While intriguing and often beautiful, it’s also a little frustrating. There’s a sense that this is only half a story, half a tale told.

Just as the pair’s ability to create moods with just their guitars is impressive--it’s a bit much over twelve tracks.

A delightfully fun record.

It’s a collection of songs that reflects anxiety and paranoia, a distrust of the present but also belief in their own ability. It also presents a band with a future in which they have opened up new avenues for themselves.

The Inevitable End accepts its own strengths and faults in one fatal blow, just like any last gasp should.

‘Beginners’ and ‘Radio Tokyo’ lead the way in the clout department, and increasingly, Hookworms sound like a band comfortable with being immediate as well as complex.

Foo Fighters are providing the map, it’s up to the audience to explore. Therein lies its beauty.

Side projects come and go, but it’s obvious that Les Sins is going to be around for some time.

Moments like the stripped-back vulnerability of ‘Dust’ and the lyrical mirroring of ‘The Lovers’ show Deptford Goth at his minimal best.

For anyone who’s ever wondered what sort of album a hybrid of Joan Jett and Janet Jackson would make, the answer is right here.

Its second half is abrasive to the extreme, but by this point the hypnotic album’s already worked its charm. If Blunt is ever to settle into a routine, this should be his blueprint.

As such a unique style of music in their field, there is no reference point to compare Mariachi El Bronx to, but if you’ve enjoyed ‘I’ and ‘II’, or you want to hear something a bit different then Mariachi El Bronx III is well worth a listen.

This record still feels raw, it still feels intimate, but a little more bold in its sentiments. It’s in those moments of bravery and risk that Rice still stands worthy of his heart-wrenching troubadour title.

It’s not quite the full spectrum of colours, but there’s an ambitious scale within its palette that allows Arca to craft the textural masterpiece that Xen quite often hints at being.

A record that intertwines effortlessly whilst showcasing flair beyond belief, Alone For The First Time is authentic, new and first and foremost captivating.

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

Whilst songs from this new record will actually fit nicely besides tracks from ‘Old Pine’ and ‘The Lack Long After’, Keep You as a whole, is somewhat forgettable.

It’s stripped back and assured in its simplicity, yet operatic and beautifully composed. Oh, and it really is truly miserable.

This is the work of two guys simply expressing their love of music for the rest of us to enjoy--swooping from ‘60s pop to ‘00s rock while appreciating everything in between--and what a loveable collection of work it is.

If you’re new to Trail of Dead, this might be a good place to begin your investigations, and if you’ve lost track of them since their critical and commercial peak, then ‘Sound Of The Silk’ and IX as a whole is as good a way as you’ll find to rediscover this consistently fantastic band.

It is a work that demonstrates how sheer and utter horror can be turned into music, and while that may not appeal to the majority, the fact that someone is brave enough to do it is really quite brilliant.

The vocals are rather Thurston, too, like a chain-smoking Scrappy Doo, and structurally each song on The Best Day follows a specifically Thurstony pattern; all shimmery build-ups and thrashing bar chords, and deadpan vocals thudding solemnly along the top of it all.

It’s a sensitive and technically more profound outing.

This far into his career Mark Lanegan was unlikely to start making albums that are any less than engaging, but it’s still testament to his creativity and love of his art that ‘Phantom Radio’ is such a successful departure from bluesy rock and roll.

His sophomore full-length is at times uninspired and leaves an emptiness in the gut.

he 2 Bears have once again triumphed at what they do best, serving up a vibrant and joyous take on the music that has shaped them.

The only sore-thumb is lead single ‘How Can You Really’, which feels far too polished for the lo-fi and experimental feel of the album. Apart from that, though, this is a record of magnificent magnitude and one that’s audacious as hell.

Sure, it’s a sound that at times can be guilty of slipping into little more than a background beat; the kind of thing you’d half listen to at two in the morning on Kiss100 cruising down a deserted motorway. This is not necessarily bad, just evidence of a sound that reflects the era it embodies.