Hello, everyone! It’s time for another mini review post! As always, this is just how I personally feel about these albums. Feel free to disagree with me on any of these. Also, none of this is an attempt to be mean, even if I give an album a negative review … again, I’m just sharing how I personally feel about these albums. Music is subjective.

Before we start the reviews, I do want to quickly mention something else. A little over a week ago, I said not to be surprised if the reviews slow down a bit, because that was right before I started college last week, and I’m still working part-time. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised I was able to get this many mini reviews done so that I could post this this early. Now, unfortunately that means these reviews won’t be super in-depth (not that my mini reviews usually are super in-depth, but these are probably even less in-depth than usual for me), but I’m still glad I was able to get these reviews out this soon.

So, what does this mean going forward? Well, it’s hard to know. Even though I got quite a few reviews done within the past week, considering how busy I am there is still a very real chance the reviews will slow down. And also, I might not post as many individual album reviews in the next few months. I am going to do my review of Olivia Rodrigo’s new album GUTS in its own post, and I’ll probably do more individual reviews, but there are probably going to be some albums I want to do full-length reviews of that I end up just doing mini reviews of because of time.

And also, my mini reviews will probably continue to be more brief than usual for the next little bit. But we’ll see what happens. Anyway, now it’s time for the reviews!

Playing Robots Into Heaven by James Blake:

This is my first time listening to a James Blake album, although I’ve heard really good things about his music.

And this is a haunting listen full of amazing electronic sounds, with lots of experimentation, and it’s very impressive! It’s rare I hear an album that feels this unique and unlike anything I’ve ever heard before—and it’s really well mixed and well produced!

And really … some moments here resonate with me for personal reasons that I don’t feel like getting into here, in part because I can’t quite fully understand those reasons myself … but let’s just say I wasn’t expecting this at all—emotionally, this album brought me places I didn’t feel prepared to go to, and I mean that as a good thing!

And yet … I don’t love this album. Yes, some moments here just resonated with me in ways I didn’t expect at all, and it’s an incredibly fascinating listen … but keep in mind I said ‘some moments’, and quite a bit of this album just didn’t do a whole lot for me, even though I can acknowledge the creativity.

But I also think part of it has to do with the fact that it doesn’t quite feel like a cohesive album experience, with some tracks just feeling out of place on the album … and it’s not that I’m against an album having variety, but something about this just doesn’t quite work for me when you put it all together, and I’m not sure why.

But still, it’s really good—good enough to get a 7/10 from me—and if I could only recommend one album of all the albums reviewed in this post, it would probably be this one! I don’t think you’re going to want to miss this!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Asking To Break”, “Tell Me”, “Fall Back”, “Night Sky”, “Playing Robots Into Heaven”
Least Favourite Tracks: “He’s Been Wonderful”

Silver Fairy by Megumi Acorda:

So, here’s a dream pop album that came out back in March of this year, and it’s the debut album from this band I don’t think I’d heard of until just recently, although they did put out an EP back in 2018 that I still haven’t listened to.

And unfortunately there’s not a whole lot about this that really stands out to me personally. I mean, it’s not bad or anything … it’s just that, with all the albums out there, I don’t really see why I’d want to go back to this.

Some of the melodies are good, and I like the vocals, but when you put all the elements together it just creates an unsatisfying whole, with some production that doesn’t feel as tight as I’d like.

So, overall, while I get the appeal and would recommend it to fans of dream pop, I wouldn’t recommend going into it with the highest of expectations, because even as a fan of dream pop myself I can’t say it really clicked for me. 5.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Dream Sequence”, “If They Come”, “Nothing / Forgotten”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Songs of the Sea”

Back To The Water Below by Royal Blood:

Going into this album, I can’t say I had high expectations at all … a lot of people seem to really love Royal Blood, but when I listen to their music I just hear rock radio filler—that’s not to say that’s all it is, but it’s pretty much all I hear personally. Again, music is subjective. But yeah, I haven’t really been able to get into a Royal Blood album up to this point … and while their 2021 album Typhoons at least felt like them changing their sound a bit, and I love the song “Boilermaker”, I still don’t really like that album as a whole, and I didn’t expect much going into this new album …

And unfortunately this isn’t doing much for me at all. Once again, it just feels like what I expected from a Royal Blood album, but while their previous two albums at least had more catchy moments, this album just totally fell flat for me.

The hooks don’t really click for me much, the melodies feel meandering, and overall there’s just not much about it that makes me want to go back.

And at points the production can feel quite messy, like in “Tell Me When It’s Too Late” with some elements feeling overpowering like the drums. I mean, at least the album ends well with “Waves”, but even that song—which is my favourite on the album—doesn’t come close to being as good as “Boilermaker” if you ask me.

I mean, I don’t dislike this album, and there are some catchy moments, but overall it just doesn’t feel very interesting to me personally, so I’m going to give it a light 5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Waves”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Tell Me When It’s Too Late”

Hellmode by Jeff Rosenstock:

For a while, Jeff Rosenstock was one of those artists whose name I’d seen/heard a lot, but whom I hadn’t really listened to … and while I still haven’t listened to any of his other albums, I decided to give this one a chance, and while so many critics really love this album, I can’t say it’s really fully clicking for me.

I’m not saying I don’t like it, because I do, but something about it is holding me back from really loving it, and I’m not entirely sure how to describe it. But outside of a handful of individual songs, a lot of this just doesn’t do a whole lot for me, even though I respect the creativity of it a lot.

