The seventh album from Enigma may not be their best but does a neat job of keeping you hooked. The songs may give you a sense of déjà vu but there are a few elements that are quite fresh and new. Founded in 1990 by Michael Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson, the band has carved a niche for itself among music lovers. Starting with Encounters, the album has gems like Seven Lies, a blend of contemporary and classical beats apart from La Puerta Del Cielo, Touchness and fata Morgana Much better than their last offering this one scores because the melodies sound more like the group’s early works. According to Michael, it was his intention to combine the dirties Bronx hip-hop beats with the purity of the London Symphony Orchestra!

HOT Tip: A great hear, especially during those romantic, candlelit dinners!

East and West do meet, like in the musical repertoires of Pete and AMIT MULTI-percussionist Pete has played not only with icons like Bjork and Peter Gabriel but also A R Rahman and Vikku Vinayakram. And Amit-guitarist, sitarist, composer, vocalist-has not only been associated with jazz-fusion legend Joe Zawinul but also with Carlos Santana and Trilok Gurtu. When these two meet, what do we get but a melting pot of musical textures? Tune in to quirky Jugalbandis in 7G 444. Forest and Ojha and the stylized vocals in Ghunghat and Talisman, Intellectual lounge music for an arty do!

HOT Tip: Pete’s mastered a host of percussion instruments, including the mridangam, the Egyptian tabla, the West African djembe and the Japanese taiko! Drum it on.

They’ve done it yet again! Metallica’s ninth studio album debuted at 1 on the Billboard 200 charts and swept the airwaves. And though some may not like death theme of the album hardcore fans are going to lap it up. Members James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo and Lars Ulrich have packed the album with high energy thrashing and have each contributed to all 8 songs-a first for the band. Kicking off with That Was Just Your Life (kickass to say the least!) the follow-ups of The Day That Never Comes, The Judas Kiss and My Apocalypse are the best of the lot. Others are a slight notch below them. The songs are rather long but, all in all, this is one of the best pure metal albums to have come out in recent times.

HOT Tip: Keep an ear out for the mindblowing guitar work!