Followup Hello, I'm Doing My Best offers up more hook-filled, crisply produced radio rock with plenty of grit and soul from Barter, who remains a compelling presence throughout.

This is an assured return.

KICK ii manages symmetry and catchiness despite its descents into the bizarre. ... But for all her experimentation and chaotic tangents, it is clear in KICK ii that she is acutely aware of the balance necessary to build a bop.

Guitarists Trevor Peres and Ken Andrews' tones are more menacing than ever, and Donald Tardy's intense, skull-shaking drums are perfectly captured. While vocalist John Tardy's screams have obviously aged since Obituary's early days, they still sound powerful enough to get the job done, and the entire band plays with a locked-in ferocity that never sounds robotic or artificial.

GRIP is more than just a showcase for the return of Black queer spaces. It’s a celebration of the relationships — passionate, platonic, lasting, fleeting, loving, lustful — that these spaces foster.

By shedding any cool pretence and steering directly into the skid of adult alternative cheese, the Killers have followed a lifetime of perfect songs and made their first truly great album.

By focusing on the scars that aren't always visible on the surface, Crystal Castles have delivered their most consistent album yet.

Their third full-length, Scholars, reflects the modernization their latest instruments have undergone (Arx allows them to trigger percussion, change instrument effects, and control vocal harmonies with the push of an arcade button), keeping their wholly distinct sound while embracing digital and synth-based instrumentation.

Pleasure and happiness live alongside unease on Lost Girls. Khan is able to pierce through the darkness while still honouring it, and in doing so, acknowledges the validity of her emotions.

Obsidian is a gorgeous suite of electronic pop songs that will draw you in and stay with you for days on end, and somehow it sounds like Baths more than Cerulean ever did.

Illusion of Time is at its best on the tracks whose titles imply clear pictures of light and dark. It feels less focused on the penultimate "Water," which is also the longest track at 8 minutes — a virtuosic experiment that regrettably dispels some of the dramatic oomph and coherence of the album as a whole.

During those carefree, unfussy peaks, Silk Rhodes sounds less like a retread and more like soul's next step forward.

Meloy has his art down to a science, and the Decemberists take their fans through as winding and rewarding a trip as ever, complete with an abundance of twists and turns that suggest that the journey, long as it may be, is the true reward.

These songs are infectious enough that they ought to catch just about anyone's ear.

On Epoch, Hansen, Brown and O'Connor are in the prime of their careers.

If Obey contains a fatal flaw, it's that it can't quite balance these old hallmarks with its new flourishes in a way that feels totally coherent. But like any work of capable termite art, it still manages to set a particular mood that digs its way deep under the skin.

Images Du Futur feels like a great movie without an ending.

The good easily outweighs the bad on Advancement, and at its best, it's excellent. The pair have a knack for dynamism that keeps things interesting, and their production style has a compelling crunchiness to it that manages to sound modern without laying on the sheen.

Scenery comes ever-so-close to its intended level of sublime, yet plays things on the safe side: pleasant, powerful, precise.

It's all a tad by the book, but the book is well loved and worth re-reading, so why not?

Quiet River of Dust Vol. 1 is a mind-blowing and extremely powerful record filled with strong songwriting and production touches that show Parry at the top of his game. A truly effortless collection of songs worth revisiting for years to come.

These songs don't sound forced or half-baked, they often beg for the repeat button to be tapped. Melodically, he's never been more engaging or accomplished, because he opts for experimentation from the musicians around him, which include Irglová, rather than revert to the habit of strumming his acoustic guitar into oblivion when the energy fizzles.

Whether or not Give Me My Flowers lives up to expectations as a proper sequel may be of some debate, but this album in its finished state definitely impresses.

For the relative specificity of thematic focus, Hip Mobility is varied in its sound. More than just mining the past for interesting artifacts, Quindar have created something surprisingly new here, and in having done so, project their art into the future.

Welcome 2 America is an incredible listen and an album that proves that even when Prince had reached his lowest point, he was still capable of creating magic. It's a tight, concise body of work that is a few missteps short of perfection but is still far and away his best release since 1987's Sign o' the Times.

The production is top-notch, but Ghost rarely shifts into uncharted lyrical territory, holding back Sour Soul's otherwise consistent production.

The album's low point comes over top of the solo acoustic guitar performance of "Change," in which Laraaji croons, "Change, by any other name is still change." ... These profundities continue for more than seven minutes--a rarely accomplished exercise in irony, given the song's title.

At this stage, both brothers realize they work better together, though SR3MM's unique format allows for a distinct look at the two very different parts of what make Rae Sremmurd tick.