It's a frenetic, hugely entertaining and inventive genre mash-up full of punk rock aggression and rock 'n' roll swagger that blends inventive chaos with a real ear for melody.

Put simply, this is another wonderful release from a brilliant band.

It's probably about time more people started caring about this band, especially since they deal in the sort of sounds that demand to be taken to heart.

While Sean Slug Daley's heartfelt lyrics, reflecting humorously on fatherhood, love and loss, are given full vent by producer Ant, the addition once again of keyboardist Erick Anderson and guitarist Nate Collis brings Atmosphere's trademark sound to another level.

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.

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

Stunning.

The dark-hued, hard rocking glory of 'Sinead' and the Evanescence-bothering theatrics of 'A Demon's Fate' should draw Within Temptation a wider audience, but it's the ferocious guitar/keyboard attack of the blazing 'In The Middle Of The Night' that might coax most bullet belts out of retirement.

'No Answers' reassures any doubt that Thursday have taken a new direction, with Cure-esque moments creeping in amidst their hardcore backbone. And guess what? This is Thursday leading what they now do best.

The Foo Fighters may have ballooned in size over the past few years and if it took them going back to their roots to make an album this good then so be it, but when all is said and done Wasting Light is as an example of how to be a globe-eatingly massive band and still sound young, hungry and, above all, important.

To fans it'll undoubtedly shine as their best record yet, while the uninitiated may be about to find their new favourite band.

They're no longer a phenomenon; instead, Sum 41 have continued to mature into a rather good band.

Above all, Vices & Virtues is a complete package that secures Panic! At The Disco as one of the most forward thinking pop-rock acts around.

Helioscope represents another intriguing release from a band who remain a hugely promising proposition.

Crowbar were always more reflective. And that's kind of what Sever The Wicked Hand is all about, corpulent down-tuned riffs and a sense of grizzled resignation articulated through Windstein's taut songwriting and sorrowful croon.

Overall, whatever you think of their craft, they've mastered it; this writer's mentioned almost every track on the album to hold up this review--and that's got to be a good sign.

Being such an influential rock drummer, it's hard not to approach this expecting more of a crossover sound, but treat Travis Barker's debut like an eclectic hip-hop record and it won't disappoint.

Front-loaded with jagged riffs and the squalls of Matt Shultz, this is storming.

Famously chaotic musical magpies Dana Janssen, Seth Olinsky and Miles Seaton have outdone themselves here in concocting an album almost as enigmatic as its title.

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

Ferocious and beautiful--Funeral For A Friend sound more like themselves than they have done in years.

Ultimately Immersion adds nothing new to the Pendulum experience, but still sees the band doing what they do best. Go immerse yourselves.

The result is a beautifully fragile acoustic record that positions him as the missing link between Kurt Cobain and Johnny Cash.

The melodies are huge, the hoarse vocals are fairly infrequent – but this is probably one of the most punk rawk albums Rise Against have recorded.

Ruthlessly combining technical brutality and pure fucking class, DevilDriver have finally come of age.

A stunning opener to the album, its dynamic range, gleaming melody and driving anthemic nature exemplify what this band was always all about.

The Human Romance is how metalcore should be: layered, dynamic, passionate. Easily the best Darkest Hour have been since "Undoing Ruin."

It's a brilliant, timeless debut and a must-listen.

While certainly an accomplished progression from 09's "Union" in terms of tempo, it's still a bit too midlevel and the band might stand out from their contemporaries if they were a bit more rough around the edges.

It might lack the narrative arc of 09's An Imaginary Country, but it's hard to imagine that 2011 will see many finer releases, of any genre.

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

The results are shufflingly majestic, loaded with blissful truths and, it must be said, startlingly close to perfect.

Those of thinkers Catherine Keller and Gaston Bachelard--are more complex than you might at first imagine, making Asleep On The Floodplain an album whose surface you can lazily drift upon or one into which you can dive as deep as your lungs will allow.

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

Earth's continued trudge into beatific wilderness sees Dylan Carlson return to territory traversed by the desolate windswept tundras.

The frantic, high-pitched vocals of old are still present and correct, but they're also tempered by frequent downbeat melodic refrains, echoing the likes of Nirvana more than, say, The Blood Brothers. Musically too, the band display a staggering diversity.

The eagerly anticipated album from London based indie-rock three-piece The Joy Formidable far exceeds all expectation.

While several tracks would sit comfortably on a Best Of ...Trail Of Dead playlist Tao Of The Dead certainly feels like their most consistent collection in years.

Merging brittle, jittery riffing, fraught tremolo-picked flutters with mesmeric drum patterns and tense, semi-spoken vocals the result is as resounding a success as ever and a reassuring testament to the ongoing fertility of the Louisville underground.

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

It's still apparent that Mogwai have, once again, produced a record of astonishing subtlety.

Revel in the gloom.

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.

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

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.

Their songs, while essentially playful and lovable--more so than ever on Vs Evil, the San Francisco band's 10th album, which features near-lounge music moments--have a hard centre and are often tricky to parse, thanks in no small part to Satomi Matsuzaki's lyrics.

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

Lonesome guitars wend their way through the shimmer of rising heat, synth swells collapse into dust and a plaintive violin calls to a long-lost lover, all of which twines itself together to form a rich experimental drone that's as vast, lonely and unending as the desert images they conjure.

While it may have been captured through a somewhat disjointed creative process, though, there's no sense of No Name No Color lacking cohesion.

Still shrouded in mystery yet sounding clearer in their intentions than ever before, the familiar mix of strained vocals, propulsive yet unobtrusive instrumentation and haunted piano refrains serve as a perfect example of why we missed them so damn much in the first place.

