While the snap into tightly focused and sometimes more fiery songwriting is remarkable, the songs aren't as across-the-board strong as they'd need to be to make the entire album as remarkable as the shift it represents.

From a musical standpoint, Damn Right, Rebel Proud is every bit as solid as "Straight to Hell;"...But lyrically, too much of the time all Hank has to tell us is he's messed up and ready to rearrange some faces.

Though Funk's main gig with the Decemberists might seem to be about as far from Red Fang as you're likely to get, the producer's penchant for intricacy helps to lend the album a certain depth, channeling the band's inclination toward brute force into something altogether more expansive while still keeping the grittiness of their sound intact.

On Can't Touch Us Now, the smarts and the songwriting are closer to the forefront, and it's a fine showcase of what they still do well.

Collectively, the songs play like movements of a single work, making for a consistent set of low-light, David Lynch-ian ambience.

Even at their most dystopian, Orbital never lose their excitement for exploring new sounds, and Optical Delusion doesn't get bogged down in cynicism or nostalgia.

Vicious Creature is a wilder ride than might be expected -- at times, it feels like these songs have been pent up inside Mayberry for years -- but it's great to hear her own her music so fully.

The album retains Dear's personality while dutifully serving its function.

I'm Glad Trouble Don't Last Always isn't Luke Winslow-King's happiest album by a long shot, but it feels like his best so far, and finds him expanding his musical horizons without losing any ground along the way. This is a top-shelf exercise in soulful blues with plenty to say to the lovelorn and the satisfied alike.

Far from ordinary, Pure, Beyond Reproach is a trippy, dreamlike album that finds Egyptrixx further abandoning dance music conventions, resulting in some of his most fascinating work yet.

Like Rae Sremmurd and Migos, these big-bass trap anthems owe much to their club-friendly vibe, but offer little in terms of substance or lasting impact.

The record has a few interesting outlier songs, like the R&B-leaning Summer Walker duet "Difference Is" or the questionable country-trap experiment "Broadway Girls" with raspy hooks and twangy ad-libs by Morgan Wallen. For the most part, however, Lil Durk commands the flow of 7220 with emotionally complex lyrics that feel confessional and raw on more melancholic tracks like the Gunna-featuring "What Happened to Virgil" and out for blood on charged, confrontational moments like "AHHH HA."

The ever-present -- and ever-changing -- blend of grief and joy within Bleachers' music is always heartfelt, but it's rarely sounded as rousingly real as it does on Everyone for Ten Minutes.

A hallmark for the band, a culmination of their previous work, and -- upon its release -- their best album to date.

Everything comes together perfectly on Lady, from beginning to end it's a dream come true for lovers of classic soul; if it had been released in 1970, it would considered a timeless classic, talked about in the kind of reverent tones reserved for Lady Soul or What's Going On.

The streamlining does much for the album, giving the songs enough space to let their varied and often contrasting influences meld nicely with the band's unique visions.

The rest of Under the Blacklight feels like the Jenny Lewis show and even if this album doesn't push Rilo Kiley to the top, it's hard to deny that it feels like the launching pad for her ascent into true stardom.

Listeners willing to devote an hour--rather than a rushed five-minute scan of the first 30 seconds of each cut--to this unassuming little gem will likely want to revisit it again and again.

A clutch of unapologetically hedonistic singles in 2017 kept the Bomptown rapper visible and also pointed toward the approach taken with his third proper album.

Taking their sound in a new, unforeseen bluesy direction accomplishes the near impossible by making Marilyn Manson sound even more sinister than before.

What seems less successful are the English language efforts.

Bucks expectations and actually makes good on the indie rock promise of the band's full-length debut, 1998's overhyped albeit underwhelming I Become Small and Go.

Her confidence blossomed this time around and vocally, she's never sounded so good.

It’s hard to think of too many contemporary bands that are making such unapologetically sunny, pop-tinged rock and roll.

Ultimately Creature Comforts is another starry refraction in the cosmic music that Black Dice have claimed, one that hasn't failed yet in dazzling.

This album's 19 songs may seem interchangeable at times in both lyrical and production terms, but Kelly manages to write some great songs that cut through the clutter.

Franti and Spearhead almost made a deliberate attempt to stray from the typical hip-hop beats and go for something a bit more organic and acoustic than their previous efforts -- and the experiments more than pay off.

On the surface, there's not much different between this album and its predecessor, but the songs are stronger, sharper, and the performances are lean, muscular, and immediate.