For the past nearly 25 years, there’s been no more polarizing band in metal, or perhaps all of rock, than Metallica. Since the release of that monstrous self-titled album in 1991, fans have been thrown into three different camps. You May Also Like: Metallica, “Hardwired” from Hardwired … to SelfRead More

Roger Daltrey is reborn inside this shuffling groove, as Wilko Johnson’s “I Keep It To Myself” transports the longtime Who frontman to a different era.

If “Scratch” is any indication, and the guitarist is already saying it is, John Frusciante’s forthcoming studio project will represent a furiously inventive encapsulation of everything he’s has done so far You May Also Like: When John Frusciante Returned to Solo Work on ‘Shadows Collide With People’

“Sweet Tea,” the just-released lead track from Glenn Hughes and Jason Bonham’s self-titled California Breed debut, makes clear that 23-year-old guitarist Andrew Watt is no Joe Bonamassa. There’s not a whiff of the blues-rock underpinnings from their time with Black Country Communion. You May Also Like: No related posts.

If you were worried that frontman Rhett Miller might ease into a middle-aged softness as Old 97’s entered its third decade, this unhinged drinking song of an advance track from the forthcoming, apparently well-titled Most Messed Up sets all of that to rest. You May Also Like: No related posts.

Utterly engrossing, and full of dusty portent, Lee DeWyze’s “Blackbird Song” couldn’t have put more space between his time on American Idol and where he is now. DeWyze, who won Season 9 of Idol, issued the more country pop-leaning Frames last summer. Forget that You May Also Like: No relatedRead More

Richard Barone, the ex-Bongos leader, imbues this Velvet Underground gem with a newfound sense of sad reverie. Whereas the nihilistic Nico, on the original 1967 version, stood apart from the conviviality, a distant observer, Barone finds the nostalgia, the very real need for attachment in the Lou Reed lyric. YouRead More

Glass Hammer returns never sounding so much like itself, even as the band boldly expands its vocabulary — musically and quite literally. “Crowbone,” for instance, includes an invigorating guest turn by violinist David Ragsdale of Kansas fame You May Also Like: Philip Glass Transcended David Bowie’s Towering Influence on ‘LowRead More

The irrepressible vibraphone-playing jazz guerrilla Mike Dillon is prepping his latest album Band of Outsiders for an April 1, 2014 release (Royal Potato Family Records), You May Also Like: Mike Dillon – ‘1918’ (2021) Mike Dillon & Punkadelick – ‘Inflorescence’ (2023)

A previously unreleased trio recording from Pat Martino provides new insight both into his obvious debt to Wes Montgomery and Grant Green — but also how his burning, blinding speed outstripped anything those old masters ever attempted, even as the guitarist opened a door for fusion’s looming ferocity. You MayRead More