Strange Geometry is a comely piece of old-fashioned melancholy pop, but it can also quickly turn into sonic wallpaper if you have a wandering mind. [Dec 2005, p.202]

Autumn represents Pinback's strongest album to date. [Oct 2007, p.162]

Shape Shift With Me doesn’t offer a lot in the way of answers, but watching her fumble her way through the questions is a pleasure, regardless.

A collection of stylistically diverse tunes that is cohesive and refreshing. [Jul 2002, p.76]

The Stills succeed where other time-travelers fail by emphasizing substance over style. [Jan 2004, p.108]

A brilliantly sorrowful effort: for isolated immersion only. [Apr 2014, p.92]

With brief nods to Black Sabbath and slower Slayer, Sever rolls 40 years of metal and hard rock into a big joint and smokes it all. [Mar 2011, p.92]

With some new explorations entwined, Act IV exhibits all facets of the band's alluring brand (extensive instrumentation, orchestral theatrics and experimental whimsy) in impressive form.

The Black Parade is MCR's whole raison d'etre rolled up into one mega-decibel calling card. [Nov 2006, p.179]

A more ambitious, punchier take on that electro-pop retro fetishizing at which Brits excel. [Mar 2006, p.138]

The real enjoyment of any Girl Talk album stems from picking out the first hint of a song, mentally scanning your iTunes and figuring out what it is in time to fully enjoy it before it's gone. Or, you could also just stop thinking and enjoy all of it.

Sure, their label debut feels slightly more hooky and accessible in places. But Darker Handcraft is mostly the same humble, misanthropic band, playing relentlessly, vicious, rapid metallic hardcore with their requisite flashes of D-beat, grind and thrash influence. [Apr 2011, p.122]

Beat The Champ takes you on a walloping emotional journey that proves great songwriting can compliment any subject matter. [May 2015, p.98]

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]

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

You appreciate his delightful little melodies and quirky rhythmic tics more because you have to strain to hear 'em. [Aug 2003, p.110]

A little too close to the mainstream for comfort. [Jan 2003, p.91]

Often reaches back to the unfettered rawness and earthy seduction of earlier albums like Dry. [Aug 2004, p.116]

Rickly pulls off rock-god histrionics and urbane cool, as the band shore him up with a melodic roar that should convince the world to finally stop caring about U2. [Oct 2015, p.97]

Life Without Sound is rife with memorable hooks and earworms--and the substance to make them meaningful. [Feb 2017, p.80]

They're still delivering more aural discovery and attitude than both their weary, uninspired colleagues and the legion of fumbling neophyte upstarts combined. [Jul 2009, p.130]

More power to those who can do it, but from this perspective, it's nearly impossible to enjoy Man Man's Six Demon Bag while sober. [Apr 2006, p.222]

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]

It's clever, literate and pretty, but also boring as hell if you don't flip off the lights, clamp on your headphones and concentrate. [May 2002, p.88]

Bemis successfully came out of the other side on In Defense Of The Genre, producing an opus that musicians more than twice his age could only hope to create. [Dec 2007, p.185]

Instead of building on their strengths, frontman Jaz Coleman & Co. have backslid into subdued sogginess of the band's mid-period. [Jan 2010, p.91]

There’s a lot to appreciate, whether you like screamo, face-punching hardcore, pop-punk, or some combination of all those sounds and more.

The band's desire to branch out from the pop-punk scene has served them well in working to develop their sound, and Tonight Alive have certainly made some strides. [Oct 2013, p.82]