Articles by Mark Beaumont

Mark Beaumont is a music journalist with almost three decades' experience writing for publications including Classic Rock, NME, The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Times, Uncut and Melody Maker. He has written major biographies on Muse, Jay-Z, The Killers, Kanye West and Bon Iver and his debut novel [6666666666] is available on Kindle.

Articles by: Mark Beaumont

"So determinedly understated it's almost soporific": Eric Clapton fails to wake up the neighbours on the cathartic but glum Pilgrim

By Classic Rock Magazine published 14 April 25

Stick a pin in Eric Clapton’s late-period work and you’re liable to hit a stinker, but for sheer lack of invention, Pilgrim is routinely held up as his lowest ebb

Amyl And The Sniffers: Cartoon Darkness cover art

"It's the visceral attitude that has carried this band to the vanguard of modern punk": Amyl And The Sniffers refuse to let up on Cartoon Darkness

By Mark Beaumont published 25 October 24

Big issues are buried beneath thrilling next-gen punk on the Aussie bawlers’ third album

"Deconstructing classic rock and psychedelia and resurrecting it as something vital and alive": Goat's culture-spanning idealism continues on mystical self-titled album

By Mark Beaumont published 11 October 24

Earthy roots are revisited for Swedish collective Goat's surprise-laden sixth album

David Gilmour: Luck And Strange cover art

"Imbued with tropical, fado or flamenco vibes, as if recorded in a hammock on a private beach somewhere": Luck And Strange finds David Gilmour in relaxed, reflective form

By Mark Beaumont published 6 September 24

David Gilmour’s fifth solo album muses on heavy concerns but dreams of cool evenings on the Mediterranean

Kings Of Leon: Can We Please Have Fun cover art

Kings Of Leon don't let songs of "confusion, bewilderment and anxiety" get in the way of the good times on Can We Please Have Fun

By Mark Beaumont published 10 May 24

Kings Of Leon let the subtly melodic, sporadically explosive and pleasingly edgy times roll on ninth album Can We Please Have Fun

Hüsker Dü may have looked like a bunch of misfits, but they enjoyed an extraordinary musical chemistry: Why you should definitely own Zen Arcade

By Mark Beaumont published 12 March 24

Zen Aracade was a hugely ambitious double-vinyl concept album with a personal rite-of-passage story, from youth to manhood

"Saviors is the sound of reassuring rebellion from the midst of the 21st Century breakdown": Green Day's Saviors is part hurtling punkarama, part political rock drama

By Mark Beaumont published 19 January 24

Punk pop masters Green Day return to formula on 14th album Saviors, with the odd sprinkle of Gallagher

Bryan Adams: Live At The Royal Albert Hall cover art

"Tracing the evolution of a bar-room behemoth": Bryan Adams' Live At The Royal Albert Hall

By Mark Beaumont published 7 December 23

Three nights, three albums, one stodgy tone: Bryan Adams plays the hits live at the iconic Royal Albert Hall

"Gabriel's most consistent and cohesive post-80s record and the most philosophical of his life": Peter Gabriel's i/o

By Mark Beaumont published 1 December 23

i/o is a reflective and inventive return from art-rock master Peter Gabriel, two decades in the making

The Gaslight Anthem: History Books cover art

"By the end of the album, Fallon is still fundamentally tortured": comeback album History Books finds The Gaslight Anthem reflective but utterly revived

By Mark Beaumont published 27 October 23

History Books is a soul-searching, redemptive and worthy return for the New Jersey rockers The Gaslight Anthem

Creeper's Sanguivore: a blood-drenched Bat Out Of Hell for goths and vampires

By Mark Beaumont published 12 October 23

Sanguivore is the neck-biting third album from Southampton goth rockers Creeper

Goat's new album Medicine: you want an alluring mix of hypno-rock, mysticism and death-cult menace? You got it

By Mark Beaumont published 12 October 23

Mysterious psych tribe Goat palm us more heady chant-rock pharmaceuticals on fifth album Medicine

"We were lying in a pool of money, wondering if we were gonna get shot:" Six things you need to know about Demob Happy

By Mark Beaumont published 1 August 23

Demob Happy like to pretend it's the 70s, they’re anti everything, and they enjoyed getting one over Amazon's Jeff Bezos

Thew Hold Steady sitting against the wall of a room

The Hold Steady: Craig Finn on revolution tourists, desperate characters and exploitation

By Mark Beaumont published 11 April 23

"When The Hold Steady gets together and there’s big guitars and big drums, the stories I want to tell are bigger" - Craig Finn

The Strokes - The Singles Volume 1 cover art

The Strokes' singles collection is a box set without a single wasted note

By Mark Beaumont published 24 February 23

The Strokes' Singles Volume 1 is a historic collection from modern indie rock's Big Bang

Garbage's Anthology: a quarter of a century of pushing boundaries and brutal, beautiful trash

By Mark Beaumont published 30 October 22

Tech-rock masters Garbage lay out their full blueprint on (mostly) career-spanning Anthology