| 4.0 excellent |
| A Winged Victory for the Sullen A Winged Victory for the Sullen |
| Adrian Belew Mr. Music Head |
| Adrian Belew's musical prowess is in full swing here, as he displays his versatility and writing ability. |
| Arapahoes Blood Moon |
| Boss Keloid Herb Your Enthusiasm |
| Bossk .1 |
| Bossk Audio Noir |
| Buffalo Rodeo Home Videos |
| Bummer (USA-MO) Dead Horse |
| The best album to be released in the genre since Whores.' Gold. |
| Chicago Chicago X |
| The final installment of Chicago's rock/pop rock days. A fun and catchy album that shows off the talents of every band member and perfectly blends Chicago's distinct sound. |
| Claude Debussy Suite bergamasque, L. 75 |
| Claude Debussy Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, L. 86 |
| Comrades Safekeeper |
| If you have the chance to see Comrades live, seriously go do it. Their performances exceed the album. |
| Cranial Dark Towers, Bright Lights |
| Dopethrone Transcanadian Anger |
| Some of this is EW worship (no surprise given the band name) but it's done very well. |
| Dvne Aurora Majesty |
| Dvne Omega Severer |
| Elder (USA-MA) Dead Roots Stirring |
| Elder (USA-MA) Spires Burn/Release |
| Elder have demonstrated even better songwriting on other releases, but it's still Elder and it's still excellent. 3.8/5. |
| Elder (USA-MA) Lore |
| Electric Wizard Come My Fanatics... |
| Album is great but the second half doesn't hit quite as hard as the first. 3.9 / 5. |
| Fields of Locust Subtopia |
| Fu Manchu Clone of the Universe |
| Generation of Vipers Howl and Filth |
| It's disgusting how good this album is at times. Sludge/hardcore that brings the force of a steamroller. The closer could be a bit more punctuating. |
| Gustav Holst The Planets, Op. 32 |
| Herod Sombre Dessein |
| Heron and Crane Drat |
| Humanfly II |
| Intronaut The Direction of Last Things |
| Ire Wolves Heirs |
| ISIS Celestial |
| ISIS Mosquito Control |
| Izah Izah/Fire Walk With Us Split |
| Lantlos Melting Sun |
| Latitudes Agonist |
| Menagerie (USA-KY) Menagerie |
| Meshuggah Nothing |
| This might be just a touch better than Catch Thirtythree. It doesn't have a stand-out like, say, Dehumanization, but it's just so solidly consistent. |
| Meshuggah Catch Thirtythree |
| Meshuggah Nothing (Re-Release) |
| Meshuggah The Violent Sleep Of Reason |
| Metallica Death Magnetic |
| Norma Jean Polar Similar |
| Omega Massif Geisterstadt |
| If Isis and Year of No Light had a child and sludge was the dominant gene, this would be it. 3.4/5rEDIT: Nvm, this is a 3.9. |
| Pallbearer Foundations of Burden |
| Pelican Forever Becoming |
| Call it a 3.8/5. In other words, Pelican's best release. |
| Pomegranate Tiger Entities |
| PSOTY Fragments Of Uniforms |
| Rosetta Wake/Lift |
This is not the kind of record that will click upon the first, second, or even third listen.
