Meandering and dirge-like, the eight songs here live up to the band's moniker, weaving slow and snaky through the album's 42 minutes and what we can only presume is a veritable wall of amplification. Tune in and nod out.

Polaris is, at last, the platonic ideal of a TesseracT album, the one where they get everything just right.

Godless Prophets is as driven and vicious as anything the band has released with disembowlers like “This Is the Truth” and “Those Who Survived.”

Pressure & Time can bog down in its own retro pretensions, but singer Jay Buchanan is an undeniable vocal force.

For the most part the album successfully rides the line between innovation and self-indulgence. In other words, if given a chance Desolation Sounds will challenge listeners as much as inspire circle pits.

While Green’s falsetto is immediately distinctive, a pop-tinged ballad like “The Stutter Says a Lot” and the blazing screamo anthem “The Secret Meaning of Freedom” stand on their own as fully formed compositions. Second acts don’t usually sound this sweet.

The Wilson sisters comes out swinging old-school style with a full-throttle title track that sets the tone for the bulk of their 14th studio album.

A 72-minute concept album that includes some of its freshest material yet, but also some of its dullest.

Thus rejuvenated and recharged, the Metal God and his cohorts have delivered their strongest record in over a decade.

X (No Absolutes) is charged with brawn and brains--thrashy dynamics, chunky grooves, ferocious metal energy, and Tommy Victor’s sharp-tongued socio-political observations.

Fever Daydream may not be for everyone but there’s something about album’s inherent vulnerability that continues to resonate long after it ends.

These ominous minor-key workouts routinely change direction on a dime, not unlike a tornado or a hurricane.

Nestled among these dozen tracks, though, is also some of the band's handsomest, most expansive music yet. [Mar/Apr 2011, p.88]

Too bad that, even at its best, this Atlas maps well-trodden ground.

Backed by a bevy of sublime, aggravated tracks, G.O.A.T. is L.L.'s most aggressive, rhyme-centric effort since Radio. [#2, p.112]

Ultimately these well-place segues are but a welcome respite from the pummeling power of the riff.

An evolution in sound from its debut album, Blues Pills serve up a masterful mix of soul and blues-rock that ferments into a tasty, tasty witches’ brew.

45 minutes of jagged, uneven music that includes sparks of urgent genius, and perhaps five or six seconds that border on legitimate transcendence. [Nov/Dec 2001, p.117]

Like the classic horror movies that have inspired so much of Danzig's work, the new record delivers the thrills and chills that fans would hope for, and that Danzig, at his best, is so good at serving up. [Jul/Aug 2010, p.88]

A welcome return.

Despite Chamberlain’s strong pipes and pedigree, Broken Compass lacks the umph and innovation to be something truly exceptional.

Songs like “Heaven, Hell and Purgatory” will beat you down only to lift you up again, it’s a sonic ride worth taking.

Nearly perfectly formed, a confident showing of pristine, heartfelt songs that stand up alone and gain greater strength in the context of the full album, which ebbs and flows in a great purge of emotions. [#3, p.120]

Post-hardcore fans will certainly enjoy what is Falling in Reverse’s strongest record to date.

OWTH aren’t covering ground that Against Me! or the Bouncing Souls haven’t already tread in the past, but there’s a palpable passion in frontman Ryan Young’s voice that keeps these songs sounding inspired for the duration of the record.

Warp Riders staunchly maintains the stoner doom, chugging trash, and ruminating psychedelia that marked the four-piece's 2006 debut, Age Of Winters. Yet the boogie-rock feel of "Tres Brujas" and "Lawless Lands" diversifies their songs, recalling pre-Eliminator ZZ Top. [Jul/Aug 2010, p.88]

Vintage-sounding yet definitely on its own trip, Dying Surfer Meets His Maker brings a sense of spiritual uplift to its mind-expanding sonic explorations, feeding your ears and soul simultaneously.

All in all, the record perfectly captures the band live–which, as anyone who saw them on this summer’s Mayhem Fest knows, is an experience in itself.