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Last Active 04-18-13 8:53 am
Joined 11-21-12
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| Most Disappointing Albums Of 2012
List of the most disappointing albums released this year. Its of-course only my opinion, but I tried to as objective as possible. Most of these albums aren't necessarily bad, just very disappointing as I had higher expectations on them, judging by the given artists past effort/efforts. | | 1 |  | Deftones
Koi No Yokan
Poltergeist - When I heard the first two singles prior to albums release, I thought this album would sound like a mixture of "Diamond eyes" and "Saturday night wrist". Well....I was kind of right, but I wasn't overly happy with it. Album just didn't click with me and seemed dull and emotionally lacking. Its still the same band, putting out quality material, but losing something what made them so attractive previously. | | 2 |  | Meshuggah
Koloss
Behind The Sun - Sit down. Listen to their previous album "ObZen". Then listen to this. Something is not right, eh? Well, it doesn't take a lot of skill to understand that these "math metal" giants have just released the most uninspired album of their career. The whole percussion seems to have became one big mess of a robotic noise. Maybe it worked for them previously, but it surely doesn't work now. | | 3 |  | Beach House
Bloom
Lazuli - There's nothing exactly bad about the new Beach house album -it's pretty much the blend of languid melodies, expansive soundscapes, and chill vibes you'd expect. Which is exactly the problem. See, we've already got three Beach House albums, and they all sound quite similar to this.We weren't expecting Beach House to make a death metal record, but we were hoping that the leading dream pop band would seek at least a slight change or advancement over its already very-well-established sound. | | 4 |  | Between the Buried and Me
The Parallax II: Future Sequence
Lay Your Ghosts To Rest - I have never been a huge fan of the genre and these guys in particular, but I have to admit that they have a certain level of talent and skill. Their previous effort (EP) hinted at their upcoming album being musically huge, diverse and deep (funny huh?). In reality, this isn't a bad release, but it has the same flaws as "Koi No Yokan" - the band is musically doing it right, but somehow misplacing the hooks. | | 5 |  | The Antlers
Undersea
Zelda - When good band does bad things. Don't get me wrong, I actually think this is an enjoyable release, but...well..this isn't The antlers. The emotionally-fierce and creative sound of "hospice" is gone and instead we are greeted with electronica infused chillout-indie blah blah blah. Their previous effort already saw theband ditching their signature sound and implementing tons of electronics. My point is - the antlers have lost what made them so attractive back in 2006. | | 6 |  | Band Of Horses
Mirage Rock
Shut-in Tourist - Almost every band has a point during their career, when they change their signature sound in order to appeal to a wider audience. Band of horses is no exception. They're no longer the indie knock-offs rising up from the basement, but a Billboard-bothering festival behemoth. In response, they've played it far straighter with each successive album, to the point where "Mirage Rock" is simply a bland Southern Rock record polished to a radio-ready sheen. | | 7 |  | As I Lay Dying
Awakened
My Only Home - Despite being a generic metalcore band, AILD always had something that held my interest. Their previous effort "The Powerless Rise" showcased long-awaited maturity and consistency. I had pretty high expectations on this album, and boy did it let me down. Bland riff - check! Bland drumming - check! Bass guitar - what bass guitar? Interesting melodies - nope! The only thing holding me from writing this off are the vocals, apart from that - garbage. | | 8 |  | Scott Walker
Bish Bosch
Phrasing - When the great, grey recluse of avant-gardism materializes from the shadows with one of his rare LPs, it's a momentous event. Scott Walkers is a psychopath and that's way I like him, but this is just plain silly. Loosing some elements what made, for example, "the Drift" so interesting and adding a lot of jokes - a lot of them! It has a lot of qualities though, but once you get over its absurd juxtaposition between silliness and tragedy, "Bish Bosch" is less rewarding ?and more disappointing? than classic Walker LP's. | | 9 |  | The Shins
Port Of Morrow
Port Of Morrow - it seems very unlikely that "Port of Morrow" is about to change anyone's life. The first Shins album in five years had a chance to be a complete reinvention; or, at least, to come with a fresh charge of inspiration. Unfortunately it didn't. | | 10 |  | Lamb Of God
Resolution
King Me - A record that offers a lot more than it possesses. There seem to be really good ideas behind individual songs, that are completely drowned in poor execution. The whole album feels like composed mostly of b-sides from their previous efforts. I guess Lamb of god are slowly but imminently reaching towards the end. | | 11 |  | Baroness
Yellow and Green
Take My Bones Away - Baroness going soft. Nuff said. | | 12 |  | Neurosis
Honor Found In Decay
We All Rage In Gold - Being one of the neurosis less diverse albums, It was fairy easy to listen through it, without concentrating too much on what is going on. Tracks like "At the well", "Casting of the ages" and "We all rage in gold" left good impression, and me - wanting for more. At the same time, i wasn't really satisfied with neither of them. The drone that hanged behind the songs, was pretty weak, the percussion too dense at times, lacking of variety and putting too much emphasis on ornamental. | | 13 |  | Wintersun
Time I
