While Blue Giant has the freshness and enthusiasm of a debut album, it also boasts the artistry and intelligence of a band with years of experience, and this music brings forth the joy of the best of both worlds.

This sprawling mosaic of 22 songs has more room for melody and nuance than any of their previous albums, and they divine many moods and sounds within their fuzz.

Dir en Grey are a band in their own genre at this point, and Dum Spiro Spero is the farthest-reaching testament to establish that as fact more than opinion.

They sound better and more focused than ever.

While Spirit in the Room matches its predecessor on a track-by-track level, it's only in those last moments that the whole package seems as thematically sound and well designed.

Very nicely done.

"Crooked Smile" with special guests TLC is a genuine, mature step in the right direction and will have no trouble reaching vintage age. A handful of other numbers carry that same weight, making Born Sinner a daring step forward for Cole and an exciting attempt at mastering Jay's Blueprint style.

A compact, lyrically diverse debut, Rebellious Soul makes it plain that K. Michelle should be supported enough to reverse her albums-to-mixtapes ratio.

There's no mistaking Days of Gold for anything earthy, but this sonic thawing winds up emphasizing Owen's inherent sweetness in an appealing fashion.

He's aware he's building upon a past he sometimes pines for, yet he's restless enough to forage ahead into new territory, but only when he's surrounded by cozy, familiar settings.

Sweet, smooth, sincere, and smart, Dreams is an unexpected plush pillow from the group.

The duo don't put a wrong foot forward, and they've made an album which creates that kind of mood perfectly, which isn't easy to do, and making for an even more impressive debut, it's their first attempt.

The story itself is compelling, but musically the album hovers somewhere between bland acoustic roots pop and overly earnest alt-rock.

He's wound up making records that are the new millennial equivalent of classic soft rock, records informed by the trends of the day but which place emphasis on melody and craft, which is why they resonate: they come on smooth and easy but have the foundation to last.

The issues raised on Bitter Tears are still relevant, and Look Again to the Wind reminds us that art can still speak eloquently about the best and worst parts of the human condition, and it's well worth investigating.

New York Before the War isn't quite a full-on rock & roll album, but it comes close enough that Malin has more space to move around than on his more subdued solo works, and he sounds energized and eloquent on these 13 tunes.

Frontman Michael Angelakos presents a gratitude-imbued, relatively ballad-heavy, but still sparkling third Passion Pit LP in Kindred.

Millencolin are no doubt a tad older and wiser, but even bereft of any of that context, True Brew manages to sound refreshingly vital, which is more than can be said about many of their contemporaries.

With equally quirky lyrics and coming in at under 30 minutes, Teen Men is a tight little ten-track parcel of kooky sweetness where head bobbing is unavoidable.

Negative Feedback Resistor is music made to smash the state--or at the very least deafen the enemies of the people.

Not quite classical, though certainly not pop, Postcards From is a fascinating meditation from the soul of a traveler.

While the album is technically one of Rumer's most faithfully old-school, it still sounds fresh, and the analog production aesthetic only works to magnify the purity, lyricism, and expressiveness of her voice.

Krall has a definite vision for Turn Up the Quiet--she wants to keep things smoky and subdued, a record for the wee hours--and the end result is so elegant, it seems effortless.

Produced by Mark Crew (Bastille, Rationale) and Catherine Marks (the Killers, Wolf Alice), the album features much of what has endeared the Liverpool trio to fans; especially vocalist/guitarist Matthew Murphy's literate, tongue-in-cheek self-awareness, which remains firmly intact.

In a way, with all its emphasis on over-achievement and a continuous supply of re-recounted autobiographical content, YSIV can be as mind-numbing as the mumble rap Logic rails against, but the proficiency and fervor are indisputable.

The Secret of Letting Go retains that balance of experimentation and pure feeling, and sounds perfectly at home within Lamb's discography.

Sombrou Dúvida feels like another strong set of jams with a constant flow of bells and whistles transforming it into a tripped-out daydream.

The album hits like the work of a solitary creator, however, its suffocating songs often warped by trippy arrangements, unpredictable turns, and out-of-tune components (including persistent double-tracking) all sound like the product of a singular, eccentric perspective.