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

An enticing listen.

Quarter Turns Over a Living Line is the group's fine and uneasy full-length debut.

Twenty years after the release of Keep on Your Mean Side -- a time when many acts consolidate their sound into something safe and reliable -- Mosshart and Hince are still at the top of their game.

mately, despite his loftier intentions, this works perfectly well as another excellent Chuck Prophet collection that for most listeners only marginally adheres to its stated concept but is no less impressive because of that.

Stand for Myself is a stunner with plenty of emotional firepower, but it can also feel soft as a wool blanket.

The vital In Times of Dragons whisks Amos back to hallowed days, penetrating the soul and shaking foundations in a manner that hasn't been heard since Pele, Choirgirl, Scarlet, or Posse.

Doubt can be crippling, but it also serves a positive purpose here, as Bazan has rarely sounded so convincing in his vocal delivery or songwriting.

With Telecasters and drums driving, and Valenzuela's mariachi trumpet singing above it, it's a cracking way to close an album that defines what Americana is.

Ndegeocello is making some of the finest music of her life.

Despite some deservedly hard edges, it's this vision of an open-hearted, open-bordered U.S.A. that gives All American Made its lasting power.

Malcolm Middleton's moody musical constructions -- sometimes punchy, sometimes hallucinatory and somnolent -- positively glisten in the live setting, and serve due notice that the most important trait of the band is its sound.

No, it's not quite the same as another Pavement album, but its literate, funny eclecticism is almost as irresistible.

Like its companion recording, Nino Rojo is about the shared delight of new encounters with music and language and is an adventure in the hearing.

Hiatt's band (Yates McKendree on guitar, Patrick O'Hearn on bass, Kenneth Blevins on drums, Kevin McKendree on keys) lays a lean but eloquent groove behind his performances, and the audio is rich and clear. One hopes for his sake that John Hiatt's life is happier than The Eclipse Sessions may suggest, but either way he's given us a dark night of the soul that's compelling and beautifully crafted.

Pale Horse Rider is lonely, lamenting, and distant but beautifully warm, marrying Hanson's love of psychedelic experimentation with a more cosmic take on country. It's more immediate than his sometimes-deranged earlier work, but never so straitlaced as to feel safe or predictable.

Perfect listening for solitude, Ookii Gekkou discovers strange beauty within the mundane -- and once again demonstrates that Vanishing Twin's imagination is boundless, even when the world only extends as far as the walls around them.

While Everybody Can't Go won't surprise anyone who has been following Benny, it does live up to his standards, and confirms his status as a major player in the rap industry.

Grush clearly finds µ-Ziq in comfortable territory, but he's still trying new things, and his work is still highly enjoyable.

Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light, Vol. 1 represents a further shift in Earth's evolution. It is darker -- even sinister -- and undoubtedly heavier than Bees, but it is more seductive with its mantra-like droning repetition and more elegantly detailed in its textural dimension.

It not only eclipses the first Gorillaz album, which in itself was a terrific record, but stands alongside the best Blur albums, providing a tonal touchstone for this decade the way Parklife did for the '90s.

At only 25 minutes with another part in reserve, this effectively leaves listeners wanting more. Even certain tracks -- like a feel-good interlude with backing that resembles mid-'70s Earth, Wind & Fire -- are tantalizing on their own.

Excellent songwriting and a surplus of surprising melodic ideas and lyrical wit can't be outshined by the band's deceptively loose approach.

Rack is living, breathing, sweaty proof the Jesus Lizard can write songs and give them shape in the studio just as well as they ever did, and it honestly stands beside the best of their Touch & Go catalog in both spirit and execution. And they still hit like a crescent wrench to the face. Which is a compliment.

"Hold on Now, Youngster" is still the more magical of the two records, it's the one to play when you want to feel joy, but We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed has more depth and feeling.

Unlike some underground bands, Indian Jewelry just get more uncompromising and honed as they go, and this eerie, unsettling album is a perfect culmination of the duo's work so far.

Throughout Towards Language, the emergent notion of "slow jazz"--music that unfolds deliberately in a communal context rather than the accepted soloist and accompaniment formula--is almost defined. Its individual utterances are elementary building blocks that collectively move toward an artfully realized goal of musical speech. It achieves its power from the sum total of its sounds and atmospheres. Magnificent.

Throwing Muses' power to mesmerize is as potent as ever. The sheer density of Sun Racket makes it something of a grower, but fans will be more than willing to take the time to let these songs sink into them.