Alffice

Storytelling dominates here, as well as an obsession with death. "Flower's Grave" ("If we're all to die tonight/Another rose will bloom") is a heartbreaking wise old man ballad; "Poor Edward" is a story of a boy with a devil twin imprinted on the back of his head that is funny and scary and pregnant with a myriad of double meanings; and "Fish & Bird" details love's misunderstandings by way of a doomed romance between a bird and a whale. And if that isn't enough beautiful madness for you, then "Kommienezuspadt" gives us a German punk vocal over something that resembles Disney's "Pink Elephants On Parade".

Though released concurrently, Alice is less immediately gripping than Blood Money, but you suspect its mood-swinging swirl will hit every bit as hard over time. --Garry Mulholland