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Review: When vital bandmember Andrew Fletcher suddenly passed away at the start of the sessions for 'Memento Mori', even Dave Gahan and Martin Gore wondered aloud whether Depeche Mode would continue. Yet somehow, Gore and Gahan put their much-discussed differences aside, knuckled down and produced something fittingly special: an album that may well be the iconic outfit's most consistent and impressive body of work for decades. Naturally, darkness abounds, with opener 'My Cosmos Is Mine' - all evocative vocals, distorted electronic beats, dark sonic textures and mutilated choral vocal samples - setting the tone for a set that once again brilliantly blends dark synth-pop, gnarled guitars and the kind of lyrical melancholia that stays with you for days. Highlights are plentiful, with our picks including 'Ghosts Again', 'Soul With Me' and closing cut 'Speak To Me'.

Review: This deluxe edition of Depeche Mode's latest album Memento Mori features a wealth of additional material, adding all manner of tangents in relation to the former trio's (now duo's) ultimate reflection on death. Centring on the mood of grief after the passing of the band's founding member Andrew 'Fletch' Fletcher, this is the first LP by a Depeche Mode made up of only two remaining members: Gahan and Gore. It hears a sadder, gloomier yet no less slowly euphoric sound, with lead singles like 'Ghosts Again' presenting a kind of conflicted melancholia.

Review: Multi-talented artist Koffee (real name Mikayla Simpson) has been bubbling under for a while now, with plenty of pundits tipping her to become Jamaica's next global musical superstar. She certainly has the skillset to succeed, being a skilled singer, 'deejay' style rapper, songwriter and producer. Gifted, her debut album, is genuinely excellent, with Simpson singing and rapping over backing tracks that blur the boundaries between dancehall, soca, R&B, soul and synth-pop, with weighty bass and patois-heavy lyrics rooting the sound in her island home. Highlights include previous single 'West Indies', the laidback, lovers rock-influenced shuffle of 'Shine', the dreamy dancehall-pop wonder of 'Pull Up' and the self-explanatory 'Lockdown'.

Review: Six years is ages for a band to go without releasing an album or doing very much. But for AC/DC, whose work rate has always been ridiculously high, it's a very, very long time. Between then and now, the band lost their lead singer, Brian Johnson, to hearing difficulties in the middle of their last tour, and saw drummer Paul Rudd arrested in New Zealand for 'attempting to procure a murder'. Talk about impetus to finally call time.

But then these are the guys responsible for one of history's greatest heavy rock triumphs, 1980s's Back In Black, released just months after formative frontman Bon Scott tragically passed. So it's no surprise Power Up, another post-traumatic release albeit an act of reunification with now (relatively) healthy Johnson and innocent Rudd returning, is among their best in the 40 years since. A comeback record that sounds exactly like AC/DC should - ballsy, bluesy, boozy riffs.

Review: Just when you thought all hope was lost along come The Strokes to fulfil the promises they made way, way back with their startling debut 'Is This It'. That was 17 years ago, and while the outfit have made plenty worthy of note in the years between then and now, we'd be surprised if we're the only ones thinking this latest is their best effort since that inaugural outing. Confident but also hungry, rather than bloated and lazy, there's plenty here that you won't be able to get away from in a hurry. 'Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus' might define the package best, delivering some powerful pop energy in an all-round homage to and critique of the 1980s, an era revisited again on 'Bad Decisions', which owes plenty to Billy Idol's Generation X classic, 'Dancing With Myself', with tracks like 'Why Are Sundays So Depressing' diverting to a synthdom route and 'Not The Same Anymore' throwing crooner styles into the mix. Exceptional stuff.