It looks like classic symptoms of drought stress to me. You don't say where specifically you are located, but in many areas of the country, this was a very long and very dry summer. Trees and shrubs planted this year are not well enough established to endure extended hot and dry spells without very specific and dilligent attention to watering.

The types of soils you have, the root development of the trees at time of planting (containerized or B&B), the actual planting techniques and the method and frequency of watering can all play a factor.

Evidence of drought stress is not always immediate - in established trees it can often take a season or two to become very obvious but with newly planted stock, you'll see the effects within the year. It is difficult to counteract after the fact and your trees may have experienced more stress than they are able to combat successfully. Just so that you are prepared :-(

Drought stress can also lead to secondary problems that may not become obvious immediately. Reduced vigor and the impact of a decreased natural immunity may open the way for diseases and insect problems. Cytospora canker is extremely common on blue spruces that undergo drought stress, so even if these trees appear to rally and withstand their current conditions, they may still be very vulnerable.

Here is a link that might be useful: the effects of drought stress

Hi,
I don't claim to have any formal (college) education in the area of plants, but I do have some experience in that area, I have owned hundreds of plants including Spruce of all kinds. What-ever it is, it looks to me like you could have caught it in time.
One of my first guesses would be a lack of water as well.
I don't know how much you water, but the place they came from could've watered them once or twice a day, and they could just be balking at a possible lack of water now, (which could kill them).
I have noticed browning on many of the conical evergreens that I've cared for and never had one die after I started looking after it (oddly enough, even when I didn't know right off what was wrong).
Here are some of the causes of browning that come to mind for me:
1. Lack of water. I once had a job at a nursery where all I did was water their plants for 3 or 4 hours a day.
2. Transplant shock (temporary).
3. A pot-bound plant that has been ready to go in the ground for quite a while, when planting lightly slash the outer roots with a knife first, maybe 3 - 5 times.
4. Poor location, (not enough sun).
5. Spider Mites infestation, look for webs and very tiny spiders on inspection.
6. Complain to the seller, ask for a refund and if that threat don't work ask for tips to care for them. It could've been lack of care before you got them and/or when they dug them up for you they were hurried and care-less with not getting all the roots for example. Yeah, b&b or containerized can help rule out some scenarios.
You may have spent lots of money for them, but its important not to get all nuts and flood them with all kinds of treatments. They ARE plants, nature should take care of them if their pointed at the sun and they get water.
And remember, dead areas of a Spruce don't grow back, they can be cut out, if it recovers, it might fill in over time.

p.s. These are some of the things that have worked for me.
There could very well be something else at diabolical work on your Spruces.
Heres kind of a progression of photos of a Leyland Cypress that I bought from Lowes a long time ago.
It went from at my house (I set the pot in a kitty litter bucket to keep it from blowing over) where I didn't have anywhere to plant it, to my Mom's house where I planted it because browning was coming on, so I guessed it was outgrowing its pot, to the monster it is becoming today!
I was glad that I found a home for it then, even if it is kinda considered a nuisance sterile weed by some, (my Mom loves it and thats all that matters).

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Well on its way to becoming a large Leyland Cypress.

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These last 2 photos are of a Dwarf Alberta Spruce (2 photos are of opposite angles) that I planted also at my Mom's house well over 3 years ago (after the above Leyland Cypress, but in the same yard). My Mom loves to water as you can see by the water hoses in today's photo. She waters her plants all the time and I'm sure the plants scream with glee. She hooked 2 or 3 hoses together to reach and water the Leyland Cypress (within a year after I planted it there it was growing like the national debt). That is my (then) 1 1/2 yr. old niece in the photo (she's 5 now).

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