Luke Haines continues to impress critics worldwide with his dark and vivid lyrics and music, myself included.

This third record from England's critically-acclaimed Auteurs is no less, if not more impressive than either of its predecessors. In fact, these are 12 of the best crafted songs I've heard all year long.

One that really caught my ear initially was "Child Brides," which with its incredibly imaginative and ancient folk legend lyrics ("The child brides went down to the water...Throw yourself at the tide / I'll see you on the other side") are immediately convincing of Haines' talent.

However, Luke and I agree that the albums high point comes with "Unsolved Child Murder," whose lyrics and melodies are extremely reminiscent of The Beatles, but original nonetheless. The stunning lyrics are based on an actual incident from his childhood that most folks can relate to ("People 'round here don't like to talk about it / Presumed dead / Unsolved Child Murder").

For the record, After Murder Park was recorded by Steve Albini, which usually means, from what I've heard, that the band did their own production and Albini merely rolled tapes. If that's so, maybe Haines could go on to do some impressive production work for other bands. The reverbs and effects create the perfect atmosphere for the music. You simply can't go wrong with an album like this.

-Ryan Schreiber