You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Rose Windows’ second album is so wracked by tension and so smothered in its own claustrophobic impenetrability it’s not exactly surprising they have just decided to quit.

If they haven’t gone out with a bang, more a rumble, then vocalist Rabia Shaheen Qazi ensures they exit with integrity maintained. Leaving Seattle to record in Louisiana has brought an element of sonic voodoo to their blender and plenty of smoke is blown during Strip Mall Babylon and the warp factor folky Americana of Come Get Us Again.

Guitarists Chris Cheveyo and Nils Peterson benefit most from producer Randall Dunn’s efforts to make them sound like Sunn 0))) metamorphosing into Houndmouth, but the lack of studio air also calls to mind a hipper Jefferson Starship.

This is certainly a dead weird album; it may improve with time. Keep an ear ajar for the seeress Qazi though. If she ever goes solo the windows will need boarding up./o:p

Max Bell worked for the NME during the golden 70s era before running up and down London’s Fleet Street for The Times and all the other hot-metal dailies. A long stint at the Standard and mags like The Face and GQ kept him honest. Later, Record Collector and Classic Rock called.