Working at breakneck speed, Vivian Girls is sloggy, hampered by the cloying feeling that the lo-fi shtick is simply too on-the-nose.

Shogun is by no means an outstanding metal album, but it should be enough to satisfy both fans of their older material and those attracted to the meatier hooks of ‘Anthem (We Are The Fire)’ and ‘Entrance Of The Conflagration.’

Alongside "With Oden on Our Side," Twilight of the Thunder God just might be the strongest record Amon Amarth has written thus far.

Feed the Animals, despite its tentative start, is chocked full of the same bombastic booty-shaking moments that defined "Night Ripper."

The Hawk Is Howling is just an ambiguous mixture of the band's past.

As it is, it's a very fine record from a band who are seemingly growing in stature, confidence, and ability by the day.

One of the best albums of 2008, Dear Science, is an album you can ramble on about for nearly 600 words before you realize you forgot to mention 'Golden Age,' arguably the best song on the album.

He deliberately avoided all piano and strings simply to prove to himself that he could write a full album without any of it. What resulted, however, was his most engaging and enjoyable album to date.

The Way I See It isn't going to blow any minds, but it might open a few eyes.

Overcome is but a grain in the sand on an oversaturated desert; a metal album you'll enjoy while you play it but won't ever be something you‘ll yearn to hear.

There’s a worrying air of desperation running through the band’s lyrical choices that thankfully doesn’t spill over into the music, but it is nonetheless a frequent distraction on an otherwise fine album from a heavy metal juggernaut that might just be kicking back into gear.

Like "Red Carpet Massacre," The Block is proof that it requires more than the best producers and songwriters to make good pop music

When Underoath hits it they hit it well, and Lost in the Sound of Separation is still a very good record despite its faults.

Exit is a classic, a refreshing and rewarding experience that is sweet and euphoric and brilliant. Exit should make Tokumaru a star.

When it's good, it's really good. Otherwise, it's never really bad, just excessive and somewhat unfocused.

While it's not without its obvious highlights, All Hope is Gone feels too much like a demo with professional production values to make me recommend it as an album.

Ultra Beatdown features the same guitar riffing, theatric singing and the rest of that stuff that doesn’t matter in regards to Dragonforce.

Perhaps the greatest compliment that could be paid The Rocky Road is to say it can easily be recommended alongside the best in the Dubliners and Luke Kelly’s catalogue, a distinction both Dempsey and Kelly would no doubt be delighted with.

Coupled with the fact that his synergy of indie, singer-songwriter, pop, and trip hop is never quite realized, renders Resurgam a few steps below the 2008 hip hop releases that have already proven themselves to be superb.

These songs aren’t necessarily greater than the pop tunes around them, but they are different, more singular and more interesting.

It’s not bad in the sense its unredeemable, just in the sense that it fails to do what it wants to really, really hard.

White Fields and Open Devices is simply one of those albums that is well-composed and well-executed.

That an album can match enjoyment with artistic merit in a year that has largely seen albums go one way or another is a joy in itself.

Zach Hill is a talented drummer, with some great ideas, but certain elements of the album just tarnish all of the positives. This album is even unlistenable at moments.

It has great ideas brewing, but there are tons of bells and whistles in the production that upstage the songwriting, which admittedly is weaker than usual for The Faint.

Lyrically, however, the album is just another soul-searching journey, and while he may be getting too old to call a “boy genius”, he's not lost any of his wistful intelligence.

It's hard to slate Harps and Angels too much, because the music is actually quite good in places and it's nowhere near bad enough to be a chore to listen to.

Unfortunately, with Fragile Future, Hawthorne Heights start awkwardly and never really find their feet.