Certain segments remain faithful to the original material while others are unrecognizable through veils of sawing bass, guitar clank, expansive percussion marches and a gang of 50-year-old dudes reliving their adolescence through music and busted guts. [Dec 2014, p.107]

El Bronx simply didn't go far enough, as only a handful of the album's 10 tracks mesh that inspired modernism with the traditional Mexican soulfulness they obviously hold dear. [Dec 2014, p.107]

This album aims straight for your hips and doesn't miss. [Dec 2014, p.104]

Musically, IX is less threatening then previous albums, but that doesn't mean it's any less potent. [Dec 2014, p.104]

When partnered with visuals, these songs will probably be a lot more impactful and resonant. As it stands, they're still pretty great. [Dec 2014, p.104]

While it's hard to recommend Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave outside of an environment of solitudinous nighttime drives (don't expect to hear this kickstart any parties), it's a deeply encompassing and occasionally profound experience that deserves to be felt by far more than the few lucky to already be inside the Twilight Sad's too-small circle.

Pleasant Living shows heaps of growth in a short year since their 2013 debut. [Oct 2014, p.102]

There's a foundation for true duality somewhere, but a lot of growing pains as well. [Nov 2014, p.94]

When it works, it’s great; when it doesn’t, it feels clunky at best and skippable at worst.

The band manage to still sound vital and fresh.

A beautiful, quiet and pensive affair, bristling with subtle electronics and wonderfully layered acoustics. [Nov 2014, p.90]

Chamberlain and Bowman know where they are going, and it’s a trip music fans should climb aboard to take.

LP3 hits life-affirming pinnacles upon its insistent yowls. [Nov 2014, p.98]

.5 is a fitting tribute to a musician who can never be replaced. [Nov 2014, p.88]

The album's strongest moments are found in the duo's ability to live in the moment and take a deep, cleansing breath. [Nov 2014, p.88]

[Earth Suck] gives off the sense that even the band don't quite know where they're going--but they'll have a fine, noisy time getting there. [Nov 2014, p.98]

An impressive effort. [Nov 2014, p.98]

Featuring 14 songs that fly by in what feels like no time at all (32:47, to be exact), Rancid’s eighth album doesn’t sound forced, which for a traditional punk band is often very hard to pull off.

Keep You certainly reaches for a hefty, developed sense of self beyond the grounding the band's held in contemporary punk, hardcore and emo some years now, but in doing so, it actually strikes the absolute perfect balance, enfolding the listener in honest and cathartic glory while enhancing its edges with just the right effects pedals and auxiliary instruments.

The group take a far lighter approach with the haunting “Madrid,” the airy, guitar-free “MSK” and sparkling closer “California,” a piano ballad straight from the Jason Lancaster playbook. It’s a risk, and it doesn’t always work, but you end up glad Yellowcard found the courage to hoist their sails at all this year and still plot a course, as uncharted as it may be.

These 12 songs are far more immediate than the sometimes-diffuse material on 2010's Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky. [Nov 2014, p.92]

This record contains the musings of a full-fledged adult who's still young enough to remember the ache of youthful restlessness, indiscretions and uncertainty. [Nov 2014, p.87]

A rapid barrage of sludge-rich bass, scalding guitar distortion and wrist-popping drums fill atop frontman Drew Thomson's infuriated black humor. [Nov 2014, p.98]

Overall, Plowing is an artistic, unique and rather enjoyable step few probably expected Iceage to make, and quite easily the band's best album yet.

This debut will pour plenty of gas in the band's tank. [Nov 2014, p.94]

You would need massive amounts of time on your hands in order to write, refine and record a debut album as thrilling as The Weird And Wonderful Marmozets.

She succeeds by involving lots of traditional instrumentation from various regions of the continent, and allowing for a variety of vocalists to join her throughout. [Oct 2014, p.100]

The band are writing songs still riddled with emotional turmoil, but they seem more jaded and contemplative. [Nov 2014, p.100]