"Lift" is largely uninteresting, but the rest of the album will take you on a journey through
space itself. Raised from a 3.7/5 |
| Russian Circles Geneva |
| Almost as good as the album that follows it. I'd put this a tick or two above the Sputnik average. The second half of the album could use some trimming. |
| Russian Circles Empros |
| Russian Circles Memorial |
| Whereas Russian Circles excelled on their last two albums in creating songs that blended beauty and darkness into one, each song on Memorial is fairly straightforward in their respective styles. The heaviness is fulfilling but the gentler pieces leave a touch to be desired (the closer being the exception). 3.8/5 |
| Sasquatch IV |
| Sasquatch Maneuvers |
| Sithu Aye 26 |
| Soilwork The Living Infinite |
| Spotlights Love and Decay |
| SUMAC The Deal |
| The Ocean Pelagial (Instrumental) |
| Toundra Vortex |
| Ufomammut ORO: Opus Alter |
| Ufomammut Ecate |
| Wand Golem |
| Whores. Ruiner |
| Whores. Clean |
| Whores. Gold |
| YOB Clearing The Path To Ascend |
| 3.5 great |
| A Pale Horse Named Death Lay My Soul To Waste |
| An entertaining gothic metal release blended with some doom, sludge, and even a little stoner. A couple tracks are blatant AiC ripoffs, and the ballads are weak, but there is plenty to enjoy here. |
| A Winged Victory for the Sullen Atomos |
| A Winged Victory for the Sullen The Undivided Five |
| Abstracter Wound Empire |
| Alabama Shakes Sound & Color |
| Allochiria Omonoia |
| Antethic Ghost Shirt Society |
| Art Of Burning Water Between Life and Nowhere |
| For fans of Secret Cutter and Bummer. Best to listen to it all the way through. |
| Asian Death Crustacean Baikal |
| Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold |
| A7X's self-titled album is incredibly experimental, but the crazy part is...most of it works. Albeit, it's not something they should attempt again. Auto-tune, country guitar styles, political rants, they all make appearances. Aside from the joke of a final track, this album has some tasty material. |
| Bassnectar Timestretch |
| Beastwars Blood Becomes Fire |
| Normally if I end up liking 7 of 10 songs on an album, I give it a 4. But though many songs here are great, they tend to run together and need more differentiation. This is a solid listen but could stand to branch out a bit. 3.7/5 |
| Beastwars The Death of All Things |
| Boris Noise |
| Boris NO |
| Boss Keloid Melted on the Inch |
| Boss Keloid's style of sludge on their previous album was incredibly addictive, so it is a bit disappointing that it takes a back seat here. This is a proggier direction but occasionally still hits the spot. |
| Bossk .2 |
| Bummer (USA-MO) Spank |
| Massive RIP to this band. At least they went out on top. Do yourself a favor and listen to Dead Horse. |
| Chelsea Wolfe Hiss Spun |
| Chicago The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning |
| Side A is a 4.5. Side B is a 2.5. Final rating is a 3.5. |
| Claude Debussy Nocturnes, L. 91 |
| Cloudkicker The Discovery |
| Undeniably catchy instrudjental metal, though the album becomes somewhat redundant. Sharp also toys with a few ambient songs but these serve little other than to relieve tension. 3.7/5. |
| Cloudkicker The Map Is Not the Territory |
| Cloudkicker Portmanteau |
| Cloudkicker Solitude |
| Clutch Pitchfork |
| Comrades Lone/Grey |
| Cranial Alternate Endings |
| Damascus Of Whom I Always Think |
| Deathbell With The Beyond |
| Dirge (FR) Hyperion |
| They were right. You really need to give this album some time. Upped to a 3.5. This album is not about the individual tracks; it's about the cohesiveness. |
| Dvne Asheran |
| Dvne Etemen Ænka |
| Earthrise Until We Rest Beneath the Winter Way |
| Elder (USA-MA) Omens |
| Elder (USA-MA) Innate Passage |
| Evergreen (USA-AZ) Fables of Mercury |
| Faerie Ring Weary Traveler |
