Mudvayne - The New Game

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Mudvayne - The New Game

“On this eclectic 11-song set, Mudvayne stretches into a variety of previously unexplored musical settings to accompany Chad Gray’s unapologetically angsty lyrics. “Fish Out of Water” opens things with a staccato gallop before careening through a series of prog-rock-styled dynamic shifts. A ringing mixture of acoustic and electric guitars bring fresh textures to “Do What You Do,” the album’s first single; “Scarlet Letters”; and “Never Enough,” while the politically toned “Have It Your Way” is a forthright and furious modern rock jam tailored for the Vans Warped tour. Some of the fierce headbanging that is Mudvayne’s stock in trade can still be found in “The Hate in Me,” “We the People” and “Dull Boy,” but the bulk of the record finds the group playing its “New Game” with hard-hitting exuberance. —Gary Graff”

Blake Shelton - Startin Fires

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Blake Shelton - Startin Fires

“Blake Shelton announces that “I’m a lucky man” near the start of his fifth album, which is exactly how someone dating fellow country singer Miranda Lambert should probably feel. That relationship gives “Startin’ Fires” its verve and spirit, a love-struck recovery from the heartbroken pall that hung over 2007’s “Pure BS.” There’s some self-recrimination in “She Wouldn’t Be Gone” and a neat twist in the plot of “I Don’t Care,” but mostly Shelton is in L-O-V-E and overjoyed to sing about it. “Country Strong” offers an anthemic salute to boot-wearin’ men and women, “Home Sweet Home” pays tribute to just that, and “This Is Gonna Take All Night” is a pronouncement of sexual intent so direct it would make the late Barry White smile. The “Fires,” it seems, have more than merely started. —Gary Graff”