Hello, everyone! Two days ago, I posted some mini album reviews, and … well, why not post 5 more today?

As always, this is all just based on how I personally feel. Even if I have negative things to say, it’s not meant as a personal attack on anyone, it’s just me sharing how much or how little I like certain music and why.

Feel free to let me know what you agree with and/or disagree with in the comments, and with that, let’s start this post with some hardcore punk!

Raíces by Spine:

Here’s a hardcore punk album by a band I don’t think I’d ever heard of until recently. I couldn’t find the lyrics to this album when I looked them up (with the exception of a few songs), and I’m pretty sure a lot of the lyrics are in Spanish (and I have a hard time hearing them anyway) and the only language I know is English, so keep that in mind … but I can’t really say I love this album.

Something about the snares sounds kind of awkward and it’s hard to describe, because the snares are pretty hard-hitting, but something just doesn’t quite fit if you ask me. The guitar distortion is nice but the guitars still feel kind of underpowered, and the album being as short as it is makes it feel more like an EP, which isn’t always a bad thing, but it kind of takes away from the album experience for me.

There are some elements to the production and mixing that I like, and it’s definitely impressive … I just wouldn’t say I love it. That’s all. I’ll give it a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Winter”, “Exterminate”, “Sigue La Lucha”, “Raíces”, “P.O.C.”, “Pure”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Traitor”

At the Heart of Wintervale by Twilight Force:

This is a power metal album released back in January that I’m just getting to reviewing now, and I didn’t even listen to it until this month. It’s my first time listening to a Twilight Force album, and … well, I get the appeal, but I wouldn’t say I love it.

There’s some good descriptions/details in the lyrics, but while I like some of the ideas like the story of someone trying to find the key to eternal life, I feel like it could have been expanded on to make a more compelling story. And maybe that wasn’t the point, but it still feels kind of underwhelming to me personally.

And there are some catchy melodies, but the mixing doesn’t really work for me, with the vocals often overpowering the mix, and some of the instrumentals, as impressive as they are, come across as kind of generic to me.

At points the guitars and drums work together well to help some of these hooks really soar, but there’s often this kind of messy sound to the production that’s kind of hard to describe, and at points it gets really distracting, like in “Skyknights of Aldaria” which features a super clunky snare that gets really annoying.

Overall, I’m going to give this album a 6/10. It’s got its moments, and there are some cool ideas. I’m not the biggest power metal fan, so maybe that’s part of the reason it didn’t fully click for me … but still, there’s more for me to like than dislike here.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “At the Heart of Wintervale”, “Dragonborn”, “The Last Crystal Bearer”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Skyknights of Aldaria”

A Hollow Full of Hope by The River:

This is a very mellow rock album—if it can even be considered rock—with a very dreamy sound to it, and it’s about forty minutes long.

There are five tracks here, and while I think it starts and ends really strong, the rest kind of feels like filler to me.

I couldn’t find the lyrics to this album when I looked them up, but I can hear some of them, although I can’t fully make out what all the lyrics are, so keep that in mind.

Overall, I am feeling more positive than negative here. I did end up liking the majority of this, but I like it more in pieces than as a whole. For me it’s a 6/10, mostly because the opening and closing tracks save this for me … but that’s only a small portion of the album, considering how long the middle three tracks are, and while I don’t think those songs are bad, the album kind of loses my interest at points.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Fading”, “Hollowful”
Least Favourite Tracks: “A Vignette”

I’ve Got Me by Joanna Sternberg:

This is an interesting album, to say the least. It’s the kind of song writing that just gets right to the point without using a lot of metaphors, or at least not that I can tell.

Joanna Sternberg is a great vocalist, and I love the emotion in the song writing, and there are some great songs on this album! “People Are Toys to You” shows them realizing after being treated with disrespect that they need to treat themselves with respect as well, “She Dreams” is a gorgeous song which shows them in a relationship with someone who still hasn’t gotten over her ex, “Stockholm Syndrome” has some of the best guitar on the album, and “I Will Be with You” has this feeling of yearning that, when paired with this instrumental, really clicks, and I think it’s the best song on this album!

Now, that being said, there are flaws here that hold the album back for me, as the production doesn’t always fit with the songs for me, and some parts of the album do get kind of annoying—the hook of “I’ll Make You Mine” comes to mind—and as much as I like the lyrics, there are some lyrical flaws too, in my opinion, like in “Mountains High” when they say it’s their own fault that someone else didn’t have the same romantic feelings for them as they did for this person … I’m not saying it’s the other person’s fault, I just don’t see how it’s either person’s fault. And also “I’ll Make You Mine” does come across as kind of creepy.

But still, there are some good instrumentals here, and some of the production really does work for me. It’s just that a lot of these songs feel like they’re missing something, and it holds me back from loving this album … but again, Joanna is a great vocalist and I mostly like the lyrics here, so I’ll give this a light 7/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “I Will Be with You”, “People Are Toys to You”, “Stockholm Syndrome”, “She Dreams”
Least Favourite Tracks: “I’ll Make You Mine”

A Neutral Second by East of the Wall:

Here’s an album from a metal band formed nearly two decades ago, but whom I don’t remember hearing of before.

This is going to sound really strange, but this album kind of sounds like if U2 made a metal album … and that’s coming from someone who isn’t super familiar with U2’s discography, and maybe they already made a metal album that I haven’t heard yet (I doubt it, though) … but yeah, that’s a good way for me to describe this album.

It almost has a bit of a post-punk sound to it, and it’s very impressive! This album has a lot of great riffs and very impressive drumming!

But that being said, the mixing sometimes sounds a bit messy, and I don’t find the album super consistent, with “Reclamation Rites” being the song that kind of throws off the pacing of the album for me.

But there are still a lot of hard-hitting snares and great basslines, and it’s compelling most of the way through. And the best moments absolutely rule! So, I’ll give it a fairly strong 7/10!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Fawning”, “Spite of Icarus”, “Hegemony’s Dilemma”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Reclamation Rites”