September in albums: the good, the bad and the ugly

Callum Aitken takes you through the best, and worst, albums of the month. 

September is traditionally the month where bands – after a “hard” summer of marketing their new material to thousands of festival-goers across Europe – finally sit down and polish off that eagerly anticipated release. That of course leaves just enough time for a run of singles heading into the Christmas period and that all important winter stadium tour. Here’s our run down on the best (and worst) of this month’s releases:

The “Good”

Deadmau5

Despite the irritating title this is another consistently entertaining effort by Canada’s finest rave export. The majority of tracks register around 7 minutes making for a rather dragged out affair but there’s enough variety here and featured popstars including Gerrard Way and Imogen Heap to suggest Deadmau5 could become one of the most accessible techno artists since Daft Punk.

The 2^nd Law  Muse

Although technically not out until October it’s been available to stream from our good friends at The Guardian since last week. Besides, who actually “buys” music anymore? Eclectic and ridiculously over-the-top there’s something for everyone here: whether it be the melancholy dubstep of “Madness”, the upbeat jazz-funk of “Panic Station” or the apocalyptic and atmospheric “Survival”. It may just prove to be their best work yet.

The “Bad”

Battle Born  The Killers

A lot has been made of the return of The Killers from their lengthy hiatus, and rightly so. There isn’t a Fresher on a Friday night who wouldn’t enthusiastically pogo along to ‘Mr Brightside’ in the Bop, yet it is hard to pinpoint a career highlight since then. Unfortunately the numbers are against The Killers on this one: 4 years in the making, 4 different producers and numerous solo works in the interim equates to a rather disjointed album filled with pop songs even Elton John would raise his eyebrow at.

iUno! Green Day

The Green Day franchise continues to rumble on with this first in a series of three albums to be released over the next 4 months (no prizes for guessing what the other two will be called). It’s harmless enough, but more or less forgettable. You’d be forgiven for mistaking it for ten-years-old when Green Day were young, rebellious, less popular and, well, less appealing. What is most discomforting is we may have another two full-length albums of the same material to wade through by the start of next year. Who’s the American Idiot now?

And finally….The “Ugly”

Fight or Flight Hoobastank

Most well known for their karaoke friendly hit, “The Reason”, Hoobastank have (rather inexplicably) appeared with their first full album since a series of acoustic recordings in 2010. “This is gonna hurt/This is gonna hurt you…” sings Doug Robb on the opening track and how right he is. There’s nothing on here that Bowling for Soup and My Chemical Romance haven’t done already.