The Mass

“Perfect Picture of Wisdom and Boldness” (Crucial Blast)

Compare to: Losa, Neurosis, An Albatross

On “Perfect Picture of Wisdom and Boldness,” California-based metal quartet The Mass deliver one of the year’s most mind-warping heavy music releases. Just when you think you’ve got the band’s heady mixture of doom metal, thrash and math rock pinned down, singer Matt Walters whips out his saxophone, shifting the musical focus from metallic fury to jazzy freakout. Although this may strike many as a combination of sounds that is destined to fail, The Mass makes this amalgamation of disparate influences seem as natural as life and death.

With “Perfect Picture of Wisdom and Boldness,” The Mass shows it is perfectly equipped to be the house band at a jazz club in hell. From the assaulting grinding of “Gas Pipe” to the smoked-out thunder-groove of “Ride of the Juns,” the band’s attack is schizophrenic, yet somehow, oddly cohesive. Throughout the disc, the listener is taken on a journey that feels like it could derail into musical disaster at any moment, but The Mass maintain a level of organized chaos that would leave lesser bands broken and bleeding under the strain.

In a scene clogged with legions of sound-alike bands, The Mass have delivered an album which stands head and shoulders above this year’s parade of mediocre metal releases. “Perfect Picture of Wisdom and Boldness” proves that all the Killswitch Engage and Norma Jean clones out there still have a lot to learn.

BUY IT

– Joshua Haun

Sheryl Crow

“Wildflower” (A&M Records)

Compare to: Fiona Apple, Joan Osborne, Alanis Morissette

Only so often is an album as inviting and welcoming as Sheryl Crow’s sixth studio album, “Wildflower.” The album is an open invitation to see the world through the eyes of a songwriter who has come to terms with life and the emotions that follow.

The 11 intimate and honest songs that exist as a result are a true testament to Crow’s humbling ability to capture so intensely the breadth of human emotion she has conquered during her adult life. Each tender note she delivers plants the listener into the world she creates through song, transporting them to a world where love lost is an opportunity to start again, and where true love is a certainty waiting to be discovered.

Musically, Crow looks to her guitar to bring her delicate lyrics into full bloom. Her guitar work bounces around from straight forward pop-rock to the familiar twang of Midwestern folk.

The songs have only a limited amount of diversity, but within the narrow walls, she has managed to create songs with enough eloquence to overlook that inherent flaw.

Overall, the songs on the album center around the theme of love in some form or another, but they are typically non-specific enough so that many listeners will be able to ease back and forth to the melodies and, more importantly, they will be able to relate. Whether the song harkens them back to memories of joy or sorrow, it will transport them to a time where they weren’t simply the listener, they were the main character and it wasn’t simply a song, it was life.

BURN IT

– Dante Sacomani

U2

The Joshua Tree (Island)

Compare to: R.E.M., The Police, Coldplay

The first three tracks on 1987’s “The Joshua Tree” are epic. The rest are a world-wide anthem for hope.

“The Joshua Tree,” U2’s sixth and best-selling album to date, encapsulates despair and drama, suffering and love.

It is one of U2’s darkest albums, with the band leader’s customary political and spiritual undercurrents spattered throughout.

Bono uses U2’s music as a platform for his discussion of protection of human rights.

His passion and desire escalate on each track until he finds a clearing at the end of each journey.

“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” chronicles the singer’s yearning to find his reason in life. “Where the Streets Have No Name” captures the concepts of desire and escape and “With or Without You” is a painful and emotional ride that is made stimulating by the masterful sound of The Edge’s stinging guitar strumming.

The meat of the album, however, comes from such tracks as “Running to Stand Still,” where the acoustic simplicity proves to be one of the disc’s highlights, the gutsy “Bullet the Blue Sky” and the bluesy “Trip Through Your Wires.”

The foundation of this album is built on the band – The Edge’s pulsating guitars and the rhythm section of Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton, who provide a constant rock ‘n’ roll backbone to every track.

Song after song, U2’s emotions drip out, proving that one passion only sets fire to another.

ESSENTIAL

– Katie Piepel

Project 86

“… and The Rest Will Follow” (Tooth and Nail)

Compare to: Demon Hunter, Primer 55, Sevendust

Project 86’s new disc “… and The Rest Will Follow” sounds and feels like the band members have once again found their musical comfort zone after a few years of confusion at the hands of corporate label influence.

“Truthless Heroes” and “Songs To Burn Your Bridges By,” although both good albums, sounded over-produced – like they were trying to “fit in” with their own self-set trend by purposely writing radio-friendly nu-metal anthems.

“… and The Rest Will Follow” is far more delicate than past works, but at the same time more comprehensible and down-to-earth.

The pounding, ear-incenerating riffs are still there. From the brilliant music breaks and fist-pumping beats of “Sincerely Ichabod” to the deep yearnings of the album’s title track, Project 86 has created an album that perfectly complements its musicianship and attitude.

Between the previous album and this one, vocalist Andrew Schwab seems to have loosened up, like he has conquered an insane amount of inner tensions. Don’t take that wrong. Schwab is still hard-core in every way, but knows he doesn’t have to act like it anymore. Also, the band has become completely separate from any musical tension that was ever present.

“… and The Rest Will Follow” is a perfect blend of mellow musings and foot-stomping choruses, gentle lyrics and gigantic back beats. This is the album that will help redefine Christian hard rock music, or perhaps all hard rock music.

BUY IT

– Dan Hopper

Atmosphere

“You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having” (Rhymesayers)

Compared to: Sage Francis, Jurassic 5

Are you tired of all the bling? Have your Air Force Ones become too dirty to wear with your extremely large jersey? Good. You are now ready to step out of the bright, crappy light of mainstream hip-hop and into the shadows of the underground. You won’t find anyone rolling on ‘dubs’ down here; you will only find artists. Yes, these people are artists, speaking about their life and struggles, and very rarely does that involve getting shot.

Expanding on 2003’s “Seven’s Travels,” Slug and ANT, the MC and producer that make up Atmosphere, bring their best album to date with “You Can’t Imagine.” Slug lays down flawless lyrics that touch on everything from political stances to party raps on top of ANT’s well-crafted beats, which make your head bob from the first seconds of the intro to the last beat of the last song.

Atmosphere maintains its position as the leader of the underground hip-hop movement and it appears that Slug and ANT won’t be giving up the spot anytime soon.

With the song “Little Man,” Slug puts his heart on his sleeve and comes clean with his son, Jacob, his father Craig and himself. The song is powerful enough to make you question what your life is worth, and you can almost hear Slug, the artist, and Sean Daley, the father, battle over where his path will go from here. For the thousands of people who pack his shows, it seems like an easy choice, but for Sean it is surely much harder; if Atmosphere decides not to make another album it will have at least ended on the highest note of its career.

BRONZE IT

– Joe Crimmings