Stale songwriting and (mercifully) brief track durations birth forth mind-numbing verses and uninteresting choruses that repeat all too often, in all too predictable configurations. With such uninspired material to work with, it's difficult to conjure an emotion either side of ambivalent, neither to exalt nor to condemn.

Penny Sparkle's brisk length works to its advantage: music this glacial just can't be endured for too long. But this isn't to say Penny Sparkle doesn't (possibly) foretell a interesting future for Blonde Redhead; in fact, I'd say I'm hoping more than ever before that the band sticks with this newfangled direction, to see if they can work out the kinks and make the kind of record Penny Sparkle could've been.

As a record, Barragan concludes as a frustrating summation of Blonde Redhead’s overwhelming promise and a glaring reminder of the band’s flaws.

Circus is a top-rate pop album that, with a little bit of justice, will be afforded the same sort of longevity as her brilliant early singles.

Between the Buried and Me have refined their sound and improved their songwriting ten-fold, and while The Great Misdirect may not match "The Silent Circus'" raw energy and intensity, it might be their most coherent album yet.

Sure, the album is a commendable attempt at maturity which suggests that the five-piece are unlikely to take their careers for granted. Unfortunately, Everything's Fine is another example of a band attempting to grow up far too fast, and coming unstuck because of it.

The album is just a bunch of incredibly inoffensive hard rock masquerading as metal, and while its not good by any stretch of the imagination, it isn't a travesty to music either.

Savoir Adore are best suited for exploring the recesses of indie-pop, noting what’s worked most successfully in the genre’s past and utilizing it to shade their brand of music as they please.

Tying everything back to the idea of the album as a showcase for Grande’s newfound maturity, My Everything ends up ringing hollow.

In the end, iTRÉ! is unexpectedly the strongest record overall of the three. Although it has its own issues, these don't drag that much the whole affair down and there aren't any horrible missteps such as "Nightlife".

Music to Be Murdered By doesn’t improve on Kamikaze, that’s largely down to its run time and hodgepodge of styles, but I can say there was at least some effort put into this one. The production is decent, the vocals occasionally hearken back to his playful era, and the guests do a pretty great job throughout, but there’s still too much baggage being carried over from the ‘10’s Eminem albums, and it kills a lot of the potential here.

Greta Van Fleet has taken full advantage of their moment. They've cleaned up the mistakes of their first album, fleshed out their atmospheres into some truly lush and breathtaking territories, doubled down on their heavy rock edge, and crafted something that is far better than it has any right to be. Bask in it without feeling any shame.

Barbara is pure We Are Scientists, and in the context of the band's discography, it's hopelessly unoriginal but undoubtedly strong, the kind of record that will either have you tearing out your hair in frustration at a band that showed so much promise or singing along in your car to a CD chock-full of superb sing-a-longs.

Every once in a while, Myself In The Way’s commitment to boringness leads to some Nice Music.

Freed from the obligations a full album would have entailed, Wu-Tang are free to make their best music in over ten years.

With a hackneyed focus on forcibly juxtaposing several random styles into their main rock sound, the stupidly long track names, and the uninspired hard rock instrumental work we get on here, essentially the album comes across as a tasteless meme.

WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU has little to offer on basically any front. On the drama front, there are no haymakers or grand declarations. There are a few guests that stop by ala Mr. Rodgers style to give low-effort mumblings to the effect of “Drake Sucks,” but much of the project is devoid of anything compelling enough to hang your hat on.

This is just lazily done and disappointing considering it’s been marketed very well to appear mysterious.

They sound fresher and more relevant than they have done in years, even eclipsing the latter records of Bergsman's time with the band.

It's intimate, accessible, and--Pumpkins comparisons aside--fairly unique in today's scene. What more could one ask for?

Pacific Daydream is pretty much just fine--34 minutes of unambiguous, catchy music, competent enough to land on the good side of Weezer's discography without reaching for anything more.

Born to Die's highlights are both slightly more numerous and slightly more effective--but it's still a very strong, successful record, whether taken as an addition or a follow-up.

It seems that Blue Lambency Downward while sonically easier to comprehend has become Kayo Dot's most diversely opinioned album.

It is meant to be fun, catchy, sexy, and danceable, and while it isn't groundbreaking by any means, it succeeds in reaching all of its goals.

It’s sonically daring, and challenges itself to be both unique from the scene and true to its creator.

Devoid of any country heart, country soul, or country swing, if Bon Jovi had started out a country band and decided to play mainstream rock, this is what it would sound like.

There are a handful of potential hits on Distortland, still they needed some structuring or at least a more powerful instrumental to be compelling.

This album sucks and is probably the band’s best and worst work yet. Sleep Token have conclusively proven themselves to be wholly incompetent songwriters and everything here is almost offensively boring.