The week after Memorial Day is a slow one for CD releases, but some of the more notable albums coming out today are from a British group that used to claim it was the greatest the world has ever seen, an old pop act in new shoes and an expressionistic metal act getting even more experimental.
Oasis, “Don’t Believe the Truth” (Sony): Those Gallagher brothers are back with more Brit-rock than you can shake a sibling-hating fist at. It has been a decade since “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?,” but the sound hasn’t changed much here. Bold chords, familiar riffs and that voice. They’ll flaunt it all at the Sept. 20 Red Rocks shows.
Better Than Ezra, “Before the Robots” (Artemis): These New Orleans cats, once the mid-’90s peers of the Goo Goo Dolls, are having a hard time staking a claim to relevance these days. What better way to prove it than with a new record? Here they try to redefine themselves and their nondescript pop music.
Meshuggah, “Catch Thirty-Three” (Nuclear Blast): With the recent rash of popularity of bands such as Isis and Mastodon, this Swedish metal outfit is enjoying a higher profile. The band’s 13th release is a meditation on a metal subgenre that has yet to be fully explored – and it’s worthy of exploration.
– Ricardo Baca
