This is not the greatest music Trivium have ever recorded, but no one could accuse them of sullying their name with substandard chunder.

The Head And The Heart do pretty much everything right on Let's Be Still. [Nov 2013, p.88]

Bulldozer lacks outstanding highlights, but is consistently enjoyable. It feels impossibly intimate, guarded and playful, all at once. [Nov 2013, p.88]

Bubblegum comes amid plenty KD material, but with endearing romps like the Nirvana-indebted title track and Criteria-sounding "Somewhere Unoccupied," it might be his best batch yet. [Nov 2013, p.88]

The band's desire to branch out from the pop-punk scene has served them well in working to develop their sound, and Tonight Alive have certainly made some strides. [Oct 2013, p.82]

[Travis Morrison's] earworm melodies and piquant lyrical outlook are Uncanney's only source of nutrients. The rest are empty calories. [Nov 2013, p.94]

The energy makes it feel like there's too much going on, leading to songs blending structurally, downplaying hooks.

Dangerkids mix modern elements of electronica and metalcore into rap-rock, which at first seems a bit disjointed and weird, but soon settles into a comfortable roar that hits all the sweet spots in the metal/hardcore/emo realm.

They might be unusually eclectic, but these songs, full of Kasher's trademark incisive insight, are a compelling addition to his ever-increasing catalog. [Nov 2013, p.90]

The resulting album is, at its best, ambitious and teeming with ideas and, at worst, one heck of a mish-mash of sounds.

Give this three plays and it'll stay imbedded in your autumn playlist. [Nov 2013, p.90]

If you’ve long hoped for a more mainstream direction and always wanted to hear just how sweet a singer Krauss is, Bitter Rivals could be your favorite Sleigh Bells yet. But if you’re wishing they could’ve evolved in a way that didn’t involve quite so many ballads and especially not at the expense of what made Sleigh Bells so great, this might not be as essential as you presumed it would be.

Panic! At The Disco have completely hung up their steampunk wardrobes to deliver one of the year’s finest modern-pop works.

Ruthless, catchy and armor-plated, the Los Angeles quintet have focused on refining their sound, yet there is also greater nuance, making this perhaps their most atmospheric record. [Sep 2013, p.88]

Guitarist Lindsey Troy's molten riffage and roaring voice-landing between Karen O and Brody Dalle--are paired perfectly with drummer Julie Edwards' wall-shaking bears on "Your Love's A Lie," which is as (not very) sensitive as this collections gets. [Nov 2013, p.88]

Yuck probably aren't mourning Blumberg's loss, but Glow & Behold--though more scattershot and less striking than Yuck--would be an ambitious and creative coping mechanism. [Nov 2013, p.94]

Mike Hranica’s voice is as gut-wrenchingly brutal as ever, too (“Gloom”), and some songs find the band writing music outside their comfort zone.

A gorgeous and moving album. [Oct 2013, p.86]

The stitched together samples, drum machine splatters, and foreboding synthesizers come across like the soundtrack to a particularly quick edited and terrifying lo-fi horror flick.

Embraced by the masses or resigned to cult status, Sebadoh's reunion is a welcome one, and this strong album is a fine return to peak period form.

While some bands might try to ignore the pressure that comes with a raised profile, Touche seem to have embraced it, producing their most frantic, panicked, passionate and best album of their career. [Oct 2013, p.81]

STD are as tight and melodically brilliant as ever, but the previous trilogy’s anguish and inner turmoil seem to have been replaced by warm sentimentality, declarations of undying love, and smart discourse on relationships and the human condition, with the occasional killer curveball.

But is it emo-synth brilliance or just MOR cheese? That’s the question you may still be asking when you’ve surfaced from beneath these Waves.

Mazzy Star may not have evolved much over the past 17 years, but Season Of Your Day proves they never, ever need to. [Oct 2013, p.88]

The Flatliners here transcend genre distinctions to make a great rock record, period. [Oct 2013, p.94]

Fly By Wire is more nuanced, mature take on the group's comfort-food keyboard-pop. [Oct 2013, p.92]

Their colorful tapestry of indie/alt/emo inspiration is distilled far more subtly then before. [Oct 2013, p.84]

Even more devastation stems fro Iain Cook and Martin Doherty's sophisticated and catchy layers of synthesizers and vocal loops. [Oct 2013, p.82]