Eric Church has been toying with the possibilities of mainstream country for a while, but this is his tour de force. The Outsiders contains a riff-rock romp worthy of Metallica, a majestic lighters-up power ballad involving Pizza Hut, an unbelievably tender acoustic love song, a wistful bit of midtempo NASCAR nostalgia, a sultry sex jam called “Wrecking Ball” (no relation to Miley), and an eight-minute countrypolitan parable about Satan. That’s only half of this generous bounty from country’s most adventurous alpha male. –Chris [LISTEN]