With Reincarnate, Motionless In White have not only distilled the essence of their influences into an even darker cohesion, they’ve reanimated the creatively bankrupt corpse of industrial rock, disrupted the by-numbers routine of electronic-tinged metalcore and delivered furious rock songs with a widescreen presence that makes an IMAX theater feel like an iPad screen.

The focus on time and its ravages may seem to place this in 35-and-over territory, but Sexsmith's songs are timeless. [Mar 2007, p.136]

While not everything works--as with most albums of the genre, Metal Resistance's musical textures and tropes can grow repetitive--Babymetal's aggressive enthusiasm and sincerity are impossible to resist. [May 2016, p.80]

Catchy, clever, no-frills fun. [Apr 2015, p.94]

Lex Hives redeems them for their previous missteps and their truancy. No skits, no instrumental in-jokes: just rock. [Jul 2012, p.90]

Its peaks make Whitechapel the band's best album yet by a wide margin. [Jul 2012, p.98]

Given the collection's remarkable cohesion, No Virginia works as a proper third album, instead of merely being a companion piece to the previous disc. [July 2008, p.170]

It's all unabashedly bizarre, but that's what makes it good. [Apr 2009, p.142]

The Brutalist Bricks is an experimental and enjoyable pop-punk record. [Apr 2010, p.128]

While no Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, [it] will still placate fans excited to see where Tweedy takes Wilco next. [May 2006, p.174]

Immediately memorable. [Aug 2005, p.164]

CRX's only real mistake might be releasing a top-down record perfect for summer at the end if the year. [Dec 2016, p.100]

The Brag And Cuss gently pulses with tasteful power. [Jul 2007, p.168]

Force Field makes good on being more than just a referential record. [Apr 2014, p.93]

There's an overt embracement of vintage songcraft, and a few tracks would have certainly found welcoming ears in other eras. Be glad they're here now. [Jun 2009, p.102]

The breathable production and quality arrangements allow the band's instantaneously familiar melodies to glow. [May 2010, p.102]

Parts of the result feel overly defensive and overly techno-y, but "Bang! Bang!" will blow your drawers off... [#155, p.85]

Hyro has much more on his mind than frat-friendly Bic-flicking; he tackles hip-hop stereotypes, the peculiar lure of the bad part of town and the end of the world as we know it in dynamic verses that go from a whisper to a scream without losing intelligence or intelligibility.

Another strong outing. [Oct 2004, p.148]

Not only have Steel Train Shed the jam-band tag with their third, self-titled full-length, they've also finally lived up to their own musical potential. [Aug 2010, p.152]

It's the glorious melodies and cavernous, quasi-dub-like production that conspire to make Person Pitch one of the most beguiling, intoxicating releases of 2007 thus far. [May 2007, p.161]

Aggressive is probably the most compelling statement you’re going to hear for the validity of heavy rock music in 2016.

As usual, the production is raw with traces of the recording process still evident. Although Transference lacks the overwhelming variety of "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga," there are notable moments of exploration. [Feb 2010, p.96]

Consists entirely of samples yet sounds as organic as a 1960 Impulse! LP, largely because Hebden broadens his instrumental palette, fattens his beats and even gets cinematic. [June 2003, p.109]

Pleasant Living shows heaps of growth in a short year since their 2013 debut. [Oct 2014, p.102]

The Orchard is a significantly more melancholy collection of songs. But melancholy seems to suit Ra Ra Riot, especially since they don't get too caught up in its gloom. [Sep 2010, p.113]

Cemetery Highrise Slum provides 41 minutes of unsettled bliss. [Jul 2015, p.97]

Pundits say there's too much hype for Def Junkies, but with records like this, there's good reason for it. [Aug 2006, p.224]

[Cassadaga] finds Oberst cultivating a sophistication usually found in records made by people old enough to be his grandparents. [May 2007, p.150]

Envy have been around for nearly 20 years, so calling them the Japanese Sigur Ros feels like cheap shorthand--and yet, Recitation operates on that same plateau, its scale just as majestic. [Nov 2010, p.112]

In all, it's easily their most ambitious--and praiseworthy--effort to date. [Apr 2012, p.92]

A schizophrenic collision of sound that's so expertly arranged, it still sounds utterly musical. [Nov 2005, p.226]

Mike Hranica’s voice is as gut-wrenchingly brutal as ever, too (“Gloom”), and some songs find the band writing music outside their comfort zone.