| Fair to Midland Arrows and Anchors |
Yet another album that I can add to my 3.7 collection. This record comes so close to being
"excellent" but its luster is somewhat immediate. I wish I could say that the musical
interludes add depth but instead come off as filler. About half of the tracks deliver the
payoff, and when FtM hits, they hit hard. |
| Fat Box Wasp |
| Fat Grass Shadows |
| Fister/Teeth Fister/Teeth |
| Forn The Departure of Consciousness |
| Forn Weltschmerz |
| Forn Rites of Despair |
| Fu Manchu Eatin' Dust |
| Fu Manchu Signs Of Infinite Power |
| Fu Manchu Gigantoid |
| Fuzz Fuzz |
| Fuzz III |
| Garganjua Toward the Sun |
| Garganjua Through the Void |
| Generation of Vipers Coffin Wisdom |
| Ghosts of Glaciers The Greatest Burden |
| Gloson The Rift |
| Hum Inlet |
| Humanotone A Flourishing Fall in a Grain of Sand |
| Hymn Perish |
| Hymn Breach Us |
| Intervals In Time |
| Intronaut Prehistoricisms |
| Intronaut Valley of Smoke |
| Ire Wolves Bleeding Aparte |
| ISIS Wavering Radiant |
| Izah Sistere |
| Johnny Booth Firsthand Accounts |
| Kalpa (GR) Sequences* |
| KEN mode Entrench |
| Kerretta Pirohia |
| Khan (AUS) Creatures |
| Khemmis Hunted |
| King Crimson Discipline |
| Kokomo Kokomo |
| Kokomo Monochrome Noise Love |
| Starts off very strong, but falters some in the second half. Still, this is Kokomo's best record so far. |
| Kyuss Welcome to Sky Valley |
| Latitudes Old Sunlight |
| Lo-Pan In Tensions |
| Lo-Pan Subtle |
| Love Sex Machine Love Sex Machine |
| lowheaven collapse |
| Madmess Rebirth |
| Mascara (FR) Cameo Blue Estate |
| Meshuggah I |
| Meshuggah Koloss |
| Metallica Hardwired...To Self-Destruct |
| Mountains (UK) Tides End |
| My Bloody Valentine m b v |
| Neander Eremit |
| Netherlands Silicon Vapor |
| Netherlands Audubon |
| Netherlands Black Gaia |
| Norma Jean All Hail |
| O'Brother Garden Window |
| O'Brother Disillusion |
First half is great, sans the opener. Second half is good but contains a couple tracks that
hold this album back. Interesting vocals; somewhere between Thrice and Taproot; but it suits
the gloomy atmosphere well. 3.7/5 |
| O'Brother Endless Light |
| Old Man Gloom The Ape of God I |
| orphantwin Future Classic |
| Pallbearer Sorrow And Extinction |
| Pelican Nighttime Stories |
| Powder for Pigeons Crackin Shells |
| PSOTY Sunless |
| Psychedelic Porn Crumpets Shyga! The Sunlight Mound |
| Ramesses Misanthropic Alchemy |
| Red (USA) Until We Have Faces |
| As others have pointed out, this album is a grower. The problem is that several songs here had the potential to be great but fell just short. Having said that, UWHF is bolstered by some of Red's best music to date (see "Feed the Machine"), and after a few listens, the strengths of other songs become apparent. |
| Red (USA) Of Beauty and Rage |
I'd like to give this a 4 but it lies at a 3.7 (correct rating, Ponton). While it would have been
easy for Red to re-hash their older material to make up to their fans after RtP, they did more
than that. I commend Red for carving deeper into their original sound, and not being afraid to try
longer song lengths and new musical structures. |
| Rorcal Heliogabalus |
| Rosetta A Determinism of Morality |
| Rosetta Flies to Flame |
| Rosetta Audio/Visual |
Seriously, listen to the opener and closer. Beautiful stuff. Most of this is nothing
groundbreaking because, after all, it is a soundtrack, but the music and textures are very solid. |
| Rosetta Quintessential Ephemera |
| Slightly more consistent than ADOM, but then, ADOM had a standout song in its title track. Nothing is on that level here. Eric Jernigan's vocals aren't the best fit but everything else seems naturally Rosetta (perhaps cleaner). |
| Rosetta Utopioid |
