For most bands, the process of experimentation involves infusing more traditional song structures with weirder, or less familiar sonic elements. Not so for Iowa's Slipknot. All Hope Is Gone, the metal neuftet's fourth full-length, finds them further mining the seam that produced 2004's Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses, adulterating their caustic, percussion-heavy take on thrash metal ...
Remarkably Home Before Dark is the first US chart topping album of Neil Diamond's forty year career. It appears to repeat the formula behind 2006's acclaimed 12 Songs--relatively understated arrangements and a subtle Rick Rubin production. But Diamond, though sixty-seven years old and the oldest recipient of a Number One so far, is no Johnny Cash, turning his unique voice to some ...
Konk, the second album from indie pop starlets The Kooks, will appeal to those who enjoyed the catchier, hookier elements of their best-selling debut Inside In/Inside Out. For the band are more "pop" than "indie" this time around, and Konk is an overt attempt at winning even more chart-topping kudos: and it's not a bad attempt at that. Recorded over a six-week period at the end of ...