Emotional Creature provides enough to keep the group’s longtime fans happy, while also extending some tendrils to explore potential future evolutions. In short, it’s one of those transition albums whose legacy will heavily depend on reception to Beach Bunny’s future output. Growing up is hard, but for now, Emotional Creature serves a solid portrait of a band in motion.

A refreshing yet sweltering collection of acid rave and breakbeat conundrums, all held in check by Lone's perfectionist qualities, but despite the upheaval Lone's latest LP fires on all cylinders only when he chooses to hold onto that which has served him well in the past.

If their self-titled LP represented a slight dip in the usual quality of this band, Cold of Ages represents a trip both back and forward--back to their earlier days in terms of material and the quality of the compositions, but forward in terms of recording quality, evolutionary potential, and available elements at their disposal.

Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay does everything its predecessor did right, but better, and with more style, flair, and conviction.

Except for the last two somewhat average songs, this is an accomplished work that defies canons without ever truly dazzling.

Architects have made another harmless, inconsequential rock album that’s worth spinning once or twice for curiosity, as there are some decent – dare I say great – moments here.

Dirty Projectors is back with a reshaped identity, serving up experimental/artistic indie-pop while retaining its penchant for eclecticism and unpredictability.

New Again feels focused and sure; the band sounds confident despite yet another lineup change.

Good for You isn’t a pleasant listen because Amine is so gosh darn happy, it’s because it appears so out of step with a relentlessly negative and dour mood. We could all do with just that much more happiness in our lives.

The effects, walls of noise, sharp changes in tonality and song structure are engaging and well-executed. Despite stretches of atmospheric passages and droning instrumentals, Never Exhale doesn’t ever feel boring. It is deliberate without being robotic, and creates an introspectively bleak mood throughout the record.

Braindrops is somehow both more personal and more detached than Liddiard has ever been. It’s personal in that there’s moments of unmitigated passion, manifesting as anger, vulnerability, and virulent snark; the shrapnel from broken relationships and haywire politics ricochets off the band.

Surprisingly, The Cool works as an album despite its many obvious flaws: the pop tracks are as good as anything from his debut, and his attempts to branch out are at least hit and miss, with exciting tracks like ‘Little Weapon’ and ‘Dumb It Down’ breaking the monotony of his soapbox moments.

Overall, Attention: Deficit should be considered a successful debut, albeit mildly uneven.

It is sad to finally see the unpredictable hero of lyricism finally write an album that is only good. I'll still be listening to this album for weeks, I just hope it stays as consistent as the man's other work has throughout my life.

It’s so perfectly and lovingly written and produced, recalling everything that made you fall in love with the band and their life affirming sound to begin with.

The speed at which the songs are played sounds not only like they are stuck in the mud, but that the weight tethered to them is also dragging them backwards. The final result is an anemic, lackluster 52 minutes.

elseq may well be the most ambitious thing Autechre have ever released.

Daniel delivers the twofold triumphs of, first, delivering satisfactorily upon the band’s original talent for hooks and vibe, and second, demonstrating enough variety to suggest that Real Estate doesn’t intend to forever languish in their comfort zone to diminishing returns. I’ll take it.

It's not often that a songwriter comes along that not only gives his listeners a chance to view the inner workings of his soul, but is also able to express his own situation so clearly and in a way that resounds so personally to everyone in earshot.

There are moments here worth returning for time and again, but not much to put Eternal Turn of the Wheel in the same level of esteem as its distant predecessors.

Even though this LP may not be a complete game-changer, they are certainly on the right path to come out with one sooner rather than later.

The transitions are what make the thing, equally as important as the actual songs here. Bad Witch finds Trent at a rare peak in terms of song flow and focus, and as a piece is absolutely deserving of the LP distinction, brutally short runtime be damned.

...So Unknown is a flawed record, but still a worthwhile one to check out. Underneath its misguided bells and whistles lies a grueling trench of hatred and rage, one that demonstrates Jesus Piece’s capability to pulverize their audience with a sort of backwards grace.

It is every bit as excellent as I could have hoped for. Museum is a haunting affair, delicate and understated at all times yet bold enough to be decidedly impressive.

Shimmering psychedelic post-punk to get lost into.

In general, 'Axe to Fall' speaks towards the stagnancy of most bands in the metal genre. The collaborators here can't even help a band as good as Converge make a solid record and when examining Converge's almost flawless discography that is wholly unexplainable.

He displays that it’s just as impressive to make an effective pop song, as it is to create a progressive rock epic. Steven Wilson proves that an artist can venture into uncharted musical waters, even 30 years into their career, for ambitious and vibrant results like these.

They’re all good, all memorable.

The overarching takeaway from Get Sunk, at least for me, is a reminder that few musicians can write a better sad sack meditation.

Signed and Sealed in Blood is a pleasant addition to the Dropkick Murphys' discography, but the reliance on their trustworthy, time-tested conservatism is somewhat unfulfilling here.

A great success on every level; this is their best album since The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place.

Volta is a strong album with memorable, remarkable tracks that have great variety, so much that the album loses cohesion.

