It’s a fun, if not unusual listen, that ploughs deeper into the band’s flirtations with synth-pop and electronic experimentation. It’s lacking in the enormity expected of a celebration of 25 years of existence and this is not necessarily a bad thing, however, as it’s a further example of Ulver’s ability to push the envelope and keep their music fresh and exciting.

Rarer still are those who can apply their personality to another’s songs and make them theirs simply by sitting down and playing them. Here, she has done so to nothing less than a triumphant degree.

Musically there’s a touch more considered atmosphere than on predecessor AmeriKKKant, but this new Ministry line-up – featuring former Tool bassist Paul D’Amour and guest appearances from the likes of Billy Idol guitarist Billy Morrison and former Megadeth man David Ellefson – still knows how to rage.

Another quiet triumph, then, exclusively on their own terms. [17 Nov 2012, p.55]

[Darkthrone] take a detour from the brawling, blackened punk of their last couple of albums and head into thrashier territory. It still sounds like Darkthorne, of course. [23 Feb 2013, p.52]

Boris often sound like they're fashioning a facsimile of a style rather than engaging with it fully. [14 Jun 2014, p.53]

Occasionally this album is just as you might expect, raucous and raw, but elsewhere it is the work of people who seem unafraid to sound afraid. A gem. [6 Nov 2010, p.52]

Just Like You is a good album, in that it contains many more good songs than bad ones. [21 Feb 2015, p.52]

...Of the Dark Light has particularly sharp fangs. [17 Jul 2017, p.52]

Every song on Home packs a mighty chorus with a bloody, beating heart, pumping truth and righteousness to, from and for the soul. [9 Mar 2013, p.52]

This isn't for the weak-hearted or easily offended. But Body Count are definitely raucous fun. [28 Jun 2014, p.53]

It's a step forward lyrically and also musically. [29 Oct 2016, p.53]

The result is an album that quietly impresses rather than ramming you abruptly in the sternum. [18 Oct 2014, p.53]

It's not a "big" listen, and there are no killer tunes, but seeking such obvious moments would be missing the point. [16 Jul 2016, p.52]

You'd listen to their brilliant third album and realise that they've beaten you to it (making a classic rock record). [21 Aug 2010, p.51]

It's an often thrilling listen. [17 Jan 2015, p.52]

It's a visceral, straightforward assault,, and what really shines through is a grasp of songwriting that was once sorely underused and a sense of commitment and passion that was never really in doubt. [27 Jul 2013, p.52]

24 tracks call into question the issue of quality control, but as short, sharp reminders of why all you need is three chords and something to say, there are few better examples than Teenage Time Killers' debut. [8 Aug 2015, p.52]

On Oceania, Smashing Pumpkins finally sound like a band with an idea of where they're going. [10 Jun 2012, p.52]

Unlike the rest of us willpower-lacking lightweights, he manages to succeed; crafting an album that nods to the Rattlesnakes’ past but strikes out boldly for a bright new future.

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

It's an interesting trip, if one that occasionally sees ATW stray too far into self-indulgence. [27 Feb 2016, p.52]

Not only is Tickets To My Downfall a slick sideways hop from what you might be expecting from Machine Gun Kelly, it’s done excellently. It celebrates everything great about pop-punk without feeling cookie-cutter or third division. It also finds its energy from the knots Kells works through in the lyrics.

Teresa Suarez's voice, naked and vulnerable amid woozy sounds and intricate soundscapes, is the real focus of Bosnian Rainbows. [22 Jun 2013, p.52]

It would be remiss not to point out that Iron Reagan are retreading familiar ground, but it would be churlish not to recognise that they do so with ferocious relish. [4 Feb 2017, p.52]

In the end the feeling is that Scorpion Child are playing slightly-above-par Saturday night pub rock, and that's all. [20 Jul 2013, p.53]

As it is, the highlights just about mitigate the lack of surprises, making it a Red Fang album with a bite that doesn’t grip quite as much or as hard as we’ve been used to.

Written on the road – between hotels and practice rooms across continents – the sense of freewheeling momentum is undoubtedly UNATØNED’s greatest strength, capturing the roadworn charisma and runaway force of the Machine Head 2025 live show. But with it comes a jettisoning of the tonal consistency and sprawling songcraft that defines their finest recorded work.

It’s the pacier moments that make up the bulk of the highlights, but there are other areas of interest. Unwanted seems determined to be lots of different things to different people, ticking boxes left, right and centre in a way that seems ambitious rather than cynical, while mostly delivering on its multitude of promises.

