Artist: Mark Edgar Stuart
Album: Mad at Love
Our Verdict: 9/10
Release date: Out now
Soulful, tender new album sees Mark Edgar Stuart grow into his own skin as a solo performer
Artist: Tanya Gallagher
Album: Virginia
Our Verdict: 9/10
Release Date: Out now
2 years in the making, Tanya Gallagher’s new album is a paean to travel, love and life’s journey
Artist: Hands Off Gretel
Album: Burn The Beauty Queen
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: 16th September
The raging fire of 90’s Riot Grrrl alt-rock returns with a vengeance
Artist: The Decoy
Album: Avalon
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: Out now
The Welsh alt-rock trio unleash an inspired debut, elevated by a touch of myth and legend
Artist: Servers
Album: Everything Is OK
Our Verdict: 9/10
Release date: 19th August
The UK’s Servers deliver their outstanding second album
Artist: Iamthemorning
Album: Lighthouse
Our Verdict: 9/10
Release date: Out now
Iamthemorning return with their new album: a heartrending, important and profound work
Artist: King Goat
Album: Conduit
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: Out now
Brighton’s progressive doom-mongers unleash their thundering and expansive full-length debut
Artist: Black Stone Cherry
Album: Kentucky
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: 1st April
Kentucky’s southern rock finest break free from the corporate leash on vigorous and energised 5th LP
Artist: Aliases
Album: Derangeable
Our Verdict: 9/10
Release date: 15th April
An unorthodox engagement with the spectacular sophomore album from UK tech-metal visionaries Aliases
Artist: VŌDŪN
Album: Posession
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: 25th March
Trailblazing, highly original heavy psych-rock from former Do Me Bad Things vocalist’s new outfit.
Artist: The Salt Riot
Album: Dead Star
Our Verdict: 9/10
Release date: Out now
An experimental engagement with the superb full length debut album from Seattle trio The Salt Riot
Artist: Boss Keloid
Album: Herb Your Enthusiasm
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: 8th April, 2016
Boss Keloid are back with an album more dense than the immeasurable singularity of a neutron star.
Artist: SpaceCream
Album: Pterodactyl Sky
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: 22nd January
Aliens and dinosaurs and glitter, oh my! SpaceCream bring you good tidings of great glam!
Artist: This Year’s Ghost
Album: Yesterday Becomes Tomorrow Today
Our Verdict: 7/10
Release date: Out now
A substantial and auspicious debut from the UK-based alt-rock trio
Artist: Eva Plays Dead
Album: Sounds Of The Written Word
Our Verdict: 7/10
Release date: Out now
EPD return with a raucous, career-best collection of songs that sees the band resurgent.
Artist: TesseracT
Album: Polaris
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: Out now
The UK’s progressive metal progenitors return with their latest, and possibly best, collection so far
Artist: Tairrie B
Album: Vintage Curses
Our Verdict: 10/10
Release date: 14th August
Tairrie B is back with killer, innovative, old-school West Coast influenced hip hop album Vintage Curses.
