Muse ‘The Resistance’ – This album sounds exactly as I expected. Upon seeing the track-listing (multiple part songs, common theme), I thought of the earlier Muse back in 2004 and imagined how they would put together their first concept piece – Anthemic beginnings, pop middle, queen inspired emotional ending. This is exactly what it is, except for the surprising use of 80s electronic beats throughout. Fans of the whole Black Hole era Muse may be put off by the switch in style. Gone are songs like Starlight and Knights of Cydonia, and in its place a thrashing of Take A Bow and Hoodoo. Definitely a great album for fans of their older and less accessible material. Still great stuff.

Editors ‘In This Light And On This Evening’ – This was a big surprise. The last release from Editors, An End Has A Start, took the band from the studio to stage with their more poppy guitar laden collection of singles packed into an album that did not succeed too well. This was a disappointment because their first album, The Back Room, had a more personal and unique sound. In This Light And On This Evening is a bit of a combination of The Back Room, Peter Gabriel Security era disquieting beauty, and late 70s (Ultravox anybody?) electronica. One listen to their latest single, Papillon, will remind you of that era. Because of my love for Ultravox, I found this enjoyable and easy to get into, and again for the Peter Gabriel-like songs. The album may not be for you if you absolutely hate that era, but some songs are a must listen for Editors fans.

Matthew Good ‘Vancouver’ – Remember Avalanche? No? If you enjoy good emotional rock (not emo by the way), you need to check it out, as it is a masterpiece. Since Avalanche, Matthew Good had written two somewhat experimental albums and now we have a proper followup to Avalanche. This is not to say his last two albums are not good, White Light Rock and Roll Review and Hospital Music are fantastic, but they just were not quite up there with the flawless Avalanche album. What makes this album so different from his last few is the lack of quiet acoustic or atmospheric pieces – every track ends up rocking at some point. This was a disappointment upon first listen, knowing how good he is at writing atmospheric pieces, but the tracks are all such a high quality I was surprised to enjoy it so much. Also, the orchestrations from Avalanche are back as well, if you like that kind of thing.

Alice In Chains ‘Black Gives Way To Blue’ – I had this feeling all along that Alice In Chains would get back together and come out with something, and here it is. There are some quality songs here, and some fantastic acoustic pieces, but it feels so quickly tossed together and a bit too long. This seems to be related to the song types and track-listing. To many lows than highs, acoustic interlude here and there, complete chaos. The final track was worth the wait though, too bad it took so many beers to get there.

Antimatter ‘Live @ An Club’ – For those who do not know what or who Antimatter is, Duncan Patterson, formerly of Anathema (a progressive rock/metal band) and Mick Moss formed the band in the late 90s. They write atmospheric rock with mostly guest vocals. After Duncan left the band lately, Mick Moss has continued on with the band with the release of a fantastic progessive album, Leaving Eden, released in 2007. This live album captures a performance from Athens, Greece, in late 2007, with Danny Cavanagh (also from Anathema) guesting on guitar. Some people have described Antimatter as the most depressing music they have ever heard, and a co-worker compared it to Leonard Cohen, which I find quite humorous. It really depends on how you take quiet atmospheric and emotional music, do you take it as a downer or do you feel uplifted by it? I am of the latter and I found this album to be quite beautiful and relaxing, even with beer. The quality of the recording is very good, and the crowd is quiet all throughout except between songs, probably hypnotized by the beauty. This is Sunday afternoon acoustic music at its best.

Hey Rosetta! ‘Into Your Lungs’ – I picked this up because it was produced by Hawksley Workman, I am a big fan of his work. After listening to the album completely it felt like a more folkish Hawksley combined with 54-40 (without the love!) and some atmospheric prog shoved in for modern sake. The problem with this kind of album is how the tracks do not stand out from each other, but they are decent rock songs. This band could very much be on their way to full on progressive rock.

Next update, METAL, as this has been one fucking crazy month.

Valis – Fantastic stoner / hard rock band. They are about to release a new album called Dark Matter soon. (and by the time you read this, it will have released a year ago) For now you can check out their excellent debut Vast Active Living Intelligence System, or their easier to find Head Full of Pills or Champions of Magic. Or… you can just check their myspace page – http://www.myspace.com/valis

Dozer – From Sweden, these stoner rockers have gone from Kyuss imitators (in a very good way) to a more psychedelic and original sound. Their new album Beyond Colossal reminds me a bit of Soundgarden in intensity and creativity. http://www.myspace.com/dozerrock

Sig:Ar:Tyr – Canadian folk metal with whispered-like vocals and excellent guitar work. Their debut, Sailing the Seas of Fate, is far more acoustic than their later more eastern sounding Beyond the North Winds. http://www.myspace.com/sigartyr

Let me know what you think.

Saros – Progressive black metal. Similar to how Arch Enemy has a female vocalist do death growls, Leila in Saros does a more Black Metal style vocal approach. Latest album is Acrid Plains (Profound Lore Records) released earlier this year.

