If there’s a template for the way to evolve gracefully, it might belong to Soilwork.

This best of 2018 list for hard rock and metal is capped by one mammoth record that made the whole year worth it.

Shooter Jennings decided to title his return to country music after himself, but it could just as easily be called ‘Junior’ or ‘Bocephus.’

Ultimately, Cypress Hill’s ‘Elephants on Acid’ is a good record, but not the great one that I hoped for after hearing its opening salvo.

If you pull your kid out of school and drive five hours to see Alestorm and Gloryhammer at a club, you may have a metal problem. It was more than worth it.

Others may dislike Machine Head’s latest outing, but I think it’s one of the most interesting records they’ve ever done.

I walked away wondering how I’d missed Dark Hound’s first two albums. It’s an oversight that I intend to correct immediately.

Fifty years ago, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s “Fire” had to be just about the coolest thing you’d ever seen – and for parents, probably one of the scariest.

It was, honestly, a pretty lousy year for music. This list of Best Metal, Country and Hard Rock of 2017 highlights five exceptions, and some key honorable mentions.

Frankly, not a lot of music has excited me through the first half of this year. That is, until Alestorm’s ‘No Grave But the Sea’ arrived.