Paul Weller - A Kind Revolution
“When Paul Weller, 59 this year and four decades a pop star, wrote Changingman, it seemed a touch ironic, because in the 90s Weller was in a musical rut, releasing a stream of samey modrock records. It was easy then to forget that Weller had once, in both The Jam and The Style Council, been eager to take on all kinds of music, from the artpunk of Wire to the guitar funk of The Isley Brothers. And then, as the new millennium kicked in, Weller got his imagination back.”
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Kobra And The Lotus - Prevail I
“When it comes to sheer, epic power Canadians Kobra And The Lotus are surely up there with the best of them. Symphonic in feel and absolutely rock solid on the songwriting front, this fourth outing is an irony-free blast of pure metallic abandon from start to finish, part one of a double opus where melody is king – or should that be queen? – and naked ambition rules.”
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Manic Street Preachers - Send Away The Tigers 10 Year Collector’s Edition
“The Manic Street Preachers are a band of many landmarks. The arrogantly over-arching debut double album. Their brutal masterpiece of malevolence The Holy Bible. Everything Must Go, their elegant monument to lost guitarist Richey Edwards. And, actually, as it happens, 2007’s Send Away The Tigers, a record that ushered in a latter-era purple period. After straying way too far into Blandsville in white trousers on This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours in 1998 and struggling to correct their course punkward on two subsequent albums, Send Away… was a welcome re-staking of their claim as Britain’s foremost canyon rock politicos.”
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Harem Scarem - United
“Melodic hard rock, like the poodle hair that often accompanies it, appeared to be undergoing a period of selective appeal a few years back, at which point Harem Scarem took a five-year break. However, a return to the fray with a 20-year anniversary re-recording of their album Mood Swings convinced them that there was still juice in the tank. This is their second album since their comeback.”
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Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind - Super Natural
“When it comes to serving up a bit of fin de siecle psychodrama, Jim Jones is not without form. There was a time that Thee Hypnotics looked a whole lot like the last rock band. A second coming of The Stooges to conjure up a last squall of declamatory feedback to accompany a seemingly inexorable slide into Stock Aitken Waterman plasticity. Jim Jones’s speciality lies in providing soundtracks for end times, and with The Righteous Mind in tow, he’s fired up a funeral pyre of rare intensity.”
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Hunter & The Bear - Paper Heart
“This British guitar-driven quartet’s stirring rock is the perfect tonic for jaded palates. Their controlled power and intensity hits all the right spots and is going to sound good in arenas if and when they get there. You could call it anthemic, except that implies trite, vacuous slogans and other clichés that Hunter & The Bear studiously avoid.”
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Warrant - Louder Harder Faster
“The title speaks volumes. In Warrant’s tenth studio album are echoes of their early, pre-grunge millionsellers – 1989’s Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich and 1990’s Cherry Pie – but the LA band’s new material is, as advertised, louder, harder, faster.”
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The best new rock albums you can buy this week
