Malcontent
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Soundoffs 64
News Articles 19
Band Edits + Tags 0
Album Edits 0

Album Ratings 279
Objectivity 71%

Last Active 09-21-13 3:00 pm
Joined 05-20-13

Review Comments 150

Average Rating: 3.76
Rating Variance: 0.83
Objectivity Score: 71%
(Fairly Balanced)

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5.0 classic
Bathory Blood Fire Death
Brand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me
Brand New Daisy
Burial Kindred
Burial Rival Dealer
Converge Jane Doe
Daft Punk Discovery
Daft Punk Alive 2007
I'm not even joking when I say this is one of the best live albums ever.
Deafheaven Sunbather
Disillusion Back to Times of Splendor
Envy The Fallen Crimson
More experimental, heartfelt, and self-assured than Envy has sounded in years. Tetsuya Fukagawa sounds amazing, the instrumentation has never sounded more vibrant, and most crucially: this is the first time post-rock has sounded like it *matters* in years. It's not just that each song is structured to be it's own structure, each a castle of sound - it's that it sounds critical, vital. There hasn't been anything in this genre that grips the listener so urgently since Sunbather in 2013. Rhythm is a beautiful outlier that pays off beautifully, giving the following Marginalized Thread - itself a heroic piece alone - so much more gravitas. The album art depicts a winged woman holding thorns, staring into a night sky. It's nothing like any of their past album art (with the possible exception of the pained artwork on Alnair in August) and it captures the spirit of the sound within so well: the heights of eternity above, the pain of earth beneath, and the people caught in the middle. The reports of Envy's demise were well publicized before this album was released. I hope they stay together for years to come, but if this is their final work, they are leaving on a very, very high note.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
HEALTH VOL. 4 :: SLAVES OF FEAR
Put down your pitchforks, this album kicks ass. In both song structure and emotion it's more
stripped down than Death Magic, but what it loses in complexity it more than makes up for in
urgency. The album feels like a life: waking up bursting with rage, sorrow, and despair on the
opening tracks, only to turn back into ash in DECIMATION. It's impossible to escape this feeling
of cycle: fear, hate, loss, death. The opening and end tracks allude to "millions" and "billions"
of years, the third track speaks of "waking up" and the last tracks constantly speak of death.
Through cacophonous noise and subdued vocals, this exceptional record feels like a singular,
terrifying vision made manifest.
Lana Del Rey Norman Fucking Rockwell!
Fuck it I love you, the greatest, The Next Best American Record: Norman fucking Rockwall
Locktender Rodin
Max Richter Infra
The National Alligator
The National High Violet
The National Trouble Will Find Me
Thrice Vheissu
Trophy Scars Darkness, Oh Hell
Trophy Scars Never Born, Never Dead
Trophy Scars Holy Vacants

