For one of the more delightful and unusual albums this year check this out. If it doesn’t make your body move and your heart thump then you must get yourself checked out. There are sublime moments of melody mixed with some wonderful classic rock and all delivered with a huge order of funk. – By Martyn Coppack

Mirror is an uncomfortable listen, a superbly realised unflinching expression of how we do, and should, respond to human pain and societal dysfunction, it’s also a reminder that really good music often forces us to engage with reality not flee it. By Tim Foster

Magma, Helen MoneySpaceland Presents at The Regent Theatre, Los Angeles, CA Photos by Déborah Farnault

Turin Brakes, Tom Speight The Stables Theatre, Milton Keynes, 1.03.2016 Photos by Gordon Tant

“They’re an excellent gateway band into experimental rock as well as a fantastic band in their own right, and they’ve only been going three years,” by Rob Batchelor

I can personally say that this album has definitely shaped my musical taste for the future – I haven’t heard an artist to date that has been able to forge so many different musical genres, cultures and styles together so seamlessly into a cohesive whole. By Paris Lindon-Hall

The post-rock passages are beautiful, the post-metal riffs are crushing, and the doom at the end is just so perfect. That’s all I can really say about Glasir’s Unborn. Perfect. By Foofer

Hills have stepped up another level with this album and you’ll be hard-pushed to find a more psychedelic experience this year. Totally peerless in what they are doing, this is Hills’s time. This is real world music. By Martyn Coppack

For all it’s faults, Y Dydd Olaf does have an interesting premise and it’s mostly a very good album. It’s maybe not one you will return to often though and there lies the problem. It will no doubt carve out it’s own little niche audience but for how long will they stay enraptured? By Martyn Coppack

Reverie and Entropy. This album is completely beautiful. I sincerely hope it makes waves in the post-rock and gains some sort of notoriety. They worked hard, and deserve recognition. By Foofer

“Before my eyelids drooped into post-rock purgatory I quick-glanced Dan whose immediate demeanour resonated the very same comforting feeling. All was very well at The Roundhouse,” by Umrish Pandya.

She Makes War, Worry Dolls, Declan Bennett Sebright Arms, London, 2.06.2015 Photos by Daniela Fleckenstein

“They’ve just got bigger, better, and heavier, which really came across live and “Foundations” sounded truly epic, shaking the pavement for confused smokers upstairs,” by Rob Batchelor.

These pieces sound as fresh, as alien, and at times as discomforting as they must have done when they first poured out of the speakers. An excellent package. By Stuart Benjamin

Midnight Twilight is a strong if conventional debut. I hope Mandala don’t leave it as long before the next one; I just hope they can take a few more risks. By Stuart Benjamin

As a début album, Northern Folk is a minor triumph and very rarely bores. Repeated listens reveal more colour and nuance which goes to show the multiple layers at which Lysander is operating. It’s not perfect and there is room for growth but that is the case with every burgeoning folk artist and in Lysander we may just have a keeper. By Martyn Coppack

“Tradition is big on this bill. Skeletonwitch, Goatwhore and relative newbs Mortals are all about it: there are leather waistcoats, metal studs, outrageous guitar solos and gloriously unwashed hair to be seen at all times,” by Ross Pike

Parastatic Sebright Arms, 30.03.2015 Photos by Daniela Fleckenstein for Goodsouls Promotions

“It’s rare in London to see a crowd so rapt, intent, fully focused without annoying others with inane chat,” by Chris McGarel

Once again this offering from Ronan Conroy holds together beautifully as a piece; its wry observations on life are the theme on which everything hangs. It is hugely enjoyable, interesting and rewarding and it still carries secrets that are given up only after a little effort on the part of the listener. By Alan Ewart

English doom duo Pombagira delve deeper into their psych-o-delic experimental side on ‘Flesh Throne Press’, offering a masterful yet exhaustive exploration of heaviness. – By Steff Vogeler