Insomnium's new studio album is as epic as it is melodic, as melancholic as it is majestic and as brutal as it is beautiful. One For Sorrow is an amalgamation of styles - recalling art-metal titans Cult of Luna at one turn and brutal visionaries Amon Amarth at others, it displays the true musical breadth of a band that has clearly come into its own on this.

The follow-up to last year's triumphant "Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa" album will arrive as a CD including new tracks and rarities. The "Evermore Darkly…" CD features brand new musical beast "Thank Your Lucky Stars", plus a special remix of "Forgive Me Father", courtesy of ANTHRAX guitarist Rob Caggiano, an extended rendition of "Lilith Immaculate", as well as tempered demo versions of three "Darkly, Darkly…" songs. The mini-album closes with a special taster from CRADLE OF FILTH's impending orchestral project in the form of a haunting, classic reworking of fan favorite "Summer Dying Fast".

The new album - their ninth is their strongest for several years, opening with a seven-minute masterpiece "Uptown Hustle". Other highlights include "Together We Stand" and "Watch Me Fly", featuring the glorious vocals of Imaani. Julian Crampton, also a former Incognito band member, keeps things moving nicely on bass.

Jazz pianist Bill Evans began a quiet revolution in the early 1960s. Before Evans, jazz piano trios spotlighted the pianist while the others essentially accompanied him or her. Evans envisioned a trio where all three musicians were on an equal footing, where they'd truly interact. "Sunday at the Village Vanguard", recorded live in 1961, captures the original Bill Evans Trio at its peak. Drummer Paul Motian plays with grace, subtlety, and restraint that are equal to Evans's, and bassist Scott LaFaro (who also played with Ornette Coleman) has a rapport with the others that seems telepathic. Evans absorbed the bebop approach to the keys but also took inspiration from the suave pianism of Nat "King" Cole and 20th-century classical Impressionism. "Sunday" is piano trio jazz that's executed so beautifully one might not notice how complex it really is.

This 1982 meeting between the veteran alto saxophonist Lee Konitz and the young pianist (19 at the time of the session) Michel Petrucciani is a success on all counts. Konitz's fragile alto is complemented by Petrucciani's lush backing in "I Hear a Rhapsody," while their abstract approach to "'Round Midnight" and "Lover Man" are both very refreshing. Konitz is unaccompanied for his wandering "Ode," while the pianist is featured alone on his complex portrait "To Erlinda," which is dedicated to his first wife. Petrucciani and Konitz wrote the brief closer, the lively blues "Lovelee," during which they initially play apart from one another before joining forces to close with a flourish. This was only Petrucciani's third recording, yet he plays far beyond his years; this recommended CD will be difficult to find due to the demise of the Owl label.

Despite a few flaws, fans will give a hearty welcome to Blues Traveler Live: Thinnest of Air, a two-disc record of the band's July 4, 2003 gig at Red Rocks, Denver. It's heartening to see the group still in existence, let alone on such good form, as they seem to have been dogged by bad luck for far too long: there was John Popper's near-fatal car accident in 1992, then his heart problems in 1999, closely followed by the sudden death of brilliant bassist Bobby Sheehan. But the no-nonsense New Yorkers have come back from the brink of dissolution, recruiting Tad Kinchla on bass as well as keyboardist Ben Wilson, who makes the band officially a quintet and helps to flesh out their live sound.