The standout tracks are strong enough to carry the album, which means that it will probably resonate with listeners who don’t mind putting up with lengthy passages of fluff in between those moments of grandeur.

he more he opens up, however indirectly, the more Dark Bird Is Home is content to color his emotions through an opaque prism of expansive arrangements that belie a broken heart.

There are more than a few signs that the band will find the middle ground between the music that prospers live and the music that shines on record; Heirs is a frustrating reminder that they’re not there yet.

It aims to give fans something different, but it does the bare minimum.

There’s some reassurance in that many of the more aimless songs sound like they would translate far better to the band’s true home on the stage, but here they qualify more as two-dimensional portraits.

A shorter, more focused affair could've easily been just as essential as Uncaged, while other cuts might have been more suitable for side projects or standalone singles. Few people will enjoy the album from start to finish, being clearly sewn to have something appealing to just about everyone, so pick up what you like and add it to your collection.

As assured as they are here, one still gets the nagging suspicion that Braids are yet to genuinely find their true sound. And, in a sense, this is what makes them such a fascinating proposition to continue to listen to.

This is, simply and purely, a great, if blissfully weird, Blur record.

The Dead of the World, well, doesn't do much of anything. It's cold without being chilling; it's colorless without being dark.

Musically, we get a wider array of genres, reminiscing their eclectic classic Feast Of Wire, released in 2003. Nevertheless, Edge Of The Sun flows smoothly from start to finish.

No track wanders along aimlessly or over stays its welcome, as Salome is a perfectly constructed rock record. At times beautiful while at other times eerie, this is a debut not to be missed.

One gets the feeling that they will have to make such a decision prior to album number two. Until then, what we have here with Lucid Dreaming is an enjoyable--but flawed - debut LP that hints at something special, but whose sum of its parts are ultimately greater than the whole.

Two Hands is a bit less chaotic and more carefully produced than the self-titled album, but offers the same amount of fun.

The album won't win many new fans, but for those already clued in it supplies a fresh batch of engaging, abstract production and, especially in the meat of "Old Rock n Roll", a few meals' worth of food for thought.

Glitterbug is pleasant enough and far from a chore to listen to, even if it feels too safe and inoffensive to warrant repeated listening.

Ecate ended up as the Italians' hardest hitting and most streamlined album so far.

Kintsugi suffers from many of the same flaws that have afflicted past releases, from a tendency to overthink arrangements to Gibbard’s more frequent relapses into trite turns of phrase and the occasional hint of immaturity.

Blending the light touch of her backing band with selectively applied electronic elements, Marina gives a more refined take on songs that in her past might have been layered in obtrusive electropop production or overwhelming string arrangements.

The level of emotional proximity, at times, will be enough to make you fight back tears.

Without over-embellishing it at all, you won’t find too many albums in the quintet’s chosen genre that betters the quality, consistency and diversity of Nerve Endings.

It’s post-apocalyptic, and it’s a gorgeous awakening for a band that continues to define the standard within its genre.

Although it might not be his most cohesive or strongest collection, the man manages to cater to every fan. He sticks what he knows best and that's how we want hi

There's a fair bit of tension in his rhymes and it works for him. Earl upholds a dangerous, unpredictable presence--when he slurs “step into the shadows, we can talk addiction” in “Grief” there aren't many who would take up the offer--but at times he holds himself wide open.

Every song possesses a distinctive identity, a different color fleshed out by its instrumentation. And the lyrical wonders Lamar works on top of all this is even more worthy of praise.

For long-time listeners, there's a definite air of familiarity in each track, but this record can serve as an acceptable introduction to Alien Ant Farm.

It’s not all bad, but one can’t help but think that this fifteen-track recording is a long album for someone with nothing to say.

Goon surpasses any suggestion of mediocrity by a significant margin.

Bjork's ninth studio album is the first to deal with such dismal and personal details, and is her most revealing as a result--through lyricism as well as through songwriting.