Every track on the Umea group's sixth album is a story onto itself. [Feb 2013, p.90]

Somewhere Else is only rewarding if you can stay awake. [Feb 2013, p.90]

Beta Love feels too much like the band's token electronic record. [Feb 2013, p.92]

This record possesses a contagious energy that exists not in lieu of a hook but actively as the hook. [Feb 2013, p.90]

True North is an engaging return to form. [Feb 2013, p.88]

"Black Balloons" is built on a riff exactly like Bon Iver's "Perth" sped up, and hearing the grating lyrical wail of "Columbia" and you're left wondering if so much time away was a result of writer's block. [Feb 2013, p.90]

The duo's strong suit has always been songwriting, and this still comes through on Heartthrob. [Feb 2013, p.93]

The album maintains a steady flow that allows melodic ideas and rhythms to melt into one another to create an intoxicating whole. [Feb 2013, p.92]

Dogs Eating Dogs is a strong effort.

While James Murphy's production skills are missing this time, the songs themselves are still strong. [Feb 2013, p.90]

It's like BVB's other output in that it's not perfect, but the high points are still pretty damn high.

Toth makes a greater effort to rein together all these different musical approaches into a crystalline whole. By doing so, he's inflated his songwriting even further, helping it reach greater altitudes. [Feb 2013, p.94]

Crazy World is as phony as they come.

III features the type of effortless electro-pop which made the act's 2006 debut, We Are Pilots, so irresistible. [Nov 2012, p.94]

Thanks to such marked songwriting growth, Wolf's Law cements the Joy Formidable as a ferocious rock act and as a band with plenty to say. [Feb 2013, p.89]

Lysandre proves the chameleonic Owen can say the same thing over and over and never run out of inspiration. [Feb 2013, p.92]

While these songs are closer the band's beer-in-the-air beginnings, greater sophistication and songcraft are evident from the crisp melodies and infectious choruses to earworm anthems with direct, bumper-sticker sentiments. [Feb 2013, p.88]

Enjoyable throughout. [Dec 2012, p.92]

This self-titled is a true beauty. [Jan 2013, p.84]

Music doesn't get more devastating than this. [Dec 2012, p.90]

This is a musical beast, in every sense. [Nov 2012, p.86]

The results is a rollicking continuation of their previous two albums' unhinged metallic-punk steamroller. [Nov 2012, p.90]

There's nothing that leaps out as brilliant, just like there's not a single example of the band trying something genuinely risky and new, and falling on their collective face.

While he doesn't go too far into weeds with avant-garde tendencies, Aimlessness is still a daring collection of electronic pop. [Jul 2012, p.90]

¡Tré! feels scattershot and slapped together, making it difficult to enjoy on its own merits.

Close the Distance is an album that does not only further separate Lancaster from his past--it also widens the gap between Go Radio and their peers. [Oct 2012, p.83]

Bitter Clarity, Uncommon Grace makes it clear Verse are among the finest hardcore bands existing today. [Aug 2012, p.92]

The rest of the album is similarly focused on animated, inventive electronica which cherry-picks from minimal techno, early synth-pop, moody new wave and Animal Collective-like rhythmic collages. [Dec 2012, p.94]

When stripped back to basics the Brains are as brilliantly brutal as ever. [Dec 2012, p.88]

As with previous Evens efforts, the urgency flows out through MacKaye's precision-like guitar tones, and the emotion that drips out of his and Farina's harmonies. [Dec 2012, p.90]

If You ever needed proof that great tension can be generated without screaming or dialing an amplifier volume knob all the way up, start here. [Dec 2012, p.90]

It does serves as an excellent point of entry for a new generation of fans, while reminding the complacent rest of us how the character of Sacramento's finest continues to endure. [Dec 2012, p.89]

This is a chilly, alienated album that sounds like it was recorded in a walk-in freezer. But a bleak, thousand-yard stare cool beats showy emotion every time, and Clinic knows it. [Dec 2012, p.88]

Deheza's still a fine singer and there are plenty of interesting tones and sounds flitting across the background, but all it ever coalesces into is wan, directionless, dance rock.

Some songs' lyrics feel a bit too rote ("Makeout Party," "Lazy Bones") but that's when you realize Green Day never really had all that much to say in the first place, and they function at their best with hook-filled songs that are typically three minutes or less. Luckily for us, ¡Dos! is full of those tracks, and is definitely the highlight of the band's ongoing trilogy to date.

