Gone are the Mary Poppins samples and the rest of the duo's anything-goes ethos; Breakfast is filled instead with Cap'n Crunch-y nuggets of pure, sweet, mainstream hip-hop. [Mar 2012, p.97]

Disappointing--and worse yet, faceless. [Apr 2012, p.99]

Tennis offer a solid but unspectacular album by a band capable of great beauty but one who seem to struggle translating that into great songs.

Unlike Treats, Reign Of Terror never feels new, fresh or exciting; it just feels like a chore.

There's enough classic songcraft here to ensure Forgetting isn't forgotten. [Mar 2012, p.97]

This is isn't a terrible album, but considering the rest of their vibrant catalog, it just seems a bit stale. [Mar 2012, p.98]

Everyone involved seems to simply be shrugging along in an almost cynical fashion, figuring people will buy it no matter what they do.

It's uncomplicated, catchy fun, the equivalent of 21st-century hair metal-and that's meant as a compliment.

What's left are halfhearted Hold steady wannabes and dull stabs at poignancy.

Every successful band eventually put out a bloated album, and for Northern Ireland's Snow patrol, it's Fallen Empires. [Feb 2012, p.84]

While they are accomplished musicians and combine their growling, death-metal-influenced moments with a wealth of shiny hooks, they fail to do so in a way that counts. [Feb 2012, p.84]

My Morning Jacket no longer sound like a band of curious adventurers perpetually at odds with their former selves, and consequently deliver an album that plays like a sort of kid-in-a-candy-shop, take-a-little-of-everything thrill ride. Predictably, results vary.

Bruiser is at its best when its tempos are insistent. [Apr 2011, p.114]

Except for the dearth of truly original ideas, Love Part II is, at its core, just another Angels & Airwaves record--nothing more, nothing less. [Jan 2012, p.100]

It must have been much more fun to record all of these tracks than it is to listen to them.

Distractingly crowded soundscapes throb like an all-night rave, leaving you too exhausted and battered to pay attention to the words, a major deficiency for a hip-hop album.

Decas is not exactly coherent listening experience. Still, it's a worthy addition to the band's weighty catalog. [Dec 2011, p.118]

One can only wonder how Sinners Never Sleep would have fared had it been more consistent. [Nov 2011, p.98]

Owen leave behind the emotional outbursts of his collaborations with his brother Tim in Cap'n Jazz, Joan Of Arc and Owls, but keep a quieter, suburban rage alive on his sixth album. [Dec 2011, p.121]

Like a late-night screening of Blue Velvet, it may be hard to get through, but impossible to ignore. [Dec 2011, p.121]

Long Live The King, by comparison, sounds distinctly like a cutting-room-floor exercise--a collection of outtakes left behind not in the name of aesthetic cohesion, but simply because the group had better songs more deserving of release.

While the band's heritage has been hanging on by a thread for decades, The Devil's Rain is but an undercharged defibrillator to its decomposing corpse.

Mountaintops is still well-crafted (if overwrought), but lacks the punch that'll make you sit up and take notice. [Oct 2011, p.109]

The mild vulgarity and cute arrogance put to such an innocent melody [in "Fool Like Me"] is the brand of sass for which Cobra Starship are best known. Unfortunately, these traits are desperately lacking from the rest of Night Shades.

In Waves hits some high notes with solo-heavy scorchers, but bury them seven tracks deep is as dumbfounding as their guitar work is breathtaking. [Sep 2011, p.120]

Overlook has its moments. [Sep 2011, p.120]

The addition of electric instruments and Morello's nasal speak-singing do make Rebel Songs read a little like a radicalized Dylan. [Sep 2011, p.116]

A reliance on monotonous tempos and rhythms--and a disappointing lack of melodic variation--further make Endless Now fell curiously lethargic. [Sep 2011, p.112]