The end result is Silverstein's career-best work and one of the best albums of the year thus far. [Mar 2013, p.91]

The band stand undiminished, combining Leviathan's raging metal with the sterling production of the proggier Crack The Skye.

Ultra Beatdown is a relentless explosion of power metal serving as a superb master class for fledgling shredders on any instrument. [Sep 2008, p.152] [Sep 208, p.152]

The Florida foursome still manage to top themselves with each outing. [Nov 2015, p.96]

Though such pop gloss ruins many indie acts, it fits CSS as snugly as vocalist Lovefoxx's Lycra stagewear. [Sep 2008, p.162]

The cutest couple this side of Jack and Meg do exactly that [get serious] on the shockingly accomplished Grand. [Feb 2009, p.100]

Although the circumstances surrounding these songs' creation are undoubtedly tragic, Walker has been able to spin that sorrow into arguably the best material of his career. [Mar 2015, p.91]

Even if McMahon's inspiration (lyrical and otherwise) are transparent on Passenger, the execution of his influences is impeccable. [Oct 2008, p.147]

They've made an undeniably great record that hits the sweet spot between distinction and accessibility. [Mar 2015, p.93]

A great party record, pop-metal to a splendid degree. [Jan 2003, p.84]

Fucked Up aren't the easiest band to like, but they're worth the effort. [Nov 2008, p.156]

Few records this year will be able to compete with the heart or hooks of this one. [Apr 2014, p.89]

The results are extraordinary. [May 2012, p.79]

Where the Tokyo-based quintet's heavier side might normally overshadow Thursday's more sensitively nuanced post-screamo, the transitions here are seemless. [Dec 2008, p.130]

The Go! Team's folluow-up is densely packed enough to make Phil Spector's Wall feel like a screen door. [Oct 2007, p.160]

Battle For The Sun takes the best elements of thier sound and focuses it into a cohesive listening experience--there's no filler to be found. [Jul 2009, p.130]

Three MVPs plus one vision equals one of the year's best. [Jun 2012, p.84]

Reunion Tour further cements the Weakerthans' status as legitmate rock 'n' roll tastemakers. [Nov 2007, p.172]

One day, Darnielle might make a sub-par Mountain Goats record. Pride certainly isn't it. [Apr 2008, p.152]

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.

Sam Beam has returned with a third full-length that rivals just about anything in his small but illustrious catalog. [Nov 2007, p.162]

The end result is an album that doesn't pull its punches, a direct message to the people with enough rhythm to get some movement out of stiff limbs while we dance away the recession blues. [May 2009, p.123]

May be Jackson's best work to date.... Playgroup is effortlessly retro, without sounding dated. [Apr 2002, p.80]

It's a refreshing turn from a band who easily churned out more of the same to little complaint. [Jun 2011, p.109]

Go is a genuinely beautiful, emotionally resonant must-hear. [Apr 2010, p.126]

O (Disambiguation) is the first Underoath album in years that you'll walk away humming--even as you pick shrapnel out of your ears. [Dec 2010, p.118]

Life Without Sound is rife with memorable hooks and earworms--and the substance to make them meaningful. [Feb 2017, p.80]

Decidedly mature and unapologetically soulful, Float is one of the most important records of this young year. [Apr 2008, p.148]

A brilliantly sorrowful effort: for isolated immersion only. [Apr 2014, p.92]

It's Death Cab's slowest and most mature recording, and over time, hidden bits of magic reveal themselves brilliantly. [Nov 2003, p.98]

Creatures has a medieval majesty.... Yet such pastoral conjuring doesn't mean the band can't rock. [Aug 2002, p.82]

Easy Pain reminds you how horrible the world can be, as well as the catharsis you can achieve if you'd only just immerse yourself in the maelstrom. [Jun 2014, p.111]

Get There is gorgeous, perfect pop. [Nov 2013, p.90]

Nears indie-pop perfection. [Feb 2003, p.70]

Better than its predecessor. [Dec 2003, p.150]

James Jackson Toth's solo debut has the depth, energy and character of a great comedy. [Sep 2008, p.151]

President isn't just one of the year's best; it's one of the finest efforts to come out of hip-hop in a long time. [Dec 2008, p.153]

Wrongdoers might surpass its predecessor in heaviness, emotion, mood and pure adrenalin. [Sep 2013, p.86]

Earnest and joyful throughout, they don't make records like this anymore, so be glad Anathallo didn't listen and made one anyway.

