Saturday, 25 July 2026
RIFFOLOGY

Riffology — long-read deep dives into how rock albums got made

A blonde woman in a navy tartan school pinafore sits at a wooden school desk facing a bare plaster wall, with a black cross mounted above her that tapers into a downward arrow.

Review

Dear God by The Pretty Reckless: Album Review

Dear God by The Pretty Reckless is their fifth album, their darkest, and the one I keep going back to. Riffology Score 92/100.
Album artwork showing a snarling blue and black hyena in a studded leather jacket against a lime green background

Review ·

Strike and Kill by DevilDriver: Album Review
Front cover of Punk in Drublic: a black panel with the NOFX logo turned on its side, next to two cut-out cowgirls leaping across a hot pink sky.

Album Deep Dive ·

Punk in Drublic by NOFX: The Complete Story
Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam singing into a microphone beside guitarist Johnny Marr at BST Hyde Park in London in July 2022.

Scene Deep Dive ·

Grunge: The Complete Story

Latest stories

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Kirk Hammett of Metallica playing his guitar on stage in Ecuador in 2016.

Scene Deep Dive ·

Bay Area Thrash: The Complete Story
Iron Maiden performing live on stage in Madrid in July 2016, with Bruce Dickinson at the microphone.

Scene Deep Dive ·

NWOBHM: The Complete Story
Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day singing into a microphone on stage at Rock im Park in Germany in 2013.

Scene Deep Dive ·

Pop Punk: The Complete Story
Front cover of Enema of the State by Blink-182: model Janine Lindemulder smiling in a white nurse's coat and cap, snapping on a blue surgical glove, with blue butterfly tattoos and the blink-182 logo badge on her chest. Podcast

Album Deep Dive ·

Enema of the State by Blink-182: The Complete Story
Front cover of ZZ Top's Tres Hombres, showing the album title and band name in stencilled Old-West block lettering across a parchment-coloured field above a sepia-toned border. Podcast

Album Deep Dive ·

Tres Hombres by ZZ Top: The Complete Story
Front cover of Exile on Main St. by The Rolling Stones, Robert Frank's black-and-white sideshow collage from his 1958 photobook The Americans. Podcast

Album Deep Dive ·

Exile on Main St. by The Rolling Stones: The Complete Story
Front cover of Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin: a die-cut photograph of two five-storey tenement buildings at 96 and 98 St Mark's Place in New York's East Village. Podcast

Album Deep Dive ·

Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin: The Complete Story
Front cover of America's Least Wanted by Ugly Kid Joe, the band's mascot drawn as the Statue of Liberty raising a middle finger. Podcast

Album Deep Dive ·

America's Least Wanted by Ugly Kid Joe: The Complete Story

Album Deep Dives

More deep dives →
Front cover of Punk in Drublic: a black panel with the NOFX logo turned on its side, next to two cut-out cowgirls leaping across a hot pink sky.

Album Deep Dive ·

Punk in Drublic by NOFX: The Complete Story
Front cover of Enema of the State by Blink-182: model Janine Lindemulder smiling in a white nurse's coat and cap, snapping on a blue surgical glove, with blue butterfly tattoos and the blink-182 logo badge on her chest. Podcast

Album Deep Dive ·

Enema of the State by Blink-182: The Complete Story
Front cover of ZZ Top's Tres Hombres, showing the album title and band name in stencilled Old-West block lettering across a parchment-coloured field above a sepia-toned border. Podcast

Album Deep Dive ·

Tres Hombres by ZZ Top: The Complete Story
Front cover of Exile on Main St. by The Rolling Stones, Robert Frank's black-and-white sideshow collage from his 1958 photobook The Americans. Podcast

Album Deep Dive ·

Exile on Main St. by The Rolling Stones: The Complete Story
Front cover of Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin: a die-cut photograph of two five-storey tenement buildings at 96 and 98 St Mark's Place in New York's East Village. Podcast

Album Deep Dive ·

Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin: The Complete Story
Front cover of America's Least Wanted by Ugly Kid Joe, the band's mascot drawn as the Statue of Liberty raising a middle finger. Podcast

Album Deep Dive ·

America's Least Wanted by Ugly Kid Joe: The Complete Story
Front cover of Drops of Jupiter by Train, showing the album's illustrated celestial artwork. Podcast

Album Deep Dive ·

Drops of Jupiter by Train: The Complete Story
Front cover of Yourself or Someone Like You by Matchbox Twenty (1996): a Katrin Thomas photograph of Frank Torres walking alone down a sun-bleached road, his long shadow stretching behind him. Podcast

Album Deep Dive ·

Yourself or Someone Like You by Matchbox Twenty

Reviews

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A blonde woman in a navy tartan school pinafore sits at a wooden school desk facing a bare plaster wall, with a black cross mounted above her that tapers into a downward arrow.

Review ·

Dear God by The Pretty Reckless: Album Review

Dear God by The Pretty Reckless is their fifth album, their darkest, and the one I keep going back to. Riffology Score 92/100.
Album artwork showing a snarling blue and black hyena in a studded leather jacket against a lime green background

Review ·

Strike and Kill by DevilDriver: Album Review

DevilDriver's Strike and Kill is thirteen tracks of pure grievance and the tightest they have sounded in a decade. Jon Miller is back and you can hear it.
Front cover artwork for Into Oblivion by Lamb of God, released 13 March 2026 on Century Media and Epic Records.

Review ·

Into Oblivion by Lamb of God: Album Review

Lamb of God's twelfth album is their angriest in a decade: ten lean songs, Art Cruz's first sober record, and a US Hard Rock number one.
Front cover of Megadeth's self-titled 2026 album: the band's mascot Vic Rattlehead engulfed in flames against a white background, the artwork that has earned the record the nickname the White Album.

Review ·

Megadeth by Megadeth: Album Review

Megadeth's self-titled seventeenth and final album: Mustaine, LoMenzo and a debut from Teemu Mantysaari deliver the band's first ever US number one.