Metal Church seem to have finally found the sweet spot between the thrash-kissed days of yore and the more traditional yet no less meaty metal stylings of their 21st century incarnation.

Earth into Aether is an opportune entrance point for those new to the artist, doubling as a well-curated playlist for established fans.

A much different but just as powerful statement as their debut, the Magnetic North have once again crafted something that is wholly unique.

His mixtapes certainly feel more "alive" and offer more variety, but couple them with this deeper, hard-hitting album, and the full Young Dolph picture becomes both clear and more attractive.

Advancement ends up being an appropriate title, as this album largely dispenses with the cheesy elements that marred previous Solar Bears recordings, resulting in their most accomplished and enjoyable release to date.

The result is an album of angular yet immediately memorable hooks bathed in a fizzy mix of rock guitars, candy-coated synths, and gigantic drumbeats.

Frothing with haze and sultriness, Luck or Magic is unlikely to either surprise or disappoint established fans, and likely to seduce, in general.

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.

Brilliant Sanity's musings on uncertainty are some of their most confident songs yet.

All of the material contained in this set is essential listening, as it chronicles the most groundbreaking period of a group who consistently explored new terrain with each successive release.

Fans of Zombie's rockabilly occult schtick will appreciate this new volume--not only for its respectful nod to his legacy--but also because it's Zombie giving them what they want: freaky fun that entertains, shocks, and rocks.

Konono No. 1 Meets Batida is a resoundingly successful collaboration, and any cut from it would sound absolutely killer on a dancefloor.

If Mockingbird Time was a reminder of how well Olson and Louris compliment one another, this album demonstrates that Louris still knows how to make a memorable album as the group's sole leader.

King Gizzard's inventive sound, giant hooks, and hard-as-titanium playing make Nonagon Infinity not only their best album yet, but maybe the best psych-metal-jazz-prog album ever. That can be debated, but at the very least artists like the Flaming Lips, Ty Segall, and others who think they are doing something cool and weird should check it out and take a few notes.

It's About Time feels full-blooded and alive, the work of a man who wants to make a little noise while he still can.

[Domo Genesis] still talks about weed and weirdness, and sometimes with a star-studded guest list, as the killer "Go (Gas)" features Wiz Khalifa, Juicy J, and Tyler, The Creator. Mac Miller figures into the great "Coming Back", but the bits about Domo's family, his autistic brother, and his own search for self make this a meatier album than expected.

Dark, dislodged, and blown out while still being approachable, Better Strangers is a very impressive album.

Taken together, Craft delivers a fun and loose breakup album replete with colorful characters, memorable tunes, and an even more memorable vocal delivery--a noteworthy debut.

With 12 songs that include the band's usual absence of lazy filler, Delusions of Grand Fur is a sturdy and worthwhile outing that's likely to please and impress fans.

The Ship is a memorial to and meditation on history and human foibles. Just as importantly, it places an exclamation point on Eno's career as curiosity, experimentation, chance, and form gel; his relentless sense of adventure remains undiminished by time.

The cathartic and wounded moments here resonate in a manner matched by few, if any, of Beyoncé's contemporaries. She sometimes eclipses herself in terms of raw emotion, as on the throttling Jack White encounter "Don't Hurt Yourself." At the low-volume end, there's more power in the few seconds she chokes back tears while singing "Come back"--timed with the backing vocal in Isaac Hayes' version of "Walk on By"--than there is in most contemporary ballads.

I Long to See You is well worth investigating even if, at times, it is overly tentative.

The album is a hypnotic, slightly silly expression of physical as well as spiritual desires.

Ty Segall's influence may permeate Feels, but these musicians have enough ideas of their own to give this a compelling sound and personality of their own.

Apart from the relatively lively pulse of the aching "Another One," everything plays out at slow-jam tempo, and the vocals often slip into falsetto mode with lapses in enunciation. The duo is at their most effective on finale "The Line," a bare, subtly churchified pleader.

Overall, there's nothing very slick to be heard. Like they did on the excellent Feast of Love, Pity Sex do a great job of balancing noise with melody, using both in equal amounts throughout the record and always making good use of shoegaze's standard loud-quiet dynamics.

The album sounds as billowing and ethereal as one would expect from a solo harpist, but Lattimore's sense of experimentation gives her a distinctive sound, and At the Dam is simply a magnificent album.

The album sounds like it was spontaneously recorded and bashed out on cheap instruments onto a malfunctioning tape deck, and there are several tracks that cut off or feel like the tape has been smudged. Even as the music barely holds together, it still sounds like something Moothart obsessed over and poured all his conflicting emotions into.