Hello, everyone! Welcome back to another mini review post, the first one I’ve made in a while! Some of these are reviews I completed weeks ago but was just waiting for enough for a full post. Also, don’t be surprised if I make another mini review post soon, because I’ve been working on a lot of mini reviews recently.

As always, these are just my personal feelings on these albums. Feel free to disagree with me on any of these. Now let’s start this post on a mostly positive note …

Your Day Will Come by Chanel Beads:

This is the debut studio album from Chanel Beads, a duo who probably falls under the category of dream pop, and they’ve been gaining a little bit of buzz recently.

And I think it’s pretty haunting and really gives a sense of mystery in the slightly airy production with the eerie melodies and layered instrumentation.

The lyrics seem to show a lack of strong communication between two people, and I like a lot of the details here, such as the search for contentedness in which the only answer might be self-love on “Police Scanner”, and questioning which things we should really give value on “Urn”. And “Embarrassed Dog” seems to show someone foolishly trying to fix a broken relationship in which the narrator is probably in the wrong and yet you kind of can’t help but empathize anyway, and I find it quite interesting even though the mixing sounds like a total mess.

And speaking of which, I do think the production can be a bit messy at multiple points on this album, with the percussion not always being as punchy as I would have liked, but I think a messier, broken sound may have been the point here. I just don’t think it totally works for me, even though I see how it might fit with the lyrical content, potentially a decaying relationship and the need to face reality.

Now, of course, these lyrical interpretations are just my own—in fact, they’re probably wrong—but I do think it makes for a fascinating album … albeit one that I really wish I liked more than I do.

I don’t want to say this album feels too short—I mean, this sort of haunting, cryptic album with just enough detail to paint a picture while still leaving you wondering what the hell is actually going on … well, it’s the kind of album that feels like it should work as a breezy, quick listen that just ends leaving you all the more baffled by it.

But I don’t think there’s enough done with the nine tracks here to make it a fully cohesive album experience. It doesn’t feel like there’s a strong lyrical arc throughout the album in the sequencing—again, I could be totally wrong—and I don’t think the music fully does enough to make this really click for me. So, I’ll give it a 7/10. There are elements that I like, and I think it shows some potential, but it’s not totally for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Police Scanner”, “Unifying Thought”, “Your Day Will Come”, “I Think I Saw”
Least Favourite Track: “Embarrassed Dog”

Night – Bound Eyes Are Blind to the Day by Whitelands:

This is the second studio album from UK dream pop band Whitelands, and their first in nearly six years. Going into this album I gave their 2018 debut a few listens, and unfortunately I can’t really say it did all that much for me. But this album has been getting a much more positive reception, so I decided to give it a chance, and I was hoping I’d like it a lot more …

And I feel like there’s a lot more immediacy and vigor, with the blazing guitar and some of the incisive snares, such as on a track like “Tell Me About It”, and at times it can feel like it’s close to hitting that sweet spot with the atmosphere combined with the melodies, even though I don’t think it ever really gets there.

But I also don’t like how the vocals often get drowned out by the instrumentation, such as in “Born in Understanding” where the guitar just washes over everything, and I don’t mean that in a good way—although this is one of the rare moments where I actually like how the kick drum is miked/produced.

And on that topic, that’s another thing that really holds this back for me. Sure, the snare sounds really good at points, but the kick drum doesn’t complement it very well by sounding so underpowered in “Cheer”, or by sounding overly foggy in “How It Feels”, or with the sort of oily kick drum timbre in “The Prophet & I” and especially “Chosen Light”.

And I have another nitpick which is going to be tricky for me to explain, because I’m no expert when it comes to understanding sound, but the best way I can describe it is that it kind of feels like there are more higher frequencies than there actually are, and it sounds really distracting—it’s probably something about the way the drums and guitar mix together. And I could be totally wrong about this, but when I really listen to it closely, it doesn’t sound like there are a lot of high frequency sounds—I honestly wonder if there was a low-pass used here—and yet it still feels distractingly metallic. Yes, I know that’s a total nitpick, and I sound like the stereotypical music critic to someone who doesn’t like music critics, but I’ll admit it definitely impacts how I feel about the album.

With all this being said, the guitar does have some nice sizzle to it at points, such as in the opening track, and I generally like the vocals even though I wish they were produced differently. And there are some interesting lyrical moments even though it doesn’t fully make sense to me. I mean, the album starts with a track which seems to be about wanting to understand the meaning of lyrics, and I think it works well as a prologue for an album which seems so philosophical, and I like the ending which seems to be about people becoming overly reliant on The Bible, and while I feel like there’s probably a lot that I’m missing here as I haven’t read much of The Bible (although I just started reading it recently), it still is a good ending to the album lyrically after all the skepticism and fantastical dream sequence vibes, coming to a conclusion of realizing there isn’t always a right answer to everything. I don’t think that’s anything all that revolutionary, but I think it’s really fitting here.

