Combining the huge sound of Of Men & Angels with the youthful honesty of Hello, Good Friend and Do You Feel, Avary has created his best record yet with Life Will Write These Words.

Sympathy isn't all cartwheels and picnics. But even in the face of death, there is optimism in Eiseland's songwriting that makes you want to listen regardless of mood.

If you want to relax and mindlessly sing along with some super fun pop-punk tunes, Safeways Here We Come has got you covered. Just don't expect anything more.

All told, Positive Songs for Negative People is Frank Turner's most complete album since Love, Ire & Song, and perhaps his best as well.

In comparison with the current post-rock landscape, it's largely uninteresting, but in creating a palatable easy-listening experience, it's a definite success. Like its predecessors, though, this is one story that's probably best told at bedtime.

Basically, Fortress will surprise some and maybe even anger others. But with the right Feel Good mindset, it can be a wonderful journey through the mind of some a.) interesting people or b.) interestingly intoxicated people. Plus, there are boobs on the cover.

It'll be difficult to find many albums (regardless of genre) that stimulates as many emotions as Camp. Years of hard work and perseverance from Glover has finally paid off and Camp is the culmination of all that, making this one of the best albums of 2011.

Issues' debut album is not only a more cohesive effort, but it's the immediate answer to naysayers who say claim the band will immediately fade away into irrelevancy.

While Sea Lions blow through fifteen songs in less than a half-hour, it's startling how nice they all sound as they fly by, and even more so how little remains in memory even a few seconds after the last sweetly chiming note fades into silence.

The results are loud, punishing, totally lacking in subtlety, and at this juncture, almost completely predictable.

Wherever you place Adult Film in the Kasher canon, it’s hard to deny that it’s one of the best albums of the year, and arguably his most versatile yet.

You Will Eventually Be Forgotten is easily one of the best albums of the year.

Taylor's original 1989 is made even more interesting and worthy of discussion by Ryan's overtly classic rock-ified version, while Ryan's version is intriguing as both a personal expression and a reaction to one of the biggest albums we're likely to see come along in our lifetimes.

Seeker Lover Keeper is a beautiful, harmonious and captivating listen from start to finish.

Aside from that rather flat conclusion, Nightlife is a solid offering from a unique act who possess a sound all their own, who seem unafraid of exploring all aspects of that sound.

Right from the start with opener "Lion Face Boy", Seabear bring you in and captivate you for the entirety of We Built A Fire.

With Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, it seems he's on the road to finding what works, with varying degrees of success.

The way I see Torches, it's not so much music as a vehicle to convey their message, but more so just fun music for the sake of fun music, and well, you have to have lyrics, don't you?

The Maccabees have returned as a highly evolved beast more than ready to be released into the wild world.

Damnesia satiates the appetite fans have for new material (as well as washing away the disappointing taste of 2010's This Addiction) while proving that an old band can still do new tricks.

A fist-pumping, hip-swerving rock record that roars with energy and makes for a most exuberant return to form.

When Best Intentions closes, the rapid growth of the young band does not go unnoticed at all.

I Don't Dance is a sprawling, thought provoking work from an artist who is just now hitting his stride.

Wide-ranging, engrossing and incredibly powerful it represents a new height for a band who has hinted at towering heights before.

This isn’t an album that’s going to light people up or satisfy those who are still suffering from The Smiths refusal to reunite. However, if you take The Messenger for what it most organically is, a British indie rock album, you won’t be disappointed.

It's incredibly insular and sure of itself, but it's also smartly innovative.

If you want a refreshing, imaginative, heartfelt record which manages to be fun and emotional at once, So Long, See You Tomorrow provides everything you could want. Bombay Bicycle Club are the best at what they do.

Rescue is certainly highlighted by its quality tracks, but there is unfortunately a fair amount of filler in what proves to be a merely decent release by this band.

With brilliant production from the likes of No I.D., Kanye West, and The Neptunes as well as an amazing supporting cast of lyricists, Sean has crafted an exceptional debut album without losing the charm of his comparably solid mixtapes.

Vulnerable contains its share of lemons, but there is a spark, an energy, that hasn't been heard from McCracken's voice in a while.

Unfortunately, a handful of good moments aren't enough to outweigh an album jammed with songwriting that just doesn't amount to anything.

Out of Love is old-timey, fun (yet dark), and deep enough to merit sinking your teeth into it a bit.

The songwriter gets primary production credit on nine of the 12 tracks from The Blessed Unrest, and on many of them, she uses that position to build the sort of stunning and nuanced arrangements that elevate her songs beyond traditional singer/songwriter fare.

