When Agalloch's majesty comes, the slow unfolding is more than worth the wait. [17 May 2014, p.53]

This sharper, steelier focus simply ensures that every aural blow is fatal. [24 May 2014, p.54]

[A] shattering farewell LP. [10 May 2014, p.53]

Phillip and Down are on a roll from which there's no signs of them slowing down any time soon. [10 May 2014, p.52]

The doom and the dirge are relentless but never get boring. [10 May 2014, p.54]

The punk influences are correct and present from the opening riffs of Black Stone, with Lauren Larson's gnarly vocals showing all the promise of a powerful frontwoman. [10 May 2014, p.54]

Rise Of The Lion sees the five-piece mature from angsty teens into a fierce, majestic beast. [10 May 2014, p.53]

Cheap Girls aren't the most original band around, but they rock in all the right places. [10 May 2014, p.54]

Swans are a feast of musical riches, and To Be Kind is kind of essential. [10 May 2014, p.54]

While their towering riffs and melodies at times bring Korn to mind, they bring back some of the furiousness of their earlier records here. [19 Apr 2014, p.54]

It's been as long time, but Do To The Beast finds The Afghan Whigs doing what they do, ahem, beast. [19 Apr 2014, p.54]

Like all comebacks worthy of the listener's time, Indie Cindy is more than a rehash of the group's earlier near-hits, and is instead an outing that manages to surprise and enthrall. [19 Apr 2014, p.53]

It's all deathly bleak, fantastically original, and the heaviest album of 2014. [12 Apr 2014, p.54]

Not only do tracks like Looking For A Tornado sound great, they also have a distinct air of authenticity about them. [5 Apr 2014, p.53]

It sounds like a band making music for the sheer love of it, but Taylor and his hard-rocking amigos also bring some top-notch songwriting. [12 Apr 2014, p.53]

With Teeth Dreams' measured and sometimes elongated songs, ideas both lyrical and musical are given room to breathe and to reach their fullest potential. [12 Apr 2014, p.53]

Pup have come out spitting, sounding like Dookie-era Green Day dipped in tar and broken glass. [12 Apr 2014, p.53]

All songs were recorded in one take, no editing, no bullshit, and the album simply seethes with this urgent rawness. [5 Apr 2014, p.53]

The dreamy Cali-sound is easy to get lost in, but Seahaven takes you somewhere you won't actually mind being stranded. [22 Mar 2014, p.53]

This side of Chuck won't change your life, but it will certainly twang your heartstrings for half an hour. [22 Mar 2014, p.55]

It's hardly challenging, but Himalayan is nevertheless another goal for for Band of Skulls. [22 Mar 2014, p.54]

Another pack of incredibly weighty riffs that slowly march and stomp like an iron bloke heading out to war. [22 Mar 2014, p.53]

It's good--at times with shades of greatness--but it's not, by any means, the best they've ever done. [22 Mar 2014, p.52]

His verge-of-a-breakdown vocals are as affecting as ever here, but there are times when he sounds not only upbeat, but downright perky. [22 Mar 2014, p.53]

This is Steel Panther's most deliciously dirty release yet. [22 Mar 2014, p.53]

Wolverines is a masterclass in quality pop-punk. [15 Mar 2014, p.53]

Twilight sound astonishingly cold here. [15 Mar 2014, p.55]

It's a bit rawer, significantly darker and a lot more Momsenier. [15 Mar 2014, p.53]

By the time you get to No Secrets halfway through, you may be wanting something a little different. But for a late-night album, Mirrors The Sky does the trick. [15 Mar 2014, p.54]

This time, La Dispute prove that less is definitely more. [15 Mar 2014, p.54]

You've never heard anything quite like this before, because, well, there's never been anything quite like Issues before. [22 Feb 2014, p.52]

This is We Are The in Crowd--without apology, pulling no punches and making good on the promise they've been threatening to trade in on for years. [15 Feb 2014, p.52]

