September 2016 résumé
This is no best-of list, it is just a bunch of records I've heard, that were RELEASED this month. Not the ones I've heard this month, but ones that were RELEASED this month that I've heard. Therefore, as the time goes, I'll be adding more items on the list, since I listen to stuff constantly. By the way, the names occasionally written under the comments are titles of songs that I recommend. If there are none written, it's either because I didn't like enough of them or because I can't point out a highlight. And now a score guide: 10/9 - 5; 8 - 4.5; 7 - 4; 6 - 3.5/3; 5 - 2.5; 4 - 2; 3 - 1.5; 2/1 - 1 |
| 1 |  | Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
Skeleton Tree
Nick Cave and the band deliver a ton of emotions while still sounding very sombre, solemnly calm and low-key. The album starts off as a melancholy, if not even a depression, and it keeps that mood for the entirety of the record. By the end of it, you feel an incredible sadness. Not the one that will make you cry or feel depressingly stagnant, but rather one that will make you sit in silence for a long time staring into nothing. On the other hand, it also doesn't sound like something you would probably want to come back to because of the experience, but rather at times you want to feel the weight of the world on your shoulders. 8/10
Jesus Alone, Girl In Amber, I Need You, Skeleton Dream |
| 2 |  | Danny Brown
Atrocity Exhibition
Danny Brown comes back with much more haunting and experimental approach that was putting me into more a confusion and worries at first, when the first singles dropped and also when I started listening to the opener (which I could easily call my least favourite song on here). However, seeing the overall atmosphere, mood, themes and the artistic approach, those songs completely make sense and are much more interesting to listen to n the context of the whole album. Every song is much more subtle in its sound and yet sounds more aggressive in the flow and lyrics. Recalling the atmosphere I can admit, Atrocity Exhibition indeed. And yet, throughout the whole record I felt there was something missing. Some sort of more digestable style or performance. Because it all simply sounds kind of nightmarish to a certain extent... |
| 3 | | Danny Brown
Atrocity Exhibition
...However, Brown's nasally voice kind of beats that theme to the ground a bit. And that contrast between haunting music and aggressive vocals make the record much more obscure and odd. 7/10
Tell Me What I Don't Know, Rolling Stone, Really Doe, Ain't It Funny, From The Ground, When It Rain, Today, Hell For It |
| 4 |  | Preoccupations
Preoccupations
And I had such high hopes for this. Every single teasing the album indicated that I might have a certain 9/10 here, but the album has a lot of lowpoints that are difficult to ignore. Well, not a lot, more like three. The long and tiring interlude on otherwise fantastic Memory is still redundant and the two one minute tracks are thrown in seemingly for no reason. They don't bring anything to the table, and more or less seem kind of awkward. Sense is the dullest I've heard the band to ever be and Forbidden fades away right when you think it takes off. The two tracks just sort of hang in the ether of the album and are useless at best. However, that's where the bad stuff ends, because the rest of the album is exactly as I hoped, dark and tortured. Preoccupations certainly pulled off an impressive performance, so let's just forget that those two tracks exist. 7/10
Anxiety, Zodiac, Memory, Degraded, Fever |
| 5 |  | Street Sects
End Position
You know what? I'm putting this to the pile of disturbing, horrifying, obscure and brilliant Industrial albums this year. That pile so far contains Pop.1280, Youth Code, Jute Gyte and whatever the hell those Alaskalana albums were. But seriously though, this album is full of nonstop mindfuck and brainscrewing. This is the sound of despair and horror. 8/10
And I Grew Into Ribbons, Copper In The Slots, In Defense Of Resentment, Our Lesions, Black Din, If This Is What Passes For Living |
| 6 |  | Eluvium
False Readings On
A soundtrack to an artsy meta-psychedelic semi-science fiction drama that is so pretentious that it can only be viewed on an underground film festival with coffee-sipping hipsters, homeless by choice. 6/10 |
| 7 |  | Okkervil River
Away
Okkervil River is still on it, goddamn. Somehow, these folks managed to come out with another record that reeks of simplicity, but also an undescribable beauty. Though as with a lot of their stuff, I didn't care all that much for the vocals. They were certainly passable, but I just feel that a slightly better vocal performace could have skyrocketed this album to my year-end favourites. 7/10 |
| 8 |  | Daniel Lanois
Goodbye To Language
Daniel Lanois presents an album full of quite typical ambient sounds, but this time witha strong feeling of solitude and blissfulness, but also a certain one dimensional sameness. 6/10
Deconstruction, The Cave, Later That Night |
| 9 |  | Against Me!