I think this is a moderately good album, and it definitely makes me more intrigued to hear whatever’s next for this band, after a debut which didn’t leave much of an impression on me at all. So, I’ll give this a 6/10, and if you’re really into ethereal alt-rock, or dream pop, or shoegaze, or anything in that vein, I think you might really like this!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Setting Sun”, “Tell Me About It”, “Born in Understanding”
Least Favourite Track: “Cheer”

Harbour Century by Eunuchs:

This is the second studio album from Eunuchs, a band who’ve been getting a lot of critical acclaim this year for this album which I would probably describe as ‘noise rock’. Although I don’t mean the typical kind of ‘noise rock’ you’d probably think of with all the loud, distorted sounds, irregular rhythms, booming percussion, etc. It’s got a very dramatic feeling to it, à la Black Country, New Road, especially a song like “Estuary of Dreams”.

And unfortunately, I don’t think this feels all that experimental or interesting. There may be more to it than I realize, but a lot of it just feels like a lesser version of stuff I’ve already heard.

There’s a lot of grandeur, and it feels like the album is all connected together in some way to create this huge, epic experience … and unfortunately it kind of feels like style over substance to me.

Now, I should mention that part of this is due to me having a hard time following along with the lyrics (and I couldn’t even find the lyrics to every song when I looked them up), and there very well could be a lot to this, but often it just feels to me like it’s maybe a little pretentious? I don’t want to make that assumption, but that’s the word that came to mind for me a lot when listening to this album.

But also, I don’t even think the production or compositions really work all that well, either. The drums don’t feel nearly as hard-hitting as I’d like, and the horns often feel like they cut through in the production more than I would have liked, having a sharper sound to them that I think feels kind of distracting.

And musically this feels like it’s always building up to something really huge, and while those huge, louder moments do happen, they just don’t feel as gripping as I think they’re supposed to.

I do think the album ends pretty well with a really interesting closing track which runs for over seventeen minutes and has some interesting lyrics including some semi-repetition toward the end that really stood out to me.

Overall, I think this is a decent album. There are moments that I like, and if you’re really into this sound it might click for you a lot more … but even as someone who likes this kind of theatrical, opera-esque art rock, this just didn’t do a whole lot for me.

I’m giving Harbour Century a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Pat a Dragon”, “Estuary of Dreams”, “Hierophant”, “Heroin King”
Least Favourite Track: “Bird Angel Dynasty”

Deep Sage by Gouge Away:

Here’s a band I’d never heard of until recently, but I saw them described as hardcore punk, and all three of their albums have gotten quite a bit of critical acclaim! And after listening to their first two albums a few times each, I absolutely get it! They’re pretty hard-hitting with lyrics full of fury that I really like!

But something felt missing to make those two albums really fully click for me as much as I would’ve liked, but I was hoping this might be the one that fully clicked … and I hate to say it, but I like this album even less than the first two.

Now, that’s not me saying this is bad. Their first two albums I thought were really solid, and this one … well, I think it’s pretty good, but it’s just not really my cup of tea. I like hardcore punk, but this album doesn’t feel all that memorable to me.

One positive is that there’s a lot that I like here lyrically, some of which seems to be about the struggle of trying to figure out which things are a you problem and which are about your surroundings. And “Newtau” has some very fierce lyrics which hold no punches.

But sonically I don’t find this album super hard-hitting. The guitar distortion often feels like it could use a lot of power, not really having as much impact as I’d like. And the stiff bass on tracks like “Deep Sage” and “No Release” feels distracting as well, as do the clunky snares on tracks like “Idealized” and “The Sharpening”.

And pretty much everything just has a messier sound to it overall which I don’t think works for this style very well.

In some points this album kind of goes into other genres, with sort of a post-punk vibe on “Overwatering”, and a more typical indie rock sound on the closing track, the latter of which sounds like a lesser version of something that would’ve been on feeble little horse’s 2023 album Girl with Fish, but with a bit more of a ‘rock radio vibe’ that I think leaves this feeling way more dull and lifeless than I think was intended. And about the former of those songs, I once again think it sounds too messy to really fit.

I don’t think Deep Sage is a bad album. At her best, Christina Michelle is quite a captivating singer, and there are some good melodic moments in the instrumentation. And again, I mostly like the lyrics.