| Well one thing's for sure, this isn't post-metal anymore. Utopioid is a logical progression in their discography and they have really carved out a sound that is all their own. Problem is, it is lacking in memorable elements. This feels flat at times, leading to a low 3.5. |
| Royal Graves Amen |
| Russian Circles Guidance |
| This one escapes as a low 4, but at this point, I'd like to see Russian Circles take some more risks. There is a lot to like here; if only it sounded a little more fresh. EDIT: Yeah, it's a 3.7 now. Juuuuust a bit too phoned-in at times. |
| Sarin (CAN) Burial Dream |
| Most of this is a massive ripoff of Isis. You feel like you've heard this before, but Sarin adds a slight touch of their own to make it interesting. It's worship, but it's not bad. |
| Sarin (CAN) You Can’t Go Back |
| Sasquatch Sasquatch |
| Sasquatch III |
| IV seems to have aged a little better but it's still Sasquatch. They know how to do grimy, hazy, killer rock that keeps you coming back for more. |
| Sasquatch Fever Fantasy |
| Saver They Came with Sunlight |
| Saver From Ember and Rust |
| Scale the Summit Carving Desert Canyons |
| Scale the Summit The Collective |
| Secret Cutter Quantum Eraser |
| Quantum Eraser is the record LLNN wishes they had made. |
| Siberian (SWE) Through Ages of Sleep |
| Sithu Aye Cassini |
| Soilwork The Ride Majestic |
| Somali Yacht Club The Sun |
| This was impressive upon first listen but grew off me after a few spins. Some of it gets repetitive. 3.4/5 |
| Somnuri Nefarious Wave |
| Spaceslug Memorial |
| Steve Reich Music for 18 Musicians |
| SUMAC What One Becomes |
| A very dense listen. This takes longer to digest than The Deal but it doesn't quite live up to its predecessor. |
| SUMAC Love In Shadow |
| Supercontinent Vaalbara |
| Teenage Wrist Chrome Neon Jesus |
| Terminus (USA-AR) The Silent Bell Toll |
| The Atomic Bitchwax Scorpio |
| The Body / Bummer (USA-MO) Split 7" |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan One of Us Is the Killer |
| The Egocentrics Love Fear Choices And Astronauts |
| The Heavy Minds Beyond Gloom |
| The Ocean Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic |
| This Will Destroy You Young Mountain |
| Tides Resurface |
| Torn From Earth Loss |
| Torn From Earth Self |
| Toundra IV |
| Ufomammut Eve |
| Ulver Messe I.X-VI.X |
| Undead Anna Undead Anna |
| Watchtower (AUS) Radiant Moon |
| Windhand Soma |
| Wrong (USA-FL) Wrong |
| YOB The Illusion Of Motion |
| YOB The Great Cessation |
| YOB Our Raw Heart |
| Ypres Solypso |
| The first half has its own thing going on, but the second half unapologetically borrows from Wavering Radiant. And wouldn't you know it, the second half sounds better. |
| 3.0 good |
| '68 In Humor and Sadness |
| Acid Magus Hope Is Heavy |
| Aequorea Dim |
| Alastor (SWE) Onwards and Downwards |
| All the Empires of the World Blessings |
| All the Empires of the World Return |
| Antarktis Ildlaante |
| Arcem An Amalgamation of Loss, Defeat, and Renewal |
| As Real Marveless |
| Bassnectar Freestyle |
| Batillus Concrete Sustain |
| Beastwars IV |
| Bereft (USA-WI) Lands |
| The first track is fantastic. It's unfortunate that the rest of the record isn't as strong. |
| Besvarjelsen Atlas |
| Bing and Ruth No Home of the Mind |
| BLACKSHAPE BLACKSHAPE |
| Blindead Affliction XXIX II MCMXCVI |
| BOG Remission |
| Boss Keloid Family the Smiling Thrush |
| This isn't as much as a departure from Melted on the Inch as MotI was from Herb Your Enthusiasm, but this album does delve deeper into a proggy foundation. The quirkiness is stronger too. It's a case of Boss Keloid being unable to get out of their own way, leading to . . . mixed results. |
| Bossk Migration |
| Broods Evergreen |
| Buffalo Rodeo 123 Water |
| Burial Rival Dealer |
| Bush Razorblade Suitcase |
