Hello, everyone! Time for more mini reviews!

Yes, I know I still haven’t posted my top 100 favourite songs of 2022 yet, but it’s on its way … for now, here are nine mini album reviews, some of which I wanted to have posted a while ago, but I feel like I’m finally starting to get caught up on reviews.

Keep in mind that everything here, as always, is just my personal feelings on the albums AKA how much/how little I personally like the albums. None of this is meant to send hate to anyone, it’s just me talking about the music I like and the music I don’t like, and why I like it or why I don’t like it.

Anyway, let’s get this post started!

Memento Mori by Depeche Mode:

So, despite Depeche Mode having tons of critical acclaimed classic albums to their name, and despite the fact that they’ve been putting out albums since the 1980s, this is the first time I’ve ever listened to a Depeche Mode album.

This album comes less than a year after the tragic passing of band member, Andy Fletcher. And I hope the band is proud of the album, even though the album isn’t really clicking for me.

As always this review is just about how I feel about this album, and I don’t find a lot of the vocal melodies really grabbing me personally. I mostly like the production, but it’s one of those albums that to me just feels like it drags on longer than I want it to.

I can’t say I really love any of the songs on this album … I like a few tracks, but it feels like pretty much every song has something in the melodies or repetition that holds it back for me.

So, for me, it’s a 5/10, but it is an interesting listen with some really interesting lyrics … and while I personally find it kind of boring, there’s enough about it that I like to keep me interested while listening to it, even if it’s not really my cup of tea. So, I recommend you give this a listen if you haven’t already … you’ll probably like it more than I do.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Wagging Tongue”, “Ghosts Again”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Soul With Me”, “People Are Good”

Coco Moon by Owl City:

So, this is my first time listening to an Owl City album, but based on the opinions I’d seen/heard from other music reviewers about Owl City’s previous few albums (and also this one), my expectations for this album weren’t very high.

I didn’t expect to like this album, and like I expected, I don’t like the album. But how much do I dislike it?

Not much actually. I mean, yeah, I’m not a huge fan of the production, and the autotune (or whatever that vocal effect is) doesn’t really work for me for the most part, but to me there’s some real magic to some parts of the album, like the song, “Dinosaur Park”, which seems to be a reminder that parts of our child selves are still with us, and it’s full of great melodies and I love the production on this track, too.

I can tell there was a lot of emotion put into this, and I’m not trying to be disrespectful, but if I’m being honest this album didn’t really do much for me. On most of these songs, there’s something in the melodies or the production or something that just holds it back for me. Even though I love “Dinosaur Park”, to me nothing else on the album comes close to that level. So, for me, it’s a 5/10 … I can’t really say it’s my cup of tea, but I don’t hate it, or even dislike it. I’d recommend giving this a chance.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Field Notes”, “Dinosaur Park”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Under the Circus Lights”, “Kelly Time”, “Vitamin Sea”

This Town is Death by NEUPINK:

Well, here’s an album that doesn’t give me much to say.

This is an instrumental album, and if I had to describe what genre it is, I’d say noise rock or hardcore punk or something like that. It’s the first of two albums that NEUPINK has released this year, and I’ll have some very positive things to say about the other one later in this post!

That being said, I don’t like this one at all. There are some cool melodies in the instrumentation, but the music sounds so fuzzed out and glitchy throughout pretty much the entire album, and it gets super annoying.

I feel similarly about this album as I do about Five Easy Hot Dogs by Mac DeMarco, which I reviewed earlier this year, and while this album has more melodies that stand out to me than that album, I also find the production on this album way more annoying.

Not only do I not really like the individual songs here, but the album as a whole just gets super, super annoying, mostly because of the production. And I get that it’s probably an artistic choice that a lot of people are going to really like, but I personally find it super annoying to listen to. 2.5/10 for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 2.5/10
Favourite Tracks: ???
Least Favourite Tracks: “This Town is Death”, “Without Pleasure”, “Heaven Knows What”

Remember Never Before by July Talk:

This is my first time listening to a July Talk album, but based on the few singles of theirs that I’d heard, I didn’t have super high expectations … but it turns out I like this quite a bit! I wouldn’t say I love it, but there’s enough that I like here to make it a very enjoyable listen for me, and one I’ll probably occasionally go back to as a whole!

Earlier this year, I reviewed Paramore’s new album, This Is Why, and I wasn’t a fan of the album at all … and if you love that album, that’s great … but if you didn’t like that album, well, as someone who didn’t like that album myself, here’s an album with a similar sound that I like a lot more. And even if you do like Paramore’s album from this year, I recommend this one, as I think a lot of fans of that album will like this one, too!

I really like the production on this album, with the clean and distorted guitars sounding great, and the drums are mixed really well for the most part. If there’s one big thing that holds this album back for me, it’s that the vocal melodies kind of bore me … I wish I liked the vocal melodies a lot better, and I feel like if that were the case I would probably love this album.

But as it is, I like the post-punk sound of it, and a lot of the lyrics are really interesting, with some fascinating things to say about humanity and why we are the way we are … at least that’s how I interpret it.

“Twenty Four Hours” is a big highlight for me (probably my favourite on the album), with a great chord progression, great production, and some great melody in the instrumentation. And there are quite a few other big highlights for me (my favourite tracks are listed down below), and I wouldn’t say there are any songs here that I dislike … except maybe “I Am Water”, but only kind of … it’s one of those songs which I just can’t figure out how I feel about it. Sometimes it’s really annoying, and other times I absolutely love it!

Overall, this album is getting a light 7/10 from me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Human Side”, “Hold”, “When You Stop”, “Silent Type”, “Twenty Four Hours”, “Repeat”
Least Favourite Tracks: “I Am Water”

The Restless by Karen Jonas:

Karen Jonas has released quite a few albums at this point, and she’s been releasing albums for almost a decade. But this is the first Karen Jonas album I’ve ever listened to. Anyway, what do I think of it?

Well … it feels like an album I ‘should’ love. I mean, there are quite a few excellent tracks here, like both versions of “Lay Me Down”, “The Breakdown”, “Rock the Boat”, “Drunken Dreamer”, and also another song which was off-putting at first but grew on me a lot, that being “That’s Not My Dream Couch”, which I just found kind of annoying at first, and I’m not sure why, but it grew on me a lot!

And I really like the production here, too, with the mixing being incredible, and there are lots of really good melodies in both the vocals and the instrumentation … so, why don’t I love this album?

Well, part of it is that I personally find the song, “Forever”, very boring … it’s a song that seems like it was very carefully crafted, but I just personally find the melodies very uninteresting and I just don’t enjoy listening to this for nearly four minutes. But that’s one song on an album on which I like nearly every song … I mean, I’m not a big fan of “We Could Be Lovers”, either, but aside from those two songs I legitimately like every song here. So, what’s holding the album back for me?

