The Stereophonics are battling against Swedish band Ghost for this week’s UK number one album.
Both bands’ albums, the Stereophonics’ ‘Make ‘em Laugh, Make ‘em Cry, Make ‘em Wait’ and Ghost’s ‘Skeletá’, came out last week. According to the Official Charts, the Stereophonics’ album is on course to be the chart topper, with ‘Skeletá’ on track to become number 2.
Elsewhere on the official albums chart, James Arthur hopes to land a top 10 position with his album ‘Pisces’, while Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra could also make the cut with ‘Still Blooming‘ – featuring the likes of Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Scarlett Johansson.
Tobias Forge of the band Ghost performs live. CREDIT: Per Ole Hagen/Redferns/Getty Images
NME awarded ‘Skeletá’ four stars in a review, commending the band for broadening their musical scope and for tackling emotional themes well.
“While it may not boast the same instant hooks of some earlier albums, the latest offering does instead offer something more substantial,” it reads. “Through a rich exploration of genres and a new level of emotional depth, it becomes clear that ‘Skeletá’ was made with a new vision in mind, and comes as the promising start of a new Ghost chapter.”
Last month, NME sat down with the band’s frontman, Tobias Forge, to discuss the “introspective” approach to album six, the possibility of him turning his sights to film, the struggle to find a space in the rock scene, and whether there could be an end to Ghost’s lore.
Recently, Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones has spoke to NME about the new album, as well as the secret to their longevity and thoughts on the reunion of Oasis.
Jones revealed that after he wrapped up his 2024 solo album ‘Inevitable Incredible’, he was asked to come up with two new songs for a potential compilation record – but ended up recording a whole new album.
“The record company heard a few of the demos and everybody really liked them and they said would you consider doing a studio record?” he explained. “The one thing I learned from the solo album was just doing eight songs was really interesting to me because it’s like four songs on each side of a vinyl, it’s about 40 minutes – which is roughly people’s attention span. So I just wanted to make something that was very concise, very compact, very melodic, very much how the Stereophonics sound in 2025.”
Stereophonics are set to hit the road for a massive ‘Stadium Anthems’ tour of the UK in the summer culminating in a huge hometown gig at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium and a headline slot at this year’s Isle Of Wight Festival alongside Justin Timberlake and Sting.
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