Blood Mountain is everything fans both hoped for and feared. Mastodon has dug even deeper in its foray into prog metal, but without losing an ounce of their power, literacy, or willingness to indulge in hardcore punk, doom, and death metal.

While Face the Promise isn't quite Night Moves or Stranger in Town, it stands proudly next to those albums and is most assuredly the work of the same singer.

What the cathartic Fading Trails might lack in foot-tapping motivation, it makes up for in passion and honesty and is highly recommended for those who like to dig a little deeper for albums that get better each time they are played.

As good as the atmospheric heartache of the first half of 5:55 is, it's on the second half, when Gainsbourg and her crew stretch out a bit, that the album really gets interesting.

Food & Liquor just might be the steadiest and most compelling rap album of 2006.

Midlake might be stuck in the '70s, but they make it sound like the best place on earth.

It's that perfect balance of sadness, vitriol, and absurdity that makes Hitchcock (when he's on) such a legendary social commentator.

Young Machetes is occasionally exhausting, but it definitely won't disappoint fans of either the band's earlier or more recent sounds.

The songs themselves are easy to approach if difficult to decipher, and the production details reward repeated listens.

A quietly compelling album, this will please not only fans of Hinson's other solo work, but those who were introduced to him through the Earlies and the Late Cord as well.

Normal Happiness is more in the tradition of his best work with GBV -- sixteen short songs (only one over three minutes, seven under two), with plenty of hooks, lots of guitar and no more fuss than necessary.

One hell of a live record.

A deeply poetic record.

Part experimental rock, part electronica, and part hip-hop, Subtle's For Hero: For Fool is a complex, innovative, sometimes bizarre, and usually utterly confusing journey into the minds of lyricist Doseone and his five bandmates.

An exciting introduction to an extraordinary artist captured at just the right time.

All told, the number of memorable hooks on display here is surprising.

Live a Little sounds more open and roomy than the past few Pernice Brothers efforts.

Ultimately, the band has arrived with a poppier-sounding album while their signature sour earnestness remains intact.

He is writing and recording music that is profound, funny, topical, worldly, and ultimately, necessary.

One of the livelier and better country records of 2006.

Barnes' accordion playing has grown leaps and bounds since Noon.

It makes for a record that's their strongest, most cohesive yet, even if it isn't quite as weird or compelling as it should be given the group's lofty ambitions.

Sparta... sounds like a beast that's broken its chains and is fighting between the road ahead and going back from whence it came.

It isn't easy to strike the right balance between ambition and emotion, scale and humanity; White Whale manage it with ease on WWI.

Pretty Little Head sounds like a record from a woman coming out of girlhood -- more confident, more wise about love, and more focused about her concerns, if no less passionate.

His easy delivery, contrasted with Adams wiry production, creates an emotionally honest, deeply moving recording with the best traits of both men shining forth.

So Divided's remarkable balance between the band's grandeur and power makes it far from a disappointment.

Even if it isn't as immediate as the prime of Pulp, it's a richly nuanced, complicated album that finds Jarvis near the top of his craft as a writer and record maker.