Shape Shift With Me
Though the band definitely brings out a lot of gut, emotions and rapidfire Punk music that is enjoyable on paper, unfortunately, the songs rarely manage to get anywhere above being growers at best. None of the material on here is even barely memorable or has any distinct features that the band usually has, except for the singer's usual vocals. Unfortunately, this just sounds like your generic Pop-Punk debut album by a semi-amateur band (for example songs like Crash, Dead Rats or the two last tracks are the exact definition of that boring amateurish and bland Pop-Punk dullnes), though I see many disagreeing. 5/10
12:03, 333, Haunting Haunted Haunts, Norse Truth |
| 10 |  | Kishi Bashi
Sonderlust
A pleasant Pop record that has a lot interesting things going for it, but that also occasionally falls into that slightly one-dimensional pit where many others end up. 6/10
M'lover, Ode To My Next Life |
| 11 |  | Jamie T
Trick
Why does half of this album sound like something that happens when you try to play some shitty dubstep from the radio as rock (well, more like two or three songs than half, I just kinda overexaggurated to sound enraged), and the other half sound like a semi-functioning sleazy Pop-Rock that became outdated the moment 2010s began, and sometimes as a combination of the two? At least Jamie still manages to write somewhat interesting lyrics. 4/10 |
| 12 |  | Big Scary
Animal
This album has a lot going for it (especially interesting instrumentation), but it all kind of falls apart once you really look at the song structures. They are mostly quite absorbed by the looseness of the mood on here, and therefore they don't create even above-average melodies (which, really, might just be the right thing for this sort of music) and also not all that much memorable moments too. Still, kudos to BIg Scary for trying to make a more out-there and psychotrophic record, but this one just didn't sit well with me. 6/10 |
| 13 |  | The Wedding Present
Going, Going...
Hey, guess who's struggling to come up with something even remotely interesting while pretending to be 'experimental' and 'different'? You know, there was a time when these guys were considered upcoming kings of Indie Rock...man, that was a long time ago. 5/10 |
| 14 |  | Ghost (SWE)
Popestar
Leave it to Ghost to make covers digestable. 6/10
SQUARE HAMMER! |
| 15 |  | Warthog
Warthog
Well, this is hard-fucking-core. 7/10 |
| 16 |  | Mykki Blanco
Mykki
Mykki can be pretentious at times and a little cringy at others. But overall his flow is quite good and the production is really good. Plus, when songs with deeper emotions kick in, that's when Mykki is really at the highest level (yeah, I'm trying to avoid any concretisation of gender, because I'm really not sure on here), I just wish that there was more of those. Unfortunately, the majority of the record is filled with quite forgettable and to a certain extent annoying songs that I had a difficult time getting into. 5/10
High School Never Ends, Hideaway, You Don't Know Me |
| 17 |  | Drudkh / Grift
Betrayed By The Sun / Hägringar
There's nothing much to say, actually. It is a good split Black Metal EP. Drudkh's drum pasting was a teeny-tiny bit off, but that's nothing horrible. You'll like it, I'm sure. 7/10 |
| 18 |  | Johann Johannsson
Orphée
Jóhansson's newest non-soundtrack Neoclassical album is full of heartfelt and emotional tracks that unfortunately a lot of the times feel like they would be much better with a video accompaniment. 6/10 |
| 19 |  | Kool Keith
Feature Magnetic
Kool Keith promised to deliver the most epic collaborative record. And he did, if the only thing we focus on are the features themselves, and I mean the fact that they are here. Everything around them just falls apart. The beats anre mostly boring and many of the guests are not even that interesting to listen to. 6/10 |
| 20 |  | Bon Iver
22, A Million
