ALBUM REVIEW – COLA: THE GLOSS

Two years after their debut album Deep in View, Canadian art-punk trio are back with their second album, The Gloss. Across 10 tracks, the album explores themes of regaining balance and happiness in the search for deeper meaning. Opening track ‘Tracing Hallmarks’ sets the scene, a bright tune with thudding drums and a steady bassline […]
There are some particularly special albums out this week. Here is our roundup: Mike Lindsay   Supershapes vol 1       One half of LUMP with Laura Marling and co-founder of pioneering UK acid folktronica band Tunng, elsewhere Mike Lindsay is known for producing Speech Debelle’s Mercury Music prize winning album ‘Speech Therapy’, along with his work with […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 14 JUNE 2024

ALBUM REVIEW – CRUZA: CRUZAFIED

I’ve been chasing a feeling for such a long time now, something close to when I first sat down and listened to Childish Gambino’s 2016 album Awaken My Love. It was one of the first records that I listened to all the way through, no skips, and then when I received it for Christmas I […]
Rock music talking about deep and dark themes hasn’t been a mainstay in the charts for a while, but with 2022’s ‘Reeling’ The Mysterines were able to get a top 10 album by doing so. They merge influences from grunge to Billie Holiday and Betty Davis to create a sound like no other. Consisting of […]

ALBUM REVIEW – THE MYSTERINES: AFRAID OF TOMORROWS

ALBUM REVIEW – KVAEN: THE FORMLESS FIRES

Black metal is possibly the toughest subgenre of metal to get into. With the corpse paint, blood and sheer intensity occasionally comes haunting, melancholic and gorgeous melodies which leave you addicted and hungry for more. In their five years as an active band, Kvaen, have managed to create a blend of ferocious blast beats to […]
For years, I have been aware of The Decemberists as exactly the type of band I would expect to like, hyper-literate lyrics with thoughtful song construction and an ability to combine classic pop and folk-rock. Yet whenever I heard their music, I struggled to connect with the songs. Now, after over 20 years and onto […]

ALBUM REVIEW – THE DECEMBERISTS: AS IT EVER WAS, SO IT WILL BE AGAIN

ALBUM REVIEW – JOHN GRANT: THE ART OF THE LIE

With his debut solo release in 2010, ‘Queen of Denmark’, John Grant established himself as one of the supreme balladeers, blessed with a velvet voice like the most enveloping and reassuring hug. This style highlighted his unique talent as a lyricist, an ability to sugar troubling personal experience with humour. However, as listeners to his […]
Another enticing array of new releases in our roundup this week. Kelley Stolz      La Fleur              There are the requisite 60’s meets 80’s pop rock confections that Stoltz favours with a new focus on out front vocals and perhaps a bit shinier production. Pandemic era blues, politics and fatherhood are lyrical touchstones throughout. Angelica Garcia             Gemelo              […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 7 JUNE 2024

ALBUM REVIEW – THOU: UMBILICAL

Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s Thou have long cemented themselves as sludge metal royalty, however oxymoronic that phrase is. Differentiating themselves from their fellow bayou-dwellers from down the road in New Orleans i.e. Eyehategod and Crowbar, the band have long since proven their credibility in producing dirty, festering metal. On Umbilical, Thou prove that their bite hasn’t […]
On Spot Land, Salford’s GNOD put down their tools of destructive, heavy music to unfurl softer, psychedelic offerings that sound alien to their recent output. Opener ‘Peace at Home’ accompanies gentle guitar plucking with siren-like wails and spectral choir-like vocals. Ghostly and reverberating, the vocals linger over the track like a veil in wind. The […]

ALBUM REVIEW – GNOD: SPOT LAND