Hello, everyone! It’s time for more mini reviews!

I know I haven’t been posting much over the past few weeks, but I do have quite a few more reviews on the way. And once again, these reviews are more brief than I would have liked, but considering how many albums there are that I want to review, I just want to quickly get out some thoughts on these albums without going into a ton of detail.

As always, these are just my personal feelings on these albums. Even if I say something negative, it’s not an attempt to be mean or anything. Music is subjective.

Alright, time for the reviews!

Something To Give Each Other by Troye Sivan:

This is Troye Sivan’s third studio album, and if I’m being honest my expectations for this were not very high at all, as I couldn’t get into Troye Sivan’s first two albums at all … in fact, I struggle to even understand the appeal. And I’m not saying this to be mean or to judge anyone … if you like his music, that’s great, and I hope he’s making the music he wants to make … it’s just that I personally don’t find his music interesting at all, and that’s just me.

So, now he has a new album out, and while my expectations were pretty low, I decided to give it some listens anyway, and I will at least say I like the production better, as it’s often got a nice, smooth feeling to it, like in “In My Room”, “Can’t Go Back, Baby” and “Honey”. But I also don’t find the production super consistent, and at points it can get really annoying, such as the vocal effects in “One Of Your Girls” and “Got Me Started”, two songs with some really messy production that I don’t think works at all.

And unfortunately, once again the vocal melodies and compositions just feel really uninteresting to me, and I don’t find the hooks to be very strong. And while I don’t think the lyrics are meant to be deep or anything, it certainly doesn’t help that I didn’t really find much in the lyrics that really interests me, although it can get kind of cringey at points, like quite a few lines in “Honey”. I mean, as much as Blue Neighbourhood has its questionable lines and didn’t really interest me all that much lyrically, at least it felt like there was more emotion, which I wish there was more of here. And that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with upbeat, fun music, but this doesn’t feel fun at all … it just feels really boring to me. And maybe there is more emotion here than I realize, and/or maybe the lyrics have more to them than I realize, but I’m just explaining how I personally hear it.

And overall … well, it’s probably my favourite Troye Sivan album to date, but considering how little I got out of his first two albums (and honestly those albums got quite annoying at points), that’s not really saying much. So, overall, this isn’t for me at all, and once again I’m struggling to understand the appeal. I’ll give it a light 5/10, as at least the production is better in my opinion, but I just don’t feel any desire to go back to this anytime soon.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “In My Room”, “Silly”
Least Favourite Tracks: “One Of Your Girls”, “Got Me Started”

Zig by Poppy:

This is Poppy’s fifth studio album, and the follow-up to 2021’s Flux, which is the only Poppy album I’ve listened to other than this one. And while I haven’t listened to that album in a while, from what I remember it didn’t really do a whole lot for me. So, here’s this new album which might be Poppy’s least critically acclaimed album to date … and honestly, I ended up enjoying this quite a bit!

Now, I will say I don’t think this album is great, partially because of a lot of the production not really letting these songs have the impact they could—although there are exceptions, like the title track which not only has a really catchy chorus but the production is much more hard-hitting, with the great percussion and distorted guitar.

But while there are exceptions, I’m not a huge fan of a lot of the vocal melodies here, and a lot of these songs just feel like they’re missing something.

But overall, there is quite a bit of cool experimentation here, and I mostly like the percussion here. And there are enough good hooks for me to give this a 7/10. It’s not the most amazing album ever or anything, but it’s got quite a bit to offer, and I recommend giving it a chance.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “What It Becomes”, “Zig”, “Motorbike”
Least Favourite Track: “Church Outfit”

Sanguivore by Creeper:

I’d never listened to a full Creeper album until recently (unless you count their 2021 EP American Noir), although I’d heard great things about them, so before listening to this new album I decided to listen to their other albums multiple times each, and … well, it’s just not really my thing. I get the appeal, but the lyrics didn’t impress me much and the production felt a lot messier than I would have liked; in my opinion, their first two albums each have one great song but are just decent overall, and American Noir didn’t really do much for me at all.

But going into this I heard that the production was better, which made me a bit more excited to hear this … and once again, it’s another Creeper album that isn’t really doing much for me. And while I like the production a bit better, that’s not saying a whole lot, and I also probably like the vocal melodies less. And I wouldn’t say there’s one song here anywhere close to as good as Creeper’s absolute best.

Once again the lyrics don’t really impress me, and while I’m pretty sure it’s mostly just supposed to be pure fun/melodrama, at points it does feel over the top and not in a good way.

All of Creeper’s albums have felt like they’re aiming for this huge, anthemic sound, and personally I just don’t think the production is strong enough for it to really hit as hard as it’s supposed to … and when I like the vocal melodies even less, it leads to a pretty underwhelming listen in my opinion. There are some good moments, but most of this just didn’t do much for me. So, to me it’s a 6/10, and if you want an example of this style of music done in a way that I really do love … well, stay tuned for an individual album review that’s coming up soon.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Further Than Forever”, “Sacred Blasphemy”, “The Abyss”, “Black Heaven”, “More Than Death”
Least Favourite Track: “Teenage Sacrifice”

Calling the Dogs by Citizen:

This is the fifth studio album by Citizen, a band whose first two albums I couldn’t get into at all, but I’ll admit I was intrigued going into this album, as with 2017’s As You Please and 2021’s Life In Your Glass World, I like the direction they’re going in, even though I wouldn’t really consider myself a huge Citizen fan.

