Black Country, New Road somehow remain just as essential as they were back then. It takes time to get your head around ‘Forever Howlong’, with its freeform song structures and heady arrangements — but if you allow yourself the space to unravel its secrets, you’ll be amply rewarded.

‘Lotus’ is a developmental album that excels in a complexity of genres. It showcases Little Simz’s personal resilience as she takes on this vulnerable melodic journey to selflessly blossom in her introversion.

A damaged but delightful long-player, then, perfect for fans of Daughter and Camera Obscura.

Lucky Shiner is one of the most innovative and mind-melding albums of the year and one that just keeps on giving.

Brilliant album; an album that will become – in time – as significant and important to Gahan’s career as Johnny Cash’s ‘American’ series was to his enduring legacy.

‘Butterfly’ doesn’t just reaffirm the endeavour’s relevance; it raises the bar. It may only be February, but this already feels like a defining electronic record of the year.

Meet The Humans is not just his best solo release to date, but also arguably the finest album in which he has been involved full stop. Capable of moving and energising its audience in equal measure, Mason has refined his art to a remarkable extent.

Overgrown remains closer knit, and paradoxically less fragmented than its illustrious predecessor, ideas rotating core values guided by an affirmatively unseen hand. Which ultimately makes this an even better record.

A heart-wrenching collection of songs that urges the listener to give themselves over to this album as much as Ethel Cain gives herself over to you.

One of the best albums Everything But The Girl have put their name against. A rich, atmospheric song cycle, it has the emotional heft of The Blue Nile and the production nous of Massive Attack. In the end, it could only be Everything But The Girl.

Mirror Mirror is a raw, nocturnal and very northern record, and one that's nailed its bleeding, hedonistic colours high up the musical mast.

A hugely impressive, frequently stunning return, ‘Black Rainbows’ ranks as one of the year’s most imposing comebacks.

Taylor Swift’s quiet, exquisite album.

Ghosteen is not a blissful or comfortable album, but it is a hopeful one. The gaping wound of ‘Skeleton Tree’ is scarring over as Cave pulls away from the past’s savage undertow, content in the knowledge that peace will come. It’s a paean to how all things bright and beautiful can be thrown into blinding relief once you’ve known real darkness, another open letter straight from artist to audience that cuts right to the core of what means to have loved, lost and loved again.

Whilst the lyrics are direct and, in your face, the production is just as precise and thought out. It flows with Kano’s quick pace and ability to turn on the heat so quickly. The album offers 10 tracks of quality and meaning over the meaningless repackaged corporate sound that is found more often than not in this day and age.

A sonic patchwork of disparate influences over a nucleus of Black London musicality, and imbuing each thread with an undeniable protagonist energy.

That’s what makes Geese’s work so exciting: uncompromising, they look steadily forwards, pushing at the seams of what their sound can do.

It’s honest, dark, funny, tragic, moving and incredibly catchy. This is PUP’s finest album to date. No easy job. At its heart this is a slow descent into self-destruction. And we feel all the better for it.

Clements and Griffiths have sculpted something truly special out of their final time with their friend and, while too late for all of the numerous lists, it deserves to be held up as one of the most affecting and impressive releases of a difficult year.

This set of tracks will stand with their most masterful.

It’s a truly delightful experience that delights in its unexpected and uncompromising approach to positivity. The art work and overall feel of the compositions may speak to a chilly, typically Nordic solitude, while the music of this record is anything but. A late year treasure that shouldn't be overlooked, it is as timely as it is timeless, and as needed now as any musical work of the last year or so.

‘Unlimited Love’ is exactly what it says on the tin. A celebration of union, friendship, and life, all manifested across 17 tracks. Littered with lyrical easter eggs and distinctive Chili Peppers funky flare, this record is a regal return.

‘To Love Is To Live’ is a sonic poltergeist with sentiment to boot.

‘Sex, Death & The Infinite Void’, Creeper have created something that simultaneously pays homage to the bands that came before, and which is totally cutting-edge in the modern rock landscape.

Instead of throwing perspective on her fears, anxieties and problems and helping to alleviate them, that context and duality only amplifies them. They become her, and she becomes them. ... ‘Hurt A Fly’ is one of the more optimistic-sounding songs on the album, but even its hopeful tone is laden with the threat and/or promise of everything crashing down. The tender strains of ‘Pass’ also offer a glimmer of hope, but one that, inevitably, eventually burns out and turns to dust.

This is Hey Colossus' best LP yet--by some distance.

Solidifies the Salem, Massachusetts four-piece’s continued brilliance. These 10 tracks, which clock in at a tight 31 minutes, waste not a milli-second of that sharp runtime. Every moment is calculated with ruthless precision and designed for maximum emotional impact.

Shellac, across 28 minutes of beat-em-up mutant rock, are on fire here, the six-legged noise beast dependable as ever. ‘To All Trains’ showcases a rock band who get every single thing about being a rock band absolutely correct.