Overall, the album isn't a bad listen. Symphonic. Orchestral. But compared to the last outing, it's lacking.

I did enjoy hearing Jetty Bones' cooing voice on "Icicles (Morning Glow)" but other than that there aren't that many songs to phone home about. There aren't even rock ballads a la "Minnesota" and while the closer "Hallmark" tries to mix aggression with toned-down indie licks to somewhat appeal to folks like me, it's just not the impact I expected from the band this time around.

Much like peer Frankie Cosmos, the sugarcoated uneasiness works, especially when done well. Swear I’m Good At This is a solid debut.

Baldi's lyrics encapsulate those tenets just as well as the music he and his bandmates create.

While American Weekend had clear standouts in tracks like "Be Good" and "Bathtub," Cerulean Salt manages to maintain a consistently high quality throughout.

Thrash metal is in the middle of a huge revival. Testament is a major part of it, joining Anthrax, Death Angel, DRI, Megadeth, Metallica and Suicidal Tendencies just to name a few. All have put out crucial new material 30 years into their careers. Add Brotherhood of the Snake to the must have thrash releases of 2016.

All of this adds up to another winning album in a near-flawless discography.

Love You to Death IS solid. In a way, it’s sort of like those now-cherished, then forgotten, 80s downtempo pop albums ala the first Human League and Modern English LPs.

The indie-DIY feel is prolific enough to allow the majority of their sound to sink in as it's noisy in a good way and yet, a bit harsh when it comes to lyrical exposure.

It pulls from rock, punk, noise, industrial, hip-hop, and even African tribal music. Lyrically the album is among the first to take this kind of look at hacker culture as well as how the definition of the artist and art have changed in the digital age. Regardless of genre, this may well end up being one of the best and conceptually most important albums released this year.

All of the songs are performed on 23 Live Sex Acts are done tremendously well, especially when the band incorporates some changes to them whether they be vocal, lyrical, or instrumental.

While Bad Religion’s forays into new territory may be subtle, they’re certainly there, and it’s commendable to see a nearly 40 year old band still trying to find ways to innovate and make their sound fresh and new. I know that I’ll catch some grief for this, but I honestly would call this the best Bad Religion album since The Empire Strikes First, and a sign of a revitalized band that’s ready to start making some more great music again.

The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us proves that Beach Slang are not a flash in the pan. They’re a genuine part of the heart of punk rock, pumping blood and keeping its spirit alive.

There’s a lot of good here. The band’s personality has never shown through like this in the studio before.

Cool is not only a masterful release sonically, but it strikes a cosmic chord that few release can hit.

While the sound overall could be described as 80s jangle-pop, we’ve got hints of everything from early 70s Bowie and T Rex, to early-80s XTC to early-90s Vaselines and Beat Happening.

It's bitingly honest, thoroughly self-reflective and often, uncomfortably relatable. One of the best albums of the year.

Better Oblivion Community Center acts like something cultish, but it’s really an excellent collection of songs by two great lyricists. Neither really plays too far out of their comfort zone (even if “Exception to the Rule” brings back some Digital Ash nuances) but both lend themselves to the other. The result is an excellent addition to each artist's catalogue.

A profound confidence is demonstrated throughout the record and the group makes the timeless argument that strong simplicity beats fancy fretwork- and it always does.

On Clone of the Universe, Fu Manchu finds a good balance. They give fans what they crave along with something more unexpected.

With so many amazing tracks on tap, it's hard to single out which is deserving of repeated listens because they all are.

While it’s unlikely to have the same influence as his earlier work in Guided by Voices, this is an album that is likely to get repeated spins on the turntable. It also is a solid reminder, that Tobin Sprout is every bit the songwriter and musician that his former GBV cohort Rob Pollard is.

Their sound is fully formed, but they could stand to mix it up in song structure and technique, but that’s being picky. One of my favorite releases of the year and highly recommended.

For music fans that like their art on the more confrontational side, 22 minutes of Beneath California on your headphones will be time very well spent.

Pollard’s sheer output is intimidating. However, as this album proves, his quality control may be as good as anyone’s in the business.

Overall, not as diverse a record so points lost there, but definitely a move that gives this new iteration much more character.

This time, they're much more versed and diversified, expanding their borders in terms of storytelling as well. Chris Loporto's vocals drive the record home, especially on slow melodic burns like "Quitting" and "Molly's Desk", which all pop with a loud bang at the end, signifying what Can't Swim are about.

