This record possesses immense power to make listeners reflect on their own relationships and mortality.

Their traditional characteristics and intellectual concepts, incorporated with new elements and ideas, make Apex Predator - Easy Meat another impressive addition to Napalm Death's spotless catalogue.

PersonA is proof of the exemplary musicianship of Magnetic Zeros, and their ability to forge songs as rich lyrically as they are musically.

Boasting a bigger sound with better songwriting, Deep Fantasy pulls no punches, yet still emerges as White Lung's boldest and most accessible album to date.

With Cupid Deluxe, Hynes has revealed his exquisite vision, one that swells with inspiration from his various collaborators.

Baroness have outdone themselves with Gold & Grey. Armed with a fresh sound and well-honed talent, they are finally ready to be recognized as one of the most important bands in modern rock music.

While the shock has worn off for their follow-up, Deeper Than Sky makes up for the lack of surprise by being even better executed.

High Plains perfectly capture the rugged and sprawling Midwest, but more impressively, an intangible mood and state of mind. A record like this is a rare achievement.

Woman is confident and captivating, and like their debut before it, demands attention.

Fussell has created a world of supernatural, natural and mundane forces on this record that gets better and better with each listen.

With six of the nine tracks written in 2018, it's unbelievable how well this record flows and holds together — and that's without even mentioning how prophetic the tracks have proven to be over the last three years.

That Richard Thompson has conjured these fascinatingly enigmatic yet clearly deeply personal words and melodies to match such refined, uncompromising music is a testament to his indisputable power as his generation's sturdiest warhorse.

It's the sound of an artist operating at the peak of her powers, employing all her greatest strengths at once to create an assured, moving work that corroborates what Have One On Me already suggested: that Joanna Newsom is one of the finest songwriters of this generation.

A record that prefers to build up intensity before letting it ebb away, doling out flashes of propulsive rhythm in snatches and grasps rather than in the four-on-the-floor anthemic grooves favoured by so many bands these days, Sleeping Operator feels out of time, apart, distinct.

On Freedom Highway, Giddens juxtaposes historical narratives with present-day contexts for an emotionally powerful record.

On You Will Never Be One of Us, Nails are simply on another level and, though others will have a tough time reaching it, they should all still aspire to it.

Miss Colombia displays an artist who has a clear vision combined with a desire to experiment with sounds.

There are mere days until the autumnal equinox, make sure you spend them listening to Lookout Low — the album of the summer you didn't know you were missing — with a loved one.

Inventive, lush, and propelled by taut rhythms and strings that gust like competing winds, Ignorance matches the subtle drama and sparkling intelligence of Lindeman's writing, exploding her music into opalescent shards.

Lorde is masterful at making music that digs within the deepest recesses of your heart and brings to the surface the feelings that you thought you'd forgotten about. Melodrama is the perfect outlet to hash (and dance) those emotions out to.

There's a contentedness here; a playfulness; a willingness to be silly. Instead of shying away from the shadows of life, the band embrace the dark with the light, relishing in it all. It's such a sharp contrast to their earlier work, this sense of acceptance with a knowing smile.

What Photay achieves on Onism is the contrast between full auditory saturation and expanding silence, brought to life by brilliant production.

Is the best rap/rap-adjacent album of the year? It's definitely a contender. Is it the most important album of the year? Probably. Should you be listening to it right now? Without question.

Overall, Ashes And Dust is undeniable proof of Warren Haynes' growth as a songwriter and an affirmation of his continuing successful eclecticism.

Although Another Life may be borne from the unnerving question of whether the world will be saved or destroyed by technology, the music contained within is still hard-hitting, at times danceable, and infinitely entertaining.

Anthropocosmic Nest is full of loud blasts from the Messthetics, but it's also dynamic, revealing a patient, thoughtful approach to songwriting, which, beyond exhibiting the band's musical proficiency, is a real signifier of genuine friendship and trust.

Jeff Tweedy clearly spent more time than usual talking to himself of late, and the expressive results are strong. His memory went jogging and kicked up enough dust that he had to put it down on paper and on tape, and it all feels like the most direct pathway into his complex psyche that he's ever offered.

Ortega's musical composition revels in an outlaw spirit, echoed vocal acoustics and a Spanish waltz. She masters the equilibrium and stability amid light and dark, which is regularly touched on in her earlier works.