| What a roller coaster of an album. Razorblade Suitcase ranges from truly amazing to downright boring. The sound is raw, even abrasive at times, and Gavin's lyrics are still enigmatic. Sit through all the filler and you'll find some gems. |
| Bush The Kingdom |
| Causa Sui Euporie Tide |
| Chat Pile This Dungeon Earth |
| Workin on my ABS |
| Chrome Ghost House of Falling Ash |
| Cloudkicker ]]][[[ |
| Coltsblood Ascending Into Shimmering Darkness |
| Comrades For We Are Not Yet, We Are Only Becoming |
| Conan Horseback Battle Hammer |
| Conan Evidence of Immortality |
| Conjurer (UK) Mire |
| Conjurer (UK) Pathos |
| Cursetheknife Thank You For Being Here |
| Daevar Delirious Rites |
| Death Grips Bottomless Pit |
| Deathbell A Nocturnal Crossing |
| It's alright but I gotta say I prefer the doomier style of their first album. Hard to pick a comparison for this, maybe King Buffalo? |
| Delving Hirschbrunnen |
| The title track is dripping with Elder blood. The rest is decent. A slight step up from Gold and Silver. |
| Dirge (FR) Lost Empyrean |
| DIRGE (IN) Dirge |
| Don Broco Amazing Things |
| Doomtree All Hands |
| Dopethrone Hochelaga |
| Dread Witch Tower of the Severed Serpent |
| Duskwood The Last Voyage |
| Earthless From the Ages |
| Earthmass Collapse |
| Endonomos Endonomos |
| Erdve Vaitojimas |
| Existence Dysphoria Minus Negative |
| Fister No Spirit Within |
| Fostermother The Ocean |
| Fu Manchu King of the Road |
| Fu Manchu In Search Of... |
| There are a handful of standout tracks with infectiously fuzzy grooves and chunky vibes, but for the most part, this album bleeds together too much. Only a few songs have a real identity. |
| Fuzz Fuzz II |
| Garganjua A Voyage in Solitude |
| Gavran Indistinct Beacon |
| Generation of Vipers Dead Circle |
| Glare Of The Sun Soil |
| God Is an Astronaut The End of the Beginning |
| Gouge Away , Dies |
| Gouge Away Burnt Sugar |
| Gozu Revival |
| Green Lung Black Harvest |
| Grief Circle Weightless |
| Grin Hush |
| Hail the Void Hail the Void |
| Headless Monarch Titan Slug |
| Hegemone We Disappear |
| Herod Iconoclast |
| Hundred Suns The Prestaliis |
| If These Trees Could Talk If These Trees Could Talk |
| In the Company of Serpents In the Company of Serpents |
| In the Company of Serpents Merging in Light |
| Intronaut Habitual Levitations |
| Intronaut Fluid Existential Inversions |
| Irist Order Of The Mind |
| ISIS Oceanic |
| Maybe I've been spoiled by the grandeur of Isis's other records, but this one feels lacking. Overdone vocals and musical ideas that tend to wander without ever finding their footing. It's a good record; perhaps not a great one. |
| ISIS The Red Sea |
| ISIS SGNL>05 |
| ISIS In the Absence of Truth |
| Jaggu Rites for the Damned |
| Johnny Booth Moments Elsewhere |
| Jon Hopkins Immunity |
| Jupiterian Protosapien |
| Karp Self Titled LP |
| KEN mode Venerable |
| KEN mode Loved |
| Kerretta Exiscens |
| Khemmis Desolation |
| Khemmis pull a Pallbearer by venturing into a more streamlined metal style and become less interesting in the process. |
| King Buffalo Orion |
| King Buffalo The Burden of Restlessness |
| King Crimson Three of a Perfect Pair |
| Kokomo If Wolves |
| Kongh Shadows of the Shapeless |
| Kurokuma Born of Obsidian |
| Kyuss Blues for the Red Sun |
| Lantlos Agape |
| Lantlos Wildhund |
| Latitudes Individuation |
| Latitudes Part Island |
| Lento Earthen |
| Lento Fourth |
| LLNN Deads |
| LLNN Unmaker |
| Lo-Pan Colossus |
| Loathe I Let It In And It Took Everything |
| Lurcher Breathe |
| Don't pass up Breathe Out. Frontrunner for SOTY. Holy $#!%. |
| Malammar Mazza |
| Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard Yn Ol I Annwn |
| Meshuggah None |
| Metallica Beyond Magnetic |
| It's clear why these didn't make the DM cut. The tunes suffer from awkward transitions and occasionally laughable lyrics. Still, it has its moments and there's some enjoyable riffage, barely keeping Beyond Magnetic above a 2.5. |
