Hello, everyone! I’m back with more mini reviews! These are mostly reviews I started working on months ago, and now after this I will be (mostly) caught up on the reviews I wanted to have posted back in May or June.

I’ll admit I’ve barely been working on reviews over the past two months, partially because I’ve just felt more like listening to music I already know and love, but also because I’ve been very busy with work, and then I went away on a trip, and my family is in the process of moving, and I’ve also had COVID twice recently which definitely made me feel less motivated to work on reviews. But I’m feeling a lot more motivated now and will try to get back to regularly posting reviews … I guess we’ll just see how much catching up I have to do, as there are so many albums that came out months ago that I still want to review.

Anyway, here are 15 mostly half-assed mini reviews from a while back that I am finally posting now!

Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity by Saidan:

Saidan made one of my favourite albums of 2022, and going into this new album I decided to check out their debut from 2021 which I ended up really liking but not quite loving.

But relistening to their 2022 album, I’m surprised I don’t go back to it more. I mean, it is a very difficult listen, which probably explains it. The subject matter is very heavy, with a lot of lyrics about trauma and abuse, and while it’s hard to hear the lyrics it still makes it a difficult album to go back to a lot even though it’s super powerful.

But I was very curious to hear this new album of theirs … and it kind of feels like more of the same, to some extent. Although I didn’t notice as much of a lyrical arc throughout the album, and the lyrics feel a little more cryptic. I will admit I very well could be missing something, but I don’t love the lyrics here as much as their 2022 album, even though they’re still heartbreaking and fit well with the music.

And speaking of which, I don’t love the melodies here as much, even though the album is very well produced with the bass sounding awesome in the mix and the guitars and drums complementing each other very well! But still, it just doesn’t feel as memorable as their previous album, which to me doesn’t say as much about this album as it does that one.

So overall, I still think this is a great album—I’ll give it a 9/10—but it’s not on the level of its predecessor. Still a recommendation, though!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “Genocidal BloodFiend”, “Desecration of a Lustful Illusion”, “Switchblade Paradise”, “Veins of the Wicked”, “Tears Seeping Through Beautiful Agony”
Least Favourite Track: “Sick Abducted Purity”

Under Crumbled Stairs by Lussuria:

Here’s an instrumental ambient album I found when searching for ambient albums from this year, and while it hasn’t been getting a ton of traction, the ratings I did see for it are mostly positive.

And after listening to it a few times … well, it’s certainly experimental and creative. There are some eerie moments here, and it doesn’t feel nearly as ‘musical’ as it should considering it’s not just a ‘noise’ album and there are some actual melodies. And I think that may have been an intentional artistic decision to make this not sound as ‘musical’ as it ‘should’, and either way it certainly leads to an intriguing listen.

But a lot of this just isn’t really doing much for me. There are some moments that I like such as those sharp synths on the title track, but overall I think it’s an album I respect a lot more than I like.

If you’re looking for a unique ambient album, I would recommend this, but it’s just not really for me. 5.5/10

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Human Ruins”, “Cetomba”, “Under Crumbled Stairs”
Least Favourite Track: “Head of the Modernist”

Funeral for Justice by Mdou Moctar:

This is my first time listening to an album by Mdou Moctar, although I’ve heard of them before, and they’ve been getting a lot of critical acclaim, including for this new album.

The lyrics are in Tamasheq, and the only language I know is English, and I couldn’t find most of the lyrics when I looked for them, so I can’t really comment on the lyrics. Although I’ve heard this is quite political.

And there are some interesting musical ideas here, and some moments I really like such as the intensity of the opening title track, and “Oh France” has some really nice punchy drums and an awesome groove!

Overall, the grooves here are pretty strong, and the production and mixing combines the instruments really well together to give this a pretty tight sound that I really like!

