Hello, everyone! I know I already did a mini review post yesterday as well as a regular album review, but why not post some more mini reviews today?

As always, nothing here is meant as a personal attack on anyone, even if the review is negative. And speaking of which, this post isn’t actually very negative, in fact it’s mostly positive!

I’m just reviewing these albums based on how I personally feel. This isn’t supposed to be about what is ‘objectively good’ or ‘objectively bad’. Feel free to disagree with me on these albums … and also feel free to let me know what you think in the comment section!

And with that, let’s get the reviews started!

The Greater Wings by Julie Byrne:

This is the first Julie Byrne album I’ve listened to, and it seems to be getting the most critical acclaim of any Julie Byrne album so far. And a lot of this album’s lyrics are about the death of her friend and producer Eric Littmann.

I’m not trying to be insensitive or anything, and I hope this album helped Julie and many others, but if I’m being honest the album isn’t fully clicking for me personally.

And that’s a me thing—this style of music isn’t really a style that I usually love. It’s still very impressively arranged musically, and there’s a ton of emotion in the vocals, and also in the lyrics. I guess something about it just didn’t emotionally resonate with me as much as I wanted.

That being said, I do love “Moonless”, with its gorgeous production and instrumentation, and the combination of that with the vocals, the melodies, and the lyrics creates one of the most beautiful songs here, and my personal favourite on the album.

I don’t love this album, but I still absolutely recommend you listen to this if you haven’t already … and while I’m giving it a light 6/10, I can totally see the argument for this being a great album, even if it just didn’t fully click for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Moonless”, “Summer Glass”, “Flare”, “Hope’s Return”, “Death Is the Diamond”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Lightning Comes Up From the Ground”

Agriculture by Agriculture:

Here’s something that might surprise you: If my math is correct, I have reviewed over 225 albums on my website (if you include the ones in this post), and this is only the fourth self-titled album I’ve reviewed. Not only that, but the first one was in December of 2022 when I did a throwback review of Paramore’s 2013 self-titled album, and the other two are albums I reviewed earlier this month!

Anyway, here’s a black metal band who’ve been gaining traction recently with their self-titled debut album, and it’s been getting a lot of acclaim—and it’s easy to see why! This album is full of super hard-hitting distorted guitar, fantastic drumming, and great basslines! And the mixing sounds fantastic!

Lyrically there seem to be themes of trying to appreciate what we do have instead of focusing too much on what we don’t, with some really interesting details in the writing that may not be easy to notice at first. For example, there’s a really interesting story being told in “The Well”—that is also repeated with nearly the exact same lyrics in “Look, Pt. 1”—with lots of possible ways it could be interpreted.

This isn’t the kind of music that I think of when I think of black metal, it’s a lot more experimental, with a really noisy section in “Look, Pt. 3” that I think is absolutely incredible! And there’s a lot of variety here, too, with some sections that sound like what you’d expect for black metal but with a messier sound that for some reason doesn’t take away from the punch these tracks have, partially because it’s mixed so well, but also because it fits with the mood of these instrumentals, and I’m not sure I can fully describe why! And there’s also the song, “The Well”, which isn’t even a metal song at all—in fact, it’s quite mellow! And there are some other parts of the album that sound totally different!

A lot of the things I’ve described aren’t super different from lots of other albums I’ve heard before, but when you actually hear this album, it’ll probably sound a lot more unique—at least it does to me. And of course I haven’t listened to every album in existence, so I can never really know for sure how ‘unique’ or ‘generic’ any album is, but this album definitely impressed me!

It’s just over a half hour long, and yet it feels more like a full album experience than a lot of longer black metal albums I’ve heard! If you’re not a fan of metal, I’m not sure this is the place to start with the genre, but personally I love this album! I’m going to give it an 8/10!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Glory of the Ocean”, “Look, Pt. 3”, “Relier”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Look, Pt. 2”

Endless Pursuit by Temple of Angels:

After seeing some genre descriptions of this album, I was curious to check it out. But I will say, this kind of dreamy alt-rock/shoegaze is very hit-or-miss for me. But I wanted to review this debut studio album from a band I’d never heard of until recently (at least not that I can remember) … and did I end up liking it?

