One of Boston's up and coming singer-songwriters, Alastair Moock is often compared to John Prine or Steve Forbert, and there is a great deal of truth in such comparisons: easy melody, effortless feel and wonderful emotion. However, there is also an overlap with such cult artists such as My Morning Jacket or Drive By Truckers, with a solid country-rock instrumentation and a gnarled voice that's not quite Tom Waits, but not far away either. Ranging from roots rock of the kind Woody Guthrie would have recognised, to a lovely blues twang, Moock is most definitely a significant entrant in the emerging Americana field. Like Steve Forbert, or even Jesse Malin, the album rides a constant stream of energy, just a step ahead of the beat. The European version even features 3 bonus tracks, including an awesome cover of Guthrie's 1913 Massacre.

ACE rating 8/10

Way back, before there was Yes, there was a band called The Syn, whose members Chris Squire and Peter Banks went on to form Yes, while vocalist Steve Nardelli went onto other successes. The Syn were a reasonably successful part of the 60s Summer of Love era, and while all around we are getting reformed bands like Cream and Pink Floyd, this is a band who still have something to prove. Fortunately, Syndestructible sounds like music that wanted to be made. Prog rock in its original sense, there is a lot of epic soundscaping and delicious musicianship, familiar to fans of Yes's Relayer, but not - it's tighter, funkier, punchier. Bass player Squire is still a rock, Nardelli sounds more than ever like Clapton at his best, Paul Stacey weaves some beautiful guitar lines. Thoughtful, classy, wonderful. Prog rock is back with a vengeance.

ACE rating 8/10

This is Story of the Year's second album, and sees them move slightly away from their punk-Green Day start to a more metal-Green Day approach - imagine American Idiot run through a Van Halen filter and mixed with a bit of good skater-punk screamo. Sounds like a noisesome mix, and it is, but when it works, it works very well - the band clearly understand their songs and their instruments. Fans of Funeral For A Friend or Taking Back Sunday will find this a step up from their output. It is almost refreshing to again hear hair metal guitar solos nailed as well as the one in Five Against The World - almost an anti-fashion statement in its own few bars, and making a slightly better fist of it than the Darkness's new material.

ACE rating 7/10