| Middian Age Eternal |
| Mogwai Young Team |
| Monkey3 Welcome to the Machine |
| Monolithian The Finest Day I Ever Lived... |
| Mountaineer Giving Up the Ghost |
| Museum of Light Horizon |
| My Bloody Valentine Loveless |
| Narrow Head Satisfaction |
| Nebulae Come Sweet De Lumiére |
| Night Verses From the Gallery of Sleep |
| Noorvik Omission |
| Norma Jean Deathrattle Sing for Me |
| I think it's abundantly clear now that this band really misses Jeff Hickey. Idk how you put this up against their last few and think it's in the same realm. 2.8/5 |
| Novarupta Disillusioned Fire |
| Nug Alter Ego |
| Occlith Gates, Doorways, And Endings |
| Omega Massif Karpatia |
| Palehorse/Palerider Burial Songs |
| Pallbearer Heartless |
| Palm Reader Sleepless |
| Pelican Australasia |
| Plus One Obvious |
| Pond (AUS) Hobo Rocket |
| Postvorta Porrima |
| Psychedelic Porn Crumpets High Visceral Pt. 2 |
| Psychedelic Porn Crumpets Night Gnomes |
| PPC are at their best when they're bursting at the seams with energy, a la the garage rock exuberance found in Shyga. Only a couple tracks here manage to capture that vibe. Some of NG's songs to manage to be up-tempo but they're lacking in hooks. |
| Psychonaut Unfold the God Man |
| Pupil Slicer Mirrors |
| Red (USA) Innocence and Instinct |
| Red (USA) Declaration |
| Red (USA) Rated R |
| Restless Spirit Blood of the Old Gods |
| Most of the title track is just okay but if you want one of the best outros of 2021, listen to the end of the song. No, not the acoustic outro. The heavy one. |
| Restless Spirit Afterimage |
| Ritual King Ritual King |
| Roseneath Shine |
| Rosetta The Galilean Satellites |
| Rosetta Terra Sola |
| Rosetta/Junius Split |
| Russian Circles Blood Year |
| Saavik Saavik |
| Sarin (CAN) Darker Lakes |
| Schematics For Gravity Schematics For Gravity |
| Secret Cutter Self Titled |
| Seum Winterized |
| Seum Blueberry Cash |
| The t/t might have the riff of the year. . . |
| Shun Shun |
| Slumbering Sun The Ever-Living Fire |
| Spiritbox Eternal Blue |
| Spiritbox Rotoscope |
| Spotlights We Are All Atomic |
| Stake The Hutch |
| This started as me thinking it would be a 4, then a 3.5, but I have to settle with a 3. Every song on The Hutch has the potential to be great, but each one is missing a killing instinct. In the end, it's just "good." |
| Stake Kosmokoma |
| SUMAC May You Be Held |
| Continuing the trend of each SUMAC record being weaker than the last, only this time there's a more significant drop-off. |
| Swan Valley Heights The Heavy Seed |
| The Atlas Moth An Ache for the Distance |
| The Cartoons Death and Relaxation |
| The Gorge Mechanical Fiction |
| The Great Cold The Great Cold |
| The Haxan Cloak Excavation |
| The Moth Gatherer Esoteric Oppression |
| The Ocean Fluxion |
| The Ocean Fluxion (Remaster) |
| The Ocean Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic |
| The Swell Fellas Novaturia |
| Thousand Foot Krutch The End Is Where We Begin |
| Thrice The Artist in the Ambulance |
| Thrice Major/Minor |
| Toundra III |
| Toundra Hex |
| Turbowolf The Free Life |
| I like distorted riffs as much as the next guy. But this album relies on them a bit too much. |
| Ufomammut 8 |
| Ufomammut Fenice |
| Ulcerate Stare Into Death and Be Still |
| I'm really not a dm guy, but even this one let me inside a little bit. Doom and post fans will like the middle section. |
| Un Sentiment |
| Vektor Terminal Redux |
| Wand Plum |
| Wormsand Shapeless Mass |
| Yashira Shrine |
| Yashira Fail To Be |
| Can't help but come away thinking they're trying to balance a few too many sounds at once. It's not bad but they'd be complimenting themselves so much more by focusing the direction a touch (the standout Impasse being an example). |
| Year of No Light Ausserwelt |
| YOB The Unreal Never Lived |