Come Back As Rain is a pleasant...not a surprise, but reaffirmation...that Good Old War is one of the most talented bands around at this point in time.

This could be the record that provides that breakthrough [to mainstream].

So even when he's writing winning pop anthems, Page One, ultimately becomes a mirror to his personal life: brilliant, impassioned and articulate, yet undeniably hinged to hiccups, pitfalls and moments of sheer idiocy.

Gravity The Seducer has its fair share of tremendous moments, but unfortunately those moments begin to lose their gloss when entangled with fragments of inconveniently placed filler.

Then Came the Morning is still a solid next step for a promising young band. The songs are catchy and memorable, the musicianship is impeccable, and the production... well, suffice to say that Aaron Dessner should soon find himself an in-demand producer in the folk/Americana world.

All told, it’s a solid record with no glaring weak points (a first for the Foo Fighters) and with some of the band’s more rewarding and adventurous songwriting.

Transformative, entrancing and wholly confident, Sigh No More is head and shoulders above the competition.

Overall, it's a palatable mix of retro-leaning metal that's suitable for headbanging or playing air-guitar but doesn't cover much new ground.

The flow of Strange Clouds tends to vary between songs that are helping make the album great ("So Good," "Arena," "So Hard to Breathe"), and then the ones that keep pushing it down the route of a sophomore slump ("Ray Bands," "Just a Sign," "Play for Keeps"). Right when there's about to be a trend of some consistency, it ends up falling short.

Jimmy Eat World have not just changed the game - they continue to reinvent and redevelop it entirely, each and every time.

More than anything, Moving Mountains feels complete.

Paperboy has done it. I mean, I don't really know what he's done. He's made this album, Come and Get It, that truly stands in its own category in 2010.

While the EP isn't the best material of the band's career, it shows a promising future that looked ever so bleak just a mere three years ago.

Unfortunately, Rustie’s seemingly inherent need to zig when expected to zag has resulted in an awkwardly stitched together ragdoll of otherwise intriguing and successful pieces.

Hurley is a reminder of why we fell in love with Weezer in the first place--the power-pop anthems, grungy rock songs, the gawd-awful yet quirky lyrics--it's all here.

EVOL is one of if not the best project Future has under his name, and while it may not feel as grandiose and capital I Important as DS2 in his legacy, it pushes his sound forward while he continues to stretch himself as an MC, songwriter, and lyricist.

This album may be a step up from his previous outing, 2012's God Forgives, I Don't, but Mastermind hints that the Rick Ross story may have nowhere else to go.

The combination of Vigil's honest, yet relatable lyricism and the powerful instrumentation make for the band's most powerful statement to date.

Aside from a few solid, unspectacular pop-rock songs though, ¡Dos! Has only one thing to offer: it makes ¡Uno! sound a hell of a lot better.

They have taken what they knew they were at good first time round, shed some of the cliche post rock elements and pressed on in a direction which at this stage in their career was perhaps a safer bet as opposed to trying something completely new, but it was the right bet.

What Antonoff has accomplished with Bleachers that he hasn’t yet with fun. or never did with Steel Train is create an album that inspires as much as it transports. It’s so sure and precise in its vision that it almost feels like a concept album without a concept.

NOFX take a crack at pressing matters both inwards and outwards, succeeding in not only making a seamless expression of both sides but cranking out some truly memorable jams to boot.

Without a doubt, this is all a lot to swallow, especially for long time fans of the band. Pure pop escapism this isn't, but as proof-positive that a band can evolve into legitimate artists without resorting to navel-gazing, it's wholly triumphant.

He has done his best to deliver the kind of care-free, gaudy rap album that will be blaring from the speakers of house parties everywhere for months to come, and B.O.A.T.S. II #METIME readily delivers on that promise.

At the end of the day, when you look at this album, everything just fires on all cylinders--lyrically, vocally, instrumentally.

It's a fun album with lyrics that, while they are not exactly impressive, apply to me and are fun to sing out loud.

Much like Bad Religion, these veterans of the genre have aged well and with Laugh Now, Laugh Later, have proved they can still be relevant well past their more celebrated years.

The songwriting on Burning At Both Ends isn't nearly up to par with other prominent pop-punk groups, and Set Your Goals only stumbles more in the execution of their sound.

For the band's loyal fanbase, Everybody's Coming Down proves an experimental but mostly successful step further down a path of fuzzy, theatrical rock and roll.

Sophomore albums always find bands trying too hard, struggling to live up to their magnum opus and Mind Over Matter has all the hallmarks of exactly that.