To put it simply where Treats was the party soundtrack, Reign of Terror is the entire party.

it sounds like Motion City Soundtrack are warming up for an absolute classic. This isn't it--but it'll serve just fine in the meantime.

There’s rhyme to their reason, and the album’s flow is dictated with confidence rather than precarious doubt. The whole thing is refreshing, and Black Rivers’ willingness to experiment is a trait that will definitely resonate with you following the album’s conclusion.

As easy as it goes down, The Voyager is a record that rewards repeated listens.

What makes Repave different is that it’s the result of multiple creative minds at work, and that synergy is what makes the record so invigorating.

Carrier, finally, brings that emotional subtext to the front, and the result is a Dodos record that is thrillingly translucent and crushingly intimate, almost uncomfortably so. It’s love and loss, as straightforward as you please.

Winter’s Gate is entirely enjoyable throughout--nothing is even close to being poorly written or executed--it is just that there are almost no moments in the entire 40 minutes that I would call exceptional, where the band went above and beyond to craft something truly memorable.

Disco4 :: Part II might not get everything spot on, but it still stands up to Part I in a way that proves their last record wasn’t a fluke.

The end result is a tepid, lifeless album devoid of everything that we've come to expect from them in this part of their career, leaving only the most traditional aspects of their sound intact.

All in all, these more "experimental" tracks had some very pleasant surprises, with "Golden" including sax leads and Clementine singing in a whispery register that falls outside of her usual belting.

John knows what he does best and that's exactly he delivers, every damn time like clockwork.

Sonik Kicks rather helpfully lives up to its name.

An opus that reaffirms Tinashe's place within the pantheon of modern R&B, yet one that also proves that she needs to slightly refine her formula to craft that defining record she's been hinting at here whole career.

It may not inspire a revolution or magically fix the problems of the Trump administration, but it's a comforting and rewarding listen.

The result is something that feels like an exotic journey and a familiar stroll all at once, and the comfort-to-exploration ratio is perfect.

It's not that it's post-rock-by-numbers, although at times it really is, but more so that it doesn't even sound like there are painters behind the palette.

It's not very ambitious, it's not very original, and it's not very deep, but what it is is fun and what it does is give you a half hour to lose yourself in a little sun-dried nostalgia.

There’s little to complain about here, honestly. I think the only flaws I have with Vol.11 & 12 fall on the things it doesn’t utilise to the fullest. ... The important takeaway from this is that it is a really fun record to listen to. It’s short, it’s tightly written, and it will cater to a broad demographic of listeners.

The record lacks the depth found in Nine Inch Nail’s previous records and the engrossing brilliance of their more experimental leanings. All that aside, Hesitation Marks stands as incredibly solid, perhaps more so than any record put out by the band in over a decade.

Although the softer moments here are only soft in comparison to the dazzling cacophony that usually accompanies her songs, Welch does seem more confident here letting her pipes do the heavy lifting.

Youth Lagoon's debut consistently delivers on the suggestion of its appellation: youth.

Despite some missed opportunities, Violent Waves is exactly the album Circa Survive needed to make.

We Are Chaos uses a pretty masterful balance of old and new sounds, similar to the way he integrated The Pale Emperor’s bluesy framework with his own ghoulish traits.

A passionately resonating, electronic-underscored tour de force that somehow never betrays their true essence.

There is not one note out of place; the music remaining tight, aggressive and addictive throughout.

Add Violence returns us to the bite-sized pop with-a-dark-side which has been Reznor's bread and butter since 2005, but without the energy of Dave Grohl pounding the drum kit like it said a bad word about Kurt Cobain.

Even though The Nightmare of Being doesn't gather all the necessary ingredients to establish itself as a masterpiece of the genre, it is most certainly a worthy and surprisingly contrasting addition to the band's discography.

Said new album Cheater is pretty great. It dishes out a familiar set of thrills, doubling down on many of Birthday’s strengths.

The focus should be that after everything that's happened with her career, I can still listen to a record as uneven as Speak Now and feel like Taylor Swift is somebody I could fall in love with given the chance.

It's different, its harder, and its honestly a bit of a disappointment.

You, You're a History in Rust is nothing short of an experience; emotional enough to take the listener on a journey, and subtle enough so that not a moment of the record feels contrived.

God Save the Clientele is a good record: mellow, pretty and, at times, quite fun.

Chesnutt has created something earthy and beautiful with North Star Deserter and at this point, its difficult to imagine another singer/songwriter bettering it this year.

Pfeffer is only 21 and already he has released an album that possesses a very original sound as well as an impressive amount of musicianship.

Even though it can be repetitive at times, it still possesses enough standout moments to keep it from fading into oblivion.

Hearing Taylor Swift sing makes you remember these things, how you can wax poetic one day about the efficacy of love to change lives permanently for the better, and the next rail about how love leads only to pain and heartache.

Too bad it doesn’t come together better as it merely buckles down into a messy heap of proggy tomfoolery.

Behind The Sun is an early contender for the best heavy psychedelic album of the year, and a mandatory listen for any rock fan.

