Here at Spinner, we receive more CDs than we can possibly listen to. Sadly, many of them, whether good or bad, get consigned to The Crap Stack, where they languish until they're eventually carted off to become shiny silver landfill somewhere. However, in our version of Musical Lotto, we've decided to rescue -- completely at random -- three discs from the pile and give them a proper and fair reviewing. Will the chosen CD be crap-tastic -- or just plain crap? Let's find out, shall we?

The Showdown: 'Back Breaker' (album): Let's be perfectly frank: This album has a pretty hilarious photo on its cover -- the guy looks like a cross between a homoerotic depiction of St. Sebastian and a steroid-amped Steven Seagal lookalike. Weird, right? Thankfully, the music on the album doesn't leave the listener guffawing. There's certainly drama aplenty, but it's handled well -- opening track '[Titanomachy] The Beginning' has distant-sounding timpani drums, waves, thunder and chorus-like keyboards, but it quickly gets down to business with some gigantic guitar riffs and thunderous drumming. This band is unashamedly metal, and they don't care who knows it.

Here at Spinner, we receive more CDs than we can possibly listen to. Sadly, many of them, whether good or bad, get consigned to The Crap Stack, where they languish until they're eventually carted off to become shiny silver landfill somewhere. However, in our version of Musical Lotto, we've decided to rescue -- completely at random -- three discs from the pile and give them a proper and fair reviewing. Will the chosen CD be crap-tastic -- or just plain crap? Let's find out, shall we?

Bell X1: 'Blue Lights on the Runway' (album): Showing themselves to be an eclectic bunch, this Irish three-piece claims to be influenced by "Mick Fleetwood's drums, Brian Eno's head, Gillian Welch's soul, Napoleon Dynamite's delicious bass." A heady mix, indeed. The deliciously titled opener, 'The Ribs of a Broken Umbrella,' sounds like a modern-day Roxy Music, crafting lush soundscapes with an insistent and booming backbeat accompanying singer Paul Noonan's Bryan Ferry-esque vocal. It's fair to say that Noonan's voice has something of a chameleonic quality to it -- during those moments when he really belts on 'One Stringed Harp' and, in particular, 'The Great Defector,' he sounds like a David Byrne of days past.

Here at Spinner, we receive more CDs than we can possibly listen to. Sadly, many of them, whether good or bad, get consigned to The Crap Stack, where they languish until they're eventually carted off to become shiny silver landfill somewhere. However, in our version of Musical Lotto, we've decided to rescue -- completely at random -- three discs from the pile and give them a proper and fair reviewing. Will the chosen CD be crap-tastic -- or just plain crap? Let's find out, shall we?

Satyricon: 'The Age of Nero' (album): For about three months of the year, the sun never rises about the horizon in the north of Norway and [lo!] this blackest of albums from these Norwegian metal gods must surely have been written during those dark times. Opener 'Commando' kicks off with muffled blastbeats, a distorted voice barking orders and what can only be described as the sound of someone being flogged. All this before the full-on assault of some furiously high-speed guitars and the sound of drummer Frost doing his best to bend one of his cymbals. Put it this way -- we don't think Nana will be putting this on the gramophone at her weekly embroidery get-together.

Here at Spinner, we receive more CDs than we can possibly listen to. Sadly, many of them, whether good or bad, get consigned to The Crap Stack, where they languish until they're eventually carted off to become shiny silver landfill somewhere. However, in our version of Musical Lotto, we've decided to rescue -- completely at random -- three discs from the pile and give them a proper and fair reviewing. Will the chosen CD be crap-tastic -- or just plain crap? Let's find out, shall we?

Shirock: 'Everything Burns' (album): These Nashvillian power-pop rockers generate a pleasingly large noise on this, their debut effort. Opening gambit 'New Solution' has so much oomph that it politely requests winding up to at least a hearty 10 on our iPod and can capably draw disapproving glances from mass transit co-travelers. Bizarrely but, perhaps, fittingly, when co-vocalist hubby-and-wife team Chuck and Pap Shirock harmonize in the chorus of 'Solution,' their voices meld with the net effect of sounding almost exactly like Queensrÿche's Geoff Tate -- no small achievement. Separately, Chuck sounds more like Simple Minds' Jim Kerr on tunes like 'Time Goes By,' and Pap's solo on 'I'll Take Rain' showcases a sweet vocal that calls for comparison to Irish pop-folksters the Corrs.

Here at Spinner, we receive more CDs than we can possibly listen to. Sadly, many of them, whether good or bad, get consigned to The Crap Stack, where they languish until they're eventually carted off to become shiny silver landfill somewhere. However, in our version of Musical Lotto, we've decided to rescue -- completely at random -- three discs from the pile and give them a proper and fair reviewing. Will the chosen CD be crap-tastic -- or just plain crap? Let's find out, shall we?

Lesley Roy: 'I'm Gone, I'm Going' (single): Emerald Isle native Lesley Roy's power pop belter starts out busier than a shopping mall the day after Thanksgiving and doesn't let up for a second. Roy seems to have pilfered from Avril Lavigne's box o' hooks with considerable abandon and, perhaps because of that, this tune is actually rather catchy and probably easy radio fodder. The keyboards in the chorus sound a lot like Van Halen's 'Jump,' only at twice the speed, while the drummer sounds like he should be auditioning for Queens of the Stone Age.

Here at Spinner, we receive more CDs than we can possibly listen to. Sadly, many of them, whether good or bad, get consigned to The Crap Stack, where they languish until they're eventually carted off to become shiny silver landfill somewhere. However, in our version of Musical Lotto, we've decided to rescue -- completely at random -- three discs from the pile and give them a proper and fair reviewing. Will the chosen CD be crap-tastic -- or just plain crap? Let's find out, shall we?

Pleasure P: 'Boyfriend #2' (single): Whenever someone chooses to rhyme the word "navel" with the word "table," we know we're in trouble. Pleasure P commits that very lyrical misdemeanor in this veritable manifesto o' muck. Mr. P is an alumnus of R&B schmooze-meisters Pretty Ricky, but it seems he had trouble graduating from their velveteen frat house. 'Boyfriend #2' is, in old-fashioned lingo, all about cuckolding -- a chick's husband/boyfriend/life-partner doesn't pay attention to her, emotionally, spiritually or, in the area in which Pleasure P apparently specializes, in the bedroom. So she calls P.

Here at Spinner, we receive more CDs than we can possibly listen to. Sadly, many of them, whether good or bad, get consigned to The Crap Stack, where they languish until they're eventually carted off to become shiny silver landfill somewhere. However, in our version of Musical Lotto, we've decided to rescue -- completely at random -- three discs from the pile and give them a proper and fair reviewing. Will the chosen CD be crap-tastic -- or just plain crap? Let's find out, shall we?

The Bad Plus, Joined by Wendy Lewis: 'For All I Care' (album): Asking a buttoned-up jazz trio to cover "normal" music is a bit like asking Einstein to do your physics homework. But it's not about how you do it, it's the style in which you do it; and these cats, assisted by vocalist Wendy Lewis, have style in spades. The opener on 'For All I Care' is the Pluses' take on Nirvana's 'Lithium,' and it's nothing short of sublime. Although spacious, the rendition never gets lounge-y, with the band replacing Cobain's "yeah, yeah, yeah" chorus with a wickedly discordant piano part, the bass and snappy drums prowling around in the background. Lewis' vocals are suitably mournful, a little Aimee Mann-like and totally fitting.