The result is the band's most consistently exciting release to date. [19 Feb 2012, p.51]

BC's second album fizzes with both upbeat hymns to fun in the sun and achingly sad odes to lost love. [May 2012, p.53

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]

Already legends, American Nightmare's iconic reputation should only be enhanced by this mighty return. [17 Feb 2018, p.52]

Their lengthy hiatus has clearly not dulled Hot Snakes' razor-sharp edge, one bit, making Jericho Sirens a very welcome return. [17 Mar 2018, p.55]

Played at the correct volume, this will certainly threaten the structural stability of your house. [22 Apr 2017, p.52]

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

This is a noble and compelling body of music. [Jul 2011, p.51]

Whether this is music of meditative transcendence or uncanny terror will depend not just on the listener, but on their frame of mind and surroundings. What remains undeniable is that Sunn O)))’s all-enveloping textures occupy a landscape like no other. Slow your breathing, open your ears and let yourself be taken there.

There's moments of chain-breaking experimentation sewn throughout. It's not going to freak out anyone accustomed to KsE's meat, but it's definitely sharpened and refreshed what they're serving up. [12 Mar 2016, p.50]

It's impressive to hear how Sleigh Bells rock so hard with so little. [19 Feb 2012, p.52]

Not Your Kind of People is a wonderful album full of something Garbage have never really possessed before: humanity. [May 2012, p.53]

[Trent has] ended up somewhere unique, exciting, and genuinely of his own making. [16 Jun 2018, p.57]

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

Bar the addition of piano on a few tracks, I'm With You is not so much a fresh start as a wonderful, trouble-free return to the familiar, laid back West Coast rock terrain of their back-to-back classics, Californication and 2002's By The Way. [27 Aug 2011, p.50]

There’s nothing on here quite as catchy as Tiny from Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not, but that may well be because this is a more consistent effort, an album full of highlights that reminds us that being ​‘lovely’ and ​‘loud’ aren’t mutually exclusive qualities, while furthering one of the most consistent catalogues in rock.

Yes, in places the jams get a bit too funky, but even these missteps don't disrupt the haze you enter elsewhere. [16 Aug 2014, p.54]

Balancing an instinct for dancefloor-crushing industrial with gloomily lush soundscapes, Rat Wars suggests that even when HEALTH are at their most meticulously state-of-the-art, a fervent need to express honest emotion finds humanity overriding tech to emerge as the dominant element in their work.

Hammer of The Witches finds these fiends in fine fettle. [4 Jul 2015, p.52]

This certainly proves that they are still a formidable force in contemporary metal. [11 Jun 2011, p.50]

Past //Present // Future dismantles every box the band have found themselves pigeonholed in, and sets them on their own path of integrity and triumph.

Sixteen albums in, that they continue to surprise and create as much as they do is to be celebrated on its own. That it represents their best work in a decade is the triumph of a genuinely magnificent band.

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

Fewer songs here race and pulsate as before, but Chuck Ragan and co.'s gruff mix of grit and sweat remains in full effect. [May 2012, p.54]

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]

The Texans still sound like a band capable of stealing hearts forever. [1 Feb 2020, p.55]

Physical Thrills is the sound of a band able to have a deep spring clean and polish up their best sides, to thrilling effect.

Pawns & Kings is classic Alter Bridge – nice big choruses, intelligent lyrics, rock music meant to be played on big stages – but with their muscle properly tearing through their shirts. And though for longtime fans this shouldn't come as a surprise, the level to which they've dived in here still may do.