On Kings of Leon's latest album, Come Around Sundown, the family Followill makes a strong bid to please longtime fans as well as the recently converted.

As a result, My Everything is a less cohesive project than Yours Truly, although its best moments eclipse the highs of Grande's 2013 debut.

While old-school rap nods and blunt lyricism add to the set's allure, its fluidity suffers.

The end result may not be enough to convince America it's missing out, but expect this album to bring the already-converted back onboard in droves.

Rock act We Are Scientists typically has a good sense of what hits, but on its latest album, Barbara, the band begins to figure out what misses.

In this age of frivolity, Duran Duran is straight-up thriving.

Los Angeles rock revivalists Buckcherry waste no time getting down to business on their latest album.

The Auto-Tuned vocals and cluttered background instrumentation on the title track represents a low point of the album. Luckily, the second half of "Permalight" moves away from electronics and finds Rogue Wave returning to its guitar-based, head-nodding roots.

On Cheek to Cheek, Gaga justifies his [Tony Bennett's] faith--sometimes a bit too forcibly. Whereas Bennett is a master of restraint--a guy whose best performances play like melodic chat sessions--Gaga thrives on spectacle.

On its fifth studio album, "Fire Away," Ozomatli shows a remarkable ability to innovate with its most expansive and energetic set in years.

As on True, the nondance tracks are more or less power ballads, albeit with fairly pallid vocals.... The dance tracks are actually where most of this album’s pleasant surprises lie.

If fans felt like they got to know the real Blake on the hit NBC show, they'll get another close look with this batch of songs.

Gucci shifts focus on songs like "Making Love to the Money" and "Dollar Sign"; the songs don't express his love for the illegal lifestyle but rather recount the financial benefits of taking that path. In usual hip-hop fashion, "The Appeal" also offers something for the ladies ("Remember When," featuring Ray J) and the club-goers (the Swizz Beatz-produced "Gucci Time").

Clipse fans are no doubt still listening, but they'll need a more cohesive vision next time around.

While the artist has raised some eyebrows by asking, "Who says I can't get stoned?" (on the album's first single, 'Who Says'), the rest of the collection certainly has the goods to eclipse that overblown controversy.

Despite its countless co-writers and producers, chief among them Bieber’s bestie Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd, the album boasts a consistent palette of lush, low-key electro-dance sounds: sun-warped synths, chipmunk accent vocals, rattling trap hi-hats, and loads of bass.... It’s in this Spotify-age blend of dance, hip-hop, R&B and classic smooth-dude vocalizing that Bieber truly shows his growth.

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals' new self-titled release finds frontwoman Potter and her band in full bloom, hammering out hook-heavy rock tracks with a confident, natural sound.

At times, their subgenre-flipping can be ungainly--the cheerleading chant "Impossible" is awkwardly glued together, and Hervey's dissonant harmonies sometimes obscure her hooks. More often, though, the cracks in their songwriting and sonics come off as welcome decoration, and their why-the-hell-not bravado is hugely refreshing.

Picture Show should end up as one the year's most tuneful rock releases.

The result is an album that comes on a bit strong, but has the pop pedigree to avoid any major missteps.

On Dahlia's debut, My Garden, she transcends the sum of her seemingly disparate influences, proving herself to be a relatively distinct artist, even if her risks don't always pay off.

Her 10th studio album, "The Age of Miracles" (and second on Rounder following a run with Columbia that yielded five Grammy Awards), adds a familiar yet essential new chapter to her rich catalog.

The result is a collection rich in fan favorites, but lacking in momentum.

Leave it to Em to continue confounding expectations this late in the game.

Once gratuitous fillers are skipped, gems appear, especially on the closing half, where Brown is lucid about his tabloid love life.

Cuts like the mournful "Forgiveness" and the mello "U Want Me 2" (the latter previously featured on MCLachlan's 2008 hits collection) cook at a decidely lower temperature that long time fans will find plenty hot. However, their quieter pace might leave others a little cold.

The nearly 68-minute length of Immersion works against it at times, but the aforementioned "The Fountain" and the '80s-referencing "Encoder" make it well worth reaching the end.

The new set-Lady A's follow-up to its self-titled debut in 2008-showcases the group's ability to combine its own contemporary country sound and folk-rock flair with a familiar formula, making it a refreshing addition to the ever-expanding country genre.

Masterfully bleak and hyper-stylized, He Was King is music for the robot age.

When Clarkson forges a real emotional connection--like on the raw, personal title track, another standout vocal showcase--the album transcends the hammier, more hackneyed moments in between.

Cee Lo Green's pre-"Fuck You" presence on the soundtrack to "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" last year seemed to signal an expansion of the series' indie-dominated musical brand. That opening-up continues here with tunes by hipster-rap MC Theophilus London and Green's pal Bruno Mars.

