Hello, everyone! Yes, I know I just posted ten mini reviews yesterday, but I have five more of them ready that I’ve been working on over the last little bit, so here they are.

As always, this is all just how I personally feel about these albums. I’m not trying to be mean or anything, even if I say something negative.

Also, I’m keeping these reviews very brief because there are a whole bunch of other albums I want to review, and also … well, they are mini reviews, aren’t they supposed to be pretty brief?

Feel free to let me know what you think of these albums in the comments, and now let’s get the reviews started!

softscars by yeule:

This is yeule’s third studio album, although it’s the first album of theirs that I’ve listened to. It’s also among the most critically acclaimed albums of 2023, and I was really excited to hear it …

And yet it’s not really clicking for me. For whatever reason this year it seems like so many of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year just aren’t fully clicking for me personally, and unfortunately this is another one to add to the list. Don’t get me wrong, there are moments here that I like, and yeule is a good singer, and I really like a lot of the vocal effects, too … but a big thing that holds this back for me is a lot of the vocal melodies mostly boring me.

Now, there are exceptions to that, like “sulky baby”, but often I just don’t find the vocal melodies all that interesting, and the compositions also don’t really grab my attention all that much outside of a few moments, and I’m not a huge fan of the way the percussion is produced on this album as it often just sounds awkward when paired with the rest of the instrumentals; a big example of this is “software update”.

And overall, I’ve just heard this sound done a lot better in my opinion … there are some interesting ideas here, but it’s not for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “sulky baby”, “softscars”, “cyber meat”
Least Favourite Tracks: “software update”

Imitation by Harsh Symmetry:

I feel like this album could be described as new wave … it kind of feels like a cross between pop and rock, but not really pop-rock.

And this album really soured on me the more I listened to it. There’s just so little about this that makes me want to go back to it.

It’s worth mentioning that I couldn’t find most of the lyrics when I looked them up, and it’s hard to hear the lyrics, so I’m mostly just reviewing this based on how it sounds … and speaking of which, the vocals sound so buried in the mix, which really holds this album back for me.

But it’s not like the instrumentals or the vocal melodies really do much for me, anyway … and while some elements of the production do mostly work for me, and there are some points where an instrument will really stand out to me (such as that great snare in “Glass Tears”), most of this just barely does anything for me at all, and the cover of “Open Your Heart” by Madonna is quite bad in my opinion.

The album starts pretty strong, and if you really love new wave I’d recommend this, but even as someone who does like new wave, this just totally fell flat for me. 5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Intro”, “Glass Tears”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Open Your Heart”

Isn’t It Now? by Animal Collective:

This is the twelfth studio album by Animal Collective, a band I’ve heard about a lot but haven’t really listened to much. Their 2022 album, Time Skiffs, is the only album of theirs I had listened to going into this one, and it’s not an album that really did a whole lot for me.

But I was curious to hear this album, and unfortunately I’m not really wowed by this, either. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s just not doing a whole lot for me.

Lyrically I don’t really understand this album, which doesn’t make the lyrics bad, it’s just that I can’t really comment on them much, because I have a hard time figuring out what the lyrics are about.

But still, I mostly did enjoy this. “Magicians from Baltimore” is a standout for me with its great drum fills and great production, and there are other moments here that I like, but as a full album that’s over an hour long, it is a bit much for me.

There are elements of the production that I like, but the instruments don’t always blend together in the production super well if you ask me, and the melodies are hit-or-miss for me.

I’m going to give this album a 6/10. It’s definitely interesting, but it’s not really my cup of tea outside of a few moments.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Genie’s Open”, “Magicians from Baltimore”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Defeat”

The Above by Code Orange:

For a while, Code Orange have been one of those bands whose name I’ve heard a lot but whom I hadn’t really taken the time to listen to. So, I recently decided to give their first four albums a few listens each, and after doing that I can’t really call myself much of a Code Orange fan.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking their first two albums, but then came Forever in 2017, which just didn’t do much for me at all, and their 2020 album Underneath was kind of a slog for me to get through. And now they’ve released their fifth album, and it seems to be getting the least critical acclaim of any of their albums to date … so, my expectations for this were quite low.

And … well, I like it more than I thought I would, which really isn’t saying much at all … I expected it to be a total slog to get through, but instead … well, it’s got its moments, like the strong choruses on “Splinter The Soul” and “Circle Through”, and “Theatre Of Cruelty” has an eerie instrumental that I really like.

But still, overall this didn’t really do much for me. At points the production sounds really messy, and outside of a few moments the vocal melodies don’t really click much for me.

Overall, while I like that there’s at least some variety in the sound, it just blends in with a lot of other metalcore to me personally, so I’m going to give this a 5/10. In my opinion this is nowhere near as good as their first two albums, and that’s coming from someone who’s not even a particularly big Code Orange fan. I kind of get the appeal of this, but it’s not for me at all.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Theatre Of Cruelty”, “Splinter The Soul”, “Circle Through”
Least Favourite Tracks: “But A Dream…”, “The Above”

The Harmony Codex by Steven Wilson:

This is my first time listening to a Steven Wilson solo album, although I did listen to and review Porcupine Tree’s album from last year, an album I couldn’t get into at all. But I wanted to give this a fair chance … and I mostly like it!

There are some great synths on this album, and a lot of these songs have this massive sound to them that I think works really well! And I also like the tension in the music at points here, like in “Impossible Tightrope”.

Now, I will say I don’t quite love this album, as I don’t find it super consistent, and there’s also just not enough here to really make me want to go back to it as a whole, but it’s still a really fascinating listen that I quite like!

It does feel a bit longer than I would have liked, running for over an hour, but there are a lot of good melodies, and I mostly like the production! So, I’ll give this a 7.5/10!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Economies of Scale”, “Beautiful Scarecrow”, “Time Is Running Out”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Actual Brutal Facts”