And this album shows potential, but it’s not fully clicking for me. There are some good vocal melodies, and I like the production for the most part, with the snares sounding great—although “Lay Low” is an exception to that, as I don’t like how the snare sounds in that song … and on a side note, that song has probably the most annoying chorus here.

But some of the hooks are pretty strong here, like that really hard-hitting chorus of “Dogs” and the great melodic hook of “Takes One to Know One”.

I really like the guitar production for the most part, and this is an album that I feel like I ‘should’ love, and I don’t … and part of it is due to a few of these songs being total duds to me, but I guess a lot of it just doesn’t feel super exciting or interesting to me and is just pleasant while it’s on and that’s about it. Again, that’s just the majority of this album, and there are a few standout highlights in the track list for me, but as a whole I’m just left feeling like something’s missing to make it click more for me.

Maybe it’s something in the compositions that’s just not really clicking for me … either way, I’m going to give this a 7/10. It’s a good album, and I’m curious to hear whatever’s next for Citizen, but this didn’t really wow me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Headtrip”, “Dogs”, “Options”, “Takes One to Know One”
Least Favourite Track: “Lay Low”

Comfortable Silence by Tomcbumpz:

This album came out back in January, and … well, this is a strange listen … I mean, it’s eight tracks and it’s only about eight and a half minutes … it feels more like an EP than an album, but I’m pretty sure it’s officially an album.

Anyway, do I like it? Well … I guess I kind of do. Some of these songs have a nice vibe to them, and there are some good instrumental melodies, but I find the production inconsistent, and I’m also just left wishing the album were longer.

So, overall, I don’t really have a ton to say about this. But still, as background music I think it mostly works. And considering how short it is, it’s easy to recommend.

I’ll give this a light 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Wake Up”, “Remedy”, “Empty Stomach”
Least Favourite Track: “Tangled”

For All The Dogs by Drake:

Yep, that’s right … curiosity got the best of me and I listened to Drake’s newest album. I’ll admit I’m not super familiar with Drake’s discography, but most of what I’ve heard of his music has been absolutely awful in my opinion, and Honestly, Nevermind was among my least favourite albums of last year.

And after hearing some things about Her Loss I decided to just skip it and not even give it one listen … but for whatever reason, I decided to listen to this …

And this is one of those rare cases where I listened to this twice and decided I just didn’t want to sit through it any more … I mean, it’s nearly an hour and a half, the production really doesn’t work for me at all, the instrumentals sound super generic, Drake’s flows are extremely boring for the most part, and there are lots of cringey moments here … and also some lyrics that are questionable, to put it lightly.

And while this might not seem fair considering that I’m a music reviewer and I’m reviewing the album … I just don’t feel like going into much detail with this one. I just don’t think it’s worth my time, and after sitting through this album twice in full I’ve had enough of this album—this is only my second time reviewing a Drake album, and I’m already tired of talking about his music. And while there’s a few moments here and there where Drake has a good flow or there’s a good guest feature or the occasional good line, in my opinion this is a total slog to get through.

And honestly, in my opinion this is fucking terrible … seriously, I highly recommend you stay the hell away from this album—in my opinion, it absolutely sucks! Strong 2.5/10 for me, and it’s probably among the worst albums I’ve heard from this year.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 2.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Virginia Beach”, “Another Late Night”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Amen”, “Calling For You”, “Fear Of Heights”, “Daylight”, “First Person Shooter”, “IDGAF”, “7969 Santa”, “Slime You Out”, “Bahamas Promises”, “Screw The World (Interlude)”, “Drew A Picasso”, “Members Only”, “What Would Pluto Do”, “All The Parties”, “8am in Charlotte”, “BBL Love (Interlude)”, “Rich Baby Daddy”, “Polar Opposites”

Formentera II by Metric:

I was really excited going into this album. 

This is the ninth studio album by Metric, and before listening to it, I decided to listen through all of Metric’s previous albums that I wasn’t already familiar with … and while their music has a lot of interesting social commentary and they have some very catchy songs, most of their early albums just aren’t really my thing, with the exception of Fantasies, that is. But I think they made their best album in 2018 with Art of Doubt only to top it by making their best album once again on the 2022 follow-up Formentera, which was among my absolute favourite albums of last year! Those albums have incredible production, real lyrical depth, great vocal melodies and incredible hooks, and especially considering this is a sequel to their album from last year, I had really high expectations here …

And this might be one of the biggest disappointments I’ve reviewed in 2023. Their previous two albums are absolutely incredible—what happened?