When the first single off of this album dropped, 33 God, I was indifferent towards it. I just found the lyrics to be unintentionally silly and the music to be simply forgettable. It was a mediocre song for Bon Iver, where he tried to show all of his ambitions and sense of experiment. Now that I've heard the album itself, I am baffled to realise that it is possibly the highlight of the whole album. Sure, the song is odd, but at least it has some sort of atmosphere. Which is something I can't say about the rest of the album. The whole record consists of middle-of-the-road, headed-nowhere, somewhat experimental, weird and disordered, but most importantly obnoxiously pretentious ballads. This record is dull only the way Bon Iver could make it. 4/10 |
| 21 |  | Beach Slang
A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings
Beach Slang delivers another album full of songs with potential, but ultimately leave a lot to be desired. 6/10
Future Mixtape For The Art Kids, Hot Tramps, Punks In A Disco Bar |
| 22 |  | The Divine Comedy
Foreverland
The Divine Comedy's latest record is conceptually and instrumentally stunning and, despite the musical arrangement and said instrumentation, quite pleasantly sophisticated and charming experience. The sweetness of melodies and the overall atmosphere creates a certain sense of theatrical drama (sort of like Alighieri's work itself). However that lightweight soothing of the record might at times get a little silly (like the track Funny Peculiar, which sounds almost like something taken out of Mary Poppins musical), but almost every song eventually escalates into a magnifying lustrous orchestral greatness. Still, it is a beautiful piece that deserves your attention. 8/10
Foreverland, Catherine The Great, The Pact, To The Rescue, A Desperate Man, Other People (though this song has an awfully disappointing ending, it really enraged me, but I can forgive that for how pretty the rest of the song is, at least I have enough imagination to come up with my own ending to the tune) |
| 23 |  | Bastille
Wild World
Bastille is heading in one sure direction - mediocre. Each song is just way too desperate to sound bombastic and catchy, that ultimately it all just falls flat and becomes boring at best. 5/10 |
| 24 |  | Lotus Thief
Gramarye
Electronic Black Metal that is not really even Black Metal. Yeah, how does that sound? 6/10 |
| 25 |  | Oathbreaker
Rheia
Let me just state that this abum is fantastic, however, the vocals, when they're not shrieking, they're almost exclusively obnoxious as hell. 7/10 |
| 26 |  | M.I.A.
AIM
Every artist at some point releases an album that is simply a miss. Nobody can escape that fate. It seems to me that M.I.A. decided not to wait and threw this piece at us. The only positives on here could be attributed to sometimes interesting musicial production (like on the Bird Song, the music is at the very least peculiarly intriguing), but definitely not M.I.A.'s delivery (or of any guests on here), nor to the lyrics. 4/10 |
| 27 |  | Opeth
Sorceress
Uff, where do I even begin? With this record Opeth proved that they are very good with instruments, they stay true to themselves (or rather their recent selves) and fail to uphold their musical relevance with an unengaging, yet promising (as always) semi-Metallic sound. To the band's credit though, it is way better than majority of modern Prog-Rock albums, doesn't mean it is great itself. 6/10 |
| 28 |  | The Dear Hunter
Act V: Hymns With The Devil In Confessional
Well look, it's good, as always. However, I begin to realise that my personal interest starts to slowly fade. The problem's in me. There's not even a song I could call a highlight, because I simply drowned in the whole album's slight-saminess. Still, fun and enjoyable to the core. 7/10 |
| 29 |  | Virvum
Illuminance
Well, as far as Technical Death Metal goes, it's alright...that is all I can say about it. The music's fine (nothing particularily outstanding) , but the vocals are quite obnoxious (and amateurish). 6/10 |
