Nothing Earth-shattering, but enough solid riffs and spiffy one-liners that won't seem too out-of-place during a headlining set.

King Animal doesn't hit as hard as their really early material, but it's well-paced.

Loaded with heady guitar trips and crunching grooves, all topped off with flamboyant frontman Scott Weiland’s soulful vocal (which sounds all the better for his newly cleaned-up lifestyle), this is classic STP.

Mechanize is without doubt their heaviest and most powerful, and considering the stark, foreboding lyrical subject matter it seems totally relevant that it should be. A truly emphatic return.

Taken as a whole, Helioscope represents another intriguing release from a band who remain a hugely promising proposition.

On The Flood the transitions are so effortless, so seamless, that what emerges is a near-perfect example of how to marry potentially ill-fitting musical elements in stunningly effective fashion.

Starting off pleasant but eventually becoming a regular stereo occupier, the grungier second half of this release is the better half.

The Computers' impressive debut is a riotous, riff-laden affair.

Noticeably less refined than the aforementioned masterpiece, ‘Pendulum In A Peasant Dress’, ‘Tilting At The Univendor’ and ‘Torrentially Cutshaw’ are part of a breathlessly jagged, abrasive, unruly and punk as fuck whole.

It works. It all makes an album full of awesome, genuine pop-rock music. Time will tell if this album and the next couple of years propel this band to the huge rooms these songs were made for, but for now? A great band just got even better.

The Massachusetts five-piece don't hit as many compositional peaks as predecessor Overcome, although tracks like Hold On and The Last Time bridge the gap considerably.

The downside is that their understandable fear of becoming just another indie band leads them into too many changes of direction. Just having great tunes has never been enough.

While not everything works--‘Dorian’ goes nowhere in particular and the assorted amateurish synths on show grate on the nerves and feel like an afterthought--this is rarely less than compelling.

What makes Zeroes QC so satisfying is the way in which they've warped and perverted their electronic base.

MCR have made an album that is as fun as it is meaningful, as experimental as it is familiar. Let's see the Daily Mail hijack this one...

Alkaline Trio aren’t naïve punk rockers from the Chicago suburbs anymore, as a result this album fails to recapture that innocence but succeeds in creating another strong body of work that the group can be proud of.

Those familiar intricacies are thankfully still present and correct and the direct approach undoubtedly suits a band still full of ideas.

It’s another richly woven tapestry of dark-hearted fare which draws on influences as disparate as The Pet Shop Boys and Ministry with aplomb.

Said record does exactly what it says on the tin, veering between fuzzed-up garage rock stomp and mesmeric psychedelic sprawl in a manner that's sure to delight fans of 09's Smile.

This record is the result of Finn turning his hand to songwriting for the very first time and, yes, he's nailed it.

Every note here sounds like the logical conclusion to the evolution of each preceding record--a remarkable achievement.

It's challenging (but not a challenging listen), pushing boundaries and smashing down your very notions of what metal--or metalcore--is.

Crisis Works is at base a heavy rock record, the likes of 'Twin Victory' an absolute whirlwind of crushing riffs. However, there are plenty of dynamics, tender moments and a definite through line of melody here too.

Lerner's pop sensibility is still there, but now buried beneath distortion and throbbing bass, making this an intriguing, if not entirely welcoming, listen

A disturbing but utterly all-consuming listen.

More industrial than 08's Anthems For The Damned, this fifth effort should slip them into that position.

In fact, with its consistently gorgeous delivery, Pulse is actually most reminiscent of French electronica pioneers Air. Go figure.

Although there are storming successes amongst the album's 11 tracks (such as 'Slaves To Substance' and 'You Only Live Once') The Black Crown falls a fraction shy of the pack-shedding statement it needs to be.