London alt-rock revivalists Grand Central sound a lot like the Smashing Pumpkins; if they were to somehow acquire their own sound, they could be dangerous.

London four-piece Hope & State evidently remember when pop-punk went bad, and their Grand Gestures EP captures the moment before that in ragged lo-fi glory.

A Sort Of Spasmic Phlegm Induced by Leaden Fumes of Pleasure… that’s the album title of the year right there, thanks to tongue-in-cheek Swiss stoners Phased.

Congratulations to Australia’s The Amity Affliction for making Severed Ties, one of the few post-hardcore records of 2009 that hasn’t annoyed the crap out of me.

A whole lot of nineties bands have crawled back out of obscurity this year, but few of them deserve a second chance so much as Living Colour always have.

What would make a good band do a Christmas single? Who knows – but El Dog’s post-rock take on “Let It Snow” is something a bit different, to say the least.

Mis-billing themselves badly as grunge revivalists, Starseed’s debut album Peace Machine would do quite well in the pop-metal arena… if it were half as long.

If Black Soul Strangers play as good as they look, they’re destined for greatness… but new single “Lies” is too damned short to tell us either way, though.

Hey, whaddya know – pop-metal sounds much better when it’s not horribly overproduced! Sadly for We Are Fiction, it’s still as common as rattlesnake piercings.

It may be cold and dark outside, but it’s all hazy summer sun and smokerings in the psychedelic pop-gaze of Scots three-piece North Atlantic Oscillation.