| 30 |  | Touche Amore
Stage Four
Hold on, I forgot to care. 6/10 |
| 31 |  | Dawes
We're All Gonna Die
We're all gonna die, sure, but I am now few steps closer to that. 5/10 |
| 32 |  | Jenny Hval
Blood Bitch
If Julia Holter was constantly depressed. 7/10 |
| 33 |  | Merchandise
A Corpse Wired For Sound
Merchandise managed to pull off one of the more digestable revivalism albums of this year. However, the album does occasionally have this sort of dissonance as to which retro Post-Punk sound it wants to mimic next, because there are songs more or less melancholic, Lo-Fi and even some electronic production (on a lot of the cuts on here) and sometimes everything at once. I am really not sure if that is the band trying to be versatile or just unsure as to which direction to head. 6/10 |
| 34 |  | Alcest
Kodama
Normally I am not as big a fan of drowned down vocals, but on here they managed to add to the overall melancholy and soul-crushing mood of the album. Every single song is like another plates on the soul-barbell that already weights the weight of the world. Alcest pulled off truly magnificent and emotionally tearing record. 8/10 |
| 35 |  | Usurpress
The Regal Tribe
Usurpress definitely have the finesse needed to make a listenable Death Metal record, but I just found myself constantly disinterested in vocals. 6/10 |
| 36 |  | Leagues
Alone Together
I mean, was there even a chance that I'll like it? It is as standard Indie Pop as it can get, with all of its somewhat catchy tunes and clean production and unmemorable vocals, lyrics or anything for that matter. 5/10 |
| 37 |  | Wife
Standard Nature
An intriguing Dark-Electronic album with a lot going for it. The sort of futuristic mood is definitely a feature that can lure you in easily and overall the EP sound really great. It is worth your time, check it out. 7/10 |
| 38 |  | Stilla
Skuggflock
Pretty tense and menacingly sounding album that unfortunately has the same problem as most albums like it, it is not very memorable. 6/10 |
| 39 |  | How to Dress Well
Care
How To Dress Well displays an exponential amount of mediocrity. 4/10 |
| 40 |  | Helms Alee
Stillicide
This album has guts, ideas and a clear mindfucking creative vision for its genre. How come that I can see the great elements, but they don't come together at all. This album is basically a combination of really ggod instruments sounding ugly, ugly vocals sounding ugly and gritty atmosphere wasted in the things mentioned above. 5/10 |
| 41 |  | Brain Tentacles
Brain Tentacles
Brain Tentacles deliver one of the most unusual in its style album. However, though I admire the instrumental oddity on here, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. It just sounds so muddy and off-putting. That was most likely the intention, but I just had a hard time getting into it. 6/10 |
| 42 |  | Local Natives
Sunlit Youth
Local Natives created an album full of underwhelming and overly-accessible Pop tunes that simply reek of the schoolbook "Make an Indie Pop song in 2016 101". They followed that book very closely. 5/10 |
| 43 |  | Cymbals Eat Guitars
Pretty Years
Eh, you're fine, guys. Nothing special, a bit obnoxious and somewhat forgettable, but ultimately quite fine. 6/10 |
| 44 |  | Bibio
The Serious (feat. Olivier St. Louis)
And I thought that adding Olivier St. Louis' feature on each track will lead to a musical improvement, but no. It is still the very same uninteresting, boring and tired sound, but now it tries to pretend it is actually dance-y. 4/10 |
| 45 |  | GosT
Non Paradisi
Creeping, haunting and a bit over-the-top House that I could for the most time totally see playing on a high school Halloween party. Not much else. Though it has its moments, mostly it the horn-and-sax-infused interludes. 6/10
Lake of Fire, 4th, Maleficarium, Unum Infernum, I Am Abaddon |