A strong new contender in the side project derby. [Jul 2007, p.168]

Particularly great are a few extremely well executed ballads that showcase OWTH's typically gruff sound and Young's typically gravely vocals in new ways. [Apr 2013, p.94]

Foil Deer is a meticulous collection which deconstructs convention. [May 2015, p.100]

Although his output as City and Colour is drastically different from the visceral post-hardcore of Alexisonfire, his following is huge; both his previous C&C albums have gone platinum in Canada. With his third effort, Little Hell, it's easy to hear why. [Jul 2011, p.107]

It's not quite the masterpiece 2003's Shivering King And Others was, but it still knocks the piss out of [the Grateful Dead's] American Beauty. [Apr 2005, p.124]

Easily one of the best debuts of 2012-or 2022, for that matter.

Control's exhilarating high points take Pedro's brooding, hesitantly melodic indie rock closer to Ozzfet than they've ever been. [Jul 2002, p.94]

Some excessive ballads aside, Simple Plan's second disc all but perfects the one before it. [Dec 2004, p.141]

The Color Before The Sun manages to maintain momentum for its duration, proving Coheed have shown themselves a band skilled in evading the lines of genres. [Nov 2015, p.100]

The real reason narrow Stairs works so well is that despite the band's more esoteric experiments, they still contribute standalone pop hits. [June 2008, p.125]

With repeated exposure it becomes clear that these songs belong together, adding an extra dimension to the record, and those who to succumb to its charms could ask for nothing more.

Packs more moods and minx-like mischief than many albums twice its length. [Jul 2003, p.114]

His heavily metal solo debut delivers bigger stylistic departures (and wilder guitar solos) than his other side projects. [Aug 2011, p.114]

Ten Stories should easily please any mewithoutYou fan, but this is by no means pandering....11 musically and lyrically engaging stories. [Jun 2012]

Bow Down... was developed alongside a movie script and works as vivid NYC filmic music and an electic-by-default modern concept album. [12/2000, p.96]

Ruthless, catchy and armor-plated, the Los Angeles quintet have focused on refining their sound, yet there is also greater nuance, making this perhaps their most atmospheric record. [Sep 2013, p.88]

What matters is that Everything Is Borrowed is enough of a triumph that despite all evidence to the contrary, you'll be convinced the world is indeed a beautiful place. [Dec 2008, p.153]

For the Malin faithful, these are the seeds from which the glitter in the gutter sprung. [Nov 2008, p.129]

Through every shift in tone and style, Fernow keeps his focus, connecting these songs with small bits of spoken word that conjure up dark visions of people desperately searching for meaning in an increasingly dismal world.

Rewolf is as essential to Asobi Seksu's oeuvre as any of their preceding records. [Dec 2009, p.108]

It's a snarling, agile beast with some posi moments along the way. [Aug 2012, p.90]

Yet another rock-solid album. [Aug 2006, p.204]

They're at their best, though, on moodier fare like the suitably hymn-like 'God Loves You The Best,' with a Beatlesque snatch of orchestration fit for their old buddy Elliot Smith. [Sug 2008, p.170]

Fresh, funny and unpredictable. [Apr 2002, p.72]

The Crane Wife isn't automatic for the people yet, but it's far from green. [Nov 2006, p.188]

Fallon's lyrics continue to embrace the Americana ethos that is sucessfully married with a soulful punk sound as timeless as the sentiments that inspire him. [Sep 2008, p.148]

On paper this may sound bleak--and in many ways, Curse Your Branches is--but ultimately there's a level of solcae in Bazan's sadness that's remarkably reassuring and, stranger yet, satisfying. [Sep 2009, p.106]

18 makes Play sound like a what-if experiment in techno blues; now Moby sounds like he means it as much as his sampler does. [May 2002, p.77]

Dark and compelling. [May 2004, p.104]

Its cleaner, more ferocious tone does this batch of songs well, pushing them back closer to their genius Nitro Records days.