4.5 superb
Amon Amarth With Oden on Our Side
Amon Amarth Twilight of the Thunder God
Anberlin Vital
As Cities Burn Come Now Sleep
Bathory Bathory
Be'lakor Vessels
Black Breath Sentenced To Life
Blanck Mass Animated Violence Mild
Between Animated Violence Mild and HEALTH's VOL4: SLAVES OF FEAR, 2019 was an *excellent* year for violent, morbid, essential electronic sounds. Where 2017's World Eater kicked the doors open with Rehesus Negative, Animated Violence Mild opens in an even more aggressive, driving rhythm. The track titles, the vocals, the very instruments used all point to a dire urgency. The soaring House Vs. House shines all the brighter after the roar of Death Drop, and with the exception of the respite of Creature/West Fuqua, the hits keep landing, sounding in turn deadly, venomous, monstrous. This is highly aggressive, highly compelling electronic music.
Blood Command Cult Drugs
This band has more snarling energy and fury in the pinkie finger of their smallest band member than half of the punk bands around today. Not only do they deliver incendiary drum work and outraged, eviscerating vocals, they experiment and rework in surprising and fulfilling ways. Is that a cowbell on "Initiation Tape #1?" an actual trumpet solo on "(The World Covered In) Purple Shrouds"? Fantastic.
Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago
Brand New Deja Entendu
Burial Untrue
Clint Mansell, Kronos Quartet and Mogwai The Fountain
Converge Axe to Fall
Converge All We Love We Leave Behind
Daft Punk Random Access Memories
Deafheaven Roads to Judah
Demons and Wizards Demons & Wizards
Depeche Mode Violator
DJ Richard Dies Iræ Xerox
Still find myself coming back to this album 5 years later. It's such an interesting dark, downturned, electronic record. So much dark electronica revolves around, and depends upon, bombast. Here that's traded for quietness and introspection. It's still dark, the vibes are evil: wrath, judgement, traps and pitfalls, stalkers and vanguard. If it were more loud and aggressive then cuts would be found on "Cyberpunk" and pentagram-emblazed playlists all over the web. But it's too smart for that. It's an empty club, a lonely drive home, you, alone with your thoughts, once again. It's incredible.
Envy Recitation
Explosions in the Sky The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
FKA Twigs Magdalene
2019 is the year that FKA Twigs and Lana Del Rey finally went off. The stretch of songs from mary magdalene to mirrored heart are three of the strongest tracks she's ever done, and then the album closes on cellophane, which absolutely blows everything else out of the water.
Fleetwood Mac Rumours
Fuck Buttons Slow Focus
Ghost (SWE) Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic
If you don't move to "Mary On A Cross" you are, scientifically speaking, dead.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Godspeed You! Black Emperor F♯ A♯ ∞
Gojira L'Enfant Sauvage
HEALTH Death Magic
HMLTD West of Eden
Have you ever wondered what disillusioned London punks in a Western Saloon would sound like playing over a lone jukebox
on an endless loop of Xiu Xiu, Soft Cell, and trap beats? If it sounds crazy - you'd be right. Chaotic? Bizarre? Of course! But I
haven?t been struck by such glammed-up, entirely over-the-top sincerity since My Chemical Romance?s Black Parade.
Because this isn't so much genre-blending as it is a veritable Pokemon index of sound, and the only thing holding it together
is their absolute commitment, and the striking intimacy of the lyrics. To be clear: the music box and bouncing piano that
opens Joanna, the twinkling synths and gorgeous vocals of Mikey's Song, the absurdly heavy, blasphemous bass of LOADED
- these should absolutely not work together as a cohesive record. But they do, and this striking combination of noise and
ambition demands to be heard.
Insomnium Above the Weeping World
Insomnium One for Sorrow
Jamie xx In Colour
Jon Hopkins Immunity
Jon Hopkins Singularity
Bro I studied my ass off to this album, I did so much shit when this is playing it's so good it unlocks a flow state in like 30 seconds flat, every time.
JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown Scaring the Hoes
This feels like the first time you played GTAV in 2013: you are overstimulated, driving unsafe at any speed, cops are trying to extrajudicially repossess your body, Danny Brown is dropping bars as you smash through traffic, pedestrians, picket fences, sirens blaring, NPCs staring in disbelief, the world is a blur on your high definition TV, your speakers aren't loud enough, you hit the wrong button and Franklin is exiting the car while going 130mph on the wrong side of the road. You reload and do it again. rGoing to be processing this for awhile, the samples are dense, bars are wild, production is out of the park. The vibes are incredible.
Kardashev Liminal Rite
Feels like the best parts of an old Insomnium record filtered through deathcore: emotive, destructive melodies carried by both effective cleans and really effective growls and shrieks. Soaring and depressing, fiery and cold. The closing track is also special, plummeting spectacularly into an overwhelming dissonance that could come right out of a Full of Hell album. Truly surprised by this album; this one is going to stick around for awhile.
Massive Attack Mezzanine
Max Richter The Blue Notebooks
Mercyful Fate Don't Break the Oath
Moonsorrow Jumalten aika
Purity Ring Another Eternity
Pusha T DAYTONA
This is gloriously nasty and precise hip hop. Every bar cuts, every beat maims. Compared to Scorpion, perhaps the highest-profile release of the year, the difference between good and bad hip hop has rarely been so clear. Against Drake's meandering 25 tracks across 90 minutes, Daytona comes in at a razor-sharp 20 minutes. Pusha says everything he needs to, and then some, with venom to spare.
Regina Spektor Far
Regina Spektor What We Saw from the Cheap Seats
Rina Sawayama RINA
From the immediate, glistening opening, RINA is a captivating, fully modern pop EP. It feels both intimately familiar yet still fresh for anyone that lived and listened through the 00?s era radio hits. Take the boisterous, pop-punk guitars that come in Ordinary Superstar, the ice-cold R&B beats accompanying the duet on Tunnel Vision, or the shimmering, layered rock of Alterlife: this feels less like a single artist and more like a synthesis of two decades of hits. Like a reunion tour of your favorite bands from yesterday, but each song is reworked, reimagined, and delivered with exceptional skill and clarity by Rina Sawayama.
Rina Sawayama Sawayama
A casual listener might listen to STFU! and walk away with the impression that this record is similar to Poppy?s ?I Disagree?: a blend of aggressive noise coupled with a disarmingly cute delivery - pop for people as equally likely to listen to Decapitated as Carly Rae. However, SAWAYAMA is more complex - like 2017?s RINA, this is a transmutation of 90?s and 00?s pop, R&B, arena rock, alt rock, synth, and more. It?s not just a rework - in some cases this feels like a resurrection: mining sounds easily discarded and judged as firmly belonging in the past, like Evanescence, Sum 41, a Final Fantasy theme(!?), and placing them alongside sleek, modern productions like Comme des Garçons. The reason the result feels like an album instead of a playlist is due to the emotional thread binding everything together. From Dynasty?s ?the pain in my vein is hereditary? to Akasaka Sad?s ?so I suffer.. Just like my mother? to the gorgeous track Chosen Family, these themes of family, identity, and past experience make it more than a well-produced record, this is an outstanding record, period. Reimagined sounds of yesterday play alongside these themes, creating an instantly nostalgic, achingly cool record, precisely because Rina Sawayama is so willing to do the uncool thing: to wear her heart on her sleeve, bypass the majority of pop trends from the last few years, and craft the album she wants.
Rise Against The Sufferer and the Witness
Run the Jewels Run the Jewels 2
Salem (US) Fires in Heaven
It's not much of a life you're living
It's not much of a life you're leaving
Sigur Ros ( )
Sigur Ros Takk...
Sigur Ros Kveikur
Taylor Swift Red (Taylor’s Version)
If you are not a white woman in your late teens to early 30's:

