Reviews archive

November 2024

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62 articles

November 30
- “Never less than joyously entertaining and utterly committed… a warm-hearted tale of the power of music and community”: Solstice’s Return To Cropredy video edition
- “Two huge centrepieces are guaranteed to delight prog’s stopwatch brigade”: Neal Morse breaks out more sumptuous melodies on No Hill For A Climber
November 29
- “Less a stopgap than an important adjustment musical focus, it’s the perfect vehicle for celebrating their 20th anniversary”: Crippled Black Phoenix’s The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature, and Horrific Honorifics Number Two
- "Solidly revamped with contemporary rock productions, they all just sound brilliant": Sweet's early classics shine bright on the irresistible Isolation Boulevard
- "Limitless pleasures for any guitar-minded person": The stars shine on Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2023 collection
- "A terrific primer for anyone unfamiliar with their crepuscular catalogue": Crippled Black Phoenix revisit the past on The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature
November 28
- "A reminder of thrilling all-out, no-holds-barred guitar rock can be... their future now looks dazzling": SKAM make the great leap forward on fourth album From The Depths
November 27
- A 50p advert in a sweet shop window brought them together. 50 years later, their kitchen sink dramas and lyrical poetry are still delivering a new wave knees-up: Squeeze, live at The Roundhouse, London
November 25
- "My girlfriend says that I need help. My boyfriend says I'd be better off dead." Therapy?'s dark, twisted misfit anthems sound as fabulously fierce as ever on their Troublegum 30 anniversary tour
- “Confident, comfortable and definitely for her own amusement… one of 2024’s most playful and individual records”: Rosalie Cunningam’s To Shoot Another Day
- "Dr Feelgood meets the Psychedelic Furs (but without the sax)": The Angels strike the pub rock/new wave target on Dark Room
November 24
- "They took cocaine in the studio while making it, but Obsession didn't suffer" The deluxe edition of UFO's final studio album with Michael Schenker still functions highly
- "So gloriously over the top it's coming down the other side screaming and shouting": Mötley Crüe rock like a rowboat in a typhoon on the 35th Anniversary edition of Dr Feelgood
November 23
- “The most exciting underground metal lineup of 2024”: Sylosis and Fit For An Autopsy lead four hours of moshpit mayhem in London
- "What a night. What a gig. What a f**king band." Kneecap's joyous, messy, and wildly celebratory tour-closing London show is further proof that the West Belfast hip-hop trio are utterly unstoppable
November 22
- “Mikael Åkerfeldt’s growls sound suitably deep… he hasn’t lost any power. And there’s much more than menace to his performance”: Opeth’s The Last Will And Testament
- "A forest of invention and great songs": Joan Armatrading does serious harm to electric guitars on How Did This Happen And What Does It Now Mean
- Album review: Bryan Adams - Live At The Royal Albert Hall 2024
- "An AC/Leppard mongrel that's 50% party soundtrack and 50% time travel": Crossbone Skully's Evil World Machine is gloriously daft, but it's also glorious
November 21
- "A tremendous album, up there with their turn-of-the-millennium high-water marks": Opeth return to extremity on the inventive The Last Will And Testament
- “The most psychedelic trip you’ll ever have sober”: Baroness, Graveyard and Pallbearer conquer adversity to give London a heavy metal high
November 19
- "This is Opeth’s best since the career-making heights of Blackwater Park and Ghost Reveries." The Last Will And Testament is Opeth at their most groundbreakingly brilliant
November 18
- "Thirty years after Cop Killer, Ice-T is still committed to making music that goes harder than the rest." From THAT Pink Floyd cover to collabs with Corpsegrinder, Max Cavalera and more, new Body Count album Merciless is an ice-cold knock-out
- "In which not-so-jolly Roger regales us with his musings on all the usual subjects": Roger Waters rails against capitalism, America, war, religion and television on Amused To Death
November 15
- "Be Here Now is beautiful, understated and unabashedly spiritual - a stark contrast to its bloated Oasis counterpart": George Harrison's lovely Living In The Material World, revisited
- “They may be calling it a day, but these masters will always have a devout tribe”: Armed with 40 years of anthems and some stellar support acts, Sepultura’s final UK show is an unmitigated triumph
- "It's impossible not to feel thrilled by how brilliantly Du Blonde eviscerates demons from her past here." Du Blonde's Sniff More Gritty is 2024's most exhilarating, fabulous and fearless declaration of independence
- "For blue-eyed soul fans, there are treats a plenty": Terry Wilson Slesser and friends successfully conjure up the ghost of Paul Kossoff on Forever Blue
- "Negative Spaces is one of the catchiest, most consistent records of 2024." Poppy has gone and made a full-on arena metal album, and it absolutely bangs
