Breaking Benjamin
Dark Before Dawn
Alternative, Metal, Rock

Light and dark swirl in nearly equal measure on each moody, post-grunge song, just as the album’s title hints at.

Kacey Musgraves
Pageant Material
Country

Musgraves is back with an old-school country album that embraces many of the genre’s most familiar themes.

Muse
Drones
Alternative, EDM/Electronica/Techno, Pop, Rock

Drones’ lyrical content focuses much of its attention on how warfare is conducted in the 21st century. Namely, nameless, faceless …

Florence + The Machine
How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Alternative, Rock

Florence Welch plunges into the swirling, inky melancholy of loss on this fiery English band’s third album.

Lifehouse
Out of the Wasteland
Alternative, Pop, Rock

Lifehouse’s latest overflows with a mature perspective on life and love, conflict and perseverance.

Twenty One Pilots
Blurryface
Alternative, EDM/Electronica/Techno, Pop, Rap/Hip-Hop, Reggae, Rock

The two guys from Ohio known as Twenty One Pilots defy easy categorization as they amalgamate pop, rap, punk, rock, …

Various/Soundtrack
Pitch Perfect 2 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Country, EDM/Electronica/Techno, Jazz/Swing/Blues, Pop, R&B, Rap/Hip-Hop, Soundtracks

Anna Kendrick and the Barden Bellas are back for another a cappella singing competition … with “prizes” getting handed out …

Chris Stapleton
Traveller
Country

To fall back on a biblical analogy that Jesus used in Matthew 13, the wheat and the tares grow side …

Mumford & Sons
Wilder Mind
Rock

Marcus Mumford and Co. put away the banjos and turn up the electricity … which doesn’t actually help shine much …

Zac Brown Band
Jekyll + Hyde
Country, Pop

Zac Brown does a Taylor Swift crossover move, blending chicken pickin’ with pop, rock and even EDM. What he’s singing …

Halestorm
Into the Wild Life
Rock

The third hard-rocking effort from Lizzy Hale and Co. jarringly fuses positive messages of empowerment with toxic rebellion.

Sufjan Stevens
Carrie & Lowell
Alternative, Folk

Sufjan Stevens offers a raw and beautiful reflection on his estranged mother’s passing and the intense influence she still exerts …

AWOLNATION
Run
Alternative, EDM/Electronica/Techno, Pop, Rock

The second album from this Venice, Calif., electronic rock band sails right past the dock of easy classification … both …

Kendrick Lamar
To Pimp a Butterfly
Rap/Hip-Hop

Kendrick Lamar’s third album propels him into the mainstream with a uniquely raw exploration of racism, class warfare, celebrity excess …

Madonna
Rebel Heart
EDM/Electronica/Techno, Pop

“Once again, I’m defying the convention that you can’t be both” spiritual and sexual, says the Material Girl about her …