Artist: Teenage Time Killers
Album: Greatest Hits Vol.1
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: 31st July
The best punk-rock mixtape you’ve ever heard… expertly weaving together the music’s common DNA
Artist: Neanderthal
Album: Rock Formation EP
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: 17th July
An EP of free-flowing, balls-to-the-wall instrumental rock and metal, made with a single-minded passion
Artist: The Decoy
Album: Parasites EP
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: 25th May
Within the sonic fabric of The Decoy’s Parasites EP is the answer to life, the universe and everything, I’m sure of it
Artist: Mark Edgar Stuart
Album: Trinity My Dear
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: Out now
An album of quiet power… life, love and disappointment have never sounded so wonderful as this
Artist: Of Allies
Album: Fragments EP
Our Verdict: 7/10
Release date: 11th May
Towering and explosive from first note to last, Fragments packs one hell of a punch
Artist: Caleb Sweazy
Album: Lucky Or Strong
Our Verdict: 7/10
Release date: 28th April
A soulful brand of blues-inflected Americana, Lucky Or Strong is a subtly impressive affair
Artist: Stoneghost
Album: New Age Of Old Ways
Our Verdict: 7/10
Release date: Out now
London’s fast-rising metal hopefuls Stoneghost have delivered a towering debut full of grunt and groove
Artist: Stephen Chopek
Album: Things Moving EP
Our Verdict: 7/10
Release date: Out now
A skillfully crafted tapestry of punk, pop, folk and roots… that points to very bright things for Chopek’s future
Artist: Awolnation
Album: Run
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: 16th March
Energised, angry and huge. Alt-pop archaeologists will be picking over the minutiae of Run for weeks to come
Artist: Santa Cruz
Album: Santa Cruz
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: 9th March
Santa Cruz is the sound of the Sunset Strip with a mighty, meaty and modern metal update
Artist: Melechesh
Album: Enki
Our Verdict: 9/10
Release date: 2nd March
A raging river of Middle-Eastern themed black-metal, you won’t hear better all year
Artist: Ranger
Album: Where Evil Dwells
Our Verdict: 7/10
Release date: 16th March
A fiery statement of intent from one of Finland’s foremost up-and-coming heavy metal bands
Artist: Thunder
Album: Wonder Days
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: 16th February
Pull that stick out of your butt – Bowes and the boys have delivered on album No.10!
Artist: 47 Minutes Late
Album: Excuses
Our Verdict: 6/10
Release date: Out now
Delightfully melodic yet splendidly rough around the edges, there’s plenty to admire here
Artist: Mighty Souls Brass Band
Album: Lift Up!
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: 27th January 2015
…a soulful, joyous, life-affirming slab of sparkling and spirited brass. You don’t want to miss it
Artist: Faith Evans Ruch
Album: After It’s Said & Done
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: Out now
Evans Ruch’s ability to be true to herself continues to realise rich dividends on After It’s Said & Done
Artist: Cloud Atlas
Album: Beyond The Vale
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: Out now
Beyond The Vale… is a living, vital and dynamic delight from beginning to end
Artist: John Kilzer
Album: Hide Away
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: Out now
John Kilzer’s Hide Away is raw, open and honest songwriting of the highest order
Artist: …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
Album: IX
Our Verdict: 7/10
Release date: Out now
The band have delved deep and dug out their strongest set of songs in a decade
Artist: Sister Sin
Album: Black Lotus
Our Verdict: 8/10
Release date: Out now
Antehmic, rebellious and monumentally well executed… you’ll be chanting along for some considerable time to come
Artist: M. Lockwood Porter
Album: 27
Our Verdict: 4/5
Release date: Out now
27 is a mature, full and confident beaut of an album… Songwriters of this calibre are all too rare
Artist: Slipknot
Album: 5. The Gray Chapter
Our Verdict: 4/5
Release date: 10th November
Slipknot return triumphant with one of the most emotionally charged albums you’re likely to hear this year
Artist: Antemasque
Album: Antemasque
Our Verdict: 4/5
Release date: 10th November
You would currently be very hard pressed to find a better example of the hi-octane, torrid-yet-tuneful indie-punk
Artist: Ste McCabe
Album: Brains Of Britain
Our Verdict: 4/5
Release date: Out now
An inspired collection from this politicised, queer, feminist, working-class-bastard eletro-punk troubadour
Artist: Gandalf’s Fist
Album: A Forest Of Fey
Our Verdict: 4/5
Release date: 20th October
Guard yourself from the lands outside, for the world we create is not cruel, nor kind…
Artist: Maybeshewill
Album: Fair Youth
Our Verdict: 4/5
Release date: Out now
Thought provoking post-rock at its best. This band know how to piece together an emotive song
Artist: Gerard Way
Album: Hesitant Alien
Our Verdict: 3/5
Release date: 29th September
Gerard Way’s collection of clever and interesting riffs ultimately leaves you wanting more than it delivers
Artist: Million Empire
Album: Lion Tamer EP
Our Verdict: 4/5
Release date: Out now
Swathes of melody, buckets of emotion & strong alt-rock arrangements from this Midlands outfit
Artist: SERVERS
Album: Leave With Us
Our Verdict: 5/5
Release date: Out now
“Both future vision AND past nightmare, ‘Leave With Us’ is a stunning debut album
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