I wouldn’t say I’m totally blown away by this album, but I still ended up liking it quite a bit, enough to get a 7/10 from me! Really good album!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Funeral for Justice”, “Tchinta”, “Oh France”
Least Favourite Track: “Modern Slaves”

Frog In Boiling Water by DIIV:

This is the fourth studio album by this band whom I’d never heard of until this album came out, and it’s their first in over four years.

And it’s the kind of shoegaze/dreamy alt-rock which I mostly like but don’t feel all that drawn to go back to.

The drums have some nice punch to them, and the bass really complements the main guitar melodies quite well, and overall I like the mixing. And there are some really strong tracks here, such as “Somber The Drums” which kind of sounds a bit reminiscent of Interpol’s debut album. And the following “Little Birds” has some of the most fascinating lyrics here and really awesome, dreamy vocal production!

But something feels missing here and I can’t fully figure out what … maybe I just wish there were more standout choruses, or maybe a little more variety in the sound. And also, a lot of these tracks, while quite good, don’t really feel all that memorable to me and don’t really make me want to go back to this album.

Before I give this a rating, I’m going to say something a little bit off-topic: when I first heard “Soul-net” my first time listening through this album, I legitimately had to check if I had autoplay on because I was sure I had heard this song before. And I don’t mean that as a bad thing—I do like this track. Anyway, feel free to let me know if you have an idea of what song this might be reminding me of. I feel like it’s something from an album I reviewed this year.

But anyway, time for a rating … I’ll go with a 7/10. It’s a good album, but not a great one in my opinion.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “In Amber”, “Everyone Out”, “Somber The Drums”, “Little Birds”, “Soul-net”
Least Favourite Track: “Raining On Your Pillow”

Night Reign by Arooj Aftab:

This is my first time listening to an album by Arooj Aftab, but I saw it getting a lot of critical acclaim, and thus I was pretty excited to hear it …

And unfortunately it’s not really for me. Part of it might be the language barrier (because the only language I know is English), which obviously isn’t a criticism of the album and is just a me thing, but it does hold me back from liking this more.

But the music itself often feels very forgettable to me. Arooj Aftab is a good singer, and her vocals are quite possibly my favourite thing about this album, especially with the great vocal production which sounds gorgeous with the rest of the instrumentation. But there’s just not a lot melodically that stands out to me much, and it feels like it’s relying too much on subtle details.

I’d recommend giving this album a chance if you haven’t yet, and the production is mostly good, but it’s just not doing much for me personally. I’ll give it a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Na Gul”, “Saaqi”, “Zameen”
Least Favourite Track: “Last Night Reprise”

Umbilical by Thou:

This metal band has been active since the 2000s, although it’s my first time listening to an album of theirs.

And I’d probably describe this as death metal, which isn’t usually a genre I’m a huge fan of, but I saw this getting a lot of critical acclaim …

And like a lot of music in this style, it’s just not really doing a lot for me. There aren’t a lot of standout melodies to me, and it’s got a bit of a messy sound that keeps it from hitting a lot harder.

There are some moments that I like, such as the crushing production of “Emotional Terrorist”, and “Panic Stricken, I Flee” has some really interesting production which buries the vocals in the mix but it still feels really hard-hitting!

And while I’m not entirely sure what the lyrics are about, some of them do intrigue me, a lot of which seem very philosophical, possibly about some of the potential negative implications of thinking too much about deep philosophical questions.

But overall, I don’t see any reason for me personally to go back to this anytime soon. It’s not bad, but I just can’t really say it’s for me. 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Emotional Terrorist”, “Unbidden Guest”, “Panic Stricken, I Flee”
Least Favourite Track: “I Return as Chained and Bound to You”

strain LP by betesk:

This is one of three albums betesk has released in 2024, and it was the second of the three to be released. I reviewed the other two, the first one being Focus. This artist is pretty obscure and I just randomly found that album online and decided to listen to it and review it, and it was the kind of sound collage that I respected way more than I actually liked it. But it made me curious to hear more, and I was surprised how much I ended up really liking the first of the three albums betesk released this year, lava operation.

