This may be a flashback to the sound of a decade prior, but after getting so far away from their metal roots, most fans will agree that this balance of creepy ambience and pummeling riffs is a welcome return to form.

The amount of growth is staggering, and moving from the hazy-headed territory of older Ducktails to songwriting this polished and still pulling it off speaks volumes for the purity of the project's development, as well as Mondanile's refreshed vision as an artist.

While longtime fans might be a bit perplexed by the shift, they will find plenty of familiar ground to cling to as the record plays and the smartly written and tear-filled songs follow one after another.

Local Natives' sophomore effort, 2013's Hummingbird, is a more atmospheric and introspective collection of songs in contrast to the band's effusive 2009 breakthrough debut Gorilla Manor.

Even if they quit after this, the album will stand as one of the best duet records of the era.

With Stones, Gustafsson and Stetson have encountered not only one another in a magical way, but they communicate the power of beauty itself.

Never bland, the Daredevil Christopher Wright rise from good to great when they let their freak flag fly and allow their true weird personalities to come out.

Perhaps what's most interesting about the album in the end is how something that theoretically consists of dated approaches in its bubbling mix of electro-rock and '70s dub and more seems to suit 2012 just fine, a sleek collage no more out of place than any other number of similarly backward-glancing efforts around the globe.

Occasionally, Callers' sheer prowess on these songs is almost overwhelming; but though Life of Love's relative restraint made it a more accessible on first listen, Reviver unlocks even more possibilities for the band.

True Hallucinations is an impressive debut and one of the purest, most innocent-sounding pop records anyone is likely to make in the ironic, convoluted era in which they exist.

The glinting "Glue" and well-titled "Snap" excepted, they [the nine remaining tracks, all instrumentals] lack the muscle of Chung's earlier releases, but they're more evocative--detailed enough to withstand numerous plays whenever comforting, if downcast and unobtrusive, abstract hip-hop is sought.

The opposite of a sophomore slump, Wash the Sins Not Only the Face is sleek and spectral, and finds Esben and the Witch casting their spell even more successfully.

Despite Nightlands' scientific approach, Oak Island doesn't sound sterile or too calculated; instead, Hartley revisits the innocence of the past with sophistication, like seeing the places you went when you were 17 with new eyes.

Complete and correct, Goldenheart is a triumph.

When all the songs are put together, it adds up to an album that's easy to enjoy.

Everything on this impressive outing fits together like honey and smoke in a warm but vibrant Texas breeze.

It's another impressive album that shows Haden to be a truly talented singer and vocal arranger, and one that fans of movie music done in a non-traditional fashion should find quite interesting.

True North shows flashes of their earlier work, and is a step up from their last album, 2010's The Dissent of Man, in terms of aggression.

There's too much going on in every individual song and, at 17 cacophonic tracks, Adam Ant Is the BlueBlack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter is simply way too much to take in at once...and yet, that's precisely its charm.

In the end, however, the album's coherence comes in its incredible architecture of all these ideas, and the way the band sells them with everything they've got, taking what could be incredibly obtuse music back into the realm of pop from which it was born.

Almanac proves that Widowspeak can embrace more traditional sounds without feeling stuffy, as well as make music that's much more eclectic than might have been expected.

Depending on your predilection, it will either bore the crap out of you, pass on by like a rest stop without a vending machine, or reignite the flame for a band that has always celebrated, as Lowery sings on 1989's "All Her Favorite Fruit," the "fecundity of life and love."

Wolf's Law, the second studio album from The Joy Formidable, finds the Welsh trio building upon its already gargantuan sound with remarkable aplomb.

Ultimately though, whether robotic or human, binary or organic, it is Ra Ra Riot's gift for addictive, romantic songcraft that gives Beta Love its heart.

It may not be the most immediately exciting album of his career, but it is the most impressive and affecting.

Ultimately, My True Story is a smooth, mostly laid-back, and soulful recording by Neville.

It's fascinating to find that his dogged research has loaded these self-penned pieces with all of the mystery, language, and myth usually found in years-old traditional ballads.

Much like the best of Eno's ambient work, Centralia is captivating without demanding attention, instead letting the listener wander into its web on their own.