There's nothing surprising or too far outside their comfort zone.

It's right in line with the band's natural progression; so much so that it's almost difficult to believe it didn't come out a decade ago.

From a purely musical standpoint, there's no question that this is All Time Low's best work to date.

The reason it works is that the songs themselves are consistently interesting without recognizable samples or gimmicks, often boasting melodies you'll walk away humming. [Oct 2012, p.88]

As dark as Floral Green may be, the album is dazzling achievement, and a total game-changer for an entire genre. [Oct 2012, p.94]

While Apocryphon might be the band's push toward the future, let it also exist as a funeral dirge for the band's more vibrant and rule-breaking past. [Nov 2012, p.94]

Cohesive and engaging throughout, this is the sound of a band at their most fearless. [Nov 2012, p.92]

The music is--and should be--the primary focus, and that's a quantum leap beyond what they were doing four years ago. Essential.

We Don't Even Live Here explores the dementia of our current moment with its charged, nihilistic lyrics and a sonic swell of electronic experimentalism. [Nov 2012, p.92]

The album is a triumph, a huge step forward for a band that should be regarded as one of the best in the genre.

The folk direction of the group's past few albums still lingers, but it's mostly buried behind immense decibels and frightening intensity. [Nov 2012, p.92]

It's clear that Paws can have fun while stopping short of their exterior goofiness. [Nov 2012, p.92]

Like their kindred spirits and labelmates in Turing Machine, Maserati have their headspace programmed to "liftoff" in an effort to take you higher than you've ever been. [Nov 2012, p.90]

Chasing Ghosts won't win any awards for originality, but this is definitive victory for smart songwriting,, heart, and passion. [Oct 2012, p.84]

The sequencing on Lost Songs is top-loaded with furious rockers that gradually dial down velocity and acceleration toward atmospheres familiar, anthemic and delicate as Conrad Keely's ragged-from-shouting vocal style continues to command attention. [Nov 2012, p.86]

Stickles seems more into channeling his inner Mick Jones, making Local Business sound weirdly like lost sessions from Give 'Em Enough Rope. [Nov 2012, p.94]

Banks is a dense (and sometimes prickly) listen that's not immediately accessible, although it rewards those who give it time. [Nov 2012, p.86]

Parallax II may be the strongest 72 consecutive minutes they have put together so far. [Nov 2012, p.86]

Their fourth effort is sabotaged by a weak second half spent on played-out '80s darkwave fascinations. [Nov 2012, p.94]

The highs are higher, the lows are lower and what resonates in the middle is a frontrunner for one of the best summer-transitions-into-fall records that you'll hear in a long, long time. [Nov 2012, p.94]

Darnielle still ties this album up under a loose theme, but it is a bold, Cinemascope-like vision of social and religious outcasts. [Nov 2012, p.92]

The other songs beg for remixes, guest vocalists or anything to give them more depth. [Nov 2012, p.92]

"Key Entity Extraction: Domino The Destitute" contains everything that makes Ascension a great record: heavy riffage, soaring leads, shouting, undeniable hooks, and no bullshit in between. [Nov 2012, p.91]

Ballou has captured the genuine sound of its four members together in a room, less of a monster in your closet and more of a brilliant basement show. [Nov 2012, p.90]

II's best moments actually come when the songs sound like nothing either singer has ever done. [Nov 2012, p.90]

Gibbard isn't reinventing himself with Former Lives, but after a decade and a half in the business, he proves he's still got a lot to say. [Nov 2012, p.88]

Vital [is] the most we;l-rounded Anberlin album to date. [Nov 2012, p.86]

Other than "I Ejaculate Fire," the lyrics aren't that funny--it often seems like Small is trying to write real metal songs. And it's hard to see the point of that.

Thankfully, there's enough variation in tempo, nuance and arrangements to stave off monotony. [Oct 2012, p.92]

There's lots of talent in this New York sextet, but it gets lost in all the unbridled exploration and layers.

These are tightly constructed songs that sledgehammer a jagged line between the Pixies' inventive pop clamor and the hazy beauty of another clever noise purveyor deserving of the all-caps treatment, HEALTH.

