Warship 2015 (warship (conway Maritime Press))

The fifth studio long-player from the Jacksonville, Florida-based hard rock unit, Threat to Survival is also Shinedown's most pop-oriented set of songs to date. Front-loaded with two of its hardest-hitting (and classic-sounding) cuts in "Asking for It" and the hefty first single "Cut the Cord," both of which are as hook-laden as they are bruising, Threat to Survival begins to detour from the post-grunge highway with "State of My Head," a slick amalgam of electro-pop and vintage alt-rock with a catchy as hell though extremely well-worn chorus. Meticulously crafted radio fodder like "How Did You Love," "Thick as Thieves," and the Killers-lite "Misfits" follow suit, further distancing the group from its nu-metal origins, but the band hasn't completely lost its knack for crafting punishing blasts of groove-laden and distortion-heavy modern rock.

The third studio long-player from the Grammy Award-winning hard rockers led by powerhouse vocalist Lzzy Hale, Into the Wild Life doubles down on the more radio-friendly elements that were introduced on 2012's Strange Case Of…, but it also plays fast and loose with the formula, pouring as many different stylistic elements as it can into each of its 12 (15 if you pick up the deluxe version) cuts. As per usual, Hale's tornadic vocals lead the charge, and she lays down some of her best work to date on stand-out cuts like "I Am the Fire," "Gonna Get Mine," the heartfelt ballad "Dear Daughter," and the blistering, aptly named "Mayhem," the latter of which eschews some of the more traditional hard rock Halestorm tropes (of which there are many) in favor of a nervy blast of pure punk-metal malevolence.

Ariana Grande is an American singer and actress. She began her career in the Broadway musical 13, before landing the role of Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon television series Victorious in 2009. After four seasons, the show ended, and Grande starred on the spinoff, Sam & Cat, which ended in 2014. She has also appeared in other theatre, television and film roles and lent her voice to animated television and films. Grande's music career began with the soundtrack Music from Victorious (2011). She signed a recording contract with Republic Records and released her debut studio album, Yours Truly in 2013, which debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. The album's lead single, "The Way", reached the top-ten of the Billboard Hot 100, with critics comparing her wide vocal range to Mariah Carey.

Modernizing the harmony vocal pop of '30s and '40s groups like the Andrews Sisters, London's Puppini Sisters took the name of Marcella Puppini, who founded the act after being inspired by the music in the film The Triplets of Belleville. Puppini, a native of Bologna, Italy, moved to London in 1990 to study fashion and quickly became immersed in the city's music scene. Though she had a career at Vivienne Westwood's design studio, she left to focus on music, and in 2003 earned a music degree at Trinity College of Music. Jazz was her passion, and Puppini spent time as the musical director and orchestra conductor for the Whoopee Club, as well as leading her own quartet.

Sandy-voiced French singer and actress Louane Emera aka Louane (born Anne Peichert) found fame as a contestant in the second season of France's The Voice in 2013. Though she didn't make the finals of the singing competition, she was cast as one of The Bélier Family in the 2014 film, which featured her singing several songs including Michel Legrand's "Je Vole." She won a César Award for Most Promising Actress for the film. That same year, she released her first single, "Jour 1," which hit the Top Ten in France; "Je Vole" climbed to number two; and she appeared on two covers collections, We Love Disney, Vol. 2 and La Bande à Renaud, Vol. 2. Her debut album, Chambre 12, arrived in 2015 and went to number one on France's album chart, also charting in Belgium and Switzerland.

Former Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour is not prolific. Rattle That Lock is only his fourth solo studio album (though it follows his late band's final album, The Endless River, by only ten months). Gilmour recorded some 35 songs for this set, some dating back 18 years. Trimming them to ten couldn't have been easy. Titled for John Milton's second book in Paradise Lost, Rattle That Lock is structured as an informal song cycle to reflect the sometimes random, sometimes weightier thought processes of a typical person in a single day. It begins, appropriately, with the instrumental "5 A.M.." Orchestrated by Zbigniew Preisner, Gilmour's signature slow, bluesy, Stratocaster sting enters just 30 seconds in, followed by fingerpicked acoustic guitars, gentle synths, and electric piano amid chamber strings to announce the title-track single.