It doesn't capture Buckcherry as big or as badass as they can be. [23 Feb 2013, p.51]

Sounding like every member of the band is determined to be the loudest and most aggressive mothertrucker on Earth, this is all-out war. [23 Feb 2013, p.52]

It's the new songs (and remixes) that deserve the attention. [23 Feb 2013, p.52]

[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]

Album number two towers over its predecessor.... There's beauty within these snapshots of frenzy where there was once just void. [16 Feb 2013, p.52]

As compositionally impetuous as they are lyrically intelligent, Pissed Jeans are amongst rock's most uncompromising outfits. [16 Feb 2013, p.51]

This is eclectic stuff. [16 Feb 2013, p.51]

Anyone who remembers Mike covering Italian pop songs from yesteryear ion his 2010 album Mondo Cane will know, strictly speaking, a few of his recent projects have sounded more interesting than they have incredible. Thankfully, Oddfellows is both. [2 Feb 2013, p.54]

Like all good follow-ups, this album retains the qualities you loved about the first installment. [2 Feb 2013, p.54]

This is an album full of stirring, stadium-sized melodies. [2 Feb 2013, p.53]

Conduit may not be an album to please those who fell in love with Tales... but for anyone pining for a return to Funeral For A friend's earliest EPs, it's very exciting. [2 Feb 2013, p.53]

While it isn't Bullet's best album, it's certainly their most mature and interesting effort to date. [2 Feb 2013, p.52]

A nonstop riot of positivity that might not change the world, but will certainly make it seem a less dismal place for the 37-odd minutes. [19 Jan 2013, p.52]

That Voivod have made a killer album is no surprise at all. The sounds they've pulled from the void, however as ever, are. [19 Jan 2013, p.54]

Lovers of folk rock take note: Arbouretum are likely to be a deserving early entry in your best of 2013 list. [19 Jan 2013, p.54]

In amongst their sleeker, poppier, but still hard-hitting grooves, they're not afraid to tackle big issues, either. [26 Jan 2013, p.55]

Put simply, Vertikal is truly breathtaking. [26 Jan 2013, p.55]

It all adds up to The Bronx's most accomplished record. [26 Jan 2013, p.54]

Signed And Sealed In Blood finds Boston's finest as raucous, rowdy and riotous as ever, without sounding hoary or hackneyed. [5 Jan 2013, p.55]

While Wretched And Divine might not be a game changer, for many people it could--and it should--be an opinion changer. [5 Jan 2013, p.54]

For a serious Pumpkins fan, this is a gold mine. [15 Dec 2012, p.49]

The overall effect is one of a versatile, diffuse, but somehow far more focused collection of songs than were present in Neighborhoods. [22 Dec 2012, p.68]

The result is jaw-dropping. [12 Jan 2013, p.52]

As with all of Bad Religion's albums, True North is music played in glorious technicolour. [12 Jan 2013, p.53]

Boys Like Girls have crafted a record simple and effective enough for mainstream ears. It's just a shame that absolutely no punk 101 is required. [8 Dec 2012, p.52]

The final album in the set is the best of the bunch, [8 Dec 2012, p.50]

Rage Against The Machine's debut is still a record that would shock and shake foundations were it released today. [1 Dec 2012, p .48]

A deeply unsettling, murky digital fog of a release. It's also brilliant. [24 Nov 2012, p.54]

True, some of the reggae songs a re a bit lightweight, but on the punk numbers, Bad Brains' righteous fevour remains undimmed. [24 Nov 2012, p.53]

This is a wonderful document of a great show. [24 Nov 2012, p.52]

Much of Death Is the Only Mortal is notable principally for the band's skill in explosive brutality. [13 Oct 2012, p.54]

Photo Of Photos retains a gloriously untethered and instinctive quality, but is brought into sharper focus by the occasional moment of clarity. [20 Oct 2012, p.54]

Grueling and utterly uncompromising, Widowmaker is a gift to humanity from a band that despises it. [17 Nov 2012, p.53]

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

In an era when so many classic bands return to tout but without risking new material, it's a delight to have Soundgarden take that gamble and win. [17 Nov 2012, p.52]

The fact that the real Black Sabbath are currently in the studio makes this fell more like a curtain-raiser than the real event. [10 Nov 2012, p.55]

There's nothing here that Cradle of Filth haven't done much better elsewhere. [10 Nov 2012, p.55]

They still deliver their challenging music with effortless ease. [[10 Nov 2012, p.54]

He goes from pretty ditties to outright tedium as songs drag on interminably and eventually, unlistenably. [10 Nov 2012, p.53]

Musical joie de vivre courses through Dos!, along with enough variety to ensure this is more than just, um, Uno! Part 2. [10 Nov 2012, p.52]

It's when they channel the early days of '70s metal on the Deep Purple-ish Endless Night that they're at their best.... A little more such magic, and Graveyard would be great. [3 Nov 2012, p.53]

Honor Found In Decay is another milestone in a catalogue which consists of nothing but milestones. [3 Nov 2012, p.53]

It's a little one-dimensional in places, but there's no denying the strength of feeling raging underneath. [3 Nov 2012, p.53]

Brilliant: like all the best bands in the world playing through one broken amp at maximum volume. [3 Nov 2012, p.53]

When it good, Music From Another Dimension! captures Aerosmith in all their shiny, glittering glory.... However, at over an hour in length, the party begins to sag after a while. [3 Nov 2012, p.52]

(Nasty) business as usual, then, from Anaal Nathrakh. [13 Oct 2012, p.54]

It's brighter, somehow more optimistic album, in which sweet melodies surface from growling, howling guitars and a storm of whirling noise. [1 Sep 2012, p.51]

Depth, emotion and spirit seem to infuse everything. [20 Oct 2012, p.52]

