Class Enemy (2013)

The soundtrack for the Gavin Hood-directed, decades-in-the-making big-screen adaptation of author Orson Scott Card's science fiction epic Ender's Game, features an original score by composer Steve Jablonsky (Battleship, Gangster Squad, The Transformers trilogy). Issued by Varese Sarabande, the soundtrack includes 21 tracks, all of which skillfully blend familiar space opera motifs with the orchestral- and percussion-laden bombast of 21st century action film scores, resulting in a thrilling mix of old-school and new that complements the film's eye-popping special effects and traditional narrative structure.

Though Dream Theater recruited drummer Mike Mangini to replace Mike Portnoy on 2011's A Dramatic Turn of Events, his drum parts had all been scripted before the change, leading to the rather stilted feeling of the album. This self-titled offering, the band's 12th album overall, marks the first time Mangini was involved in the writing and creative decision making from the jump and it shows. Produced by guitarist John Petrucci and recorded and mixed by Richard Chycki, this is one of the more dynamic, far-reaching albums in DT's catalog. Opener "False Awakening Suite" is a brief but cinematic near-instrumental with twinned guitars and keyboards riffs from Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess, all underscored by a string section and layered choral vocals by James LaBrie…

The influential nature of Teutonic legends Kreator cannot be stressed enough, and yet is an often ignored aspect of extreme metal history in the eyes of the mainstream, that has all too often directed unwarranted focus towards what is often deemed the heralding location of thrash metal, i.e the west coast of the United States. The rise of the most ground breaking, stylistically defying and unconventional genres in the cryptic extreme metal movement of the late 80’s and early 90’s was simply a reciprocal exaltation to the formative influences bestowed upon the innovators of extreme metal…