Ultraviolet represents a further refinement of the new direction they've been heading in, making it not only the bands most accessible work to date, but also their most purposefully written and solidly constructed, putting it in the running for the best album of their career.

Homme has marshaled all of his strengths on ...Like Clockwork and has found a way forward, a way to deepen his music without compromising his identity.

Here it results in some of their best and most confident work to date.

Denser and fathoms deeper, this is some kind of leap.

The influence of early Sabbath has become so omnipresent that it's come back to influence its very creators 40 years later, but the results are unexpectedly brilliant, apocalyptic, and essential for any die-hard metal fan.

While Coco and Hannibal are doing it a little less softly now, they're still killing 'em.

The consistent excellence of Tomorrow's Harvest is as comforting as a collection of quietly menacing android fever dreams like these could possibly be.

The 14 barebones blasts that make up the record serve not just as a testament to the group's legendary status, but a reminder of the ageless spirit of rock & roll at its most fundamental level.

This perfectionism, present in the sonics and in the complex arrangements, makes Field of Reeds the most challenging title in their catalog and also the most groundbreaking.

Many bands go through their entire career without making an album as well crafted, fully realized, and downright gorgeous as Sunbather, and somehow, Deafheaven have managed to nail it on their second outing, with an album that seems to get bigger and more affective with each listen.

Whether dealing out breakbeat punishments like "777," wriggling dubstep like "Ascension," or mystical funk like "Isis," he sounds like no one else, simultaneously street and chic, enticing and elusive.

Lickety Split is not only a joyous, unhindered return to form, but the group's finest studio offering to date.

My Favorite Picture of You is simply a wonderful, balanced gem of an album from a masterful songwriter.

In Search is outsider art at its best. Guided by Martin's vision and shaped via collective process, it uses familiar forms to create a spaced-out language all its own; it is a listening experience like no other.

Other bands thinking about re-forming would do well to follow their lead and not just get back together to play the hits and count the cash, but instead create something vital and relevant; something that makes the group's continued existence worthwhile.

It's not only her biggest and most ambitious production to date, but also the album that best showcases her gift for communicating complex emotional entanglements so simply and clearly they become almost weightless.

This is an impressive job by a child-prodigy instrumentalist who has accomplished the very difficult task of continuing to challenge himself in productive ways as an adult.

The clashes in sound become the very skeletons for the songs, and the songwriting is more fearless and honest than ever before, marking a distinct maturity for No Age and resulting in their best work to date.

Loud City Song is Holter's most polished work to date, and another example of how she upholds and redefines what it means to be an avant-garde singer/songwriter.

Seventeen discs may be an enormous undertaking, and admittedly some of the road is rocky, but the journey Harry Nilsson takes on The RCA Albums Collection is distinctive and thrilling, whether it's heard for the first or 40th time.

Hesitation Marks makes it quite clear that Trent Reznor is no longer an angry young man but rather a restless, inventive artist who is at peace with himself, and the result is a record that provides real, lasting nourishment.

Case has proven time and again that she has the songwriting chops to match her earthy, superlative voice, but never with such authority.

It's Goldfrapp's most sophisticated work to date, and one of their most consistently satisfying albums.

With the incentive of live material for old fans and the sheer brilliance on offer when these records are taken together, The Warner Bros. Years is a powerful testament to Earle's second act.

This is as complete as we'll get and if it doesn't present any fresh revelations, it brings the Clash's era back to life, both sonically and visually.

NMA's version of Junior Kimbrough's "Meet Me in the City" here almost sounds like power pop, but filtered through a rustic moonshine filter. Every track here is like that, roaring into the 21st century sounding big, urgent, and huge, but so grounded in the local folk-blues tradition that each track seems to carry imprinted DNA that says boogie all over it.

This album shows Wong at his most refined and compositional, maintaining the spontaneous spirit of his playing while delivering a final product more focused and satisfying than anything he's done before.

It's the work of an artist at the absolute top of her game, and as a result, Herein Wild ranks as one of the best, most inspired and inspiring, albums of 2013.