Although his group has made its mark on the metalcore underground, Tuck spends most of the Welsh quartet's new album spewing venomous tirades at a variety of villains who have done him wrong. But he does it in a polished fashion that makes "Fever" the band's most commercial outing yet.

The bum-outs outnumber the bangers by a decisive ratio on Ludaversal, but that speaks to the rapper's comfort in straddling dissimilar topics.

The band hasn't lost its sense of wonder--it's just seeing the world through a more realistic lens.

Listening to Get Lucky feels like a journey, where great care has been taken to ensure that you'll come back a little better.

Fistful of Mercy's sound shouldn't surprise fans of any of those acts; nor, for that matter, should the appealingly casual quality of the nine songs on "As I Call You Down," which the musicians wrote in three days.

While "Hellbilly Deluxe 2" certainly captures the Saturday afternoon matinee spirit of his 1998 solo debut, it's also a different kind of creature.

Muse is one of the world's biggest rock bands, but for all its missionary zeal, Drones preaches to the converted.

Nightmare is the group's best work yet. It's a sweeping, quasi-thematic epic whose nearly 67 minutes mixes punky abandon with prog-rock ambition and muscle with musicality.

His 18th studio LP, 35 mph Town, bypasses the cliches and tones down his sometimes overbearing bravado.

Producer Greg Wells (Katy Perry, OneRepublic, Adele) dresses all that [emotional complexity and angst] up with greater sonic sophistication, guiding the All-American Rejects toward a more bombastic brand of pop.

At 36 minutes, the set is quick, generally uptempo and full of the Neptunes' mixtape-ready bangers, yet Williams finds his groove during moments that won't rattle any trunks.

The uptempo songs are entertaining, but it's the ballad performances that set this disc apart.

Catchy verses and get-your-hands-up chants are layered among '80s synth and keyboard lines on these 10 tracks.

Based on David Lynch's reputation, one can expect his first album to be either weird or cinematic. He delivers on both counts on Crazy Clown Time.

Nothing on The Wanted's debut U.S. EP comes close to "Glad You Came," but the extended play contains a number of fine-tuned melodies that could succeed the group's latest radio hit

Christmas in the Heart is an odd one-a collection of straight-ahead Christmas songs that benefits Feeding America, as well as food charities in other countries. But it will remind listeners that for nearly a decade Dylan has been working on his croon-exploring musical styles that are more polished than folk and blues.

The lack of woe-is-me melancholy on Mindy Smith's fourth release, Stupid Love, is what makes the heartrending album so intriguing.

The Gift, the second release from famed "Britain's Got Talent" contestant Susan Boyle, is a bit of a tweener: mostly a holiday album and partly a follow-up to last year's massively successful "I Dreamed a Dream."

Some of the music occasionally leans toward being overwrought, but mostly Love Lust Faith + Dreams--along with its Leto-directed visuals--invests itself fully and artfully in its own vision.

You can hear the result of all those showbiz connections in the radio-ready economy of high-sheen hook bombs.

The sense of abandonment hinted in the title of David Gray's second album in less than a year, Foundling, could be a reference to the work's minimalist nature.

The album is signature Kelly: fantasy-filled romps, club jams and heartfelt ballads brought to life by the singer's ear for catchy beats and melodies and mood-setting lyrics.

While Turner is a worthy heir to such barrel-chested baritones as Don Williams, Randy Travis and Trace Adkins, his fourth album, "Haywire," is a study in inconsistent use of his vocal gift.

"Babel" reveals a band happy to remain entirely Mumford - although a larger, smoother Mumford, offering fresh nuances and textures while emboldened by the promise of the initial mission.

It's true that Eclipse unveils itself less coyly than previous Twin Shadow albums, and sounds more brashly contemporary. But it hazards turning generic in the process.

Smith bares more than his vocal cords on this record. Every story of unrequited love that's been put to song is powerful in its own right.

Stone is clearly still finding her sound and, if Water is any indication, herself, too.

The tilting scales of light and dark give the collection a definite creep factor and a clever complexity.

Kingston does widen his scope a bit, as evidenced by the percolating synth/dance vibe of the set's first single and top five hit, 'Fire Burning.'

What he's got, now, is an invigorating change-up record that shines in an already impressive discography.

It's a more consistent album than its predecessor. And perhaps more importantly, it shores up the duo's country flanks, and demonstrates that FGL intends to aggressively protect its progressive place in the genre, one that the act essentially designed on its own.

A hazy, seductive blend of trap and techno, it feels like the soundtrack to a strip club in Paris' grittiest arrondissement.

London rock act Bombay Bicycle Club hasn't been playing together long, but the foursome boasts an impressive sound on debut album I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose (released last July in the United Kingdom).

The formidable 3rdEye ladies want badly to be a raw, stripped-down rock band, but despite their chops and the analog production, the performances are slightly anodyne, scrubbed of menace.