Do not kill the part of you that is cringe, kill the part that cringes.
The National Boxer
The National I Am Easy to Find
A new approach find The National participating alongside incredible female vocalists such as Lisa Hannigan, Sharon Van Etten, and Mina Tindle in sounds that come across as a dialogue instead of a monologue. The results are thrilling: the call and response of Not In Kansas is an emotional triumph, and "classic" National songs like "Rylan" gain additional dimension.
The Tallest Man on Earth The Wild Hunt
The Wonder Years The Greatest Generation
Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II
Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV
Thrice Major/Minor
Touche Amore Stage Four
Trivium In the Court of the Dragon
I wouldn't even consider myself a fan of Trivium, but this absolutely slays. It plays like the best parts of thrash, melodeath, and
power metal: roaring riffs, memorable melodies, soaring guitars and high fantasy concepts - without the bloat, overblown mixing,
bad songwriting, cheese, or generic instrumentation that can easily come with the territory. Coupled with great lyrics, breathtaking
drumming, and a driving, palpable energy running through the entire record, this is an instant classic.
Trophy Scars Bad Luck
Trophy Scars Astral Pariah
Ulver The Assassination of Julius Caesar
This is a monster of an album. It's incredible that, two decades after creating some of the most frigid black metal ever recorded, Ulver is creating a dark synth-pop album and sound absolutely confident in doing so. The Assassination of Julius Caesar is a dark gem with facets revealing something old and beautiful, nostalgic and evil. Ulver have crafted something undeniably beautiful: the blissful baseline of Nemoralia, the reverb-soaked piano of Southern Gothic, or the ache of 1969. Yet the album drips menace: the lyrics sew different times and places of history together: heretics burning alive in the night, a car wreck snuffing the light out of a young princess, a slain pontiff. This tension between beauty and death, between nostalgia and decay, is found until the last track, and works remarkably well. Coming Home is the only track written in the present: a cynical, bleak piece breaking with previous tracks with the expression: "I have been thinking about my life lately: these old streets, this same old song of smoke and mirrors and sweet revenge." Implying perhaps that the nostalgia for the past is deeply flawed: it's not a fable or myth, it's an ugly, painful reality that calls back to Perdition City. It's a unique twist for Ulver to throw away their own sound in the last track. But the themes of nostalgia and the past, of reliving old times versus embracing the future, are as equally applicable to Ulver and their vast discography as they are to history itself.
Vangelis Blade Runner Soundtrack
Vektor Terminal Redux

