Merritt's singularity just feels awkward, and Realism is another album in a catalog more concerned with quantity than quality.

For better or for worse, Grohl replicates each band's musical style with remarkable accuracy. [Mar 2004, p.98]

If you're confused and bewildered by Power, you're probably not alone. [Dec 2004, p.146]

Vanderslice's detached delivery of this riveting material, combined with the somnolent string arrangements, makes Pixel Revolt feel like a chilled-out remix of a book-on-tape recording. [Sep 2005, p.158]

A sobering reminder of how frustrating it can be when a talented group become tethered to their established aesthetic. [Feb 2007, p.118]

There's nothing bad here, but also nothing new. [June 2003, p.103]

The need for The Need is debatable, but it's a nice addition to Anticon's growing catalog of successful experiments. [Mar 2007, p.144]

Burn The Maps' muted vibe demands that you turn down the lights, fire up the candles and listen hard. [Mar 2005, p.132]

Frustratingly, Jukebox takes a more soft-focus tack. [Feb 2008, p.114]

Why does Warp Riders feel so lacking? The root cause could be that the songs on this album are stripped of the sexy strut that marked the Sword's earlier efforts. [Sep 2010, p.113]

Walls tends to fade into the background during its instrumental moments, dulled by textures and emotional ebbs that aren't very distinctive. Better are sharper rock songs. [Aug 2009, p.115]

The album runs out of steam toward the end, but the first few tracks are gold. [Nov 2009, p.109]

The bulk of the album's 14 tracks find her playing it safe with a helium-voiced squeak reminiscent of (take your pick) Gwen Stefani, Santigold, Kate Bush or Cyndi Lauper. [Nov 2011, p.97]

It seems like Hinson puts far more energy into conveying some sense of backwoods authenticity than writing songs that inspire any type of real emotion. [Oct 2006, p.200]

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]

It's not for a lack of experimentation on Collet's part that Rat foregoes any sort of bar raing. It's still a solid forging of '70s-rock gruff. [Apr 2010, p.122]

Lightspeed Champion somehow fail to generate the true emotional sentiment that was the crux of the artists he's drawing from...Hynes has matured, though. [Mar 2010, p.94]

A solid album, but a must-have only for Tweedy completists. [Apr 2003, p.82]

You either listen without prejudice or deem it the most pretentious, boring swill on the planet. [Dec 2007, p.176]

Weak. [Sep 2004, p.140]

For all of its charms, One Kiss Ends It All sounds a bit sdhaky and unfocused. [Jun 2013, p.98]

Though this is limp-wristed stuff, it's also undeniably beautiful, often recalling Nick Drake and Belle & Sebastian. [#154, p.82]

Like most everything else here, it's a dancing no-brainer. [Mar 2011, p.92]

Pure bubblegum, but with an often-faded flavor. [Apr 2012, p.98]

These impressive vocal arrangements suffer when Ida leave them alone in the spotlight. [Feb 2005, p.88]

Contains all the usual suspects: a few great songs, a few throwaways, a bunch of head-scratching song titles and indie rock's best take on the Who. [Mar 2006, p.124]

The vibe on Broken Bellls is so mellow and laid-back that the album dissolves into mere ambient wallpaper. [Apr 2010, p.122]

It's virtually impossible to listen to Show Me Your Tears from start to finish; but individually, each song is a dark, delightful peek at Black in the throes of therapy. [Nov 2003, p.108]

When Last Secrets works, it's awesome... but thanks in part to sequencing, it drags toward the end. [Jun 2006, p.180]

The Chemical Brothers seem adrift and directionless. [Mar 2005, p.138]

The songs last twice as long as they should. [Dec 2004, p.152]

Unfortunately, the pretentious spoken-word ramblings, corny hooks and unremarkable trance put Maas, along with Paul Van Dyk and BT, in a less illustrious category: top-notch DJs with second-rate albums under their belts. [May 2002, p.90]

The unpredictable edge that's helped made the series a standout is gone. [May 2004, p.108]

The only problem is that in making way for all the MCs, Dilated's tracks seem too peripheral, keeping Expansion from sustaining the momentum its MCs command. [Jan 2002, p.80]

While Boo! is far less indulgent than JOA's most experimental records, it remains a far cry from Kinsells's earliest work in the mid-90s emo forefathers Cap'n Jazz. [June 2008, p.131]

The two sides of their musical personality aren't in balance, but it doesn't make this album any less fun or rocking. [Feb 2014, p.92]

Title TK isn't awful, but it's too zoned out to draw you in. [Jun 2002, p.71]

The lyrics can be heavy-handed--images of greed, violence and the apocalypse dominate, with varying levels of success--but the danceable beats and grungy atmosphere make Corpus the ideal soundtrack for debauchery in the face of economic depression. [Mar 2009, p.112]

The gently frenetic interplay between instruments works in the opener "Cut From The Cloth," but tires after nine carbon copies. [Jan 2007, p.134]

Songs like "Electric Chair" show the promise of this project, but unfortunately, the rest of the disc is fan-only filler. [Apr 2005, p.130]

The London-based compulsive hair-dyer follows 2007's soulful breakout "The Magic Position" with the luxurious sounds of The Bachelor, the first half of a double album to mixed results. [Sep 2009, p.108]

Their fourth album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action is just as resolute as the title. [Sep 2013, p.88]

The Menzies score big about half the time. [May 2014, p.93]

Mediocre. [May 2007, p.162]

Though the album gets too repetitive, the uniformity of Acolyte still serves the band's purpose: Make the floor move.

