The tracks contained on Filo Loves the Acid are altogether enjoyable rhythmic excursions for fans of both Dozzy and acid techno alike to listen and dance along to.

Astroworld shows the evolution of Travis Scott as an artist and is his most refined, imaginative, and rage-worthy project yet.

This loose, spilling energy does not translate to a lack of moment-to-moment intensity. On "Cop Dream / Black Eye (True Story)," Spider Bags let loose with a thrashing blaze, guaranteed to conjure up mosh pits wherever it's played. The record also features some of the band's most indelible imagery.

The Nature of Imitation is a prime example of an established artist brilliantly redefining and redeveloping their sound to the highest degree. It's also a prime album.

The album offers a little something from every listener, which includes pop-centric songs ("Shrine") bass-heavy bangers ("Era"), an anthemic ballad ("Atoms") and one pleasantly surprising ambient interlude ("Run For Your Life").

The sounds and textures contained here will not be surprisingly new to anyone familiar with Hauff's previous work, but regardless the sum of the album's parts is an entirely satisfying whole, sounding at times like the sound of a machine collapsing in on itself, but not before letting you have one last dance first.

Dictator is a strong release that touches on a lot of the elements of System of A Down's final albums without too many of the quirky moments from those records. Still, it comes across as the comeback record that could have been huge but never happened.

Chesney's folk-pop Songs for the Saints is a charity album that although compassionate and kind, carries few memorable and catchy country tunes.

Molina once seemed poised to become a reliable purveyor of sticky throwback pop. But absent the visceral thrill of his early work, or anything new or profound to say about grief and heartache, Kill the Lights offers little more than the sum of its influences.

Harlan & Alondra feels like an older album in the same way that Buddy gives the impression of rappers from the past, but when you add in modern day energy, the album becomes very special.

Varied in style, but with a unified vision, Family Portrait is a big success for Ross From Friends, a very personal and authentic piece of work.

The Switch, in its entirety, is full of beautiful resonances.

In some ways, it feels like a more subdued, mostly instrumental version of Mess, one where they cycle through moods and shift textures but rarely heighten them beyond their initial parameters. Still: setting mood has always been one of Liars' strengths, even if 1/1 feels more like a curio than an essential part of the canon.

Her songwriting and lyrics are truthfully captivating and fascinatingly realistic.

Devouring Radiant Light is like the James Bond of metal albums--it's mature and well-composed, yet lethal enough to be badass. It is an aggressive middle finger to anyone who doubted that Skeletonwitch could make it with another frontman.

Free of filler and definitely worth repeating, Hive Mind is the Internet we know and love, but tighter and more refined.

It's a leap of faith fans of Forma's recent work should definitely take, and anyone with an interest in classically minded live electronic ensemble work should follow on through as well.

There is less attention paid, it seems, not to the writing, which is often clever and quite sharp, but to the performing of the writing against the virtuosity of the instrumental performances. The balance puts the album unnecessarily on edge. All that said, this is one of the better examples of what post- or progressive bluegrass can do.

There is a timelessness to this record that's as connected to the electric jazz pioneers of the '70s as it is to today's best fusion players.

She experiments with more melodic sounds, but has kept her roots too, such as her heavy flows and funky productions that are perfect for the club.

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.

The transition between blasting drums and metal riffs on "Blot" from Automata I into "The Proverbial Bellow" is surprisingly smooth without feeling like there is any disconnect between records. Overall, splitting up the release made it much easier to digest a full Between the Buried and Me album, which is never an easy task.

I'll Tell You What will keep listeners on their toes, as the album is both immersed in footwork but also pushes against its boundaries, frequently dropping the signature drum machines, working with droning synth, crossing vocal samples, and generally taking left turns just when you think you've got a hold on a track.

We can't help but hope that after eight years, he may have tried something a little more off the beaten path. That being said, fans will surely enjoy more Torske in their lives, and Byen is Bjørn Torske at his most idyllic.

The 18-song offering is a cohesive masterpiece.

The Pool feels a tad disconnected to qualify as one of the year's major releases. There's a kind of connective tissue missing; the groove is there, but it lacks flow.

Where Longstreth once isolated each of his artistic tendencies, he now seems more willing to let them occupy the same space, rubbing up against one another to create something altogether unique and truly joyous.

Here From Where We Are is an album born of the desire to make genuine music, and the end result is a moving, blissful album that shows just how far Pariah has come in the past six years.