furiousness of their earlier records here. [19 Apr 2014, p.54]

Bed & Bugs is an erratic and abrasive effort that'll delight those who prefer their rock to wander without a map. [21 Sep 2013, p.54]

It’s a fun, if not unusual listen, that ploughs deeper into the band’s flirtations with synth-pop and electronic experimentation. It’s lacking in the enormity expected of a celebration of 25 years of existence and this is not necessarily a bad thing, however, as it’s a further example of Ulver’s ability to push the envelope and keep their music fresh and exciting.

Hideaway could perhaps have done with a few more leftfield moments, then, because while it’s breezy and over before you know it, that’s largely because the majority of it is in one sedate speed setting.

On Women And Children Last, the Murderdolls retain the same sense of big, dumb fun they had before, but this time around the more knowingly vicious elements makes it an even more invigorating ride. [14 Aug 2010, p.48]

While they're no Tool, there's also a little something for the more cerebral of listeners. [7 Jun 2014, p.53]

Epic, bonkers album. [3 Feb 2018, p.51]

They might not be as abrasive as they once were, but Whitechapel still know how to bulldoze the opposition. [25 Jun 2016, p.52]

It's weighty and impressive in places, but without Pepper's howl it also sounds curiously incomplete. [3 Mar 2012, p.53]

The quartet take songs that are not always wholly divorced from pop music and turn them into something weird and wild. [23 Mar 2019, p.55]

It's not bad but Bleeding Through have proved they're capable of a lot, lot more. [11 Feb 2012, p.51]

A strange, unruly offering. The momentous, squalling dissonance of the curtain-raising Reducer seems to signpost where they’re going, but then they spin off into a twisted, eight-track labyrinth.

Ultimately, the record's slower moments, Life Can't Get Much Better and Reason To Stay, keep Youth Authority from reaching the heights of their triple-platinum The Young And The Hopeless. Nevertheless, this collection of bright and lively summer anthems makes Good Charlotte's return a welcomed one. [9 Jul 2016, p.50]

Hardcore devotees can rest assured that Kreator have shed little of their original skin. [28 Jan 2017, p.52]

While lyrically there's nothing explicitly offensive, there are enough risque lines here to raise a few eyebrows, and enough good songs to prick a few ears. [28 Aug 2010, p.54]

So while it's a typically polished affair, it is by no means lacking in genuine emotion. [4 Sep 2010, p.51]

An album without any clear standout or breakaway tracks. [23 Sep 2017, p.52]

As good as Heavy Fire? Nope, but it's another superb shot of classic-spirited heavy rock from masters of their craft. [7 Sep 2019, p.55]

It's not what you came in for, but quite pleasant all the same. [10 Jun 2012, p.53]

His verge-of-a-breakdown vocals are as affecting as ever here, but there are times when he sounds not only upbeat, but downright perky. [22 Mar 2014, p.53]