Organic improvisational acts instinctively know which sonic snippets to expand--Lake Trout need to rediscover this ability. [Oct 2005, p.156]

Either way, previous Academy Is... fans will surely dig the tunes, but Fast Times is probably not the album that will see the band expand their scope too far out of the high school/Warped Tour crowd.

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.

It's not an album that will change your life, but it could alter the way you look at bits of it. [Feb 2003, p.64]

The least imaginative album of their career. [Oct 2005, p.158]

Medicine is certainly a cohesive and mature outing, but it isn't nearly as fun as the band's previous shenanigans. [May 2004, p.102]

Although we have a hard time following along with this one's theme, we do enjoy the music in spurts. [Jun 2009, p.103]

The humor practiced by Black and cohort Kyle Gass hasn't evolved much since [2008's "Pick Of Destiny"]; Fenix is loaded with classic-rock-aping material which simultaneously admires and lampoons everything from Star Wars ("Deth Starr") to organized religion ("Throwdown").

The band of brothers and sisters (plus one cousin) have made the gauzy shooegazing of 2005's "Room Noises" a lot noisier.... What hasn't changed, wisely, are the soaring sibling harmonies and sense of wonder, which are still best heard in delicate moments. [Oct 2007, p.168]

All Around doesn't take you anywhere, but it does make where you are a little bit brighter. [Aug 2003, p.105]

Aveo's songwriting isn't as intriguing as their sound. [May 2004, p.94]

For anyone familiar with these progenitors of glam punk, 'Cause I Sez So won't surprise. [Jul 2009, p.130]

But under the ill-fitting vocals, Deep Down & Dirty has some dubby, dark tracks that work if only because they don't try so hard to be "Connected" sequels. [Jul 2001, p.85]

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]

Lacking the hyperbole of, say, Chemical Brothers or the musicality of more band-like fare like Crystal Method, he finds a middle ground of giving-and-taking frequencies between his twos and fours, as if mixing it live. [Sep 2001, p.104]

The Sneak Attack proves this pioneer and innovator's run is far from over. [Aug 2001, p.90]

Overall, the band seem to be running long on ambition and short on ideas. [Jul 2005, p.172]

Sounds rather pedestrian. [Jan 2006, p.142]

Despite its pristine arrangements, Colonia turns into sonic NyQuil about halfway through, and ends up a low-day--albeit impeccable-sounding-listen. [Jun 2009, p.102]

The band's anti-everything style can get annoying if you don't have the patience for heavy doses of idiosyncrasy in your rock. [Jul 2006, p.204]

Most of the songs are brutal, chugga-chugga workouts, with Phil Labonte barking like a roid-raging Masshole spoiling for a fight while the band riffs away behind him. [Nov 2010, p.108]

It's not bad, but it's no zobie romance, that's for sure. [Mar 2009, p.113]

The effortless pop smarts are appealing, but the Ruffians will need to vary the delivery if they're expecting a career. [Mar 2008, p.144]

Sadly, the electro-plated Evil Heat is neither evil nor particularly molten. [Jan 2003, p.99]

Ultimately unremarkable. [Jul 2004, p.134]

It's not bad, but it is slightly disappointing. [Jul 2013, p.102]

You may be surprised to learn that the roadside corpse does more than twitch; it gets up and positively rumbas in places ("Girls of Summer"), while "New Birds" heaves with the same fidgety agitation that occasionally made Joy Division seem special. [#147, p.83]

For every great line on the album, there are three throaway verses. [June 2003, p.96]