With impressive growth, and while still operating within the genre's tight confines, Carnifex put the final nail in deathcore's coffin, giving it an appropriate sendoff.

Indicud won't work for everyone, but if you're a Cudi fan, this album finds him sounding better than he has in some time.

Where Donovan really soars is the quieter moments on the record.

Tend No Wounds sounds very much like a transitional record, one foot firmly planted in the tar pit of their sludge roots while the other steps forward into a more punk-influenced, high-energy hard rock mode, and this liminality leads to moments of awkwardness.

By pairing their well-honed blues rock temerity with genuine emotional weight, Spoon continue to wring new ideas out of classic sounds without veering into gimmick, staying consistent without getting stale. By slowly introducing the idea that it's cool to care, Spoon continue to expand their comfort zone.

Listening to Look to the East, Look to the West feels at once redemptive and healing; Camera Obscura have found their way through the dark.

Everything goes by at such a breathless pace and without much variation that for individual listening, it gets a bit draining at times.

While even Young's most autobiographical ("Old Man") and tender ("Harvest Moon") songs deliver a level of poetry and mystery to his plainly spoken lyrics, much of his folk material here is paired with often cheesy and typical phrasing. ... That said, at 76 years of age, Young is still making more shrewd, relevant, and valiant albums than any of his peers not named Bob Dylan.

It's not perfect – there's a spoken-word bit tacked on to the end that is less than satisfactory, but the lyrics aren't really the point here. This is a record that fills up a room and begs to be turned up loud.

Like any colourful kaleidoscope however, there's a lack of cohesion on this debut, as varying production clashes throughout the disorganized project. That's a minor quibble, though; if you look closely, and let the visuals clash and morph into something new, you'll still find plenty to wonder at.

For a solo debut, Serpentine Prison seems like a natural first step and a safe bet for both the artist's individual ambitions and the comfort of existing fans.

High Noon showcases Arkells' lofty ambitions, and while it might not be their defining record it's another intriguing step in their evolution.

Neuroplasticity is a full-on rock record, though, as much as it's just a transition for Spx into something that takes a variety of musical turns.

In its quiet drawl, Out of Touch is a perfect record for joining Kalevi on that beach: full of the foggy calm of letting the imagination run its own course.

While founders Jonathan Russell and Josiah Johnson do seem to come from the Simon & Garfunkel school of songcraft, an appreciation of California pop also comes out.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy remains the apex of West's maximalist visions, and while The Life of Pablo certainly aims high, it isn't as consistently pointed in delivering both music and message as its big-budget predecessor was. And yet, it remains a modern gospel that is undeniably West's own, with a handful of vexatious moments peppered throughout the undeniably visionary ones.

A Girl Cried Red takes you back in time to the nostalgia of your emo days.

Scis demonstrates that, 27 years into his recording career, Markus Popp is still managing to come off forward-thinking and forward-sounding.

While a slight step forward, Nocturne, like all of Wild Nothing's output to date, still inhales all of its influences--the women, the hurt, the favourite records stuck on late night repeat--and exhales them in to a beautiful, swirling, ethereal cloud.

With tiny flourishes, Ndegeocello injects new meaning into each song she covers.

The music is punchy, with electronic and analog elements, but, in contrast with Fucked Up, there is absolutely nothing abrasive about the vocals, which are sometimes dominated by beautiful harmonies, as the album's title suggests.

DJ Khaled knows how to produce a hit with any number of artists, but his 2019 effort could have used some more growth like Asahd.

“My Day Off” is an instant standout. .... Other songs on Still lack these creative frameworks and aren’t quite as successful in leaving an impression.

Universal Themes is still overwhelmingly heart-on-sleeve, human; if it's not universal in the specifics, then it is in the way it rawly depicts experience.

Like Funkadelic's 2014 comeback First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate, Medicaid Fraud Dogg is a sprawling listen, and a few tracks, like the tedious "On Fire" could have been trimmed.

Scruff's in his forties but the assured, mature Friendly Bacteria is the antithesis of a mid-life crisis.

Hypnotic Eye may just be a solid middle-of-the-pack release as far as Petty albums go, but only a fool would complain about having another 45 minutes of music from one of rock & roll's premier units.

An easy 12-track listen with smart, if not epic, storytelling and a variety of sounds.

It's a gritty, soulful sound that holds The Solution together, seemingly aspiring to be nothing more than "Boot Camp meets Little Brother": familiar and stress-free for an audience seeking a vintage feel in their hip-hop.

Whether the band chose to do so to demonstrate their virtuosity, or merely their indecisiveness, has yet to be shown. Regardless, Collector is inspiring in its scale and complexity.

The band's 14th record finds Yo La Tengo settling into a late career renaissance that revisits the timbre of some of their best records (especially the quiet grace of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out) without rehashing them, providing a welcome counterpoint to their slightly louder and more bombastic later efforts.

Weak spots include "Superfresh" and "Hot Property," staid disco-pop ditties offering outdated synth and vocoder machinations. But overall, Automaton is inspired, experimental and timeworn.