Even [Haines'] coos about war can't make Live feel urgent or save its slanted art-rock outbursts. [Dec 2005, p.214]

Most of Boroughs feels like they're sampling themselves. [Aug 2004, p.120]

Offers few intriguing instrumental twists and only the faintest percussive pulse. [Aug 2004, p.106]

Fans will love it, but if you're not already on board, this album won't change your mind. [Oct 2007, p.169]

Like Creeper's previous albums, Take Back The Universe is a delicate piece of criss-crossing jangles and loose-limbed riffs, but the shimmery sprawl never coalesces into anything concrete. [#154, p.73]

The Invisible Band has more layers, more moods than ever before, and more tunes as well. [July 2001, p.88]

III/IV is the director's cut of a moment in Ryan Adams' all-too-prolific career. It adds dimension in some areas, but may be too much information for causal fans of the singer/songwriter.

While the musicianship is first-rate, the middling tempos and docile, homogenous instrumentation quickly grow boring. [Oct 2002, p.94]

On Disco Volante, [David Gedge] sometimes becomes as tedious as a typical pick-up line. [Jan 2001, p.86]

The instrumentals falter. [Jun 2004, p.97]

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]

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 trouble is that their debut album is saturated with the kind of contrived angst that seems to always maintain a level of popularity with upper-middle class white kids who don't pay their own bills yet. [Mar 2009, p.107]

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]

The ominous charm that had fans nose over tail is not completely lost in Agony & Irony. [Aug 2008, p.156]

Much of the album reflects a tension between melancholia and euphoria that sounds more like an epic battle between Fischerspooner's love for New Order and Pet Shop Boys--but with beefier, disco-fied beats. [May 2005, p.174]

With this soft-spoken and delicate record of almost-drawling songs, he's moved his work one step closer to Nashville. [Mar 2002, p.81]

World Peace is a frustrating experience, moving too quickly between temperaments and overstaying its welcome by a good 20 minutes.

Telepathe should be appauled for making a challenging record; though it frequently doesn't hit the mark, there's plenty for fans of minimalism to get excited about. [Mar 2009, p.116]

The album is a success because it shows sophistication and growth. [Apr 2014, p.94]

Like Merzbow jamming with a broken dishwasher through a short-wave radio. [Nov 2004, p.146]

The music you'd imagine might play as you ascend to heaven--or the soundtrack to the WB's next teen drama. [Aug 2004, p.118]

This husband-and-wife team have made the same album for the third time. [Nov 2003, p.100]

The Lemonheads is the album Dando should have made 10 years ago, and poppy punk ain't what it used to be. [Nov 2006, p.200]

The disc is at least 20 minutes too long, with Slug coming off like he's simply recycling the same lyrical ideas in the last third of the album. [Jun 2014, p.104]

Only one or two tracks capture that combination of venom, wit and old-time Northwest angst that made Mudhoney one of the grunge movement's standouts. [Oct 2002, p.88]

At its best, the disc forges a middle ground where trebly guitar power is fortified by the electronics, resulting in a new propulsion. At its worst, the disc is as meaningful as "superstar DJ" sets, designer drugs and having your picture taken by the Cobrasnake. [Feb 2009, p.99]

On Sunshine and a handful of others, she's M.I.A. protege in Kala mode; elsewhere, she's been "optimized" for a climate more partial to Nicki Minaj. [Jun 2012, p.84]

The disappointing thing about New Moon is that it could have been better.

The songs have the urgency and vitriol we've come to expect from the band, but there's one major problem: the spit shine production. [Jul 2004, p.128]

Disappointingly forgettable. [Nov 2005, p.218]

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

An acquired taste. [Sep 2004, p.124]

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]

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]

Falling Off The Lavender Bridge is a collection of alt-country songs that alternate between darkly funny and deathly serious, cleverly coy and crappily dull. [Mar 2008, p.140]

The simple, muscular rock and folk are matched in directness by lyrics that keep returning to troubled relationships, and risk the occasional awkward line to make their point. [May 2009, p.121]

Unfortunately, the tinny stutters and retro keyboards... drag when they're not amped up on desire. [Dec 2003, p.158]

The Most Serene Republic play it incredibly safe while maintaining thier baroque-rock rep. [Aug 2009, p.111]

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.

There is a breadth of influence throughout, even if the energy level rarely falls below absurdly scorching and the sonic approach remains a fuzzy haze. [Apr 2008, p.150]

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.

Comatose-inducing. [Mar 2003, p.94]

Either the worst or the best thing I've heard all year. [Dec 2004, p.152]

Choosing to keep the songs dark and dreary bogs down Mini Mansions. That criticism aside, the band know how to craft a song, letting it build and drop when necessary. [Dec 2010, p.114]

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

Like many trilogies, though, the third one stumbles to reach the bar set by its predecessors. However, Morning certainly doesn't suck, and fans will appreciate its place in the evolution of Eels. [Sep 2010, p.109]

Flowers suffers from lyrical impairment and bloated self-importance throughout the rest of the album. [Jan 2008, p.121]

This is metalcore comfort food from two veterans, and little more. [Feb 2011, p.90]

Nothing Hill works best when Adamson keeps his mouth shut and focuses on crafting moody instrumentals. [Oct 2002, p.76]

Packed with earnest but impotent stadium rock. [Jul. 2002, p.82]

The album runs a tad long--and it's difficult to suss out the band's individual voice from underneath the weight of their influences. [Mar 2011, p.92]

Momento Mori is a good album, with the awesome 'Set Apart This Dream' and 'Again' shining with their anthemic choruses and deft use of pop melody. The tragedy is that it could have been great. [Dec 2009, p.108]