4.0 excellent
Amon Amarth Fate of Norns
Anberlin Cities
Anberlin New Surrender
Arcade Fire Funeral
Arcade Fire Reflektor
Autumn Leaves As Night Conquers Day
Be'lakor Stone's Reach
Bell Witch Four Phantoms
Ben Howard I Forget Where We Were
Birds in Row You, Me, and the Violence
Blanck Mass World Eater
As an album, World Eater doesn't match up to its vicious name or image. That hardly matters, because Rhesus Negative and Silent Treatment are two of the most primal, awe-inspiring noise tracks in years.
Blind Guardian Nightfall in Middle-Earth
Blind Guardian A Twist in the Myth
Blind Guardian At the Edge of Time
Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Broods Broods
Casualties of Cool Casualties of Cool
CHVRCHES The Bones of What You Believe
Converge No Heroes
Corpsessed Succumb to Rot
Wait.

The scarlet bloom flowers once more.

You will witness true horror.

Now, rot!
Dark Tranquillity Construct
Defeater Travels
Devin Townsend Project Addicted
Devin Townsend Project Ghost
Drown (US) Subaqueous
A thorough improvement over Unsleep, Markov Soroka fully embraces the oceanic concept with Subaqueous. The organic sounds of water and the distant cries of whales on Mother Cetacean deftly set the atmosphere for the next 40 minutes. The roar of vocals sound like they're coming from under the water, the sound is masterfully mixed - the bass is a notable highlight - and the entire album feels mournful without being glacial in pace. At times the pace is almost frenetic, like the drumming and guitar work at 14:00 on Father Subaqueous or the strings at 16:00, which could have been pulled from a Godspeed You! record. The atmosphere works: sorrow, loss, and peace at the bottom of the sea, crushed under fathoms of water.
Frank Turner Tape Deck Heart
Gaerea Mirage
Bloodborne-ass album art, this goes hard and the mixing rules
Ghost (SWE) Prequelle
On first listen, this album is a 2 hit wonder: Rats and Dance Macabre are obvious standouts in a sea of forgettable tracks. But much like a plague of rats overrunning a city (fuck you, this analogy is going to work) this album goes from Rats alone to quietly and consistently overpowering the listener. Sax solos, triumphant, arena-rock song about rotting corpses, the roiling opening of Faith to the ghostly longing of Life Eternal - this album is about so much more than the highlights. The only misstep is the incredibly cheesy, repetitive structure of Pro Memoria.
Have a Nice Life Deathconsciousness
HMLTD The Worm
I genuinely would have preferred a West Of Eden Part II over this... but it's so bizarre, narrative-driven, over-the-top, and catchy that I can't hate it, I just can't. The themes of climate and capitalist destruction are not new, but they're as relevant and compelling as ever. What really elevates this out of the prog muck is how the narrative, concept, and execution align: the sheer number of styles and genres that are devoured by the worm are impressive. More importantly, the worm's short lifespan - clocking in a little over 40 minutes - shows real restraint. In the hands of a lesser band this could have easily become a bloated monstrosity twice as long and half as interesting.
Immolation Majesty and Decay
Immolation Providence
Ingrid Michaelson Be OK
Insomnium Shadows of the Dying Sun
Iotunn The Wizard Falls
Jessie Ware Devotion
Justin Hurwitz La La Land OST
This isn't Broadway, and the music alone doesn't tell a complete story like Hamilton or Chicago. You owe it to yourself to see it as a movie, because the music is great, but the film is incredible. That aside, damned if "City of Stars" doesn't stay in your head for weeks, and if the horns on "Someone in The Crowd" don't make you feel - well, anything - you might not have a soul.
Kelly Lee Owens Inner Song
This album fucks: The first four tracks provide a solid sample of the breadth and depth of her considerable talents. The music here is sexy, dark, joyful, and full of life - she - and her beats - sing with skill and emotion.
Kids See Ghosts Kids See Ghosts
Eclectic and organic, Kids See Ghosts shows Kanye and Cudi as a creative duo to be reckoned with. The only elements pulling this album down are the same that made DAYTONA such a standout: the gaunt structure and precise editing. The acoustic sections of this album do not do any favors for Cudi, and feel unnecessary in spite of the scant 24 minute runtime.
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Infest the Rats' Nest
Low Roar 0
M83 Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Matthew Good Vancouver
Metric Formentera
Metric deserves praise for coming out swinging with Doomscroller: longer than any song they've ever released by a good 3 minutes and more interesting, apocalyptic, and yet somehow more effortless than they've sounded in awhile. It all comes across as peaceful, engaging, and incredibly graceful. From languid tracks like Formentera to the immense bop of False Dichotomy, to the hopeful Paths in the Sky - the whole record rolls on by. Inspired by the band's visit to the Balearic isle of Formentera, it's hard not to think of blue waves and warm skies while listening. There's an element of unease - the air is warmer, the water is a few centimeters higher this year. Will it - will we - be here tomorrow? For now, it feels good to stop scrolling and enjoy the moment.
Moonsorrow Viides luku - Hävitetty
Muse Absolution
Oneohtrix Point Never Garden of Delete
Orville Peck Pony
This is the perfect album to drop on "that guy" who says they listen to everything "except rap and country." It's just good country - one might even call it Americana - in the vein of Johnny Cash or old crooners. But it's not just good country, it's legitimately interesting: sad songs and clever lyrics are nothing new for country, but the static washout of Kansas (Remembers Me Now) to the the depressed "yeehaw" on Turn To Hate, Orville Peck delivers so much more than just a great country record.
Panopticon Revisions of the Past
