While there are flashes of exceptional power and invention on offer, there is also a fair share of nondescript greyness, too. [14 Jun 2014, p.52]

Eyehategod are growing old disgracefully, and they're all the better for it. [24 May 2014, p.54]

The Amity Affliction's most accomplished release yet. [7 Jun 2014, p.53]

While they're no Tool, there's also a little something for the more cerebral of listeners. [7 Jun 2014, p.53]

The punk legend's 11th solo album eschews his dabbles in electronic music for a career-spanning sound that nods and winks in the most unsubtle of manners at his history. [7 Jun 2014, p.54]

When Agalloch's majesty comes, the slow unfolding is more than worth the wait. [17 May 2014, p.53]

This sharper, steelier focus simply ensures that every aural blow is fatal. [24 May 2014, p.54]

[A] shattering farewell LP. [10 May 2014, p.53]

Phillip and Down are on a roll from which there's no signs of them slowing down any time soon. [10 May 2014, p.52]

The doom and the dirge are relentless but never get boring. [10 May 2014, p.54]

The punk influences are correct and present from the opening riffs of Black Stone, with Lauren Larson's gnarly vocals showing all the promise of a powerful frontwoman. [10 May 2014, p.54]

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

Cheap Girls aren't the most original band around, but they rock in all the right places. [10 May 2014, p.54]

Swans are a feast of musical riches, and To Be Kind is kind of essential. [10 May 2014, p.54]

While their towering riffs and melodies at times bring Korn to mind, they bring back some of the furiousness of their earlier records here. [19 Apr 2014, p.54]

It's been as long time, but Do To The Beast finds The Afghan Whigs doing what they do, ahem, beast. [19 Apr 2014, p.54]

Like all comebacks worthy of the listener's time, Indie Cindy is more than a rehash of the group's earlier near-hits, and is instead an outing that manages to surprise and enthrall. [19 Apr 2014, p.53]

It's all deathly bleak, fantastically original, and the heaviest album of 2014. [12 Apr 2014, p.54]

Not only do tracks like Looking For A Tornado sound great, they also have a distinct air of authenticity about them. [5 Apr 2014, p.53]

It sounds like a band making music for the sheer love of it, but Taylor and his hard-rocking amigos also bring some top-notch songwriting. [12 Apr 2014, p.53]

With Teeth Dreams' measured and sometimes elongated songs, ideas both lyrical and musical are given room to breathe and to reach their fullest potential. [12 Apr 2014, p.53]

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

All songs were recorded in one take, no editing, no bullshit, and the album simply seethes with this urgent rawness. [5 Apr 2014, p.53]

The dreamy Cali-sound is easy to get lost in, but Seahaven takes you somewhere you won't actually mind being stranded. [22 Mar 2014, p.53]

This side of Chuck won't change your life, but it will certainly twang your heartstrings for half an hour. [22 Mar 2014, p.55]

It's hardly challenging, but Himalayan is nevertheless another goal for for Band of Skulls. [22 Mar 2014, p.54]

Another pack of incredibly weighty riffs that slowly march and stomp like an iron bloke heading out to war. [22 Mar 2014, p.53]

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]