Forty years later, Rush's ability to strike a nearly perfect balance between mainstream invitingness and exclusory complexity is even more evident and remarkable. The progressive rock classic, Permanent Waves, is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
The 1975 follow A Brief Inquiry... with an even more intriguing, sprawling, and chameleonic song suite. Notes on a Conditional Form shows a level of unquenchable ambition, creativity, and outspoken curiosity that's rarely felt in popular music today.
After a ten-year hiatus, British pop master Badly Drawn Boy returns with a wonderful mix of cathartic quandaries and boisterous quirks on Banana Skin Shoes.
After nearly 50 years and two dozen albums, Sparks continue their reign of resonantly quirky art pop-rock delights on A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip.
Zeshan B's latest track "Only in My Dreams" is full of hooks and heart. He says that the melody "arrived in a dream during a period plagued by insomnia, undiagnosed sleep apnea, and severe depression".
Dutch progressive metal maestro Arjen Anthony Lucassen takes us on a stellar journey with "Amazing Flight" from the upcoming live performance of his third—and possibly best—Ayreon voyage to date.
"Freaks", the latest single from psych-popsters, Once & Future Band, is a triumphant blend of mesmeric harmonies and vibrant celebration.
Green Day's Father of All is too short, superficial, and samey to have any lasting impact.
Historian Stephen Tow's London, Reign Over Me is an insightful, thorough, and welcoming exploration of '60s-era British rock.
And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead's X: The Godless Void and Other Stories, just like many of its predecessors, must be digested in one sitting to grasp its magnificent inventiveness and ideas.
Making a New World tackles some heavy ideas via Field Music's commonly charming, luminous, and multifaceted aesthetic.
This year in progressive rock and metal found genre mainstays continuing to impress while relative underdogs and newcomers finally seized some of the spotlight.
Boston's Wilderun construct an epic combination of folk, classical, metal, and progressive rock on their third LP, Veil of Imagination. Hear it in full before it's release tomorrow.
Twenty years later, Guerrilla remains a self-contained joy and a great example of how unique, self-assured, and mature yet silly Super Furry Animals were at the turn of the century.
Fifty years later, the Kinks' Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) is as charming, compelling, and characteristic as ever. This new 50th Anniversary box set goes above and beyond to capture that magic.
Everything that fans could want—and everything that makes blackgaze stand out—is contained within Alcest's Spiritual Instinct.
Founder of both Rock 'N' Roll Heaven and Megaforce Records, Jon Zazula spares nothing in chronicling the highs and lows of his journey in Heavy Tales.
In Cauda Venenum is Opeth's most wicked record of the decade, signifying that their earlier evilness is still wonderfully intact.
Folk poppers Firewoodisland deliver peak chamber pop with the gorgeously arranged and performed ode, "Hollow Coves".
In contrast to Bat for Lashes' previous efforts—whose dense peculiarities and poeticisms rewarded deep listening—the retro Lose Girls is too run-of-the-mill and inconsequential.
Tool's Fear Inoculum meets nearly every expectation admirers could have and ranks as a worthwhile extension of the band's legacy.
More pleasant and breezy than Weather Diaries, Ride's This Is Not a Safe Place very much feels like a proper follow-up.
If/When is stunning, proving yet again why the Tea Club should be celebrated by admirers of any—if not all—of their sundry genre classifications.
Of Monsters and Men lose some uniqueness and quality jumping on a more commercial bandwagon, but their beloved singularity is mostly intact on Fever Dream.
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