Well, maybe it’s mostly because I wish there was more variety in the sound … but there is quite a bit of variety, so maybe that’s not it. Or maybe it’s because despite having quite a few great songs, none of them are anywhere close to being among my favourite tracks of the year.

Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what it is that’s holding this album back for me … but I do still really like this, and I recommend you hear it! I’m giving this a light 7.5/10 … I like it, but there’s a good chance you’ll end up liking it even more than me, so I highly recommend it!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Breakdown”, “Lay Me Down”, “That’s Not My Dream Couch”, “Rock the Boat”, “Drunken Dreamer”, “Lay Me Down (Acoustic)”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Forever”

Continue as a Guest by The New Pornographers:

Despite The New Pornographers being a band for over two decades and this being their ninth album, I’d never listened to one of their albums before listening to this one … and I still haven’t listened to any of their other albums.

But I ended up loving this new album! It’s the kind of alternative rock where a lot of the magic is in the small details in the instrumentation/production. For example, the synths in the background of songs like “Really Really Light” and “Firework in the Falling Snow”.

The percussion sounds great on this album, and I love a lot of the vocal melodies, too. There’s a messy feeling to the production, but I think it works with the style of the album, and it’s hard for me to describe why … honestly, I’m not entirely sure why.

And there’s a lot of interesting lyrics here, too! And overall, with mixing this good, too, this album is getting a 9/10 from me! It starts off incredibly strong, and while the second half isn’t quite as great, I still absolutely recommend this album! I think it’s great!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “Really Really Light”, “Pontius Pilate’s Home Movies”, “Cat and Mouse With the Light”, “Last and Beautiful”, “Continue as a Guest”, “Firework in the Falling Snow”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Marie and the Undersea”

opt-in to remove myself by NEUPINK:

So, this is the other NEUPINK album from 2023, and it’s the final NEUPINK album, although it looks like Sam Strawberry (the artist behind NEUPINK) is continuing to release music under a different name.

And I’ve got to say, this album makes me really want to hear more NEUPINK albums, as not only do I easilylike this one more than This Town is Death, but even aside from that comparison, I really like this album!

The first few minutes are absolutely stunning, and while I wish the album didn’t rely on repetition as much, I think it still mostly works!

There’s lots of great melodies, too, and it’s a really calming listen for the most part.

Now it’s worth mentioning that I can’t really pick favourite and least favourite tracks, because there’s only one song on this album. But I really, really like it! It’s very short and very replayable, and I’m going to give it a 7.5/10!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: N/A
Least Favourite Tracks: N/A

We’re Still Here by The Hirs Collective:

Well … this is an interesting album, to say the least.

This is some really heavy metal, with lots of distorted guitars and intense screaming. The album is a little over half an hour long, and it’s full of features.

And while there are some really powerful lyrics here that I really like, a lot of which are political, and I like a lot of the guitar distortion, I’m not really loving the album. Maybe part of it is due to a lot of these songs not really feeling like full songs, but still, we’re talking about the full album here, not individual tracks. So, I think maybe the bigger reason is because a lot of the heavier songs blend together musically for me … that’s not to say they all sound the same, but I just don’t find a lot about them musically that stands out to me personally.

But there are some tracks that do stand out a lot to me … for example, “You Are Not Alone”, which I couldn’t find all the lyrics to, but I could find the lyrics to the first half, which seem to be about pressure that’s placed on celebrities to put on an act for the purpose of profit.

Overall, there’s a lot to like here, and I’m giving this album a 6.5/10, but I’m not going to say it blew my mind or anything. Still good, though, and I recommend you give it a chance if you haven’t yet.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Sweet Like Candy”, “Trust the Process”, “You Are Not Alone”, “So, Anyway…”
Least Favourite Tracks: “A Different Kind of Bed Death”, “Neila Forever”

The Art of Forgetting by Caroline Rose:

Caroline Rose is one of many artists whose name I’ve seen/heard a lot, but whom I’ve never listened to an album by … well, I hadn’t until now.

And I’m definitely glad I listened to this, because it’s really good! I mostly like the production, especially the synths, a lot of which sound fantastic!

This album doesn’t really fit under a specific genre description in my opinion … there are multiple genres I could use to describe this, ranging from folk to dream pop to … I don’t even know. I don’t even know if those were accurate descriptions, because I know so little about genres.

Overall, I really ended up liking this a lot! Are there some songs I don’t really like? Yeah … “Stockholm Syndrome” features really creepy lyrics and I don’t even like the way the song sounds, but overall, I’ve got to say, I really like this album! “Love / Lover / Friend” is a fantastic opener with an amazing build to it, and there are some other huge highlights here, too! I mostly like the production on this album, and there are a lot of great lyrics, too! Extremely strong 7.5/10!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Love / Lover / Friend”, “Everywhere I Go I Bring the Rain”, “Love Song for Myself”, “Jill Says”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Stockholm Syndrome”

Hello, everyone! It’s time for another mini review post, and today I’m reviewing ten albums! A lot of these reviews are out much later than I was hoping, but better late than never.

As always, this is just how I personally feel about these albums. Also, I know a lot of the time I don’t go into a lot of detail here, but these are mini reviews … I’m just trying to briefly share how much or how little I like the albums, and why.

Anyway, let’s get this post started … and we’re starting on a very positive note!

Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) by Yves Tumor:

Yves Tumor is an artist whom I’d heard of before, but I hadn’t listened to any of their albums until I listened to this one. But they’ve gotten lots of critical acclaim, including for this album, so I wanted to give it a listen. And now that I’ve listened to it multiple times, what do I think of it?

It’s awesome! Easily one of my favourite albums of the year so far, and it’ll probably be on my year-end list at the end of the year, too! So, yeah, it’s really fantastic, and if you haven’t heard it, I highly recommend that you do!

First of all, the mixing is incredible on pretty much every track, with the percussion sounding amazing!

There are a lot of interesting lyrics, some of which seem to be about broken relationships, and while the main reason I love this album is because of how it sounds, it’s worth mentioning the lyrics. For example, the song, “Operator”, which seems to show the narrator trying to fix a broken relationship, and it’s done over an awesome instrumental with some fantastic clicking percussion!

“Meteora Blues” is one of many songs with some excellent guitar distortion, and the drumming on this one is fantastic!

This album is amazingly well produced, and there are lots of great melodies here, especially in the instrumentation! For me, it’s a 9/10! I highly recommend you listen to this album if you haven’t already! It’s incredible!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “God Is a Circle”, “Lovely Sewer”, “Meteora Blues”, “Parody”, “Operator”, “In Spite of War”, “Purified by the Fire”, “Ebony Eye”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Fear Evil Like Fire”

Past // Present // Future by Meet Me @ The Altar:

This new album from Meet Me @ The Altar (their debut studio album) is a really good rock album with really solid production and catchy hooks! The snares mostly sound great, and there are lots of great guitars, too!

