Decent stab at Queens Of The Stone Age rawk from Mrs. Josh Homme.

For all the state-of-the-art urban production, there’s something distinctly unsavoury about Blackout. And yet, the truly bizarre thing is, the music is top notch.

It’s a little long at 17 tracks, and hard to take in one sitting, but these songs present Americana in such an oddly compelling way that it’s almost impossible to ignore.

The Wu-Tang Clan are undoubtedly in decline, but given the musical peaks they have scaled in the past, there remains plenty of sublime scenery to observe on the way down.

Snoozy delights from the polyphonic twee whose outright nerdiness is charming.

Metallica certainly have a lot to prove with Death Magnetic, the follow-up to 2003’s "St. Anger," an album which divided the critics and the band’s own audience.

Strokes frontman ditches leather jacket, reinvents self as DIY Gary Numan.

Norwegian masters of melancholic synth-pop get back to basics.

If it ain’t broke you may smear it with red lipstick and back-comb its hair. But do NOT fix it.

Ahead of their Electric Picnic date, the LA rockers ditch their mainstream sheen on their fourth album.

68-year-old lothario goes back to his white soul roots with a passionate performance showing that Jones still has "it."

Swedes living la vida on curious new outing.

Slinky but less than earthshattering debut from buzzy manhattanites.

Lennox’s glossy white-soul template does sound a bit dated but she's still impressive when she gets it right.

A boisterous and bratty collection of hook-swamped shout-alongs.

Kweli's collaborative work has set the bar so high that his solo efforts routinely fail to meet these exalted expectations.

Never a dull moment then, but a little consistency would go a long way for The Used.

Maybe I've become too familiar with what they’re trying to achieve--but right now there’s nothing here to make me instantly love this record.

A respectable collection which raises the question: why do the Killers pad their albums out with mediocre filler, when they have at least some decent alternative material to spare?

There are some excellent moments.

Think a more ragged Belle & Sebastian, and you’re not far off.

His take on crunk (which is so generic it feels generous to even call it a “take”) feels flimsy and devoid of hooks, although the lightly Carribean production touches do show a smidgeon of promise.

Accelerate is patchy at best, with only the blaring finale, ‘I’m Gonna DJ’, really catching the attention.

Necessary Evil is bereft of surprises and is pretty much as you would expect it to be.

STP singer on the solo comeback trail.

A surprising afro-beat, trance-pop return from Penate.

Michael Angelakos, aka Passion Pit, brings us a temporary electro pop classic.

Jazz maestro takes a turn towards the electro.