Four Year Strong is catchy, polished and displays lyrical depths. [Jul 2015, p.96]

Goths is one of Darnielle and co.'s most daring and well-conceived feats. [Jun 2017, p.82]

The Icarus Line’s sixth album is scarred, clandestine and alluring, much like meeting a stranger who has the capabilities to turn you on--or turn you off, dead.

Stripped-down and understated. [Sep 2004, p.136]

Harmonious hymns such as "Bury Your Burdens In the Ground" and "Let's Do Something Impossible" prove that you don't need more than a banjo, an expressive voice and a heartfelt story in order to craft something truly extraordinary. [Aug 2011, p.122]

Though nominally house music, Unreasonable Behavior's tracks expend as much energy on engaging the listener's mind as they do on moving the body. [Dec 2000, p.86]

Bubblegum comes amid plenty KD material, but with endearing romps like the Nirvana-indebted title track and Criteria-sounding "Somewhere Unoccupied," it might be his best batch yet. [Nov 2013, p.88]

Transgender Dysphoria Blues definitely isn’t perfect, but its high points are high enough that even a fuckface like yours truly can’t ignore its flashes of brilliance.

Hearing Blood Mountain in its entirety is like awaking from a coma to discover you have working ears. [Oct 2006, p.206]

They occupy an ethereal wonderland of their own design on Teen Dream, a place where '80s soft rock mingles with slow-pop soliloquies, producing an oscillating, supernal bliss both sparkling and somber. [Feb 2010, p.92]

Some of the most evocative music of this century. [Dec 2002, p.97]

Dissonant strings, clasical piano and eerie quiet spells infuse the album with a wird, roiling darkness that gets under your skin rather than filleting your skull. The result is more dramatic than any Dillinger release this decade--and more powerful because of it. [Apr 2010, p124]

Although short of a masterpiece, (a)spera is Mirah's most satisfying start-to-finish disc since her 2001 solo breakthrough. [Apr 2009, p.135]

It is as exciting and enthralling a listen as anything Thrice have ever created. [Oct 2011, p.105]

These are tightly constructed songs that sledgehammer a jagged line between the Pixies' inventive pop clamor and the hazy beauty of another clever noise purveyor deserving of the all-caps treatment, HEALTH.

Lound insanity is sexy; quiet insanity is sexier. [Sep 2003, p.118]

Although ever so slightly more modern in feel than his critically adored 1998 self-titled debut, Poses is still built upon Wainwright's mastery of highly composed, early-20th-century popular-song styles. [July 2001, p.86]

Volume 2... is an equally resounding success.... [it] draws on darker material, and thus yields more aggressive vocals and frequent minor keys. [#146, p.86]

What Opeth do best is flat-out shred, and at its finest moments, Watershed howls like the unholy union of Queensryche, Yngwie Malmsteen and Morbid Angel. [Aug 2008, p.166]

The Front Bottoms will soundtrack your life until it's like you've never been without them. [Jun 2013, p.96]

Every aspect of The Resistance: Rise Of The Runaways coming across bigger, harder and just more than their full-length debut, 2012's The Fallout.

An impressive effort. [Nov 2014, p.98]

The British band's frothy, fun mix of samples from public domain educational films and their spunky electronic-infused art pop is taken to new heights on this live album. [Jan 2017, p.83]

This record neatly marries the attitude and energy first heard on Creatures with the industrial beats and vocals they love, making this record the truest representation of the band to date.

Ultimately, The Knife is proof he [John Feldmann] still has plenty left in his own songwriting tank. [Aug 2017, p.82]

Sonically, there’s something incredibly otherworldy and fantastical rooted in Phantom Anthem, making the album translate like an epic poem rather than a collection of songs, both enticing for its cohesion and at times tedious in its redundancy.

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

The music is as ambitious as the plot, but more coherent. [May 2009, p.116]