The album's quirky appeal is reflective of Rooney's self-assuredness as musicians.

So, even if it's wrapped in new clothing, this is essentially a return to basics, and it's a welcome one, since it's melodic, stately, and somber.

For those of you that like to dress in long trench coats, leave trails of incense, hang out at Borders, sip down inflated decaf mocha javas, and quietly (but not too quietly) discuss the contradictory, post-modern feminist and Marxist attitudes in last week's Buffy episode while keeping an eye out for all those moody sorts perusing the tattoo section -- Poem will sound amazing. For the rest, it's a ponderous machine of put-upon tribal chants and cod-industrial loops that runs on empty from start to finish.

The record is rather safe, lacking an adventurousness that is only touched upon and possibly kept under wraps for the sake of not seeming like too much of a departure.

This is an average album by a promising band who needs to find a distinct identity.

Vapor Trails does an amiable job of signaling the welcomed return of Rush.

It's actually a fair album for two main reasons: the new lead single, "Slow Jamz," and the killer guest productions of Kanye West.

No matter the number of bright moments, you can't help but feel that Jadakiss has his best days ahead of him.

There's an excessive attention to detail to each song, and that tunnel vision means each song runs about a minute or two longer than it should.... That's unfortunate because the core of the album is quite good.

The Starlight Mints weren't excessively ambitious in the studio and the coolness of Built on Squares makes for a pleasant listen while capturing a band in the making.

The Offspring's most musically mature collection to date. The arrangements are tight and don't bore, which is sometimes the case with albums that feature similar-sounding songs.

It's All in Your Head doesn't have the punch that Eve 6's previous albums possessed.

It's hard not to wish that the songs stuck in your head the way they used to, even if it's still enjoyable as a whole.

It's hard to shake the feeling that the National is highly influenced by and studied in the bands it emulates, but the album is still worth a listen for fans of moody country-tinged lounge music.

You Can Feel Me is a genuinely funky, finely produced album that often bypasses white b-boy cheekiness.

Outside of the Bacharach album, it's his best in a long time. But in order to know that, you will have to have dilligently listened to everything from Spike on -- and if you got off the bus around then, it's harder than ever to get back on.

The album doesn't have the detail of character that made Michelle Branch so appealing the first time out.

Still dour and humorless, but pruned of its experimental tendencies, Ministry delivered its first solid record in a decade.

A genuine disappointment after the creative comeback of Stereo.

Boomkatalog.One is a clever marriage of technology, creativity, and straight-up sass that gets away with being much more enjoyable than it might deserve.

Despite some tedious melodramatics, Fall Back Open is a decent sophomore effort.

Few will ever refer to this as a classic, though even fewer will ever think of this as a poor showing.

She may be older now, but she still sounds like a little girl, which undercuts both the glistening, sensual midtempo grooves that dominate the album and the big, booming uptempo cuts that offer a change of pace.

Ultimately too derivative to fully enjoy.

There's nothing wrong with a change of pace, but there's a startling lack of depth in either the words, which are entirely too literal, or the music, whose hooks are at once too obvious and not ingratiating enough.

The problem is that the songwriting has gotten a little mannered, a little undistinguished, and the performances, while sturdy, tend to be slightly flat.

This willfully noisy, messy album is ultimately just as contrived as the band's glossier sound was, and the shift from The Guest's winsome pop -- which was also a shift from their debut's heavily Weezer-influenced sound -- makes it difficult to get a grip on the band.

Uneven, especially compared to their earlier records, and less ambitious than the "bring it on" misinterpretation of the title might make you think.