The more experimental and unsettling elements will reward longtime stans, while recent converts will be just as thrilled with its party-starting exuberance. What’s universally clear, however, is that 20 years into his career, Snaith has found the perfect balance between intimate songwriting and extroverted sonic decisions.

On the other hand, Part 2 is as unsettling as a record entitled ‘Locusts’ should be. ... What follows is a collection of music that is both deeply cinematic – ‘The Worriment Waltz’ is positively Hitchcockian, ‘Trust Fades’ could be lifted from one of Akira Yamaoka’s acclaimed Silent Hill soundtracks – and yet comes over much like you’d imagine the end of the world would sound.

Throughout the record, she bravely calls out incredibly important issues such as toxic masculinity and rape culture, but her music never loses its playfulness. This is an enthralling and deeply relevant debut.

Call The Comet is Marr’s most assured solo effort to date. Rather than wallow in the mire of the now, Marr has dreamt of a better tomorrow. In doing so, he’s built one for himself.

A blissful happiness pervades 'Baby I'm Bored', but then that's Evan all over.

Their eagerness to look into music's past only serves to make them sound timeless.

As with her previous efforts Olsen’s unique vocal steals the show, but this is the singer opening up all the other parts to her personality. The more we see, the more there is to love.

I Know Myself (Montreal)’ revitalises the album version with warped acoustic guitar and brass, and Tanner adds foreboding guitar noise to a narcotic ‘Green Eyes (Music Blues)’. But the rich piano on ‘Love (Montreal)’ is best, crowning an EP that expands on the wealth of ideas McMahon put into Love.

Liars’ most refined and accessible album has emerged.

Their vision remains a bleak one--but it makes resistance sound holy, and love sound like a revolutionary act.

A harmonious hardcore Dispute.

‘Optimist’ is an accomplished first album that really shines and, given Finneas’ track record so far, we wouldn’t have expected anything less.

By tying together contrasting sounds and stories into this brilliant collection, Biig Piig embraces the joy of reinvention.

You finish this collection feeling lighter, a little more optimistic about what the world has to offer.

Souls is a sinewy beast, abundant with creativity, and while it ostensibly sounds like most other Maiden albums, there are subtle--or not so subtle--differences.

‘ÁTTA’ is at least the band’s best album since 2005’s monolithic ‘Takk’ made them a household name, and at most a record that gives Sigur Rós plenty more reason to exist in adding some pure and natural soul to this cold and unfeeling world.

Islands is as ferocious and catchy as ever. And while it’s undoubtedly a record of consolidation, a return to familiar home ground, it also gently scouts new territory.

Every track brims with exuberant life. His first true masterpiece.

Musing on the break-up of a nine-year-long romantic relationship, simplicity is key to ‘Old Flowers’’ innate grace.

If ‘Walls’ found Tomlinson still figuring out what this part of his artistic journey should be, ‘Faith In The Future’ feels much more assured. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel of modern guitar music, but is a solid step forward as the musician continues what he’s acknowledged will be “an ever-evolving process”.

A fine record from an ever-impressive band.

To be able to write with universality is the mark of a songwriter’s ambition growing, and here Mac DeMarco is transitioning into one of the best around.

At their best, the arrangements here feel like thoughts in progress, with Humberstone’s distinctive vocal speaking to the turbulent feelings that bubble underneath the surface of her songs.

The trio's first new album in eight years finds The Black Keys' filthy uncles, Grinderman's cellmates and The Stooges' delinquent offspring still deeply embedded in a scuzzy groove.

The band continue to be radical, but rather than being reactionary, ‘There is No Year’ is precise, thoughtful and powerful.

Like any conversation we have with ourselves, ‘Mystic Familiar’ is not simple or predictable, but does prove the power of switching off all distractions and taking the time to dig deep into what’s inside. There’s a whole other universe you might be missing.

You could accuse Liars of abandoning all of their high-art concepts and otherworldly thoughts so they could secure their place on a tour of America's enormodomes with Interpol. Well, you could if this album wasn't so perfect.

For Nao, it’s also a representation of the growth (and heartache and pain) she’s pushed through in the decade since her debut and how she’s come out the other side, lighter, warmer and happier – but just as brilliant.