When it punches hard, ‘Jose’ doesn’t miss. ... Yet ‘Jose’ – like Drake and Kanye’s efforts, previously – is led down by quality control. The creativity is undiminished, but it struggles under the weight of its 24 track span – clocking in at more than hour, the record at times tries the patience.

‘A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 2’ stares down the traumas that proliferate our lives, offering hope, creativity, and soul filtered through Common’s profound hip-hop vision.

Bar a couple of underwhelming or wholly unoriginal takes, 'The Metallica Blacklist' is a surprisingly solid listen considering its breadth. While the snobbier rock connoisseur out there might still view Metallica’s king-making album as when they ‘sold-out,’ this set just shows how malleable, how influential, and just how damn fun these songs still are.

The band are effectively building and complexifying their sound to keep things fresh. 'Comfort To Me' sounds like it could be played in a rowdy Australian pub the band are used to – or a colossal arena.

A very clever album that plays with musical codes and conventions brilliantly to create something greater than the sum of its parts. This could be the bravest Low album in recent years. It surpasses ‘Double Negative’ in a way that is surprising, but also feels obvious.

It’s this tight-rope walking of pop-maturity, moment-capturing awareness and beauty-in-simplicity attitude that has aided in Seinfeld’s rise to the top of the dance music ladder, and has helped him shape a record that showcases exactly where he is sitting in terms of sonic aesthetic right now.

While subtle, this album captures the evolution of a band in their element once more.

Aubrey Graham hands over his fifth project to cross 80 minutes, an hour and a half smorgasbord of all-new tracks. In his defence, the Drake cuisine is far too extensive and varied at this point, but this dilemma has been around for a number of years now and some sort of sacrifice for a better, more cohesive project has to be made if he wants to release another classic.

It’s truly miraculous that this experience formed in just eight days of work, and the engrossing journey passes by just as fast - if you survived the voyage, you’ll be pressing repeat immediately.

What ‘Septet’ really does well is show how accomplished Kirby has become in his writing. The music is fun, with a joyous bounce, but also hints at a deep melancholy. It’s not sad, but it’s also not happy.

Trend and time can’t touch them, and with ‘Senjutsu’ they’ve produced one of their best albums of the past 20 years.

With ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’, the answer seems to be found in widening that scope and ambition in a way we’ve never seen before. The cinematic flourishes are cranked up and Simz is more confessional than ever, pondering what defines her as both Little Simz the artist and Simbi the person. It makes for addictive listening.

‘You Signed Up For This’ is the most developed offering the singer-songwriter has delivered so far, with higher levels of production really allowing her storytelling to come through.

A world of distortion and contradiction, blood and venom, ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’ is a singular statement, one of extreme power.

‘Any Shape You Take’, rich in the emotional palette that it’s genre-free conveys, gathers together sentiments that may be familiar to many but haven’t been depicted in the vivid and complex methods explored here.

Turnstile are flexing some of their heaviest hooks yet - gliding us across nonchalant bops and hellish riffs, the Maryland five-piece have yet again come out with a bang.

‘Fulton’ and ‘Morning River’ are early highlights, while ‘Circuit Rider’ seems to exude the characteristics of the album’s Los Angeles setting. Closing with the reflective ‘Ever Feel That Way’, Steve Gunn marvels with the lightest of touches.

‘Screen Violence’ is so striking it makes 2018’s ‘Love Is Dead’ seem almost blasé in its deliverance.

With echoes of everything from PIXIES to Declan McKenna, what Lang lacks in refinement he makes up for in a very obvious encylopedic knowledge of guitar music. His ambition and obsession with producing more cosmic chords will, with no doubt, make his second full-length a more radical, enjoyable listen.

A project with literally no skips, ‘Fire’ seems to lay down a marker for his peers – The Bug is back, and the bar has been raised yet again.

Despite appearing torn between a middle-finger attitude and something much deeper, ‘333’ triumphs in never having a dull moment. It’s a document of character and expression while hopefully pushing forward to something more focussed.

These 11 songs display the underrated skills of a multi-faceted musician taking a series of bold and brave steps forward – fortunately, they pay off in droves.

Deeply cohesive, conceptual and considered. Controlled while still being unexpected. Comforting within confines, placing a new level of distance and boundaries between her personal life and her fans as she focusses on feelings over stories.

‘Fever Dreams’ is very possibly Villagers’ most ambitious and endearing record to date.

There are some real moments of beauty on the record - 'In Blur' aches and sparkles, whilst singles 'Great Mass Of Colour' and 'The Gnashing' showcase a band adept at building beautiful soundscapes even with the guitars turned down - but at a certain point, the album suffers from the lack of depth in Clarke’s vocals, or range in his melodies.

This release feels infused with self-assurance and pride, merging know-how and passion with a strong vision that only seems to get bolder with each release.

It’s often difficult for pop-punk bands to bring something new to the table, but in ‘Model Citizen’ Meet Me @ The Altar have completely out done themselves.

Despite having occasionally moments of deflation, ‘Loving In Stereo’ is more refined than past work. Loaded with retrospective jams and summery hits alike, the record leaves their growth open to further exploration.