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.

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...

Most strikingly, Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa displays a masterful control over the multi-faceted Cradle Of Filth sound; brutal vocal gymnastics, skull-rattling double-kicks, symphonic flourishes, dramatic narrative and balls-out axe-slinging all make their presence known, but in a manner which routinely serves to bolster the coherency of the greater whole.

Commercially-driven producers or not, though, the band have a knack for keeping their sound current and contemporary –- while still being reminiscent of their early material.

Spiral Shadow might just be the album of the year so far. All hail the kings (and queen) of nouveau-prog.

Songs For Singles is unmistakably a Torche record; primal, punishing, yet irresistibly sweet. It may make a mockery of the traditional album format, but then again, would you expect anything less?

Recitation finds the band at their genre-bridging best, sounding, if anything, even more euphoric and life-affirming than before.

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.

For all its bluster, There Is A Hell is far more than the story of a man battling his self-perpetuated inner turmoil; it is the sound of a remarkable band establishing themselves as one of the finest of their generation.

The likes of 'The Resist Stance' and 'Someone To Believe' burn with righteous anger and the energy of a band half their age. Only the closer, the toothless 'I Won't Say Anything', isn't up to scratch. A fine addition to their cannon.

'Coffee And Cigarettes' and the title track slowly uncurl themselves over the course of a few days and before you know it, it feels like Jimmy Eat World never went away.

With The Big Deep they've taken a much more straightforward approach to things than ever before and ended up with a collection of solid, accessible rock songs.

Make no mistake, Gira has his mojo back and Swans are very much alive.

Root For Ruin is a worthy continuation of their oeuvre, and a better album than 07's "Let's Stay Friends."

A Thousand Suns is a more experienced and experimental Linkin Park. You may not get it to begin with but persevere and you'll be rewarded.

It's a pleasure to report, then, that Hurley is a fine album.

Featuring the classic, jagged and tar thick riffery and off-beat timing that have become Helmet's signature, Seeing Eye Dog is a great (especially re the vocals) and gritty listen.

For all those teens who grew up disgracefully with Taylor and Jim Root's other band, Audio Secrecy is the soundtrack to the rest of their lives.

Asylum won't set the world alight, but it's certainly not monotonous enough to send anyone to the madhouse.

It's not to say Time For Annihilation isn't very good, just if you like Pink and other commercial rock, you're going to love this.

All your usual horror and metal needs are catered for, although according to Wednesday 13 the lyrics are more personal this time round.

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.

As fans of the group will attest, there's nothing quite like experiencing Mogwai in a live setting and while Special Moves might never fully capture that sheer weight of sound, it nevertheless represents a hugely impressive live document (even without Burning, the accompanying DVD).

It's all good fun and makes the most of its human components, but there isn't much here that emerges as truly awe-inspiring or anything else other than a jolly good jam between chums. Of course, if that's all that's needed for Apocalyptica to remain among Finland's most popular imports, then for now, at least, it's still job done.

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

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

Kaleide runs out of steam towards its close--heaven knows why the original, blustery version of "Smarts" has made way for a sombre reworking--but it's still an enjoyable, grown-up follow-up to the band's debut.

Mr Wylde is onto another grininducing winner here and long may it continue.

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 a glorious new depth to the old formula here showcasing undeniable talent.

A right dirty dose of LA rocking is in order courtesy of Buckcherry, and boy, is it great to have them back!

If there's criticism, it's that Nightmare still falls back on cliches, building with aggressive force to then rely on a safe melodic chorus. However, there's enough of a change to see A7X lash out beyond their core sound, making Nightmare their greatest achievement to date.

Super producer Ross Robinson has been given the unenviable task of bottling lightning, and he's certainly earned his money this time round; from Jonathan Davis' tortured, primal yelps to the pounding drums and a bass sound that ebbs and flows violently through your extremities.

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.

Their sound, now more than ever, is a paradox: despite the Cure-ish grey waves of guitar and Spencer Krug's morose vocal tics, Wolf Parade can't conceal the fact that being in a band is clearly terrific fun for them.

Baffling yet hum-able at the same time, this is the work of a band without a clue where they're going, and it's all the stronger for it.

With longer songs between their trademark short frenzied blasts, they maintain a clenched grip on how the ethos behind grassroots hardcore and the necessity of a modern punk fusion can mix effortlessly to create something truly special.

Continuing where the dark grooves of 8's Nude With Boots left off, The Bride… exhibits the perfect marriage between the Big Business boys and Melvins main-men King Buzzo and Dale Crover.

It'll probably help if you're on mushrooms, but nevertheless this is quite something.

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.

An outstanding return.

With each song bleeding seamlessly into the next, there's little relief from all the doom and gloom, but regardless, this remains another worthy addition to Harvey Milk's awkward oeuvre.

While the 12 tracks here are built around conventional nu metal structures, what unexpectedly rolls out is a stubbornness and increasing force never present with Evanescence.

Though ‘The Powerless Rise’ only signifies progression within strict genre parameters, AILD have stuck to their guns with flair.

[The departure of keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Franz Nicolay] Far from having a negative affect on these 10 songs, The Hold Steady have flourished in this slight change of tack, with frontman Craig Finn's inimitable, narrative lyrics as stirring as ever.

True, at an hour-plus, only myopic fans would contest Forgiveness drags a little by the end, albeit brightened by penultimate Pavement-a-like ditty 'Water In Hell'.

It’s the stellar-sounding closer ‘This Place Is Death’ that perfectly demonstrates the striking yet violent contrasts that make album number six a masterpiece.

Fever is unlikely to win Bullet For My Valentine more respect amongst their peers, but this could be the album to persuade non-believers.