All told, it’s a huge and defiant return.

Post-hardcore group Thursday's latest, No Devolución, is a grand experience, full of depth and atmospheric subtleties that show off a new side to the group.

Fans already won over by Egypt Central's previous record will recognize the band's original sound here, and new listeners will be taken a wild ride to a strange, dark wonderland and back. Follow the White Rabbit.

Frontman King Buzzo's guitar is searingly loud and untethered to studio tricks, more weapon than instrument, making 13 deadly songs even more venomous.

American Tragedy is wildly fun, a head-thumping, booze-chugging, 14 track-long hedonistic binge.

the Georgia-based quartet venture even further into their own by creating songs that are alternately bluesy, soulful and propulsive--and often all three. ... It’s rare to come across a band that can do so much so well.

Vintage-sounding yet definitely on its own trip, Dying Surfer Meets His Maker brings a sense of spiritual uplift to its mind-expanding sonic explorations, feeding your ears and soul simultaneously.

The tracks complement each other and build a cohesive piece of art. Between the Buried and Me are on a level of songwriting skill that few bands can hope to reach, and their new EP epitomizes the band's talent.

While Green’s falsetto is immediately distinctive, a pop-tinged ballad like “The Stutter Says a Lot” and the blazing screamo anthem “The Secret Meaning of Freedom” stand on their own as fully formed compositions. Second acts don’t usually sound this sweet.

From start to finish, Beast is a return to form for DevilDriver, delivering their patented mix of pummeling and soaring melodic death metal soaked in a healthy vat of groove.

As always, Fernow offers a challenge with his music. Those who accept it will be rewarded with an intensely vital listen.

This long-awaited solo project by Converge frontman Jacob Bannon is nothing like what fans would expect, and everything they could have hoped for.

Cleveland metallic-hardcore heavyweights Ringworm have delivered what should stand as their finest entry in their catalogue.

This sprawling set would not be the ideal introduction to Guided by Voices... but Suitcase does provide a fascinating chronicle of one man's lifelong love affair with songwriting. [#2, p.104]

In all, Wasting Light is almost a summation of where the band has been, as well as a convincing statement of why, nearly 20 years since they came together, Grohl & Co. are yet a force to be reckoned with, still influential and still relevant.

Wherever Tombs travel, they create evocative metallic nightmares most of their contemporaries only dream of crafting.

An evolution in sound from its debut album, Blues Pills serve up a masterful mix of soul and blues-rock that ferments into a tasty, tasty witches’ brew.

The songs here have every frequency not only covered but cranked to 11. That's a plus when the writing is equally heroic, as with "My Questions," "Born to Lose," or the stunning "Holdfast," but when the songs don't measure up melodically or thematically, as with the overly ornate "R.I.T.," the sonic heft only underscores the failings

Tightly coiled shredfests like "Cognitive Suicide" and "Devil's Creek" demonstrate how much they've grown up (without mellowing out) since their early-'90s skate-rat days.

At times, this straightforward approach, along with a smoother production sound, strips the Massachusetts quartet of the nuanced breakdowns and guitar leads that made their previous material so captivating.

Fever Daydream may not be for everyone but there’s something about album’s inherent vulnerability that continues to resonate long after it ends.

While the record packs the occasional wallop, it loses steam in quieter moments ("Saving Grace") that sacrifice depth and density for pop hooks, due in part to predictable song structures.

At times, the album can be a little much; after the 17th grinding breakdown decked in plucking harp strings, things can blur together--but the things that make Takasago Army stand out are worth any flaws it possesses as an album (the weird jungle insert of "Root Regeneration" makes you feel like you're at a spa with the devil).

est in its execution and ambitious in its scope, The Thousandfold Epicentre is an otherworldly journey to spaces both familiar and alien.

Frontman Scott Lucas tackles the polarized political scene in crunchy riff-rock jams full of Windy City references; in "Blue Line," a ride on public transit inspires thoughts on how "it's getting hard to realize a sense of self in other eyes." Heaviness (in both senses) abounds.

Although none of its 13 tracks hit as hard as the early '80s, "mash"-pit ragers that made them famous, they still sound vital on the Rasta-praising punk pummeler "Popcorn" and the 88-second frenzy "Yes I."

This restless Texas prog-metal outfit, best known as the former protégés of Serj Tankian (and the best Tool-aping act since Chevelle), have yet to make an epic game-changer of an album, but Arrows & Anchors, their fourth, comes close.

A welcome return.

Where the first half of Jasta is, well, Jasta, the album's latter tunes find the vocalist bringing in guests--with somewhat mixed results. [Jul/Aug 2011, p.87]

For the most part the album successfully rides the line between innovation and self-indulgence. In other words, if given a chance Desolation Sounds will challenge listeners as much as inspire circle pits.

45 minutes of jagged, uneven music that includes sparks of urgent genius, and perhaps five or six seconds that border on legitimate transcendence. [Nov/Dec 2001, p.117]

Polaris is, at last, the platonic ideal of a TesseracT album, the one where they get everything just right.

