Life is too short to waste time. ‘The Myth…’ expands from this vital message, allowing the record to emerge as Biffy Clyro’s most emotionally powerful in years.

An extraordinary debut that proves Heartworms is a force to be reckoned with.

Unlike 2016’s iconic ‘Lemonade’, ‘Renaissance’ firmly embodies this world. No ballads or break up songs necessary, the album sits proudly at 16 tracks of pure energy. A masterclass in reinvention.

Her straight-forward, down to business flow is all part of removing that mask. It’s an unflinching look at what such a sudden rise can do to a young person, and the anxieties that the public never see.

Clearly not ones to do things by halves, ‘Sex, Death & The Infinite Void’ may be an album that feels boldly unexpected for a rock band in 2020, and that makes it all the more remarkable: for Creeper, it’s their most astonishing and liberating move yet.

‘Blue Weekend’ is an album that revels in its feelings. The dynamics are constantly shifting, often moving from tender sparsity to luxurious sonic opulence in the same song, but everything feels like the absolute peak of what it could be.

Across the record, the winking lyrical smarts are in full flow.

Backed up by lyrical content that has never been more potent and relevant, this album is proof that A Tribe Called Quest never really left.

The drought may be over, but SZA left no crumbs.

But by going through it all, by exposing all the pain, he’s created something beautiful and vital.

Though some of their peers may have waned on their long, drawn out returns, Sleater-Kinney have only grown stronger in their time off. Ten years away has made them more essential than ever. Nostalgia be dammed.

As the record builds to a final cathartic hushed scream, ‘Punisher’ marks a clear step forward, but one that remains as fundamentally graceful as all that has come before.

At 10 albums and three decades deep, ‘Private Music’ showcases a band both at the top of their game and with still much more to come.

Imbued throughout with a fusion of Pa’s Gambian heritage, and life growing up in Coventry (“COV, #cityofviolence” introduces ‘Informa’), it’s a varied, confident and cinematic trip through where the performer finds himself.

Taken individually these songs are all gorgeous, but as a whole they create an effect of being hemmed in by absence, that inhospitable land overwhelming in its minimalism. No other record today sounds so beautiful and full while being quite so sparse.

An album that makes no bones about delving headfirst into the terror, anger and fatigue of our present day, it may not be the most lighthearted of listens, but it’s a fiercely potent and important one.

Mike’s decision to collaborate more heavily births perhaps his most musically expansive record to date, in itself an exercise in allowing the external in.

It’s powerfully honest and refreshingly unfiltered, beautifully crafted and distinctive. Most importantly of all it carries the legacy of Tom Searle, and of the remaining Architects members, forward.

It’s a truly cathartic listening experience, driven by the belief that our darkest moments can only be alleviated if we sing about them beautifully enough.

It’s clear all three are being pushed beyond their usual creative comfort zones.

Equal parts elegant and antagonistic, it comes together to be every part the listening experience that he wanted it to be - complex, unconventional and ultimately, essential.

The record feels more like opening a time capsule than self-congratulation; as if that 2011 statement locked a door we’re only now allowed to peek back into. Also crucially, many of the songs here were never even released as singles. ... The breadth and depth of how much they did while still keeping it (relatively) simple is so evident.

St. Vincent showcases Annie Clark as a fiercely accomplished musician, a relentlessly original artist, and now, an innovator of pop.

The Dusk in Us was whittled down to thirteen tracks from eighteen and there remains a little bit of extraneous material, particularly towards the album’s close, and that uneven pacing suggests a touch of rust after so long away--‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ felt more tightly controlled.

This is a performance, a showcase of crazy that does nothing but dazzle.

[Missing U's] Thudding kick drum pounds away underneath defiant lyrics of heartache, and it’s as affecting as she’s ever been. It’s the rest of the record, though, that really excels, pointing the way forward for an artist changing her tune.

Confidence and swagger flows through the album as a whole, with every twist and turn adding another colour to its extraordinary palette. The sound of an artist hitting their stride and then some, ‘That! Feels Good’ really does live up to its name.

While some of the stylistic variation here can feel disjointed at times, there’s plenty on offer to suggest a band on the rise, capable of rising even higher.