A genuinely moving -- and beautifully performed -- record from start to finish.

They're one of the most consistent bands in metal, and this is a terrific example of them playing to their strengths.

The album traces a journey through personal hell to salvation, which is not all that different from the story told in other religious music.

It's no turning point in a field populated by dozens of elder space cadets and mood architects, from Massive Attack to Spacek to Sa-Ra. As a flawed first step from a young newcomer, however, it's impressive.

Does fall just short at times of mimicking a brand of saccharine faux-post-big-band jazz that flourished in the '50s and early '60s, but Haden and his team are too masterful to allow their tribute to lose its stylishness.

Often, the individual pieces of this patchwork pop are more captivating than the overall image, yet there's still an undeniable appeal to Urie and Smith's crazed earnest energy.

It's a bit of a surprise that this album sounds like a watered-down diluted Urban Hymns, with all the romantic darkness turned into something cheerfully dippy.

A loud and obnoxious ruckus.

Although the rage gauge occasionally hits the red, the melodies are too sugary and catchy to feel sincerely scathing.

Much of the album is ruminative in a way that leans heavily on Dylan and Costello. Despite these echoes, the album is quite clearly Geldof's creation.

[Woomble] continues his journey into cozy-pipe-and-slippers-middle age on 12 folk-pop tracks which further distance him from his angsty, indie rock beginnings.

Of limited appeal, but appealing nonetheless.

It's not particularly big or, indeed, clever, but it's a return to form that might just stop the rot, even if it's unlikely to reverse their fortunes dramatically.

It's a shame this little team [Dee Dee, producer Gottehrer and Raveonettes' Wagner]couldn't make more records like this.

Wasted in Jackson is the work of a music industry pro who also has a genuine, unaffected natural talent for vintage soul and blues styles.

It's a confident debut, bristling with energy.

For her second solo album, the Dresden Dolls' Amanda Palmer slapped together an album-full of songs about Australia and New Zealand to coincide with her 2011 tour of the Australian continent.

If you want to know why Snider has a loyal and growing following as a live act, Live: The Storyteller will tell you all you need to know about his rapport with a crowd and his way of making his songs and stories come to life.

Those who don't like rootsy ballads are in for some slim pickings, since Barton Hollow shines its brightest whenever the tempos slow, the lights dim, and the voices rise up.

936 sounds like being nestled in a warm basement during the coldest winter in recent history, or the feeling of waking from a dream, somehow suspended all day.

The album is full of the complex love songs and working-class vignettes that McKenna is so good at... [filled] with McKenna's usual grace and subtle poetry.

If this was meant to be an experiment in art rock, it's an admirably efficient one, and it rocks out, too.

The Baseball Project doesn't do fluff songs on the subject, though, and the songs on this second outing, like they were on the first, are intelligently written and arranged, running the full spectrum of emotions that baseball can inspire in a fan, and in so doing, the best of the songs rise above novelty to grapple with the passions and difficulties of life itself.

This unforgiving return to form doesn't suffer from being over-thought and it's not even overwrought, but it is overstuffed at 14 tracks.

The best moments are bathed in a warm radiance that fosters a comforting, uplifting mood.... However, the content isn't exclusively cerebral, uplifting, and/or surreal.

A charmingly lush and wistful affair which proves that their unexpected Ivor Novello nominations were no fluke.

Fans of the early dream pop stuff may have difficulties accepting a cleaner, more synthesized pop approach.

A firebrand debut album, Talk About Body celebrates the struggle and freedom in defying easy classification.