While Violens draw from strong influences, they capture their potency only fleetingly. Amoral is a worthwhile listen, with stand out tracks that hold much promise. As yet, though, there's too much that leaves you, like that promise, unfulfilled.

There are moments of raw beauty in some of this music.

Watch the Throne feels all too fractured from the tension of two rappers (and two egos) at the top of their game, trying to get along.

If there were any criticism to be leveled at this album, it's that it is a little bland around the edges.

Surely satisfying to an unknown (but tiny) demographic, this record is instantly likeable, but it’s also just as immediately forgettable.

It’s About Time has joyous, feel-good highlights and low points that could have been worse.

Their debut album, Wasted On Youth is, at best, an exercise in earnest revivalism. At worst, it’s just as credible and entertaining as albums by The Ordinary Boys, Towers Of London or The Enemy.

Overall the lingering feeling is that I Don’t Run is a pleasant enough listen, and one that would happily soundtrack many a summer barbecue, but it falls short of the promise of their debut.

Diploid Love doesn’t suck, but neither is it revolutionary.

Here I Am is the epitome of cheap and cheerful R&B, 40 minutes of precision-tuned pre-club glossiness--without a doubt perfectly serviceable.

It’s not an unqualified success, but it’s a guaranteed seller over Christmas. And, as one of this country’s more entertaining pop stars, it’s nice to have him back.

A largely attractive album, then, but one that by its finish may well have you yearning for an injection of the funk we know Gonzales can provide.

By producing a more polished, more accomplished sheen while The Killers have roughed themselves up and forgotten to shave, the two bands have moved towards a middle ground where they're virtually indistinguishable.

Overall, Planet Earth is a competent collection of songs that are certainly too good to be given away free.

Although she’s not quite there just yet, with a more stringent editor, and a producer who could get the best out of her (Max Martin would seem a lip-smacking prospect), Maisie Peters is undoubtedly on her way to producing a truly great pop album.

On the strength of his recent chart performances, Harris is currently riding a crest of a wave, so he's clearly doing something right. But it feels like he's sacrificed some of his creativity in favour of simplistic and unimaginative output.

The songs where Burna Boy focuses on nimble flows and minimal production, like Dem Dey and Kabiyesi, are far superior. He’s a versatile, engaging performer, and No Signs Of Weakness is at its best with no distractions.

The balancing act that any group has to perform in successive albums remains askew here. In trying to bring outside influences into their specific sound, Ratatat have gained an appreciation for novel sounds, even if they don't fit in well.

It’s another enjoyable album from a band quietly proving to be one of the more consistent groups around.

It might not be the explosion many were hoping for, but Progress sees Take That exploring and experimenting.

This certainly isn't an essential album by any means, and perhaps a retrospective of Tillman's previous five albums and EPs might have been a better introduction.

Whilst Psychedelic Porn Crumpets remain an attractive proposition, this outing would perhaps suggest that they’re starting to cool off a little after the hot, toasting stage they enjoyed with their first two releases.

This is a debut that is, at times, rewarding and marks out Huerco S as a producer to watch.

Flume is stuck between innovation and the urge to party like it’s 2014, and though Palaces has real highlights, it is weakened by this indecision.

The music here is, at times, superb--it’s just hard to imagine anything (except maybe Rose On Top Of The World or Killed Someone) finding a place in your permanent playlist. And a lot of it is just average, which is probably the worst thing you could say about a band as mercurial as this.

But for all its shortcomings, Bricolage is at least well intentioned and definitely well executed--frenetic, tightly instrumented, and performed with aplomb.

This Modern Glitch is a decent album. The problem is that The Wombats have a reputation as a better-than-decent band. This new offering isn't enormously different to what's come before.