Not every single one of these 16 tracks is totally essentially considering their already-enormous discography, but anyone who wants less Every Time I Die is quite simply a fool – especially when the band are on such blistering form as they are here.

That’s not say it’s unlistenable, far from it. In fact, it’s addictive to see where the record goes next. While most hardcore bands are adamant about getting heavier, The Armed are going poppier and, ultimately, weirder, often in the space of one verse. ... Sure, it’s not something you’re going to dip in and out of on a whim, but when you’re in, you won’t want to leave.

OOFP propels Robbins' melancholic take on post-hardcore to exciting new heights. [ 17 Dec 2011, p.52]

This is a rip-roaring, multi-faceted rock fest. [17 Dec 2011, p.52]

One Day is a fearless from a band who punched the clock out cold.

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]

Kvelertak play rock'n'roll that's been distilled to its purest sense. [23 Mar 2013, p.53]

Despite Daylight's unapologetically retro vibe, this is one of 2013's standout debuts so far. [27 Apr 2013, p.53]

Rescue & Restore is a dove with singed wings, then--a monument more to what metalcore should be than what it all too often is. [29 Jun 2013, p.53]

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

Alpha and Rainbow Gravity are the sound of a band in complete control of their sonic destiny, reining in those djenty riffs for more cinematic musings that quickly unravel into modern metal anthems. [17 Jan 2015, p.54]

Don't call it a comeback. Call it a rebirth. [15 Aug 2015, p.51]

Urth captivates throughout. [15 Aug 2015, p.52]

While increased musical sophistication doesn't necessarily tell you anything about the people making the music, and insightful lyrics probably won't stop you in your tracks in a mosh-pit, if you nail both you've got an album that will explode and, more importantly, endure. Here, Every Time I Die have made the perfect example of such an album. [17 Sep 2016, p.48]

This is no tribute, however, just a mighty fine hard-rock album. [4 Feb 2017, p.52]

It's an album that bristles with hooks, crackles with power and almost overflows with passion. [22 Apr 2017, p.50]

Killer stuff. [1 Sep 2018, p.55]

High-wire riffs toe the kine between noise and pop, while Patrick's sprayed observations are kerosene on this already combustible mix. [10 Nov 2018, p.55

It’s not perfect (hello, Bending The Arc To Fear), but for a band previously hindered by wearing their influences so blatantly on their sleeve, they have made it to their final form.

This project began as the soundtrack to an art show, and was inspired by vistas streaming past windows on interminably long drives, so none of this was meant to be easy to enjoy. It’s music to accompany contemplative walks, light skies and dark moods. It’s hard work, but it will work on you.

The BBC Sessions is a collection of impossibly fluent songs delivered in momentary fashion by one of America’s great bands. To hear them doing their thing without the clutter and fuss to which they have increasingly fallen prey is a wonderful thing.

Thematically taking place over one night, the seven songs that make up Datura are equal parts cinematic, catchy and cool, while also spectacularly showcasing Boston Manor’s creative growth.

This one is a masterclass in delivering musical precision with an undercarriage of scuzz and tension. The likes of Tattoos and Days Are Dogs retain the minimalist vision that has coursed through Shellac since their earliest releases.

Having created a monster, BMTH have proven themselves equal to matching the creative demands it’s placed on them. What a re-GeN-eration.

Six years since their last full-length release, this is the sound of one of desert rock’s greatest bands digging deep – and delivering all the groovy brilliance we’ve come to expect.

It’s a bold, fresh effort full of tunes that are simultaneously immediate and deep.

Creeper have always been great. But in this current (and unexpectedly elongated) vampire phase, they’ve blossomed into their true, proper selves.

Ascension is a truly substantial body of work, but it’s executed with an almost ghostly lightness of touch. Evidence of artists who have mastered their dark craft and another late-career triumph from one of metal’s most enduringly brilliant bands.

Turnstile are ahead of the curve once again and showing what’s possible when you follow your own path.

It’s wilder and unvarnished, adding up to a self-portrait that’s intensely candid and intimate.

Senjutsu is simultaneously more diverse than its predecessor but somehow manages to concentrate its punches. It’s the sound of a band that continues to strive when it’s already honed its craft to perfection.