Phoebe Bridgers Punisher
If 'I Know The End' doesn't move you I, frankly, don't know what will. It's not the best song of the year but it is THE song of 2020
Primordial To the Nameless Dead
Primordial Where Greater Men Have Fallen
Rina Sawayama Hold The Girl
holy shit I lost award-winning artist rina sawayama in my pitch drop experiment
Rise Against Siren Song of the Counter Culture
Sidewalks And Skeletons Entity
Great Witch House record: the energy and mixing is vastly improved over The Void, the addition of Goo Munday's vocals add needed variety and depth, and there's noticeable differentiation between tracks. The album deserves credit for how much more cohesive and listenable it is than prior efforts: much of that is due to the pacing between quieter tracks like the angelic Take Me or the ghost loops of Empath and blistering cuts like Zero or Destroy. In multiple spots this album matches the alien, void-like intensity of prior track standouts off of White Light.
Silversun Pickups Neck of the Woods
Skeletonwitch The Apothic Gloom
Sleigh Bells Treats
Sleigh Bells Reign of Terror
Steven Price Gravity OST
Sumerlands Sumerlands
Svalbard When I Die, Will I Get Better?
When I Die, Will I Get Better? Is an intelligent hardcore album. The lyrics are sharp (even more so considering the studio environment which produced this record and the admirable stand taken by Svalbard) and the guitar and drum work is textually and conceptually rich. Take ?Throw your heart away? which skips absolutely any pretense of buildup to catapult the listener directly into what sounds like the middle of a chorus; ever evolving until only returning to these same lyrics in the final minute of the song. This track, and others, are the sounds of a band actively resisting a typical approach, choosing to embrace the emotive heights of shoegaze, the fury of hardcore, and the force of extreme metal over a single focus, and forging a compelling soundscape from this combination. This variety is the only real critique I can find: every track has this varied soundscape, and in this mix I did not quite hear the peaks of harsh shoegaze found in Oathbreaker or Deafheaven, and in spite of the pointed lyrical focus, the vocals did not cut as deeply as the best from hardcore outfits like Envy or Birds in Row. ?Click Bait? commits closest to a single overarching sound and comes across as one of the strongest tracks. This minor criticism aside, this is an excellent album and Svalbard?s best yet.
Swarms Old Raves End
Taylor Swift Folklore
It's excellent. Aaron Dessner is a wonderful contributor: this has the exact vibe of an earlier The National record and the stripped-down production pairs beautifully with Taylor's vocals. Tracks like "mad woman" come across like a cut from Trouble Will Find Me - just replace the languid sorrow with bottled-up anger. As a whole, it's simple, heartfelt, and the lyrics are pretty solid. Album highlights include Bon Iver on the desolate "exile" and "betty", which feels like the perfect bridge between Taylor Swift in 2020 and the Taylor Swift that wrote Red in 2012. There's nothing as openly raw or daring as found on the highlights of Norman Fucking Rockwall or Fetch The Bolt Cutters, but the strength here - just like on the best The National cuts - is the devastating nonchalance: lines like "does she mouth fuck you forever?" or "you're a flashback in a film reel on the one screen in my town" that punch far above their weight.
The Felice Brothers From Dreams to Dust
The Offering Home
Home is an achievement: melodic, technical, devastating. The vocal effects and instrumentation on songs like 'Failure (S.O.S.)' are masterful, and they deftly avoid the trap of valuing technical effort above emotional delivery. For instance, when singer Alex Richichi roars the line "Storm the gates of Eden" on 'Glory' it does not matter if this is technically progressive metal or metalcore or some specific sub-genre: it burns away genre distinctions into something unmistakable metal. In style and delivery, this is reminiscent of Into Eternity at their best. In terms of songwriting and emotional scope, this is a fantastic first LP.
The Wonder Years No Closer to Heaven
The xx xx
The xx I See You
Outside of Jamie XX's influence, The XX bring nothing new to the table with this album. However, Jamie's samples, rhythms, and incredibly mixing make "I See You" a real pleasure. It's wonderful how much brighter and engaging The XX sound with his touch. From the opening horns on "Dangerous" to the trembling, swelling beats on "A Violent Noise," his work is the perfect compliment to Romy and Oliver's dreamy, dreary vocals. Their vocals have barely changed since their debut album, but the production brings out their best. Oliver and Romy sound wonderful on "Replica" and "Performance," respectively. At the core, this is still The XX, just with vastly improved production and a few more samples in their repertoire.
Thrice The Artist in the Ambulance
Tribulation Where the Gloom Becomes Sound
Where the Gloom Becomes Sound: literally, the atmospheric elements over the past few albums come together in something slightly sharper. Less moody interludes, more drum solos. In short: it whips ass.
Two Steps From Hell Invincible
Violet Cold Empire of Love
Great sounds, great cover art, some of y'all need to go outside.
Wolfheart King of the North
This rules - some old-school Insomnium vibes, elements of Amon Amarth viking aesthetic, surprisingly sonically diverse. Cold riffs, grim vocals, keyboards, rare cleans, folk touches and acoustic passages. Vocals are especially interesting, each song has its own identity in a way that's extremely surprising for a melodic death metal record.
Yann Tiersen Le Phare
Yellowcard Southern Air
Zabbeth Zabbeth
As someone who winds up listening to Bathory's 1984 debut every few months, this kind of record in 2022 is a genuine treasure. The only thing I'd change is to make it sound even *more* lo-fi. We can, and must, go further.