They may not be quite as distraught as Smith was, and they certainly opt not to strum as fast as he did, but the shared sentiment is still there. And on The Unfazed, that sentiment carries a savory beauty.

While fans of the band's previous albums might find fault in Last Night on Earth's less cluttered, electronica-tinged songwriting, it is Fink's simple songs and flexible voice that carry the most enjoyment.

As has always been the case with City and Colour, this record is at its best when it forgoes sonic evolution for the bare bones simplicity of human emotion and the warm, gentle wash of pleasant nostalgia.

For a stopgap release that no one expected, assembled from outtakes, B-sides, and covers that all but the most ardent Bruce followers would call inessential, High Hopes is still a remarkably cohesive and consistent record, and serves as a wonderful way to kick off 2014.

With albums as comfortable and likable as Twin Forks, there’s simply no reason to mourn Carrabba’s decision to give this new band his full focus for the time being.

Pyramid of the Sun not only remedies the sporadic deficiencies of Inventions for the New Season, it does proud the legacies of Jerry Fuchs and Manuel Gottsching; it also serves as both a challenge and heuristic experience for the alarmingly proliferating post-rock contingent.

Henry Tremain does a fine job replacing the ever-inventive Stuart Smith on vocals. His lyrics aren't that much fun to sing, but they're nice to read.

Simply put, this record already feels timeless.

They create sophisticated and charming indie/pop songs that occasionally have moments of calamity and moodiness. Their hooks are compelling, their lyrics often thoughtful, and because they explore the topic of love and heartache, they're bound to resonate with many who give the intimate, Love Notes / Letter Bombs thirty minutes of their time.

There are some parts you'll have to suffer through, but there are at least a handful of tracks that we can save and enjoy into the future.

Guest appearances on any type of album usually generates some negativity but the ones on Adventures really shine and freshen it up a bit.

119 is more concerned about power flexing than it is being simple, fast, direct, and catchy (and there are way less 30-second spurts than before); it has a hefty presence of East Coast ferocity, and Spielman's signature chokehold commands the band's socio-political magnitude more than ever.

At its core, Kintsugi takes broken pieces and finds ways to put them back together into something new.

All Time Low made the catchiest record possible and have their fingers crossed for airplay in the upcoming months. For those who accept it, Dirty Work will be a staple in their summer playlist.

The beauty of an album like Don't Let The Sun is that in between the rickety monuments to group songwriting, there is a simple and subtle message of camaraderie.

Whereas 2011's Want More felt uneven, Howl is dynamic, controlled and with few, if any holes.

Ivywild is an unlistenable mess.

It's not all slow and mid-tempo numbers that litter the forty-five minute duration of The Slideshow Effect. There are also moments where the band is unafraid to lift the urgency, to create a semblance of sustained momentum, and to incorporate a few timely hooks and memorable melodies along the way.

The end result is this expertly-crafted, inoffensive, hook-laden pop. Though it gets a bit silly in places, the core of this disc is far too good to pass up.

If you're looking for a solid heavy record to give a spin, give The Hollow a chance.

In essence, A Thousand Suns is a record with no real character or substance.

The full blown cathartic experience that many savor through a live set sometimes mishits on the album, but not so much to be trash-bin worthy.

This is as good as any album post-punk/garage rock has produced in quite some time.

All in all, People and Things hits home as an almost surprisingly diverse record from Jack's Mannequin.

Musically, The Circle in the Square is a bit too wobbly to stand up even amongst the rock acts channeling hip-hop a little less obviously.

Much of My Brother's Ears/My Sister's Eyes does tend to bleed together for the most part, but it's a wonderful blend of an experience at that.

Overall, The Vaccines have released a great album in the form of The Vaccines Come Of Age.

Overall, the EP works wonders, given largely to the fact that it contains unreleased tracks from sessions of the band's greatest, most straightforward work to date.

Whereas Sinners... felt transitional, Cavalier Youth feels thorough; these tracks are freshly waxed and radio-ready.

Even though I'm sad this record has left no lasting effect, I'm also happy that it might mean my life is heading somewhere positive.

Anarchy, My Dear is a record that promises that anything could happen at anytime, and Bemis and company do their very best to shake up what has been expected from them as a band.

Folds just doesn’t seem to have the same grip on likable, semi-charming songwriting he once did.

while the 7 or so songs on What A Pleasure have different names, it never really feels like anything ends or begins. It just kind of is, much in the same way that after listening to Beach Fossils, you know something happened but you can't remember why it did so or what it meant.

What this EP shows most effectively is the band’s seemingly innate ability to restrain themselves into a frenzy.

It does have sort of a Swiss Army Knife Effect: Use what you want only when you need it.