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.