November 14
- "A rallying point to bring the band back from the brink": Linkin Park return from the darkness with the triumphant From Zero
November 12
- “Satisfying fuzz crunches and out-there solo runs… there’s an extra layer of atmosphere and weight”: The Fierce And The Dead’s Live At Ramsgate Music Hall ’24
- “Comfortably Numb caught in a snowstorm at dusk”: Sólstafir’s Hin Helga Kvöl shifts from sonic aggression to oddly comforting
November 11
- Relax everyone, we can officially confirm that The Bronx are still the best punk rock band in the world
- "There are tantalising glimpses of genius but it's only the presence of one classic track that raises Easter above average": Patti Smith's commercial breakthrough is a flawed artistic statement
November 10
- "An emotional blast carefully packed into tight, angular arrangements": The Super Deluxe Edition of Talking Heads' 77 is focused, unsettling and damn near indispensable
- "A tidy primer for the uninitiated": Mountain's 1995 collection Over The Top captures the band at their most creative
- "One of the great man's most powerful creations": The expanded version of Peter Hammill's Incoherence offers a unique glimpse into the febrile mind of a restless genius
November 9
- "A sonic maelstrom of whooshes, burbles and monumental, monochord riffing": Hawkwind's DoReMi FasOl LaTiDo, now more earthshattering than ever before
- "A melodious blanket that is both comforting and all-encompassing": The Pineapple Thief up the melancholy quotient on Last To Run
November 8
- "Linkin Park have crafted a genuinely great album worthy of their canon." From Zero is a resounding success that fans of every era of Linkin Park can enjoy
- “They stopped making a furious racket a long time ago, but they’ve never sounded as elegant or assured as they do here”: Klone’s The Unseen
- "An irresistible combination of Aerosmith swagger and finely honed pop sensibilities": Ratt's best album Out Of The Cellar revived - just don't call it hair metal
- "A scope and ambition that still dazzles over 50 years on": Aphrodite’s Child are ambitious and utterly bonkers on the genre-shredding 666 The Apocalypse Of John
- "The highlights are undermined by quite a lot of dross": Primal Scream are sporadically groovy yet ultimately frustrating on Come Ahead
November 7
- "A combination of earnestness and cheeky humour that is infectious and joyous": Massive Wagons conjure up more magic on Earth To Grace
- “More in common with the original Hawkwind Zoo than the current incarnation”: Hawklords’ Relativity casts them as worriers on the edge of time
November 6
- "One last time let's sing together!" Pop punk heavyweights Sum 41 bid London a fond farewell with an electric show at Wembley Arena
November 5
- "Two decades after shedding their punk and black metal shackles, Sólstafir still have new ideas to explore." Iceland's coolest metal band explore their own legacy on eighth album Hin Helga Kvöl
- “An impressive overview of his restless curiosity and hunger”: Bill Bruford’s Winterfold & Summerfold Years 3-disc box set
November 4
- "Defences are still a work in progress, but Shadowlight is a must-listen for metalcore fans." Rising Herts crew Defences are evolving in all the right ways on album number three
- “An absolute delight… the radio sessions and live sets are completely priceless”: Kevin Ayers’ All This Crazy Gift Of Time box set
- "While its accessibility is probably overrated, American Beauty is a great album of dusty melodies laced with earthy poeticism": The Grateful Dead accidentally invent the alt.country movement on American Beauty
November 3
- "A collection that’s nice to have rather than essential": T.Rex's back catalogue mined again on Bolan Boogie - The Best Of T.Rex
- "A demonstration of Manzanera's unending quest to make music without borders": Phil Manzanera's collegiate spirit evident on the sprawling box set 50 Years Of Music
November 2
- “No stone goes unturned”: The Cure celebrate their new album, a goth classic and everything else that makes them great at spotless London show
November 1
- "It's always Halloween around here." Forget Wembley; a sold out Halloween show in Manchester proves Creeper are still Britain's best cult band
- “They turn on the switch marked ‘metal’ and summon the essence of Satan’s own belch… a new career high”: Vola mix additional textures into Friend Of A Phantom
- “Lovely, ambitious stuff… the sound of a band completely rejuvenated”: Beardfish stage a surprise return with Songs For Beating Hearts, giving the impression they’d never been away
- "Irresistibly seductive": Warren Haynes craft some songs of deep-pile quality on Million Voices Whisper
- "He sings like a man possessed, his expression undiminished by the ravages of time": Peter Perrett returns with what might just be his best-ever album
- "A giant glitter-puff of pure magic": Rosalie Cunningham's innate theatricality and clever songwriting shine on To Shoot Another Day
- "Imagine a seamless combination of the Sex Pistols and Queen": Question Everything might not be great lost Boys Wonder album, but it's as close as we're ever going to get