It is by no means a bad album, and if you're already into the band it will provide a new fix of freakout, but to deserve any more than a 6/10 it really needs to nail the transcendental and ditch the kitsch.

Despite some flaws in its execution, Biophilia does succeed in pushing beyond the already established album-singles-videos model, and the creation of a digital experience to compliment the music feels like a natural progression in the way that music is packaged and consumed.

Mylo Xyloto does have its unpredictable moments, some of which work more effectively than others.

The material is strong but rarely achieves greatness.

There's much promise for an act like Gauntlet Hair to floor its contemporaries with time, but as it stands, their grimy, sewage system is in dire need of maintenance.

Original Colors isn't extraordinary music.

Tomorrow's World isn't a bad album but it's not a complete "return to form" either.

Ultimately, what it all boils down to is that, as much as an album can be, it's pretty damn close to being flawless; not only matching the quality of The Reminder but actually bettering it.

So, if everything works reasonably well, why does this sound like its lacking something important? It is perhaps the result of long-distance collaboration.

while Roll the Dice's single-minded desire to evoke and capture the mundane and nightmarish may make In Dust sound like a rather joyless and difficult prospect, they fortunately still manage to include more than enough moments of bleak beauty to make it worth the repeat visits.

Earth Division is more interesting than satisfying, but it's difficult to dismiss its beauty and its reach past the band's comfort level.

It's a sweeping, expansive album, that covers a lot of ground and leaves the listener satisfied.

It's an album of striking and stark beauty, with finely crafted songs that feel stripped to their bare essentials, and just allowed to be what they are, unadorned.

Once Wilco blazon forth their centerpiece, the remainder of The Whole Love takes a more familiar form that embraces self-assurance, even if those lopsided moments sum the overall experience.

Perhaps the album hits its heights a bit late, but when Youth Lagoon's full confidence is on display, it's hard to turn away.

For Kasabian fans this will be a fine, perhaps even happy result--another album in a similar vein to satiate your lust for new music, but the nagging thought catches as it wonders how new, interesting or innovative any of this really is; the short answer is no, it's not.

As an album, it's probably the dullest anticipation of the year.

There's nothing here with quite the same catchiness that The Field somehow achieved on the head-nodders A Paw In My Face or The More That I Do, but each track is a fascinating experiment in sound, and this is perhaps his strongest record yet.

The vocals are obscured, but nothing else really meshes.

From start to finish, The Hunter is a collection of songs that inadvertently expands their repertoire and capabilities while they turn off their heads and let their fingers tell the story.

Ultimately Conatus makes for a very sensuous, luxurious forty minutes, but it's minor flaws like these that prevent it from hitting quite as hard as it could have done, and from being the unqualified success that Stridulum II was.

In Heaven certainly does enough to make an initial impact, and on its own, it's hard to ignore.

For all its faults, give Night of Hunters more than a little patience, and perhaps don't pay too close attention to the plot, and it reveals itself to be Amos' most consistent, interesting album since her mid-90s heyday.

The production is inconsistent and largely a bit too bombastic for Das Racist's usually free-associative, untechnical rapping.

The album is amazing. The reissue is amazing. The band is amazing.

Their overzealous sense of accomplishment can't be denied, especially when the album itself manages to never skip a beat.

Modern Art doesn't have the pure pop exuberance of Girlfriend, but it proves to be a welcome addition to a distinguished body of work.

An excitable sound, great vocal harmonies, a jangling noise that is immensely listenable: It's all here, it's catchy as hell, and it's exciting.