The best thing about Paranormal is that it sounds exactly like an Alice Cooper album. [28 Jul 2017, p.50]

The 12 songs that comprise the svelte but satiating Revolution Radio are among the finest to which Green Day Have put their name. [1 Oct 2016, p.50]

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]

Spitting Fire surges, grunts. sweats, spills your beer and pukes--an exact replica of being in a High On Fire crowd. [6 Jul 2013, p.54]

It's hard to shake the feeling that this is music more learned than lived. [12 Nov 2016, p.52]

In its eight track, Ozzy, Tony, and bassist Geezer Butler have managed to once again capture that special essence which makes them so magical. And it's bloody fantastic. [1 Jun 2013, p.52]

Handwritten is The Gaslight Anthem's finest and most authoritative album. [28 Jul 2012, p.52]

Megadeth are simply a little bit mid-paced, even monochromatic. [5 Nov 2011, p.51]

Wovenwar lack a bit of bite. [26 Jul 2014, p.52]

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]

An instantly likable example of how good Weezer an be. [25 Mar 2016, p.50]

Perhaps mastering a sense of duality is what Rico Nasty is gunning for – harsh and soft, or trap and rock. At the same time, there’s not quite enough sense of focus to suggest that’s the case. Should she find that, or find a way to blur all these sounds into something cohesive and singular, she could be unstoppable.

While the album does lose focus at times, loosening its initial invigorating grip, the jovial bounce of Let's All Go To Hades is a surefire live hit when you've had a few pints. [11 Feb 2017, p.52]

It's Arabot's noiser moments that are their most gleeful here. [1 Sep 2018, p.55]

The riff were plenty and more focused than ever before. [2 Aug 2014, p.54]

A deft and skillful trio, here songs such as the effervescent Annabel, the spacious and confident It's A Trap and the irrepressible, bouncing Buzzkill make this point with insouciant ease. [19 May 2018, p.55]

This most stylish and once troubled of bands sound like artists still in search of something new. And this new album is well worth the wait. [15 Jan 2010, p.52]

It's extreme in a way that corpse-painted clowns will never understand--but as an expression of raw, wounded humanity, it stands as Dir en Grey's most captivating, compelling and soulful release to date. [30 Jul 2011, p.50]

It's effective if unspectacular, but it's the lyrics that turn this into something special. [5 Jul 2014, p.54]

Nine records in it is inevitable that anything they do will have a particular sheen, but creatively, in performance, and in energy they continue to operate on a plane all of their own. And in a world of uncertainty, that's a very welcome thing.

Heaven Upside Down betters that record [2015's The Pale Emperor]. [14 Oct 2017, p.50]

All the standard atmospheric touchstones get brushed aside here in favour of a deeper, more meditative experience. [20 Sep 2014, p.53]

The album is one long ambient jam and precisely as exciting as that sounds. [16 Jan 2016, p.53]

Unfortunately, not everything works quite as well [as the opening and final tracks]. [21 May 2011, p.51]

While the first half of Is 4 Lovers takes a jackhammer to old, if still relatively fertile ground (hey, why have one song called NYC Power Elite when you can have two?), the second half dials down the pulverising and amps up the pulsating on less frenzied, more electronic songs such as Love Letter and Glass Homes.

Dark Is The Way sees the Winter Haven five-piece get it right, returning to form with a combination of heartfelt bombast, big choruses and bona fide hooks. [20 Nov 2010, p.52]

Expertly produced by Jason Perry and with not an ounce of fat on its bones, this is an album that manages to be often very good indeed, if not quite great. [2 Apr 201, p.50]

There is nuance in the songwriting that, in discovery, has helped Slaves write good album, not just a collection of good songs. [16 May 2015, p.52]

A superb dose of head-banging fun by way of The House That Heaven Built brings this record to a joyous conclusion, and caps off an experience courtesy of Japandroids that overflows with vitality.

So far so grandiose. Fortunately, Coheed's music mirrors the scope of the project as a whole here. [ 6 Oct 2012, p.54]

What's undeniable is that Ceremony's sixth album is packed with more memorable tunes than many bands can manage in a whole six albums. [31 Aug 2019, p.54]

John Frusciante’s performance is effective and restrained, and drummer Chad Smith shines when he’s let loose, notably on These Are The Ways. There are, however, way too many tracks that miss their marks, trying to supplant the old energy with wisdom; the magik with maturity.

