My favourite album: Back in Black by AC/DC

Continuing our new series in which Guardian and Observer writers pick their favourite albums ever – with a view that you might do the same – Kitty Empire hails some casual sexism and eye-rolling double entendres. Oh, and those riffs ...

Trivium: In Waves – review

Trivium's fifth release is the kind of heavy-rotation schlock that clogs up the darker reaches of rock music cable channels, writes Jamie Thomson

Iron Maiden – review

Iron Maiden's lumbering new prog monsters, such as When the Wild Wind Blows, pale beside early headbangers Running Free and Iron Maiden – but the show never lets up, writes Dave Simpson

Judas Priest – review

This is a ludicrously entertaining romp of silver capes, lasers, flames, three-pronged forks shooting sparks, Harley Davidsons on stage and a Spinal Tap moment, writes Dave Simpson

Download festival – review

Ironically, by the time the Cult rolled out their unofficial festival anthem, Rain, the downpour had eased up, writes Jamie Thomson

White Denim: D – review

White Denim are so fiercely experimental, playful and talented, they can travel in umpteen directions simultaneously, writes Maddy Costa

Rush – review

Rush, the ‘high priests of conceptual metal’, are preposterously pretentious, but it’s done with a lot of fun and self-mockery, and the crowd love them, writes Dave Simpson

Foo Fighters: Wasting Light – review

Foo Fighters decide to strip things down for Wasting Light, their seventh album, repairing to Dave Grohl's garage for the recording, says Kitty Empire