Underwood is taking risks for the first time. Nearly all of them pay off. ... The result is an album as satisfying as it is surprising.

A triumph, Chris reaffirms just how masterfully she engages minds, hearts, and bodies.

That AAARTH feels cathartic comes as no surprise, as the trio have long been purveyors of both aural and emotional heft, but this time around they've managed to crystallize both aesthetics into something truly sublime, fulfilling the promise set forth on 2011's The Big Roar.

As tender as it is uncompromising, Wanderer is exactly the album Marshall needed to make at this point in her career and life. It's some of her most essential music, in both senses of the word.

This box winds up as a fitting tribute to a rocker whose touch was so casual, he could be easy to take for granted, but when his work is looked at as a whole, he seems like a giant.

The Window remains an intensely intimate listen, as if Salvant and Fortner are playing just for you.

Although Trench requires a few spins to really register, it's ultimately rewarding and fully immersive, delivering a depth and gravity at which Twenty One Pilots only hinted on Blurryface.

They've made a classic pop record that deserves play by anyone who recognizes that songs don't need to make the most noise or be the shiniest new thing to have an impact in the emotional life of the listener. Sometimes gentle and calm gets the job done, and that is definitely the case here.

Robyn continues to make the trends instead of following them, and with Honey, she enters her forties with some of her most emotionally satisfying and musically innovative music.

Universal Beings is unique from any other jazz recording in 2018: It marries virtuoso musicianship, technological savvy, a keen editor's ear for creative inspiration, and a plethora of almighty grooves.

Despite FM!'s brevity, Staples jams so much into every bar that it fully satiates, all while still managing to end so abruptly that it comes as a surprise. The electrifying thrill of FM! is a triumph for the rapper who remains at the top of his game.

By any measure, More Blood, More Tracks is a monumentally important document in the history of popular music and a gem in Dylan's catalog.

What makes Interstate Gospel so invigorating is hearing how Lambert, Monroe, and Presley mesh as both songwriters and singers. Their time apart has only strengthened their bond, resulting in a fully realized and resonant record that is their best to date.

Chris Cornell is a reverential capstone that charts the tortured artist's highs and lows, providing an ideal first step for anyone wishing to dive deeper into the impressive catalog of one of rock's loudest and most emotive voices.

Simultaneously sad, strange, and warmly nostalgic, Some Rap Songs is excitingly listenable and emotionally connected despite its abstruse approach. The album's triumphs are in its fearless risk taking and the insight it allows into the journey of Earl Sweatshirt's constant creative regeneration.

DiCaprio 2 surpasses everything the rapper offered before it, with his strengths in full focus at a level that can't help but remind of the career peaks of greats that came before him.

Throughout Remind Me Tomorrow, she plumbs the depths of contentedness, setting her satisfaction to a sound that's nominally dark yet strangely comforting and nourishing. Even if this album doesn't speak to your specific life, it will nevertheless enrich it.

With Love Hates What You Become, Lost Under Heaven hit you in the heart right out of the gate, but then spend the rest of the album building you back up, hammering a crack into reality to let the light in. The album sticks with you even after coming to its crashing end.

Amo is a genre-bending thrill ride that marks a brave new era for the band. Placing a significant amount of trust in their fan base, Bring Me the Horizon deliver an utterly refreshing and forward-thinking statement that finds them in complete control of their vision.

While there's not any major conceptual through-line here, one of the most impressive aspects of Five is the album's balanced flow, which evokes the A- and B-side aesthetic of the vinyl age.

Though earlier albums saw her crafting a strange otherworld, the perpetual sunset hinted at before is painted here in new dimensions, making this set of songs her best and easiest to revisit.

A singer who not only knows what she wants but knows that she's wanted, and that attitude unites and propels thank u, next through its ballads and R&B jams, turning it into an album that embodies every aspect of Ariana Grande, the grand pop star.

Aan invaluable resource for aficionados of this very weird, very exciting period of music. The set is certainly the equal of the essential junk shop glam collections that have come before it, and the care and thought put into it might even make it better. Either way, fans of the sound and era should be glad that this sound is being dug up again.

Ellis may have suggested this level of melodic songcraft on his previous albums, but he never hinted at this wit, and his dexterous combination of craft and humor makes Texas Piano Man a rich, resonant good time.

PSYCHODRAMA has all the makings of a generational classic. Packing dense lyricism, poignant introspection, and resonant production into a neatly compiled concept, Dave's debut album is the product of a MC beyond his years, standing firmly among the Godfathers and Made in the Manors as one of the strongest British rap albums of the decade.

Plastic Anniversary is both relevant to its time and another well-conceived, thought-provoking chapter in their long-running career.

Cows on Hourglass Pond is an uncluttered and beautifully direct reading of Portner's always-opaque songwriting. The best tracks are among his strongest and the entire record finds Portner opening up the gates of noise and abstraction that can cloud his productions just enough for listeners to get a better look at his mysterious but friendly world as it evolves.

Ancestral Recall is a stylistically and culturally dynamic album borne out of Scott's deep awareness of his New Orleans roots and African American history, and his ability to push his forward-thinking post-bop skills into musical traditions far beyond jazz. However, the real revelation is that the album also manages to feel intensely personal, imbued throughout with a deep sensuality and romantic creative vision that feels distinctly his own.