They’re back after long, and not so long, absences, and they’re ready to rock their fans some more. It’s about time, too.

Six bands are about to release CDs. Of course, as with any amount of releases, as the listeners of today’s rock bands, we can’t really expect all of the new albums to be good, can we? So, dear reader, let’s look on and see just what the wonderful music industry has to offer us over the next few months.

Linkin Park

They’ve released only two albums in their career as a professional rock group, and only one of those was an original. When Hybrid Theory was released in 2000, Linkin Park introduced a new type of music to the rocking masses. The album boasted a smooth and sweet combination of rap, rock and maybe a little pop thrown in for good measure. The CD took the nation by storm, and then the group seemed to just disappear for two years. Its next CD, Reanimation, was just that, trying to make something long gone come back. The album consisted of remixes of the previously released tracks.

Hopefully Meteora, which is slated for release on March 25, will see Chester Bennington and the gang back from their much-too-long hiatus to retake the air waves and rock on some more. Hopefully, they can pull the same magic they did with their first album and make another album with wonderfully mingled rock, rap and melody. If they can, they have a great shot at securing the position on the charts they grabbed almost three years ago. The first single off of the upcoming release is called “Somewhere I Belong.” It really sounds like they’ll be keeping up with their former hit “My December.”

Godsmack

With a name like that, how can this group not be awesome?

Just kidding, not really, anyway. The voodoo gods are back with their third album, which they’re calling Faceless. Since Godsmack was released in 1999, the group has made its name with a number of head rocking songs from “Voodoo” to “Bad Religion,” and then on their next album, “Awake” and “Greed” came forth in a bang of hard guitars and catchy lyrics.

One thing that does suck about this band, though, is that aside from “Voodoo,” it doesn’t really change up the way its songs sound. Yeah, the beats and music and lyrics change, but this doesn’t really seem to be the type of band that can go from fast to slow and loud to soft in any short matter of time. Its new CD doesn’t seem to be expected to sound any different.

Oh well, these guys know how to put their anger toward whatever — religion, greedy landowners, etc. — straight into their hard-hitting lyrics. Let’s hope Sully Erna, the band’s front man, keeps up the good work.

The album is scheduled to come out on April 8.

Limp Bizkit

Lessismore is the name of the album, and less is probably all we can expect from Limp Bizkit, especially since it lost one of the music industry’s best and most colorful guitarists, Wes Borland.

This album will be the first album released by the group after Borland left. Let’s not set our hopes too high on this one. Since we first witnessed Fred Durst’s crew’s debut to the music industry with Three Dollar Bill, Y’all in 1997, we have seen the group go from thrashing rock, to more subtle hip-hoppish with Significant Other, and then completely popish with Chocolate Starfish and The Hot Dog Flavored Water in 2000.

So what can we honestly expect from the group that stays on the charts by doing what most musicians would probably frown on (you know, just being crowd pleasers)? I would say not much at all, if any.

We can hope this album will suck, and maybe we’ll get lucky and Durst will find a different choice of career. But of course, if it’s pop, it’ll be bought. Therefore, I want to thank you people who will buy this album on May 13 for keeping this group around to annoy us all for a little while longer.

Powerman 5000

OK, this is one group that does not get near as much attention as it deserves.

With Rob Zombie’s little brother Spider One at the helm of these madmen, they have been rocking like there’s no tomorrow since their first album, The Blood Splat Rating System, in 1995. Since that first release, they have really only had one other album that received any amount of attention whatsoever, and that was with Tonight The Stars Revolt! The title track on that album, along with “When Worlds Collide” were more than just decent songs and got what they warranted — plenty of radio play.

Unfortunately, their fame seemed to end there. The next and most recent album, Anyone for Doomsday?, was released after numerous delays with what seemed like little or no attention.

With any luck, or just with the skill the group possesses to insane amounts, Spider will rock this album to the top of the play lists in no time at all. At least with no good band releasing an album at the same time, the group will have a better chance. Let us pray for that.

Oh yeah, the colorful name for this album is Transform, and it’s hitting the streets on May 20.

Metallica

Hoorah, ladies and gentlemen, the money hungry boys are back in town.

This will be the kings of metal’s eighth studio release. It will be their first one in almost five years, at which time they had released Reload. Anybody wonder if Metallica even has the power to rock anymore?

Honestly, I do. They lost their bassist, Jason Newsted, awhile ago, and he still hasn’t really been replaced. When they released the song for the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack, it sounded like they too had even gone a little bit pop. And then there’s the fact that for a while they seemed to be suing everyone and everything in site. The band seems to basically have gone to crap.

With the release of St. Anger on June 10, we’ll see if their music has gone there as well.

(hed) p.e.

They say you save the best for last, and that’s exactly what I’ve done.

Of all the albums being released this year, this one is getting a lot of hype. “Blackout” is the first single (and the title track) off the album, and it has been receiving a fair amount of radio play, at least on the local rock stations, whatever that means.

One thing that really sets (hed) apart from other bands of this era is the fact that it has the ability to go from head pounding rifts to bumpin’ rap beats and then slow it down even more to a slow melody. And it can do it all in the time it takes a song to play!

Basically, these guys rock. If the single is any hint as to what the rest of the album will sound like, we can expect the best from this group. This will be (hed)’s third album, and if it follows the group’s own pattern, this one will be better than the last two.

In case you’re wondering then, if you only have enough money to buy one CD over the next five months, spend that money on March 18 on (hed) p.e. Trust me, you’ll enjoy it. Would I lead you astray?