Hello, everyone! I’m back with more mini album reviews!

I’m not going into a ton of detail on all these albums, because they are just ‘mini reviews’. I’m just getting out some brief thoughts on these albums.

Also, as always, none of this is meant as a personal attack on anyone, even if the review is negative. It’s just me sharing how much or how little I like these albums and why. I’m not trying to control what kind of music people make and/or listen to.

Feel free to disagree with me on any of these albums, and feel free to let me know in the comments. Anyway, let’s get the reviews started!

O Monolith by Squid:

I was super excited about this new Squid album, considering their 2021 debut Bright Green Field is in the top tier of my favourite albums of that year … now, here’s their second album. So, after multiple listens, did this live up to my expectations?

Well, this album sees them kind of going away from the post-punk sound of their debut … and unfortunately, it feels like quite the step back, but I didn’t expect this to be as incredible as Bright Green Field, considering just how much I love that album … but yeah, the guitars aren’t as catchy, the drums don’t quite have the same punch to them as on their debut, and the mixing feels a bit messier.

But Ollie Judge still has the same excellent vocal delivery, and keep in mind those nitpicks I made are more in comparison with their debut … because this album still has good production for the most part, the mixing is really good, the guitars do still sound pretty good, and I still like the drumming even if the production doesn’t quite give the drums the same punch as on their first album.

This album doesn’t have quite the same eeriness as their debut, even if some songs are quite eerie like the incredible “Siphon Song” which reminds me of the song, “Kid A” by Radiohead from their album of the same name.

Overall, I wouldn’t say this album is as catchy as Bright Green Field, and I don’t find the lyrics quite as striking—although keep in mind I’m not the best when it comes to analyzing lyrics—and no one song here quite reaches the level of the very best songs from their debut … but I still think this is great! 8/10!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “Swing (In a Dream)”, “Siphon Song”, “Undergrowth”, “The Blades”, “After the Flash”, “If You Had Seen the Bull’s Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Devil’s Den”

Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? By McKinley Dixon:

After making one of my favourite albums of 2021, For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her, McKinley Dixon is back a little over two years later with a new album that I don’t like nearly as much.

Overall, this is an album I respect and admire way more than I outright love. And part of it is because, like I often mention, I’m not very good at analyzing lyrics. And it’s not that I don’t still like most of the lyrics here, but compared to his previous album I don’t feel that the lyrics are quite as strong. The production also feels messier, not giving the drums the punch that they have on his previous album.

Overall I don’t find the instrumentals to have the detailed layers that really elevated For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her, but there are some moments that I really like, such as the horns in the excellent chorus of “Tyler, Forever”.

“Live! from the Kitchen Table” features a great guest verse from Ghais Guevara, and “Run, Run, Run” has some of my favourite lyrics on the album, talking about the fear of your life being taken from you as a result of gun violence, but it also seems to be about trying to survive, which adds some optimism to the song, and it’s one of my favourite tracks here!

The album opens with “Hanif Reads Toni”, in which Hanif Abdurraqib reads part of the book, Jazz by Toni Morrison, who, by the way, was the inspiration for this album’s title. And even as someone who’s never read Jazz, I’ve got to say, it’s a great way to open the album!

Overall, even if some tracks like “The Story so Far (Interlude)” do kind of bore me, I mostly ended up liking this, and I’ll give it a 7/10. McKinley Dixon’s flow is still great, there are some great features, there are a lot of great lyrics, and even though I personally don’t love the album, I highly recommend you hear it if you haven’t already!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Run, Run, Run”, “Live! from the Kitchen Table”, “Tyler, Forever”
Least Favourite Tracks: “The Story so Far (Interlude)”

Hive Mind Narcosis by Thantifaxath:

This black metal band released their debut full-length album in 2014, and while I haven’t listened to that album yet, I decided to check out their new album, Hive Mind Narcosis.

This year, it feels like there have been a lot of super critically acclaimed albums that it seems like almost everyone loves except me. And I’m sure this will continue to be a common thing in future years, and it’s already been a common thing in the past, but it feels like this year especially, even more than last year, it seems to be a theme. But as someone who loves black metal, I saw this album getting a lot of critical acclaim, so … can I say I love this album and really mean it?

If I’m being honest … not quite, as much as I really wanted to love it. A lot of these songs just kind of feel like they meander a bit. And at times, the production feels kind of messy. Honestly, the more I listened to this album, the less interesting I found it to be as a whole. And that’s not to say I don’t find the album at all interesting, it just all started to blend together for me a bit more.

There are moments that I love, such as the intro of “Burning Kingdom of Now” which sounds like it could have been on Gospel’s album from last year, The Loser, one of my favourite albums of last year! And “Surgical Utopian Love” has some haunting chord progressions and hard-hitting drums which really elevate the song for me, but as a whole album something feels missing to me.

