A solid, if not wholly overwhelming album.

Always clever, sometimes hysterical, and sometimes cloying, Lynch is a way hipper Weird Al for the post-millennium MTV generation.

It plays like a hilarious concept album more than anything.

The F.A.B.O.’s smooth, deadpan flow cruises over benignly commercial beats, and the overall effect isn’t hard enough to stand up to "official" street-issue hip-hop.

Simple Plan's plan--to get you bouncing, bobbing, and otherwise grooving--is still simple. And like all uncomplicated strategies, it's still remarkably effective.

If there's one thing the R&B phenomenon demonstrates on Grown & Sexy, is that growing up is sexy.

Fans of albums such as 2001’s From Chaos and 2003’s promising Evolver will likely find Tread familiar and perhaps even comforting, but it’s unlikely to invite a new horde of fans as the album often sounds like an imitation of the bands 311 helped inspire in its decade-plus career.

Has she grown up? Maybe not entirely yet, but Lohan is showing the promise of an honorable mainstream career.

Viscerally contemporary, Necessary Evil harnesses youthful exuberance from across the charts, and Harry and her team of producers and songwriting partners do radio-ready rock, pop, and soul-lite with à la mode savvy to spare.

Mixes arena rock in the vein of an Alice in Chains with the aggression of Pantera.

An album that should appeal to fans of Weller and the original legends alike.

The acoustic guitars have largely been set aside on Chapter V, leaving Staind to pummel away at its troubles and hoping that people still have time to listen to self-pitying grown men moan about their dysfunctional childhoods.

A denim-clad, riff-heavy beast of a rock album. [Amazon UK]

Committed Ja Rule fans looking for those signature hip-pop collaborations he's taken to the bank before won’t find them here.

Their multiple piercings, shaved heads, and abundant tattoos have them labeled a punk band, but on [Revival], Good Charlotte... fall much more under the umbrella of 1970s arena rock and mainstream ballads.

An inspired and diverse 15-song opus.