Strapping Young Lad

‘Alien’ (Century Media)

Compare to: Meshuggah, Coalesce, Damaged

Usually those stickers that come on new metal releases sporting those little quotes with outrageous claims on them couldn”t be further from the truth. Not every CD can really be the ‘Soundtrack to the Armageddon’ or ‘The most brutal and original release of the year.’

That said, the new Strapping Young Lad album ‘Alien’ is the exception to the rule. In fact, calling this the soundtrack to the Armageddon would be a vast understatement for one reason: This is the Armageddon.

After 10 years of existence, ‘Alien’ proves that this is one group of metalheads who are only going to get better with age. Led by Canadian guitar virtuoso and metal producer extraordinaire Devin Townsend, the band relentlessly smashes its way through the entire release, creating metal so epic and powerful that it”s amazing to think it is from North America and not some Scandinavian snow plane.

Musically, there is enough progression from the band to avoid sounding stale, but there is also enough of its signature sound to prove it is still the one of the best in the game. Townsend”s guitar riffs are still as heavy as ever, and drummer Gene Hogland”s double bass feats can still make nu-metal drumming champ Joey Jordison look like an amateur.

Overall, this is a metal album for people looking for more than just thrash riffs and screaming — this is edgy and uncompromising. And if you”re looking for a catchy one-liner to sum it up, it”s like smashing your face with a hammer and liking it.

— Dante Sacomani

Death Before Dishonor

‘Friends Family Forever’ (Bridge Nine)

Compare to: Buried Alive, Blood for Blood, 100 Demons

Let”s imagine there was a cookbook full of recipes for making heavy music. If you flipped to the hardcore chapter and followed the rules, you”d be pulling a big batch of Death Before Dishonor”s debut full-length ‘Friends Family Forever’ out of the oven in half an hour. In you case that”s a tough metaphor to follow, here”s the recipe.

For consistency, you”ll need two cups of flour in the form of your standard verse-chorus-breakdown song structure.

For texture, you”ll need two large eggs that act as the gruff, tough guy vocals reflecting tones of pessimism, hardship and a general ‘fuck you and the world’ attitude.

For average cookies, you would need only about a cup of sugar to make them yummy, but these cookies call for about 10 times that in the form of the sweet breakdowns that will pummel hardcore fans with even the sweetest of tooths.

Bake these ingredients in the heat created from the experience of living in the hardcore scene for years, and in a half hour, you”ll have your own delicious hardcore confection.

Although it may sound basic, it yields some of the best-quality cookies that you have eaten recently. Even though the recipe hasn”t changed doesn”t mean the results are bland — they can still taste as sweet as ever. That”s where Death Before Dishonor finds itself.

— Dante Sacomani

Ben Folds

‘Songs for Silverman’ (Epic)

Compare to: Ben Kweller, Ed Harcourt, Rufus Wainwright

Ben Folds has carried his role well. As an intelligent, yet slightly nerdy piano-playing machine, he has continued to deliver witty and sly remarks over his cleverly written music. But on his second solo album, ‘Songs for Silverman,’ all of Folds” pissed-off white boy pain melts away.

In place of it comes a deeper, more philosophical look on life. Folds pays tribute to a fellow singer/songwriter, coos a lullaby to his daughter and sings about a premature marriage.

‘Songs for Silverman’ is built on strong melodies. Each track, which has the quirky, piano-driven punch only Folds can give, carries rich, falsetto-stretching harmonies, bringing a very polished and mature sound to the table.

Although Folds plays up catchy melodies, he dumbs down the lyrics of certain tracks. ‘Late,’ his tribute to Elliott Smith, and ‘Gracie,’ a quiet song for his daughter, seem too simplistic and in need of Folds” intelligent and imaginative words.

‘Give Judy My Notice,’ a song released in 2003 on Folds” EP ‘Speed Graphic,’ appears again on ‘Song for Silverman,’ but with a noticeable difference. The slight twang of Bucky Baxter”s pedal steel guitar takes Folds” piano pop to a whole new level.

Folds hasn”t completely grown out of his clever wryness and storytelling ability — he”s just put his priorities elsewhere, and it shows through on ‘Songs for Silverman.’

— Katie Piepel

Johnathan Rice

‘Trouble is Real’ (Reprise)

Sounds like: John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, Pete Yorn

Solo male singers are a dime a dozen. From Jack Johnson to Damien Rice, there are a bevy of singers who go on stage with nothing but their voice and an acoustic guitar.

Now Johnathan Rice is pushing his way onto the scene, but what does he offer that stands out?

Rice must have known it was important to create his own sound — unfortunately, those superficial little perks, such as a deep twang or an electronic beat, barely differentiate him from the mass of mediocrity that fills up the soundtracks on shows on the WB.

To be honest, there are some refreshing parts of ‘Trouble is Real.’ On quite a few songs, Rice has some strings as backup, other times as the centerpiece. Plus, the electronic beats, although gimmicky, do sound fairly fun and catchy.

But if you”ve heard one acoustic singer/songwriter, you”ve heard them all. Half the songs are pretty upbeat and fast tempo, the others are slow and melodic. Nearly every song is radio-friendly, with chorus lines that have little meaning, but easily roll off the tongue.

So, in other words, Rice might become pretty popular. Teenage girls will probably make up the largest share of his fan base. But catchy, soft-spoken music like this is pretty hard to resist.

— Keith DuCharme