What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World explores a much wider range of topics than their previous literature/storyline-bound themes could have possibly covered, and the result is hands down the most emotive release of The Decemberists’ career.

E MO TION is no fluke. It doesn’t grip you by the heels but instead lures you into a full-bodied embrace that is iron-clad, it’s simply up to you to give it the chance to do so.

To put it mildly, Little Dark Age isn’t a success story, nor is it a comeback for anyone other than the most nerdish and devoted of us, and it doesn’t matter anyway. This isn’t the best this band has sounded in years, it’s the best they’ve ever sounded.

Moosebumps is [not] a bad record, it’s simply a more polished rehash of a fantastic record from another time.

This bare regurgitation of conflicting sounds is what hurts The Above the most, presenting as a (not so) greatest hits compilation from purgatory. It feels cobbled together, without care for global coherence nor the refined execution of any one sound, instead counting on the excitement of variety and disjunction to make up for its less considered, less interesting content.

The songcraft here - the ebb and flow, the bells and whistles, lapping against the shore - is fantastic. The resultant castle on the seafront, built from the sog and the shrapnel, is a joy to spend time with. Best of all, it doesn’t feel like an end.

That Golden Time is an accessible listen, in the sense that it doesn’t demand much engagement to be pleasant, but repeated exposure will uncover nuances both musical and lyrical, while the ten song tracklist is impressively consistent in quality. Give it a try.

Les Chants… mostly finds its own spot in Alcest's discography by being the most complete and accurate representation of what the band are all about. It's unlikely to turn naysayers into fans, but if you need an album to introduce newcomers to Alcest, this might just be the one to show them.

‘1999’ has a nice, early 90s computer game vibe, but the BMTH-esque screaming vocals completely kill any momentum that the two-minute track had. It really is a shame because there are plenty of moments here that make you think that Danny might turn the corner and bring back some of the whacky, darker vibes from the past, but those moments are always killed by embarrassing vocals, cringe worthy pop choruses and not enough of Danny himself actually rapping.

Havilah will remain as yet another great record from one of the most talented acts currently playing rock music.

Every Open Eye proves Chvrches to be a band that hones in on its strengths, develops them, and uses those strengths to consistently release quality material.

England Keep My Bones finally gets the combination right and stands right alongside Love, Ire and Song as one of Frank Turner's best works.

Deacon nips the synthetics that allowed Spidermanâ??s sandpaper production to grate, opting instead for smoothly textured layers, a trick that strengthens a brilliantly executed dance album into dramatically structured art.

The band's latest intersperses melody with mania, and it's a moment of exceptional energy and creativity which should rank near the top of their career achievements to-date.

Ultra Beatdown features the same guitar riffing, theatric singing and the rest of that stuff that doesn’t matter in regards to Dragonforce.

The two-edged sword concerning Welcome Home Armageddon is that it is far from perfect. That room for improvement factor is exciting, but instead of looking too far into the future, listeners should just be pleased that Funeral For A Friend are out of oblivion and once more cause for some deep conversation.

Being able to grasp a second chance has provided Collins with real impetus, and we as listeners can only sit back and reap the rewards we can from the resulting output.

It’s also an extremely solid record that comes highly recommended for any fan of its predecessor.

[Untitled] is not a comfortable listen. It feels like something not meant for our ears--an incredibly spiritual and private moment that’s bound to compelling scripture and woeful, debilitating memories. It’s unfiltered passion that evades qualification; something to which we’d be performing a disservice by assigning a title.

Forgiveness Rock Record is simply evidence of the fact that Broken Social Scene are still very much kings and queens of a world they helped create.

It is not as good as the ARIA awards will undoubtedly make it out to be but still one of the better mainstream listens of the year.

It’s a competent album, fun and succinct enough for a worthwhile playthrough but too full of yesterday’s novelty to shrug off the why here? why now? concerns destined to orbit any comeback record. Individual listeners will find their own ways to make peace with this, but I struggle to view it as more than a back-to-basics top-up from an act that had very little to prove. Blessed and cursed with a handful of the most talented names in rock, it’s equal parts a welcome return and a missed opportunity.

It's a solid album by anyone's standards, and a real testament to Four Tet's unassuming mastery that he folds such a range of stylings together without any individual one going out of its way to announce itself as such (we'll forgive the geetar).

Celestite feels like it is more than just a simple companion piece to Celestial Lineage, and there is more than a Cascadian black metal band behind the subtle guitars and massive synths of Celestite: there is an idea that is beginning to take root.

So sigh with me; for all the promise their reunion had, they sound as if they're remembering how to work together, painting their album by numbers rather than taking risks or adding artistic flourishes of their own.

First Flower feels like a reclusive album emotionally, lyrically, and musically--but it’s one that actively strives to break through. It feels like being trapped inside your own thoughts, battling with the kinds of choices that incrementally alter your life on a daily basis.

What’s frustrating is the way in which Typhoons signals the less ambitious intentions of a band surely destined for more, such that its inconsistencies compound and shortcomings shine.

Through the Window distinguishes itself as a welcomed change of pace for the artist and a standout addition to the extensive Prurient catalog.