3.5 great
100 Gecs 10,000 gecs
It's important to stay connected with the youth. First 3 tracks here are also genuinely great lmao
65daysofstatic We Were Exploding Anyway
Algiers Algiers
Amesoeurs Amesoeurs
Amon Amarth Jomsviking
Anaal Nathrakh Endarkenment
Extreme Power Metal. Endarkenment is best on tracks like Feeding the Death Machine, Punish Them, The Age of Starlight Ends, and the title track. It's an extreme, exhausting, *incredibly* over the top cacophony that somehow works around an actual melodic core. Comparatively, tracks like Thus, Always, To Tyrants are weaker: it sounds mad: extremity for its own sake, untethered to any guiding purpose or melody. When their sound is constrained by an actual melody, it sounds all the more powerful: equally parts catchy and demented, like a sadomasochistic take on Viking Metal: brutal, punishing, and somehow, fun. It's heavy, obviously, and spends the majority of its runtime absolutely pummeling the listener, but it doesn't simply destroy, it also inspires.
Arcade Fire The Suburbs
August Burns Red Constellations
Ayreon The Human Equation
Ayreon 01011001
Banner Pilot Heart Beats Pacific
Battle Beast Circus of Doom
Cheesy as hell but it does not matter because the lead singer just obliterates every song. Absolutely nukes it. Production is nothing special but melodies and song composition are varied enough to keep things interesting, and at 41 minutes, Circus of Doom never overstays its welcome.
Be'lakor Of Breath and Bone
Bon Iver 22, A Million
Borknagar Winter Thrice
Fantastic, multi-layered black metal record. There's nothing done here that hasn't exactly been done before, the production could be much more interesting, and the songs certainly take their time. But it's a great album with a surprising amount of harmony, vocal skill, and technical dexterity.
Brand New 3 Demos, Reworked
Defeater Lost Ground
Devin Townsend Project Deconstruction
Devin Townsend Project Epicloud
Enslaved Axioma Ethica Odini
Frank Turner England Keep My Bones
Ghost (SWE) Meliora
Ghost (SWE) Popestar
Have a Nice Life The Unnatural World
HEALTH DISCO4 :: Part I
Heaven Shall Burn Iconoclast (Part 1: The Final Resistance)
Heaven Shall Burn Veto
Insomnium Across the Dark
Joy Division Unknown Pleasures
Kvelertak Kvelertak
Lorna Shore Pain Remains
Sorry haters, this rules. Don't really care if it's not original or unique, it targets the lizard part of my brain that wants something loud and extraordinarily, melodramatically dramatic. The music equivalent of getting real high and blasting an hour away playing Doom.
Miike Snow Miike Snow
Miike Snow Happy to You
Muse Origin of Symmetry
Muse Black Holes & Revelations
Oceans of Slumber Starlight and Ash
I love this - Northern Europe has had a monopoly on gothic, soaring, female-fronted metal
acts for too long. It's high time the Southern US sends their best to this underserved
niche, and this album delivers. Thematically similar to Zeal & Ardor using elements of black
American music and the lens of US history to enrich the soundscape of black metal, Oceans of
Slumber expands progressive metal through subtle southern rock motifs. It's not perfect! But
it's refreshing. Great songwriting, tight drum work - are you kidding me with the back half
of The Waters Rising! - and suburb vocals. Check this out.
Of Monsters and Men Beneath the Skin
Rise Against Appeal to Reason
Skeletonwitch Serpents Unleashed
Soilwork Overgivenheten
Catchy, melodic, interesting - with a handful of exceptions, every track here is better than anything on Verkligheten. Very, very solid album.
Strand of Oaks Heal
Street Sects The Kicking Mule
Taylor Swift Evermore
Folklore and Evermore are two sides of the same gem: Folklore is more polished and even, Evermore has more interesting features and some very rough edges. The National feature is a vast disappointment, 'tis the damn season, dorothea, and long story short are just bad. HAIM and Bon Iver (again!) are the highlights. The last half of the closing track makes me wish for Taylor Swift via a Bon Iver record, not Taylor Swift via a National record.
The Antlers Hospice
The Halo Effect Days of the Lost
It comes across as a more energized, present-day Dark Tranquility playing with a bit more passion and tighter execution. Absolutely not original or groundbreaking in the slightest but the guitars sound fantastic, the melodies are excellent, and Mikael Stanne sounds solid as ever.
The Naked and Famous Passive Me, Aggressive You
The National Sleep Well Beast
With the exception of a handful of standouts such as "Day I Die", "Empire Line", and "Nobody Else Will Be There" this album does not stick with the listener the same as prior records. The electronic elements don't noticeably improve or change their sound, and the songwriting, while solid, lacks the stunning ennui of prior records.
The War On Drugs Lost in the Dream
The Wonder Years Sister Cities
For The Wonder Years diehards - this is the best they've ever done. While the Wonder Years have had singular moments greater than anything on this album before, this album as a whole succeeds in every important area they've been searching for: in songwriting, vulnerability, this album might be their Magnum Opus. But for those that aren't a part of their group - those that don't have a way of relating to Dan Campbell's personal struggles or the band's demons- it doesn't click. The repetitive arrangements do not help either.
The xx Coexist
Zeal and Ardor Stranger Fruit
Zeal and Ardor Wake of a Nation