| 46 |  | GosT
Non Paradisi (Secret Arcana)
Why did I expect that by getting more of the same I could actually start to like the artist more. Though the menacing interlude set-ups still do their trick for me. 6/10
Prepotency, Sacrament |
| 47 |  | Allah Las
Calico Review
Calico Review is a tediously uneventful record that is trying to impress on the platform of laid-back Bluesy Pop 1960s/70s revivalism, but it works oh so rarely and after a while you simply have almost no interest in listening further. 5/10 |
| 48 |  | Grouplove
Big Mess
Grouplove apparently want to seem to not care about what people think and just have fun. In reality it sounds like they do everything to be as commercial as possible and covering it with genuineness-sheet. 6/10 |
| 49 |  | Keaton Henson
Kindly Now
Keaton Henson released the record that Bon Iver didn't. Gentle, beautiful and seemingly hurt. 7/10 |
| 50 |  | Marillion
Fuck Everyone and Run (F E A R)
Marillion deliver an album full of brilliantly anthemic yet somewhat subtle ballads. This album brings emotions, and overwhelming sense of homely familiarity, but not phony gurgantuousness as it so often happens with Prog albums this year. You know what? I think I found it. The one good Prog album this year, one that I really love. Though admittedly it has its problems, the vocals are quite mediocre and it takes quite some time for some of the songs to really kick it in the gutter. But ultimately, this album is reminiscent of the past, yet not relying on it completely. That's progress. 7/10
The Gold, Fear, The Jumble of Days, One Tonight, Why Is Nothing Ever True? |
| 51 |  | Hanni El Khatib
Savage Times Vol. 4
On here, Hanni delivers one of his best songs within the Savage Times sage, Gun Clap Hero, but also easily his weakest. The two remaining tracks are quite overly simplistic and Hanni's usual melodic Lo-Fi psyche is replaced by some easy-going shouts and random outbursts. Not that it's bad, but just somewhat underwhelming compared to the rest of Savage Times saga. Let's see what does the fifth installment have to offer. 6/10
Gun Clap Hero |
| 52 |  | Phantogram
Three
At last, Phantogram progress from a washed-out Electropop to something much more compelling. And though the mediocrity does slip by at times, I praise the guts to move forward. 7/10 |
| 53 |  | Pixies
Head Carrier
Though still quite subpar, forgettable, repetative to a certain extent and mostly just a rehash of all that we've heard not only from Pixies in the past, I must admit it is still one of the better stuff this band released after the reunion. 6/10 |
| 54 |  | Warpaint
Heads Up
Underwhelming album on nearly all levels. Songwriting, melodies and even lyrics are all unengaging at all. The vocals arequite okay, I don't really have all that much to say about them, they were passable. But ultimately, this album is full of disappointingly boring songs, despite their rapid and playful nature. 5/10
Don't Let Go, Above Control, Today Dear |
| 55 |  | Neurosis
Fires Within Fires
On their latest record, Neurosis deliver a series of hard hitting, intense and maniacal tracks, but ones that have occasional moments of humanity in them. I just felt a slight disconnection from the music sometimes. I don't really know why. It is a great album, but if I didn't hear it, it wouldn't make my life bleaker. 7/10 |
| 56 |  | Svvamp
Svvamp
Miss 70s yet? 7/10 |
| 57 |  | Ice Choir
Designs In Rhythm
Synthetically sounding lifeless throwaway Pop music. I feel like I'm listening to some cheesy 80s low budget sci-fi-inspired radio-Pop. 5/10
Designs In Rhythm, Spectacle |
| 58 |  | Holy Serpent
Temples
Muddy and heavy Stoner Rock that kicks some ass. But unfortunately, that's about all that it does. And it doesn't really need to be anything bigger than an enjoyable and intriguing Stoner Rock. 7/10 |
| 59 |  | Slaves (UK)
Take Control
