VoxTalk highlights three albums from a strong week of releases, recent tour developments and other music news.

New albums (released Oct. 22):

The Sword – Apocryphon

After traveling through time and space on its last album, metal band The Sword return to a dying Earth for Apocryphon. Chugging, downtuned chords soundtrack the end of the world, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Courtesy of Amazon.com

Titus Andronicus – Local Business

The New Jersey punk band’s third album is homier and less grandiose than past efforts — clocking in at 10 songs and 50 minutes in runtime. Frontman Patrick Stickles’ pointed lyrical themes are still present, though. On Local Business, he rambles about eating disorders, existential nihilism and the fallacies of a technology-driven society.

P.O.S. – We Don’t Even Live Here

P.O.S.’s punk-rap gets a heavier back beat (for dancing!) on We Don’t Even Live Here. Unfortunately, the Minneapolis-based emcee had to cancel his upcoming tour because of emergency kidney surgery. Check out the video for the record’s lead single, “Get Down”.

Tours:

Local Natives – After announcing a new album, the band mapped out an extensive tour.

P.O.S. – As mentioned above, the rapper canceled his North American tour.

Other tidbits:

-The Black Lips will release a live album through Jack White’s Third Man Records. The label’s live releases present noisy rock ‘n’ roll bands — unabridged and uncut — on the stage in their element. Trust us when we say that no band better lends itself to a Third Man live album than The Black Lips.

-Stream the entire soundtrack for RZA’s The Man With the Iron Fists, which includes the Wu-Tang Clan (naturally), Kanye West and The Black Keys.

Vox pick of the week:

The Sword – “The Veil of Isis”

Apocalyptic headbanging.