Sludge metal, hard rock – call it what you will; Alice In Chains are still one of the best proponents of heavy guitar music and are showing no reason to court extinction.

Now What is a solid collection of tunes that the band’s devoted fanbase will adore. It may even win over casual fans and the curious.

The surf-rock feel Beaches have created is infectious and really draws you in. It’s all too easy to get lost in the psychedelic, dreamy ambience She Beats creates.

The album finishes with The Robots returning to space on Contact and the party is over for now, at least on earth.

Nightswim, however, will grow with time, as no doubt Addamo will.

It’s upfront, it’s real, it’s confronting, and as a debut release, it is certainly one of the most exciting pieces of music we will see come out of this year.

What Standish/Carlyon have created is not an album, but a work of aural art.

It shouldn’t be doubted that the creation of One Of Us Is The Killer took years off the collective lives of all involved, and that The Dillinger Escape Plan is a band that should be revered and feared by all.

Straight outta Geelong, the self-titled debut from The Living Eyes is as basic and infectious as it comes.

Tracks like Everlasting Arms and Hudson have this empty yet overflowing sound, used so effectively that Modern Vampires Of The City is bound to be another cult hit for Vampire Weekend.

Lewis takes the vocal reins for Re-Invent Your Second Wheel, a good little pop song; and while Stealth Of A Stork and Eels Sang riff off old times, Change Becomes Us remains an exciting album – recycling in creative overdrive.

For The Milk Carton Kids, though, their brightest days are ahead of them, The Ash & Clay the next rung in the ornate, beautiful ladder that they are climbing.

There are arrangements that have been lovingly drawn out in the recording process – nurtured and then given space to develop.

With chemistry like this, we’re excited for the next time we get to hear the Known Associates on a track together. Cool shit.

Its long songs, distorted guitars and freewheeling spirit might shock older fans, but Jen Cloher has never sounded more comfortable and, as a result, more affecting on record.

Emika chooses to put aside Emika’s menacing sexuality to showcase Dva’s aching heart; one that unrelentingly beats with a hypnotic throb in spite of what it is being subjected to.

A stunning, well-rounded album that holds you close from the outset and never lets you go.

No Joy have shown that they’re a solid head above their contemporaries with this release, which will prove to be essential to the genre’s fans and might just win over the unconverted.

Most of the time it’s the perfect balance of tragedy and beauty and the artistry that’s gone into the lyrics mark Charles Baby as an intricate and genuine wordsmith.

It’s refreshing to hear a band that commits to its influences but twists them into something vibrating with life.

The best way to describe Cold Spring… is that it sounds like a slow motion dream about a great party that you’re happy to indulge in, despite knowing none of it is real and that you’ll have to wake up eventually.