The moments of stylistic diversity, as well as the lack of trendhopping (read: no dubstep) makes the continued evolution of Blaqk Audio worth following.

Awakened is the best As I Lay Dying album you can point to as metal both modernized and maximized. [Oct 2012, p.84]

Their continued filtering of '50s girl-group melodies through swelling pop songs that crib equally from the noise/indie/dream spheres captivates in newly charming ways. [Oct 2012, p.88]

Murder By Death have created their most dramatic and symphonic work to date. [Oct 2012, p.90]

The fun carries all the way until the album's lengthy psychedelic jam, "Captain Ace," which bursts with wild saxophone and shows how to capture a brilliant act of Tape. [Oct 2012, p.92]

Perhaps the only surprise about Violent Waves is how strong and focused, creatively fierce and yet cohesive Circa Survive sound.

You can feel that relaxed swagger throughout Moms thanks to some of Seim's slinkiest funk rhythms, and the giddy arena-rock guitar antics the pair allow to pop up throughout the proceedings. [Oct 2012, p.90]

This is a record that cuts deep, but rushes right over to tend to your wounds. [Oct 2012, p.88]

Thick and lethal guitar chug and vocals bordering on death-metal bellowing are offset by spidery single-note melodies and catchy sequences. [Sep 2012, p.92]

¡Uno! does what Green Day have always done best: play loud, fast, catchy-as-fuck punk rock that results in near-endless replay value.

There's nothing about Robert Sledge and Darren Jessee's performance on Life that will make you realize you're listening to Ben Folds Five. Still, a few songs are gems. [Oct 2012, p.84]

It feels safe and too familiar.

The Southern-rock grit that used to make Band Of Horses spellbinding is in dangerously short supply, but there's nothing else there to replace it. [Oct 2012, p.84]

While it's enjoyable for what it is, you can't help but wonder where all the songs went when after an half-hour or so, you recall literally nothing. [Oct 2012, p.92]

Self Entitled benefits from his [Fat Mike's] more honest lyricism. [Oct 2012, p.90]

Fans of TBR will undoubtedly love this record as much as the last. [Aug 2012, p.91]

Good storytelling, the brothers' distinctive vocal lobs and a pleasant combo of banjo, bass, strings and both acoustic and electric guitar [are still present]. But with so many of the rough edges buffed away, there aren't as many nooks and crannies in which listeners can embed themselves, making it more difficult to become emotionally attached to The Carpenter.

It contains the band's most focused songwriting since the last album Gottehrer produced, 2005's Pretty In Black. [Oct 2012, p.92]

Palmer captures the human condition like no other artist. {Oct 2012, p.90]

Azure Ray have traveled even further down into the next level of the dreamscape. [Oct 2012, p.84]

I Bet On Sky can feel a bit sleepy--although noise-cracked solos and psychedelic-quicksand riffs ultimately keep things lively. [Oct 2012, p.88]

With strata of classical strings, reverbed guitars, epic piano chords and seemingly every piece of Yasunori Takada's drum kit simultaneously being hammered in salutation to the happy medium between tender, childlike phrasing, and grandiose movie soundtrack. [Oct 2012, p.90]

Frontman Tom Dougall offers guitar distensions, pedal abuse and disaffected vocals, while synth op Alejandra Diez is called upon to deliver gorgeous melodies and sinister noise. [Oct 2012, p. 92]

Bob Mould is no ordinary musician-in fact, you could say he's a pop genius. Silver Age is just one more confirmation of that fact.

Blood is a disappointing step backward from a band that showed real greatness only two years ago. [Sep 2012, p.90]

The Bloom and the Blight is the pair's most concise and best work to date. [Oct 2012, p.92]

Punchier production and more energetic songwriting point The North in the right direction. [Oct 2012, p.92]

MacNeil delivers a riveting, throat-destroying performance that owns every moment [Oct 2012, p.88]

Centipede Hz stretches them out of their traditional organic structures and into a slightly unknown world.

The triumphant streak continues with Southern Air, an album on par with 2003's beloved Ocean Avenue. [Sep 2012, p.93]

Stagnant Pools' combination of overdrive and understated make this a surprisingly alluring album. [Sep 2012, p.94]

Occasionally, it wears out its welcome, but at its best it's not just homage, but legacy-worthy. [Sep 2012, p.88]