Lyrically, as far as I can tell, it’s not super deep, but I like the messages here, which include moving on from bad situations, self-confidence, and much more. And Edith Victoria is a fantastic vocalist and a big part of the reason I like this album so much! But that’s not to take away from these instrumentals, which I also really like!

All that being said, at points the album can get slightly boring, and the chorus of “Kool” is pretty annoying, but overall, I really like this album! It’s very emotional at points but also a very fun album at points, and I highly recommend you listen to it!

Would I say I love the album? Not quite, but with some absolutely incredible songs like “Try”, “T.M.I”, and “A Few Tomorrows”, and a pretty consistently enjoyable album … I’m going to give this a strong 7/10! Really good stuff!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Try”, “T.M.I”, “A Few Tomorrows”, “It’s Over For Me”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Kool”

Norm by Andy Shauf:

So, here’s a very mellow album from an artist I’m not sure I’d ever heard of until just recently.

Anyway, while I mostly like the production and mixing here, I do find some of the vocal melodies underwhelming, with some exceptions like the chorus of the fantastic opener, “Wasted On You”.

I like that there’s a story going on in the lyrics, but personally I’m just not super invested in the lyrics. That’s not to say it’s badly written, it’s just that I personally didn’t find it super interesting, even though there is a lot to it. In other words, it’s a me thing (just like my feelings on pretty much any album).

Overall, I do like this album, though. It’s getting a 6.5/10 from me … a lot of these songs are well-crafted, and it is a pretty enjoyable listen as a whole, but I don’t think I’ll be going back to it much. Probably only every once in a while. But I do recommend you hear it. I like this album.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Wasted On You”, “You Didn’t See”, “Paradise Cinema”, “Sunset”, “Long Throw”, “Don’t Let It Get To You”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Halloween Store”, “Daylight Daydreaming”

Lumi by Snail’s House:

So, this is an almost entirely instrumental album (if not entirely … I couldn’t tell if there were any lyrics or not, but at a few points there’s what sounds like someone whispering).

And I can’t really say I love the album. I mean, there are some nice pianos and some nice melodies, but as a whole album it just gets kind of boring after a while.

And while I like some of the electronic elements—for example, that really awesome synth melody that shows up pretty much right at the middle of the song “Lumiukko”—quite a few of the electronic elements don’t really work for me, like that annoyingly loud synth on “Valentine Night” or some really annoying chopped up vocal sounds on “Gemini”.

I’m not a big fan of the production here, and it feels hard to describe why, but the production doesn’t feel super tight to me.

Overall, this isn’t an album that gives me a ton to say. I get the appeal of it, but for me it’s a 5/10. It’s just not my cup of tea.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Lumiukko”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Valentine Night”

Tear by Korine:

So, if you’re wondering how I decide the order I put these mini reviews in … well, once I have the mini reviews for one post mostly ready, I’ll randomize the order … and you may have noticed that so far this post started on a super positive note and has been getting more and more negative … well, unfortunately that’ll continue with this album. I get the appeal of it, but it doesn’t do much for me at all.

This is my first time listening to a Korine album, and to my ears it sounds like some pretty uninteresting, generic synth-pop. That’s not to say there’s not much interesting about it, just that there’s not much that I personally find interesting here.

A lot of it is just really boring to me, and there’s not much here that really stands out to me in a positive way outside of the occasional moment like that awesome synth melody in the chorus of “Train to Harlem”, which is easily the catchiest song on here.

Also, a lot of these songs kind of sound like demos, and there’s this airy sound that I don’t really like. And while I understand both of those things might make some people like it more, for me it makes me like it less.

There’s not much here in the vocal melodies that I like, and overall, I’m going to give this album a strong 4/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “Crystalline”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Deicide”, “Dream Dancer”

Tell Me I’m Alive by All Time Low:

I’m not super familiar with All Time Low’s music, but it seems like a lot of their fans were disappointed by this album, and I saw one person joke in a YouTube comment on a review of this album that the band is at least living up to their name … and, well, I can’t say I’m a fan of the album.

This album seems to be going for huge hooks that will make people want to sing along, and it’s also very emotional, and while I get the appeal of it, it doesn’t click for me at all.

And arguably the biggest reason is the production. To me, the booming snares don’t really fit with the airy production here, and I’m not really a big fan of the reverb and vocal effects. It all just leads to a kind of messy sound, and when it sounds like it’s aiming for huge anthemic choruses, it just doesn’t really work for me.

The vocal melodies also disappointed me here for the most part, and it often sounds like the vocal melodies are so close to really clicking for me, but then they take a turn that I don’t like.

“New Religion” is the one big standout here for me, but overall this album was a total slog for me to get through. It looks like this post is continuing to get more and more negative, as I’m giving this album a 3.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Sound of Letting Go”, “New Religion”, “Kill Ur Vibe”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Are You There?”, “Sleepwalking”, “Calm Down”, “I’d Be Fine”, “The Other Side”

10,000 gecs by 100 gecs:

So, before listening to this album, I don’t think I’d ever listened to a 100 gecs album. I knew the song, “money machine”, and that’s it. But I like that song, so I was excited to hear this new album from 100 gecs.

And … well … it’s interesting.

As far as I can tell, there’s not meant to be much depth here. I don’t know what it’s intended to do … maybe it’s trying to make the listener laugh? I don’t know. But either way, I can’t say I’m really loving the album. I mean, I mostly like the production—even though I’m not a big fan of “Doritos & Fritos”, the snare on that song sounds fantastic—and I like that they’re being super creative, but at times the album can get quite cringey, and there’s not a ton about it that makes me want to return to it as a full album.

Now, I will say, the song “One Million Dollars” on paper feels like it should be terrible, but I’ll admit I actually like that song quite a bit … I don’t know why. I don’t have an explanation.

But at times this album can get quite annoying, like the chorus of “I Got My Tooth Removed”, and if I’m being totally honest, while I have a ton of respect for the album, it’s not really clicking for me. Strong 5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Dumbest Girl Alive”, “One Million Dollars”, “mememe”
Least Favourite Tracks: “757”, “Hollywood Baby”

As Porphyria Once Went by Tears Seven Times:

Well … I don’t really have a lot to say about this one.

I was looking for some 2023 metal albums, and I came across this one, and … well, it starts off pretty strong with a good first half, including the excellent track “Forever Beautiful…”, but to me the second half really doesn’t come close to the first half.

Lyrically, there’s a lot going on here, and maybe it’s just me being bad at understanding lyrics in general, but it’s just too much for me to really try to understand without looking super deeply into it, which I’ll admit I haven’t done. So, how does the album sound?

Well, it’s very intense, and there’s a lot of screaming, but beyond that it doesn’t do much to really wow me.