Though already showing much more potential compared to their disastrous first album, Slaves are still yet to carve out the style of Punk for two members that wouldn't eventually sound boring in the longrun; and while we're at it, it might be better if in the future Slaves left all the slow-burners, short skits and electronica-influenced tracks on the cutting room floor. 6/10
Spit It Out, Take Control, Lies, People That You Meet, Steer Clear, Same Again |
| 60 |  | Still Corners
Dead Blue
Sure it's fine, but only if you like a harmless Dream Pop redundancy that never changes, ever. 5/10 |
| 61 |  | Insomnium
Winter's Gate
A massive record. It just keeps you in the right mood and craving for more of this landscapic and grandiose beastial music. 8/10 |
| 62 |  | pg.lost
Versus
This is a typical Post-Metal record...not that that's bad, it's just not bringing anything new to the table. 7/10 |
| 63 |  | Giraffe Tongue Orchestra
Broken Lines
This record is sometimes cheesy, sometimes a bit bloated, but almost always completely forgettable, no matter how overwhelming it tries to sound. 5/10 |
| 64 |  | Ty Dolla Sign
Campaign
I suppose one could find Ty Dolla Sign's music enjoyable, his flow is decent, his lyrics aren't bad and the production on this album is quite swell too. I just can't always get into the samey and sometimes pretty bland tracks. Unfortunately, there are some. 6/10
Campaign, Stealing, Watching |
| 65 |  | Artifex Pereo
Passengers
So, there's more overproduced, redundant, vocally soft and weak and excruciatingly boring Prog album. 4/10 |
| 66 |  | Regina Spektor
Remember Us To Life
Regina's lyrics and vocals are simply gorgeous and I adore the sweet and calming atmosphere of the record, but about half of these songs are completely tedious. Some of these I had a seriously hard time enjoying. 6/10
Older And Taller, The Light, Sellers of Flowers |
| 67 |  | Signals Midwest
At This Age
I completely understand if you enjoyed this record, but I just found it to be quite dull and superficial Emo. I mean, it is fine, but nothing special. 6/10 |
| 68 |  | Every Time I Die
Low Teens
Hey, it's your favourite yelpy and acceptably over-the-top Metalcore. Yaay! Now, it's not like ETID break any new grounds with this record, but it is definitely a worthwhile listen is you're a fan of either the band or the genre. It certainly will do absolutely nothing to any casual listener who just wants to listen to some good metal. This album seems to exist purely for the sake of existing, because the band just had to put out new material, rather than that they had an hourful of ideas that they simply had to share with the world. So, in retrospective, it's a listenable album for what it is. Don't expect anything spectacular or even above average with some tracks. 6/10
C++, Two Summers, Map Change (you might have noticed that all of my favs are the more melodic-in-the-chorus songs, well that's because those are the only ones that actually get stuck in your head) |
| 69 |  | Banks
The Altar
Banks is still not the Pop artist I would seek out. Almost nothing on here was any close to being memorable to me, unfortunately. I still appreciate Banks' artistic talents, I am just not that into it. 6/10 |
| 70 |  | Athletics
When to Run, Where to Hide
Despite the fact that it's just two tracks, this Indie-Emo still manages to be both redundant and unengaging. 5/10 |
| 71 |  | Thy Catafalque
Meta
On Meta you'll find a ton of fantastic and mindblowing instrumental and atmospheric moments that are sure to get stuck in your head. However, the album does sometimes overexaggerate with its atmosphere-creating instrumentals and we get a series of quite over-the-top substance. And yet, it is indeed a gurgantuous release worth your attention. |
| 72 |  | Teenage Fanclub
Here
Teenage Fanclub definitely have all the charm and talent needed to make a successful and enjoyable Folk-Rock album, but this album lack much welcome energy and memorability. 6/10 |
| 73 |  | clipping.
