For Deftones, finding the sweet spots between compromise and balance, factoring in each member’s duties and creative inputs may be a more appropriate way of assessing the delicacy of the task at hand. It’s within that push and pull, that the aptly-named, tension-charged Ohms proves itself a fascinating entry into the band’s canon.

It’s not just the righteous fury of the music that makes it so great, either – these are songs built on a truly wide world of extreme sounds, welded together into a unique sonic bomb.

Shame is a weighty slab of industrial punk that is effectively the soundtrack to a tortured soul mentally coming apart. Reinventing a core element of themselves, Uniform present a side they have previously kept boiling angrily under a darkened surface.

There’s little to link the various tracks on this eclectic collection, nothing to make it a coherent whole, but it certainly underlines the band’s extraordinary ability to shape-shift. Mastodon have changed over the years, but Medium Rarities proves they have always operated in a dimension that isn’t entirely earthbound

It’s not pared back, but WE ARE CHAOS is a less immediately antagonistic and forward prospect than recent output. But that’s a good thing that’s been mastered to darkly brilliant effect here. Unexpected, bold and artistic, Manson remains an artist it is dangerous to underestimate.

It’s an intelligent, thrilling and likeable record from one of the most exciting bands in British punk.

It’s never derivative, nostalgic, or trying to be anything that it’s not. It’s a PVRIS album, packing in every quality that she’s built that name upon, while powered by a subtle forward motion. That every idea and sound heard is hers and she can finally, proudly take sole credit for that is to be celebrated.

No mere nostalgia trip, S&M2 stands as a tribute both to Metallica’s growing confidence as players and composers, and an absolute vindication of their decision to revisit one of their most inspired creative outings. Within our world, they remain utterly fearless and inarguably peerless.

What Blues Pills serve up, like The White Stripes or Rival Sons before them, is a perfect transmission of warm rock’n’roll from a time gone by that effortlessly slinks along with natural swagger, without ever feeling studied.

Biffy Clyro have delivered an album of restless invention, substance and style that arrives like a spray of water on the arid expanse of this saddest of summers.

This project began as the soundtrack to an art show, and was inspired by vistas streaming past windows on interminably long drives, so none of this was meant to be easy to enjoy. It’s music to accompany contemplative walks, light skies and dark moods. It’s hard work, but it will work on you.

This is more than a revelatory, historical document. While it signals the beginning of the end of the original band, it also confirms that when rock’n’roll is at its best, it pushes forward into new territory and has the power to change how we think and how we feel. Live At Goose Lake is effectively a testament to sonic liberation.

Admirably aiming high when so many seem content to play it safe and follow the footsteps of their peers, this a wonderful rollercoaster of a record that puts Creeper way out on their own. It wears its palpable love of music and art with a glossy pride and it deserves an audience that’ll cherish and unpack its layers for a long time to come.

For the most part though, this is The Ghost Inside getting back to the largely straightforward, undeniably powerful mix of metal and hardcore they have always done so well.

Amends is a portrait of the artist as a young man, offering fans the chance to time travel and spend time with an old friend. It’s also the origin of Chester Bennington as a musician and is therefore an essential, rewarding and emotional listening for anyone who is a fan of his work.

Lamb Of God are not the band they once were. Those were the sounds of then. This is the now.

If one thing about The Used’s eighth LP stands out above all others, it’s how thrillingly modern it sounds.

Across a stirring nine-song sprawl, they showcase enough pulsating purpose, and fresh folds of their rich Gothic influence, to prove there’s still plenty to be drawn from that deep well.

It’s wilder and unvarnished, adding up to a self-portrait that’s intensely candid and intimate.

Being so musically and thematically rich, GLUE will be a lot of things to a lot of people, and therefore act as an enduring monument to being young and looking ahead in a world that doesn’t always seem to have, or want, a future. This is an album that simultaneously makes you sad and glad to be alive. Treasure it. Use it.

It’s not perfect (hello, Bending The Arc To Fear), but for a band previously hindered by wearing their influences so blatantly on their sleeve, they have made it to their final form.

Despite the band stretching their boundaries wider than ever before and employing a kitchen-sink approach to experimentation, this is the most Enter Shikari sounding record the band have made to date.

From its furious themes to the explosive energy and the livewire sound, you’d be hard pressed to find a band doing anything quite like this right now, and it’s genuinely exciting to think what Nova Twins can achieve with these 10 tracks of pure sonic power in their hands.

Titans Of Creation – the quintet’s 13th studio album – is packed tight with the precision and power that they’ve made their own for more than 30 years. On tracks such as the hectic WWIII and Curse Of Osiris, Testament sound as forceful as they ever did.

If you’re looking for a short, fun thrill from a gang of likeable oiks with all the grace of a one-legged camel, talk to The Chats.

As well as being excellent, Local Honey is evidence that the man himself is able to adjust his songwriting to his circumstances without compromising in its quality. It all makes for a seriously sweet listen that reaffirms the Jersey boy as a storyteller and songwriter par excellence.

It’s Pearl Jam’s most incensed album since 2006. It’s their most musically inventive since 1998. And, by virtue of its themes, it is their most gravely needed of their entire career. It is, in short, a triumph.

It feels like tectonic plates have shifted for the band with The Ghost Of Orion, ushering in the dawn of a new era for My Dying Bride.