Some of the guitar melodies are pretty good, and I like how the electric guitar is produced. But overall, to me it feels like the album drags on despite it being less than thirty-five minutes long. So, for me, this album is getting a strong 4.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Could Tell a Love”, “Forever Beautiful…”, “Sombering My Last Chapter”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Gallow-Breached… End of Illusions”

Heavener by Invent Animate:

And speaking of metal, I saw this album described as metalcore and I saw it getting a lot of critical acclaim. And as someone who loves metalcore, I was very excited to hear it, despite never having heard an album by this band before this … and it makes me want to hear more of their music!

Not only is it amazingly well produced, but there are some incredible lyrics here, the vocals are incredible, and I love the atmosphere this album creates, along with some vocal melodies that I absolutely love!

Just from hearing the first track, “Absence Persistent”, I had a feeling this was going to be absolutely incredible, and it is, with tons of great tracks, including “Labyrinthine”, which is super intense musically with some screaming that sounds great in the mix, “Without a Whisper”, which has some incredible melodies and incredible guitars, and so many more!

This is an album that I wanted to give its own review, and I’m sure I could’ve done that, but I’ve been very busy with reviews, including multiple other full-length reviews, and when there are so many new albums I want to review, I decided to make this a mini review. But I can all but guarantee it’ll be in my top 50 of the year, so I’ll have more to say about it then.

Overall, for me, this album is a 9.5/10! If you haven’t heard it, I HIGHLY recommend that you do, at least if you’re a fan of metal! It’s a super emotional album with very few flaws, and as of right now, it’s my favourite album so far this year!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Absence Persistent”, “Labyrinthine”, “Without a Whisper”, “False Meridian”, “Immolation of Night”, “Purity Weeps”, “Void Surfacing”, “Emberglow”, “Elysium”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Shade Astray”

Endless Summer Vacation by Miley Cyrus:

And we’re finishing this post with the first Miley Cyrus album I’ve ever listened to … and going into this album, I really wasn’t sure what to expect.

But I will say I expected to like it more than I do. And it’s not that I dislike this album, I just don’t really like it that much, either.

I get the appeal, and I could see it working as an album full of summer jams, but it’s just not really for me, and it’s kind of hard for me to explain why. On paper, it seems like an album I ‘should’ like, especially considering it has songs like “Jaded” (which has fantastic production) and “Wonder Woman” (which is a beautiful piano song). But I guess it’s partially that a lot of the vocal melodies feel underwhelming to me. Also, while I like a lot of the lyrics here, there are some that are very cringey, like on the chorus of “Handstand”.

It’s one of those albums that is pleasant while it’s on, but not one I see myself going back to much, if at all.

Will I be going back to some of these songs? Yes. “Wonder Woman” and “Jaded” are fantastic, and I mostly like “Muddy Feet” and “Violet Chemistry”. But will I go back to the album as a whole? Probably not for a while … 5.5/10 for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Jaded”, “Muddy Feet”, “Wonder Woman”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Flowers (Demo)”

Hello, everyone. It’s time for a review of Fall Out Boy’s new album, their eighth studio album to date, So Much (For) Stardust.

Going into this review, I decided to listen to Fall Out Boy’s first seven albums to get more familiar with this band’s music. And before I talk about this new album, I’m going to say something very controversial: after listening to their first seven albums, I can’t really say I’m a fan of the band.

And yeah, I know, it’s a controversial thing to say, but if I’m being honest a lot of their music just bores me. I have a ton of respect for the creativity of their music, but I can’t call myself a fan. I honestly wouldn’t say I’ve loved a Fall Out Boy album up to this point … I mean, I like Folie à Deux, which is my favourite Fall Out Boy album, but even that album kind of loses my interest a bit in the second half, despite the album having a few huge highlights.

But what might be even more controversial is how I would rank each of their albums/songs compared to others. Yes, I know I just said Folie à Deux is my favourite album of theirs, and it’s probably their most critically acclaimed. But here’s a massive hot take: do you want to know what my second favourite Fall Out Boy album is?

American Beauty / American Psycho.

Yes, you read that right. American Beauty / American Psycho is my second favourite Fall Out Boy album. I mean, I don’t love the album, and I don’t like every song on it, but it’s pretty consistently enjoyable … and there are a few songs on it that I love. Unlike a lot of critics, I think “Centuries” is a great song!

I’m not really a fan of Save Rock and Roll, but I like it more than either of their first two albums. And despite loving the song, “Golden”, I don’t really like Infinity On High that much.

But before this new album, Fall Out Boy’s most recent studio album was M A N I A, an album that disappointed a lot of Fall Out Boy fans, and even as someone who isn’t really a Fall Out Boy fan, it felt like a big step back, and to me that album felt like a total slog to get through.

So, now they have a new album out … what do I think of it?

Well … I like it more than M A N I A … but considering how I felt about M A N I A, that’s no surprise.

This album sees Fall Out Boy going back toward their 2000s sound, at least more than the material they’ve been putting out since returning in 2013. But as someone who isn’t really a fan of their first few albums, this isn’t really doing much for me. And it’s not that I can’t like that sound, it’s just that I don’t like this album for similar reasons why I don’t really like Infinity On High or From Under the Cork Tree, as I find a lot of the vocal melodies boring and a lot of the instruments sound underpowered to me.

The album opens with the lead single and second single, respectively. And I love the intro of “Love From The Other Side”, the first track on the album, which starts with some haunting piano and some crushing guitar and drums, and it sounds absolutely phenomenal! But the rest of the song after that is kind of disappointing … don’t get me wrong, I like the song, but the drums in the chorus are mixed quieter than I would have liked, and some of the vocal melodies are kind of boring to me.

“Heartbreak Feels So Good” has one of my least favourite choruses on the album, as the vocals sound drowned out by the instrumentation, and the post-chorus is especially annoying to me. It’s easily one of my least favourite songs on this album.

Next is “Hold Me Like a Grudge”, which is one of my favourite tracks here, but at some points it can feel kind of boring. But I like some of the vocal melodies and the guitar.

But then there’s “Fake Out”, which I don’t like at all. I’m a fan of powerful snares, but in this song it kind of sounds like the snare is drowning out other elements of the instrumentation despite not being super loud, and when the vocal melodies bore me this much, it leads to a song that I really don’t like.

“Heaven, Iowa” is another song I’m not a big fan of, but I like it more than the previous track. The first huge chorus just feels underwhelming to me as the vocals feel like they distract from the instrumental (I think it might be something in the mixing), but I like that the guitar is added in the later choruses.

But then there’s probably my least favourite song on the entire album, “So Good Right Now” … I personally find this song super annoying, with the bouncy sound of the instrumentation … and also, that chorus is super annoying in my opinion.