So, I was curious to hear this one as well …

And as I expected, if I were to rank all three albums from favourite to least favourite, this one would go right in the middle.

I think the mixing is pretty strong here, and there are some moments where I really like the crisp percussion, such as “that type of timing”. But this also just feels more messy and less cohesive than lava operation, and some of the higher frequency sounds can be a little annoying, such as on “massive props” and especially “trouble”.

I don’t dislike this album, but it just doesn’t give me a whole lot to say. I mean, it’s a sound collage album, and that’s not really a style that usually appeals to me. I do think this is decent, it’s not like I find it annoying or anything. And there’s enough experimentation here that, like with Focus, I can see it working for a lot of people if they give it a chance, but while I like it more than that album, it doesn’t really feel like it all coalesces into more than just a bunch of experimental ambient tracks, a few of which I like but none of which really make me want to go back to them.

I would recommend giving this album a shot. I think it’s kind of a fascinating listen in ways that are hard to describe, and it’s also pretty short, running for under a half hour, but I just can’t say it’s for me.

I’m giving this a 6/10.

[Note: When trying to find the album cover for this album, I couldn’t find it, and the Bandcamp page that this was on seems to have been deleted. So, I’m not sure if this album is still available to listen to. But I decided to keep the review anyway. Also, that is part of the reason I didn’t make a main image for this post … the other reason is because I was being lazy.]

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “cog behavioral”, “continuumm”, “pitch black”, “that type of timing”
Least Favourite Track: “massive props”

For What It’s Worth by Corey Lingo:

This is the debut album from Corey Lingo, an artist I’d never heard of until this came out. And it’s been getting quite a bit of critical acclaim …

And I’m kind of surprised by how much acclaim this has been getting considering it’s a style of music that critics often seem to really not like, with the autotuned vocals and the very radio-ready sound to the instrumentals.

But I don’t think this is bad. In fact, I think I like it more than I don’t. I mean, there are definitely flaws here in my opinion, with a lot of these songs sounding very generic, and a few of them feeling pushy lyrically, but there are some good melodies here and I actually like the way the autotune adds to the vibe. And the percussion sounds really good in the mix!

Maybe it’s mostly nostalgia for listening to this kind of music on the radio, but I actually kind of like this. 6/10, and “Time Will Tell” is a great song!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Time Will Tell”, “Skyfall”, “I Got You”, “Fell So Deep”
Least Favourite Track: “Look What You’ve Done”

The Dream of Delphi by Bat for Lashes:

This is the sixth studio album by Natasha Khan who releases music under the name Bat for Lashes. And it’s the first album of hers that I’ve listened to.

And I think it’s an album I respect a lot more than I like. This album was written in large part about Natasha’s daughter who was born a few years ago, and while I respect that a lot and I think these songs are well crafted, it’s just not really doing a whole lot for me.

The production is peaceful and haunting at the same time, and while I get why that could work, to me it just doesn’t feel all that interesting and just makes me wish there were more standout melodies or lyrics.

I mean, there aren’t a lot of lyrics on this album, and when the vibe of the music doesn’t hit the right sweet spot for me personally, I’m just left feeling underwhelmed. I like some moments such as the simplicity of “Christmas Day”, and the closing track is quite pretty as well. But again, I respect the album more than I like it. I’m going to give this a 7/10 as I do mostly still like this, but I don’t love it and I doubt I’ll be going back to it much.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Christmas Day”, “At Your Feet”, “The Midwives Have Left”, “Waking up”
Least Favourite Track: “Home (Single Version)”

Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain by Raveena:

This is my first time listening to an album by Raveena, and this album has been getting a lot of critical acclaim.

And while I like a lot of the silky smooth production, and Raveena is a good singer, a lot of the vocal melodies don’t really stick for me, and the fantastical imagery really could use more memorable compositions for the writing to really shine through.

