Following a mini review earlier this year, 2023 finished with us calling this modern-day opus as Album of the Year. ‘Relentless’ is the remarkable second studio album from one of British’s most accomplished rising rock bands – Empyre.

Looking back, it’s hard to understand how Violet Blend’s ‘Demons’ didn’t quite make Album of the Month – so its second time lucky, I guess.

It’s quite possible that all roads in the Bad Touch story have led to this point. With ‘Bittersweet Satisfaction’ Bad Touch have served up their career-best album: the album that sees them take on the mantle as the UK’s ultimate feel-good rock‘n’roll band.

Honest rock. The sound of a band of brothers playing music in a room together. Playing the music they want to play. Enjoying it. And releasing it without any filters, window dressing or hype. Welcome to the world of Promethium.

‘Pilot’ came out a few months ago, but this album review was always going to happen because it says something about the journey of a band - and also the need for diversity and conformity-breakers in the rising rock scene.

How does this compare to the previous two Dust Coda albums? This is probably the question every Dust Coda fan will ask in the weeks ahead - but it’s possibly also the wrong question.

Out of the blue, Luke Morley serves up the perfect album to watch the sun go down to this summer.

Spontaneous, fresh and from the heart. When a band of musicians have really got it, you feel it. Simple as that.

If success in rock music was all about musical merit, technical ability and good arrangement then this band would already be huge.

For April, I have found it extremely difficult to choose Album of the Month – and this is often the real challenge with just picking one album a month to review.

Imagine Joe Cocker, Dire Straits, Van Morrison, Toto and Chris Rea all having an impromptu late-night jam – the result might sound a bit like the new studio album from Ellis Mano Band – out on 24th February.

This new album is a powerhouse – the definition of hard rock for a modern age, with a brooding darkness, raw menace and tension that fits the troubled times we live in. 

Authenticity over invention, truth over hype – we start 2023 with a studio album that takes us right back to the roots of rock n roll and blues; a performance album where the honesty and the skill of great playing reminds us what the heart and soul of guitar music is all about.

This is an album I enjoyed on vinyl, and I wrote some thoughts as the music was playing, attempting to capture how the music made me feel.

To mark their 12-month run as Band of the Year, Amongst Liars release a new limited edition CD album, which celebrates their evolution through lockdown to the present day.

Rebecca Downes' album offers an oasis of soul, reassuring warmth and musical colour to counter some of the dark days ahead.

A new outlook for a new era, Marco Mendoza is set to release one of autumn's feel-good rock n roll albums - with light to offset the darkness of recent times, hope and positivity over division and despair.

A wellbeing tonic for troubled times, Marshall Potts delivers an album of musical sunshine that will brighten your day.