Album reviews for the latest music available for streaming and jammin’.

Jennifer Nettles / Playing With Fire

As one half of the bubbly country-pop duo Sugarland, Jennifer Nettles has played the crossover game before, but now that’s she’s gone solo (Playing With Fire is her second studio album as a solo artist), she proves, beyond a doubt, that she’s got all the sass and swagger to be victorious in either genre. She’s owes it to a voice that so effortlessly goes from the soft-whisper lyrics of a ballad like “Unlove You” to a hearty, no-holds-barred twang in “Hey Heartbreak.”

Nettles will always be more than a little bit country in all her songs, but she plays well with pop, too. Her soothing, soaring voice is like a lullaby sung as you’re tucked into bed after a long day. It’s not to say she sings happy all the time, of course (take the aforementioned, heartbreaking-but-beautiful “Unlove You’). Quite the contrary. As with everything country, there’s heartache and tragedy in store, but it’s not all slit-your-wrists sad. For every “Unlove You” or “Starting Over,” there’s a “Drunk In Heels” or the rousing title track, which serves as the album opener and sets the energy level on high: “For just one goddamn time, I wanna put my whole self first.” It’s kick-ass, unapologetic, grand and glossy, and it has all the flourishes of a diva who is not holding back – and because of that, Fire is, well, on fire.

For more information, visit JenniferNettles.com.

By Mike Wood

Rob Zombie / The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser

While other shock rockers have fallen into the dustbin of bogeymen (here’s looking at you, Marilyn Manson), Rob Zombie has latched onto the fringes of pop culture and has managed to stick around. But on The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser, Zombie’s sixth solo album, that hold is losing its grip.

With only one song clocking in at more than three minutes, The Electric Warlock… sounds more like a blueprint for a bigger project than one solid and cohesive album. Maybe if Zombie spent more time working on the songs themselves, rather than their absurdly long titles, there would be more here for listeners. Although most of the songs here come across as rushed and not fully realized, there are those that offer a creative spark. “Super-Doom-Hex-Gloom Part One” is a treat for genre buffs, in the form of retro horror movie synths, and lives up to the title of the EP. John 5 is still reliable on guitar, too, churning out gargantuan power chords on “In the Age of the Consecrated Vampire We All Get High” and “Get Your Boots On! That’s the End of Rock and Roll.”

Zombie’s fans will still eat this up, and that’s all that really matters for him to keep helming his one-man show. But after all the hoopla and expectations that come with the cool album artwork and over-the-top song titles on The Electric Warlock…, you’ll be left feeling the same way you do after having watched one of Zombie’s movies – disappointed and befuddled.

For more information, visit robzombie.com.

By Jason Savio