Well, there’s a lot of good basslines here, and the guitars mostly sound really well produced, with a lot of nice guitar riffs, too. The snares are mostly really punchy, too! Overall, there is a lot to like here!

But with that being said, it does get to be a bit much with forty minutes of this sound, and some of the tracks blending together for me—although there are some really strong standouts for me as well. I also think some of the reverb takes away from the punch these songs otherwise have, but at times I think it works.

Overall, I do mostly like this. I’m going to give it a strong 7/10, as there are a lot of strong melodies and a lot for me to like in the production … but I think I’d like it more if it were shorter, even though it’s only forty minutes.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Tangled in Joy”, “Waving to the Wind”, “Lost in Darkness”, “The Hill”, “(For You) I’d Lose It All”
Least Favourite Tracks: “When the Shadow Smiles Back”

EVERGREEN by PVRIS:

This is the fourth studio album from PVRIS, whose name I’ve seen around the internet a lot but whose music I haven’t really listened to outside of this new album. PVRIS has recently become a solo project of lead singer and founding member, Lynn Gunn.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this album, but I ended up liking it quite a bit! The production sounds really sharp and punchy, with the snares sounding excellent, and Lynn Gunn is a fantastic vocalist, too!

I love a lot of the melodies here, leading to a lot of great hooks, like in “SENTI-MENTAL”, “LOVE IS A…”, and “GOOD ENEMY”.

I also really like a lot of the lyrics here! For example, “ANIMAL” seems to be about escaping a toxic relationship with a possessive partner, and it’s a really powerful song! I think there’s a theme on this album of self-love, as much as it’s often hidden behind lyrics that seem like the opposite.

There’s a lot of emotion here, with punchy production in the instrumentation that gives these songs a lot of power, as does Lynn Gunn being a fantastic vocalist! But with that being said, I don’t always like the vocal production here, with some of the effects taking away from the power of these songs. And at times the vocal melodies can get slightly boring, even though I do love a lot of the vocal melodies … I guess what I’m trying to say is even a lot of the elements here that I really like I often don’t find consistently great …

And I think as a whole it leads to an album that I wouldn’t quite call great, but I’d still call it very, very good! If you haven’t heard it, I highly recommend it, and it’s getting a strong 7.5/10 from me!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “I DON’T WANNA DO THIS ANYMORE”, “GOOD ENEMY”, “ANIMAL”, “TAKE MY NIRVANA”, “LOVE IS A…”, “EVERGREEN”
Least Favourite Tracks: “HYPE ZOMBIES”

Time Will Wait For No One by Local Natives:

This band has been around for over a decade and a half, and they’ve been releasing music for nearly that long, but this is my first time listening to them, and unfortunately it’s not really clicking for me.

Honestly, one of the albums this reminds me of the most is TV Girl’s newest album which I reviewed a few weeks ago, and while I like this album way more than that album, something about the vocal melodies and instrumentation sounds kind of similar to me, and I can’t quite place what it is … but this album’s production doesn’t sound as messy, and I find the lyrics here a bit more interesting, and I don’t find the melodies as annoying.

I’m still not a big fan of the production, though, especially with the bass often sounding really awkwardly quiet in the mix.

I like some of the vocal melodies, but a lot of them just don’t do much for me. I like the second half of the album more than the first half, but I still don’t love the second half … and the second song here, “Just Before The Morning”, I find very annoying, in large part due to the mixing, with the bass sounding really quiet at points and it feels quite distracting, with the vocals overpowering the mix.

I like the production on the last few tracks way more, and “Paradise” has some really emotional lyrics which are partially about pregnancy loss, which lead singer Kelsey Ayer and his wife have experienced. And it’s probably my favourite song on this album.

But overall, this album just isn’t really my cup of tea. I’ll give it a strong 5.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Hourglass”, “Ava”, “NYE”, “Paradise”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Just Before The Morning”