Splendor and Misery
By far one of the most haunting and conceptually brilliant album of the year. Clipping come forth with their usual brand of Industrial and quite disharmonic technical Hip-Hop production set amidst dirty mechanical cosmic machinery. Daveed Diggs replaces his rapidfire and sophisticated flow with a bit more spoken-word delivery, mixed with some audio special effects. And all of that combined creates a certain discomforting, but amazing atmosphere that is sure to crawl under your skin almost immediately. 8/10
Long Way Away (Intro), The Breach, All Black, Long Way Away, True Believer, Air 'Em Out, Story 5, A Better Place |
| 74 |  | Swain
The Long Dark Blue
How does one combine lyrics that good with music that bad? 5/10
Never Clean My Room, Faze Me |
| 75 |  | Trap Them
Crown Feral
Rithless and brutal, but one-dimensional...as always. 7/10 |
| 76 |  | TesseracT
Errai
It's almost astonishing how many Prog bands nowadays go full degressive. And I don't think I've heard more piss-poor execution than TesseracT's Errai EP. They are trying to sound hurt and emotional so hard that they leave the lyrics corny and laughably silly and the music flat and unbearably gutless. Baffling. 3/10 |
| 77 |  | Norma Jean
Polar Similar
Honestly, to me Norma Jean just sounds like a overwhelming yet non-distinct and never-changing try-hard. I can certainly hear them trying and it sounds quite decent, but the songs are simply unengaging at all. 5/10
1000000 Watts, Death Is a Living Partner |
| 78 |  | Warehouse
super low
I can see the oddball and goofy musicianship, but the band is not quite using their potential to its fullest. And in combination with the off-putting vocals, you get an underwhelming album. Still, not as bad as it could have been (but seriously, what's up with the vocals?). 6/10 |
| 79 |  | Travis Scott
Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight
Welp, Travis Scott turned boring. 5/10 |
| 80 |  | Angel Olsen
My Woman
I know that almost everyone thought this album was something between great and fantastic, but I just felt really bored. I want to get into it, I really do. The lyrics seem quite profound and the music soulful. But this all is just another one of those album with a lot of sweet and beautiful moments...and then all that other crap that fills up the space between the moments that are able to punch you right in the gut. And above all, I had a hard time tolerating her vocals. 5/10
Intern, Shut Up Kiss Me, Not Gonna Kill You, Pops |
| 81 |  | Mick Jenkins
The Healing Component
Mick Jenkins set out to spread some love and acceptance among people in a vague way, but with very on-the-nose lyricism. 6/10 |
| 82 |  | The Yips
Got Power/Want Some
The Yips deliver a blast of an EP full of catchy, decently put together and well sung tunes. I just wish that it could get a little louder at times. 7/10 |
| 83 |  | Negura Bunget
ZI
Negura Bunget incorporate a lot of interesting elements to their music, but it all eventually deteriorates once the heaviness kicks in, because the production is simply off-putting and makes the drums stick out flatly and drown the other instruments, while the vocals just sort of awkwardly hang in the background. But it is certainly an intiguing listen nonetheless. 6/10
Tul-Ni-Ca-Rind, well you can say that Stanciu Gruiul, every acoustic and Folky moment |
| 84 |  | James Vincent McMorrow
We Move
James Vincent McMorrow provides an impressively bland and forgettable album. 5/10 |
| 85 |  | Casey
Love Is Not Enough
And just as I thought that Old Gray released the best Screamo record in 2016, in comes Casey with their heartfelt and soultearing album with a gutload of tracks, mindtwistingly gorgeous in their raw aggression. 8/10
Little Bird, Darling, Ceremony, Mourning |
| 86 |  | Real Real Talk
Real Real Talk
Ugh...I mean, the potential (or something like that) is there, but the execution is simply boring...and the vocals are completely off. Yeah, that's that. 4/10 |
| 87 |  | Moor Mother
Fetish Bones
I get the emotional message in the lyrics (and some of the verses hit hard as hell), but the music is just....confusing. 6/10 |
| 88 |  | Hannes Grossmann
