Undeniably dark and haunting, Burn Slow succeeds in taking the listener far from the beaten path while living up to Liebing's artistic standards.

The songs are strong but the reason to listen to Bad Mouthin' is the performance, how White maintains his thick, heavy mood from beginning to end, always sounding compelling through the familiar changes.

That AAARTH feels cathartic comes as no surprise, as the trio have long been purveyors of both aural and emotional heft, but this time around they've managed to crystallize both aesthetics into something truly sublime, fulfilling the promise set forth on 2011's The Big Roar.

At once more deliberate and more liberated than their debut, with Obey Exploded View challenge their listeners to be as free as as their music sounds.

This is hardly the last word on Joe Strummer's music outside the Clash, but Joe Strummer 001 should convince any doubters that the man never stopped being a talent to be reckoned with, regardless of the size of his audience.

Come for the rage on Digital Garbage and stay for the rock. Both feel intense and purifying.

While For My Crimes contains her unmistakable signature in both songwriting and sound, as a whole it point to an open door for new possibilities to emerge in the future. It's sophisticated and emotionally arresting, it's among the finest offerings in her catalog.

It's just enough of an update to feel fresh, yet familiar enough to be nothing but a dose of glitzy, cheerful nostalgia.

Ultimately, superfans might be polarized by the experimental musings of Elephants on Acid, but those with some distance will find this curiously assembled collection pleasantly puzzling in its layers of trippy appeal. Something this unexpected from such an established act can't help but feel refreshing.

Konoyo takes several listens to fully appreciate, as do most Hecker releases, but it's another excellent example of the distinct mixture of bleakness and majesty which he excels at creating.

The trio is often content to hover, swirl, and dissolve without resolution, saving only the last quarter of the 12-minute title cut for a truly needling rhythm and Wyllie's primal squeal.

The perpetually unraveling nature of Infinite Moment results in a perfectly paced listening experience that's almost impossible not to get lost in.

The ones that stand out, like "Slow Wake Up Sunday Morning," "Rang Tang Ring Toon," and "Baby Where You Are," usually have some softly strummed acoustic guitar in the background, but even with accompaniment Magic Ship feels ephemeral. That said, it's understated vibe can be transfixing, and its intimacy disarming.

The Wake signals a new chapter for Voivod; they stand (again) at the blade edge of creative imagination and visionary execution in the world of extreme music.

Claustrophobic yet adrenalized, Another Life is a goth-rave nightmare transmitted from an apocalyptic future.

Autobiography is unquestionably a vast step forward for Jlin, further confirming her status as a visionary artist. If it wasn't obvious already, following her long, illustrious career will be tremendously exciting.

Quiet River of Dust feels like its own celestial event, emitting frequencies both familiar and alien; Eastern philosophy-tinged pagan space folk devoted to gods both old and new.

Sometimes the sounds feel a little too alien to decode, but when production spirals out of control for a moment, part of the appeal of 1 Time Mirage is listening to the production team reign their wild creations back in.

The result is a bracing expression of visceral emotions that refuses to go the easiest, most comforting route, as well as the most focused Sumac album yet.

Simply put, (After) is another brave and beautiful document tracing how Elverum's sorrow and love continue to change shape.

Altogether, The Hex is a complicated record of a period fraught with loss and psychic struggle for Swift, and its beautiful, twisted lyricism and memorably stylized sound rise to the occasion.

The songs are definitely there, Phillipps' wonderfully light vocals are as strong as ever, and the sound is a perfect example of how to make a record that sounds as big as a stadium while still being driven by real emotion.

MITH is the most powerful album yet from a truly inspirational artist who deserves to be acknowledged as a national treasure.

As a whole, there is plenty of growth, craft, and quality songwriting here even if the approach is more polite than it used to be.

Metric synthesize the stadium rock of Fantasies, the moody hookiness of Pagans in Vegas, and the new wave spunkiness of their early albums into something that's recognizably their own, instantly memorable and one of their best overall albums yet.

This is the sound of a working band locking in on their groove.

As fine as Didn't It Rain was, This Too Shall Light better illustrates the diversity and power of Helm's abundant talent.

Some of the band's most entertaining and most challenging music, >>>'s eclectic experiments prove that the greater-than symbol at the end of Beak>'s name isn't just for show--they keep pushing forward, and it's thrilling to go along on the ride with them.