Infinity Overhead's smorgasbord of sounds should please every level of Minus The Bear fan.

Van Etten cements herself as the auteur of the symphonically sad.

This, more than any of their releases to date, is an actual album. [Jun 2002, p.90]

Kveikur is a masterstroke effort. [Jul 2013, p.104]

Lyrically introspective, musically tight and vocally resolute, Fade Away is Best Coast’s best work to date.

Sister Faith is rich with engaging depth and an inventive accessibility that should put the band on the radar of independent music lovers everywhere. [May 2013, p.88]

Hold Time exists not simply as a vehicle for the rehash of rock 'n' roll blueprints, but as the highway on which to drive home his acute pop-rock songwriting. Mar 2009, p.107]

N.A.S.A.'s dope beats and wet-dream collaborations make Apollo an absolute must-have. [Jun 2009, p.111]

Dissonant strings, clasical piano and eerie quiet spells infuse the album with a wird, roiling darkness that gets under your skin rather than filleting your skull. The result is more dramatic than any Dillinger release this decade--and more powerful because of it. [Apr 2010, p124]

Best experienced as a single piece of ever-evolving music, this is post-rock at its most melodic and dynamic best. [Jul 2013, p.104]

Perfect for night drives on long, winding roads. [Oct 2011, p.107]

Polished studio effects notwithstanding, Belong's truest charms remain the songs themselves. [Apr 2011, p.115]

Doiron's presence and Squire's understated electric guitar imbue the album with haunting, spectral beauty equal to anything Elverum's done. [Dec 2008, p.138]

CIS convey aggression and energy through a maddening array of effects pedals and the haunting, grainy tenor of Kristain Hallbert's reverberating voice, combining to form corrosive anthems embellished by space and nuance. [Mar 2010, p.92]

It might have sucked the first time you went through [the year between high school and college], but here, it couldn't sound better. [Mar 2009, p.113]

This Steve Albini-engineered masterpiece is destined to establish these 15-year vets as one of underground's strongest songwriting forces. [Aug 2002, p.83]

There’s an elegance to her music that wasn’t there before--a sudden bright piano riff over deep guitar; a harrowing, shouted acapella--that feels like a coming of age.

Sainthood was produced by Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla and Howard Reddekopp, allowing the album to take on aspects of both its predecessors while still feeling new, and per usual with this duo, impressively skillful. [Dec 2009, p.114]

It's the sound of three musicians playing to their strengths while challenging their songwriting style, resulting in a cohesive listen that holds your attention to the end. [Sep 2008, p.156]

Dance fans--past and present--will be pleased. [Mar 2009, p.116]

Twenty One Pilots ramped up everything, from new influences to the number of producers (four) to the metric ton of uncertainties and fears multiplying in frontman/songwriter Tyler Joseph’s cranium. And it’s wonderful.

Thankfully, Damage easily bests the previous two Jimmy Eat World full-lengths, and its high points rival those of Futures and Bleed American.

There Are Rules truly stands out in the members' collective catalogs as a completely unique entity, and one that should be viewed as nothing less than an absolutely stunning success. [Feb 2011, p.85]

They've retained some of the tighty wound post-punk angularity they've always favored and even bust a bit of old school punk, but the real advances are melodic. [Nov 2007, p.160]

There aren't many stronger Americans albums than Till Midnight. [Apr 2014, p.93]

Radio 4 evoke the Clash, Wire, Les Savy Fav and neo-new wave, jamming epileptic rhythms with chunks of white noise to get a restlessly eclectic sound. [Jun 2002, p.82]

The band still maintain their status as leaders. Frontman Jacob Bannon is physically incapable of phoning in his performances, and always ready to bring the fear. Kurt Ballou’s guitar work is a joy to experience, whether he's carpal tunneling through downstrokes, picking out lyrical phrases to frame Bannon's ominous moments (“Thousands Of Miles Between Us”) or bringing the straight-up noise like a hateful glass-bomb explosion ("Under Duress").

