DAMN. isn’t the same kind of masterpiece that To Pimp a Butterfly is, but it’s a masterpiece nonetheless.

From the first note to the last, you’re transported back to a time you lost someone close to you and then retrace the path you traveled as you dealt with it. I doubt this album inspires anyone to pick up a guitar or start a band and the experience it details is too personal to inspire other bands to make a similar album. But, if this isn’t a masterpiece... I don’t know what it is.

It's wildly accessible and I think what works the most is you just wouldn't be able to tell what kind of band they really are and what's their definitive sound -- which is a beautiful chaos that works in Turnstile's favor.

This album, musically, feels like a return to Cohen’s work in the 1960’s and 1970’s. While all the songs are brilliant, they’re not pop songs.

There are no gimmicks. There’s nothing screaming for acceptance. Melodrama is a raw, real album under its sparkly clean production. One written for the masses but able to resonate with each individual listener.

This album is arguably their strongest music to date and they manage to shoot the most cathartic of bullets at you.

It’s a perfect album in every sense of the word, this album is timeless.

Another cerebral and emotionally compelling trip. It's haunting, moody and contemplative.

What I think makes this album stand out just a bit more, edgier and whatnot, from her debut three years ago in Stranger in the Alps is there's a fearlessness to embrace the mainstream aesthetic just a bit more. Not something like Lana del Rey's style or that kind of thing, but a more contemporary, alternative and dare I say poppy sound.

They had a pop-punk grit and an edgier take on their 2012 release but The Finer Things just falls short of the potential that State Champs should be exploiting by now.

Apex Predator - Easy Meat arrives at a time of uncertainty in the Napalm Death camp, with longtime guitarist Mitch Harris taking an indefinite hiatus due to family illness, but it stands on its own as a fine piece of extreme metal.

This behemoth (double album or double CD) is an intriguing release which really requires the listener to get involved.

You can tell these are songs that could come straight from the minds of Davey Havok and Jade Puget. I would admit sometimes they kill momentum of the album and one or two tracks do blend in and feel repetitive but the lyrics, messages and overall political edge compensate for these shortcomings.

This isn’t simply a rap album. It’s a political album. It’s an educated album. It’s a creative hodgepodge of beats, ideas, and idealisms. And most of all, right now, it’s an important album.

As long as their attention spans can accommodate the extremely lengthy tunes, any fan of heavy music would do well to pick up Foundations of Burden. Highly recommended.

Joy as an Act of Resistance is a cohesive banner proving IDLES practice what they preach.

She’s self aware and independent. She proves pop doesn’t have to be drab and, instead, can be thoughtful and boundary pushing. Art Angels exists for those who love pop but even more so for those who actively avoid it.

At first glance, it may seem more controlled, pacified and constrained a sound, but if you know the band, they never make music with restraint and as the album plays out, Dreyer's experience becomes your own.

Science Fiction is one of their most real and most effective pieces of art. Mike Sapone's production was spot on again and the cover of those girls jumping from a balcony more or less sums up what you need to do with this. Close your eyes and jump right in.

While not holding up to Pile's highly-regarded past, still hits hard and reminds you why Pile deserves much more time in the limelight.

Hum hasn't missed a step, giving light to why bands like Quicksand and Slowdive resonate with their loud/soft dynamic.

Recorded by a New York jazz quartet, the entire record sounds superb and oddly intimate.

Against all odds, My Bloody Valentine managed to put together an album that keeps enough of the elements that made us cherish Loveless, while stretching their sonic palette just enough to keep things interesting.

With Delusion Moon, Meat Wave have created a batch of punk rock songs both uniquely suspenseful and crawling with creepy energy. It is also one of the year’s most engaging punk rock albums.

This album has a cultural and stylistic appeal that has enormous identity, living up to Alcest's most sublime work.

It is just such a cut above everything they’ve done that it warrants a listen from anyone into fearless and challenging, yet still melodic, experimental rock. It's their finest work, and probably this year's best rock album.

Painted Shut is a phenomenal follow-up to 2012 and one that'll be creepin' on you so hard. No longer is Hop Along the world's best-kept secret.

Despite a shift-up in sound, the new roads dug out by Weatherbox are littered with elements of the old trails.

Guppy as a debut does have room for growth but it's a distinct statement that matches the highs that Hendricks hits and the ambitions of a band whose cult following surely expanded this year.

These 11 tracks play on every ounce of rage you've ever known. Be afraid of them all. In the best way possible.

Jeremy Bolm and his posse have taken the time and care since 2011 to ensure that Is Survived By plays off as not only their most mature and heartfelt record to date. It's the record that could well define Touche Amore's legacy.

