The Mars Volta, 'Octahedron' (Warner Bros.)

Duo reinjects soulful noise into interstellar freakouts.

Unless you're the kind of prog-rock nut who plans to buy I Love You, Man on DVD just to relive the scene at the Rush concert, you're probably suffering from an acute case of Mars Volta Fatigue right about now.

Iggy Pop, 'Préliminaires' (Astralwerks)

Stooge trades broken glass for smoking jacket.

Is Iggy Pop aware that Leonard Cohen has returned to the stage?

Tori Amos, 'Abnormally Attracted to Sin' (Universal Republic)

Message? Awesome. Medium? Not so much.

On her tenth studio album, Tori Amos writes no less penetratingly than she did on her first about the way women navigate the intersection between sex and power.

Depeche Mode, 'Sounds of the Universe' (Mute/Capitol/Virgin)

Iconic gloom merchants mellow out -- somberly.

This is Depeche Mode's 12th studio album, but it's only the second they've released since the dance-rock style they helped invent caught fire among crate-digging hipsters half their age.

The Horrors, 'Primary Colours' (XL)

Black-clad Brits shake riotous need for speed.

These U.K. goth-garage ghouls made a splash in 2006 with "Sheena Is a Parasite," 100 seconds of strobe-seizure guitar and creepshow organ accompanied by a video in which actress Samantha Morton shimmied so hard her guts fell out.

The Crystal Method, 'Divided by Night' (Tiny E)

You've not come a terribly long way, baby.

Business is booming for big-beat nostalgia this year: First Norman "Fatboy Slim" Cook returns to active duty with the BPA (and checks into rehab!), then Liam Howlett reunites with Keith Flint for a blast-from-the-past Prodigy disc. Now here's the Crystal Method with a not-so-fresh batch of rave-rock jock jams seemingly designed to advertise a car you can no longer afford.

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