Audrey

Concept albums are few and far between, and rarer yet in classical music. THINGS IN PAIRS, a conceptual as well as a musical beacon by violin/piano duo Audrey Wright and Yundu Wang, fills this gap. The tracks on THINGS IN PAIRS were not just carefully curated – rather, they were selected and sorted with the precision of a steady-handed artist stacking a formidable house of cards. Spanning five centuries, these pieces contrast the classical Joseph Bologne with modern minimalist Arvo Pärt, Baroque virtuoso Biber with the contemporary Rain Worthington, all under the watchful eye of Viennese Classical Beethoven.

The sixth go-around for the Norwegian hard rockers and Twin Peaks devotees, Blackout delivers another solid set of neo-classic rock confections that borrow happily from stalwart radio heavies like Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, and Van Halen. More NWOBHM than hair metal, the 12-track set takes itself just seriously enough to connect, but never tries to pretend to be anything other than a love letter to the 1970s, which it manages to do with significant aplomb, despite the fact that the band has connections to a host of extreme metal outfits, including Enslaved and Gorgoroth. Iron Maiden are evoked right out of the gate on the explosive "This Is War," a nearly six-and-a-half-minute romp through guitarmony-leaden killing fields that sounds like a lost cut from the Piece of Mind sessions.