“The Pink Seashell” is a short track in the middle of the album that samples the 1994 film, Reality Bites. I’ve never seen the movie, but I watched the clip that this song samples, and I think it fits well into the album. I saw on Genius that the reason they removed the line about smoking is probably because they didn’t want to influence their fans to start smoking, and I agree that’s probably why, and I like that decision in the song.

“I Am My Own Muse” starts off with some really good strings, and I like the guitars, but the snare sounds underpowered to me … but then later, the snare is kind of annoyingly overpowering. Overall, though, it’s a decent song in my opinion, just not one I think I’ll be going back to much.

I like the rhythm of the drums in “Flu Game”, and I like the backing vocals in the chorus, and the next track, “Baby Annihilation”, is another interlude, and one that I really like.

The last few tracks don’t really do much for me, but they also aren’t among my least favourites here.

First, there’s “The Kintsugi Kid (Ten Years)”, which features some annoying ‘na na na’s in the chorus, and I’m not a big fan of the rhythm of the drumming here when paired with the rest of the instrumental, but I do like some of the vocal melodies in the verses, and the guitar sounds really good in the chorus!

The vocal melodies on the next track, “What a Time To Be Alive”, don’t really do much for me, but I do like the production, with the strings sounding really good in the mix. I can’t help but feel like it’s suddenly going to turn into “The Take Over, The Breaks Over” from Infinity On High … and as someone who likes that song, I don’t mean this as a positive thing or a negative thing, it’s just something I noticed.

The closing track (which is also the title track) is pleasant while it’s on but doesn’t really make me want to return to it, with the production sounding kind of messy in the chorus, and I don’t love the vocal melodies on this track, either.

But I haven’t really mentioned this album’s lyrics much … and, well, I usually listen for the way music sounds more than the lyrics, but I will say a lot of these lyrics don’t really do much for me personally, even if they’re well written. But there are a few lyrics on this album which I want to mention.

I like the line, ‘And I guess I’m getting older ‘cause I’m less pissed we didn’t make your year-end best list. Not the end of the world.’ And no, I don’t just like that line because this album won’t be on my year-end best list (although it won’t be) … that line seems to be saying Fall Out Boy are just going to make the music they want to make, regardless of what the critical reception is.

I also like the line, ‘So real that I feel fake’ in “Flu Game”, and also the line in the chorus of that song, ‘I’ve got all this effort to make it look effortless.’

Honestly, a lot of the lyrics here I don’t really understand (like most albums), and I’m bad at writing about lyrics anyway … I know I keep saying I’ll eventually get better at writing about and analyzing lyrics, and I think I will, but it’s happening slowly. And there are some other lyrics here that I really like which I just haven’t mentioned. There are also a lot that didn’t do much for me, but that’s a me thing.

So, overall … I don’t hate this album. I don’t even dislike it. I like a few tracks on here, but I can’t say I really love any of these songs, and it doesn’t feature any of my favourite Fall Out Boy songs on it, even as someone who isn’t really a Fall Out Boy fan.

I get the appeal of this band and this album, but their music just isn’t really for me for the most part. But feel free to let me know in the comments what you thought of this album and/or what you thought of my review. As always, it’s just how I personally feel about the album. I’m giving it a 5/10, but feel free to let me know what you’d rate it.

Thanks for reading this review, and I’ll be back with more reviews soon!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Love From The Other Side”, “Hold Me Like a Grudge”, “Flu Game”, “Baby Annihilation”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Heartbreak Feels So Good”, “Fake Out”, “So Good Right Now”

Hello, everyone! Welcome to my website, or if you’ve been reading my posts already, welcome back! This is my first time doing a throwback album review outside of my mini review posts, and it’s a review of one of the most critically acclaimed albums of all time, if not THE MOST critically acclaimed album of all time, Radiohead’s OK Computer.

Now, before I talk about the album itself, I want to mention this: I haven’t listened to every Radiohead album yet. I’ve listened to a few other Radiohead albums, but not all of them. So, I’m not going to be making many comparisons to other Radiohead albums, and I think that’s okay. I don’t think listening to other Radiohead albums will change my opinion on this one.

So, where do I begin with this album?

Well … I think the right place to start is by mentioning that this album was considered extremely unique when it came out. I personally wasn’t alive when this album came out, but a lot of people who were alive at the time have said there was nothing else like this album at the time, and I think that’s a big part of the reason this got so much critical acclaim.

But I’m full of controversial music opinions … so, you’re probably very curious to find out how I feel about this album. So, do I love this album as much as the majority of critics?

Well … this review is going to be incredibly controversial. Because not only do I not love this nearly as much as seemingly almost everyone … but I don’t even like the album.

Yeah, I know. You’re probably re-reading that paragraph over and over again to make sure you read it right … but if I’m being totally honest, I just can’t get into this album at all as a whole. And of the Radiohead albums I have heard, it’s easily my least favourite.

And no, I’m not going to say this is super boring and pretentious. I get the appeal of this album, and I understand why it’s an all-time favourite for so many people. I’m not saying there’s nothing to it—there’s A LOT to it—it’s just that I personally don’t enjoy listening to it.

I don’t hate the album, and there are a few standout tracks to me that I like, but as a whole it just doesn’t click for me at all.

Keep in mind that, like with all of my reviews, this is just based on my own personal taste in music. And while at times it may sound like I’m pretending I’m ‘objectively right’, that’s not what I’m trying to do. Just keep that in mind.

“Airbag” opens the album, and I like the distorted guitars and the melody at the very start, and the drums kick in and sound really great! And while the lyrics are interesting, the rest of the song is so annoying to listen to! The vocal melodies don’t really seem to go anywhere, and it loses my interest very quickly. Aside from the lyrics and the intro at the very start, it’s a total slog to get through. It’s not one of my least favourite songs on the entire album, but I certainly don’t like it.

Next is “Paranoid Android”, which is one of my favourite tracks here, even though I don’t love it. I like the eerie acoustic guitars at the start, and the way the song progresses, but the robot vocals in the background are quite annoying, and the mixing on this song just doesn’t work for me, with the guitars being really overpowering. That being said, I like the vocal melodies a lot more here, and—despite being mixed too loud for me—I love the distortion on the guitar that shows up a few minutes into the track and is also in the second half of the song. All of this, to me, leads to a song I like, but not one that I love.

But I certainly like it more than the next track, “Subterranean Homesick Alien”. I don’t hate this song, but I certainly don’t like it. The rhythm of the percussion is really annoying, the guitar melodies don’t work for me at all, and while I like the huge chorus, the rest of the song is so cringey. I don’t really understand what the lyrics of the song are trying to say … there’s some sort of metaphor with aliens going to planet Earth, and none of Thom Yorke’s friends believe him when he says he saw aliens … it seems to have something to do with wanting to start a new chapter of your life, but the way it’s done makes for a very annoying listen, even though I respect the song, and aside from the chorus it doesn’t have much that makes me want to listen to it.

