It does mean that their eponymous third release for Thrill Jockey can be rather prosaically boiled down to: if you like whooshy spacerock, you’ll like this.

Pure metal it ain’t. Pure fun, it sure is.

By the time the closing brass-driven sequences of the 3D-fronted ‘Almost Air’ ebb away, Massive Attack feel like a living, breathing vital force once again.

The Texas crew have created a piece of art that probes into what it means to love and be loved with real intent and passion. If you’ve slept on this band up until now, it’s time to change that.

The riffs remain as ample and hard-hitting as ever, and with Matt Bayles (Isis, Mastodon) handling the production, The Sword have never sounded better.

Stunning.

Featuring two members of the late great Jay Reatard's band--the towering garage rawk that defined his sound is tangible with Wavves too but here left to bathe in the sun and taken for a quick dip in the ocean.

There’s no filler here, even the short instrumental numbers deserve their place as they break up the album into chapters. A surprisingly good follow-up, Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You is essential listening.

This full length contains all of Bleeding Through’s hardcore malice only now it’s encased with a perfected, extremity-heavy formula.

The Deth's 13th album (how'd you guess?) gravitates between classy thrashers and hokey anthemic rock with scorching guitar work and Mustaine's snarling voice expectedly leading the charge.

The fact that this album is full to bursting with ideas means there are almost certain to be missteps, but the likes of acoustic-led snorefest ‘Father / Son’ are thankfully few and far between on this bracing debut.

No, this isn’t Weezer at their world-altering best, but it is the sound of a band who have at least re-opened the door to the cupboard where their magic formula is kept.

This record manages the remarkable feat of balancing true integrity with universal appeal.

Throw in the stunning power and clarity of Alan Moulder's mix and you have the sound of a band revitalised, re-inspired and highly evolved.

With Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, AC/DC) producing, Stephen Christian's vocals cry out louder than ever across closer 'Depraved' and it proves that five albums in Anberlin have moved beyond the light of 'New Surrender' to dabble with a more interesting, darker edge that borders on Circa Survive.

Hope is the soundtrack to the summer you've not yet had, and from here it sounds like it might be the best one yet.

This is a classic Bosstones album; a record that rises above the notion of categorisation and which anyone with a pulse will find it impossible not to warm to.

Coheed And Cambria are always at their finest when they're being dramatic, and as such 'Year Of The Black Rainbow' is possibly their best record to date.

Bearing the smart but dark pop hallmarks of bands like The Cure and Echo And The Bunnymen, it’s astonishing how the L.A. foursome’s fusion of disco, funk and hot gothic takes sounds so fresh in 2017, 30-odd years after that stuff’s heyday.

Stoke Extinguisher offers both food for thought and fuel for the pit; cheap gags jostle for space with anti-establishment rhetoric and a wry sense of self-depreciation.

The Final Frontier might sound alien at first, but Iron Maiden's DNA is splashed all over it.

Heritage is an infinitely more audacious beast, full of jazzy noodling, serpentine guitar leads, folky introspection and general acid-drenched freakiness.

There's enough originality to warrant a second look, though, evoking the epic soul of the infamous The Haçienda club with percussive clatter overseen by techno producer Ewan Pearson.

With no reason to buck the trend, Damage very much continues the Arizonan four-piece’s reliability streak.

Angry and scathing, Radke's return is welcome.

It's hard to fathom how Bardo Pond have made their life-in-a-lava-lamp jams for the best part of 20 years with--we're assuming--their marbles still intact, but here they are, bubbling away with no sign of letting the quality dip.

While the 15-year-old group may not have explicitly improved their game, Khaos Legions provides a mass of suitably heroic melo-metal anthems. The hardcores will be pleased.

The latest album from St Louis, Illinois, quartet So Many Dynamos is definitely a keeper.