Darkness can leave room for a joke, and heavy music can still move. On "Rustbelt Rejects", Akron artist Zmack puts that relationship to work through abrasive textures, grooves and odd humour. His original album brings hip-hop into contact with Memphis trap, Horrorcore, industrial, funk-metal and phonk. Yet the aim is not genre display. The range accommodates memory, loss, anger, pride, relationships and Irish-American identity. It gives...

On "Mr. Know It All", the loudest person in the room may have the least to teach us. That thought gives Jack Raymond’s second album its bite. This Australian folk, roots and blues album review puts people at its centre. They carry family stories, dodge hard truths and live with choices that arrived before them. Raymond gives no heroic status to the title figure. Instead, he...