But there are some moments that I really like, such as JPEGMAFIA’s verse on “Junebug”, and the subtle details in the instrumentation of “Lucky”, and the sort of back-and-forth vocal melody in “Smile For Me”, which probably has the best vocal melodies of any song here.

But a lot of this album just feels very forgettable to me, and I can’t really say I’m a huge fan of it overall. So, I’ll give it a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Lucky”, “Lose My Focus”, “We Should Move Somewhere Beautiful”, “Smile For Me”, “Little Bird”
Least Favourite Track: “Rise”

<Dall> by ARTMS:

This is the debut album from this K-Pop band who’ve been getting a lot of critical acclaim. And I’d never heard of them until this album came out, but I saw the acclaim it was getting and decided to check it out …

And there are some moments that I don’t really like, such as “Sparkle” which kind of sounds like a bad Ariana Grande song, and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” has some overpowering synths and drums at points, but overall I actually ended up really liking this album!

The vocals and vocal layering is really strong and fits well over this production, and for the most part I like the sort of watery synths because they have strong percussion to make this punchy without the synths overpowering everything.

And there are some good melodies, too, even though most of them aren’t that memorable to me. And thus I think this album is quite good, but I wouldn’t call it great.

Lyrically I might be missing something in the translation, but it doesn’t seem to be super deep or anything. It seems like it’s just supposed to be a fun pop album, and I think they do a good job of that.

And with some really strong standout tracks such as “Distress” with its super lush production and the gorgeous vocal high notes, and also “Virtual Angel” which has some of my favourite vocal melodies here … I’ll give this a 7/10. Really good album!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Virtual Angel”, “Air”, “Unf/Air”, “Distress”
Least Favourite Track: “Sparkle”

empathogen by WILLOW:

This is the sixth studio album by Willow Smith, who I’ll admit I haven’t really listened to much. But this is her most critically acclaimed album to date, and I was somewhat curious to hear it.

And I mostly like it! There are some good vocal melodies, and the production is mostly strong, and there are a few tracks that really stand out to me, like the great collab with St. Vincent, “pain for fun”, and “run!” which has one of the best vocal performances here which fits well with the lyrics which are seemingly about escaping from demons, and the outro of this track is really quite haunting! And the chorus of “symptom of life” is really catchy, too!

And I really like the sound of the percussion here for the most part, such as the punchy snares in the closing track, and the awesome drum rhythm which sounds great in the mix on “symptom of life”, which really complements the awesome chord progressions. And the percussion throughout most of this album just sounds really clear, complementing the breezy production.

But overall this album just doesn’t totally click for me as much as I’d like. A lot of these songs feel mostly enjoyable while they’re on but just don’t really make me feel like going back to them all that much.

I’m going to give this a 7/10, though. I mostly like it, but something feels missing and I can’t quite figure out what that is.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “symptom of life”, “pain for fun”, “run!”, “b i g f e e l i n g s”
Least Favourite Track: “false self”

I Hear You by Peggy Gou:

Peggy Gou is a DJ who just released her debut album back in June (around the time this review was written—yes, you read that right), and while this didn’t seem to be getting the most positive reception, I was curious to hear it.

And I mostly like it. It’s mostly well produced, with the synth timbres fitting really well with the rest of the instrumentals, and it’s just got a nice chill but danceable vibe to it.

But I don’t think I’m going to go back to this much. It’s got moments that I like, such as “I Believe In Love Again” with those really catchy synths and the very melodic “I Go”, and “Back To One” is a really fun, groovy disco track!

But there are also moments like the instrumental closing track which just feel mostly boring to me, and I don’t think this album is doing anything all that groundbreaking, as far as I can tell.

So, I’ll give this a 6.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Back To One”, “I Believe In Love Again”, “Seoulsi Peggygou (서울시페기구)”, “I Go”
Least Favourite Track: “1+1=11”

Chaos Angel by Maya Hawke:

This is my first time listening to a Maya Hawke album, and unfortunately it’s not really doing a whole lot for me.

