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.

Immortalized isn't without its duffers. [22 Aug 2015, p.51]

While not quite the box of delights Garbage shook at us last time, there’s persistent allure in the mating of cavernous soundscapes with Shirley’s penetratingly icy vocals.

Coming in cold, it’s another Killswitch Engage album – metal that punches and screams with an effectiveness and accuracy of attack that is ingrained from experts in their field doing their thing for a long time. But in knowing the journey of its creation, it gains a character and a level of emotion that would otherwise be absent.

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

There's nothing on the album that's going to suddenly turn them into queen bees again, but Alien Ant Farm here prove themselves to be an enterprise running on more than just the fumes of nostalgia. [14 Mar 2015, p.53]

It's all proves Metz are poppy and punky, but they're also so squealing and Bleach-era Nirvana-heavy that you still need a sturdy ear to handle them. [2 May 2015, p.53]

Radkey's greatest strength is sounding urgent but never rushed. The greatest weakness is that they wear their influences like face tattoos. [22 Aug 2015, 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]

While World On Fire isn't the finest thing Slash has, or will ever, put his name to, it still shows an iconic talent doing what he does very well. [6 Sep 2014, p.52]

Yes it gets samey, but in Hatebreed's hands predictability doesn't tend to mean boring. [30 Apr 2016, p.68]

It's easy-going, it's listenable, but it also sounds a bit, well, tired. [13 Apr 2013, p.59]

On Cheap Trick's 17th album--and that is the most Cheap Trick title ever Cheap Trick'd--the man's ability to write sugar-coated riffs that stick in your head as though made of golden syrup has not diminished. [2 Apr 2016, p.53]

While the Exeter band stick with the same formula throughout, they do successfully shackle the principle of less is more--if you're tiring of tone of the songs, another will come charging in to replace it before you can hit skip. [30 Apr 2011, p.51]

Nate and his crew are charming, more often than not. [7 Mar 2015, p.54]

Sure, it's hard to tell some of the more sombre tracks apart, but if it's complex, squishy emotions you're after, Maybeshewill are definitely speaking your language. [16 Aug 2014, p.54]

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

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

It's the quirky structures and finely drawn lyrical observations that provide the real hooks here. [28 Jan 2012, p.53]

Its bleak, grungy soundscape doesn't always hit, but when it does, Mr. Lanegan is captivating. [18 Oct 2014, p.54]

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.

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

Some of the more rap-heavy moments are terrible, but when they throw in huge, guitar-laden choruses such as on Been To Hell and Hear Me Now, they hit the same anthemic heights as Linkin Park. [2 Apr 2011, p.51]

It may not be rocket science, but there is an art to doing this right and Simple Plan have once again pulled it off. [18 Jun 2011, p.52]

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

Some songs float by without leaving much of a mark, but Balance And Composure's dedication to reinvention should be lauded. [5 Nov 2016, p.52]

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

Your appreciation of the album will depend much on whether you happen to like the way Adam writes: if you do, then this is a belter. If, however, you've grown tired of the same old songs, look elsewhere. [22 Jan 2011, p.50]