At once dense and cacophonous, bleak and thunderous, Rwake's latest aspires toward the sonic-cosmic apex personified by Neurosis--and comes mighty close.

Think of Five Serpent's Teeth as a taste of the past recaptured.

Eve ultimately transcends dog-bait stereotypes with an evolving sense of style that finds her waxing rough and cool one minute and warmly grooving along to reggae the next... [May/June 2001, p.108]

Frontman Mikael Akerfeldt's material is sunnier than usual, but still has room for synapse-stimulating musicianship.

Rather than play into expectations and write 12 15-minute songs about H.P. Lovecraft or the Dead Sea Scrolls, Atlanta's finest created a more-than-decent metal record.

Perhaps sensing the imminent death of the album format, Zombie has thrown all caution to the wind.It's an approach he should have taken long ago. [Mar/Apr 2010, p.90]

[Drowning Pool have] managed to produce consistently killer albums with an unmistakable sound. This continues with album No. 5.... The weakest songs here are the singles.

One of the Melvins’ most diverse and melodic, flirting with New Wave, glam metal, and psychobilly between epic guitar jams and gleefully twisted epics such as the closing “House of Gasoline.”

While the album has its share of radio-friendly anthems like "A Lifeless Ordinary," the real standouts on the band's fourth full-length are the grittier, unexpected moments such as the sinisterly syncopated "Hysteria" or post-hard-core masterpiece "Disappear." [Mar/Apr 2010, p.90]

Songs like “Heaven, Hell and Purgatory” will beat you down only to lift you up again, it’s a sonic ride worth taking.

Rainbow is definitely Sanchez's show: His dreamy vocals give all the fantasy crap real human warmth. [May/Jun 2010, p.966]

Of course the technical musicianship of the EP is top notch, but the form is what’s most striking.

Undulating under shimmering waves of feedback is either a gorgeously fragile heavy metal record or the ballsiest Smashing Pumpkins ballads ever.

Luckily, MLIW are excellent students and practitioners of the style [melodic post-hardcore that lurked on the outer edges of emo].

Warp Riders staunchly maintains the stoner doom, chugging trash, and ruminating psychedelia that marked the four-piece's 2006 debut, Age Of Winters. Yet the boogie-rock feel of "Tres Brujas" and "Lawless Lands" diversifies their songs, recalling pre-Eliminator ZZ Top. [Jul/Aug 2010, p.88]

You can't too wrong when an albums starts with cowbell and kick-drum--and truth be told, you can't go too wrong with a Buckcherry album, period. [Jul/Aug 2010, p.88]

Suffice it to say, Tears on Tape is a sentimentally sweet, sonically stunning, and beautifully packaged album.

“Our Finest Hour” is a speedy thrasher about being able to accept yourself in new situations. Actually, Overkill did just that with “Shine On,” which features fresh areas of groove, dynamics and lyrical contemplation.

A crafty update of California pop, shot through with the insights and ravings of a sometimes-lonely desert mystic.... Still, the disciplined songs of Trouble occasionally scream "Warning! Career Rehabilitation in Progress." [May/June 2001, p.105]

Murdered Love is best when all the anthemic stuff comes equipped with the sort of infectious grooves that the band's SoCal stomping ground is known for.

Sacred attaches sleazy biker blues, perilous fuzz rock and libidinous punk to swaggerin’ doom as age and experience channel youthful days, questionable decisions and collapsed veins while avoiding tragedy to kick ass like 1978 never went away.

The Wilson sisters comes out swinging old-school style with a full-throttle title track that sets the tone for the bulk of their 14th studio album.

Nestled among these dozen tracks, though, is also some of the band's handsomest, most expansive music yet. [Mar/Apr 2011, p.88]

The record is exactly as advertised, despite three new members entering the lineup. Wrong has rarely sounded so right.

The Migration seems to wander a bit more than 2011’s focused and phenomenal The Collective, losing some steam by the last few tracks.

The repetition of downtuned breakdowns will probably tire even deathcore superfans by album’s end. Solid–but this Witch could use a few new tricks.

It swings and swaggers like no Megadeth album in recent memory. [Nov/Dec 2011, p.87]

Nearly perfectly formed, a confident showing of pristine, heartfelt songs that stand up alone and gain greater strength in the context of the full album, which ebbs and flows in a great purge of emotions. [#3, p.120]

The result ain't fresh, but it's definitely fun.

As eccentric as these tracks are, most of them wind up in a familiar place, with clean vocals ascending to growly, thundery choruses.

Whether it’s the Nine Inch Nails-meets John Coltrane scree of “The Last Stand,” the avant-jazz experimentation of “House of Warship” or the trippy classic rock hooks and ominous ambient drones of “House of Control,” IBS makes Marilyn Manson sound as rebellious as Ed Sheeran.

Tracks like “Thorns” and “Dancing in Madness” continue the band’s patented crossbreed of smoky chugs and far-out sonic filigrees, furthering the emotional edge of their sound. For others, the band’s tendency towards soaring prettiness instead of sludge punishment might make Heartless a little light-handed, lacking the full steamroller crush of classic stoner rock outfits.

