CD Reviews: Example | Deftones | One Direction | Neil Young and Crazy Horse

SINGER-RAPPER Example, real name Elliot Gleave, has described his fourth studio album as a ‘rock album produced electronically’.

Its opening track Come Taste The Rainbow certainly fits that description, with its grinding guitar riffs and impending-doom vocals. Lead single Say Nothing is anthemic, radio-friendly pop and Perfect Replacement thunders along with squelchy synths. Working with big-name producers Benga, Dirty South, Alesso, Zane Lowe and DJ Tommy Trash, this album comfortably covers rock, pop and rap with intelligent, witty and, at times, vicious lyrics - all done with a confident swagger with tunes big enough to fill a stadium.

Deftones - Koi No Yokan

History has taught us that we should rarely believe the hype, but make an exception in Deftones’ case. Built up even by the band themselves as possibly their most complete record, a mix of excitement and trepidation filled the few seconds before opener Swerve City exploded into life, instantly blasting away all doubt. This is quite possibly Deftones reaching their zenith. Combining the epoch-defining brilliance of previous album White Pony with the aggression of Around The Fur, Koi No Yokan mixes heavy riffs with ethereal atmosphere. In Romantic Dreams, Gauze, Rosemary and Goon Squad, frontman Chino Moreno’s anthemic vocals soar over earth-shaking, grimy guitars and drums that sound like the marching of a thousand angry dinosaurs. Diverse, liberating and crushingly heavy, Koi No Yokan delivers in every possible way.

One Direction - Take Me Home

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The second album from X Factor heartthrobs One Direction sees them continuing the light-hearted candy pop from their successful debut, Up All Night, a year on. Take Me Home is a more grown-up version, as Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson share writing duties on three tracks: Last First Kiss, Back For You and Summer Love. The highlights are the Ed Sheeran-written ballads - Little Things and Over Again, which show the quintet’s other side. Fun, frisky and full of teenage angst, Take Me Home will mostly appeal to the band’s young fanbase.

Neil Young And Crazy Horse - Psychedelic Pill

The ragged rock genius’s first album of new material with his long-time collaborators in nearly a decade is, at first, a daunting proposition, with the opening track clocking in at almost 30 minutes, while two 16-minute epics lurk on the double-disc tracklist. Driftin’ Back is classic Crazy Horse, all loose, hypnotic riffing and soloing, but the Canadian singer’s rants about MP3s and hip-hop haircuts interjecting the jam session become tiresome over its length. Ramada Inn is excellent. A heartbreaking study of an ageing couple’s fading dreams, Young’s solos are long, meandering and fraught with emotion. Elsewhere, the title track is ruined by phaser-style effects, while nostalgic one-two of Born In Ontario and Twisted Road provide light-hearted thrills.

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