3.0 good
As I Lay Dying An Ocean Between Us
Carly Rae Jepsen Emotion: Side B
Chaos Chaos Committed to the Crime
Chevelle La Gárgola
Dark Tranquillity Moment
Defeater Empty Days and Sleepless Nights
Devin Townsend Ziltoid the Omniscient
Devin Townsend Project Ki
Disillusion Gloria
Have a Nice Life Sea of Worry
Too short and all the best songs were already heard before. If this had 2-3 additional tracks with the same quality as Lords of Tresserhorn, Science Beat, or Destinos, this would easily be a 4, probably a 4.5. Everything We Forget is pointless, but the highlights on here whip ass.
Helloween Gambling with the Devil
Insomnium Winter's Gate
For Winter's Gate, Insomnium tried to be many things: the one thing they forgot was to not sound rboring. It's beautiful and technically suburb, but it doesn't click, and the best moments just rslide past.
Insomnium Heart Like a Grave
Pale Morning Star and Twilight Trails are two of the strongest songs Insomnium has ever done. They are honestly moving, and capture a raw feeling that few melodic death bands carry. But beyond these two tracks... some songs are just decent: Valediction and The Offering aren't *bad* but they don't feel like they matter with the same intensity. Other tracks drag on or feel unnecessary and the two bonus tracks feel out of place. rIt's a joy to hear this band when everything clicks and they bring the same energy and emotional weight found in songs like Mortal Share - and there's a few tracks that do that very thing.
Is Tropical Native To
Kanye West Donda
Globglogabgalab - Mr. Kanye West Has Done It Again 10/10
Lights Siberia
M83 Oblivion (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Metric Fantasies
Persefone Truth Inside the Shades
Persefone Shin-Ken
Sleigh Bells Jessica Rabbit
Street Sects End Position
The Killers Imploding the Mirage
It ranges from inoffensive to great: cuts like Caution and My God are bombastic and excessive in all the right ways, a fusion of American rock and synth that successfully recreates the magic of Hot Fuss: intense emotions blown up to size of mountains. If Brandon Flowers didn't sound quite so languid or the lyrics weren't so bad on a handful of tracks, the entire record would be great. At their worst - on tracks like Fire In Bone - Imploding the Mirage sound like B-Sides from a half-forgotten 80's band.
Thirty Seconds to Mars This Is War