There are some really interesting lyrics here, a lot of which are political, and while I think it certainly improves what might otherwise be a mediocre indie rock album, there’s just something about the album I find kind of underwhelming … I mean, I guess part of it is that the vocal melodies are kind of inconsistent. But still, I feel like I ‘should’ like this more than I do.

Again, there are tracks here that I really like, with the frustration of “I Wanna Be Wrong”, the detail in the lyrics of “Healmode”, and the excellent guitar of “Liked U Better”, a song which absolutely rules! But as a whole the album’s just not fully my thing. I’d easily recommend it, but I feel like I should like it more than I do.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Liked U Better”, “Healmode”, “I Wanna Be Wrong”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Life Admin”

GIZMO by Tanukichan:

This is the second Tanukichan album, and the first that I’ve listened to. And honestly it doesn’t give me much to say.

I barely found anything here that stands out to me in the vocal melodies or the song writing. And keep in mind I’m not the best at analying lyrics, so maybe I’m missing something here—and, of course, art is open to interpretation—but the lyrics just didn’t really grab my attention, either.

I mean, at least the album is short, but it just feels really underwhelming to me. In fact, this would get really boring really quickly if I didn’t mostly like the production.

And speaking of the production, that’s part of the reason this is getting a 5/10 instead of a lower score, as the percussion has some punch to it, and I think the album is pretty well mixed. But still, this just isn’t really for me. If you like dreamy shoegaze/alternative rock, you might really like this, but it’s not really for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Take Care”, “Mr. Rain”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Like You”, “Thin Air”

olhar pra trás by terraplana:

So, the first thing I want to mention is that I don’t speak Portuguese, and while I translated the lyrics online, I’m not sure how accurate the translations are, so while I like a lot of the lyrics here, I don’t fully understand them … although I almost never fully understand all the lyrics to an album even if it’s in English.

So, this is the debut full-length by this band whom I’m not sure I’d heard of until recently. It’s got kind of a dream-pop sound to it, and it’s also kind of mellow rock.

And there’s a lot to like here! Especially the guitar distortion, which I think sounds really, really good! And at points I really like the sharper snares here, like on “você”, but there are other points where the snare feels underpowered. But still, I mostly like the production, and the vocals also sound great!

I mean, it’s not anything super out of the ordinary if you ask me, but it’s a pretty short listen that does its sound really well, and while it’s not super catchy, it’s still quite enjoyable! In fact, I’m going to give it an extremely light 8/10, as I’d probably call it great, although just barely … maybe if I spoke Portuguese it would click for me more, but even musically I didn’t find it mind-blowing or anything, and I’m not sure how often I’ll go back to it. I’d recommend giving it a chance, but I’ve heard this sound done in more interesting ways, in my opinion.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “memórias”, “cais”, “você”, “me encontrar”
Least Favourite Tracks: “um sonho, um fim”

Where You Can Find Me by Caleb R.K. Williams:

Here’s a very mellow, instrumental album by an artist I don’t think I’d heard of until recently. This was released back in May of this year, although I didn’t hear it until months after it came out.

And it’s mostly pleasant, but there’s not a whole lot about it that really makes me want to go back to it.

I like a lot of the guitar tones with that foggy sound to them, and while at points the background noise can get a bit distracting, I also think it probably fits more often than it doesn’t.

And there are some nice melodies here, too, but overall it just doesn’t feel all that interesting to me personally. I can understand why someone would find a lot to like in the small details here, but it’s just not really for me. 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Part. I”, “Part. VI”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Part. IV”

Favorite Hiding Place by Evergreen Avenue:

This is an ambient drone album, and first let me say I can’t pick favourite or least favourite tracks, because there’s only one track here.

Anyway, I’m not sure if I’d heard of this artist until very recently, but either way, I decided to give this album a chance, and … well, it’s somewhat pleasant, with nice instrumental tones, leading to an overall calming feeling.

But overall, I just don’t find it very interesting. There’s not much variety here, and the small details don’t really add much if you ask me. And for an album that’s over thirty minutes, I would have liked more details.

But still, maybe the small details will stand out more to you, so if you’re really into this sound you might really like this, but for me it’s a 6/10. I’m curious to hear more of Evergreen Avenue’s large discography, but this just didn’t do much for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: N/A
Least Favourite Tracks: N/A

Of the Sign… by Spirit Possession:

This metal album was released in March of this year, and I remember finding out about it around the time it came out, but I just recently got around to listening to it for the first time, and after some relistens … well, keep in mind that when I looked up the lyrics to this album I couldn’t find them, and I can’t really hear what the lyrics are, so I can’t really comment on the lyrics.

So, do I like the album overall? Well, it’s not really my style of black metal … I mean, it’s got ferocious-sounding vocals and intense instrumentation, but the drums aren’t as crushing as I would have liked, and the guitar melodies don’t click for me that much.

Also, the guitars often have this oddly watery sound to them that I don’t really like, such as in “Second Possession”.

Also, the basslines here often feel underpowered … and overall, while I like some moments here, those moments I like more are usually the mellower moments.

So, overall, this isn’t really an album I think I’ll return to much, if at all. I’m going to give this a 6/10. It’s got its moments, I guess it’s mildly enjoyable, but I definitely don’t love it.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Hex”, “Practitioners of Power”, “The Altar”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Hierarchical Skin”