Die Knowing is something darker and angrier than 2010's 5K-rated predecessor, Symptoms + Cures. [1 Mar 2014, p.54]

The album just needs a standout moment among Blood Red Shoes' moods to make these songs genuinely memorable. [1 Mar 2014, p.54]

Bumbling and awkward in the best way. [1 Mar 2014, p.54]

Black Soul Choir isn't exactly a sing-along classic, but it's a slow grower. [15 Feb 2014, p.55]

IKTPQ have avoided the cliches that could've crippled their return. Instead, they've proved metalcore is still worth getting excited about. [1 Feb 2014, p.53]

This painstaking revival of past glories is every inch a labour of love. [22 Feb 2014, p.54]

Cult doesn't rock the boat so much as reinforce it against any potential wear and tear, with Bayside never sounding so fired up. [8 Feb 2014, p.54]

A very accomplished, multifaceted, genre-dodging outing. [8 Feb 2014, p.52]

There's loads to admire here--but plenty to test your patience, too. [11 Jan 2014, p.54]

Good, old-fashioned raging against the machine has rarely sounded better. [1 Feb 2014, p.55]

It resonates as the work of a band with the chops to translate thoughtful material into a powerful and purposeful force. [1 Feb 2014, p.53]

This is a very reflective record that refuses to exist only on one level, and though it's a cliche to say it, the more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it. [1 Feb 2014, p.52]

This is a collection of classic covers and reimaginings if Primus gems done country-style. [25 Jan 2014, p.54]

Good in the dark on headphones, but it's not going to get the party started. [25 Jan 2014, p.54]

They gather together the bit you might have missed to keep the good times rolling. [25 Jan 2014, p.54]

Beyond the admittedly impressive riffing, the rest of what's on offer is perfunctory. [14 Dec 2013, p.60]

Its longer arrangements are glacial expressions of the grotesque; sludge-speed metal that taps doom for tonal contours but keeps the texture popping enough to remain compelling. [21 Dec 2013, p.70]

It's six tracks bleed with conviction and emotional commitment, while a sense of austere grace adds depth to the jagged musical content. [21 Dec 2013, p.69]

The end result is excellent in places, but easier to admire than endure. [21 Dec 2013, p.69]

Shelter is the first great album of 2014. [18 Jan 2014, p.52]

It's the sound of an already good band driving themselves to become greater, determined to not only maintain their impressive momentum, but also to head beyond where they've already been. [18 Jan 2014, p.52]

The music and lyrics the band supply to chronicle these periods of confusion and transition are more than enough to steal the show. [11 Jan 2014, p.52]

They're the latest addition to an emerging new breed of post-hardcore acts that are deliberate, delicate, messy and aggressive all at once. [21 Dec 2013, p.70]

It's a little formulaic, but that doesn't matter when it sounds so hard-hitting. [21 Dec 2013, p.70]

Wonderfully inessential as anything off their 2012 full-length, Self Entitled. [7 Dec 2013, p.54]

For its first half, Life, Love & Hope plays to Boston's strengths.... Sadly, from the insipid If You Were In Love onwards, the album loses its way catastrophically. [7 Dec 2013, p.53]

This is more Beige Flag--and would have been more aptly titled Why... [30 Nov 2013, p.54]

The tense atmospheres and '80s-strength songwriting neutralise the ever-present threat of lapsing into pastiche. [30 Nov 2013, p.53]

[Peace is] packed with well-crafted and thoughtfully arranged compositions. [28 Sep 2013, p.54]

It's too forgettable to be offensive. [23 Nov 2013, p.53]

It's a divergence from Green Day, certainly. But a good one. [23 Nov 2013, p.52]

Karnivool have made a record to enjoy as much as admire. [20 Jul 2013, p.54]

Metal may have become more extreme in Carcass' absence, but they still take 90 percent of the pack to (medical) school. [7 Sep 2013, p.51]

