Ultimately, on Dark Black, Train is a master at keeping us on the edge of our seats.

Many listeners won't have the patience to sit it out, but the album has a surprising ability to draw one into its cavernous rooms and pitch black fields of noise.

Flowers' best moments are often the loudest, and they sound all the fresher because they're just as inviting as Sin Fang's more intimate music.

Apart from the increased cohesion, the quality of the songwriting is far higher, reminding us of the astonishing promise and tossed-off ease of Banhart's early material, and suggesting that his detours into less exciting sounds were just part of a journey that might be much longer and more rewarding than expected.

Even if their meditations on heartbreak and death can be overwhelming occasionally, If You Leave proves that Daughter can channel a single mood over the course of an entire album with often exquisite results.

As the Soft Hills continue to hone their sound, the moments of spaced-out production meeting tender harmony make more sense, as do the blasts of fuzz and tension.

While operating inside their own little corner of the musical world, Clutch made a reputation for themselves based on solid songwriting, lyrical weirdness, and quality--all of which are present on Earth Rocker, which is still unmistakably a Clutch album.

The style of music ranges from heady precision punk to rustic acoustic folk, but because the artists on board share in the same optimistic indie spirit, the compilation plays cohesively from start to finish.

Mellow, abstract, and alluring, this worthwhile journey also offers Underworld fans a clear picture of Hyde's artistic contribution to the group.

Transit break the emo-pop formula and head in a pleasant, pleasurable, indie-centric direction for their second album on Rise.

13 is a much more natural sounding effort than the group's 2009 EP Black Cocaine.

If the album isn't quite a classic, it does represent its time in an unhurried, unselfconscious way: this is what big-budget rock sounded like in the mid-'70s, and expanding it to such an extravagant size doesn't hurt it because it always was bigger and bolder than its competitors.

For fans of the members' other groups, Palms' debut is an easy recommendation that will leave listeners enjoying the similarities and getting lost exploring the differences.

In a way, the Black Dahlia Murder have figured out how to create a new sound not by innovation, but invitation, welcoming bits and pieces from all over the metal world to make something exciting and exhilarating.

Fans of the Maine are going to have an easy time falling in love with this one, but anyone looking for a new slice of that (relatively) old alt-rock sound should give Forever Halloween a chance to get its hooks into them.

Albatross is a good album for what it is, a new project from a band that seems frozen in the mid-'90s.

Some Congo Natty regulars, including vocalists Nanci Correia and Phoebe "Iron Dread" Hibbert, give the album a proper family feel, and with all these things in place, it's just natural to explain the album's worth with an old-school exclamation like "massive."

If this package can sometimes feel a little too pat, put the blame on producer Tom Hambridge, who also helmed Skin Deep and Living Proof and now has a track record of pushing Guy just enough to form a narrative but not enough to break him out of the box.

The only real misstep on the extremely likable Absolute Zero is the forgettable "Red and Blue," a perfectly good song that's ruined by an oppressive (and dated) amount of Auto-Tune, a gimmick that should never be wasted on people who can actually sing.

These are songs that build in slow, flowing layers held together by dusky, swirling keyboard parts and Boldt's low, everyman baritone vocals.

Oh Land's schizophrenic blend of girly club beats, icy electro-pop, and wistful balladry falls somewhere between Grimes, Lykke Li, Goldfrapp, and Robyn, and while it doesn't always work, it never stops working hard to get there.

Describing just what Marijuana Deathsquads are up to on Oh My Sexy Lord isn't simple, but after taking a taste, don't be surprised if you ask for another dose before demanding to know the ingredients.

There are several milestones in Kidjo's nearly 30-year recording career; Eve is certainly one of them.

After the Burial might have a sound that's heavier and more mechanical than their prog forefathers, but that doesn't diminish the massive amounts of technical and creative power at work on Wolves Within.

The songs sound sad but each carries hope somehow, although a little jump and joy here and there might have given this set a little more spark. Life is lived in the sunshine, too.

Shine On, as a whole, has a similar trajectory; it starts from simple, sad emotions, then builds out into an embrace of love and life.

The result is a relaxed, conversational album with stronger songs than some of the band's earlier efforts, looking over concepts of aging gracefully without succumbing to the clichés that often come along with such trains of thought.

While listeners will have to wait a little longer for a break in the clouds, Ndegeocello and her associates have soundtracked yet another emotional storm in vivid, enthralling fashion.