Look, I really wanted this to be great, and I really thought it would be, too … but after about half a dozen listens, I really don’t think it is. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s bad … but the first thing that stands out that really holds this album back for me is the vocal production, which reminds me way too much of my least favourite Metric album Synthetica, especially in “Stone Window”—honestly, that song as a whole sounds very reminiscent of Synthetica, and that’s not a compliment.

While there are moments here that I really like, the production overall doesn’t sound nearly as punchy as their previous two albums, and a lot of the vocal melodies just don’t really do much for me.

And while there are some interesting lyrics here, it doesn’t feel nearly as deep or layered lyrically as their previous two albums, and these songs just don’t have the same firepower musically.

Again, there are moments that really work for me—“Detour Up”, for example, has a pretty strong chorus, and I really like the guitar with the vocal melodies on “Nothing Is Perfect”.

But overall, this was a big disappointment … I really thought this was going to be great, especially considering how much I liked the lead single “Just The Once”, which is easily my favourite song here, but as a whole I’m not sure I’m going to be revisiting this much … so, for me it’s a 6.5/10 … again, I really expected to like this a lot more.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Detour Up”, “Just The Once”, “Who Would You Be For Me”, “Nothing Is Perfect”
Least Favourite Track: “Suckers”

Winter’s Lament by CRT麻痺:

This is a very short album that came out all the way back in January, but I just became aware of it recently.

There’s a lot of atmosphere to this, and while this album didn’t blow my mind or anything, it’s still a very haunting yet calming listen.

If you’re looking for a short ambient album with a lot of experimentation and a lot of great atmosphere, I’d absolutely recommend this!

For me personally, this is a 7/10, though. I’ve heard similar albums that I personally find more interesting, but I still enjoyed this quite a bit.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “BROADCAST 0.1”, “BROADCAST 0.2”, “Сожалеть”
Least Favourite Track: “(untitled)”

Census Designated by Jane Remover:

This is the second or third Jane Remover album (although she has released other albums under the name Leroy), as I’m not sure if her 2021 release Teen Week is officially a studio album or not. But either way, I haven’t listened to Teen Week yet, but I am somewhat familiar with her album Frailty which was released later in 2021, and despite all the critical acclaim I’m not really a big fan of that album. It’s got some cool ideas but to me it just felt kind of like a giant mess of sounds that I mildly enjoyed, but that’s about it.

This album is also getting a lot of critical acclaim, and I kind of get why. I think Jane’s vocals have improved, and the instruments blend together a lot better than on Frailty in my opinion.

There are some fascinating lyrics on this album, and there seems to be a running theme of a toxic relationship, and while some parts of the album don’t feel all that interesting to me, some parts of it do hit pretty hard, such as “Idling Somewhere”, which at least to me feels like one of the main moments here where it becomes even more clear just how messed up this entire situation is … and unfortunately a lot of the mixing feels inconsistent, the vocal production still doesn’t really work for me, and a lot of the vocal melodies just feel meandering to me. And it’s part of the reason why this album which I kind of feel wasn’t too far from being great just doesn’t quite click for me in the way it is for a lot of people.

And while I did say the instruments blend together better in my opinion, there are still some points where it can feel like a noisy mess musically that I have a hard time understanding the appeal of, even though for the most part I did enjoy this album.

So, in other words I think the album is good, but I personally wouldn’t call it great—honestly, it feels very close to great and very far from great at the same time. So, for me it’s a light 7/10. If you love glitchy experimental pop/rock, or if you’re looking to get into that kind of music, then I’d recommend it. Again, I mostly enjoyed it, but it just didn’t really wow me all that much. Maybe you’ll like it more, though, who knows?

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Cage Girl / Camgirl”, “Backseat Girl”, “Idling Somewhere”, “Always Have Always Will”, “Census Designated”
Least Favourite Track: “Lips”

In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You by Dreamwell:

This is the third studio album by Dreamwell, a band I hadn’t heard of until recently. And while I haven’t listened to any of their other albums, I was curious about this album …

And I’d probably call it a post-hardcore album … or at least something like that. Maybe I’d call it metal? Either way, I can’t say this really clicked for me, even though I understand the appeal. It’s absolutely a bleak listen, and I can see how the messy, cacophonous sounds could work considering the lyrics.

But while there’s a lot of emotion here, this just didn’t do much for me at all. It’s definitely an album I respect a lot more than I actually like.

Again, I understand why the cacophonous sounds might work here, but when the production sounds so messy it really keeps it from having a lot more impact for me. And while the vocals are good, the way they’re produced with the rest of the instruments just feels kind of awkward to me.

And overall, there’s just not much compositionally here that really interests me, either, and as emotional as the lyrics are they just didn’t really do all that much for me personally. So, overall, it’s an album I respect way more than I like, and while I recommend giving it a chance if you’re into heavy music, for me it’s a 5/10 … this was a pretty big disappointment for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Good Reasons to Freeze to Death”, “Studying the Greats in Self-Immolation”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Blighttown Type Beat”, “Body Fountain”