Nothing goes anywhere, and yet every song is so long. It’s painful.

The problem isn’t in the songs themselves – there are plenty of choruses to sing along to, and some interesting lyrical snippets – it’s just that Fray has made such an effort to prove that he’s more than a swaggering Gallagher-ite that he smothers the record and doesn’t allow it to breathe.

Because however cheesy, however smothered in Eighties patische, what Within Temptation have done is write a collection of killer melodies that are so strong it's almost impossible to sniff at them. I just wish they'd done it with a little more of a personal flourish.

Like Tiny Masters, these kids are at that enviable point when all this seems fresh and new. You can almost see the process of discovery burning brightly in their eyes. Skeletons perfectly captures that moment.

What you really need to know about Courtcase 2000 is that it's an incredibly accomplished LP--maiden or otherwise.

Last Night is sensible, clean, pleasant. But it lacks that essential injection of endeavour and emotion.

For the moment they have tightened the experimental purse strings, offering a less rewarding batch of songs than they’re capable of creating.

Accomplished yet instantly forgettable--a most fitting curtain call for such a confused endeavour.

It’s a horribly calculated, horrible slice of anthemic horribleness. Throughout, dreadful lyrics are in abundance, pianos are thumped and drums are bashed.

This is a loud, confident album, best enjoyed at high volume.

Get Hurt is the most brooding, ashen release yet, and not quite with their usual sombre charm.

Such relaxed saunters down musical memory lane have been done before, and often better.

It's a tighter take on pop than their early records, but as the storming energy that kicks off Heavy Mood begins to ebb away the group begins to feel oddly charmless.

He's crafted a whole album so stagnantly repetitive that one listen gives the illusion of having already been subjected to the same song again and again and again and again.

He has made the most anodyne and bland pop album possible.

While unrelenting fury is a major feature in the songs here, what really brings From Safer Place to life are the curveballs it occasionally lobs out.

Only ‘Carrion’ remotely rocks in any way, but only through a lukewarm shower wash.

Vices & Virtues is quite some distance from the triumphs of that remarkable record.

Folds proves that, sometimes, the gamble you take on saying too much can pay off.

Rose's voice is always likeable, accessible and expressive, sadly in the case of Work It Out it rarely has anything very interesting to express.

You really can’t get het up one way or another about a song like ‘Waste a Moment’, which might as well be called ‘Lead Single’, nor can you muster up anything other than a yawn as ‘Conversation Piece’ stretches out like a cat in front of a fire on a cold winter night.

The slower songs can certainly be felt to add a rounded edge to what would otherwise be an unrelentingly pointy poptastic delivery.

Battle For The Sun feels hazy, lazy and lost--a muggy summer afternoon. Predictable lyrics grate awkwardly like manufactured pop-factory produce, while a ‘nice’ helping of sunshine-synth and sighs paint a chirpy celebration of life and all its hand-clappy beauty. Meh.

The blueprints of a fun time are here; the melodic and rhythmic groundwork is all in place. All we need now is to have Matt and Kim bring this ruckus in person, rather than through the middleman of mp3.

It’s not as focused as it could’ve been, considering the freshness of the songs.

On the surface it’s all nicely put together but almost all these covers lack the passion.

Dead may not improve on Dying’s blueprint, but it is far more than just an interesting experiment. It rigidly follows the band’s self-sabotaging ethic, whilst giving genuinely imaginative versions of songs that were never meant to be remixed.

As a full album, this wafts innocuously past like a gentle Hawaiian breeze--too meek for any real surf, but just strong enough to be mildly of note to those wishing to hit the waves. That’s about the best that can be said of it.