But I don’t think I’ll be going back to this much. 6/10 for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Deep Sage”, “A Welcome Change”, “Newtau”
Least Favourite Track: “Dallas”

This Could Be Texas by English Teacher:

Here’s a relatively new band from the UK who were formed back in 2018, although this is their official debut studio album. It’s about fifty minutes long, and I saw it described as post-punk, which definitely made me excited to hear this, especially with the pretty significant amount of critical acclaim this has been getting.

And I’m not totally sure I’d agree with that genre description. I mean, I’m not very good with genres, so take this all with a grain of salt … but who is good with genres, really? Anyway, I think the first half reminds me more of some of the post-punk I’ve heard in recent years, such as the super catchy “I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying” and the musical build on the title track.

Then, on the second half of the album, there are some mellower moments such as “You Blister My Paint” and some moments with more of a straightforward indie rock sound to them.

And I think the production is really strong, with a lot of variety in the vocal production but which I think really fits a lot within these different contexts. For example, “Not Everybody Gets to Go to Space” sounds very Wolf Alice esque, not just in the instrumentation, but also the vocal production which I think really fits to encapsulate feeling really small in this huge world. And the lustful vibe of the production fits really well on “Sideboob”, especially with those gorgeous strings. And I think the frustration of “The Best Tears of Your Life” actually really shines through with the autotune, which I think sounds really good.

And this album is very unpredictable, constantly keeping your attention. It’s the kind of album experience that’s hard to fully explain and is probably better to hear for yourself. But I’ll say this much: it’s a 9/10 for me, and one of the best albums I’ve heard all year so far!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10 
Favourite Tracks: “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab”, “Broken Biscuits”, “I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying”, “This Could Be Texas”, “Not Everybody Gets to Go to Space”, “The Best Tears of Your Life”, “You Blister My Paint”, “Sideboob”, “Albert Road”
Least Favourite Track: “Albatross”

Artificial Bouquet by Frail Body:

Frail Body are a screamo/metal band formed in 2017 who have received a lot of critical acclaim for both their 2019 debut album and this new album, which is their second. And going into this, I decided to check out their debut, and I really ended up liking it, with the intense music and the heartbreaking lyrics really working well together, even though I didn’t quite love it. It just didn’t feel super distinct to me, but I was very excited to hear this new album, which is probably getting even more acclaim …

And unfortunately I can’t really say I’m as big a fan of this as a lot of critics are. And part of this is the production, which I often feel like is close to really hitting hard but unfortunately falls short with some messier choices like the overpowering guitar and clunky drums of “Monolith”. And there’s also an overly tight sound in “No Resolution” if you ask me.

And while the guitar timbre can have some killer distortion at points here such as in “Horizon Line” or “Berth”, I often feel like it sounds more watery than I’d like, giving this a much more dreary feeling than I think was intended.

Although I guess you could argue it maybe kind of fits with the lyrics, a lot of which seem to be pretty standard for this style of music, questioning how important everything is, and trying to find an escape from deep philosophical worries but realizing you might just have to face them … and as always, I could be totally misinterpreting this, and there may be way more to it than I realize. But to me it can often feel like it’s lacking in more depth, and I wish there were a little more optimism to fit with the instrumentation—either that or the bleakness to be more emphasized in the instrumentation.

And I especially feel bad criticizing something that’s clearly very emotional and probably quite personal, but at the end of the day this isn’t me telling the band what they should or shouldn’t do, I’m just explaining what I like and what I don’t like about the album. Music is subjective.

There are elements of this that I like—I think the album starts and ends pretty well—but it definitely feels like a step back from their debut. I’ll give it a 6/10, as I think it’s decent, but not something I’ll probably be revisiting much.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Scaffolding”, “Berth”, “Another Year Removed”, “A Capsule In The Sediment”
Least Favourite Track: “Critique Programme”

Beholder by The Blinders:

This is album number three from English rock band The Blinders, a band who I feel like I may have heard of before, but I hadn’t listened to them at all until recently when a friend of mine recommended them to me.

And after listening to their first two albums, I think they both showed potential and made me curious to hear what they were going to do next, even though they didn’t fully click for me. It felt like they were on the verge of making an album that really clicked for me, but they just hadn’t quite gotten there.

So, I had somewhat high expectations for this to be great … and not only is this not the great album I was hoping for from them, but it feels like a step back from their first two, and that’s really disappointing. The production feels way messier, with the vocals often sounding super distant from the rest of the instrumentation. And I don’t think the album is as catchy, either, outside of a few moments like that synth in the background toward the end of “At Any Hand But Hers”, or that great guitar melody on “While I’m Still Young”.

