The emotional tension between his folksier-Damien Rice brogue and her crystal-clear lilt, especially on 'The Verb,' keeps the listener enamoured, even if the singers no longer are. [Dec 2009, p.117]

Tunnel Blanket serves as a perfect soundtrack to both the world's turmoil and its imminent collapse. [Jun 2011, p.109]

As expected, frontman/programmer Rou Reynolds remains urgent and vulnerable. [Oct 2017, p.81]

None of these songs reach that lofty level [of Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson and Randy Newman], but fans of inward-looking popsmiths like Elliott Smith and Daniel Johnston (whose artwork gets a subtle nod through the graphics) will find some gentle little gems in this police department lost-and-found.

While DJ Shadow keeps us hanging for a return to form, Blockhead picks up the slack with a fantastic disc that's solid throughout. [Mar 2010, p.90]

Skinner's delivery is as appealing as ever. [Jun 2006, p.192]

Chapter Two boasts more dance-music artists than the first volume did, which allows greater leeway for the DFA to build glitteringly gritty club epics that don't stop till you get enough. [Nov 2006, p.206]

The duo are branching out more than usual, finding themselves tougher, smarter and more tender all at once. [Feb 2017, p.80]

The band are able to overcome the production errors through Gourley's elastic vocal counterpoint, bassist Zachary Scott Carothers' pocket-groping lines and licks so gooey they recall a time when Keith Richards could speak in complete sentences. [Aug 2009, p.110]

Diehard fans might miss Flogging Molly's manic moments, but Darkness' lyrical depth--and sonic diversity--are incredibly rewarding. [Jun 2011, p.111]

It's stylish, poppy and striking from songwriting to production. [Jul 2013, p.100]

This collection comes together in a much more cohesive and fluid sense [than their debut.] [June 2008, p.131]

Reverbed aggression never sounded so good. [Mar 2013, p.92]

Rainbow feels every bit as massive as the world it sets up. It's not just the heaviest record in Coheed's arsenal; it's also one of the strongest.

Grand Romantic is proof-positive more Nate Ruess is always a good thing. [Jul 2015, p.100]

The Bloom and the Blight is the pair's most concise and best work to date. [Oct 2012, p.92]

When compared to their debut, the maturity of Sounds Good is evident. [Nov 2015, p.95]

Ultimately Rev proves that a hard-driving beat and a searing six-string are timeless pleasures. [Feb 2014, p.94]

This album is most definitely not Tell All Your Friends II: Electric Boogaloo. That said, it most assuredly doesn't come anywhere close to sucking, either.

¡Uno! does what Green Day have always done best: play loud, fast, catchy-as-fuck punk rock that results in near-endless replay value.

What ultimately matters is how vital they’ve managed to sound coming off of a break while pushing the experimental envelope in ways that go beyond a guest appearance by Kool Keith as Dr. Octagon.

Denali sound more comfortable in their skin. [Dec 2003, p.140]

Held together nicely by Armstrong's expertly scored strings and a generally tranquil tone common to most of his work. [Jun 2002, p.71]

Their strongest and most distinctive effort to date. [#151, p.71]

Covering Ground, is Ragan forging his own lonely--yet hopeful--path. [Oct 2011, p.112]

There's hardly a stinker in the bunch. [Jul 2006, p.206]

That this open-ended philosophical query ["Is it human to adore life?"] has no easy answers makes Adore Life that much more intellectually dense and appealing. [Feb 2016, p.100]

We're skipping past Gold Medal's soggy, pub-folk title track toward an otherwise flawless album of glossy, commercial punk. [Dec 2004, p.142]

Gossip succeeds in delivering an inspirational array of tracks that, as a whole, are a natural progression (and successful foray) into the mainstream.