Longtime fans won't be disappointed by this hearty sixth effort. [20 Oct 2012, p.54]

An incredibly wholesome listen. [20 Oct 2012, p.54]

Dethalbum III makes for further arse kicking. [20 Oct 2012, p.54]

This remains a feral ball of aggression and loathing. And frankly, we wouldn't want it any other way. [13 Oct 2012, p.54]

It's not quite Destroyer good, but then again, it's not quite Animalize bad either. [13 Oct 2012, p.53]

While For Baltimore proves they can still write a grade A banger when they put their mind to it, too many songs are destined to have "must try harder" stamped on their report card. [13 Oct 2012, p.52]

Floral Green's pleasant, pastoral title belies its 11 jagged cuts. [22 Sep 2012, p.51]

The good news is that the riffs are back. [8 Sep 2012, p.53]

Death metal has rarely sounded as deliciously demented as The Faceless do here. [11 Aug 2012, p.54]

Words such as gorgeous, intricate, haunting, and even magnificent are easily applied across all 10 tracks here. [6 Oct 2012, p.54]

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

Silver Age is a fun ride, then, but it won't warrant racing back for any tine soon. [6 Oct 2012, p.53]

At 72 minutes, it's quite the voyage--but please, don't remain in your seat at all times. [6 Oct 2012, p.53]

All We Love We Leave Behind will sit alongside the very best. [6 Oct 2012, p.53]

Does this all meld together into the cohesive whole of a perfect album? Well, no, not really. But does The 2nd Law represent a band whose only limitations seem to be the high ceiling of their collective imagination? The answer here is an emphatic yes. [6 Oct 2012, p.52]

It's not perfect by any means, but taking this for what it is, Vultures is a gnarly debut effort. [29 Sep 2012, p.52]

The Amity Affliction have polished their beauty-and-the-beast sound and frankly, it couldn't be better. [29 Sep 2012, p.54]

British Lion is a brilliant album. [8 Sep 2012, p.52]

This is a weird, unconventional and utterly thrilling classic. [29 Sep 2012, p.53]

Once again, Enslaved have produced music that kicks slavish notions of genre limitations into touch. [29 Sep 2012, p.54]

Gwen and co. prove that, when it comes to state-of-the-art, good-time punk-dance, they're still the fairest of them all. [29 Sep 2012, p.54]

The reassuring thing about Self/Entitled is that NOFX are still gobby, snotty and obnoxious for punk's sake. [29 Sep 2012, p.54]

It's the sound of a band who know their craft inside out, but who aren't afraid to grow and try something new. [29 Sep 2012, p.53]

They've finally made an album as noisy and expressive as their leader. [22 Sep 2012, p.52]

Blaqk Audio deliver faithfully realised fare, then, but about as 2012 as Betamax videotapes [22 Sep 2012, p.53]

What you get here are all-out, blastbeat-fuelled trashers--for every anthemic call-and-response hook and melody, there's a lurching spine-crushing breakdown to follow. [22 Sep 2012, p.51]

Minus The Bear are back on track. [22 Sep 2012, p.51]

What this amounts to is a sharp and often exhilarating change of gear from the Green Day of the past eight years. [22 Sep 2012, p.50]

There's a fresh, East-meets-West ingenuity on culture-clash cuts such as Wrestling Israel, amid the straight-up, old-fashioned fury on the title track, and closers #OccupyEarth and Stop the Apocalypse. [8 Sep 2012, p.53]

Another startling offering, then, from one of the most consistently perfect bands in post-rock. [1 Sep 2012, p.51]

The Essex four-piece rarely put a foot wrong. [1 Sep 2012, p.50]

They offer no hits or immediately accessible anthems, but when they do engage, they show why they're beloved of so many. [25 Aug 2012, p.54]

A sonic gem that's both immediate and visceral in its delivery, as well as remaining a genuinely exciting prospect. [25 Aug 2012, p.54]

It's a good album, but one undone by its more extreme moments. [25 Feb 2012, p.52]

It's a bleak, nihilistic affair, but dynamic enough never to lose its focus. [25 Feb 2012, p.52]

It's a lean, mean metallic assault from a band who only seem to get better with age. [11 Aug 2012, p.53]

If you can look beyond this band's inherent safe-ness, there's plenty her for fans of the sugar rush offered by Paramore, All Time Low, Simple Plan et al to enjoy. [11 Aug 2012, p.53]

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

After listening to Ascent, you'll be hard-pressed to locate a better batch of mesmerising mind-expanding jams this year. [25 Aug 2012, p.54]

Dig deeper and beguiling melodies emerge while the intriguingly sinister edge to Cacie Dalager's lyrics is exposed. [25 Aug 2012, p.53]

Hot Cakes may tail off a bit, but, ultimately, it proves as capable of suspending your belief and blowing your mind as any blockbuster. [18 Aug 2012, p.52]

It lacks a little cohesion and substance beneath all of the surface clatter. [18 Aug 2012, p.53]

This is a raw, vicious and churning blast of a record. [25 Aug 2012, p.52]

They're back with a glorious melange of influence that borrows from everywhere but combines to sound like no-one else on earth. [1 Aug 2012, p.54]

Just as Emperor expanded and grew with each album, becoming ever more grandiose and sophisticated, so it is with Ihsahn's solo material that he never repeats himself. [16 Jun 2012, p.54]

This is unashamed brooding, biker rock. [28 Jul 2012, p.54]

This is Testament doing what they do best--serving a trashterclass in malevolent metal. [28 Jul 2012, p.53]

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

Somewhat surprisingly, it lacks some of the droning, distorted fuzz of yore. [21 Jul 2012, p.53]

This glossy but bland procession is likely to be a weakening experience. [14 Jul 2012, p.53]