The downside is some songs stop and start abruptly, all dusted with Weiss' preferred up-and-down vocal melody. [2 Nov 2013, p.54]

It's business as usual, then--even with a manic cover of 99 Bottles Of Beer. [2 Nov 2013, p.53]

Aftershock proves that they can still produce the goods in the studio. [2 Nov 2013, p.52]

These masterfully cherry-picked tunes help explain why it's not always clear whether Ghost B.C. are a metal act with pop leanings or vice versa. [9 Nov 2013, p.52]

Bad Religion are still capable of holding on to their defiantly secular edge. [9 Nov 2013, p.53]

The heaviest moments are breathtakingly aggressive. [26 Oct 2013, p.55]

With tracks such as Clarity and Without Prejudice helping make this the most accessible Protest The Hero release to date, every one of these 11 tracks have enough substance to fulfill all your musical wants and needs. [26 Oct 2013, p.54]

Serpents Unleashed doesn't expand Skeletonwitch's armoury, but this band never disappoint. [26 Oct 2013, p.53]

After a few listens, you realise this was lurking in them all along. [19 Oct 2013, p.55]

Too many other songs fall victim to the eternal curse of the remix album: either going too far or not far enough. [26 Oct 2013, p.52]

Impressive act of defiance or not, when the dust has settled, this will also be rightly remembered as simply a great album. [19 Oct 2013, p.52]

Biting, poetic and awkward, this is music with brains to match its brawn. [19 Oct 2013, p.54]

Burials is an album that finds darkness everywhere. [19 Oct 2013, p.54]

The album sprawls between ferocity, relentless rhythms, and sombre moments. [19 Oct 2013, p.54]

The band's imperial phase might be long behind them, but MM-heads will gladly join this Last patrol. [19 Oct 2013, p.54]

The entire effort is catchy, feel-good and quite simply, pop-punk at its finest. [12 Oct 2013, p.52]

This is music with brains and bite. [12 Oct 2013, p.52]

The band sound as good as they ever have, hitting the pace they set with 2005 debut, Black Thunder. [12 Oct 2013, p.51]

Devour is a rock record, full of fine songs--gimmick- ,pretention- and affectation-free. [5 Oct 2013, p.53]

It sees SYB keeping up with US counterparts such as The Story So Far, while marking their territory as bright lights of the genre in the UK. [5 Oct 2013, p.54]

An album that proves that Trivium have much life in them yet. [12 Oct 2013, p.51]

Too many songs utilise the same plodding, mid-paced grooves and simple, one-line refrains. [5 Oct 2013, p.54]

Panic! At The Disco's latest offering is a good time, almost all the time. [5 Oct 2013, p.52]

This is a more organic effort. [28 Sep 2013, p.52]

Fever Hunting finds MLIW back at their best. [31 Aug 2013, p.53]

Bed & Bugs is an erratic and abrasive effort that'll delight those who prefer their rock to wander without a map. [21 Sep 2013, p.54]

It's fast, It's slow, It's mature, without being boring; it rocks, even when it's doesn't. It's also one of the best albums of 2013, if not the best. [12 Oct 2013, p.50]

It was a given that Hesitation Marks would provide Nine Inch Nails with a future. But what's so impressive here is that it's given then a future every bit as promising as their illustrious past. [31 Aug 2013, p.52]

The chaotic metalcore drums and vocals effortlessly play host to hulking, Skrillex-sized basslines, early Linkin Park turntablism and violent, Prodigy-style synths, as their sound aggressively morphs from track to track. [31 Aug 2013, p.53]

This is straight-up post-hardore. [14 Sep 2013, p.53]

Touche are still gonna pull at heartstrings, but now they'll suffocate and strangle you with them, too. [21 Sep 2013, p.53]

Fortress is Alter Bridge's most aggressive album to date. [21 Sep 2013, p.52]

Winter Kills thrills with the same potency the band have wielded throughout their career. [24 Aug 2013, p.54]