A stunning return to form.

When it pays off -- which is more often than not -- BRMC's fuzzed- out angry shoegazer stance reaches levels of sonic brilliance unmatched by any of their peers.

X&Y is well crafted and enjoyable, but it’s bloodless and distant. It feels manufactured, a piece of product in the march to become the Biggest Band in the World.

Black Cherry strips away almost all of the film score drama of Felt Mountain. This would be a bigger disappointment than it is if the album's dance-oriented, neo-new wave were less successful than it is.

Clicks in all the places his failures did not.

Parts of the album feel overly familiar, but it’s good to have the band back in circulation.

The instrumental "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners" showcases Grohl's acoustic guitar chops, while the piano-driven "Home" provides a lovely ending to an excellent album.

The band's attempts to diversify the tone are not always successful.

Like its predecessor, 21st Century Breakdown delivers less than it promises; it’s more successful as a rock album than as a rock opera.

A likable, cogent album of adult punk-pop that matches Dando's easygoing voice to genial fuzz-rock.

While not as edgy as The Process of Belief, it is more complex and better produced.

The further they veer from the course (like the misshapen slide guitar and honking harmonica in the stupendous single "Ain’t No Easy Way"), the more memorable the sound.

Some of the songs are immediately engrossing... Others mostly carry the story forward while allowing Mann to indulge her career-long taste for vintage keyboard orchestration, coolly elegant pop arrangements and displays of tart wordplay.

Unfortunately, attempts to abandon [their] formula offer little evidence that they can excel at anything else.

The dolorous and enervated West reins in some (not all) of Williams' willful stylistic misadventures while holding fast to her golden triumvirate of death, love and longing.

Dylanesque is a winner, succeeding both for its incongruity and its sympathy.

Although the record shows scant evidence that over a decade of rock music has passed, the band doesn't sound anachronistic or out of touch alongside its younger competition.

Solid and diverse if slightly lacking the gorgeous full- bodied melodies of its predecessor.

Begins the band's slide into sonic monotony and lyrical malaise.

Hints at future sonic depths: swirling patterns, impressive musicianship and ambitious ideologies.

A greater focus on club anthems and straightforward songwriting broadens the band’s appeal but sacrifices originality in the process.

A shambolic, blues-based record that will repel purists of the 12-bar form but delight anyone who brings a six-pack and a cockeyed sense of humor to the party.

There are problems. For one thing, some of these songs have been done to death. More important, their voices don't blend all that harmoniously, and not all the arrangements do the tunes justice.

Despite the frigid bore of the album's latter half, the initial grandiosity of the songwriting and vocals make it possible that the Killers can avoid the bleak fate shared by other new wave gimmick acts.

By the end of this brief guilty pleasure, the verdict rings clear: The Killers may have made better singles, but The Bravery made the better album.

Noel provides the best songs on Dig Out Your Soul, although his bandmates certainly can’t be accused of slacking in their efforts. The problem with this one is that it’s front-loaded with Noel’s songs, which makes the proceedings start to drag a bit.

She takes a slower, more folk-rock approach to much of the material.

The Beekeeper meanders too much to be riveting in the way Scarlet's Walk is.