Allmusic reviewer Don Kline called Paper Monsters " a mix of swampy blues-injected rock, slick urban electronica, and atmospheric balladry " and gave it three out of five stars.

As an uncredited critic has written for Allmusic, " being freed of all rules, free improvisation cannot be traced back to a genre other than the very generic term avant-garde ".

Pure Prairie League, formed in Ohio in 1969 by Craig Fuller, had both critical and commercial success with 5 straight Top 40 LP releases, including Bustin ' Out ( 1972 ), acclaimed by Allmusic critic Richard Foss as " an album that is unequaled in country-rock " and Two Lane Highway, described by Rolling Stone Magazine as " a worthy companion to the likes of The Byrds ' Sweetheart Of The Rodeo and other gems of the genre ".

Keith Johnson of Allmusic describes a " Modern Creative " genre, in which " musicians may incorporate free playing into structured modes -- or play just about anything.

Indeed, AbsolutePunk have labelled the band as the " godfathers of pop punk ", while Allmusic credits them for " practically serving alongside the work of Blink-182 as the blueprint to the entire genre for the early 2000s.

Allmusic states that Vengeance Rising's first two albums " were huge successes in the world of Christian music, making them one of the few bands in the genre to cross over into the secular music scene.

Allmusic wrote about Believer's Sanity Obscure album: " Before 1990, the Christian heavy metal genre rarely strayed from generic riffing and poor lyrics.

Allmusic writes that the genre " was an attempt to fuse African-American music of the past with a newly dominant form of the present, paying tribute to and reinvigorating the former while expanding the horizons of the latter ".

Their song " Sonic Reducer " is often regarded as one of the classics of the punk genre, with Allmusic calling it " one of punk's great anthems.

Allmusic compares the genre also with grindcore fathers Napalm Death.

Allmusic cites them as a top artist in the Goth rock genre, and the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles lists 45 Grave and Christian Death as " early proponents of American Gothic Rock.

* Description of genre and List of Acid Rock Albums by Allmusic

Critics responded positively to the album and a review in Allmusic said that " Thile and the Watkins siblings ' originals, easily outdo the likes of folk-rockers Dave Matthews and Hootie & the Blowfish, while forging a new style to rejuvenate a genre that has always been a bit of a dark horse.

Theo Kavadias of Allmusic said, " Front Line Assembly, one of the premiere electro-industrial acts, has done much to help define what the genre is about.

However, the music generally defies genre standards like melodic / abrasive dynamics and harmonizing vocals ; it wouldn't leave room for the " nonstop firestorm of exploding drums, heaving guitars, and visceral shrieking ," as Allmusic writer Corey Apar put it.

Allmusic describes rap metal as having " big, lurching beats and heavy, heavy riffs " that " occasionally [...] as if the riffs were merely overdubbed over scratching and beat box beats ", and described rap rock as having a more organic sound, characterizing many songs in the genre as rock songs in which the vocals were rapped rather than sung.

" Nick Levine from Digital Spy said " if ' Your Disco Needs You ' doesn't put a smile on your face you need a new shrink [...]"</ ref > http :// www. digitalspy. co. uk / music / thesound / a229821 / kylie-revisited-7-light-years. html </ ref > A compilation review entitled Rainbow Love Boat which was reviewed by Allmusic had said that " Your Disco Needs You " was " genuinely fun, exciting songs that may not be lyrical triumphs, but that fact is of little importance in the genre.

James Christopher Monger of Allmusic describes Mastodon as " one of the more notable New Wave of American Heavy Metal acts, a genre spawned in the mid -' 90s by bands like Pantera, Biohazard, and Machine Head, Mastodon's innovative, lyrically astute blend of progressive metal, grindcore, and hardcore helped position the band as one of the preeminent metal acts of the early 21st century.

Reviewing Debut, Heather Phares of Allmusic, noted that " Björk's playful energy ignites the dance-pop-like " Big Time Sensuality " and turns the genre on its head with " There's More to Life Than This.

Gary Hill of Allmusic said " this is a superior album in the neo-classically tinged metal genre.

Allmusic gave Soul Rebels a glowing retrospective review, calling it " a strange and wonderful set of early reggae that at times plays fast and loose with the already established conventions of the genre ".

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic enjoyed " I Must Be High ", noting that Wilco can " subvert the country genre without losing its accessibility ", but felt that the following songs were disappointing.