In many ways, Coldplay's sharp left turn is also its most listenable album in years, an evocative concoction of sullen phrases, sparse arrangements and powerful themes.

Accented by piano, glassy guitars, occasional strings and vocal harmonies inspired by ’90s R&B, the project’s highlights--“Deadwater,” “Weak” and “You’re the Best”--aren’t all that dissimilar from its lesser tracks: lovely, yet forgettable.

Unapologetic is Rihanna's most confident, emotionally resonant work since 2009's "Rated R.

With production by Joe Barresi (Coheed and Cambria, Queens of the Stone Age) and Howard Benson (Three Days Grace, My Chemical Romance), Apocalyptica continues to impress with its unique ability to meld classical with metal.

It all sounds sturdy and fits comfortably down the middle, more dependable than daring.

Grand Romantic has some moments more danceable than dour.

Sometimes, the 20-year-old's vision needs to be adjusted, as on the manic French Montana collaboration "FU" and on "Someone Else," which feels like the album's hundredth dramatic breakup song and plays for nearly five minutes. But more often than not, Cyrus' daring attitude guides her to invention.

The album lacks the obvious potential hits to guarantee that, although the moody, Jeremih-featuring single "Like Me" is easy to get lost in. The album does, however, strike a graceful balance between gritty roots and big-budget sheen.

A mixed bag, but an appealingly bold one.

Push and Shove is a celebration of No Doubt's love for all things 80s pop and the Southern California ska scene.

Waking Up boasts enough intertwining pop melodies backed with anthemic vocals to show fans of the 2007 Timbaland-remixed track "Apologize" that OneRepublic can deliver more addictive hooks while still maintaining its own graceful and introspective sound.

Whereas 2010's Born Free's presentation of a gentler, more ripened Rock occasionally came across as calculated, here the singer--who also produced most of this album--fits comfortably into a modern country-rock landscape that seems practically tailor-made for him: a God-fearing good old boy with a hard-rock heart and an outlaw-country spirit.

Coherently channeling R&B, techno, disco and rock music as a pop artist while discussing sex, drugs, lust, God, fame and creativity, Lady Gaga has offered fans her most sonically and lyrically diverse album to date.

On his second album, Rokstarr, British pop-soul artist Taio Cruz croons about the highs and lows of love over a wide variety of electronic-influenced beats.

Phillips sounds natural enough within that [Dave Matthews Band] style, more acolyte than imitator, which makes the album one of the more engaging champion debuts in the show's inconsistent history.

With a string of hit singles under her belt, Perry has aspired to create a multi-faceted full-length and has consummately succeeded.

Most of these strummy feel-good ditties-aw-shucks song titles include "Gotta Be Wrong Sometimes" and "Taking On the World Today"-make Jason Mraz sound like some kind of avant-garde noisemaker.

Living Things" is simply a minor effort in an impressive discography, and one that should translate well to Linkin Park's live show.

And as on "Idol," that aesthetic is most appealingly expressed here in the material that seems the least suited for it-i.e., mushy heartland rock ballads.

While "The Oracle" is certainly familiar, it still sounds fresh enough and well worth the wait for fans who prefer their Godsmack served up straight.

There’s a semblance of a flow to the record’s sprawling track list, but too many songs sound hastily written, and too often Cyrus acts as if her drug trip is more poignant than the average freakout.

Some of the experiments on Corazón don't work.... Still, it's fascinating to follow Santana through his Latin journey.

Atreyu has resharpened its teeth on its new album, "Congregation of the Damned," which features the return of Varkatzas' deadly scream. But the set still features somber moments.

The big guns are firing again on his newest release, Y Not, and to good effect.

Young's scratchy vocal fails to complement its exquisitely cinematic orchestration until the final two lines show a fleshed-out poignancy. It's the same, too, with his blues performances.... At times, though, Young and his many collaborators do gel.

Sheezus is Allen's most uneven record yet, but it's also her most mature.

Smoke + Mirrors may seem too recycled and belabored to entice the unconverted, but the hints of hidden depths are a pleasant surprise.

Jackie feels like a missed opportunity for a talented artist to connect with fans in a new way.

Although Chandra and Leigh Watson don't employ their entire vocal range on the bluesy "Devil in You," they make up for it with lyrical maturity.

Lil Wayne is back with the equally confounding Dedication 4, a messy rehashing of this year's respective rap bangers.

Full of contradictions, the album is primitive and ultra-modern, dark and enchanting, tranquil and energetic.

More than any previous Coldplay release, A Head Full of Dreams sounds like a pop record; the band has never been catchier.

Produced with plenty of rock-radio muscle by her original guitarist, John Shanks, the 12-song set comes packed with the kind of room-rousing choruses Etheridge specialized in during her early-'90s commercial heyday