It's true that Fujiya & Miyagi have a particular formula, and they seem to follow it on their self-titled LP, but they've managed to figure out when to use this formula to satiate listeners and when to tweak it to make listeners salivate.

Lamb of God is essentially what fans should expect from the band at this point. Nothing on it feels groundbreaking or cutting-edge like the band's music did in the 2000s, but then again, it's unlikely Lamb of God will ever muster up that same aggression from the comfortable place they sit now.

Like the murky corners of the city that birthed it, Get Back is filled with interesting diversions, even if those ideas don't necessarily add up to a unified vision.

Although new listeners may find this brand of new wave revival frivolous in such an oversaturated pool of sound-alikes, longtime fans, or those who listen close enough, will hear a band who has a little more weight beneath the surface than their contemporaries. Songwriting that isn't always complementary, but bold nonetheless.

EarthGang's otherwise lean and careening style has the potential to reach the acclaim earned by their label head J. Cole — even if the stratospheric success of Stankonia remains out of reach for now.

This is a fantastic debut full of genuine warmth.

MassEducation is hardly a necessary addition to St. Vincent's repertoire, but it is nevertheless an interesting and worthwhile listen for fans.

Spiral in a Straight Line is an album that represents the logical next step for a band who have honed in on what works — not reinventing the wheel but finding subtle ways to improve on what Touché Amoré is and what they can be.

TerraForm may not be groundbreaking, but it's an enjoyable album that begs to be turned up loud, and sometimes that's all you need.

While EG.0 holds Goulding's mainstream radio hits, it's Brightest Blue that has evolved Ellie Goulding as a songwriter. She's created two distinct spaces on this record, which allows her to continue her musical evolution while simultaneously maintaining her pop throne as pop royalty.

Saint Heron is a statement, a musical manifesto with a collaborative vision for today's R&B.

Hopefully "No One" is an indication of the long-hidden spunkiness that Sexsmith will finally reveal in full on his next effort. If that doesn't happen, and his follow up is as joyful as Carousel, fans will still be pleased by one fact: Ron Sexsmith's days of being pigeonholed as a sad sack are long gone.

While Big Red Machine lacked immediate standouts, it was intriguing for its ponderous excursions.

Let's Face the Music and Dance displays Nelson in his natural element: a small combo playing songs as timeless as his wonderfully idiosyncratic voice.

With a bit better pacing and fewer drawn-out moments between songs, the record could have been the best of their career, but still stands as a fine addition to their discography.

While his source material is firmly rooted in the past, Petestrumentals 2 makes a couple of more contemporary statements

The Necks don't exactly break new ground with Unfold, but it's refreshing nonetheless to see that they're also not regressing--a small miracle for any band 30 years into their career.

End constitutes a worthy addition to Explosions in the Sky's discography, even if it doesn't really open a new chapter for them.

925 is a cohesive, enjoyable, drug-infused debut about two longtime friends trying to make sense of being young in a dreary world. Despite a few hiccups, the record is a moody and exciting treat by an act to keep your eyes and ears on.

Some additional layers wouldn't hurt next time around, and perhaps some brighter, more varied production when the opportunity arises, but this is a solid, high-energy debut from a pair that definitely has their style figured out already, with lots of room to build.

If Women in Music Pt. III cracked the door open, I quit stands in the threshold, taking stock of what's worth carrying forward.

Ursprung delivers a uniquely modern and experimental album that gently reveals more with each listen.

Backwater is a mature, rich effort that's likely to see Kllo continue on their ascent.

Alone for the First Time is a pretty solid sophomore album, but it falls shy of Guilt Trips' coming-of-age charm.

Big Sean exhibits growth and wisdom on I Decided., and that's definitely worth a listen. This is a solid effort.

While Yes, I'm A Witch Too makes Ono's work more accessible by sanding down the more experimental edges, in doing so, it somewhat detracts from what makes Ono's great.

On 2018's King of Cowards they proved they were a truly forward-thinking doom act, and on Viscerals they've proved it wasn't a fluke. They just need to shed a few more layers before they are ready to assume their final form.

An album about religion that's not at all religious, Benoît Pioulard refuses to come off as descriptive or thematic, making Hymnal an example of a mood piece that's designed to be affecting, but never static.

Though the tail end of the LP drags thanks to throwaway dirges like "Justice" and "Sometimes," Love Will Be Reborn is nonetheless as surprisingly and pleasingly intimate and stripped down of an album you're going to hear from someone as naturally theatrical as Martha Wainwright.

Though its creation process was an overarching performative event in itself, Ye still managed to (for the most part) control his narrative, and deliver his best body of work in recent memory. It's just hard not to think that some trimming and sequencing tweaks could have made this LP that much greater and his message that much more poignant.

The classic heavy metal and surf rock elements that made their debut so appealing are intact, with some additional psychedelia and more driving, intense guitar riffs.

While the album understandably contains some filler within its bottom third, POWER UP nonetheless falls securely within AC/DC's great B-level albums; just as solid and memorable as Let There Be Rock or For Those About to Rock (We Salute You).

