With solo projects, other bands and a massive Creed reunion between them, there were whispers that Alter Bridge might be on the way out. Instead they regrouped, faced the dark side of our times, put their foot on the gas and recorded a brilliant new album.

BURY TOMORROW / WARGASM

Rugby League was an opportunity to express myself when I was young. Give a big kid a rugby ball and he can run through people, so it became my career. I played in the Super League for Salford City Red

IT WAS AN unlikely project that stemmed from unusual connections and happy coincidence. And about a decade after its inception, Chicago alternative-music fixture Jason Narducy and Oscar-nominated acto

BUSH / WITCH FEVER

Pull up a chair: The Emerald Dawn at ...