Back catalogue: Rock (All)

Review: For all of the "it's like 1995 all over again" analysis that greeted the surprise return of Britpop stars Blur, it would count for nothing if the music they were making was a hollow pastiche of the past. Fortunately, The Ballad of Darren, the band's first new album since 2015, is a giddy blast from the past - and reportedly one recorded in a much more cooperative and good-humoured atmosphere than expected. Fans will immediately feel at home, with tracks such as 'St Charles Square' and 'The Narcissist' offering that now familiar mix of weary vocals, squally guitars, low-slung bass and shuffling drums. Whether or not it's a "return to form" is debatable, but it's certainly a refreshing blast from the past for those came of age in the 1990s (and those inspired by Britpop's messy, lager-fuelled energy).

Review: While there was once a time Nottingham's Bring Me The Horizon were known as the knife-edged fringe sporting MySpace era deathcore easy target, it's highly unlikely anyone ever had it on their bingo cards that within the span of a decade the band would become the torch bearers for mainstream metal, following in the footsteps of Linkin Park and 30 Seconds To Mars. Serving as the long-awaited sequel to 2020's nu-metal indebted Post Human: Survival Horror EP, their seventh full-length (and first since 2018's Amo) Post Human: Nex Gen doesn't simply follow suit, but creatively clusters essentially every sonic guise the group have adorned throughout their tenure into one singular sonic headfuck. Touching on everything from metalcore, post-hardcore, pop-punk, hyperpop, trap, nightcore and Anime music; the album is a testament to ADHD maximalism, and while it may come off as messy, obnoxious or utterly overwhelming, it's nigh impossible to not be impressed by the sleek effortlessness in which they appropriate vastly differing soundscapes like they were always theirs to begin. Marking their final effort with longtime keyboardist/programmer/producer Jordan Fish and boasting equally dichotomous features from the likes of Aurora, Lil Uzi Vert, Underoath and Daryl Palumbo (Glassjaw, Head Automatica), the second instalment of the Post Human saga simultaneously serves as the end of one era for Bring Me The Horizon, and the dawn of an equally promising new age. Report back for Post Human 3 in due course.