Initially, this month’s theartsdesk on Vinyl began with the sentence after this one, but it's so dry readers might drowse off, so I started with this one instead and would advise moving through the next one, just picking up the gist quickly... Discogs, a key hub for global record sales in physical formats, recently presented its Midyear Marketplace Analysis and Database Highlights for 2018, which reckons vinyl sales are up another 15% over the last year. Very boringly stated but good news, right?

Oh Sees have been perennial festival favourites for over 15 years now, releasing 21 albums under seven different band names. The change of name usually indicates a new direction, with previous records ranging from alt Americana (OCS) to lo-fi garage (Thee Oh Sees).

In recent years there’s been an explosion in feminised self-empowerment anthems, perhaps best epitomised by Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” (This is my fight song/Take back my life song/Prove I'm alright song). For those in need of a masculine equivalent, Dee Snider’s latest album may prove a tonic. A word of warning, though: where the feminine self-empowerment anthem can sometimes veer into the trite and solipsistic, this male version is simply a preening strut of preposterous bravado. Once that’s understood, however, there’s much to enjoy.

It starts with countdown to cacophony. A well-indicated pathway to absolute and total sensory overload. It’s calculated, clear and concise. The succinctly titled “Intro” hits like a sucker punch you never saw coming because it was never on the cards. The next thing that Sweden’s Echo Ladies presents is Kick-era INXS-level compression on “Almost Happy”, a track that answers the age-old question we’ve all struggled with – what would Peter Hook have sounded like with the Sisters of Mercy? 

Graham "Since You Been Gone" Bonnet has long been one of hard rock’s unlikelier stars. When everyone else was wearing denim and leather he modelled himself on James Dean. And he actually started out as an R&B singer. Bonnet's change of direction came in 1979 when he was asked to join rock supergroup Rainbow. He never looked back. After Rainbow he joined the Michael Schenker Group and later formed his own band, Alcatrazz. Now, at 70, he's still ploughing the same musical furrow.

Cornbury Festival holds a very special place in my heart. When the babies were young, we realised that if we were going to be up all night without sleep we might as well be sat in a field listening to music rather than staring out of the window at a dreary North London street. Luckily for us, we accidentally picked one of the most family-friendly festivals out there.

System of a Down guitarist and vocalist Daron Malakian isn’t going to let a little thing like his band going on an extended hiatus get in the way of releasing new music.

Not many bands have a reputation for passion quite like The Alarm. Right from the early Eighties, tracks like "68 Guns" attracted fans who wanted music to believe in – something with a message and a conscience. That ethos came from the band's driving force, singer Mike Peters. After 10 fruitful years, Peters disbanded The Alarm (in 1991) to pursue other projects. A decade later he resurrected the group with a new line up. Equals is their first album for eight years.

Curiously, though, the LP starts off not with a bang, but a slight whimper. "Two Rivers" has one of the most lightweight intros Peters has ever penned. It's especially odd when you consider what was going on when he wrote it. In 2015 Peters suffered a relapse of leukaemia. Shortly after, his wife (and Alarm keyboardist), Jules, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Given all this trauma, you might suppose the album would burst out of the traps, all full of angsty guitars.

Instead, things begin with a limp dance beat – half of "Two Rivers"  feels more like an Ibiza remix than an actual Alarm song.  Fortunately, things soon improve, and it's as much to do with the instruments as the songs. The guitar work ranges from crashing chords on "Beautiful", to a solo on "Coming Backwards" from The Cult's Billy Duffy. Peters's voice is on great form too. "Transatlantic" and "Cenotaph" see him at his most U2-ish, picking a delicate melody and then blasting it out. Eventually, even the use of synths starts to work. "13 Dead Reindeer", in particular, blends guitar and electronica to sound very up-to-the-minute.

In fact, the more you listen to Equals the more contemporary it feels. Of course, it helps that Peters's vocals still sound like he's about 25. It's also the songs' blend of power pop and anthemic rock. The formula is not dissimilar to what bands like Biffy Clyro and Twin Altantic seem to be aiming for, except those bands tend to sound like they've been chemically neutered. The Alarm, by contrast, still play with genuine cojones. By the time you reach the end of Equals the overriding feeling is that Peters and friends have still got it.

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@russcoffey

Overleaf: watch The Alarm's video for "Beautiful"