This matured focus on concept and mood saves the album from becoming an odd catalog misstep, serving instead as a dignified artistic exercise that rewards the band's bravery by becoming the most heartfelt and poignant statement of their careers.

It doesn't scale the heights of either of their main projects, but it's far more consistent and enjoyable than might be expected.

What makes these moody moments striking is that Weiner hasn't renounced the power of rock & roll, nor his penchant for mischief; he isn't trumpeting a new direction, he's adding dimension to a band that already offers more than its fair share of surprise and pleasure.

Tracks like "Lost in Translation" and "Like a Battery" have a real old-school, balls-to-the-wall "rawk" sound which at times feels a bit simplistic, but is still a lot of fun. It sounds as if the band have outgrown the need to prove themselves with overt technicality and are happy to just enjoy rocking out.

Swindle aims high on No More Normal, which is clearly intended for a widespread audience rather than the U.K. underground massive, and its best moments are grand and inspirational.

Like the collage that adorns its cover, The Big Exercise can feel quite busy at times, but there is also a sense of refinement in the band's approach. A dueling sense of danger colliding with a strong attention to detail makes the Homesick all the more exciting.

Sorry You Couldn't Make It declares there should be a place for Swamp Dogg in the country pantheon alongside Charley Pride, Stoney Edwards, Darius Rucker, and the other brave artists who've confronted the color line in Nashville.

Plugs 2 is a typically intense, lyric-heavy offering from the skilled emcee. Combined with Fraud's nostalgic, sample-filled backing, the short set feels like a time machine to the golden age, only updated for the 2020s with crisp and impeccable production.

Mandy, Indiana clearly make music with the intention to disrupt, confront, and force the listener to question society's ethics, and their first album succeeds at all of these points.

While HAIM's songwriting is more prominent here than it was on Something to Tell You, it shares that album's emphasis on vibe, and though detours like "Spinning"'s pastel '80s R&B are entertaining, other songs get lost in the shuffle.

Country Funk: 1969-1975 illuminates a brief but fruitful period where genre lines blurred, and both genres benefitted mightily.

Though its songs about a world falling apart were difficult for DIIV to make, Frog in Boiling Water is their most cohesive work. It's a true slow burn of an album, capturing listeners by degrees and echoing the band's subtle yet dramatic growth since Oshin.

Using only guitars and drums, the Pharmacists whip up a powerful mix of wild abandon and subtlety that is a perfect backing for Leo's vocal dexterity and clanging guitar heroics.

If you know Sexsmith's work, then you already have a good idea of how good this album is, and if you don't, this is a fine place to get acquainted.

Even without many fast songs, it's a well-paced album.

Both acts mesh perfectly with each other, and Mental Wounds Not Healing is a brilliant, seamless collaboration.

The production gives everything a hazy, ethereal glow, but it makes all of the blazing guitar riffs and pounding drums resonate, rather than washing them out. Easily the band's most accomplished album to date.

This set takes the intermittent collaboration between these artists to a wonderful new level of creativity, communication, and nearly symbiotic experimentation.

Tio Bitar is Dungen's most realized album yet and should resonate with anyone who likes rock music at all.

Ejstes' fiddle playing is certainly missed, but that's a minor complaint from an otherwise top-notch effort.

The good news is that this album proves they are top-level purveyors of pop. The bad is that the eccentricity that once flowed freely feels forced.

Change's artful, heartfelt expressions of frustration and hope aren't just perfect for the transformative time in which they appeared, they're also an exciting and satisfying reintroduction to Anika the solo artist.

Front to back, Relentless, Reckless Forever is probably the most consistent Children of Bodom release yet.

Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland chronicles a typically strong, consistent Rush show.

Architects have embraced change, and although they're still mindful of the sound that got them where they are, their refusal to be beholden to it makes Lost Forever, Lost Together one of their most exciting records to date.

This set might not be as insularly perfect as the Secret Sisters' first album, but it's ultimately just as impressive, if not more so, breaking the duo out of that "honky tonk made of fine glass" feel that could have easily trapped them creatively and artistically.

Muscular but graceful, The Westerner is as effective as anything Doe has released in his solo career. It confirms that at the age of 63, he hasn't run out of ideas and is not afraid to challenge himself.

At first blush, this is not one of Anderson's most immediately engaging albums, but it has a meandering charm that works its magic over time.