Tickets go on sale on Friday (December 4).

It is the rhythmic sensibilities, rather than the actual screamo element, that make Descent so appealing. Being able to pack a punch and provide sparse haunting sections all in one fluid movement makes this Norfolk-based quartet a sure hit.

Ah Lily Allen, you have a lot to answer for. How were you to know that your unique sound and image would be saturated by swathes of pretenders all scrambling for a chance to sit on your perky, cheeky cockney-pop throne?

Supergroups are nothing new - but when a former member of Led Zeppelin and Nirvana form a new collaboration with Josh Homme, you really have to take notice.

Swedish doom-metal is not everyone's idea of an easy listen, but Katatonia - the five-piece from Stockholm - has thankfully evolved from the early days of grinding guitars, growling vocals and a distinct lack of tunes.

Listening to Battle Studies you get the impression that if James Blunt were born with musical ability he might be mistaken for a trans-Atlantic cousin of John Mayer. The album struggles to establish itself as some kind of search for heart-aching sincerity and comes up heart-achingly short.

The third part of Ash's attempt to release 26 singles in 52 weeks - Arcadia. It's got Space Invaders and everything!

Part two of Ash's attempt to release 26 singles in 52 weeks - the slightly-heavier-than-last-song Joy Kicks Darkness.

Part one of Ash's attempt to release 26 singles in 52 weeks is here - the glorious True Love 1980.

Sisters Tegan and Sara Quin never wrote a song together. In their 11-plus years as Tegan and Sara, the process for the Canadian duo has always been the same: write separately and hash things out at a later date. So when they tried to write together recently for their fifth album Sainthood, the collective experiment produced many songs, but only one, Paperback Head, made the 13 track cut.