Parallels frustrates as much as it entrances because it feels like a collection of separate tracks corralled together for expedience. [Sep 2017, p.53]

It’s a shame the tracks are so short – after a while it all starts to feel frustratingly sketchy and cramped. [Sep 2022, p.56]

[New Facts Emerge] finds the group in passable but not especially inspiring form. [Sep 2017, p.59]

Lyrically Public Enemy's new album packs no surprises. [Oct 2007, p.75]

Optical Delusion’s seven different guest vocalists yield wildly differing results, ranging from hits to misses. [Apr 2023, p.67]

It refuses any stylistic centre that might tie together its genre signifiers. [Mar 2015, p.58]

This album finds itself wandering far too into pop territory, without the accompanying substance and adventure that made his preceding releases so refreshing. [Oct 2019, p.67]

Grave Of A Dog presents a challenges to the listener because although it succeeds as a well-executed project, there is a disjunction between form and content. Hayter in particular seems to gesture at a narrative, but its precise nature is left unclear. [Apr 2020, p.60]

Jocular and enjoyable to flip through, but the nagging feeling that leaks through is that this collection is little more than a respite for Giant Sand until Gelb returns from the bunker with enough fresh material to record a real new album. [#216, p.63]

The cumulative effect of these strange patchwork songs as in the end ambivalent. [Sep 2015, p.48]

Guru is... pushing the same grim consistency that makes folks describe Gang Starr albums as 'solid', not budging, not boring, but not better than Moment of Truth. [#234, p.73]

Things heat up a bit on “Misanthrope Gets Lunch” and “Oblivion Sigil”, when the shrill bursts from Kyp Malone’s synthesizer and Marcos Rodriguez’s guitar face off against one another like Irmin Schmidt and Michael Karoli of Can did on Delay 1968, but sadly, those are the only flashes of excitement to be found on the release. [Oct 2020, p.59]

In the end, it's the aural equivalent of skyscrapers built out of wattle and daub. [Mar 2011, p.49]

The moments of beauty caught fleetingly in the gaps between over-arranged blocks make for frustrated listening. [#218, p.64]

However hit and miss, though, all of these voices and genre grabs are made to sound stylistically coherent. [#236, p.71]

Her latest iteration that limited palette of vintage machines feels trapped in the past; evocative but ossified. [Sep 2015, p.45]

An album which largely plays assured and empty. Genesis is home to a few brilliant moments, however. [May 2016, p.49]

The Divine Feminine is well-intentioned and well-staffed, but ultimately lacks the sort of specificity in vision that would do its subject matter justice. [Nov 2016, p.61]

This is pleasant but forgettable music, dissolving the instant it hits the eardrum. [Jul 2023, p.52]

Over melodic, it sounds like it was made by a TV composer working to a brief for a rave episode. [Apr 2015, p.65]

The novelty of hearing synths act like drums definitely helps, but the record also contains just what you might look for in any solo improvisation. [Jul 2012, p.65]

This particular experiment has left a formerly unpredictable group sounding as though they've been replaced by a bunch of tired retromaniacs. [Apr 2013, p.61]

The track ["Power Circle"] and the entire album seems to lose its air after he [Gunplay] makes his exit. [Aug 2012, p.59]

Cave and Ellis have created a brave and fittingly incongruous score. As a standalone album, however, it doesn't walk so tall. [Jun 2015, p.45]

One Nation's ability to alternate and combine insolence with detachment yields moments of inspired incongruity. [Jul 2011, p.49]

The finished product proves too studied and reverent of its sources. [Jul 2014, p.64]

It's not completely pants, but not great either. [Jul 2011, p.44]

Nice enough, and the climax of the title track is truly transportive, but no real departure from previous form. [Mar 2015, p.56]