The Crypts Of Sleep
An album so over-the-top and convoluted that you'll grow very sick of it very quickly. 5/10 |
| 89 |  | Yellowcard
Yellowcard
This sort of watered down, sterilised Punk-Rock with cringeworthy lyrics, completely unfitting vocals and most of the time overly simplistic songwriting could appeal to me back when I was 11. Yeah, I was into this sort of crap back then. 4/10 |
| 90 |  | Altar of Oblivion
Barren Grounds
The first track on this EP, State of Decay, is fantastic. The song is vibrant, triumphant and emotional. The same goes partially for the third track, Barren Grounds. However, that one smells a little typical, but is still kicking ass. Now, the other two tracks on this EP are tedious and unengaging at all. It seems to me that their inclusion is only justified by the fact that two tracks would mean it technically isn't even an EP, but more of a double-single. 6/10
State of Decay, Barren Grounds |
| 91 |  | North Sea Radio Orchestra
Dronne
Beautiful orchestral (it seems) Pop, but it doesn't always generate enough excitement. You just listen to it and think to yourself "Yes, the instrumentals and sometimes the melodies are pretty, but what else?" I don't really know. 6/10 |
| 92 |  | Drugdealer
The End Of Comedy
Potentially sweet, but rarely engaging Psych-Pop. 5/10 |
| 93 |  | Veil of Light
Ursprung
Oh boy was this plain and unfinished. I do hear potential within and some of the songwriting and Industrial influences are intriguing, but the album lacks any sort of excitement or quality sound. It tries to sound like some dark Coldwave of sorts and it does succeed, but in the most superficial and trivial way possible. It's as if the band simply took all they knew about the genre and made it into an album without any soul or actual enthusiasm going in. 5/10 |
| 94 |  | Passenger (UK)
Young as the Morning Old As The Sea
Snoozefest 2016 winner is... 4/10 |
| 95 |  | Sahg
Memento Mori
To all you fools awaiting another Ghost album, here have an equally beautifully written, demonically darkly lyrical and grippingly trippy, yet peculiarly heavy record that is exactly what one needs in a good Metal album of any kind with all of its soul and emotions laid out for us to see (or hear) without being too flashy. 8/10
Black Unicorn, Devilspeed, Take It To The Grave, Silence the Machines, Sanctimony, (Praise the) Electric Sun, Blood of Oceans |
| 96 |  | Wilco
Schmilco
You do you, Tweedy, you do you. 6/10 |
| 97 |  | Lorelle Meets The Obsolete
Balance
This album tries to sound somewhat experimental, but also laid back at the same time. But it all just comes off really sloppy and disoriented in the end. Admittedly, had it not been for the fuzzy Lo-Fi moments, this album would have been the laziest and most annoyingly uneventful thing in 2016. But it also doesn't help that the Lo-Fi moments themselves don't sound particularly exciting. Set it all amidst godawful vocals and you got yourselves shitty ass album that tries and fails to be something different. 3/10 |
| 98 |  | Hypoluxo
If Language
Oh boy, this is so sleepy it's almost soothing. 6/10 |
| 99 |  | The Wytches
All Your Happy Life
This is basically your typical Post-Punk. However, what makes Wytches stand out among the rest is the fact that their instrumentation and production is purely Psych-Rock. And that is simulateneously their strongest and their weakest feature. On one hand, it makes the album original and wild. On the other, it also makes some of it quite obnoxious and out of focus. 6/10
C-Side, A Feeling We Get, Bone-Weary, A Dead Night Again, Home |
| 100 |  | Mare Cognitum
Luminiferous Aether
I like the instrumentation, epic songwriting and atmosphere a lot. It's really grandiose and overwhelming. I wish I could say the same about the echoic production. But I also gotta give credit where the credit's due, the production does sound spacey, cosmic and science fiction-y. 7/10 |
| 101 |  | Shokran
Exodus
Although occasionally melodically interesting, it's almost always as overbearing and bloated as a Prog Metal album nowadays is. Sorry. 6/10 (but a weak one at best) |
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