So, it’s not like I love the album up to this point, but I don’t really mind it that much … but then there’s track four, “Exit Music (For a Movie)”. Don’t get me wrong, Thom Yorke is an incredible vocalist, but something about the way his vocals are produced here just doesn’t sound good to me over this instrumental, and speaking of the instrumental, what is there in this song musically that would ever make me want to listen to it? And even worse is that the vocal melodies are super annoying and just keep meandering, and then that awful buzzing synth comes in partway through, and just makes this already awful song even worse.

Annoying meandering vocal melodies continue into the next track, “Let Down”, which has one of the most annoying choruses on the album, with the drums sounding really awkward over the rest of the instrumental. And while the lyrics are interesting, and there was clearly a lot of emotion put into this song, I just don’t enjoy listening to it at all. Just being honest here.

Track six is “Karma Police”, easily my favourite song here! I love the eerie acoustic guitars and piano here, and of all the songs on this album, I probably like the production on this one the most! To me, it’s the one great song on this album, and I actually really like the interpolation of “Sexy Sadie” by The Beatles. Also, that outro is absolutely incredible!

But then there’s “Fitter Happier”, which is just super cringey. I mean, it’s a cool experiment, and I get why some people might love it, but I also get why it’s often considered the worst song on the album … and while it’s not quite my least favourite song here—we’ll get to that—it’s certainly one of them. It’s probably the closest thing to a metal song on the album, but even as a fan of metal, I can’t stand this track.

But probably the second closest to a metal song is the next track, “Electioneering”, which starts off with some really nice percussion and distorted guitars. It’s a banger—probably my second favourite song here behind “Karma Police”—but there’s one major flaw here which holds me back from really loving this song: at the start of the song, Thom sings the line, ‘I will stop, I will stop at nothing.’ And I can’t help but think, ‘Thom, you just sang the word ‘nothing’ and you didn’t stop … the song continued.’ And it’s issues like that that hold the album back for me the most. Lots of little details which are easy to miss … and if you can look past things like that, I get it, but it really holds the album back for me a lot.

Speaking of which, the next song “Climbing up the Walls”, despite being by a band called Radiohead, is sung by Thom Yorke, who has a human head. And to make the album even worse, every member of the band has a human head. And that’s an issue with this whole album, not just a few songs. Why is the band called Radiohead when every member has a human head?

Also, the album’s called OK Computer, but not every song here is about a computer (at least not as far as I can tell), which gets really annoying.

Track ten on this album is “Kid A”. This is my least favourite song on the album, mostly because of the lyrics. It’s about a couple with three kids: Kid A, Kid B, and Kid C, with Kid A being the oldest of the three and Kid C being the youngest. And the parents decide to schedule a family meeting where they rank their kids from favourite to least favourite. That’s really mean!

The next song is track nine, “Yummy”. This is Radiohead’s metal cover of Justin Bieber’s 2020 single, “Yummy”, and I don’t like it at all. It sounds like if Radiohead did a cover of “Yummy” by Justin Bieber.

Overall, while I like a few songs here, as a whole I just couldn’t get into this album at all. I know it’s one of the most critically acclaimed albums of all time, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. So, for me, it’s a 2.5/10. It gets worse as it goes on, and “Karma Police” is the only great song here. And even that song sounds too much like a Justin Bieber cover of “Yummy” by Radiohead.

But keep in mind that, as always, this is all just my opinion. Feel free to let me know in the comments what you thought of this album and/or what you thought of my review. Again, Radiohead’s music just isn’t for me outside of every album of theirs that isn’t OK Computer. I get the appeal, but I personally don’t enjoy listening to it.

Feel free to give me requests for albums I can review … no guarantee I review it, but I might. Anyway, thanks for reading my review of OK Computer, and I’ll be back with more reviews soon!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “Paranoid Android”, “Karma Police”, “Electioneering”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Yummy”, “Kid A”, “Fitter Happier”, “The Tourist”, “Radiohead”, “Creep”, “Justin Bieber makes better music than Radiohead”, “Simon Talks Music is a bad music reviewer”, “Paranoid Android”, “Love Yourself”, “Sorry”, “Simon gave this a 4/10”, “OK Computer is a better album than every other Radiohead album”, “OK Computer is the worst album of 1997”, “Track 1”, “Track 2”, “Track 3”, “Track 4”, “Track 5”, “Track 6”, “Track 7”, “Track 8”, “Track 9”, “Track 10”, “Track 11”, “Track 12”, “Track 1000000000”

Hello, everyone! Now that I’ve finally posted my top 50 favourite albums of 2022, there’s only one 2022 year-end list left, which will be my top 100 favourite songs of 2022. Hopefully I’ll have it out sometime in April, but we’ll see.

But for now … here are six mini album reviews which I wanted to have posted a while ago, but better late than never. As always, this is just based on how I personally felt about these albums.

Now, let’s start this post on a positive note!

Good Riddance by Gracie Abrams:

I remember seeing that Gracie Abrams had a new album, and I wasn’t sure where I had seen/heard her name before, but I was sure I had. And then I found out she’s going to be opening for Taylor Swift soon on The Eras Tour, so maybe that’s where I knew her name from. Anyway, she has a new album out, and it’s great!

This album reminds me of Olivia Rodrigo, mostly in the vocals, but also in the sound of some of these instrumentals.

Gracie Abrams is an incredible vocalist, and there are lots of great melodies here. And while the lyrics are questionable at points (such as that ‘swear to god I’d kill you’ line in “I should hate you”—yes, I know it’s not meant to be taken seriously, but I still don’t like it), there are a lot of lyrics here I really like, such as on “Where do we go now?”, which seems to be about a forced relationship but also the idea that maybe it could work out again.

The production at times doesn’t quite click for me, but it does most of the time, with really good mixing and really good percussion.

So, for me, it’s an 8/10 … absolutely a flawed album, but the best songs here hit really hard for me, and I think it’s enough for me to call this album great. If you haven’t heard it, I highly recommend that you do! I don’t think you’ll regret it!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “Best”, “Where do we go now?”, “Difficult”, “This is what the drugs are for”, “Fault line”, “The blue”, “Right now”
Least Favourite Tracks: “I should hate you”, “Will you cry?”

Cracker Island by Gorillaz:

So, this is my first experience with a full Gorillaz album, and I’m not really loving this album.

That being said, from what I’ve seen/heard other people say, I expect to like a lot of their other albums more … but this album isn’t doing much for me.

I mostly like the production, but some of the repetition can get quite annoying. There are some really nice pianos and synths with some good melodies, but a lot of the vocal melodies I find quite uninteresting.

And even though I mostly like the production, I do find it a bit too airy at points, like in “The Tired Influencer” and “Silent Running”, the latter of which features some annoying whistling and a very annoying chorus in my opinion.

