The Used have taken the best elements of their previous releases, refined them and delivered the strongest album of their career.

There's enough brewing under the sedated surface to make Hvarf-Heim (and especially Hvarf) a satisfying listen.

Bitte Orca is an unorthodox listen; racking your brain and melting your heart all in the same instant, and that is something to appreciate.

Similar to UGK's "4 Life" earlier this year Dilla's friends, family, and admirers have created a(nother) great tribute to one of hip-hop's great.

Much like the Socialist commune they share a part of their name with, BJM retains the mysterious cult image that attracts a few but repels many.

Her delicate fingerpicking and shimmering vibrato carried her across state lines, oceans, into record deals and mixing rooms. The juxtaposition is apt: Beware of the Dogs is Stella adjusting the scales, shifting seamlessly between intimate and all-encompassing.

Ultimately this is very hard to judge as pop music. Judged as art, however, it's sensual, insidious, cathartic, and quite beautiful.

Heimdal has a more organic feel than its most recent predecessors, a less polished approach that gives it a rawer edge while remaining complex and adventurous. This more unrefined blackened aesthetic, though present throughout the album, is magnificently explored in 'Congelia', which delivers a constant and overwhelming flow.

The strength of The Ridge isn’t really in how it evokes emotions, or even to showcase Neufeld’s maturing skills, though it accomplishes both. Moreso, it succeeds in how it makes an indeterminate landscape worth trekking.

The end result is that The Unforgiving is easily Within Temptation's most ambitious record, an album that benefits from an increased energy level and strong songwriting in order to deliver a collection of the band's strongest songs to date.

Pure Music is transparently imperfect but remarkably enjoyable, while showcasing a lot of creativity, delivered in a spirit of wild abandon. True to form, Strange Ranger aren’t resting on their laurels. Who knows where they’ll go next.

With "75 Bars" being the only real dud on the album, Rising Down proves to be more of a collection of songs that work together as a whole than one cohesive album.

Insides is a thrilling, addictive, at times breathtaking piece of electronica and is sure to make Hopkins into a name more renown than just ‘Coldplay’s co-producer’, but here’s hoping that with his next effort he can focus a little more on stirring the heart and a little less on shocking the head.

Ocean Avenue Acoustic is, not surprisingly, at its best when it ventures beyond what is anticipated.

Whether they burn out sooner or stick around long enough to become cult heroes, 45 Pounds is the kind of record that will leave a mark—on your eardrums, on your nerves, on your ability to process sound in a rational manner.

Overall, Chase This Light takes the pop rock sound of their latest albums and perfects the style, complemented with Butch Vig’s flawless production skills. Again, the choruses sound bigger and catchier than ever.

Despite a few individual disappointments, Alive 2007 is as exciting a collection of music as any released this year.

Thankfully, the thrills don't stop with the summer's hit single.

If you get past this wall of noise, only bothering to burden Share the Joy for a freaky sixteen seconds, you'll find a record contained within its little motto, the noise dropped, the joy shared tenfold, the delightful "Dance (If You Wanna)" circling our heads, encouraging us with a smile.

This record is definitely a step in the right direction and has some of their most refined and exciting tunes to date. It doesn’t dethrone shutdown.exe, but its ambitions and consistency make it an excellent entry, with fans sure to lap it up.

Trouble is a brave step forward for a band unafraid to test its limits and a frontwoman unable to see any.

As it stands, Wild Crush is their most complete, well-rounded and accessible record to date.

Dive is the kind of high quality release one expects from Hansen.

It's certainly an all-encompassing, monolithic piece of work, an album that'll make a bunch of people suddenly relieved that there's another Swans album, in a we've missed you kind of way.

There is a savvy depth evident throughout ‘The Family Jewels’ which simply cannot be ignored; fun, serious, poppy and unorthodox, it is an album full of contradictions, but one which rarely fails to entertain.

This is war poetry at its finest and will keep you coming back for many repeat listens. Its influence on any listener, impressionable or otherwise, should be a positive one.

Sun is a rewarding return to a new Cat Power, one who seems more at ease with her music and herself than ever before.

I Was Here For a Moment, Then I Was Gone is simply an excellent post-rock record, with all the fat and filler cut out, leaving only room for pure, brilliant songwriting.