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Full Stride, "Full Stride" (Slow Heavy Music Records)

This Austin rock duo makes a cacophonous racket — a heavy blues backbeat with a thunderous bass bottom — on this seven-song EP. The female/male harmonies are a saving grace.

Amber Dickerson slings her six-string like nobody's business throughout the proceedings. Her vocals go from seductress to banshee, while her bass lines flow through you. The songs with her on lead vocals are the best on the disc: the blues dirge "Exposed"; "Hurting"; and the psychedelic rocker "Don't Need You," where she shows off her excellent guitar work amid feedback screech.

When drummer Trent Parker takes over the vocals, the songs possess a very '80s hard-rock feel ("Just Cause"; "Feet on the Ground"). He has a less melodic voice that's harsh with a bark and a bite.

Full Stride shares the stage with Ya Ya Boom Project on Aug. 25 at Burt's Tiki Lounge, 313 Gold Ave. S.W. The Gracchi and Marsupious open the show at 10 p.m. Free. 21 and over. 247-2878.

Supersuckers, "Paid" (Mid-Fi Recordings)

This six-song EP is to tide fans of the Seattle trio over until a new full-length emerges, possibly early next year. However, their trademark rock/country mix remains intact.

The CD is replete with Eddie Spaghetti's twangy vocals, as on "Paid," a rock 'n' roll boogie where he deadpans: "I gotta work, so I can get paid." But he can display a great vocal range (the country lament "Breaking Honey's Heart"). The Supersuckers also do a cover of country rocker Steve Earle's "Here I Am."

This is a true fusion of rock and country music, in the vein of Social Distortion, especially on the country punk 'n' roll of "Roadworn and Weary." On "Creepy Jackalope Eye" the guys question their faith (and reality) over a jazzy rhythm and punk-rock backbeat.

The Supersuckers converge on the Launchpad, 618 Central S.W., on Aug. 29. Sun Trash opens at 9 p.m. $10 advance/$12 at the door. 21 and over. 764-8887. www.virtuous.com

Okkervil River, "The Stage Names" (Jagjaguwar)

Despite the size of the group — a seven-member core band with an eight-piece orchestral section — Austin's Okkervil River should rightfully be drawing comparisons to Arcade Fire based on the music, a mixture of folk, pop, rock and R&B inflections, on its fourth full-length. Heck, Will Sheff even sounds a little like Win Butler.

The music is big, epic sounding and uplifting, even when the subject matter's not — is "Our Life is not a Movie or Maybe" a bad flick or bad luck? Discuss.

In fact, the song narratives are absurdist and surreal, almost cinematic in their scope and sweep. Taken as a whole, the disc is like a concept album, some bizarro off-Broadway musical. There is no verse-chorus-verse here.

Highlights include "Plus Ones," where the protagonist is all hesitation until the bitter end, then there's no regrets. On it, Sheff makes sly references to many tunes you might have heard before, specifically a slight variation of David Bowie's "TVC15" off "Station to Station." A wistful coronet sets the mood on "A Girl in Port," a twangy, woeful serial killer's lament. The melancholy "Title Track" is a momentous dirge, by turns minimalist or orchestral.

"You Can't Hold the Hand of a Rock and Roll Man" is the most "rock" song of the bunch (hand claps!), while "John Allyn Smith Sails" is Sheff's ode to suicidal poet John Berryman that includes a weird, deconstructed snippet of the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B."

On the band's bio for the album, Sheff says: "We wanted `The Stage Names' to feel briskly contemporary. . . . There was a general frivolity to the proceedings. We wanted to scoop out all the weight of the songs so that they could float. And we wanted them, above all, to feel like a gift."

I think they've succeeded wholeheartedly.

Okkervil River kicks off a 29-show, 36-day tour to promote the new disc on Aug. 26 at the Launchpad. Lowlights open at 9 p.m. $8. 21 and over. www.virtuous.com

Korn, "Untitled" (Virgin Records)

On its eighth studio LP in 13 years, the original L.A. quintet is down to a trio of core members — vocalist Jonathan Davis, guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer and bassist Fieldy. It was produced by British programmer/remixer Atticus Ross (NIN), and it shows judging by the industrial pulse and rhythms and throbbing beats.

The group again worked with Swedish pop merchants the Matrix (Avril Lavigne, Liz Phair) on songwriting and production, but they say they reworked all but four of the 10 tracks. "Starting Over" is all industrial flamboyance, and ". . . We Got a Problem" has a throbbing pulse, while "Evolution," about human de-evolution, is a mix of their old and new direction. (Listen to "Evolution.")

Davis has a distinct voice that's soft on the high octaves (the hard-rock lullaby "Hushabye") and bombastic when need be ("Innocent Bystander" and the soft-loud-louder "Killing"). The lyrics almost seem to be stream-of-consciousness.

Korn is experimenting, and on some tunes to say the band is taking a different direction is an understatement (the techno-pop "Love and Luxury"). But it works, notably on "Kiss," where questioning personal salvation becomes a love/hate internal proposition, with its refrain/coda: "Why do you always push me away?"

The touring version of Korn features Slipknot's Joey Jordison on drums, Sevendust's Clint Lowery on guitars, and keyboardist Zac Baird, who has been on the road with the band since 2005.

Korn headlines the Family Values Tour on Aug. 25 at the Journal Pavilion, 5601 University Blvd. S.E. The hard-rock/heavy metal bill includes Evanescence, Flyleaf, Atreyu, Hellyeah and Trivium. All ages. 2 p.m. Tickets are $15.99 to $65.50, plus applicable service charges, at Ticketmaster outlets. Call 883-7800 or log on to Ticketmaster