Hello, everyone! You may have noticed I’ve been posting more than usual recently … and a big part of the reason why is because there are a bunch of reviews I started working on a while ago but hadn’t finished, so I’m just getting caught up on those reviews.

And yes, I’m back with more mini reviews … I’m still working on my review of SCARING THE HOES by JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown as well as my review of Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd by Lana Del Rey. I’m also still working on my list of my favourite songs of 2022. All three of those posts have kind of been ‘side projects’ for me as a reviewer for the past few weeks … or maybe even the past few months. But now that I’m getting more caught up on mini reviews, I’ll be working on those posts more. I might even have one of them out by the end of May. We’ll see.

But for now, here are five mini reviews! As always, this is all just based on how I personally feel about these albums. None of this is meant to be mean or anything, it’s just someone who loves music writing about albums and how much/how little he likes them and why.

Also, I know these reviews aren’t very in-depth, but to me that’s kind of the point of a mini review. I’m just briefly sharing my feelings on these albums.

Alright, time for the reviews!

Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent by Lewis Capaldi:

Before listening to this album, I decided to check out Lewis Capaldi’s 2019 debut album, Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent, and while I like “Someone You Loved” more than the vast majority of online music critics, I can’t say I really ended up liking the album much. The album starts strong in my opinion with the song, “Grace”, but I felt like the rest of the album paled in comparison, and a lot of it I just personally didn’t find very interesting. That’s not to say it’s ‘uninteresting’, it’s just that I personally wasn’t all that interested by it.

But “Forget Me”, this album’s lead single, gave me higher expectations for this album, so … did I end up liking this album more than his debut?

Well … I’m not sure. I mean, just like his debut, it’s got its moments that I like. But it’s also got some very low lows in my opinion. For example, the song, “Pointless”, which features some really boring melodies in my opinion, and I also find the instrumental boring. And in what sounds like it’s supposed to be a romantic song, the line, ‘Everything is pointless without you’ is really off-putting. I know it’s not meant literally, but it really doesn’t work for me at all.

There’s also “Any Kind Of Life”, which has one of the most boring instrumentals on this album in my opinion, with a chord progression that doesn’t click for me … and while I mostly like the vocals on this album, when he belts out in the chorus of this song, I don’t really enjoy listening to it. Also, “Love The Hell Out Of You” is another of my least favourite tracks here, as I don’t find the melodies interesting at all, and the guitar is mixed super quietly, and I find the chorus really annoying, as I find the lyrics in the chorus kind of cringey.

I like the second half of the album better than the first half, but overall, for me, this album is a 5/10. But that being said, I love the song, “Burning”, which is my favourite Lewis Capaldi song to date … this song shows the narrator leaving a relationship after realizing it isn’t going to work out, and the snare sounds great in this song, and I like the vocals and vocal melodies, too! But back to the album overall, while I like the vocals and I like a lot of the production, the compositions for the most part don’t really work for me, and that really holds me back from liking this album more.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Forget Me”, “Burning”, “The Pretender”, “How This Ends”, “How I’m Feeling Now”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Wish You The Best”, “Pointless”, “Love The Hell Out Of You”, “Any Kind Of Life”

…So Unknown by Jesus Piece:

Two years ago, sixteen-year-old me would have listened to this and given it a super high rating because I thought I was so ‘cool’ for loving pretty much any metal music … but now, eighteen-year-old me listens to this and thinks, ‘this really isn’t for me.’

It’s not that I don’t like intensity in music, but I personally don’t find the guitar riffs on this album to be my cup of tea, and the screaming and the instrumentals here don’t really work for me when put together, and I’m not really sure why.