He's free to let his freak flag fly with Destroyer, and Trouble in Dreams doesn't disappoint. [Apr 2008, p.152]

Embraced by trance, breakbeat, and house DJs alike, Maas has been heard in almost every sort of dance setting, so he's earned the right to his own compilation. [2/2001, p.85]

Just as Metallica introduced a generation to Misfits with their 1997 covers EP, Garage Days Re-Revisited, Danzig pays similarly enthusiastic homage to his influences on Skeletons. [Jan 2016, p.94]

It's no Witness, sure, but it's an immensely strong return that shows how viable the band's style and songwriting still are. [Nov 2013, p.88]

The group put enough spin on the source material to make these songs their own. [Nov 2015, p.97]

It's certainly a leap further into the ethereal weirdness that defined 2004's shoegaze- and electronics-inspired Panopticon. [Nov 2006, p.192]

Worsnop may be gone, but the rage channeled into The Black has helped the group lift themselves back onto their feet, showing they are more than capable of carrying on without him.

The record is sophisticated. [Jun 2012, p.78]

Xiu Xiu nail their nebulous mix of new wave and post-punk gloom, but also lace their tunes with uncompromising experimentation and emotion. [Apr 2004, p.88]

Remember's strength is in its time-warp atmosphere. [Sep 2006, p.228]

Knives Don't Have Your Back is like the soundtrack to an excellent Alfred Hitchcock film. [Oct 2006, p.200]

He's brought classical melodic sophistication and beauty to this recording while retaining the post-punk edginess Gang Of Four disciples love. [Jul 2004, p.148]

A menacingly sweet and sweetly menacing set of electro pop. [June 2003, p.109]

One bedroom is vaguely European, warmly mechanical and just off-kilter enough to be consistently interesting. [Feb 2003, p.74]

Mostly, the band have improved their songcraft and melodies, as evident in the positively infectious album highlight "Bad Blood." [Apr 2010, p.122]

Givers have created a debut that will surely set them atop the indie-rock world, if not only for their strict adherence to trying everything possible and succeeding gloriously at it all.

All the broad-shouldered indie pop and big city folk we've come to expect, but so meticulously refined and consistently pleasing that its crossover ploys seem forgivable. [Sep 2004, p.124]

10 tracks of alien grooves, percolating beats and shimmering atmospheres that are engaging, sophisticated, and mature. [#146, p.101]

Sounds more like Bad Religion than any Bad Religion album has in years. [Mar 2002, p.71]

Though parts of the album veer a bit too close to the synthetic hippie pabulum you hear upon entering the Nature Store, there's enough dark charm on Espers II to make it essential listeing for those of us who prefer our CDs caked with actual resin. [Jul 2006, p.208]

It’s just the right balance of heavy and light tones, a mixture that Barnett & Co. continue to perfect throughout the whole album.

There's no obvious attempt at chasing a single or brass ring, just improvements on a sound the group have been trading in for more than a decade--and upgrades that might very well have resulted in their best album to date. [May 2015, p.95]

It's a magnificent accomplishment, the sound of one long night spent waiting for someone, but never being certain if you want them to arrive. [Apr 2003, p.87]

While The Menace isn't as coruscating as Primal Scream's funk-noise plasma wall, Exterminator, it does offer enough twists, turns and fractured sensibilities to make listening to music an active experience again. [#146, p.88]

If you’ve shied away from drone music because of its sonic inaction, here’s a good remedy.

Cinder proffers the majestic sweep of a nature documentary. [Nov 2005, p.208]

Another Sound Is Dying, despite the title connotation, is indeed giving birth to a stirring new noise. [Apr 2008, p.156]

Seven's Travels ultimately nods to the mainstream as much as to the underground. [Nov 2003, p.116]

Easily ranks among their best. [Oct 2002, p.83]

The Argument is quieter, slinkier and even slower to develop than 1997's tortoise-paced End Hits. [Dec 2001, p.82]

Packs enough bite to nourish a Third World country. [Mar 2003, p.96]

Anxiety's songwriting is top-notch--substantial and precise, without sacrificing accessibility or originality. [Apr 2012, p.96]

It's tough to find fault with such an inspired collection, but some moments aren't quite as standout as others.

AAL not only continue to cut through genre restrictions, but do so while considering song and structure. [Dec 2016, p.100]

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is an absolute blast, rich in ringing guitar and euphoric synths but thankfully light on fromage and staid rehashes. [Jul 2009, p.130]

It's a unique psychedelic experience only the most headstrong will be able to handle. [Aug 2004, p.122]

This band may be close to two decades and seven albums in, but in these here Parts, Every Time I Die are coming out of the box like airborne wolverines lunging for the world’s carotid arteries.