It’s fun and enjoyable. It's exciting, even if nothing new is being done.

It's a brutally diverse album that has something for so many rock fans. It doesn't drag across...but instead races--pummeling--through a few genres that delivers something beyond wildest expectations.

It doesn’t resort to chest-beating nor does it attempt to dilute its primal metal urges. It simply cuts through.

Ultimately, they’re doing retro-thrash with a modern feel, and they’re pretty damn good at it. If you like to bang your head, Power Trip should be on your radar.

Partycrasher isn’t a comeback record or a return to form. If anything, it’s a loud affirmation that A Wilhelm Scream are still one of the most creatively engaging and thoroughly fun and exciting bands in punk.

The tight musicianship around Kingfisher assembles like a puzzle.

Teens of Denial is a contender for album of the year, to say the least. It’s the rawest indie rock record since The Monitor.

Every member is in top form here. Ben Weinman has crafted an eventful aural masterpiece.

This album definitely cranks out most of their hits, although it's a tall order as their first four records are perfect front to back.

It's quite hazy, quite crowded but it works. It really does.

There’s an artful use of simplicity here to the extent that these songs don’t sound simple at all- they are massive, moving, and multifaceted- but never are they bland. Rather, instead of punching note after note down our ears, Screaming Females make every pluck, every single thwap, single second, do something to advance the album. When every single element counts, the whole thing feels that much more important.

Morbid Stuff is punk rock at its best. PUP has delivered something that achieves the rare feat of satisfying older fans while also leveling them up career-wise.

Relatives in Descent is a gloomy, menacing album, not for the listener looking for a good time. But from pointing out issues within their home city of Detroit to the disastrous place the world is in, Protomartyr are too smart to ignore the problems in the world. They are watching it burn and giving you their take in elaborate, intricate detail.

Sleep Well Beast is a heartfelt confession plucked straight from a middle-aged couple's diary on how good and bad things get, how we feel to leave at these tragic moments, how death touches us from that moment we learn to love, but most of all, it teaches us that love is worth fighting for and work has to be put in. No matter what.

While New Bermuda was an exceptional album, it felt like a reaction to all the hate that came with Sunbather, as if they felt they had something to prove to themselves. Here, they’ve made a sun-drenched California metal album and offer no apologies for it. Ordinary Corrupt Human Love is Deafheaven doing what they want for themselves.

Admittedly, it's a huge undertaking to listen through, especially for newbies, but much like Horseback's other releases, it's worth the effort.

On “When It Rain,” Brown shouts, “You ain’t heard it like this before,” like a madman. Atrocity Exhibition proves him right.

Transangelic Exodus is easily his most ambitious album but, for him, feels like a natural progression, seeing him find new ways to open up.

This is a great album start to finish, there isn’t any filler and one song flows into the next one perfectly.

They’re not afraid to step outside the box, and subsequently have crafted what is perhaps their best album yet, better than anyone could have expected of them at this point in career, and better than anything any of their peers have crafted in years.

Whether or not country is your genre of choice, it’s hard to knock Stapleton’s ability or skill on Traveller.

The closing few tracks aren't as strong as I envisioned but overall, Goodness hits the majority of marks it aims for.

Whether it's power-pop jams like the self-titled opener or the trauma of the slow burning, haunting "High Horse," there's a clear picture painted--in fact, it's a whole novel--on the bruises (emotionally and physically) scarring us for life. Marisa Dabice's vocals are once more a delight--powerful, earnest, honest and carrying--which is perfectly complemented by producer Will Yip.

The album itself is PROOF that chaos and anger and conflict and an open mind and fun is what gives Morris his strength, creativity, and singularity.

It's simple yet non-formulaic and finds the band providing another batch of delectable mid-tempo jams.

One of the most relatable, heartbreakingly specific albums of the year.

TSSF find its true sound here and it is a pleasant spin of melodic punk.

A surprisingly fun album in Sister Faith, in which Coliseum channel their metal past while creating their punk present.

Truly, this is one of the best reggae records of the year… and one of the best records of the year.

There is a fantastic flow from upbeat, crescendoing rockers to gentle yet looming ballads.

Stage Four is bigger in scope and is a flourishing sound thanks to Clayton Stevens and Nick Steinhardt on the guitars. They craft something subtle, where less is more. Elliot Babin's drums aren't as relentless as before and this too works in their favor because it allows the vocal lmessage to seep in. Deeper and deeper.

Cardinal feels cinematic, colourful and is a great fine-tuning of the promise shown on past EPs.... A heavy listen, but one that's worth it.

Say What You Mean is eminently listenable and thoroughly appealing.