A lot of the melodies feel forgettable, and the instrumentals blend in with a lot of other music in this style if you ask me.

There are some moments that I like—“Missing Out” has some nice melodies throughout it, and “Okay” seems to be about a well-intentioned person who keeps screwing up, and the hopeful-yet-gloomy instrumental fits pretty well. And I like how “Okay” is immediately followed up with “Better”, in which the narrator tries to make up for what happened.

And “Big Idea” might be my favourite song here, including the great line, ‘All intelligence is artificial.’ But then it’s immediately followed by “Hang In There”, and while I respect the lyrics on this song with the narrator telling a victim of abuse that it wasn’t their fault, the instrumental here is a total snoozefest, and this song just doesn’t work for me at all.

So, overall … well, I haven’t even mentioned the production not sounding as smooth as I would have liked, and there’s just not a lot about this that stands out to me. I’ll give it a 5.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Missing Out”, “Okay”, “Better”, “Big Idea”
Least Favourite Track: “Hang In There”

POST HUMAN: NeX GEn by Bring Me The Horizon:

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned Bring Me The Horizon on this website before. And it kind of feels like any opinion on their music is an unpopular opinion. But I’ll admit this is pretty much the prime example of a band I either pretended to love as a kid or just simply outgrew—probably a bit of both. There was a time when I would have called them one of my favourite bands, and I think some of that is the fact that I was still discovering my taste in music and I feel like I’ve just outgrown this band’s music, but I also don’t think I ever really loved them as much as I pretended to, probably because I thought it made me ‘cool’ to like them or something like that.

And revisiting their albums … yeah, I can’t say they’re for me at all. I do think they’ve gotten better since their early deathcore days, with albums like That’s the Spirit and Amo showing a little more versatility in their tank, but their mega critically acclaimed 2020 EP (or mixtape, or album, or whatever it is) POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR just didn’t click for me at all when going back to it, and I honestly think I prefer those other two albums I just mentioned over that one, and even those albums are decent at best in my opinion.

So, here’s their first official studio album in over five years, and it’s the second in the Post Human series … and just like its predecessor, I think there are a few good songs, and I wouldn’t say there are any great songs … except for maybe “Kool-Aid”, which probably has the best chorus on the album, and the pure venom of this track fits pretty well with the hard-hitting guitars. I think Within Temptation pulled this sort of thing off a lot better with “Cyanide Love” last year, but this song is still really damn good!

And the chorus of “sTraNgeRs” is pretty strong, too, as is the case with “DiE4u” … although the latter of those songs has some of the cringiest lyrics on the entire album in its second verse, and there are other flaws in the production that hold it back for me. I’m not really sure what I think of “DiE4u” as a song, because there is a lot about this song that I don’t like, and it feels very generic in a lot of ways, too, but some of the melodies are pretty damn strong!

A lot of the lyrics here seem to be about depression/mental health struggles, and I don’t mean to be insensitive or anything, but it just doesn’t really click for me. That’s not necessarily me saying the lyrics are ‘bad’—although there are some cringy moments such as the line about fucking a chainsaw or the line I alluded to earlier in “DiE4u” where Oli Sykes sings, ‘You could slit my wrists, and I’d write your name in a heart with the hemorrhage’—it’s more just that this album doesn’t really do a whole lot for me personally. And it’s not like the melodies really stand out to me much, either, aside from a few exceptions. And the production sounds messier than I would have liked, with the drums often feeling like they lack more punch.

I don’t dislike this album, but it’s yet another Bring Me The Horizon album I’ve just struggled to get into. 6/10 for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Kool-Aid”, “liMOusIne”, “sTraNgeRs”
Least Favourite Tracks: “[ost] (spi)ritual”, “n/A”