Battle-hardened by lengthy tours across the land and beyond, Pale Waves bring that energy into the studio on a crisp, effervescent debut LP.

Despite some angsty missteps, the reverb-soaked ‘Neon Bedroom’ confirms that the band’s talent for transforming the ordinary into the epic remains.

With this seventh album the band have managed to craft a hard hitting and forward thinking record that fuses more traditionalist elements of rock with sounds from genres currently dominating cultural conversation.

It’s immediately likeable, but loses distinctiveness later on.

Green Day have delivered possibly their most immediate album this century and an album that, despite its short length, grows more rewarding with repeat listens.

A beautiful diversion then, rather than an eye-opening reboot or soul-stirring call to arms.

An impressive debut.

Best when he’s corralling others into out-of-their-comfort-zone creativity, it’s the Albarn-sung tracks on the second half of the album where the attention wanders and the album opening Snoop Dogg cameo seems a million miles away. Of course, there’s alot here to take in and maybe it just needs a fair few listens to fully digest it - the sign of any album worth its salt.

Even when she’s not at her best, she displays enough nous and melody to stand head and shoulders above practically all her rivals.

Although refreshing, visceral and completely understandable--when listening to the whole LP, the political themes are occasionally overwhelming.

A warm, endearing release, Everything Ever Written is a bold and profoundly independent return.

A transitional work that finds the songwriter operating with a subtle sense of evolution, it’s the sound of a supremely gifted young artist finding space to stop, and ask: what not…?

Although the succession of lukewarm tracks early on prevents this from being a flawless debut, Vic Mensa does enough to keep the album an engaging listen even in its misguided moments.

If it feels just a little patchy in places compared to its predecessor, it's hard not to be jerked into life by this band's approach to the dancefloor's dark bidding. Just don't over-think it.

At 13 tracks there is perhaps a little weight that could be shed – at times, ‘Never Let Me Go’ can feel a little indulgent, lacking a certain concise nature, with ‘This Is What You Wanted’ sounding like a flat cousin of Coldplay’s ‘Clocks’. That said, when it hits ‘Never Let Me Go’ is a reminder of how thrilling, and genuinely intoxicating Placebo can be.

The band have managed to capture their live energy with ease here, and in part due to this, and the album's relentless level of glee, it can become a tiring listen. However, one can't help but admire the band's enthusiasm and the gusto in which they've gone for these songs.

It would be wrong to say that this is an enjoyable album, but it is rewarding in its own way.

Thunder Follows the Light is an album that if you take on face value is full of delicate vocals and dreamy melodies, but if you start to dig a bit below its ethereal surface you find something that is incredibly rewarding on repeat listens. This is when the album starts to come into its own and slowly starts to take over your life.

There's still not enough testosterone on display for it to count as one of their very best, but it's not half bad.

Sprawling LA collective Ozomatli return with Fire Away, their fifth full-length to date, and offer another rich dose of positive energy and musical diversity.

With no intent on living off of past glories, Burslem and co. are keen to move forward and it shows. It's by no means a perfect record, but it sure sounds like they're setting themselves up for one.

Though 'Nowhere Generation' isn’t breaking boundaries, it doesn’t need to. Rise Against have carved out a niche that works for them, and if it aint broke, why fix it?

Crafting a solid set of songs that hold their own among break-out singles is no mean feat, but the Sydney trio have pulled it off--in the main, at least.

While hardly reinventing the wheel with ‘What Do We Do Now,’ J has yet again delivered a set of songs that only an enigma like he could.

Short and to the point, ‘L.A. Times’ is a succinct example of Travis’ musicality. A mixed bag, it’s held together by feverish energy, and some of the band’s mainstays – the emotional curiosity, the willingness to think outside the box, and those empathetic vocals. A real charmer.

Even with its compact 10 tracks, however, not everything here connects. ‘Think U The Shit (Fart)’ is juvenile in a manner she feels beneath her; the way ‘Gimmie A Light’ crunches that Sean Paul sample feels a little naff – at least until the production cranks it up a notch. There’s enough here, however, to display why so much attention is place on her name.

What ‘The Line Is A Curve’ teaches us is that Tempest is still capable of tremendous feats of lyricism and dynamic storytelling; if its inconsistency feels a little frustrating at times, it’s perhaps testament to the flow that bound together previous records with such success.

This is Westside’s last studio album, it seems like he wants to try other avenues and go out on a high, and while it’s not his best work, it’s the defiant idiosyncratic outlook of one of hip-hop’s most iconic upstarts with all the deserved cockiness of someone who never fell off under pressure to cater to a wider audience.