Early metal bands drew inspiration from the netherworld, but on the fifth album from Chicago hard-rock band Disturbed, all the demons live within. "Now if I am to survive/The infection must die," howls David Draiman on the chorus of "Infection," just one of Asylum's grim, grinding paeans to pain. The music is appropriately bleak: "Warrior" works a mean, thrashing groove and "Crucified" threads an eerie, snakelike melody through drill-press riffs. Draiman's vocals split the difference between post-grunge-baritone croon and tortured, acid-gargling howl — a kind of leather-clad Jekyll-and-Hyde routine. But where many of their peers settle for a few blocky chords and let the distortion pedal do the rest, Disturbed don't shy away from a few fevered fret-board workouts. As history has proven, the devil — wherever he lives — loves a good guitar solo.

“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.