Fans will be overjoyed and those unfamiliar with Letlive or even modern hardcore circa 2013 should begin with this compelling document of anger, loss, and struggle.

The result isn't a muddled mess but another lean and focused set, despite the involvement of several writers and producers.

Clearly disciples of the era of album rock, Wolf People have created a record that works best when taken as a whole piece, and when experienced as such, it creates a unique environment that's cold, cryptic, mysterious, and startlingly direct all at once.

Despite a few moments of inconsistency, Fool Metal Jack fares far better than most records from bands returning to form after decades of silence, and in its best moments highlights the brilliance of a group that never lost its unique voice.

All told, The Migration is an exciting and surprisingly fun album filled will take listeners on a journey through its soaring heights, provided they're brave enough to handle the thrills.

An impressive first full-length from an artist equally adept at intricate productions and affecting songwriting, Without Your Love brings all of Greenspan's talents together in a satisfying whole.

Although not as strong or as memorable as his first effort, this album will grow on the listener, and its melodies and ideas are intriguing enough to merit repeat listens.

Many bands go through their entire career without making an album as well crafted, fully realized, and downright gorgeous as Sunbather, and somehow, Deafheaven have managed to nail it on their second outing, with an album that seems to get bigger and more affective with each listen.

The control and variety they display throughout Long Distance Song Effects shows that Goldheart Assembly have come into their own here.

A sense of excited satisfaction runs through L'Ami du Peuple, finding a still curious and motivated Kinsella a little bit older, but learning new things all the time and coming up with some of his best songs yet.

Inheritance sounds like a born-again Avett Brothers fronted by a tamer Daniel Smith (Danielson Famile), and while its homespun, home-schooled theatricality may be a bit off-putting for some, it's hard to not admire its uncalculated exuberance.

A strongly inventive debut.

From start to finish, Rescue & Restore is an incredible leap for the band that should not only please the August Burns Red faithful, but opens them up to a wider audience of metal lovers.

At times, Between the Walls is a frustrating album, but more often than not, the risks About Group take pay off in expressive, rewarding music.

If there's a flaw here, it's that there's little change from song to song in pace and approach, but then, this is a duo built around simply hitting the pedal and going, clattering and thundering along, impossible to ignore.

At times sounding like the Beatles, Teenage Fanclub, Harry Nilsson, Fleet Foxes, Big Star, and the Beach Boys all tossed in a blender, Ivan & Alyosha's All the Times We Had marks the arrival of a great band fully formed.

Our Own Masters is an album that's ridiculous without being ironic, and fun without being silly, making it an album that will not only appeal to the die-hard Thorriors out there, but also to anyone who appreciates heavy metal and hard rock and is not afraid to cut loose and have some fun every once in a while.

On spirityouall, McFerrin does what he has always done as an artist -- he makes this troubled world shine bright as a diamond.

It's a solid debut for the duo that places them up near the top echelon of their neo-disco contemporaries.

Ultimately, Every Man Should Know is a record with something for every Connick fan.

This record is Queensrÿche; the other group is just Tate and company (mis)using the name.

Parlour Flames feels curiously stitched together, the work of a mutual admiration society where neither party quite feels at ease to suggest a direction for their partner.

Albatross is a good album for what it is, a new project from a band that seems frozen in the mid-'90s.

Produced by Suicidal frontman Mike Muir, the album includes 13 tracks of the type of petulant, cathartic, thrashy hardcore the band is known for.

A solid collection of the kind of classic speed metal that Anvil have been trying to make a name for themselves with for 35 years now.

This is a strong body of work from the London-based group who have taken the best of '90s guitar music and made it their own.

The funky soul groove template that Jones helped create in Memphis some 40-plus years ago never really goes out of style. One wishes there were more of that here.

After an impressive debut, Tesseract return with Altered State, a sophomore effort that finds the band expanding its progressive metal sound in a bigger, more ambitious direction.