I get that this just isn’t my cup of tea, and there’s an audience for this kind of music, but to me it mostly sounds like noise. That’s not to say it’s ‘just noise’, it’s just that that’s how I personally hear it. And I rate albums based on how much/how little I personally like them …

So, with that being said, this is getting a 3/10 from me. I mean, it ends with a great track in my opinion, but up until that point I personally don’t find it very interesting, but there’s a good chance you’ll like it more than me. So, if you’re a fan of metal with lots of screaming, I’ll give it a recommendation. Otherwise, if you’re looking to get into metal, this isn’t the album I’d recommend first.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Bond”
Least Favourite Tracks: “In Constraints”, “FTBS”, “Silver Lining”, “Gates of Horn”, “Profane”, “An Offering to the Night”, “Stolen Life”

Stereo Mind Game by Daughter:

So, you may have noticed from reading my reviews that I’m not the biggest fan of music with an airy sound to it … but that’s not to say there aren’t exceptions, and to me, this new Daughter album is absolutely fantastic!

And I think part of it is the sharper percussion on some of these songs, and also the subtler percussion on some of the other songs—both of those, in my opinion, sound good with the airy sound. For the most part, the snares don’t feel too clunky … keep in mind that I said ‘for the most part’, as the clunky snare on “Dandelion” is a big part of the reason this is one of the weaker songs on the album in my opinion.

Meanwhile, the sharp snare on “Party” is part of the reason I love this song so much! And also, the distorted guitar in this song sounds fantastic!

There are a lot of interesting lyrics on this album about a variety of topics (although a lot of them seem to have to do with the feeling of loneliness during the pandemic), and the melodies are really good, too … I’m giving this an 8.5/10! I think it’s excellent!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Be On Your Way”, “Party”, “Future Lover”, “Isolation”, “To Rage”, “Wish I Could Cross the Sea”
Least Favourite Tracks: Maybe the intro track? Maybe “Dandelion”? I think I like every track here, though

Exotico by Temples:

Recently, I decided to check out Temples’ 2017 album, Volcano, considering I’d heard really good things about it … and I can’t say I really ended up loving it like so many people did, but I did end up liking it quite a bit, and “Mystery of Pop” is an absolutely phenomenal track!

And while I still haven’t heard any of their other albums, that album made me excited to check out this album, and … well, this was quite the disappointment.

First of all, I don’t find the melodies as catchy as the melodies on Volcano, in either the vocals or instrumentation. And some of the catchier melodies here are kind of annoyingly catchy in my opinion, like the string melody (or at least I think it’s strings) at the start of the song, “Cicada”.

But I’m also not a big fan of a lot of the reverb here. Or maybe it isn’t reverb, but it sounds like it is. Either way, it gives these songs an airy sound that, to my ears, stops these songs from having more punch to them. And it’s not that I don’t ever like airy production in music–I mean, I just gave the new Daughter album an 8.5/10 … but in synth-pop I’m not as big a fan of airy production. And yes, I think this is a synth-pop album, at least somewhat.

Overall, this just didn’t really do much for me outside of a handful of tracks, and there are also some tracks I find quite annoying. So, for me, especially considering how long the album is, it’s a 5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Liquid Air”, “Crystal Hall”, “Giallo”, “Inner Space”, “Time Is A Light”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Gamma Rays”, “Exotico”, “Meet Your Maker”

Real Life by Kat Duma:

I randomly came across this album when I was on Apple Music, and it’s the debut album by an artist whom I’d never heard of before.

And this album starts very strong, with a really great, dreamy sound with great production and mixing—and I love some of the details like the first lead synth in “Real Life”, the snappiness of the snare in “Land & Sea & Sky”, and the echoed guitar (or maybe it’s a harp or something, I’m not sure) in “Fated” … but not only do I start wishing for more variety in the sound as the album goes on, but the songs themselves start to get weaker in my opinion.

There’s “So Long” which features some pretty boring vocal melodies, and while I like the cover of “Ana” by Pixies (this cover kind of sounds like Beach House), right after it is “Flame”, which features clunky-sounding percussion, and the echo on this track makes me like it less … and it’s not like I really like the vocal melodies on this track, either.

I think the album ends pretty well with “Sun Rise”, but the overpowered bass holds me back from liking this song more, even though the guitar does sound really nice.

Overall … I mean, I wouldn’t say I love it. I like the first half way better than the second, but that’s partially because I really like the first half! So, overall, I’d recommend giving this a listen. For me, it’s a 6.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Real Life”, “Land & Sea & Sky”, “System”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Flames”