Seldom does a debut album make the splash like AWOLNATION’s Megalithic Symphony. The 2011 full-length had three Top 10 singles (“Sail,” “Not Your Fault,” and “Kill Your Heroes”), spent seven weeks at the top of the Billboard charts, was used on over 100 television shows and movie and inspired its own iPhone game Megalithic Mayhem. The California foursome only started in 2009 when Red Bull Records gave former Under the Influence of Giants singer Aaron Bruno full use of its studio to record whatever he wanted. What came out was a genre blend of hip-hop electronic punk rock. Think Beck meets the Killers, a combination of both gritty and high pitch vocals with a strong focus on synth and keys, letting guitars take a back seat. Perhaps experimental to a fault, they don’t seem to have any focus on a specific sound, but hey, it’s only their first album. (Nikki Hunt)