And the drums feel way clunkier, too, with one big example being “Always”, which is also possibly the only song here in which the vocals feel overemphasized in the production, and it really doesn’t sound good in my opinion. And the clunky percussion is also very noticeable in “Swallowing Static”.

Now, with all this being said, there are still some elements of their first two albums that I like that I think continue here. They can sometimes bring some real intensity to the songs with the way the instruments complement each other, and the vocals can be really gripping at points.

But I can’t help but feel like as a whole album, this is kind of a weaker version of what we’ve heard before, minus a few dreamier moments such as “Iggy Got Camaro”, which as far as I can remember is nothing like their first two albums.

So, sonically I wasn’t really all that wowed by this … and unfortunately, the lyrics aren’t doing a whole lot for me, either. It feels kind of cryptic, and maybe I’m missing some underlying message or theme, but at least on the surface it seems kind of vapid—not in terms of the specific wording and phrasing, which I think is kind of a saving grace here at points—but more just because it kind of feels like the same themes are being repeated about overdependency and desire, and a lot of it doesn’t feel all that new. But as always, I’m not the best when it comes to analyzing lyrics, so take it with a big grain of salt.

So, as a whole album, I don’t think this is bad. There are enough good moments and few enough duds that I’ll give this a 6/10. I think “Waterfalls Of Venice”, one of the most intense tracks here, is a great standout, and there are other moments that show them going in kind of an interesting direction, but I don’t think I’ll be going back to this album much as a whole. I’m still curious to hear whatever they do next, though.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “While I’m Still Young”, “Iggy Got Camaro”, “Waterfalls Of Venice”
Least Favourite Track: “Always”

Don’t Forget Me by Maggie Rogers:

This is the third studio album by Maggie Rogers, and after listening to her previous two albums I can’t say I was much of a fan of her debut, despite a few songs I really liked. And while I like her sophomore album a lot more, something felt missing to me, and I didn’t find it super consistent despite having a few great tracks such as “Honey”, and some minor nitpicks really held it back for me—it’s an album I feel is so incredibly close to being legit great, but it just falls shy.

So, I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this new album … and it’s quite the stylistic change from its predecessor, because while 2022’s Surrender feels like it’s going for this huge, anthemic indie rock sound, this album feels a lot more stripped back and mellow, with songs such as “I Still Do” and “All The Same”. And I know there was some of that on Surrender, but on this album there aren’t as many songs in the vein of rock like “Overdrive”, “Shatter”, “That’s Where I Am”, or “Honey”. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing … but when the absolutely fantastic track “Honey” showed so much potential in that indie rock sound, I can’t help but at least kind of wish this album had more songs in that style … especially because this album isn’t really clicking for me, either, in fact it feels like a step back.

And I’ll start with the lyrics, which I don’t think are bad—in fact, I might even like them more than Surrender, as a lot of my nitpicks with that album were in the lyrics—but I’m also not going to pretend I’m all that wowed by them. A lot of it is what you might expect from a Maggie Rogers album, with the relationship struggles, nostalgia, and having self-love in the midst of all the chaos around you. And outside of maybe some of the imagery, there’s just not a whole lot about this that feels all that memorable to me.

And I also can’t help but feel like the vocals don’t cut through the mix as much as I would have liked. Maggie is a very good singer, but often her vocals feel underpowered by the production, such as in the closing track.

I think there are some moments here that feel a bit more anthemic, such as the opening track, “It Was Coming All Along”, even though it suffers from the same mixing problem that I was just talking about with the vocals. And I also really like “On & On & On”, which has a very groovy sound to it.

Overall, I don’t think this is a bad album, but I’m feeling a bit of a disconnect from it, and I can’t fully place why, outside of some of the mixing. Or maybe I kind of can, because I mentioned the lyrics not feeling super memorable, and I also don’t find the vocal melodies all that memorable … but I don’t know, it still kind of feels like I should like this more than I do.

I’m going to give this a very light 7/10. There are some elements that I like, and I’m still curious to hear more music from Maggie Rogers, but I just can’t call myself that much of a fan yet.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “It Was Coming All Along”, “On & On & On”, “Never Going Home”
Least Favourite Track: “So Sick Of Dreaming”

Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace by Shabaka:

Shabaka Hutchings is a composer and musician who has been in some pretty well known bands in the past, such as The Comet Is Coming, Sons Of Kemet, Melt Yourself Down, and Shabaka and The Ancestors. And this is his official debut solo album, although it’s got a lot of features, including some pretty big names including Floating Points, E L U C I D, and Lianne La Havas.

And it’s probably what I’d call an ambient album, with its very calming vibe and subtle details in the production, including some which I don’t really like such as the sort of fuzzy noise in “I’ll Do Whatever You Want” which I think was an artistic choice but kind of ends up feeling like a mistake in the editing.

