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...

Some songs slink into existence like they’ve emerged from a digital jungle, chrome vines and all. Super Massive’s latest single, "Caught In A Web," doesn’t just step into the foliage; it practically swings from the branches. Glenn Abbott’s tight, pulsating drum rhythms instantly provide the scaffolding, while Malina Hamilton-Smith’s vocals glide, entangle, and occasionally sting like the titular web’s arachnid inhabitant. It grooves like...