For all the low lumbering and slithering and menace, the album has power-energy all the way through.

Open Door Policy is the album longtime fans have been waiting for. The lyrics are there and the music is there.

This album is much more interesting and engaging than Diaper, but just like with that album, the dancey, synth-heavy songs like Airplane's "TMNT Mask" are absent.

Ultimately, it's not a bad album, but not the greatest either.

I love the tempo changes across the record and while this joint might not be for all JEW fans, I think most will appreciate a band that still feels like art and less like product, and more so, once that reminds us don't just survive -- get out there, seize the day and live.

A record of imagination. A record of reality. Punishing and as accomplished as ever. They retain their best qualities--instrumentation-wise--and it's a pleasure to document how the technical skill of this band unravels in spades, yet again.

Going Grey isn't gold but it's definitely bright in terms of their future.

When it tries, it succeeds but when it doesn't, it really crashes into the ground face first.

Metz are at their most creative and their most liberal. II is one of the most in-your-face records you'll hear this year.

A New Wave of Violence is a perfectly titled blast of energy made by the best there are.

Working again with producer Brendan O’Brien, Mastodon maintains their polished technical expertise. The album is clean but not scrubbed of feeling.

The album certainly has epiphany, but it also raises as many questions as it answers. Oh, and the music itself is really, really, really, really good.

This album shows that newfound purpose, and more importantly, it shows that NOFX is still NOFX no matter if they embrace the ‘76 or ’16 punk mentality and that they are that much better because of it.

These are songs about everyday life at its most basic level. You'll have to decide for yourself whether that's enough.

Alex Edkins' vocals shine like never before with Metz's exposed sound bringing a grainy and emotional feel that the old albums crafted but which Strange Peace maximizes.

Not only do they bring back their best traits, Nothing absolutely perfects a diverse sound they've been trying to nail for some time. Not that they were bad at it, quite the opposite, but here, refining and honing finally pays off.

We have the most lush Mountain Goats record to date: Pallett was the perfect producer for the album.

Mandatory Fun is not necessarily among his must-have albums, but it's another solid addition that with satisfy any fan and win over some new kids through these big hit parodies and viral videos.

It's not that they're reinventing the wheel but as Guilty of Everything shows, they make beautiful art out of introspective melodies, gutwrenching shoegaze and explosive crescendos.

This collective continuously defies the status quo and Have You Considered Punk Music is another successful representative of their never-ending quest.

Guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan, guitarist Woody Weatherman, bassist Mike Dean and drummer Reed Mullin still have an undeniable chemistry, and No Cross No Crown is a satisfying return to form.

Despite a short list of shortcomings, V is Wavves’ best album since King of the Beach, and continues the strong run of stoner punk that Williams has been on the past five years.

While some of it lacks creativity, expression, and comes off a tad bland, you do get a sense of what could have been, had they just unchained themselves a bit more. Ironically, the songs that stand out the most here are the ones that ape tracks off Sing The Sorrow.

It's boisterous punk with just enough melodic hardcore embedded to ensure that Single Mothers won't be on any Joyce Manor bills anytime soon.

This record will never have the far-reaching influence that Slaughter of the Soul had (honestly, no extreme metal record probably ever will again,) but that doesn’t make it any less of a headbanging and invisible orange-grasping good time.

Rot Forever is one of the most under-the-radar experiences you'll have this year

Jeffrey Lewis has finally written an album that people will look back on in twenty years and say this was the first album in what will hopefully be seen as his classic period.

All set to buzzy guitars and a bass-kit dynamic that adds so much oomph and clout to a band that, well, doesn't really have to do much to get you going. Dive in and see if you emerge alive.

The record is an incredible release start to finish.

Hesitation Marks is a solid, if typical sampling of NIN's sound presented through traditional means.

You Deserve Love from its title onward is a sweetly sincere effort made for the masses, which nowadays means it’s not for everyone. But hopefully You Deserve Love continues White Reaper’s constant rise toward the arenas. It sounds like it should.

There’s something to be said about the immediacy and the vitality of something as messy and as real as an album like White Stuff. Nothing about what this band is has diminished over time, and White Stuff is a roaring return to right where Royal Trux left off 19 years ago.

Upon first listen, the album may not seem like the next step in the band’s career but upon further inspection, the album feels like the next necessary move. Mat Kerekes vocals really shine through on this record as they always do. This is definitely something to listen to if you enjoy Run For Cover Records bands or Citizen.

