Murder of the Universe

The second of five planned albums for 2017, the Australians’ 10th studio album is one wild dystopian ride. It’s a three-chapter trip described by frontman Stu Mackenzie as “a visual, descriptive, bleak record” and aided by coolly detached narration from a cyborg named “Han-Tyumi” (an anagram for “Humanity”). The portentous themes aren’t necessarily matched by the music, however. The septet lay on way too much psychedelic metal fun for the mood to turn too bleak.