Clocking in at just over 40 minutes, Island Universe is about 25 minutes too long and would have better served as a short EP, or an abandoned pile of demos.

There are classical references, quirky rhythms, and oddball singing as if something serious is happening. But the mix comes off as self-indulgence and childish.

Unexceptional leads and dyspeptic detours mar the disappointing Orbits.

It's all very clockwork.

Vultures is best left lying alone amongst its metal clichés and turgid song-writing.

An album which manages to sound like the a musical parade of these same awkward personal performances accompanied by Fisher-Price electronic arrangements.

Aside from all of the individual missteps that make up Music from Another Dimension, the single most striking flaw comes in production quality.

The most regrettable aspect of Matricidal Sons of Bitches is the recognition that Friedberger no longer sounds like an innovator.

For folks who love Cee-Lo as a television personality and/or demand new renditions of songs we've all heard thousands of times over, Cee-Lo's Magic Moment exists. For everyone else... well, there's probably copies of Cee-Lo Green…Is the Soul Machine lying around somewhere out there.

Stay Awake is an ungainly curiosity. Devoted YOB fans might be tempted by the possibility of hearing Scheidt in this new context, but I think they'll probably come to the conclusion that most of the rest of us will: Scheidt's solo effort would be good or maybe even great if it weren't for him singing all over it.

Quality Street Music serves as a vehicle for Drama to shine a light on some artists you may not have payed much attention to before while embarrassing and making caricatures of others, resulting in an unbalanced effort that reeks of songs constructed through emails and mix-and-matching rather than any real chemistry.

If you get a kick out of '90s Ibiza anthems and the first Depeche Mode album, than Bright Black Heaven might just put a big, goofy smile on your face; if you are looking for mature songwriting or forward-thinking electronic pop music, Bright Black Heaven is probably best avoided.

Battle Born is a confused mess of an album, drenched in influences but positively overextended in its execution, the band trying way too hard to do something grander and more complex than what they've done before.

Despite whatever success they may have had with their debut, The Darkness' return clearly signifies that the major problems underlying their style have come to the forefront, leaving the cheeky humor and catchy riffs that we all liked not too long ago in the dust.

Fortune is another overload of poor decisions.

The Ghost Inside do little to variate on the established metalcore sonic, even though they play that sonic well.

This is truly a fascinating album, but for all the wrong reasons.

Glen is in fine form, per usual--it's the vibe, the "audience track", the classic rock radio flashbacks and the fact that this is an album that was released almost 40 years ago.

Do Things, unsurprisingly, ends on a run of unimaginative songs that make it increasingly difficult to want to keep listening to it. It's an unfortunate album that will no doubt pander to a certain group of people but will likely leave everyone else cold. There's nothing here apart from the lead-off track that's worth a repeat listen.

In a live setting, this type of give-and-take could pay off, like an electro take on free jazz, but as it's presented here not only is it unspoken, it's unintelligible.

In spite of its title, Carlos and company don't really do a lot of shape-shifting on this roundly insipid record. It's depressing that Santana, an artist who is so clearly capable of creating frenetic, passionate - sexy even - music, has produced something so soullessly inert.

Lostprophets has survived in music by understanding what their fans like and catering to them, but with Weapons, the band is firmly entrenched in their comfort zone. While that might excite long-time fans of the band, it provides little to those looking for innovation or excitement out of the genre.

It's hard to see how The Promise could achieve some sort of musical relevancy.

Ultimately scuppered by too many leaden ballads and self-indulgent guest spots, this outing leaves the future looking very unclear once more for Meat Loaf and offers little to those who aren't already die-hard fans.

A colossal disappointment. Tenacious D's album number three fails to capture the comic energy of the band's prior musical output and pales in comparison to other, much funnier rock music moments by the band's contemporaries.

His most ridiculous and worst album to date.

Princeton's different desires end up pushing them towards a sound characterized by lush but repetitive arrangements and a lack of spark.

By doubling down on her cartoonish elements, she's lost all remnants of lyrical ingenuity she around the time "Monster" first leaked, let alone her various mixtapes.