Sturgill Simpson - Sound & Fury

Released in 2019, Sound & Fury is the Grammy Award-winning artist Sturgill Simpson’s most "fearless and confrontational" creative pivot. Following the soulful, brass-heavy acclaim of A Sailor's Guide to Earth, Simpson retreated to the McGuire Motor Inn in Waterford, Michigan, to record what he calls a "sleazy, steamy rock n roll record." Produced by Simpson alongside bandmates Bobby Emmett, Chuck Bartels, and Miles Miller—plus Grammy nominee John Hill—the album is a "monolithic and psychedelic" departure that swaps country twang for "crushing guitar walls" and "pulsating synth-rock" rhythms.

The record serves as a "visceral and addictive" sonic companion to an original Netflix dystopian anime film, with tracks like "Sing Along" and "A Good Look" channeling a 21st-century answer to ZZ Top’s Eliminator. From the "hypnotic and heavy" grooves of "Make Art Not Friends" to the "unfettered fury" of the seven-minute closer "Fastest Horse in Town," Sound & Fury is a "major triumph" of atmosphere and aggression. This 180-gram vinyl pressing is the definitive way to experience the album’s "physical weight and high-fidelity grit," housed in a premium gatefold jacket that captures its "stunningly unique" dystopian energy.