Songs like "16.12" are so captivating, you'll barely notice they're over 10 minutes long. [Dec 2004, p.162]

It might not be Disintegration, but Optica confirms these Swedes as worthy acolytes. [Mar 2013, p.93]

It's the band--and Sturgis--who make Slave To The Game the most impressive album to date from the most underrated band in deathcore. [May 2012, p.72]

With Safeways Here We Come, Chixdiggit! have released a record akin to Superchunk's Majesty Shredding; a band who never quite broke up seemingly come back from the dead with not only some of their strongest material to date, but also some of the strongest that the genre has seen.

They... seem to be getting better at distilling their myriad of influences into dreamy, quietly elusive four-minute pop songs. [Jun 2006, p.178]

Light years beyond any current dance-punk act. [Apr 2006, p.203]

They might be unusually eclectic, but these songs, full of Kasher's trademark incisive insight, are a compelling addition to his ever-increasing catalog. [Nov 2013, p.90]

Sometimes it's pretty unpleasant, but it's the rawness that makes it so genuine. [May 2007, p.162]

With Red Of Tooth And Claw they've finally realized the full potential they've been hinting toward all those years--and like all great stories, it's not always pretty. [Apr 2008, p.158]

It's all about perfect guitar tones, what frontman Rick Froberg doesn't say and the space Obits give their songs to breathe--even though it's evident it's not for lack of technical ability. [Apr 2011, p.115]

A sweetass blaxploitation-film score in waiting. [Dec 2001, p.87]

It's all so accomplished, it somehow comes across as weirdly uplifting. [May 2012, p.77]

The Danish duo of Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo begin their fourth full-length, In And Out Of Control, with a satisfying "Bang!" and never slow, even through the darkest of subject matter

Deftly balancing country, classical and cabaret, the National are darkly dramatic and deliciously doomed. [Oct 2003, p.124]

Dangers' music remains remarkably fresh and adventurous. [June 2002, p.80]

An engaging disc. [Mar 2005, p.122]

Davies' tone has the ironic air of a cockney calypso, while the music anchors his musings in familiar surroundings. [Mar 2006, p.88]

He comes closer to rediscovering the excitement, ethereal looseness and raucous twang that epotomizes his first three efforts than he has any time in the past 15 years. [Jul 2010, p.123]

One of the most honest albums we've heard in quite some time.

Once you assimilate to his timbre, the earworm hooks and easygoing drive of Giant Orange will be a welcome salve to the wounded spirit. [Mar 2012, p.94]

Bardo Pond have become equally adept at making hearts and heads ache. [#155, p.68]

Asleep is just enigmatic enough to avoid plagiarism. [Mar 2002, p.77]

Like all the most memorable famous monsters, this beast has a soul. [Jul 2012, p.94]

The M's understand the value of a smartly delayed compositional payoff. [Mar 2006, p.124]

Whether your tastes veer toward the Dillinger Escape Plan or John Zorn, Carboniferous is what your soul's been craving. [Mar 2009, p.109]

The Beasties prove they've still got what it takes to rock the house -- Hot Sauce was definitely worth the wait.

The Furries' songs have alwyas been strong enough to succeed without shock treatment, and these antics' absence means the addictive melodies of these classic, mostly straightforward pop and glam jams will just hit your bloodstream even quicker. [Sep 2003, p.104]

They deliver a collection of moving songs unified by skillful, understated songwriting, and a warmer, more organic tone than its predecessor, 2009's winning Chasing Hamburg. [Oct 2011, p.110]

While James Murphy's production skills are missing this time, the songs themselves are still strong. [Feb 2013, p.90]

Vetiver have previously been a little too left-of-center for any huge acclaim, but with Tight Knit, expect the blogosphere to light up. [mar 2009, p.107]

Even the psychedelic overreach shows a most uncommon artist at work. [Feb 2003, p.64]

Rain Machine is an introspective album that rings more of Malone's earlier influences than of boundary pushing inventiveness--but that's not a bad thing.