TDWP's "sufferings" are modern-metal fans' "glory."

The result is the least Insomnium-sounding record of its discography.

Guitarists Zack Hansen and Tony Pizzuti not only provide massive crunch and harmonized leads but further fatten the sound with backing vocals and programming, an arsenal that can swell the sonics to near-symphonic grandeur.

Aficionados will love picking out the differences between these early takes and the final album mixes.

Make no mistake, this album is not invoking bluegrass meadows and rolling hills. Instead, the stage is set to the cacophonous sound of Kentucky’s coalmines and devastating tornadoes for one helluva tale.

Drive A does quite a lot, thanks to guitar and bass lines are as tuneful as they are propulsive.

Josh Homme and fellow Queens Troy Van Leeuwen, Dean Fertita, and Michael Shuman have gotten back on beam for the band’s first album in six years, apparently rediscovering the joys of creating robotic, riff-oriented hard-rock songs.

The Offspring's hit-making machinery is as efficiently well-oiled as ever. [#3, p.106]

If success means overpowering the senses with creepy, captivating dissonance, KEN Mode are clutching a real triumph.

As ever, frontman niVek ohGr manages to make his vocals just as laceratingly intense as the saturated distortion of the electronics, while the lyrics are as angry as they are eloquent.

Not the most fashionable influences, obviously, yet Digital Resistance feels more like real rebellion than a lot of modern metal.

Raucous and honest, this album rocks with their trademark down-home stoner swagger.

While the group's increasingly mid-paced heaviness reduces the number of showy frills and demonstrates a matured sense of melodic chops, it does make songs sound slightly repetitive by the album's end. Nevertheless, Khaos Legions will please longtime fans and probably find a few new ones for Arch Enemy

[The album] is their best in years, hitting upon just the right combination of melody, thrash, and hooks.

Transcendence, the seventh release by his group is a diverse, multi-hued, cinematic offering that incorporates elements of prog, psychedelia, orchestral, and operatic metal without ever losing grasp of the importance of strong melodies.

While not necessarily remarkable, The Dead of the World is a reliable slab of unspeakable evil, and bodes well for Ascension’s bright future in a grim subgenre.

Producer Jens Bogren (Opeth, Amon Amarth) respectfully maintains the video game splendor that grabbed fans on 2006’s “Through the Fire and Flames,” but 'Reaching Into Infinity' shows this sextet still has more universes to explore.

Sounds of a Playground Fading hews closely to the melodic-death-metal-meets-alt-rock style these guys have spearheaded since 2002's Reroute to Remain, with crunchy riffs regularly giving way to soaring choruses that could seduce a Muse fan.

This is one that truly has us at hello--or at least at “Reset,” the opening track of Metal Church’s first album with singer Mike Howe since 1993’s ‘Hanging in the Balance.’

The second full-length offering from The Shine finds the Chuck Dukowski–approved Los Angeles skater/stoner-rock trio more or less picking up where their last album, 2012′s Primitive Blast, left off.

For all of its ferocity and force, though, Scurrilous is a surprisingly pleasant listen, in part due to frontman Rody Walker's high-pitched melodic vocals which belie the aggressiveness of the blistering guitars. Recommended, definitely. Diverse and innovative, definitely not.

Like their spiritual and sonic forefathers in Khanate, Asunder, and Buried at Sea, their music is bleak, crushing, and decidedly off-kilter.

Despite Chamberlain’s strong pipes and pedigree, Broken Compass lacks the umph and innovation to be something truly exceptional.

While not terribly mindblowing, this EP is a quick and entertaining listen.

The new songs sound similar to those on the the band's last full length release, The Powerless Rise.... The remixes, meanwhile, aren't exactly noteworthy.

The best odds and sods collected here are those on which they stray from relentless shouting.

Rather than pat themselves on the back for still being alive, the guys in Soundgarden went on a nostalgia trip, and honestly, it's for the best.

These ominous minor-key workouts routinely change direction on a dime, not unlike a tornado or a hurricane.

This collaborative overkill is the same misstep that hobbled the group's last comeback attempt, 1993's Down With The King. [#4, p.108]

Interesting, but hardly the band that made Meantime. [Sep/Oct 2010, p.90]

While the sound may flirt with alt-rock and electronica, the underlying sensibility is prog like BTBAM, in its melodic complexity and lyrical depth. Mar/Apr 2011, p.92]

AFI fans will no doubt miss the guitar muscle, but adventurous listeners will appreciate the retro-synth theatrics.

For all its polish and sonic approachability, this is no sell-out record. Rescue may go down easy, but at the album's core, it's still an appealingly bitter pill.

The Constant is best when going fast and loud, keeping your heart racing (and your mind off the subpar lyrics), but it loses momentum with cookie cutter ballad "holding On To You and a track, "Remember A Time," that oddly sounds more like Weezer than Warped Tour. [Mar/Apr 2010, p.92]