Unfortunately, the bar set by these songs was an awfully high one, so although the creation of Circles… was no doubt a cathartic experience, the songs here aren't likely to become the first choice for any old-school Soul Coughing lovers.

The mood album implied by the title is really a mood EP waiting to be extracted, but approach it as a normal Kaskade effort with a bit more risk and a bit more richer music and the rewards will follow suit.

Now, Then & Forever demonstrates the lasting value of the band's classic sound.

Clocking in at over an hour, Soma is by no means a brief experience, but Windhand's ability to craft doom that actually feels dynamic makes the album the sort of meditative journey that metal fans would be foolish not to embark upon.

While still plenty noisy and messy-headed, Sky Larkin sound their most organized on Motto, and the deeper focus they apply to their energetic sounds is what makes the end results work better than any of their previous albums.

Ultimately, with Brass, the Royal Bangs have tested their musical mettle and created a possible future classic to be appreciated for years to come.

When the Devil Wears Prada strays from the typical modern metal formula with progressive ideas, the results are almost always favorable, and 8:18 finds the sextet at their most provocative and heavy.

While the jumping-off points are clear, enough personality and disjointed arrangement keep More moving along in a way more familiarly dreamy than derivative.

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.

Though Negativity bounces around a little, its tormented core and multifaceted musical approach make it one of Deer Tick's most consistent and enjoyable albums.

There is a whiff of condescension to some of the blue-collar anthems, the air is often haughty ("The Night the Pugilist Learned How to Dance")--but this is Sting's tightest collection of songs in ages, and they all play off each other, adding up to a cohesive whole that is surely one of his best latter-day records.

Au Revoir Simone came back to show their contemporaries a thing or two about being a great synth pop band.

Outsides is yet another strange installment in Frusciante's unabashedly weird and sometimes uncomfortably naked evolution as a solo artist.

It's an ironic title for an album that's so sure, and even if his early fans frown as their dancing shoes collect dust, complaining about what doesn't happen on Lost seems silly when compared to the wonderful and intoxicating things that actually do.

Take Me to the Land of Hell delivers performances with the kind of weight--and lightness--that can only come from an artist entering her ninth decade.

In essence, the album is everything you could want, finding Mazzy Star older and wiser, but still as dreamy as ever.

This Is...Icona Pop is a consistently fun album, and it would be even without their big single.

Having grabbed their career by the horns with Mechanical Bull, it's clear that Kings of Leon aren't letting it get away from them anytime soon.

Nothing Was the Same doesn't show large amounts of growth, but the small changes to the sound and the slightly wider net his lyrics cast make it worthwhile.

There's a disarming emotional directness to The Bones of What You Believe that makes it a unique, fully realized take on a style that seemed close to being played out.

All People is about feeling good and hopeful. Split this collection of peace and sunshine down the middle for greatest effect.

While a few more songs on this level would have taken Hell Bent from good to great, the vibrancy Potty Mouth bring to angsty reflections like "Sleep Talk" and kiss-offs like "Shithead" (one of the few times the band actually sounds riot grrrl-ish) makes it the kind of album listeners can take to heart.

There aren't enough songs like "Recollection" and the very poppy "Room 14 (I'm Fine)" to counteract the moments of heaviness, though, and the album ends up being capsized by the sheer heaviness of the majority of the songs.

Young always seemed a shade too earnest on his earlier records so this unabashed embrace of country-pop--one that wasn't necessarily pushed on him, based on the six co-writes he has here, almost all of them among the poppier material--is at first a little startling but it winds up being the right direction for an artist whose greatest asset has always been his inherent likeability.

While it's no shock that the bandmembers had an album like this in them after all this time, Saves the Day's effervescence makes for a pleasant surprise, giving listeners a brief escape from their day into a world filled with poppy hooks and sparkling melody.

There is much that is admirable about The Diving Board--the feel is spacious and haunting, the ambition is commendable--but the emphasis on tone over song means it leaves only wistful wisps of melancholia behind with the actual songs seeming like faded, distant memories.

It's still a label sampler at heart, so a pre-love of platinum gangsta music and that slick Maybach sound are still advised.

Great things happen all over The Roaring 20s, an album where the cool kids become the smart kids while losing none of their baller status.