I Want Blood is the best album Jerry Cantrell has released since at least 2002’s Degradation Trip, if not 1995’s eponymous Alice in Chains release. It shows Cantrell continuing to stretch artistically, especially as a singer, while leaning on the musical chops that made him a generation’s guitar hero.

The album is as raw as it gets, simply down-home porch music. .... We now have a vivid reminder of what traditional Black string music sounds like, at a time when those in power want to ignore and even erase such important legacies.

The whole album can easily transport one to those outer realms of the mind. It’s a major step forward for Younger the composer and fits in well with the iconic label’s knack for tapping generational voices.

Making Room for the Light redefines Powell’s writing and vocal range to fit a more soulful landscape. Her melodies deliver butterflies in the listener’s stomach via masterful tone control, but when combined with Parry’s ability to make the simplistic feel stadium-sized, all of these cherished lyrics become emphasized.

With the help of super-producer John Congleton, shame created a new blistering, no-nonsense sound. These 12 songs are face-melting, immersive, clunky in the best way possible, and more than anything, they’re wildly cathartic. .... It is the arrangement behind these words that drills their points into your soul.

It’s also overly self-serious, an album begging to be considered above its pretentions and to be analyzed as art. For the most part, it works. It works as a piece of baroque chamber art and it works like a flip side to Hercules & Love Affair, a testament to the pair’s virtuosity. Still, it’s frustrating that with so many talented musicians collaborating on this project, it can feel like a missed opportunity.

The piano-based songs carry elements of jazz and rock, with Kattner’s keen ear for sing-along melodies matched only by his desire to attack such melodies with unexpected bursts of bedlam. Those tumultuous bursts, occurring frequently and usually without warning, are part of what makes Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between so exciting, with no dull moments even over 17 tracks of content.

Giddens is one of the most important, and as this proves, versatile artists of our times. Certainly the crowning achievement of her three recordings so far, we’re left wondering if there is anything she can’t do.

It is a hard-to-classify effort that shifts genres and influences often as War moves through different motifs.

Glasgow Eyes takes the band’s experimental noise pop further. The expected elements are all there, from the brooding lyrics to the droning guitars to the intricate melodies. Still, incorporating electronic elements adds extra flavor for those who’ve already played Honey’s Dead a thousand times and don’t need another one.

Making A Door Less Open is a worthy addition to the creative evolution of Car Seat Headrest.

The Dharma Wheel was designed to transport the listener away from the pitfalls of the current world via elongated tunes as Howlin’ Rain dramatically plugs in and pushes onward. They don’t always hit their intended mark but no one can accuse Miller and company of dreaming small as the band remains one of rock’s most inventive voyagers.

Slow Pulp keeps those odd touches in place, scuffing up a very pretty album just enough to keep things interesting throughout Yard.

Like all IDLES releases, Ultra Mono’s biggest drawback is its lack of variety. Though the guitarists experiment with different tones, each song still has the same feel sonically. Likewise, Talbot’s vocals are monotone with little variety and his lyrics are sometimes simplistic. But IDLES make up for those flaws with its greatest strengths, the band’s passion, unbridled fury, and raw intensity. IDLES wears its passion and anger on its sleeve, delivering infectious rhythms, filthy distorted guitars, and snarling vocals to drive its message home.

The CRB doesn’t wholly recapture the unified sense of inspiration that earmarked their initial work, but they come close.

She can be both old-timey and contemporary. She’s a master at bringing polar opposites into a cohesive statement. The tension that lives in her songs and album sequences usually ends with a blissful takeaway and, despite a few new twists, the same is true here.

Its obvious replay value hints at the kind of staying power required of truly great albums and while it’s unlikely to dethrone Merriweather Post Pavilion’s status as their greatest album, it is without question the elite artistic accomplishment the world has been waiting for in a spiritual successor.

A new era for Lukas Nelson begins on solid footing as American Romance employs familiar country and Americana sounds and phrases in a well-worn fashion.

Little adds light Caribbean flair to the poppy “Whip The Wind”, but the love song runs on too long, as does the retro soul of “Cherry” and the warbling get down jam “Bottomless”; however, Little’s vocals are always soulful. Things improve when Little moves to more expansive offerings.

By bringing things down to the basics, Khruangbin seemingly reinvented itself yet again without pushing too far into the future and looking too much at past success. The band is stubbornly present and takes its time creating a meditative album lined with moments of instrumental bliss and newfound territories for the band to explore.

An album that places the idiosyncrasies of this band in such a palatable setting, listeners old and new may be rendered captive almost without their knowledge or consent.

Black Pumas created a daring and enticing sophomore album that not only surpasses expectations but makes us feel silly for having any to begin with. .... These ten songs do more than avoid a sophomore slump, they cement Black Pumas as a creative force willing to risk it all if it means their vision comes to fruition uncompromised.

The result, though not as immediately catchy as the band’s earlier, now classic records, is still a solid collection of jangle pop

Her voice and song selection work well, going over the top at times to nail the tune with all the requisite pomp and circumstance but also experimenting in unique ways.

Lillie Mae is constantly on the move and her tunes reflect that, Other Girls resonates on failed relationships, dull pain and trying to move past the hurt.

The Decemberists return better than ever. As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again is the band’s longest and most rewarding album to date. The Decemberists take the art of the concept album and fill it with as many fantasy tropes as possible, creating a sonic journey that deserves your undivided attention.

The band sacrifices their love for challenging sonics for soaring harmonies that accent subtle nods to Western nostalgia while filling the room with grandiose arrangements, creating a tight and consistently entertaining tracklist that still finds ways to shock and amaze.

The beauty is in the simplicity. If nothing else, this proves that Johnny Cash is irreplaceable. It’s both refreshing and sad to hear him again.