It's a bold, transitional statement from a band that's still reaching for their best. [21 May 2016, p.52]

You won't realise you've been possessed til it's too late. [20 Jan 2018, p.52]

By showcasing progressive metal in its truest, multi-dimensional form, it strides triumphant. [12 Nov 2011, p.54]

It's not nice, but Electric Wizard prove here that sometimes to achieve perfection, all you need is hate. [20 Sep 2014, p.53]

A selection of genuinely catchy songs built around cast-iron melodies.

The Shadow Side reveals Andy Black as a creative force of his own, albeit one still finding his sound, his boundaries, his feet. [30 Apr 2016, p.66]

Harmonicraft still brings the heft and thick cut distortion, but never wastes a single moment's breath on anything superfluous. [28 Apr 2012, p.53]

Kristin has created the heaviest, most intense album you’re likely to hear this year, one that makes a tremendous addition to what is becoming one of the most idiosyncratic bodies of work in modern experimental music.

Patch The Sky continues a creative roll that's rarely slowed. [26 Mar 2016, p.52]

It has evolved beyond the blueprint they set out on their first album to expand their sound into new and exciting territory. Whether you’re a fan of slowcore, grunge, doom or shoegaze there is a song for absolutely everyone to enjoy on this album. Simply put, it is a must listen.

This is the band’s most engaging and expansive musical outing to date.

Titans Of Creation – the quintet’s 13th studio album – is packed tight with the precision and power that they’ve made their own for more than 30 years. On tracks such as the hectic WWIII and Curse Of Osiris, Testament sound as forceful as they ever did.

After that opener sets the tone with its intentionally sloppy orchestral dramatics, the frenzied Totally Fine bursts out of the gate with the kind of paranoid urgency that’s defined the band’s 12 years of their existence.

As their most mature and focussed album yet, Tomorrow We Escape shows Ho99o9 can go the distance to rage on and burn bright well into the future.

It's an album that draws on blues and gospel alongside atmospheric art-rock to end up somewhere intriguing, unnerving and frequently overwhelming. [16 Oct 2010, p.52]

Tiny Moving Parts have moved the latest wave of emo forward and offered it a tissue. [25 Oct 2014, p.53]

Against The Current have made the record they've been threatening to do so for years. [7 May 2016, p.40]

Vocal contributions from a slew of guests keep things unpredictable on a set which often feels like a multi-genre playlist. ... Time spent getting your head around this craziness is time well spent. [6 Oct 2018, p.55]

Although it might not set your mosh muscles alight like the coffins on its cover, SMTB have improved their genre-exploring recipe with deeper flavours, keeping you coming back for more.

It is more a showcase of Korn's strengths when hard times do come along; harnessing their ability to inspire and energise even in the darkest and most difficult of circumstances. [14 Sep 2019, 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]

It's reliably puzzling and brain-meltingly good. [15 Oct 2016, p.52]

Making massive noise for a three-piece, buzzsaw rough guitar noise is expertly managed, combing Sabbath-inspired heaviness with some of Kyuss' spaced-out-ness. [29 Aug 2015, p.52]

This is an album that sounds of box-fresh offerings foma shop-worn veteran in which everything about it suits him well. [6 May 2017, p.52]

Less encouraging is that while the album is unmistakably brutal, it's also remarkably unmemorable. [2 Apr 2011, p.52]

Hot Sauce is a B-Boy bouillabaisse that manages to be both familiar yet adventurous, varied yet seemless. [7 May 2011, p.51]

Grinderman 2 proves that this bunch of hirsute, middle-aged reprobates are making some of the most unsettling-yet-addictive rock music of the age. [25 Sep 2010, p.52]

This is one of the finest pure punk releases of the year. [ 30 Jun 2012, p.54]

There's a maturity--or at least a noticeable growth--in the band's sound and abilities. [10 Oct 2015, p.50]

The Hunter is an album in which to lose yourself. [24 Sep 2011, p.52]

Worth the price of admission for the Brilliant My Last Words alone, this remains a fascinating portrait of the artist as angry young man positioned on metal's sharpest cutting edge. [9 Jul 2011, p. 52]

It really is impossible to pick fault with the record, every track playing its part, and further cementing their legend.