Floor is no longer Torche's prologue, and a new narrative where they coexist is forming.

There are so many bangers here you'll find yourself wasting an hour or so in the best way possible.

This time around, the instrumentation's more exposed and as minimal as they feel on first listen, the arrangement grows by the song.

This is a cohesive unit firing on all cylinders.

Blurring the lines between LP and EP, Crush on Me is nine songs in twenty-six minutes, two of which are reprises and one is an outro. You’ll know from the minute she scream-chants “I changed my hair” on opener “Heels” whether or not this is for you.

Atomic is a powerful artistic knife to your skull and leaves an impression that's lasting, to say the least. It's an esoteric trip that says a lot, without words.

This album is another experience in the bag, and another masterpiece written on the wall.

Another powerful record from one of the most profound talents of this generation of us born in the '80s and '90s.

Minor flaws aside, this new chapter appeases the demand for more epic tunes from a band that has so much to offer.

This seems like a minor pit-stop for them and in fairness, it's a good record but nothing like what I expected.

It feels like a few tracks could have been cut to make it crisper and tighter but that aside, you definitely want in on this, what appears to be Hause's diary used as a eulogy.

Antisocialites feels like rebellion but it does end up conforming to the heart, which will become more weathered as Rankin moves along.

Is it a bad album? Nope, but it does feel a tad rickety and like maybe cutting a track or two would have helped the momentum better.

There is a clean, precise vision here resulting in powerful simplicity.

As a whole, Pissed Jeans have put out the best, harshest, yet most listenable album of their career.

Ultimately, the band ends up playing off each and every strength, backed by Oberst doing what he does best.

Crying’s progression into a new territory is an impressive one. The band truly shows how they have graduated from a chiptune band into a much more mature band still able to use elements from their old sound to form their new sound.

There are so many moments of catharsis despite a few songs feeling repetitive or filler. It's bold, jammed with raw emotion and to top that, brutally honest.

For the first time in their 11 years as a band, the Flatliners seem comfortable. This is their band; this is their sound.

["Pothole" is] about someone wanting to be placed atop the mantle, of someone who doesn't deem them worthy enough. Them feelings. This album is full of them and it's assuredly going to be dubbed their best work to date. I bet everything on it.

WHY? remains an ever-changing experiment. Moh Lhean pays off for the patient listener.

It works overall, but his nasally delivery over such a lengthy drone tune will test some listeners. But no matter how much Miller tweaks his approach, he still nails the finished compositions.

It's pretty intimate and will be deeply appreciated (especially the outtakes) if you're a fan.

Everything there was to like about Portugal. The Man before is present on Evil Friends and multiplied tenfold.

Hang is the product of a very experienced and talented band carefully crafting a set of songs. And they’re damn good.

Boring and tedious at times. But tension-filled and cinematic at others, which will leave you drifting into a beautiful abyss more often than not.

While each member's technically great at what they do, once more, the magic from the band's debut seems too hard to recapture and as a sum of all its parts, DGD comes up short on Instant Gratification.

"Breaking The Chain" and "War", give off a Linkin Park vibe for the 2000-2008 era of MTV and help prop 13 Voices up as one of the band's most radio-friendly and accessible albums to date. They do however take away from the rawness and grit diehards came for.

At 10 tracks, Savage Gold is lean enough not to wander, diverse enough not bore, and certainly heavy enough to smash skulls and pillage minds.

New Moon is an exciting, challenging and rewarding listen.

Iceage are showing more growing pains here than those acts did, but Plowing into the Field is still a big step for forward for Iceage, and a generally interesting listen, even if it's a bit much to take all in one sitting.

While Luciferian Towers evokes a lot of gorgeous imagery to soothe the soul, it lacks a lot of inventiveness and imagination I usually associate with the band.

Beauty & Ruin is more impressionistic than, say, the Mountain Goats' Sunset Tree, but it's still a vivid, moving story about dealing with abuse.

This is what angst sounds like when it ages gracefully, and this album is definitely worth a listen.

Unfortunately, Tape Deck Heart is not his strongest offering as a whole, but it features a number of fantastic tracks that could conceivably be "hits" and will surely become live staples.

The filler tracks don't resonate at all but still, for what it's worth, this record doesn't say just anything... for fans of Max and the band over the years, it says everything.

Integrity Blues is Jimmy Eat World's best record since Bleed American.