New Releases: Avril Lavigne Takes On Nine Inch Nails

There are two major releases this Tuesday and not much else. We'll start with the Canadian entry, since it's been a while since we've heard anything new from her.

Napanee, Ont.'s Avril Lavigne has spent the past few years redesigning her image and taking lessons on how to be articulate (at least when speaking, if not writing). Now she's back on record with The Best Damn Thing. Whether it actually is remains to be seen.

Then there's Nine Inch Nails. It seems like only yesterday that Trent Reznor's seminal industrial group released their comeback record, With Teeth. By Reznor's standards, two years ago basically is yesterday, since fans of the band are usually accustomed to six-year breaks between albums.

Probably buoyed by the success of NIN's never-ending string of tour dates over 2005 and 2006, he's wisely decided to get something out quickly so he can stay on the road. Year Zero is a highly political record, which is a tad odd coming from the guy who once sang, "God is dead, and no one cares."

Here are some of this week's other releases:

65DAYSOFSTATIC Don't Go Down To Sorrow (Monotreme)
ARCTIC MONKEYS Brianstorm (Domino/Outside)
BUCKY COVINGTON S/T (Hollywood/Universal)
THE COMAS Spells (Vagrant/Universal)
DJ VADIM The Sound Catcher (!K7/Outside)
ELK CITY New Believers (Friendly Fire/Outside)
FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY Fallout (Metropolis/Outside)
JOSEPH ARTHUR & THE LONELY ASTRONAUTS Let's Just Be (Indica/Outside)
THE NOISETTES What's The Time Mr. Wolf? (Universal)