SOUND BITES

  In the time since the release of their 2010 critical breakthrough The Monitor , Titus Andronicus have done a lot of exploring while remaining true to their well-read rock tendencies. 2012's Local Business was intentionally more straightforward than the sprawling Civil War concept record that preceded it, while 2015's The Most Lamentable Tragedy supersized their approach across two albums and over 90 minutes, only to compact themselves again on 2018's A Productive Cough and again on An Obelisk , which followed a quick year later. With The Will to Live , there seems to be a simpler approach, a focus on paying homage to classic rock heroes that serves the majority of their seventh album well; the album starts off with the instrumental My Mother is Going to Kill Me , which sets the stage with squealing solos and a high energy performance that carries over to (I'm) Screwed , which carries a classic rock swagger akin to T. Rex and The Rolling Stones in a dust-up. True to...

There seems to be a pattern developing here. When Titus Andronicus first really started to turn heads, it was back in 2010 with their second album; the follow-up to a loose and concise debut, The Monitor brought everything bigger. a Civil War-themed concept album that ran over an hour in length and featured numerous guest appearances and several shifts in style and tone, that record signaled significant growth for the New Jersey rockers. Because of this, some listeners were somewhat underwhelmed by Local Business , which followed two years later and found a more stripped down effort. Still, there were plenty of reasons to be excited for what followed; and, what followed turned out to be the band's biggest and boldest statement yet. The Most Lamentable Tragedy , presented as a five act rock opera and featuring a multitude of sonic twists and turns, set a new benchmark for Titus Andronicus' creativity. It would have been difficult to go much further from here at the time...

Surprising turns from established heavy bands. New heights for critical darlings. Up and coming artists making strong first impressions. The back half of summer saw all of this and more, as even the dog days saw some worthwhile releases that begged our attention. The fourth collection of Song of the Year nominees are:

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." -Albert Camus It may seem a little strange for this review to be headed by an Albert Camus quote, but I swear it's a quote that speaks volumes in the context of this sprawling behemoth of a record, even though it isn't directly quoted anywhere on it and despite the fact that the band has made references to Camus as far back on their first record. The Most Lamentable Tragedy (hereafter TMLT ) is just so effective in its story and enthralling in its execution that, after a few proper listens (accompanied by the group's excellent, meticulous Genius annotations on my last run, an experience I highly recommend), that Camus quote hit with force and purpose. We can (and should) talk about the music, which finds Titus Andronicus (hereafter +@) balancing the grand vision of the rock opera and all the extracurricular sound adventures that entails with a steadfast allegia...

TITUS ANDRONICUS Still Life With Hot Deuce And Silver Platter From: Local Business Released: October 23 When you're faced with the task of following up a critically lauded concept album drawing loose parallels between the band and the Civil War (complete with a long list of guests playing historic characters), you might as well not even try to match its epic scope. Titus Andronicus were smart to scale it all back with Local Business , an album that capitalizes on the band's scrappiness and intelligence while resisting any urges to do anything bigger than they have before. Although a couple of its tracks flirt with the ten-minute mark, there's nothing on Local Business that feels overblown, forced or contrived; it's the sound of a band playing to their strengths and not relying on grandiosity to carry them. Just listen to Still Life With Hot Deuce On Silver Platter (easily this year's Best Song Title winner); like The Clash in tweed with elbow patches,...

This post was going to start with a stream of Green Day's new album, but: a) The NME exclusive stream is limited to the Brits. b) You have to "like" their Facebook page to gain access elsewhere. c) Doing so in Canada opens up a link to Rdio. d) Rdio is a subscription based service that gives limited free trial time and asks for credit information. e) We've already heard 1/3 of it, and the other 2/3 isn't worth all that effort. So, that still leaves us with some good content, all of which is readily available.