For fans of nu metal and heavy riffs, Requiem will not disappoint, but it lacks the sadness that Korn have long tapped into to differentiate themselves from the pack.

Petrol mixes ambient and free jazz with satisfyingly cohesive results.

There is an invigorating energy that shines through the lyrics and tempo of this album, so although lyrics about the finer things of California living aren't necessarily profound or entirely relatable, on Man About Town, Hawthorne's buoyant optimism for beginning anew in 2016 is utterly contagious.

While it loses some of her past work’s joyous electricity, it reveals something truer. This is Whack’s world after all, we’re just lucky enough to live in it.

With Cloud Room, Glass Room, Pan American's original recipe feels slightly new–and-improved.

A Khruangbin dub record isn't particularly Earth-shattering, especially when dub was already so present in their music. But it's an opportunity for the band to really show off their strengths and further establish what makes them unique.

Science Fiction is a flawed yet beguiling record that keeps you hooked without offering the emotional payoff that we've come to expect.

Despite any nitpicky issues one may find with In the Morse Code of Brake Lights, it's refreshing to see the New Pornographers, 20 years into their existence, still trying to swing for the fences.

Given the breadth of Hood's output and influence, hardcore fans may have wanted a more encompassing and historical selection but there's enough here to satisfy both newcomers and devotees.

With all the memories, both good and bad, unearthed on this album, Best Blues finds Small Black holding their composure, even when it seems like it'll be a total bummer.

Off the Record may be dated in some respects, but it still sounds like it's aimed at the future.

The result is a most welcome and simply terrific record from a perennially underrated band.

The record’s more direct first half may appeal to those who want their old school IDLES fix, but repeated listens to its rangier second half reveal an emotional complexity and sonic cohesion that have long escaped the band. Suddenly, there’s reason to be excited about where IDLES are headed.

Double Negative asks much of listeners, but what you get in return is positive to say the least.

With Over It, the Atlanta singer-songwriter is on point with a debut that's ultimately a contemplation on sexual politics and emotional availability.

ATW is perplexing in its ability to both continue many of All Them Witches' songwriting motifs while often (and sometimes simultaneously) subverting them altogether.

They aren't reinventing the wheel at this point in their career, but as young artists with explosive, disillusioned and wrathful emotions for the world and social conventions around them, there isn't a rock band more suited to the times.

Each song is theatrically arranged with Craft belting like a Broadway star and the large band supporting his every word. The ebbs and flows become slightly predictable near the end of the album, but Craft does a terrific job of performing the songs, emoting and propelling his tales with vigour.

There's nothing truly radical about the collection, but it is gratifying riff-based rock, and in an industry littered with sycophants, Starcrawler's brand of exuberant noise is refreshing. The future may be bright for these young guns.

There's a pastoral feel to the album — the band recorded it all in an epic ten day session at a studio in the Welsh countryside, and you can hear that region's influence in everything here. It sounds wide open and unencumbered, full but never cluttered or dense.

As a solo debut, Lysandre is a self-indulgent effort that succeeds in spite of itself; it also signals an artist shaking off the shackles of the past and embracing a wider range of sounds and ideas.

Brood Ma's vision of the future may be dark, but on the challenging, rewarding DAZE, his future as a purveyor of its soundtrack is all but secured.

You could call Butterfly 3000 the least King Gizzard album of their career — there is next-to-no distortion or guitar riff theatrics. Nevertheless, it's a refreshing departure from the psychedelic garage records the band has released in the past few years.

Here they are with the emotionally eloquent Spin, rejuvenated and sounding just as good as a duo as they ever did as a quintet.

One lyrical misstep in "By My Demon Eye" (the use of the ethnic slur "gypsy") disrupts Stables' otherwise charming lyrics, but otherwise, Moonshine Freeze is a uniquely woven tapestry of captivating beauty.

King's Disease is a record that's occasionally swollen with too many ideas, backed up by lazy rhymes and unsavoury politics. Thankfully, with impeccable production overseen by executive producer Hit-Boy and bolstered by a slew of excellent guest features, Nas overcomes these pain points to pull together his most satisfying project in close to a decade.

The band manages not to compromise their sound, but on The Black Market, the formula is growing stale.

Check this out if you are a devoted member of the Pentagram coven, but otherwise, stick to the classics.

Her drive and influences are there, but, moving forward, the search for hooks may remain her greatest challenge.

Take It Like A Man is a disjointed affair with a slippery identity.

Much of Principe's second half finds him repackaging the first half with plodding disco beats that make the initially exciting melodies seem boring the second (and third, and fourth) time around.

With the majority of the tracks being in-and-around the two minute mark, Sage The Gemini presses the gas pedal too quickly before capturing your attention lyrically or sonically.

Bleachers is agreeable and safe, but there's a fumbling listlessness to the whole thing, a lack of dynamism that makes it fade into white noise. Antonoff’s latest is not the grand, drive-off-into-the-sun record that Strange Desire or even Gone Now strove to be and sometimes became — Bleachers is a commuter’s record through and through.

K.T.S.E. is a strong start with an anticlimactic finish. With a bit of additional time and effort, it could have been so much more.