2.5 average
Amon Amarth Deceiver of the Gods
BLACKPINK Born Pink
It really blows that the most successful singles on this album are the worst. The inevitable shift of the group to mainstream 2020's hip-hop on the opening one-two punch of Pink Venom and Shut Down land with a thud. This is nothing new, the shitty lead track on 2020's The Album has like 700 million plays on Spotify. YG Entertainment seems bent on focusing on their most generic aspects. It isn't until the halfway mark that blackpink really start to show their unique strength: combining multiple pop genres into insanely effective earworms. All told, there's two or three incredible pop songs overshadowed by the commercial expectations of the rest of the album.
Caliban Dystopia
Not an original bone in its body, but worth a jam - the album structure and guest vocals definitely help keep things fresh. It feels like there's a wide range of ideas across the 12 tracks here, and while no single idea is executed poorly, it's just that they've all been done before.
Deadmau5 4x4=12
Heaven Shall Burn Wanderer
Alternative titles: Wanderer (Veto Part II) Wanderer (Iconoclast Part IV) Wanderer (Another HSB
album - but this time with that one song with female vox and a great Sodom cover)
In Flames A Sense of Purpose
Jimmy Eat World Bleed American
Jimmy Eat World Chase This Light
Lights The Listening
Matchbook Romance Voices

2.0 poor
As I Lay Dying The Powerless Rise
Avicii True
Breaking Benjamin Dear Agony
Ghost (SWE) Infestissumam
Halsey Badlands
Magic Sword Badlands
The soundtrack to Blade Runner 2049 if it was created by the Duffer brothers for Netflix.
Story of the Year The Black Swan
Sum 41 Chuck
The Naked and Famous Recover
With few exceptions - notably Bury Us and Come As You Are - The Naked And Famous' latest album does not
find them playing to their strengths. As a whole it is too long and unmemorable, with little lyrical or
instrumental weight. Recover is a chill album to a fault, without any of the drenched, sun-soaked
emotions found in their past singles. With the exception of the guitar leads on Bury Us there are few
instrumental stand-outs; even on the very first listen this record quickly fades into the background.
Recover is largely calm and inoffensive; a shame compared to the driving urgency of their past
discography.

1.5 very poor
In Flames Sounds of a Playground Fading
Linkin Park Minutes to Midnight
Muse The Resistance
Skrillex Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites
Skrillex More Monsters and Sprites
Story of the Year In The Wake Of Determination
Story of the Year Page Avenue
The Chainsmokers Collage

1.0 awful
blink-182 California
Good Charlotte Good Morning Revival
In Flames Siren Charms
In Flames Battles
Linkin Park A Thousand Suns
Sum 41 Underclass Hero
Trans-Siberian Orchestra Night Castle
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