For its new fond feeling and its quick animal stride, t offers something that we can all be swept up in, and all from the moment "Animal Life" gets close.

A phenomenal record by a band at a creative peak that's as fully realized and as utterly terrific as the myriad other peaks they've hit during their brief but already illustrious career.

The album's production is without needless fanfare and benefits from it immensely. It allows the weighty three-piece to shine without trickery.

It's an important album for Scuba, as a means of transition, of mastering his new craft. It's just not a terribly important album for the rest of us.

Dream pop, goth, shoegaze--call it what you want, but what School of Seven Bells have ended up with is a genuinely gorgeous record by any standard.

It finds the heart of everything from "The Reak Damage" through to "Glory Hallulejah" and is content to let that heart meander at its own pace, and a result it rivals his more deliberate studio releases, breathtaking as they are.

While Dark Adrenaline doesn't break down any barriers and won't win any points for originality, it is still a very solid release and probably the best thing Lacuna Coil have done in almost a decade.

While it contains next to no filler, includes a sufficient amount of enjoyable anthems, and is musically accomplished (Ben Jolliffe's drums are especially impressive, the dual guitar attack is competent and the sparingly used keys are wise), Bones is predominantly a consolidatory release.

What results is another quality release that cannot help but make music fans excited for what this gifted outfit are to bestow upon us on their next offering.

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

Essentially the best debut album of 2010 thus far.

The energy and personality which flood out of every melody give this album its own stamp of authority.

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.

Like a pang of guilt does he sample his former self, like a torch carried to its final flicker of illumination. And to hear all that, to be able to almost feel that happening, is to bear witness to an artist working at the apex of his talent.

The main problem with most of the songs on Grand Hotel stem from The Explorers Club's inability to moderate pretty much anything.

[Maybe for] the first time, A Sleep And A Forgetting gets at the heart of an artist who, over years of project changes and name switches, has remained frustratingly opaque.

Though it never explodes, No One Can Ever Know comes to its unnerving climaxes at just the right points and feels in its own right like a totally cohesive recording of something dark and unforgivable.

Awesome record.

As a whole, Sharon Van Etten really hits the nail on the head with her third try.

All of the material here is passable, with a few highlights that will surely leave a positive impression on listeners.

Love What Happened Here is still another compelling listen from perhaps the biggest sensation of 2011.

Scars & Stories may be nothing more than a pleasant retread of The Fray's established style, but it does a commendable job of delivering quality in lieu of novelty.

For much of Paralytic Stalk's first half and even for most of the more unhinged second act, Kevin Barnes strikes a near-perfect balance between pop mastery and a delightful sort of weird.

It's by no means the work of art that it accompanies, but it's almost as endearing and charming as that begrudging look of acceptance on the countenance of the moon at the sight of its unwelcome guests.

A Different Kind Of Truth is ultimately an accomplished, hard-rocking record that somehow manages to not sound too dated.

Fantastic songs that have an uncanny ability to lodge their way firmly into your head.

Le Bon is doodling, but as she refines it, CYRK becomes a clear piece of work with a well-clarified core.

One of 2011's premier releases in alternative rock.