The Monitor by Titus Andronicus

The Monitor, the second album from Glen Rock, New Jersey's Titus Andronicus, came out on XL in March 2010, and it uses the American Civil War as a loose frame for its songs. The title nods to the USS Monitor, the Navy's first ironclad, and the closing "The Battle of Hampton Roads" goes back to its clash with the CSS Virginia in March 1862; the band said putting the record out was their way of marking the battle's 148th anniversary.

Patrick Stickles howls it all over ragged punk guitars that keep swelling toward heartland-rock grandeur, with Amy Klein adding guitar and violin, and members of the Hold Steady, Wye Oak, Vivian Girls and the Felice Brothers among the guests. "A More Perfect Union" borrows from early Billy Bragg, nods to the band's New Jersey roots and riffs on the words of that other famous son of the state, Bruce Springsteen.

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