Darkness And Frost - Is this album epic? Yes! Amazing? Not really. Bands long-awaited and second effort "Time I" is plagued with the same thing that hit "Unsung Heroes" of Ensiferum. Its epic on its own, but percussion-wise full of faults and segments where the actual music seems to drag a lot. Only thing amazing about this album and band is the time gap between their first and present release. | | 14 |  | Muse
The 2nd Law
Madness - I have liked the majority of this bands past material, with their previous effort "The resistance" not being an exception. I somehow liked their shift towards orchestrated and huge soundscapes. It felt like they know what they are doing, and that's what matters. "The 2nd Law" clearly is not an good example of the aforementioned. Inclusion of elements of dub-step (??!!!) was probably the worst idea, and im not saying that there is anything wrong with dub-step in general. Its just that the formula the band is using here seems completely out of place. Maybe some other band would have pulled it off, but not this one. Dub-step + rock + experimentalism + orchestration = :[ | | 15 |  | Ensiferum
Unsung Heroes
Burning Leaves - Is it a product of Ensiferum running out of ideas or is it simply an off-album that most bands seem to encounter at least once in their career? Who knows, but the fact is that the entirety of this album is comprised of uninteresting and bland material. It still sounds like Ensiferum, but only really pale and average. | | 16 |  | The xx
Coexist
Angels - It often takes a lot of talent and skill to travel from an average album to greatness. The xx have just done the opposite. Audiences were promised with a more Jamie xx influenced sophomore album? instead it was more of the same chilled out nu-R&B/indie music. Not that that?s necessarily a bad thing, because the album did have its highs, but the first album had such a pleasant shock factor; it was so new and fresh. This album doesn?t have that kind of shock. It would of been interesting to see The xx take a more garage route like Jamie on his solo stuff. But then again, I suppose that?s why he does solo records, to distance himself from The xx. Oh well, I was disappointed. | | 17 |  | Mono
For My Parents
Nostalgia - Judging by the title and artwork of this album, I was expecting something dark and dramatic, something in the vein of "Hymns for the immortal wind". Unfortunately, it had none of the qualities that made the aforementioned album so great. The songs were all similar in structure and sound and had no general inspiration to them, with exception being "Nostalgia", which caught me off-guard. A really great track. Such a shame the rest doesn't even stand close. | | 18 |  | The Magnetic Fields
Love At The Bottom Of The Sea
Andrew in Drag - The weird and playful synthesizers are present. Signature baritone of Stephin Merritt is also here to stay. So whats exactly wrong? "Love at the bottom of the sea" is probably a love/hate album. It maintains the basic elements what made their previous efforts catchy, but is lacking the distinct atmosphere and depth of it precursors. Like if the band were trying the album to leave an impression it was made 20 years ago, but didn't put all their effort in process. | | 19 |  | Pig Destroyer
Book Burner
Burning Palm - Heavy, fast, unrelenting and in-your-face brutal, but is it for good? Pig destroyer definitely have put an emphasis on riffs on this LP, but unfortunately most of them strike me as something a second-rate metalcore band would play. There are moments were you can truly enjoy this album, but on most occasions songs start to bore quite quickly. The new-found barrage-of-riffs formula worked on "Phantom Limb", but surely doesn't work here, and not because it repeats, but because it is uninspired and lacking originality. | | 20 |  | Architects
Daybreaker
Devils Island - A lot of fans were desperately waiting for this release, so architects could prove that the are not pussies and are able to play some heavier song (see - Hollow Crown) after the disaster that their "Self-titled" was. They proved about the heaviness, but apparently forgot about other aspects. Most of the songs here sound completely the same, with little to no variation. Songs like "Devils Island" and "Unbeliever" are definitely the only standouts. | |
wanderlust
12.17.12 | All of these have some standouts. The albums itself were disappointing. Of course I didn't include the worst albums of 2012, that would be a different list. | JAXETA
12.17.12 | ner | Chortles
12.17.12 | i thought 5 was fantastic honestly, especially after not liking burst apart as much as most | Calc
12.17.12 | say anything. | thumbcrusher
12.17.12 | i loved 1 :( | wanderlust
12.17.12 | Undersea wasn't bad. I was just very disappointed with the direction the band is going towards to. | Gwyn.
12.17.12 | 1 is awesome | Trebor.
12.17.12 | Bloc Party - Four
Most of these were likely to blow so not disappointing to me | wanderlust
12.17.12 | I haven't heard entire Bloc party - Four, but judging by the songs I did listen to, its also heading towards a similar list. | thumbcrusher
12.17.12 | even though i quite liked it i was kind of disappointed with testament's album tbh | bach
12.17.12 | 1 and 4 were great. | eswarrior
12.17.12 | Liked everything on this list accept number 14. | Detritivore
12.17.12 | 11 so agreed | wanderlust
12.17.12 | 16 is probably my biggest disappointment here. | oltnabrick
12.17.12 | 2 and 19 are great. | Sapient.
12.17.12 | 1 rules so hard for me, but I can see why some people wouldn't be able to get into it | wanderlust
12.17.12 | For me neither of these, except #15 and #7, are below 2.5. | CaptainHadouken
12.17.12 | Meh about half of these are dissapointing | wanderlust
12.17.12 | Bump | Tobmast
03.15.13 | 1 and 4 are epic | ButtsweatAndTears
03.15.13 | 7 is one of the only "generic" metalcore bands I can stand | Calc
03.15.13 | i agree with 12, it was my first experience with the band but I was sad a couple songs in. |
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