And part of it is that some of the lead guitar melodies are quite boring to me … I guess it just doesn’t quite resonate with me for reasons that are hard to explain—it doesn’t quite have the melodies to really work for me personally. But if you haven’t heard this, I would recommend that you do, at least if you’re a metal fan! And you know what? I do mostly dig this myself, so I’ll give it a strong 7.5/10! I don’t quite love it, but it’s some ferocious-sounding black metal with some really hard-hitting drums, and some moments where it all comes together pretty much perfectly—and overall, I still like the album a lot!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Surgical Utopian Love”, “Burning Kingdom of Now”, “Sub Lilith Tunnels”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Hungry Ghosts”

The Age of Pleasure by Janelle Monáe:

The first Janelle Monáe song I ever remember hearing—if it counts as a Janelle Monáe song—is “We Are Young” by Fun.. Personally, I’m not really a fan of that song, but I’ve heard lots of people say Janelle Monáe’s music is usually way better than her feature on that song would imply—and the only Janelle Monáe solo song I was familiar with going into this album was “Make Me Feel” from their 2018 album, Dirty Computer, a song which almost everyone seems to absolutely love, and … well, it’s not that I don’t like that song, I just don’t love it.

But it seems like this album has been getting a lot less critical acclaim than her first three albums … and as someone who hasn’t heard those albums, I mean, I can’t say I love this album, but it’s pretty good.

I think the biggest thing that holds this album back for me is that a lot of these songs feel kind of incomplete, and while I’m guessing that was the point so that this would be a better album experience, and I respect the artistic decision to do that, it doesn’t really work for me personally. And also, “Lipstick Lover” is quite annoying in my opinion.

But Janelle Monáe has a lot of personality behind the mic, the instrumentals are good, and I mostly like the production. There’s a lot of catchy moments here, and at its best it’s fantastic! “Haute”, for example, has a great bassline, and some great horns, and Janelle’s vocals here are fantastic, contributing to that fantastic chorus, and I love the self-confidence in this song!

So, yeah, overall … I mean, I wish the album was a bit longer, but I still think it’s a pretty good album. For me, it’s a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Haute”, “The Rush”, “Know Better”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Lipstick Lover”

Weathervanes by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit:

Here’s another one of those bands whose name I’ve seen a lot, and who’s gotten lots of critical acclaim, but whom I’d never listened to until recently. So, I decided to listen to this album, and … well, it’s getting a ton of critical acclaim, but how do I personally feel about the album?

The first thing I’ll say is that it’s a very emotional album with some very heavy subject matters, but it still feels kind of ‘accessible’. Or maybe that wasn’t the right word, but it sounds like the kind of country album you’d expect to hear in the mainstream. But even though I’m not the biggest fan of mainstream country music (or country music in general), I don’t mean this as a bad thing at all! Because I ended up really liking this album!

I’ll admit that some parts of the album do bore me a bit, as the melodies can feel like they kind of meander at points, and the production style isn’t always my cup of tea as the snares often sound kind of awkward in the mix, but for the most part I like the production, and there are lots of great lyrics here, too—for example, the song, “When We Were Close”, which is about Jason Isbell’s friend who died from an overdose, and Jason wonders why he himself didn’t die as he was also an addict. In other words, it seems to be a song about survivor’s guilt.

There’s a lot of great guitar on this album, for example in “Strawberry Woman” in which the guitar sounds incredibly well produced!

Overall, the album all comes together really well as a full album experience, with themes that tie it all together, and I highly recommend giving this a listen if you haven’t already! I personally like this album a lot, and that’s coming from someone who’s not the biggest fan of country music … and I’ll even go as far as to give it a very light 8/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “Strawberry Woman”, “Save the World”, “If You Insist”, “When We Were Close”, “White Beretta”, “Miles”
Least Favourite Tracks: “This Ain’t It”

Mirror To The Sky by Yes:

I haven’t listened to much of Yes’s discography, but I’ve heard great things about their early albums.

Well, they have a very different lineup now, and their recent albums haven’t been getting nearly as much critical acclaim, including this one.

But honestly, I ended up liking this album quite a bit! I mean, yeah, some of these songs do drag on a bit longer than I would have liked—and I think I would have liked the album more if more of the snares sounded sharper, to give these songs more punch—but there are a lot of good guitar melodies, and I mostly like the production.

Overall, I find this album more consistently enjoyable than great, so, for me, it’s a 7/10. I can’t say I love this album, but it seems like I like it more than most people do.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Luminosity”, “Mirror to the Sky”, “One Second Is Enough”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Living Out Their Dream”

The Show by Niall Horan:

This is my first time listening to a Niall Horan album, but I’d heard some really good things about his first two albums, so I had high expectations for his third album!

And … those expectations weren’t met. This album ended up being pretty disappointing for me. I mean, this album isn’t bad in my opinion—some parts of the album don’t work for me at all, but for the most part it’s a pretty enjoyable listen.

But to me personally, it doesn’t really go beyond ‘pretty enjoyable’. I’m not saying there’s not creativity here or anything, but it’s just not entirely my cup of tea. I mean, I don’t want to say, ‘This isn’t anything new,’ partially because, well, it is new and original, it’s just not my cup of tea, but also partially because how would I know how ‘original’ any album is? I haven’t heard every album in existence. But I guess what I’m trying to say is a lot of the compositions, melodies, etc. here just feel kind of generic? But again, that’s just me.

