The spine and overall potential for a great record is definitely here but it was all about adding meat to these bones, and sadly, SSPU just comes off way too lean.

California isn’t a perfect record, nor does it need to be. It displays a band getting back on the right page with great energy yet struggling a bit to find equilibrium.

Their music isn’t for everybody, but those who enjoy musical adventurism would do well to give The Ark Work a try. Even if you hate it, you certainly won’t be bored. For those of us who are already on board, this is an exciting next step from Aesthetica, and it will be interesting to see where they can possibly go from here.

Give Indie Cindy an honest listen. If you have to, just pretend it's the new project of Frank Black, Joey Santiago and David Loverling.

Chapter and Verse misses the mark in the sense that what it tries to achieve, Conduit already did in 2013. This album feels like a repetition of that and loses steam along the way.

AAF spread all their goodies out over these tracks with the rest of the album lacking energy. Sad to say, the other tracks feel drab and don't translate well at all.

The fact is, on Black Laden Crown, Danzig seems to have reached the conceptual and sonic epiphany he’s been searching for since the end of Danzig 4. The production issues may dampen this epiphany to a degree, but a production problem in of itself is not enough to buckle the dark message behind the computerized choices.

Christmas Songs is a fun enough, but ultimately non-essential piece of the Bad Religion canon.

V sticks to Tiger Army's roots but wanders just far enough to stretch its arms.

He puts his vocals on bright display as compared to the sparse musical backing. It’s not quite the unrestrained dissection that Johnny Cash’s American Recordings series was, but it leans in that direction.

Quiet Slang was the stripped-down version of the band so we don't need acoustics like "Nobody Say Nothing" or "Nowhere Bus" or the piano-driven closer "Bar No One". They're catchy, sure, but I mean, they're songs we've heard over and over so if it ain't new, at this point, please fix it. I do commend the band for attempting to cut a new road with songs like "Stiff" but again, it's all about sex appeal here and I just can't connect with a band and a vocalist that comes off like a 17 year-old who is now trying too hard.

This record is pointless. And bad. And annoying. It’s yet another failed attempt to either re-write history or cash in.

A cover album the band's putting out for shits and giggles, and honestly, as a fan of most of these songs, it's nostalgic gold for me.

Shane Told's lyrics cut deep as usual but his vocals have too many treatments applied to it here and come off over-produced. If you're looking for vintage Silverstein though, "Mirror Box" has you covered. It gets a bit too poppy later on with "Cut and Run" and "The Afterglow" but by that time you know what you got yourself into. A nostalgic trip that should be enjoyed for what it is--a look back at the salad days.

It's such a musically bare record. "Into The Earth" is the only song that feels like a rock song and it's also very soft and drab. So many songs riff off the same synth beats that HYMNS end up being a contemplative session that puts you to sleep as opposed to prodding at your mind.

Tend No Wounds might not be the best starting point for new listeners (that'd be Dial or Taste the Sin), but it should tide over fanboys until the next full-length.

Fans will be glad to hear the new material and to know that ST is more than just a nostalgia act. This album, like the last, is rock solid.

This album and The Party’s Over share many of the same problems that the band can't seem to shake off. Whether you were fan of Public Enemy, Cypress Hill or Rage Against The Machine first I think you’ll agree that this whole project just comes off as clumsy.

With EP2 having a three-month buffer after the first, we've had time to get used to fact that the Pixies are back in full force. Plus, these four songs are stronger than the first four.

It’s not that The Black Album is a very bad album, just that it feels part of a larger calculus that’s so carefully planned out that it lacks any of the artistic spontaneity that their first two albums had, which is exactly what the band’s been missing ever since Pinkerton.

Most of the jams offered come off like this: wasteful and undesirable with heavy riffs, no melody and heavy double-kicking that all combine into an incoherent mess.

If you stack this up against all the Pixies' previous output, it leaves a sour taste. But if you judge it simply on its own merits, it's a not-half-bad set of somewhat generic indie rock.

Reyes who sounds even better than he did on Jealous Again, his voice deeper, richer, and stronger but still with that manic surfer edge. But, he seems to constantly be trying to squeeze into these songs.