And parts of this can feel like they drag on longer than I would have liked, such as “Body to Inhabit” which seems to possibly be the favourite on the album for a lot of people, but E L U C I D doesn’t really do much here that grabs my attention.

But with all this being said, I do like some of the introspective lyrics here, such as “Managing My Breath, What Fear Had Become” featuring Saul Williams, which feels like it’s about trying to be honest with people and be your authentic self, despite all the obstructions we create that shove us off that path to where we want to be. And it hits a little closer to home for me than I’d like to admit, but we’re all only human after all.

And I like how “Living” paints the picture of someone trying to get over a rough breakup, and it’s unclear what approach the person is taking, but that whether or not it’s a healthy decision, at the end of the day most people are usually wanting the same things, but we have different ideas of what the journey there looks like. And the svirel is a really nice touch, especially that ravishing texture it creates with the razor-sharp timbre of the strings.

But then there’s a track like “Breathing”, which feels like it’s trying to be really experimental and non-accessible … and it just doesn’t appeal to me at all, with something just really feeling ‘off’ with the instrumental harmonies, which I think was the point, but that doesn’t mean I like it.

But what about the production? I know I’ve talked about it a little bit already, but honestly I do think the production is pretty strong for the most part. It really gives a lot of breathing room to these instruments, and there’s a real elegance to the way the main melodic instruments gleam with ease, really emphasizing the calming nature of this record.

The album feels fitting for a winter day, like you’re waking up to the first day of snow in a while and you want an escape from the bleak weather … and that’s the kind of album that, when done a certain way, can really click for me.

In this case I don’t think it fully gets to that level, as I do have a decent amount of production nitpicks, and there are a few duds in the track list if you ask me, but I still very much enjoyed this and would absolutely recommend it if you’re looking for some experimental ambient music.

There are definitely some strong standout highlights for me, and I’ll give it a fairly strong 7/10! Again, it doesn’t fully click for me as much as I’d like, but it definitely makes me excited to hear whatever Shabaka has up his sleeve next. This is really damn good!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “As the Planets and the Stars Collapse”, “Managing My Breath, What Fear Had Become”, “Living”, “Kiss Me Before I Forget”
Least Favourite Track: “Body to Inhabit”

We Have The Answer by Heavenly Blue:

Heavenly Blue (FKA Youth Novel) are a band who was formed over a decade ago, but they didn’t release their debut album until 2021.

And to prepare for this review, I listened to that self-titled debut album released under the band’s old name, and after a few listens I thought it was decent, but it didn’t really do much to stick with me.

And I definitely like this album more. I like the heaviness in the sound with the distorted guitar that feels crushing but not too sharp, with just enough of a watery timbre to keep the atmosphere that fits well with the bleakness, and the drums hit super hard as well and fit really well with this production.

And I like the blend of genres here as well. I mean, it’s got the heavy instrumentation and screamed vocals you’d expect in screamo, or post-hardcore, or whatever genre you want to call this … but there are also some elements of black metal, in tracks like “Looming” and “All Of The Pieces Break”, and very much in “Certain Distance”. And there are some mellower moments here as well, like parts of “Heat Death Parade”, and I like the way that song builds.

Lyrically it’s quite bleak, such as on the opening track “Davos”, which seems to show someone realizing they’re not as good a person as they thought they were—and that seems to continue onto the next track—and there seems to be a feeling of disconnect from the rest of the world on “Static Voice Speaks To Static Me”, and “Heat Death Parade” seems to be about the inevitability of an eventual death, and no matter how slowly you’re dying, you’re still dying.

So, yeah, it’s a bleak listen, and I think that often works well with the sound of the album. Again, there’s a certain bleakness to the sound which kind of helps keep this more open to interpretation, if that makes any sense. But either way, it definitely makes this hit a lot harder, with the super intense feeling like it’s implying something is going to go horribly wrong, especially in a song like “Pando”, which is definitely one of my favourites on the album.

I wouldn’t say this totally wowed me, and there are some moments that feel like they could use a lot more to make them really stand out, and occasionally the production can feel like it holds this back a bit (even though I mostly think the production sounds really good) … but overall, I think this is a really solid post-hardcore/screamo album … or whatever genre you want to call it.

I’ll give We Have The Answer a 7/10. It’s a good album, and I’m much more curious now to hear more from the band, but I just can’t say this is totally for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Davos”, “Pando”, “Static Voice Speaks To Static Me”, “Heat Death Parade”
Least Favourite Track: “…And Like That, A Year Had Passed”