Big Head Todd and the Monsters have had a long, storied career in which they've explored the multitude of branching paths in rock music. Led by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Todd Mohr, the band has fused rock with blues, jazz and more. Here in this session they're playing a lot of new songs. This is perfectly reflected in their opening song, which is also the titular track on their latest album: "New World Arisin'". It's a fact of life that there is always a new world coming. The unstoppable force of time guarantees some sort of change as our lives go forward, both privately and collectively. We age, we learn, and we suffer. But with suffering and loss comes rebirth; all of life exists in a cycle. That's why, even in this song about the new world coming on, the old world is still present. It's still there and ready to bite you everyday until you die. Eventually, the new world we now see will be the old world to our future people. And so on and so forth. Rock music has long contained this duality. In olden times rock music was put forth as the devil's music. This is quite the theological leap to make and obviously isn't the case, but it was one of the first genres that allowed us to face our darkest depths as a species, not to mention in a really fun and entertaining way. Yet in that same vein, rock music can be and has been a vessel for positive change, as in its incarnation as a protest music. So when you put it all together, this music reflects the nature of life: destruction and creation.On that note, I think it's important to point out the concoction of influences fused together in Big Head Todd's music. Being based out of Colorado and popular in other mountain states allows the group to dip into the many genres around them, from southern rock to blues and back around to the city-slicker sounds of California. It's all here, presented alongside virtuosic guitar playing and a band that is always tight and focused. After such a long and successful career, Todd and the boys haven't lost a bit of their energy.