POP/ROCK

Bon Jovi, "The Circle" (Island)

While the veteran New Jersey group's recent albums preached hope, "The Circle" is determinedly dark: The band's typical uplift is deeply buried here, in songs that are more blatantly angry than any in Bon Jovi's career. This is a perfectly reasonable response to aging: Cynicism hardens with time. But really it's another step in the slow, sure transformation of Jon Bon Jovi into John Mellencamp, another artist who wears regional authenticity with pride and who started out making the sort of agitated, accessible rock music Bon Jovi is only now getting around to.

Accordingly, the proletariat is all over "The Circle," indignant but dignified. "I'm here trying to make a living," Bon Jovi sings on "Work for the Working Man." "I ain't living just to die." "Live Before You Die" doesn't transmit urgency so much as pessimism about life's obstacles. But even while Bon Jovi is sympathizing with the common man, the scrape in his voice is never wrenching. And while the arrangements are mildly darker than on the group's previous albums, this group is still drawn magnetically to swelling choruses, its ambition of scale still grander than its ambition of import. On "We Weren't Born to Follow" and "Thorn in My Side," flamboyant guitarist Richie Sambora manages to show off a bit. But while invigorating, these feel like moments of indulgence -- rare flashes of id in a band now moving with common purpose.

JON CARAMANICA, NEW YORK TIMES

Various artists, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" (Atlantic)

With a soundtrack overseen by music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas ("Gossip Girl," "The O.C."), "New Moon" oozes with top-notch alt-all-star spookiness, recent cuts by Bon Iver and Grizzly Bear, and a Muse remix, among others. The original tracks on "New Moon" are surprisingly sedate -- in fact, the whole affair is quieter and softer than its "Twilight" predecessor. Bringing Death Cab for Cutie (a tensely emotive yet melodically weak "Meet Me on the Equinox") to a teen soap opera is like playing Susan Boyle as background for "Saw VI." It's discordant, but not in an interesting way. Thankfully, Radiohead's Thom Yorke keeps his electro-ballad "Hearing Damage" jittery, pensive yet unnerving. Yorke's crepuscular tone belongs to vampire cinema. And God bless the Killers for playing up their camp side. "A White Demon Love Song" gives goth-glam a great name and lets Brandon Flowers ham it up splashily.

A.D. AMOROSI, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER