Every Ghost album thus far has had a very distinct identity, and its hard to pick a favorite, but it’s safe to say that Prequelle is their most accomplished work yet.

While New Bermuda was an exceptional album, it felt like a reaction to all the hate that came with Sunbather, as if they felt they had something to prove to themselves. Here, they’ve made a sun-drenched California metal album and offer no apologies for it. Ordinary Corrupt Human Love is Deafheaven doing what they want for themselves.

The Sciences proves that Sleep has got the goods and no manner of years could pull the magic from the Pike-Cisneros connection. And more importantly than that, Sleep, when merely focusing on being Sleep instead of a being collection of influences, is able to produce work that is uniquely them, uniquely fresh, and frankly, inimitable.

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

All in all, it's a good album, but I kept waiting for that big, mighty and monstrous climax which never comes.

Ye doesn’t feel like that reinvention. If anything, this album feels safe, a word I imagine is insulting to the artist. ... However, Kanye has an incredible ear for production, more apparent on Pusha T’s DAYTONA. There are some excellent moments on Ye, but with only twenty-four minutes of music, some doesn’t cut it.

Be More Kind is another slight evolution in Frank Turner’s career. He takes some big steps and bigger lyrical swings, but ultimately you end up with reliable Frank Turner.

Transangelic Exodus is easily his most ambitious album but, for him, feels like a natural progression, seeing him find new ways to open up.

In true late 70s record style, the band seems to be throwing everything in the blender and letting things lock together as they will, as opposed to forcing a mandate. What’s not surprising about this is that it works.

The big takeaways from the equally big Semicircle are 1) the Go! Team are back and better than ever and 2) the Go! Team never really left.

Is it as epic as say, the swell of songs like "Continental Shift"? No, but while there's work to be done still, it's still a solid step forward.

This record really scrapes past [No Closer To Heaven] with so much more heart and soul. ... The most well-produced and expansive sound I've heard from TWY.

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

As it is, this gives us too many long, dull spots across the nine tracks and 48 minute run time. To be fair, there is some really good stuff here. There’s at least enough that hardcore Ministry fans are going to want to buy Amerikkkant. You just have to wade through a fair amount of filler to find it.

They try to be all vulnerable but come off overly cheesy with no real big hooks.

Stickles and company prove once again that there is nothing more punk than doing the opposite of what’s expected. And this album meets, exceeds and plays with expectations in the way only Stickles knows how.

Yip and the band get it right--balancing all sounds to leave the scales oscillating between hardcore and punk, yet tipping more to the latter. And truth be told, that's an understatement. Turnstile has shed a lot of its hardcore skin and as cliched as it sounds, they're now... punk as fuck.

They've always done hardcore pretty well but now, as you can tell off tracks like "American Death" there's something new the band wants to explore and succeed at. In fact, this reminds me of Suicidal Tendencies and set the stage for other punk tracks like "War" and "Flowers Under Siege" to make the record just as political as it is personal. And hell, they're actually succeeding at it.

There’s an artful use of simplicity here to the extent that these songs don’t sound simple at all- they are massive, moving, and multifaceted- but never are they bland. Rather, instead of punching note after note down our ears, Screaming Females make every pluck, every single thwap, single second, do something to advance the album. When every single element counts, the whole thing feels that much more important.

Their last effort, Keep You, signified this transition fully after a split with Touche Amore hinted at it years ago, and now, Wait For Love cements the change. Gone are the days of The Lack Long After and Old Pride but in this rebirth, something just as beautiful has emerged.

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

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.

Guppy as a debut does have room for growth but it's a distinct statement that matches the highs that Hendricks hits and the ambitions of a band whose cult following surely expanded this year.

While not holding up to Pile's highly-regarded past, still hits hard and reminds you why Pile deserves much more time in the limelight.

Relatives in Descent is a gloomy, menacing album, not for the listener looking for a good time. But from pointing out issues within their home city of Detroit to the disastrous place the world is in, Protomartyr are too smart to ignore the problems in the world. They are watching it burn and giving you their take in elaborate, intricate detail.

Melvins still have something profound to say about the Melvins… but then again, a double disc album that includes one full disc of noise experiments and one full disc of BB King level musicianship kind of was a shocker.

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.

A few tracks run a bit boring and slightly monotonous but you've got the synth-traced "Shapes I Know" paying homage to acts like Conor Oberst and Max Bemis, "Buttercup" for fans of John K. Samson, and songs like "Phoenix" for when Ewald wants to explore his inner Elliott Smith or Sufjan Stevens. In these 10 tracks, you get a lot closer with him than you do in Modern Baseball's narrative which feels much more wholesale as opposed to Ewald's new musical therapy sessions.