Centurion’s Ghost – After coming out with their excellent album in 2007 titled ‘The Great Work’, which is a blend of doom, sludge, with some excellent technical writing, I still have yet to find any of these albums anywhere. Currently writing their third album for release later this year.

Anael – Absolutely fantastic German black metal band. Their latest release ‘From Arcane Fires’, based on an old German poem about the end of the world, features great writing and atmosphere with an epic story.

Asva – Their last release was a fair album but ‘What You Don’t Know Is Frontier’, released late 2008, showcases their talent in writing and musicianship. This 8 member drone/doom band writes some emotionally powerful and haunting music.

Feel free to send me comments or suggest some bands.

Anyways, h-ere are this months rock albums.

Steve Kilbey and Martin Kennedy Present ‘Unseen Music Unheard Words’ – If you are a fan of Steve Kilbey and ambient music, this is a must buy. The album has quite a lot of atmosphere with synths and Steve’s always soothing and beautiful vocals. Martin Kennedy is the man behind All India Radio, and Steve Kilbey behind the Church. Definitely an evening album.

The Church ‘Untitled 23′ – Definitely a lot more ambient and moving than their previous release. The songs sound a bit like an ode to their earlier days but a bit softer. If you enjoyed After Everything Now This, this is a must, but fans of Forget Yourself may be a bit disappointed. Overall an excellent album.

Kasabian ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’ – With a title like this you know there is going to be trouble. You could say that their first album is a bit like Crystal Method and Oasis tumble-dried, their second, Empire, was heavily eastern influenced, and this one feels like it is western (as in the old wild west) influenced. This may just be me, but it really does feel this way. Empire was an album that blew me away, even though it was not very well received, and comparing Empire to West Ryder is just a very bad thing to do. I feel almost cheated, but this is an entirely different beast and may take some time to get into. Overall very different and interesting but a bit of a disappointment so far.

Grizzly Bear ‘Veckatimest’ – This is how Grizzly Bear does pop music. I would say the closest thing they have done to this album so far is Knife off of Yellow House, as the progressive rock sound has been torn away and replaced with choirs and incredible melody. This is definitely not a bad thing, but these songs are shorter and some of the tracks feel a bit underdeveloped. Although, just like their past albums, it has this strange recording style which sounds like they recorded everything under water. Even with these flaws, the incredible recording quality and unique atmosphere is enough for me to keep coming back. There is a good chance this album will end up on my top 10 this year.

I was listening to music on random while reading a book and something very strange came on. This song had smothered vocals, trumpets, strange percussion, experimental song structure, and a poppy but distant emotion. I thought to myself ‘Oh no, I have one of those retarded new indie songs’. Now let me explain – I listen to the radio quite often and usually not by choice, and I find there are quite a few artists out there who have this strange new style. When I finally find out who wrote the music, they were either influenced by some major indie band or they are an up and coming band on an independent label. Experimenting with music styles is usually not a bad thing but can bring some horrible results. Take any pop structure and toss in a strange against the grain harmony or forgotten instrument, but make sure it sounds more puzzling than musical. What you get is.. #@*$)&@) which is perfect for indie music. Next, you need some strange emotion. When you are ready, run to your nearest recording spot (basement?) and just go nuts! Nothing like ruining a comfortable pop song with a badly recorded distorted trumpet and squeaky dog toy.

I loathe a lot of indie bands today, but back in the last century, bands were working hard and creating imaginative and emotional drifting music (Broken Social Scene, Dears, Death Cab for Cutie.. etc) the music was good and somewhat different but vaguely familiar. Nothing seemed to be written to be the next big single or made to break charts, the music was raw, emotional, and to the point – flawed but incredibly pure and honest. Some of these indie bands created the most beautiful music I have ever heard, and they made it big their own way.

Now time-warping to 2009, some bands seem to feel that they can break into the indie market by throwing in shitty and annoying samples. Bleeps and droning hums, and other things that do not belong in pop structure, like the strangeness of the music is what made them popular. When I hear these songs on the radio I usually focus on the pop parts as I enjoy a good pop song, but the extreme weirdness beats the piss out of the whole thing.

So after thinking about this and getting mad I reach for my mouse and opened my music player. The song was Summer of ’68 by Pink Floyd.

Candlemass ‘Death Magic Doom’ – One of the few new releases this year that has me excited. I had not heard much of Candlemass before this but it is time to search for the older releases. This is not typical doom, has a bit more thrash. Great vocalist.

Primordial ‘Imrama’ 2009 edition – I had yet to hear the black metal days of Primordial. The massive epic structures of their newer work is present here but tangled within their blackened roots. Excellent album.

Static-X ‘Cult of Static’ – Quite a bit of an improvement over their last few albums and hints at their earlier and less nu metal influenced work. Some of the songs sound similar to eachother but this will iron itself out in relistens.