Back catalogue: Metal

Review: Some 19 years later (and not a moment too soon) this great compilation from Nu Metal legends Deftones is seeing its much-needed repress - with an added remastering to sweeten the deal. A tough record to find at a stomachable price for a while, 'B Sides & Rarities' is full of acoustic versions, demos and covers of the likes of The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, The Cure and - most amusingly - Sade. 'Wax and Wane' is a severely underrated cover, a wicked interpretation filled with punchy guitars and, of course, Chino Moreno's mastery of blending metal and new wave vocals. The most popular of the tracks on offer here is, without doubt, 'Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want', their cover of The Smiths' 1984 B-side to 'William It Was Really Nothing' . It's a rollercoaster of a cover, with a wild guitar solo and filled with the same rumbling, underlying sadness that made the original such a staple. Who doesn't love a melancholic metal song?

Review: If you're going to re-release a Deftones album with stacks and stacks of bonus material, including remixes by artists ranging from The Cure's Robert Smith to Squarepusher, then White Pony was always going to be a solid choice. First unveiled in 2000, the band's third album marked a major turning point in their career and sound, bringing in far more experimental ideas to the already-alternative metal of their early output.

Two decades on and the original work still holds up to significant scrutiny - the kind of scrutiny bands like Deftones are used to, having created legions of highly obsessed fans during their time on the road and in studios. What makes this revisitation so compelling, though, are the bits and pieces that weren't included with the record first time round, which should keep you busy for quite some time.

Review: Warner Records has put together this special reissue of The Rising Tied as a limited-edition apple-red double album which includes four bonus cuts that are making their vinyl debut. It first landed in 2005 from Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda and marked his first foray into solo hip-hop production. The album went platinum and is packed with big-name collaborations with plenty of the scene's biggest names sun as Como as well as pop heroes like John Legend. Those bonus tracks are 'Be Somebody,' 'There They Go,' and 'The Hard Way' which were on CD back in 2005 and 'Welcome' which was a standalone single in 2015.

Review: Originally released in 1984, Powerslave would serve as the fifth full-length from homegrown metal giants Iron Maiden and is often considered to be the project that finally catapulted the band to mega stardom. Filling out larger arenas than ever before, the World Slavery Tour undertaken in support has gone on to become well known as the band's longest and most arduous jaunt across the globe. Boasting some of their most iconic hits such as '2 Minutes to Midnight' and 'Aces High', as well as the fan (and band) favourite musical re-telling of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner', the project is also notable for being the first Iron Maiden album at that time to consist of the exact same line up as its predecessor (1983's Piece Of Mind) while this stable would stay in place for both 1986's Somewhere In Time and 1988's Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son.

Review: It's difficult to describe to those too young to have been there and to those too old to give a toss, just how rife the anticipation was for the sophomore full-length from nu-metal giants Linkin Park following on from the global success of their multi-platinum selling debut album Hybrid Theory in 2000. Following what felt like an eternal three years, both shortened and lengthened by the bloated remix album Reanimation, 2003's Meteora was nothing short of lightning striking in the same place twice. Debuting at number 1 on the Billboard 200, certified 8xPlatinium and currently ranked as the 8th highest selling album of the 21st century, to call the band's second album a success seems like a very muted understatement when anthems such as 'Somewhere I Belong', 'Faint', and, 'Numb' are still some of the highest charting and most world-renowned metal singles to ever blare out across the airwaves. While musically drifting further away from their nu-metal beginnings with each subsequent project, both Meteora and its predecessor belong to a subset of genre-defining classics that appear to become more embraced and less maligned with age, as the nu-metal subgenre becomes less of a dirty word. It also goes without saying that the incomparable vocal presence of late frontman Chester Bennington as well as his vulnerable and cathartic lyricism take on a far more bleak and oppressive shade with the folly of hindsight.

Review: Following the tragic passing of frontman Chester Bennington in 2017, many presumed the natural end of nu-metal turned alt rock giants Linkin Park. Rattling their fanbase with news of a resurgence with Dead Sara vocalist Emily Armstrong, as well as new drummer Colin Brittain (replacing Rob Bourdain who opted not to join the reunion), From Zero nods to the band's original moniker of Xero while also ushering in this new era for the group, whereas sonically, the band do their best to simultaneously pay credence to their heavier origins whilst naturally progressing towards their newfound vision. Their first full-length since 2017's pop-oriented One More Light may come as a shock to many devout to the Bennington era, but the earnestness in composition sees a retrospective embracing of nu-metal motifs yet modified and extrapolated to embolden this entirely new compositional framework. Attempting to compare to prior releases is naturally par for the course yet won't do much to alter this new musical trajectory, as From Zero swells with the breath of an entirely fresh project that owes humble countenance to the Linkin Park of yesteryear. At 11 tracks clocking on at just over a half-hour, the mission statement is one of succinct brevity and urgency, but whether it truly fills the Bennington shaped void is down to each unique set of ears.

Review: Many a music lover will have gone through a rebellious teenage rock phase, and if so there is a good chance that for a short period at least they were well into Linkin Park. The stadium-sized rockers were a seminal act in the naughties and their ground-breaking second album Meterora was released in March 2003. It now gets a special 20th-anniversary reissue and comes with global hit singles such as 'Somewhere I Belong', 'Faint' and 'Numb' all of which have the big energy riffs the band became known for. This 4 x 12" bumper pack comes with some extra rare and unreleased material.

Review: Originally released in 2014 and now celebrating its ten year anniversary, The Hunting Party served as the sixth full-length from nu-metal turned alt rock heavyweights Linkin Park. Marking their first full-length since 2003's Meteora to not be produced by the iconic Rick Rubin (with members Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson opting to handle production duties inhouse), the material bore a notable turn from their more accessible electronic-tinged U2-esque stadium rock and saw a rediscovery and embracing of their more aggressive nu-metal roots. Certified platinum and praised for their ability to still replicate their feral early days, the album is also noted for being the band's first LP to feature guest musicians such as Page Hamilton of Helmet, Daron Malakian of System of a Down, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, and hip-hop artist Rakim. This new anniversary edition comes as side-4 etched 2xLP pressed on aquatic translucent blue vinyl.

Review: There are few nu-metal bands from the formative late 90s/early 00s scene who achieved the monumental crossover appeal of Linkin Park. From their turntable spinning, frenetic rap-metal beginnings on 2000's global breakout Hybrid Theory, to the refined maturation of their formula on 2003's career-height Meteora, to their Jay-Z collaborative album Collision Course to the shedding of skin and rebranding as a genre-less alternative rock entity on 2007's Minutes To Midnight; as popular and accessible as they were, the band clearly constantly strived for sonic progression. Papercuts collects the highest charting singles from the group over two decades, with the most recent contribution being the previously unreleased 'Friendly Fire' recorded during the sessions for 2017's One More Light, which ultimately serves as the final new piece of recording from the band and vocalist Chester Bennington who would tragically take his own life later that same year. Ignoring the standard sequencing of a greatest hits which often lists the tracks in chronologically released order, here the cuts are compiled to sonically complement each other and reflect the band's ethos rather than a single line commercial pattern. Here is why the anthemic double platinum 'In The End' is juxtaposed with the minimalist rap-rock of MTM banger 'Bleed It Out', or why the previously unreleased fan favourite demo 'QWERTY' lands right between the U2 indebted 'What I've Done' and the original breakout single that started it all 'One Step Closer'.