Reviews archive

December 2023

Filter

Year
Month

27 articles

December 27
- “It doesn’t add much to the myth of an album that deserves mythologising”: Muse’s Absolution – XX Anniversary Edition
- “An underprized classic… with new mixes enhancing rather than simply fiddling with the original”: 50th anniversary version of Nektar’s Remember The Future
December 24
- “Do seven versions of one piece border on overkill? Resolutely and resoundingly no”: Magma’s Une Histoire De Mekanïk - 50 Years Of Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh
December 21
- "As an album it's pretty good but as a handbook for Mott's future it's fantastic": Mott The Hoople's All The Young Dudes (50th Anniversary Edition)
December 19
- “Stately swathes of melodic guitar, stomping-goblin work-song chants, Rick Wakeman-riding-a-plesiosaur keyboard soloing:” Moon Safari’s Himlabacken Vol 2 is an epic complement to its predecessor
December 18
- "The Bathers are literate, expressive and romantic – which in a tough town like Glasgow is pretty much the most rebellious thing you can be": Sirenesque by The Bathers, the best-kept secret and weirdest anomaly in Scottish music
- "These are hard-livin', whiskey-drinkin', gun-totin' Southerners who eat grits for breakfast, fried beans for lunch, and an entire raw buffalo for their dinner": Flirtin' With Disaster by Molly Hatchet
December 15
- A Chapter Called Children Of Bodom: the Finnish metal icons' final show is captured beautifully in this full-throttle, triumphant album
December 14
- “Steve Hogarth is a revelation among an impressive, if seemingly random, array of singers”: Trevor Horn’s Echoes – Ancient & Modern
December 11
- "Full of memorable songs, hooks, vocals, instrumentation; a complete package": Harder... Faster by April Wine - Album Of The Week Club review
December 10
- "The overall effect is hypnotic, mesmeric – a musical montage that has no start or end point": Neil Young's Before And After
December 9
- "The listener can hear distinct traces of what's to come in this dense magical melee": Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother (Special Edition)
- “For a band who previously relied on pretty riffs and delicate vocals, they’ve taken a huge risk, hurling the listener around like a malfunctioning fairground ride”: Unprocessed’s …And Everything In Between
December 8
- "Rat Wars is the most personal, cathartic and brutal record of their career." With a little help from Lamb Of God and Godflesh, Health have made an album fit for goth clubs and mosh pits alike
December 7
- "Tracing the evolution of a bar-room behemoth": Bryan Adams' Live At The Royal Albert Hall
- "Two discs, 22 songs, one very worthy epitaph": Bernie Marsden's Working Man
December 5
- "There's the overwhelming sensation that we've all just witnessed something very, very special." Riffs, witches and a Dorset Ooser: Green Lung just showed Brighton why they could well be heavy metal's next Big Deal
- “The disc of unreleased live material truly captures the excitement of this line-up in full flight”: The Yes Album Super Deluxe Edition
- "Loathe’s sound captures something timeless; it’s clear that The Warehouse was blessed tonight." Loathe put on an intimate, powerful and emotional show in Leeds - and for a vitally important cause
December 4
- “A vivid, three-dimensional update… they outstrip the originals’ impact by some distance”: Peter Hammill’s In A Foreign Town / Out Of Water 2023
- "Undeniably brilliant but unlistenable": Pawn Hearts by Van der Graaf Generator - Album Of The Week Club review
December 3
- "In a year in which both pop and rock found themselves in a sort of hiatus, Hounds Of Love represented a standout achievement:" Kate Bush's Hounds Of Love (Baskerville Edition)
- Kiss bring the curtain down on the End Of The Road tour - and their epic 50-year career - with a spectacular, and intriguing, final bow in New York City
December 1
- Peter Gabriel's i/o. "The world has changed since 2002, mostly for the worst, but it’s a better place with i/o in it."
- Babymetal's 2023 World Tour comes to the UK: seldom has metal seemed more joyous, triumphant and utterly groundbreaking
- “His advocacy for artificial intelligence is compelling… human, emotive and reassuring”: Mariusz Duda’s instrumental AFR AI D
- "Gabriel's most consistent and cohesive post-80s record and the most philosophical of his life": Peter Gabriel's i/o