A step back in the right direction after the disappointing and unnecessary covers album. It's pretty inventive, and definitely unsettling and dark. The Carny definitely sets a tone. Whilst I don't think there's anything really essential here, it's a good and interesting step in the discography of The Bad Seeds, showing a little rise in quality and consistency.

Highlights for me are Your Funeral My Trial, Jack's Shadow and Long Time Man

This one comes right out the gates, those first two songs are brilliant, and the quality doesn't really dip too much after. Is it controversial to say this is as good as anything The White Stripes did? Maybe not Elephant standard, but it's certainly up there! It dips a little after Many Shades of Black, check out the Adele version if you haven't heard it, but it ends super strong with Carolina Drama. Overall, an excellent album.

Highlights for me are Consoler of the Lonely, ... read more

I'm back! Christmas gets busy ya'll, hope everyone had a good one!

This is one of my favourite albums ever, every song is an absolute banger, sure the middle three dip a little bit but not enough to damage the album in any way. Who would've thought a metal reworking of Rime of the Ancient Mariner would work so well? It effectively takes everything Maiden had done and turned it up to eleven, creative, complex, clever, no notes.

Really solid Christmas album, the originals are excellent and really lift the album. Kelly sounds like she's enjoying the material, she's coming for that Christmas crown Mariah! Some of the covers are just OK, but there's nothing bad!

Highlights for me are Wrapped in Red, Underneath the Tree, Every Christmas, Winter Dreams (Brandon's Song) and Just For Now

I did not have a live Dua Lipa being one my top rated albums of the year, but here we are! This is excellent.

Joined by a 53-piece orchestra Dua proves that, although this era hasn't been as impactful, she's still a force to reckoned with. The orchestra adds weight to the songs, and the arrangements are excellent, allowing the orchestra to shine alongside Dua.

Highlights for me are basically the whole thing.

Not a great album from Mel B. Unfortunately she's not a strong enough singer to sell the mediocre material, and whereas Geri could get by on brashness Mel doesn't have the same personality in her voice... Seriously, at times it was painful when she attempted to hit some notes. At best this sounds like offcuts from P!nk's first album, at worst it's bland. A lot of it is perfectly listenable, just in the background... I did enjoy the first two songs though, but that's ... read more

Hey Robert Smith!

Yeah it's a bit of a transitional album and it's not their most consistent album and I think it lacks the energy of some of their best work, but it's still damn good with some truly excellent songs. Dazzle and Blow Your House Down bookend the album perfectly and Swimming Horses and Bring Me The Head of the Preacher Man stand out in the middle. A step up from Kiss, but not up with their best.

Highlights for me are Dazzle, Swimming Horses, Bring Me The Head of ... read more

Should this work? Probably not. Is it quite a bit Spinal Tap? Yes. But when Rob Halford screams at you to get into the spirit you have to do it!

Overall, this all works really well some originals, some metal reworks of classics, I think if it was done with less enthusiasm it'd be bad but everyone is fully on board and it sounds great! There may be a lack of sleigh bells, but there's more than enough guitar solos to make up for it!

Highlights for me are Get Into the Spirit, Oh Come O ... read more

IN A TIME WHEN DINOSAURS WALKED THE EAAAARTH

Hey Nicko McBrain (goodbye Nicko, you are an icon), man the highs on this album are so high! The first three songs are perfection... I think it's OK that they can't keep up that level of quality throughout the whole album. That's not to say there's anything bad it's just some songs are not quite as excellent as others. I do think this is when Maiden really starts cooking though, probably due to the more varied writing ... read more

The pop/rock sound is fully embraced on this album, sometimes to a fault... However it saves itself with great production and, obviously, excellent vocals from Kelly. The first half is stronger than the second and it all starts to sound a bit samey, but I still like the vibe and there isn't any bad songs so it's a winner in my books!

Highlights for me are Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You), Honestly and The War is Over

It's December!!! I'll be peppering in a few Christmas albums here and there because I love this time of year! ❤️

Fairly OK Christmas album, none of the covers / traditional songs would I call the essential versions but they're generally full of vigour, Mariah does sound like she's phoning it in on occasion. I do have a soft spot for this version of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town though. All I Want for Christmas is You is obviously a classic and the only really ... read more

A mixed covers album, a lot of it is perfectly enjoyable but it's not essential. Cave sounds great though, he's showing off his versatility but I think the album is very samey as a whole. It also feels like it's missing a bit of spark, it makes for Cave's worst output so far (whilst still not being bad, so that's a success!)

Highlights for me are Muddy Water, Hey Joe and Something's Gotten Hold of my Heart

If this is "evil" and "devilish" then I think I'm ready to be sent to hell, because it sounds sexy and funky!

Highlights for me are Le Grind, Cindy C., When 2 R In Love and Rockhard in a Funky Place

I'm going in blind for Linkin Park albums from this one and this was a nice surprise! I really enjoyed most it, I think the interludes slow it down a bit and take away some of the urgency of the other songs, but otherwise really enjoyable and something different from them.

Highlights for me are When They Come For Me, Blackout and The Catalyst

After a couple weeks away, I'm back!

Pretty good for a generic pop album here, it lacks personality and it's very paint by numbers but Christina sounds great, you can tell she has a really strong voice throughout even when the material can be mediocre. The singles are great, everything else is a bit bland and I'm not a huge fan of the album version of Come on Over, but it's not a horrible listen by any means.

Highlights for me are Genie in a Bottle, What a Girl Wants and ... read more

A lot poppier than My December, I think it's pretty obvious it was designed to send Clarkson back to selling bucket loads... you can't move for big choruses! The first half is super strong, it starts to become a bit more mixed in the second half though. However, this is the best Kelly has sounded up to this point it's just with the aim of selling more some of the songs lose a bit of personality and the ballads are a bit basic.

Highlights for me are My Life Would Suck Without ... read more

Bruce Dickinson enters the picture and Iron Maiden really hit their stride. His voice fits perfectly and was definitely the missing piece in the already strong puzzle. His voice is dramatic, strong, versatile and is able to match the bands changing speeds and versatility perfectly. That's not to say he's the only reason this is a classic album, the songs are just extremely good... It's 40 minutes of non stop heavy metal greatness. Although they should have swapped Gangland for ... read more

I REALLY fancied a hate listen today and I thought I was at the Bon Jovi's really terrible stage, but unfortunately they didn't deliver. It's not great, they sound like a U2 cover band at certain points but I found myself quite enjoying it... It's mostly intensely average but the music is actually pretty good, it seems like they had some creativity for this one. The lyrics are still bland and sometimes embarrassing, but the music elevated some of the songs to better than ... read more

Probably Kelly's most underrated album. She really embraced the rock for this one, and had the most creative control up to this point. The lyrics are more personal and whilst it's not quite as consistently excellent as Breakaway it really hits some highs, Sober is definitely one of her best songs.

Highlights for me are Never Again, Sober, Haunted and Maybe

Hello Adrian Smith and Martin Birch! One step closer to that classic lineup. This is a difficult one because it's an excellent album and I think the band are really starting to stretch their creativity, however I think Paul doesn't quite gel anymore. His singing is fairly one note... with the better production and the rest of the band wanting to create more complex music or feels like his vocals are by far the weakest part. Still, it's a very enjoyable album!

Highlights for me ... read more