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

It's another masterful, kaleidoscopic trip from your favourite freaked-out uncle. [13 Oct 2018, p.55]

No Obligation documents the result of resilience and hard work, and makes for a listen that’s enjoyable regardless of musical preference or taste.

Forever Abomination will appeal to fans of metal, whichever camp they're in. [8 Oct 2011, p.51]

This is raw, loud and obscenely good. [6 Oct 2018, p.55]

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

The Maniacs prove persuasive enough to bring you round to their way of thinking. [12 Jul 2014, p.54]

This is sparse, atmospheric and utterly compelling. [19 Feb 2012, p.51]

For those who like black metal to creep up and slowly drain the light from the world like a suffocating nightmare, Myrkur are manna from Hell. [22 Aug 2015, p.53]

While it's easy enough to pinpoint parallels, True Widow's appeal lies in the manner of their mixing, of the tremendously turbulent with the undeniably immediate. [27 Jul 2013, p.54]

It may have taken five years and three albums, but Circa Survive are finally living up to their potential, and Blue Sky Noise might just signal the start of something really interesting. [24 Jul 2010, p.51]

Fifteen years into their career, the Witch have never sounded more spellbinding. [21 Jul, p.54]

Welcome back, Four Year Strong. [6 Jun 2014, p.51]

An album which walks the wild side with instinctive ease and righteous fury. [13 Jul 2013, p.54]

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

Uninterested in taking over the airwaves or lighting up the charts, it is art at its unapologetically visceral peak. More than that, it’s vitriolic fresh proof that absolutely no band is more vital, and that maybe we really would be better burning it all to the ground.

As with 2000’s perfect Midian – and this is the band’s best record since – Existence Is Futile’s magic is a surge of inspired creativity and pyrotechnic energy.

This is more than a revelatory, historical document. While it signals the beginning of the end of the original band, it also confirms that when rock’n’roll is at its best, it pushes forward into new territory and has the power to change how we think and how we feel. Live At Goose Lake is effectively a testament to sonic liberation.

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]

Major/Minor is an unusually conventional and yet glorious statement from a band characterised by fearless experimentation and exquisite music. [24 Sep 2011, p.53]

For all the existential dread contained therein, G_d’s Pee… also includes moments of elegiac beauty, as on shorter tracks Fire At Static Valley and the exquisite OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (for D.H.).

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

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

Under Brian Sella's smartypants lyrics and eye-catching admissions is a beating heart and a rare honesty. [1 Jun 2013, p.53]

A fine album--big ideas perfectly executed. [2 Aug 2014, p.53]

Ambitious and controversial, it's a creditable pass that's not perfect, but has flashes of brilliance. [29 Apr 2017, p.50]

Nine years in the making, this record heralds a bigger, catchier next gen Goldfinger. [8 Jul 2017, p.51]

A riveting convergence point for 14 years of expert graft. [7 Oct 2017, p.52]

This might be a more reflective, experimental IDLES, but they remain a band filled equally with anger, humour and vitriol. And, whichever direction they take, it still sounds fantastic.

This is extreme music heavy in both sound and content. But this is also part of the strength of the album. It is unflinching in its subject matter and depth of its darkness, just as it is unafraid to be exactly what it is. And that's something quite unlike anything else you'll hear in 2022.

Their rebellious spirit is intertwined with a sense of total, inspiring self-love and in creating that feeling of empowerment, Humble As The Sun feels revolutionary in a fresh new way.

You couldn't accuse it of being a complicated listen. Thankfully, the truncated frustrations of Catalina Fight Song ensure Joyce Manor are still a challenging one. [26 Jul 2014, p.53]

This latest offering is as uncorrupted a rock album as any released this year, 33 minutes of breakneck, tyre-screeching anthems.

A truly thrilling record on the most basic level; boasting a set of classy songs that are half-brains, half-brawn and all-absolute-bangers.

Here, her already fulfilled promise is given the opportunity to breathe and find even deeper depths of wonder and intriguing brilliance. Hear it and weep.