It feels refreshing, and like a bunch of really good mates have got together to share their experiences with the world. L.S. Dunes could well change the tide on all things post-hardcore.

Separated from the narrative and visuals it's designed around, the music emanates an isolated, dissociated air, but that only adds to its jarring overall effect. [3 Dec 2012, p.52]

You're Welcome stumbles through grating doldrums on garage-rock autopilot, with junkyard fuzz that's more crap-nasty than good-nasty. [3 Jun 2017, p.52]

Good lord, what a voice Chris Cornell has - rich, bruised, defiant, fragile and strong, be bends it to his will. On Songbook ... [his voice] carries the album as it stands starkly against his simple guitar backing. [Nov. 19, 2011p. 51]

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

This is a decent redneck honk that could earn them some new friends while they're away. [23 Jan 2016, p.53]

Their sharpest, biggest and best album to date. [7 May 2016, p.51]

Frequently bursts with the impactful emotion now expected from its creators. [11 Jan 2020, p.57]

This is a great rock album, built on its creators' own terms, and delivered with musical flash, songwriting panache and, at times, immense force.

It’s hard not to have fun when every track here feels suitably like its own adventure, and impressively still, BABYMETAL sound like they’ve been steering the ship through these parallel universes not for the first time, but for years.

It’s testament to how thrilling Rivers Of Heresy is that by the time you reach at closing track The Looming, released, somewhat boldly, as the first single from the album, that its impact hasn’t been lessened.

Only Iron Maiden know if this is their last hurrah. But if it is, they're going out the same way they came in: fearless, adventurous, and with a record that'll still bowl you over in a decade's time. [7 Aug 2010, p.50]

It's an album that succeeds on its own terms but if it really does mark the effective end of Opeth as a metal band, that will remain our loss. [Sept 17 2011, p.50]

The popping candy melodies remain firmly in place, but this new-look outfit are edgier, gobbier and endearingly post-adolescent. [30 Jan 2016, p.51]

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

Priorities is chock-full off gargantuan tunes. [11 Aug 2012, p.52]

Arcane Roots have delivered one of 2013's best albums. [4 May 2013, p.53]

It packs a ferocious, formidable bite. [3 Mar 2012, p.54]

With a raw energy that engrosses even the casual listener, this Manchester quartet simply take your attention without asking. [25 Jun 2016, p.52]

Damage finds them rejuvenated. [8 Jun 2013, p.53]

Finally, this rock star has some rock worthy of the same name. [23 Jul 2011, p.50]

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

In their own way The Darkness, enthusiastically blending banter and bombast in equal measure, are proving as much fun [as Queen]. [7 Oct 2017, p.51]

At some point, a little experimenting may be needed, but for now this cements their status as the behemoths of British rock. [17 Jul 2017, p.50]

At no point is it bad, and sometimes it’s rather good, but nothing here is particularly essential.

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

They trash out a slew of throwaway instant classics and refresh a well-worn format for no better motive than the fact that they can. [30 Jul 2011, p.51]

The Pale Emperor doesn't repeat the in-your-face rebellion of Manson 1996. But it does share those old traits of being brave, smart and intriguing. [10 Jan 2015, p.52]

Fear Factory continue to make the future sound dark and dangerous. [1 Aug 2015, p.52]

If you like metal so underground, it stinks of the sewer, this one's for you. [2 Jun 2012, p.54]

Countless bands wish they could make music as blissfully abrasive as this. [11 Jul 2015, p.51]

A powerful, if not quite life-changing set of songs. [8 Jun 2019, p.55]

An emotional ride that's hard to tune out. [22 Feb 2020, p.55]

This is an excellent album in its own right, but ONE MORE TIME… also points to an even more exciting future for blink-182.

On this third album, his gnarly riffs and garage-level production are as unpolished and far-out as ever, but the element of surprise has turned into comforting familiarity. [5 Sep 2015, p.52]

With a demo-like production, it's not as good as the Ramones' similarly sourced Acid Eaters, but hearing him Danzig-up these tunes is still highly entertaining. [5 Dec 2015, p.52]

The characteristically classy playing and Angela's seething vocal delivery will provide plenty to satisfy existing fans but, importantly, this album also captures a band still hungry to progress both creatively and commercially. You can consider Arch Enemy's rise officially back on. [28 May 2011, p.50]