There are some interesting lyrics about cults and stan culture, but I can’t say the lyrics really do a ton for me. It’s not that it’s ‘bad lyricism’, I just feel like it gets repetitive, but as I say a lot of the time, I’m not very good at analyzing lyrics.

So, overall, for me, Cracker Island gets a 5/10. It’s not bad, but I don’t really see it having replay value for me outside of a few tracks.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Cracker Island”, “Oil”, “Baby Queen”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Silent Running”, “New Gold”, “Tarantula”

Cast a Double Shadow by Brett Naucke:

So, instrumental albums are a lot easier for me to review than albums with lyrics, and while trying to finish my year-end lists for 2022, I decided to check out this instrumental album by an artist I had never heard of until recently.

This is my first time listening to a Brett Naucke album, and I mostly like this album. I’m not going to say it blew my mind or anything, but I do mostly like it.

I think what holds me back from liking it more is that it feels like it drags on a bit, despite being under 35 minutes. I wish it really built a bit more.

But still, as it is, I do like it. And I like how it really mellows out on the song, “Double Exposure”, before at least building a little bit with the last two tracks. Maybe it doesn’t even build any more in those songs than in “Double Exposure”, but it at least feels like it does.

I really like the atmosphere this album brings, and I’m giving it a 7/10! 

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “A Glass Touch”, “Double Exposure”, “Cast a Double Shadow Pt. II”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Instant Memory”

Shook by Algiers:

So, I have heard some very positive things about Algiers, and I’d seen/heard their music described as post-punk, but this is my first time listening to an album of theirs. Anyway, as a fan of post-punk, did I end up loving this album?

Not really. It’s one of those albums where I really, really like the lyrics, but I wish I liked the way it sounded a lot more, and as someone who usually listens more for how music sounds than the lyrics, in this case it leads to an album I really like but don’t quite love.

Again, I love a lot of the lyrics here, a lot of which are about taking action, and it’s really powerful stuff—and yes, I’ll admit that, as someone who often has a hard time understanding song lyrics, I don’t fully understand what all the lyrics mean (although I can say that about pretty much any album). But still, there’s a lot to really like lyrically!

But I often find a lot of the melodies boring, and I don’t love the production here, and it’s hard for me to describe why, but on some of these songs certain instruments sound underpowered, like the bagpipes (or whatever that sound is) on “Irreversible Damage”. Maybe it’s something in the mixing that I don’t like, but it’s hard to describe.

And it’s funny that, despite all this, “An Ecophonic Soul”, the one song I couldn’t find the lyrics for when I looked them up (although in some of the other songs, I couldn’t find 100% of the lyrics), is one of my favourite songs here … but yeah, I love the way that song sounds!

“A Good Man” reminds me of the band, IDLES (that’s a huge compliment!), and it’s one of the songs here which I love the sound of! I love the awesome distorted guitars, and the drums sound great in the mix! This song is also really interesting lyrically, with the narrator asking himself a very big question, ‘Am I a good man?’

I also think the album ends with a really strong run of tracks including probably my favourite on the album, “Cold World”, which features a fantastic synth melody and great percussion, and “Something Wrong”, which features really powerful lyrics about an encounter with the police which most likely has to do with race (although I’m not a huge fan of the way the song sounds), and I also love the last two tracks.

But overall, this album for me is a 7/10. I do really like it overall, but I don’t love it. But if you haven’t heard it yet, I highly recommend that you do! There’s not a bad song here, and the lyrics are enough to save this album for me!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “A Good Man”, “Cold World”, “An Ecophonic Soul”, “Momentary”
Least Favourite Tracks: The interludes, I guess … but they work better in the context of the album

Dogsbody by Model/Actriz:

I saw this album getting a ton of critical acclaim. It’s the debut album by Model/Actriz, and I was really excited to hear it after seeing so much critical acclaim. It’s probably one of the most critically acclaimed albums of 2023 so far … so what do I think of it?

Well, it’s a haunting listen with lots of avant-garde, glitchy sounds. It’s the kind of album you’ll often think of when you think of ‘critically acclaimed music’. But when it comes to my taste in music, I can’t really say that’s always a good thing. And that’s part of the reason I don’t love this album, even though I do really like it.

I don’t want to call this album ‘generic’, because I don’t think it is. It’s just that having a lot of glitchy sounds and being avant-garde doesn’t automatically make me like an album, and I’m not finding as much about this album that stands out to me as so many people are.

That’s not to say nothing here stands out to me … there’s a lot of really interesting lyrics, and I really like a lot of the rhythm here, and a lot of the glitchy sounds really do click for me … but it’s just not wowing me the way it is for so many people.

I think it’s more consistently enjoyable than it is really mind-blowing. There’s not a track here I dislike, but it doesn’t have the same high points that most albums I really love have. So, for me, it’s a 7.5/10. Don’t get me wrong, I do really like this album a lot, but I wouldn’t say I love it. Maybe it’ll grow on me, though. Who knows? And if you haven’t heard it, I recommend that you do! It’s really good!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Donkey Show”, “Mosquito”, “Amaranth”, “Pure Mode”, “Maria”, “Sleepless”
Least Favourite Tracks: maybe “Slate”? maybe “Crossing Guard”?

Ignore Grief by Xiu Xiu:

For a while, Xiu Xiu have been one of those bands whose name I’ve seen/heard a lot, but whom I hadn’t really listened to. And while I still haven’t heard any of their other albums yet, I’ve given their newest album, Ignore Grief, multiple listens. So, what do I think of it?

Well, first of all, this isn’t what I expected at all … this is one of the darkest albums I have heard this year. It’s a very challenging listen, and while I don’t love it, I absolutely recommend that you hear it if you haven’t already.

Lyrically, this album discusses lots of horrible things that happen in real life, and how real they are. And the title of the album (which is also a line that’s repeated in “Esquerita, Little Richard”) seems to be about how some people just want to ignore the horrible things that happen in this world. This album challenges that, and makes you think about it.

But something about the instrumentation and sound of the album feels a bit awkward with these lyrics. The music kind of sounds faux-spooky, if that makes any sense. And on an album where the point seems to be how real these issues are, that sound just doesn’t really fit in my opinion. So, for me, it’s a 7/10. I don’t love it, but I recommend giving it a chance!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “666 Photos of Nothing”, “Esquerita, Little Richard”, “Dracula Parrot, Moon Moth”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Maybae Baeby”

Hi, everyone! I know I haven’t been posting as much recently, but I do have quite a few mini reviews that are mostly finished, so expect to see multiple mini review posts pretty soon.

But for now, I’m reviewing Luke Combs’ new album, Gettin’ Old.