Like Wilco, it's what SA do with what they've borrowed. It helps that the duo stitch it up Frankenstein-style and move on to the next idea fast. [Aug 2008, p.162]

Fun with out being frivolous or dumb, the album lives up to pre-release hype and solidifies Kid Sister as the fiercest new hip-hop female on the block. [Feb 2009, p.107]

Madness successfully articulates where the band’s headspace is right now; SWS put the time in and came out poised for greater things.

Disarm the Descent sees the Massachusetts quintet reinvigorated, leaving 2009's Killswitch Engage in their wake. [May 2013, p.86]

Interlude continues where 'Water' left off, exuding a pall of melancholy that translates into heartbreaking beauty. [#153, p.85]

Showing an impressive savvy in inviting perhaps unlikely artists to collaborate with them also leads to some of the record's highlights.

The band only falter on Fuss' slower, boring numbers, which consistently lack the zest and vibrancy of their uptempo counterparts. [Jul 2004, p.146]

It all makes for a remarkable, incredibly moving piece of work. [Sep 2014, p.106]

Like their kindred spirits and labelmates in Turing Machine, Maserati have their headspace programmed to "liftoff" in an effort to take you higher than you've ever been. [Nov 2012, p.90]

Back To Land whispers intimately and hauntingly of both paranoia and peace. [Dec 2013, p.102]

Not only does the album overflow with stick-in-your-head hooks, but it also boasts contemporary production, from sleek digital programming to airy synthesizers, to go along with more traditional band-based instrumentation.

Eyes & Nines melts faces entirely on its own merit. [Jul 2010, p.130]

It's category-defying: raw and cooked, muscular and cerebral, shifting gears in seconds flat. [Apr 2003, p.70]

Another ostensibly strong album in Joyce Manor's catalog, and one that hopefully doesn't go unfairly overshadowed as well.

Give this three plays and it'll stay imbedded in your autumn playlist. [Nov 2013, p.90]

Shows signs of nuance and restraint--relatively speaking. [Oct 2006, p.214]

While A Chance may not move Matmos any closer to either the song or sound distinction, perhaps the fact that their music consistently provokes smiles and dark thought with increasing accessibility warrants our continued, if not increased, attention... [#154, p.76]

Panic! At The Disco have completely hung up their steampunk wardrobes to deliver one of the year’s finest modern-pop works.

Wires is the type of disc that takes you on a journey--an example of how brilliant instrumental music can be when done right. [Oct 2007, p.172]

As perfect pop goes, the Januaries hit all the right exotic buttons. Their songs bubble with Stereolab's bop-ba-bop melodies, glide effortlessly on Saint Etienne's dance-savvy '60s pop, and float on Air's variety-show timelessness. [12/2000, p.99]

One of the most bizarre things ever released by Sub Pop. [#154, p.80]

Arguably the best record of Leo's career. [Feb 2005, p.84]

On One of Us Is the Killer, everybody is firing on all cylinders and DEP sound just as urgent as ever. [Jun 2013, p.94]

The new album's themes show that Amos is energized with stories to tell once again - making Scarlet's Walk at once ambitious and also one of her most moving collections yet. [Nov 2002]

Better partiers than preachers, these Peas have found their pod. [Sep 2003, p.118]

The Mighty Underdogs are like the Westside Connection of the indie-rap world--maybe a little less threatening, but just as bangin'. [Nov 2008, p.164]

Don't worry about it being a chore; after devouring the album in its entirety almost a dozen times, we're still craving more. [May 2009, p.120]

The repurposed bits remain inspired, while Sugarhill Gang-style raping, sampled DJ interludes and duck jokes keep things refreshingly light. [May 2014, p.90]

All [their] cleverness works better than ever before. [Oct 2004, p.142]

The fullest sounding Silver Jews album to date. [Nov 2005, p.210]

It's anything but a lo-fi vanity project. [Mar 2006, p.138]

Maturity beat[s] out playfulness. [May 2006, p.162]

Soul Punk is a brave, bold statement on which Stump asserts his individuality. [Aug 2011, p.111]

You'll blare Valuables on the car radio one moment, then throw it through headphones for study time later. [Jan 2017, p.83]

This is a musical beast, in every sense. [Nov 2012, p.86]