The Sciences proves that Sleep has got the goods and no manner of years could pull the magic from the Pike-Cisneros connection. And more importantly than that, Sleep, when merely focusing on being Sleep instead of a being collection of influences, is able to produce work that is uniquely them, uniquely fresh, and frankly, inimitable.

All in all, this is a great album. Musically, it will be at home in the record collections of anyone who likes the previous bands the members of Coriky have been in. The lyrics are poignant and they’re delivered by some of the strongest voices punk has ever seen.

L lo and behold, leave it to Harmlessness to rediscover the wit and irascible, emotive charm of the band, which funnily enough nodded back to their older material . The same material that became one of the templates by which I would later gauge all indie records.

Overall, Modern Vampires of The City sounds fantastic, but not overproduced.

One Day is massive, even if it is short by comparison. Again, the sound is huge with layered guitars and ghostly layered background vocals. Singer Damian Abraham’s bark is a blasted out as ever. But, whereas Fucked up is sometimes dark and scary, here the sound is positively bright.

Meir is a highly enjoyable record from a band who has already carved out their own niche in the metal scene.

Daylight have released an album that'll have you talking about it for weeks.

Die Knowing is not the record that tries to re-capture the past, but rather combine the best of everything Comeback Kid has previously done. Boy did they deliver.

Keith Buckley's masterminded so much raw emotion, power and helped provide an experience that's always as vicious as it is captivating. Low Teens is another example of this, encapsulating the best of the eight LPs that came before, and really representing the history of the band--dynamic metalcore at its best.

An endearing work of art from a band that undoubtedly have more magic up their sleeve, as they've consistently shown in the past. And as this album shows, they have a lot of love to share, and for us to feel.

Turn Out The Lights is a powerful listen, teaching you to live with your failures and fears, and to move from coping with them to actually loving them.

A lot of sounds to take in and some head-scratching here and there, but overall, Bemis takes a brave step in a good direction.

Titans of Creation is an enjoyable listen, and is going to be an essential purchase for all self respecting thrashers. It’s definitely another worthy addition to the already impressive Testament catalog.

Seeing that the transition into Pleasant Living come off so smoothly is even more pleasing as it seems lyrically, they've grown, and in this maturity, the experience factor kicks in.

Dose Your Dreams feels like a fresh breath for the band. With all the heavy meta-survey of their most recent releases spit out, it sounds like the band is floating upwards, and perhaps just as importantly, having a lot of fun.

This record is so good we don't need to focus on those details. With I Hate Music, Superchunk will once again land near the top of my year-end list.

Her new album is carefully all over the place, ditching pretty much every aspect of the genre that brought her recognition.

What’s particularly neat here is that record masterminds Mike Haliechuk and Jonah Falco have forged their most diverse and chameleon-onic sound bed to date.

With a sense of humor and punk tilt, Under Color of Official Right decidedly makes Protomartyr one of the better acts of its kind going on.

On Outer Heaven, Greys take a major leap. Like, major leap. This will surely alienate some fans that prefer their more straightforward approach, but ambition should be rewarded.

As a time capsule, Live at Goose Lake documents and cements the legacy of the Stooges. No one really questioned this, mind you, but it’s nice to have even more evidence to show that the praises heaped on this band aren’t supported by fandom as much as they are supported by white, hot recorded proof.

Transgender Dysphoria Blues is another excellent album for Against Me! and one they should be proud of, especially after all of the obstacles they had to climb to get here.

It can be thoughtful without losing any of the rage, and at its best, can shake us awake and reignite our awareness of the world around us.

While the rockers establish the theme, it’s the slow numbers that really drive the point home.

A number of the songs on Talon are very personal and show an uncommon, brutally honest vulnerability.

This album comes off as the most definitive and most complete that Joyce Manor have to offer.

Not the best Queens of the Stone Age record, but a respectable showing with a few absolute gems.

Much like their most obvious influence Motorhead, High On Fire have found a formula that works for them and they largely stick to it.

Back On Top isn't a bad listen but it falls short of that benchmark they set in the past.

This record really scrapes past [No Closer To Heaven] with so much more heart and soul. ... The most well-produced and expansive sound I've heard from TWY.

If you're looking for something that's as moody as it is calming, and as beautiful as it is atmospheric, Slowdive's for you. Just thank the heavens they came back to save us with these eight tracks.

All in all, the ten tracks are uncompromisingly honest and bittersweet, but another great chapter written.

Despite its vocal flaws, if anything, there is a great amount of care in Compton.

Adore Life would have been stronger as an EP, cutting off the fat and making something as lean and muscular as their songs. What we have though does suffice.