The often imitated yet never duplicated The Black Dahlia Murder are back with their 5th full-length album, the Death Metal opus Ritual; a collection of 12 searing tracks that see the band staying true to their sound and style while progressing in both writing and musicianship. Ritual will without a doubt daze and lay waste the ears of both loyal Black Dahlia diehards and burgeoning fans alike.

One of the most intense and technical forces in the contemporary Death Metal world, Origin have returned to stake their claim as the leaders of metal’s new wave of extremity with their fifth studio effort, Entity. Origin continue to churn out frantic, hell-paced slabs of metal, but now they further compliment the arrangements with a new found propensity for churning grooves and the hook-laden approach that first reared its ugly yet accessible head on 2008’s Antithesis.

Varese Sarabande had already issued two Johnny Tillotson compilations, one (Poetry in Motion) covering his Cadence output and the other (The Very Best of Johnny Tillotson) his later MGM era, prior to the appearance of this anthology. It's the most comprehensive of the lot, spanning both Cadence and MGM from 1958 to 1967, and in fact including everything from Poetry in Motion, although lacking some songs from The Very Best of. 25 All-Time Greatest Hits is the best single-disc Tillotson collection to invest in, covering the country, pop, and teen idol rock facets of the versatile if unexciting singer on his 1950s and 1960s releases.

This is the second full album of Cinnamon Chasers made between May 2010 - January 2011. Cinnamon Chasers is the solo project of Russ Davies, nephew and son of Ray Davies and Dave Davies respectively (the two founding members of The Kinks). Russ has strong musical roots and cites early pioneers like Giorgio Moroder, Vangelis, Jean-Micheal Jarre, and KLF as key influences and leading to modern talent such as Alan Braxe, Rex The Dog, Junior Boys.

Debut albums simply aren't supposed to be as accomplished and beautifully crafted as Kate & Anna McGarrigle's first record, which is as lovely and superbly realized as folk-rock gets.

Hiromi Uehara (上原ひろみ, born 26 March 1979), known as Hiromi, is a jazz composer and pianist born in Hamamatsu, Japan. She is known for her virtuosic technique, energetic live performances and blend of musical genres such as jazz, progressive rock, classical and fusion in her compositions.
Hiromi started learning classical piano at age 5. She was introduced to jazz by her piano teacher Noriko Hakita when she was 8. At age 14, she played with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. When she was 17, she met Chick Corea by chance in Tokyo, and was invited to play with him at his concert the next day. After being a jingle writer for a few years for Japanese companies such as Nissan, she enrolled to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. There, she was mentored by Ahmad Jamal and had already signed with jazz label Telarc before her graduation.

On the second volume in this two-disc series Thelonious Monk has come fully into his own as a leader. The program consists almost entirely of original compositions, and in fact it opens with two of his most difficult: "Four in One" (with its conventional bop intro that leads into a bizarre, repeated five-against-two quintuplet sequence) and the forbiddingly abstract "Criss Cross." Get through those and you'll eventually be rewarded with the relatively straightforward, blues-based "Straight No Chaser" and the sweet ballad "Ask Me Now," among other treats. ~ AllMusic