The beauty of their sound is its unpredictability: fragments of rock, metal, folk, punk and pop collide and smash, creating Frankenstein monsters that spark into life and chase you down. And they've never sounded more convincing than this.

Although there are storming successes amongst the album's 11 tracks (such as 'Slaves To Substance' and 'You Only Live Once') The Black Crown falls a fraction shy of the pack-shedding statement it needs to be.

If you're checking out their fifth album to discover groundbreaking, controversial new music, you are a strange individual indeed.

They're back in irresistibly anthemic form, with just the right blend of punk attitude and pop genius.

While tracks such as Broken Home still deliver the crushing might (albeit in a more subliminal fashion) to his other outfit, the recently resurrected Godflesh, there's a sense of hope in the levitation-inducing riffery. Stellar.

Overall, If Not Now, When? is the sound of Incubus coming of age. It's not particularly experimental nor is it completely straightforward but it is concise and a risk that's paid off.

Like Wes Craven reanimating the slasher genre with the Scream franchise, The Black Dahlia Murder play with enough conviction and knowing reference to metal's most spectacular parlour tricks and add enough contemporary muscle to drop your jaw no matter your age.

While forward movement isn't a prerequisite of greatness, Unearth have moved sideways with only partial success.

It's taken Title Fight a good while to release a full album, but it's been worth the wait.

The Computers' impressive debut is a riotous, riff-laden affair.

As ever, their songs are structured, paced and technically advanced in a way that's leagues above much of this genre.

It doesn't shun country influences altogether, mind--when matched to the album's mood and Green's plain-speaking lyrics, they function to add a soulful feel to a set of characteristically lovely, melancholic songs.

So is it any good? Does it matter? Limp Bizkit are bigger than ever before so getcha groove on, stop taking things seriously.

This is still above average dude rock from the Canadian five-piece.

An impressive third effort indeed, designed to compel you to throw your fist skyward and indulge in a good old sing-song.

It's a consistently satisfying rock experience.

The Glaswegians' real USP is the way in which they inject everything they do with equal levels of joyous celebration and outright aggression, conjuring up a uniquely delirious sound throughout this disconcertingly unpredictable, but never less than utterly delightful release.

While the 15-year-old group may not have explicitly improved their game, Khaos Legions provides a mass of suitably heroic melo-metal anthems. The hardcores will be pleased.

All in all, Set The World On Fire sounds a bit like a band having an identity crisis – the sound no longer matches the carefully-created image but the music's decent none the less.

Whatever's being said, though, what's great about The King Blues is that they're always unashamedly frank; with a frontman who wouldn't dream of diverging his accent or over-developing his message, they've set storming music to a totally concise, relevant stream of consciousness.

A great introduction to a band destined for very good things indeed.

Stripped down to a three-piece since Tyondai Braxton's surprise departure, Battles' sophomore effort may not have a nailed-on stand-out like their debut's Atlas but their dizzying electro-prog has a great deal more focus this time around.

This is ace.

All Time Low's songs are more up-scale and better put-together on this record, and that takes some serious work.

What Fucked Up have done here is to take what they've been honing for the past 10 years and go one better, adding lush female vocals and celestial, electronica-inspired effects in an effort to constantly titillate and surprise.

Closing with the smart anti-hymn 'Glory Hallelujah', England Keep My Bones never falters. The soundtrack to this summer? Screw that--these songs will be soundtracking many of our lives for years to come.

Frontman Dave King's vocal approach now presents itself as one of jaded disinterest, the defiant cries replaced by a sense of wistful reminiscence.

Throw in the stunning power and clarity of Alan Moulder's mix and you have the sound of a band revitalised, re-inspired and highly evolved.

This is a brilliant collaboration between two of the most inventive musicians of recent times.

Said record does exactly what it says on the tin, veering between fuzzed-up garage rock stomp and mesmeric psychedelic sprawl in a manner that's sure to delight fans of 09's Smile.

Stunning.

This is a grower not a shower but persevere because White Silence has been worth the wait.

Crisis Works is at base a heavy rock record, the likes of 'Twin Victory' an absolute whirlwind of crushing riffs. However, there are plenty of dynamics, tender moments and a definite through line of melody here too.

There's no let-up, no pretty acoustic interludes, just full-on musical onslaught.

The self-imposed time restraints have merely served to sharpen the quartet's focus in quite glorious fashion.

Throughout, the highs are tinged with sadness and the lows with hope, making Simple Math a complex and rewarding album that soars above the pack.

Far from being an inter-album stop-gap, this EP represents nothing less than the fruits of a musical brain that simply doesn't know how to stop creating goodness.

This is music that creates a vortex in your brain, sucking the entire cosmos in through one ear and out the other, leaving behind only the secrets of the universe and the unerring tranquillity of space. Yes. It really is that good.

To hear a band with such obvious and deep passion playing unencumbered and liberated rock music is an utterly captivating experience that Rock Sound would thoroughly recommend. Holding nothing back sounds exactly like this, everyone else please take note.

Influences are obvious but the balance between light and dark is perfect here.

Memphis May Fire are stepping it up with every release.

Nothing groundbreaking, but sure to keep fans of the band happy.

Now that they've finally given up the goods, it's easy to understand why they decided to go with what they already had because their eighth album is rooted firmly in hip-hop's old-school.

Old fans will lap Rescue up (and rightly so), but there's not much on offer here to entice fresh ears and gain new fans.

Free from the shadows of their past, it seems Young Widows have found an infinitely darker place to dwell.

This is perhaps BTBAM's most compact, streamlined effort to date, and despite the convoluted, sci-fi indebted concept which forms its lyrical foundation (Google it), this is a seriously aggressive half hour of power.

The riffs, breakdowns and complex time signatures thrown into 'Sleeping Giants' and 'Ghetto Ambience' lend the album a raw, live feel that's groundbreaking for any genre.

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.

There's been a noticeable progression in sound over the years, but whether it's for the better is debatable. You see, Disguises is neither brilliant or dreadful.

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.

Their fizzy keyboards and Bob Mould-y vocals remain intact, but essentially this is conventional indie-rock.

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."

Suffice to say, the once-beloved Kansas City quintet are not Radiohead, and whilst they may have left their pioneering, emo-infused pop-punk behind over a decade ago, nothing quite prepares the listener for the insipid snooze-a-thon they've concocted here.

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.

For those who are not familiar with Monotonix, they're the garage rock band from Israel who are best known for their live sets [...] that leaves this forlorn album reviewer with no visuals nor an earhole full of sweat, instead just 10 songs of crude, cave-art proto-metal and a duty to tell you that actually, Monotonix have a relevance outside of the live context.

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

They've not lost their ability to craft subtly alluring, idiosyncratic songs in that time.

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.

The way they put together their country-rock is rarely less than tasteful with some nice moments, like the sinuous guitar riff of 'Calamity Song'. Only on 'January Hymn', though, where they capture the stillness and melancholy of winter beautifully, do you forget to check the joinery.