Honestly, the best way to describe this album is that it sounds like a Harry Styles album, and as someone who’s not particularly a fan of Harry Styles’ music for the most part, that might partially explain why this didn’t fully click for me. I mean, if you listen to Harry’s House and then this right after, if you weren’t listening to different vocalists, you’d probably think you’re still listening to the same album. And while I like this better than Harry’s House, I wouldn’t say by that much.

I mean, I like the production/mixing, and there are some good melodies, and Niall is a good singer, but there’s not a lot about this album that really makes me want to go back to it. I mean, I still mostly ended up liking this album … in large part because “Heaven” is a great opening track. After that great opener, a lot of this album I just personally don’t find all that interesting, but that’s not to say I don’t get the appeal. So, for me, this is a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Heaven”, “Never Grow Up”, “On A Night Like Tonight”, “Must Be Love”
Least Favourite Tracks: “You Could Start A Cult”, “Science”

Space Heavy by King Krule:

This is Archy Marshall’s fifth studio album and fourth under the stage name King Krule, although it’s my first time listening to one of his albums.

And despite all the critical acclaim this is getting, it didn’t really click for me at all.

Part of it is the kind of airy sound which is something I’m often not a huge fan of in music, at least on this album where it just feels kind of distracting from the raw, stripped back feeling of these songs. But the melodies also don’t really click for me for the most part.

For the most part, this kind of low-key, grunge/space rock music (maybe I totally didn’t describe this genre accurately, but that’s my best guess) isn’t really my cup of tea in general, so if you’re more into that sound, I recommend you hear this.

And some parts of the album do work for me, like “Seagirl”, which has a great feature from Raveena and some really nice, calming guitar. But as a whole album, it just starts to get kind of boring after a while, so for me this is a 5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Flimsy”, “Seagirl”, “Space Heavy”, “Wednesday Overcast”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Pink Shell”

A Fate Worse Than Home by Iravu:

This is the debut album by solo artist, Hareesh Kumar Shanggar, also known by the stage name Iravu, and it’s some pretty hard-hitting black metal!

The guitars sound powerful, and there are some great guitar melodies throughout this album, the production sounds slightly messy but not to the point where it takes away from the punch these songs have, and the drums are hard-hitting, too!

Lyrically, the album seems to be telling the story of someone who’s been defeated—and it’s very open to interpretation what this person has been defeated by, considering there seem to be a lot of metaphors here. The lyrics are heartbreaking, and yet it doesn’t make for a difficult listen, at least for me it doesn’t, and I think it’s because the music pretty much perfectly represents a mix of feelings of heartbreak and feelings of optimism at the same time—which really works for some reason, despite the lyrics not being optimistic at all.

Maybe that didn’t make any sense, but either way, I think this is some great metal! 8/10 for me!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “A Fate Worse Than Home”, “Fear and Lead”, “Home”
Least Favourite Tracks: “The Creature”

Life Is But a Dream… by Avenged Sevenfold:

This is Avenged Sevenfold’s first album in over six and a half years, and I can’t really give you my thoughts on the band’s discography overall, because, like with most of the albums I review, I haven’t heard any of their other albums.

But I can say I don’t really like this one … and honestly, I don’t mind the first half of the album. I mean, I don’t love it or anything, but the production is good, there are some good guitar moments like the solo near the end of “Nobody”. And I also like how the snares sound, for example, in the first half of “Cosmic”.

But then I start to like the production less as the album goes on, as it sounds less tight later in the album.

And before I talk about my issues with the lyrics, let me make this clear: I don’t think there were bad intentions here, and I’m not saying the band members are bad people … I don’t know much about the band members, and they’re probably good people.

But personally, I really don’t like a lot of the lyrics here. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against questioning our existence and philosophical questions, but the theme of this album seems to be that ‘life is just a dream.’ And I’m guessing that’s not meant literally, and ‘life just being a dream’ could be interpreted in multiple different ways. But if you go too far down that rabbit hole, that could get very toxic … and in multiple points on this album, the narrator commits suicide because apparently it’s ‘just a dream.’

But even aside from the lyrics, there are some other notable things I don’t like about this album, like the super cringey, annoying chorus on “We Love You”, and the annoying vocal effect in “Easier”. But my least favourite song here is “(O)rdinary”, which features a clunky snare and a super annoying vocal effect, and the rest of the album isn’t much better in my opinion.

Again, I’m not trying to be mean or anything, but personally I can’t stand this album. For me, it’s a 2.5/10 … I mean, there are some moments in the instrumentation that I like, and some good vocal melodies, and I usually like M Shadows’ vocals on this album, that is when his vocals don’t have annoying effects on them … but for the most part, I found this album cringey, annoying, and at times there were things that legitimately pissed me off about the album. But that’s just how I personally feel about it.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 2.5/10
Favourite Tracks: Parts of “Cosmic” and the title track? I guess?
Least Favourite Tracks: “We Love You”, “Easier”, “G”, “(O)rdinary”, “(D)eath”