After The Fall know what they’re good at and play to their strengths on album number four. Bittersweet serves up an instantly familiar sound that fans will embrace with open arms. It’s not revolutionary stuff, but it’s catchy and playful enough to justify repeated spins. Not bad.

'A War You Cannot Win' is not groundbreaking; most of the ideas can be traced without difficulty to moments in the group's back catalogue, as well as those of their peers. It is well executed, however, and this makes it an enjoyable listen.

With a career spanning a decade, Anberlin continue to demonstrate their ability to grow on Vital. This record showcases the band at their most mature, and the melodies – enhanced by Stephen Christian’s pure tone – are some of the best they’ve produced in recent years. Vital will appeal to new listeners, in addition to (possibly) satisfying many long-time fans who have been craving an Anberlin record to match Cities.

Why not immerse yourself in a change of pace once in a while? The holidays just got a bit more rock ‘n’ roll here. ‘Sleddin’ Hill, A Holiday Album’ is refreshing and proves itself worthy of the time and effort.

All Time Low's music is calculated to a specific formula, both in terms of songwriting and production. With 'Don't Panic', the formula occasionally yields songs that are worth a listen, but as an album about growing up and dealing with the responsibilities of being a popular pop-punk band, it's catchy but ultimately unfulfilling.

This is the kind of metalcore that department stores will be happy to stock on their shelves: it’s safe, generic unit-shifter stuff. Kids who don’t know shit about fuck when it comes to metal will lap this up, and that’s fine. Whatever floats your boat.

As I Lay Dying have made that gentle and natural transition from intermediates to established veterans. There’s still youth and vitality, but the group now embrace experience and revel in a mature approach. Perhaps, these are just neat buzzwords, but despite not offering anything entirely new, the listener presses play with anticipation and presses stop with a smile on the face and sense of contentment.

Like the creepy crawlies the album’s named after, the melodies on Centipede Hz burrow into your brain, their spurs latching deeper into your consciousness with every subsequent spin of the album. These are shape-shifting songs built around percussive movements, crammed full of various glitches, whistles and artificial squelches procured from laptops. You could easily label them `psychedelic’, but that would be lazy and undersell the amount of ideas this collective cram into each jagged little pop jingle.

'The Quiet Life' is a more mainstream version of Anchor & Braille's first release. Defined in its own style, but still fairly heavy on experimentation when compared to the main works of Stephen Christian. One for open-minded Anberlin fans.

With each track on Lost at the Bottom of the World melting perfectly into the next, Anchors have succeeded in serving up a chaotically cohesive album, jam-packed with dynamic songs, easily accessible through savagely sincere lyrics. Even tunes that aren’t instantly gripping, like ‘From Miles Above’ and ‘Lazarus Sign’, add to the general scheme and consistency of the record. Lost at the Bottom of the World, an album funded entirely by Anchors, achieves a clean and polished sound, without ever coming across as overproduced, and the soaring highlights far outweigh any minor discrepancies here.