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]