Uplifter

Working with former Metallica confidant Bob Rock, the veteran Omaha, Neb., rap-rockers serve up their usual blend of laid-back rhymes and hard-edged riffs on "Uplifter," 311's ninth studio disc and its first since 2005's "Don't Tread on Me." Muscular, in-your-face cuts like "Never Ending Summer" and "Daisy Cutter" are sure to satisfy the band's devoted extreme-sports following, but 311 is more impressive here when it flexes its knack for pure pop. Anyone who dug the group's cooled-out cover of the Cure's "Love Song" (featured on the "50 First Dates" soundtrack) should appreciate "Too Much Too Fast," a bouncy midtempo charmer, and "Two Drops in the Ocean," which boasts a chord progression surprisingly similar to Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You."