He rhymes like a champ. [Jun 2007, p.160]

The Quilt expertly stitches together art and commerce. Every song has an insistent hook, but despite the high-profile hip-hop guests, nothing feels calculated. [Oct 2008, p.162]

Besides boasting some of the band's most violent music to date, what makes The Powerless Rise such a stunning metal record is the band's commitment to vigrously kicking at their boundaries while remaining true to their sound. [Jun 2010, p.104]

Every moment on Dealer feels intentional, and as a result, gorgeous. [Nov 2015, p.96]

Melvins' 18th proper album is essentially classic rock for 2008--with the band's trademark abrasion. [Aug 2008, p.166]

overflowing with slick hooks and dynamic nuances, Twelve Years masterfully balances cathartic restraint and melodic aggression. [Jun 2012, p.80]

A rewarding art-pop risk. [Dec 2004, p.148]

While it may seem as if Geneva is all over the musical map, the opposite is acually true--the map's just been redrawn. [Nov 2009, p.114]

The Dillinger Escape Plan are far from dead and te sound they pioneered is only getting stronger. [Dec 2007, p.171]

[Whales And Leeches up its game] by being bigger, bolder, heavier, catchier and even more savagely fun.

Balancing a DIY mentality with a good ear for catch hooks, the Cool Kids have the ability to please both sides of the fence--which is exactly what the hip-hop world needs. [Aug 2008, p.174]

The album’s 10 songs are over and done in under 20 minutes. The impression they leave at the end of it all is huge.

Deadsy's mix of electronics, death-metal distortion and lugubrious vocals offers something magnificently alien, yet familiar. [Jun 2002, p.69]

While The Loud Wars is overflowing with extremely impressive musicianship, creative time shifts, and interesting instrumentation, it also has an inviting pop sensibility. [Jun 2009, p.99]

Grooves with uptight downtown funk that's not just for beat freaks. [May 2002, p.88]

This is crushing, calculated and catchy, light years beyond the three-chord snarling if Dalle's past. [Jul 2009, p.130]

Building on the intelligent, melodically inventive sounds showcased on 2013's Rescue & Restore, the quintet further distinguish themselves from the metalcore pack in a manner that seems effortless. [Jul 2015, p.96]

Misadventures is the stuff of time capsules, marvelously embodying everything important this musical subculture offers while enthusiastically transcending its limitations with authentic charms.

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.

This record neatly marries the attitude and energy first heard on Creatures with the industrial beats and vocals they love, making this record the truest representation of the band to date.

Auerbach moves flawlessly through all of his favorite frames of references. [Mar 2009, p.112]

A cohesive, 100-percent successful record. [Oct 2002, p.95]

While it's hard to recommend Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave outside of an environment of solitudinous nighttime drives (don't expect to hear this kickstart any parties), it's a deeply encompassing and occasionally profound experience that deserves to be felt by far more than the few lucky to already be inside the Twilight Sad's too-small circle.

The tightly wound dance numbers are dancier ("Knights"); the slow sex jams are sexier ("White Mystery"); and new keyboardist Alex Rose gives the synths a much stronger role than ever before, both with brilliant countermelodies and sublime textures. [Sept 2007]

Blackjazz, by contrast, is fierce and unrelenting, a slavering beast of an album with the complexity and dissonance of the Flying Luttenbachers and the head-down intensity of upstate New York ultra-power trio Borbetomagus.

On the Impossible Past is an inspiring exploration of life as it should be--but rarely is--lived. [Mar 2012, p.98]

His most winsomely loveless lyrics yet. [Oct 2002, p.92]

Alice is unique within Waits' unique discography, and it may be his most fully realized work. [Jul 2002, p.96]

The proceedings sound loose, yet focused but never disappointing. [Apr 2008, p.160]

Their less-than-radio friendly name will likely keep them just outside of the mainstream, but what they've accomplished on this monolith of an LP is going to be impossible to ignore during this last half of 2013.

Enter Shikari prove that they have something substantial to say and a creative way of saying it.

This is a dazzling and haunting disc. [Aug 2002, p.74]