Holy White Hounds “Sparkle Sparkle” Independent There are few bands in the metro that have grown as much and as quickly as the Holy White Hounds. Three short years ago, the group — then a three-piece — seemed like a fun but nondescript bar band. Since then, the group has

Sara Routh “Black Sheep” Independent The best ideas are often the simplest ones, and “Black Sheep” is a deceptively simple EP. For five songs, all you get is Routh and her guitar. And while that has been done time and time again by a veritable laundry list of musicians, Routh’s

Scott Cochran “I’ll See You in the Moonlight” Independent If Scott Cochran is not the best blues bassist in the state, he is certainly in the picture. Known mostly for anchoring other people’s bands — perhaps most notably Matt Woods & The Thunderbolts — Cochran is a better-than-average songwriter in

Motorhead “Bad Magic” UDR There is an old saying that goes, “Once you have listened to one Motorhead album, you have listened to every Motorhead album.” It’s not completely without merit. But part of the reason why Motorhead has managed to survive 40 years and 22 albums is because it’s

Bon Jovi “Burning Bridges” Mercury “Burning Bridges” is, at its very heart, a bit of a lazy cash grab. As the band members get set to formally move on without guitarist Richie Sambora, they have cobbled together this “fan album” of unfinished tracks and long-disposed-of, failed B-sides. Ostensibly, this is

Dr. Dre “Compton” Interscope Dr. Dre is officially an old man ranting at clouds in “Compton,” his first album in 16 years. But, like most everything else Dre has done in his career, he makes being a ranting old man sound absolutely amazing. “Compton” features Dre’s opinions on modern clothing

MarKaus “White Mans Burden” Independent “I’m graded at what I’m made of/I’m the realization of what Reagan was afraid of.” So goes the opening line of verse three in the track “Down to Earth.” It may be the seventh track off “White Mans Burden,” but “Down to Earth” serves as

Titus Andronicus “The Most Lamentable Tragedy” Merge Let us start with the most glaringly obvious: “The Most Lamentable Tragedy” is long. Stupid long. Twenty-nine tracks, 93-minutes long. It is so long, track 14 is nothing but a one-minute-and-17-second-long oasis of silence appropriately titled “Intermission.” As one might expect from a

Kasey Chambers “Bittersweet” Warner “Bittersweet” is Australian-born Kasey Chambers’ first solo album in four years, and her first music of any kind since splitting with husband Shane Nicholson in 2012. One would expect such an album to be fraught with the emotion of nostalgia and heartache. Well, you may be

Lamb of God “VII: Sturm und Drang” Epic Lamb of God has been a bit snake bitten of late. Most notably, there was vocalist Randy Blythe’s legal troubles in Prague, Czechoslovakia, after a fan died at a 2010 show. Through that, bassist John Campbell was sidelined for much of 2013