There’s much to admire about Savage, but it’s definitely one that you have to be in a particular mood to enjoy.

MASSEDUCTION is nothing less than an absolutely towering achievement.

While Wonderful Wonderful certainly isn’t The Killers’ best record--or even their second best--it is a welcome return to form after some time in the wilderness.

It’s fair to say that there is not a piece of music in the GY!BE canon that sounds anything like as optimistic as the compositions here.

Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile are brave to make something so gentle, natural and unguarded. They’ve managed to strive for an ideal informed by a real sense of pragmatism, and in the process, they’ve made one of the warmest, good-hearted records of the year.

By and large though, this challenging, multi-layered record requires complete and sustained immersion to properly appreciate its full range of ideas and textures.

There are no low points in this relentless record. At times it is beastly, baring its teeth. At others, it’s divinely angelic, St Purple Green and Sky Musings being prime examples.

It’s a credit to Hurts for stepping outside their comfort zone and aiming high, but the end product feels as though it was rather a struggle. Possibly to gain more exposure, they’ve made what they hope is a radio friendly record, but which all but obliterates that which won them fans in the first place.

As befits songs of mortality, yearning and loss, the tempo never really rises above a mild trot, with just the catchy chorus and crunchy guitar on Motion Sickness hinting at it being a breakthrough hit. Yet the downbeat atmosphere and fragile arrangements only serve to accentuate Bridgers’ strong, distinctive voice.

All This Life won’t win any album of the year awards, nor will it garner much critical praise, but how good it actually is comes as a surprise. It’s all too easy to knock the likes of Starsailor, but with the new album largely reflecting the sound of a rejuvenated band, let’s not write them off just yet.

An album that is nothing short of a triumph, one that perfectly balances their craving to be “unsettling” again with soaring, arena-ready anthems.

Morrison does not have the same vocal power or raw intensity as a performer as he did when younger, but his voice has become deeper and richer in tone in later years. Roll with the Punches may show him playing it safe but there’s every sign that the prolific 72-year-old has plenty of more rounds left in him.

While the rest of the album doesn’t quite live up to the expectation set by its opening salvo, the longest journeys start with a single step. And as the first step in the next chapter of Wolves In The Throne Room’s story, Thrice Woven moves decidedly in the right direction.

Sometimes it sounds bleak, sometimes it sounds glorious, but it’s in embracing the full gamut of life experience, as Zola Jesus does here that nothing becomes everything. The shackles might still be on, but this is the sound of an artist reveling in freedom.

In truth, the only weakness to Choir Of The Mind is its length – at 13 tracks and clocking in at just under an hour, it’s a long time to spend with an album that’s so resolutely downbeat. Yet there’s a lot to admire with Haines’ second solo effort (not least the quality of her production) and it makes a decent calm counterpoint to the swirling storm of Metric.

While Wolfe’s incredible vocals are the main draw, her long term collaborator Ben Chisholm deserves significant recognition too. Not only does his fuzzed-to-fuck bass make these songs feel genuinely threatening, his manipulation of sound and creation of washes and collages provides unsettling backgrounds for Wolfe to weave her magic over. Without him, the oppressive atmospherics of the album wouldn’t be nearly as effective.

Music for The Age of Miracles is an excellent record and a level above Minotaur, without scaling the heights of their first four albums. More 2009’s Bonfires On The Heath than Suburban Light, perhaps.

As ever with Amos’ more recent albums, it’s a bit overlong and some songs, especially in the album’s mid-section, float by without ever making much of an impression. ... Yet when Tori is on form, she still sounds as vital and exciting as she did 25 years ago.

After remaining stagnant for so long, Concrete and Gold is a mini breakthrough for the Foo Fighters. Progress, at last.

While it’s possibly a bit too similar to First Mind to have the same sort of impact that album did, this is still a powerful demonstration of what a fine musician Mulvey is.

While not every song is as successful--Mrs Lincoln… doesn’t make quite enough of a very old joke (compared to, say, …Beethoven’s How Do I Get to Carnegie Hall?), and A Little Bit Like Fun is a little bit slight--these are trifles; Hippopotamus is a big, joyous beast of an album.

Elytral may not be an easy record, but it is strangely affirmative and rewarding.

This is an album that confirms Alvvays’ massive potential and makes the perfect soundtrack for those nights indoors as the summer begins to fade.

Beast Epic is a worthy addition to the Iron And Wine catalogue and an example of an album that improves the more and deeper you listen to it.

Sleep Well Beast is as sad a record as The National have ever made, and yet it also feels like their most hopeful.

Expect The Best is the most akin to Mazzy Star so far.

This album shows that there’s plenty of life in this band yet, and they’re changing and developing whilst also addressing the past. But most importantly, they’re still creating interesting, vital albums.

TFCF might well be an Angus Andrew solo album under the Liars banner, but what he’s achieved here fits within the his band’s remit for consistently morphing and confounding expectation. More importantly, it’s heartening to see an album as intriguing as this emerge from such a traumatic time.