Wrapping The Practice of Love in avant-pop instrumentation, Hval nimbly threads complex sentiments through its prismatic shades of sound.

Warm and meditative, PHASOR’s softness is its greatest strength, extolling the virtues of patience, silence, touch and exploration. It’s a wonderfully complex album belied by its gentle minimalism.

The album is a passionately written and deeply moving meditation on loss, and Touché Amoré have never been better as a band.

Garage, house and techno are twisted into strange new forms over the 70-odd minutes that UFO holds us enthralled for.

A more challenging and elusive listen than the felted atmospherics of Chance of Rain or In Situ, this is Halo at her most artful and poetic.

A set of tapes wound with energy, suffusing the record's calculated structure with flashes of organic movement.

The Montclair, New Jersey's band's sound--off-the-cuff, loose heart-on-sleeve indie-rock cut with Americana--is the perfect vessel for that kind of premature twilight, anxiety and loss. Above all else, it feels so goddamned natural.

After producing such a powerful, chimeric record, which will unquestionably stand as their masterpiece, there's no question that KEN Mode are currently at the peak of their collective talents.

With Blue Skies, the production is crisper, the melodies are sharper, the moods hit deeper and Dehd seem ready to conquer the indie rock world — from Glasgow to Chicago, and everywhere in between.

While there are tracks on No Shape that bow in that direction. But these nips and tucks to the Perfume Genius sound serve a common goal: showcasing Hadreas, who shines bright like a diamond throughout.

Sulphur English is an extremely meditative album that requires further listens to appreciate everything that it does, one of those rare musical experiences one can have with a metal record, and it's not to be missed.

A seething but persevering energy flows intensely CACTI.

Excavation is a brilliant piece of work, one best enjoyed actively with a premium set of headphones, in solitude.

Though not nearly as essential as their first two albums, Long Live finds Atreyu reaching higher than they have in almost a decade.

The record is a perfect amalgamation of everything they've done across their career, with a few new sounds tossed in for good measure.

Melee is loaded front to back with depressive episodes manifested in the mosh pit. ... Yet, by the end of the album, all the words have been chanted, all the guitars have stopped shrieking, all the cymbals have stopped crashing and all energy has been exhausted. That's when a rich, lush string orchestra takes over, capping the whole thing with a sort of post-credits epilogue. It's like a calm sea after a thunderstorm.

Though there's not much variation in volume or tempo, listening carefully to the record's subtle weather shifts is deeply satisfying; it's a dream state, enveloped by Uchis' inimitable voice.

With Dark Superstition, Gatecreeper have cemented their place as one of modern metal's most visceral, exciting and endlessly-listenable bands, and the album is a more than worthy addition to their already-accomplished catalogue.

Blood Bitch won't reward casual listeners, but it offers plenty to those who want to get a little lost.

Down to Believing can unquestionably be described as Moorer's breakup album, but this would sell short its intensely personal complexity.

As an album, Shadow Kingdom is an alternate universe that reflects another side of Bob Dylan's craft and creative muses. It's not a funhouse mirror reflection per se, but it's definitely really fun the more you look at it.

A spectacular followup to 2017's critically acclaimed Drunk. ... It Is What It Is manifests as a beautiful ebb and flow of emotional states, philosophical musings and plain old comedy. It doesn't drown itself in existential dread or proffer any clear-cut solutions, but just exists on its own plane.

The arrangements roll and soar while leaving room for more intimate revelations, which is where Western Stars really finds its stride.

It's Kanye West baring his fangs, over-sharing and consciously grappling with this over-reaching, over-indulging beast within.

Wildheart has its mushy spot (see the superfluous "Destinado a Morir"), but on the whole, it stands as one of the year's standout efforts.

The harmonica, piano and clean sounding guitars characterize The Last Man Standing. The smart and witty lyrics adorn the western swing album with an acoustic blues rock and rockabilly shine.

It's at the intersection of curiosity and vulnerability where she concocts her best work. Gentle Confrontation learns and preserves artifacts of the mind, appreciating special moments that many leave lost in time.

RBCF are a welcome addition to the range of Australian guitar bands taking the world by storm, their confident debut an exploration of angular v. melodic guitars and energetic rhythms.