Allmusic argues that rather than a revival, the history of post-punk was more of a continuum from the mid-1980s, with scattered bands that included Big Flame, World Domination Enterprises, and Minimal Compact extending the genre.

" According to Allmusic, " Moon, with his manic, lunatic side, and his life of excessive drinking, partying, and other indulgences, probably represented the youthful, zany side of rock & roll, as well as its self-destructive side, better than anyone else on the planet.

"' Forever Changes ' made only a minor dent on the charts when it was first released in 1967, but years later it became recognized as one of the finest and most haunting albums to come out of the Summer of Love, which doubtless has as much to do with the disc's themes and tone as the music, beautiful as it is ," wrote Mark Deming in an entry for the online Allmusic guide.

Old school rap ( 1979 – 1984 ) was " easily identified by its relatively simple raps " according to Allmusic, " the emphasis was not on lyrical technique, but simply on good times ", one notable exception being Melle Mel, who set the way for future rappers through his socio-political content and creative wordplay.

Hold Your Fire represents both a modest extension of the guitar stylings found on Power Windows, and, according to Allmusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia, the culmination of this era of Rush.

* Allmusic article on grunge

According to Allmusic, Jones " has left his mark on rock & roll music history as an innovative musician, arranger, and director.

Richie Unterberger of Allmusic called the album " blues – rock gone slightly askew, with jagged, fractured rhythms, soulful, twisting vocals from Van Vliet, and more doo wop, soul, straight blues, and folk – rock influences than he would employ on his more avant garde outings ".

Shiny Beast ( Bat Chain Puller ) was described by Ned Raggett of Allmusic to be "... manna from heaven for those feeling Beefheart had lost his way on his two Mercury albums ".

Skyclad began as a thrash metal band but added violins from session musician Mike Evans on several tracks from their debut album, The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth, an effort described by Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic as " ambitious " and " groundbreaking.

Andy Hinds of Allmusic laments the polka influence as undermining " the intended threat of a death metal band " while his colleague Alex Henderson praises the band for their " solid, consistently likable effort ," declaring that Finntroll has set themselves apart from their peers " because of their emphasis on Finnish humppa " and " the humor and irony they bring to the table.

Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said, " It was inevitable that the constant grind of touring, writing, promoting, and recording would grate on the Beatles ," leading to the inclusion of several cover versions after the all-original A Hard Day's Night ; the band's visible weariness on the album's cover is noted by narrator Malcolm McDowell during The Compleat Beatles.

The album reached number 62 on the British charts and received poor reviews, with Allmusic calling it " pristine but dull.

* Comateens on Allmusic

Certain critics argue that Christian rock music and its subjects seldom appeal to non-believers: Allmusic wrote that " unless a Christian rocker plans to perform for Christian audiences exclusively, he or she needs to provide music that secular audiences will find relevant -- music that listeners can relate to on some level even if they aren't practicing Christians.

Allmusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine noticed that the song is " a tongue-in-cheek, neo-house cover " and picked it as one of the best tracks on the album, alongside the title track and " Have You Ever Been in Love ".

Shankar's association with Harrison greatly increased Shankar's popularity and Ken Hunt of Allmusic would state that Shankar had become " the most famous Indian musician on the planet " by 1966.

Their first album, 2000's SMPT: e ( a play on words, as both a combination of the members ' last initials, as well as a common machine time protocol used in high end recording studios ) received strong critical reviews, including " some of the best progressive rock music ever written " ( Robert Taylor in Allmusic )).

The band's early material was rock and guitar-oriented ; of Super-Electric, Jason Ankeny wrote in Allmusic that " Droning guitars, skeletal rhythms, and pop hooks — not vintage synths and pointillist melodies — were their calling cards ..." In 1992, Stereolab's first full-length album, Peng !, and first compilation, Switched On, were released on independent label Too Pure.

) With their 1994 album, Mars Audiac Quintet, Stereolab focused more on pop and less on rock, resulting in what Allmusic described as " what may be the group's most accessible, tightly-written album ".

Reviewing American Psycho, Stephen Erlewine of Allmusic called the new incarnation " a kitschy goth-punk outfit that relies more on metal than hardcore ", while Rolling Stone remarked that the band's new style blended " some old-style punk, a little metal and an occasional all-out thrasher.

* Peter Tosh on Allmusic