It's always admirable when an artist or a band attempts to create a piece of music that differs from what came before. Unfortunately for Architecture in Helsinki, their new work fails as a cohesive whole, salvaged only by two or three songs here and there.

Morrison has a talented voice, but you might as well stick to Glee to hear it.

The reissue of BlackenedWhite comes as a missed opportunity. Odd Future followers will likely have grabbed the expanded (and notably better) version when it was available free online a few months back; newcomers to the collective's output have better entry points elsewhere in their continuously-growing catalog.

This CD is worse than a nu-metal reprise, in that it doesn't give true ragers an outlet, but instead facilitates the same false machismo that tribal tats and fake bench-press numbers suggest.

Lulu is essentially a piece of shock art that's littered with vulgarity both lyrical and musical.

It's the uninspired and homogenous manner in which Joker goes about ironing out nearly everything that made his tunes memorable to begin with that makes The Vision one of the most disappointing debuts of the year.

When you boil it down, Purple Naked Ladies' biggest fault is that it's generic.

A deluge of whining that's lyrically incomprehensible and becomes sonically dull after one song.

Victory isn't going to blow your mind by any means, but it's the first time in a long time a Wu-Tang brother has stumbled.

[A] superficial lack of organization and purpose.

An album desperate for texture, flavor, and risks, Giant Orange is the aural equivalent of middle-of-the-road musical tragedy.

Parts of Anarchy, My Dear feel so unedited that it gets a little embarrassing for the listener, but when Say Anything collects itself, it has something to say.

Rather than bursting forth with something new and unique, they wind up rehashing stale sounds and leaving the listener with an entirely unmemorable experience.

The album is at its best when guests take the microphone and falls short nearly everywhere else.

It's unclear what the band has been doing during its lengthy hiatus (their last full-length was released in 2002), but keeping up with current music trends was evidently not on the to-do list.

All Information Retrieved provides is leaking creative inertia.

DeLonge's forgettable chord progressions feel like an afterthought to lyrics that try too hard to fit into Blink's more morbid adult persona of late.

Fishin' For Woos, the surprising 11th studio album from the band, lacks just about everything a record needs to be taken seriously.

Unfortunately, "Besides You" is the only song really worth mentioning. Everything else is so awash in a wall of buzzing noises, you'd think you were at the World Cup and surrounded by vuvuzelas.

Taylor's whispery, timid voice sounds restrained on nearly every track. Coupled with repetitive lyrics and monotonous rhythms, Overlook is a yawn-inducing piece.

Skimming the top, fun. gets credit for its positive attitude and pocket full of catchy melodies, but on the whole, Some Nights remains forgettable.

Kids in the Street is uninspired, '80s-laced material.

While it's a whopping 19 tracks, half the album is nothing more than bargain-basement pop knockoffs of everyone from Beyoncé to Keri Hilson.

Breaking down barriers is not the forte of Top 40 rock music, but when you can't tell the difference between a Linkin Park track and something produced by a plebeian confusing dance beats for real drums, something has to give.

Despite the occasional glimpse of colorful ingenuity, Medicine is an utterly sour experience.