Last year, I reviewed Luke Combs’ third studio album, Growin’ Up. And while the album didn’t really click for me, I have a ton of respect for it. I mean, I can respect almost all music, but that album in particular I respected a ton, even though I’m not really a fan of the album. And also, “Going, Going, Gone” is a song that I absolutely love!

Despite not really being a fan of that album, I decided to check out Luke Combs’ new album, Gettin’ Old. This is only the second Luke Combs album I’ve listened to, and it’s his second album in less than a year.

Anyway, did I end up liking this album more than Growin’ Up?

Well, yeah, I did!

Luke Combs’ emotional song writing here really stands out, and it leads to some absolutely incredible songs … even though I wouldn’t say I love the album as a whole. I mean, the album is over an hour long, and part of it is that I’m often not the biggest fan of really long albums. But there are some long albums that I love … but I think the big difference for me between longer albums and shorter albums is that the longer the album is, often the songs I don’t like feel more like a slog to get through. And are there songs on this album that I don’t like? Yes, there are. But still, I do mostly like this, and I easily like it more than his last album.

There’s a lot to really like in the instrumentation, with some small details really standing out, like the piano in “Joe”, the fantastic vocal production in the chorus of “My Song Will Never Die”, and the way the acoustic guitar sounds in “Take You With Me”.

I really like the mixing and production on this album, which sounds really tight for the most part, and I mostly like how the snares sound.

But I think the biggest thing that holds it back for me are some of the vocal melodies being underwhelming to me. That’s not to say there aren’t vocal melodies I like here. Because there are some great ones which are a big reason why I love some of my favourite songs on the album, like “You Found Yours”, which has one of my favourite choruses on the album, as do “5 Leaf Clover” and “My Song Will Never Die”, the latter of which I already mentioned having great vocal production in the chorus, and I love the piano in this song, too! But about the vocal melodies, while there are songs like those ones which have some great chorus melodies, there are a lot of songs here which don’t have a lot in the vocal melodies that really stands out to me, like “Still”, “See Me Now”, “Joe”, “A Song Was Born”, “Love You Anyway”, “Tattoo on a Sunburn”, and “Fox in the Henhouse”. And vocal melodies are a huge factor in how I feel about music, and had I liked the vocal melodies more, this would probably be among my favourite albums of 2023. Also, I haven’t even mentioned the melody on the chorus of “The Part” … I’m not super familiar with Luke Combs’ discography, but I do know “Forever After All”, a deluxe edition track from his 2019 album (the song was released in 2020), and it’s one of my favourite Luke Combs songs. Well, the chorus melody on “The Part” sounds very similar, but not in a good way, as it takes a turn in the melody which is really off-putting to me … and maybe if I hadn’t heard “Forever After All”, I wouldn’t feel the same way, but keep in mind I said ‘maybe’, and it does sound very awkward.

Now, why am I nitpicking this much? Well, like I often say in my reviews, I’m a big fan of vocal melodies, and when I don’t love the vocal melodies, it makes it a lot less likely that I’ll love an album. And it’s probably the biggest thing that holds this album back for me, an album which—like I said—would probably be among my favourites of the year if I liked the vocal melodies more.

But while I’m on the topic of the things I don’t like about this album, I’m going to mention Luke Combs’ cover of “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman. I know this is a SUPER controversial thing to say, but if I’m being honest … personally, I am not a fan of “Fast Car” at all. And I don’t feel like explaining in this post why I dislike that song as much as I do, but I’m sure I’ll write about it eventually. Anyway, do I like Luke Combs’ cover of it? Well, no … I mean, it’s a version of the song, “Fast Car”, and that is pretty much automatically enough for me to not like it. But, well, I like it better than the original, because at least I like the sound of the guitars better. Still, though, it’s arguably my least favourite track on this album.

But anyway, I already mentioned the production, instrumentation, mixing, etc. And now I want to mention the lyrics, which are one of my favourite things about the album. And it’s not like the lyrics give me a lot to say, but there’s just so much about the lyrics that I really love. For example, the song “You Found Yours”, which celebrates special things in life, and seems to be about how which things are the most special to people really depends on the person. There’s also “My Song Will Never Die”, which acknowledges that none of us are going to be alive forever, and that we should make the most of the time we have.

The album ends with “The Part”, which shows the dark side of fame and getting lots of attention, and it’s a great song—yes, one that I would love even more if I liked the chorus melody more, but I still love this song.

And there’s a lot more to like here lyrically, too, but I’m not going to mention every song. But feel free to listen to it for yourself, of course … and I recommend that you listen to it. It’s really good!

Overall … this is an album that I really like but don’t quite love. Again, a lot of the vocal melodies are underwhelming to me, and it is pretty long and I don’t find it to be super consistent, with a few songs that just don’t click for me at all, but there’s enough here that I really like for me to give it a 7/10!

Thanks for reading my review of Luke Combs’ new album! Just to give a quick update on what’s coming up on my website … as you may have noticed, I’ve been posting a lot less reviews in the past few weeks than I was before that. I’ve just been finishing up a mini review post that I’m hoping to have posted within the next day or so. And I have a bunch more mini reviews that I’ll be posting before too long. So, expect to see a lot of mini reviews soon, a lot of which are of albums from weeks ago, like the new Gorillaz album, the new Model/Actriz album, the new Xiu Xiu album, and more.

Also, as of right now, the plan is to do individual reviews for the new Fall Out Boy album and the new Lana Del Rey album … I’m not expecting to have those reviews out in the next few days, though. It’ll probably be in April. But if I post a few mini review posts without including those albums, that’s why.

Also, I’m hoping to have my top 100 songs of 2022 posted in April. I was hoping to get it done in March, but at this point that’s not happening.

And with that, I’ll be back with more reviews soon! As always, feel free to let me know what you thought of Luke Combs’ new album and/or what you thought of my review! Also, as always, feel free to request albums for me to review … no guarantee I review them, but I’m always happy to hear requests!

Keep in mind that I’m not the biggest fan of country music, and that’s one reason why I didn’t love this album, but I still really like it, and if you’re into country music you’ll probably like it even more than I did! But anyway, thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Hannah Ford Road”, “Back 40 Back”, “You Found Yours”, “See Me Now”, “Joe”, “A Song Was Born”, “My Song Will Never Die”, “Where the Wild Things Are”, “Take You With Me”, “5 Leaf Clover”, “The Part”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Fast Car”, “Fox in the Henhouse”

Hello, everyone. If you’re new here, welcome to my website! If not, welcome back!

Do you ever see that there’s a new song/album/etc. that you’re almost positive you’re not going to like, but curiosity gets the best of you?

Yeah, that’s what happened for me here.

In 2017, Lil Pump released “Gucci Gang”, a song which ended up becoming a big hit, and is arguably among the most hated hit songs of the 2010s. Now, personally, I don’t like the song—I mean, it’s got terrible lyrics and a very annoying chorus—but I’m not going to pretend I hate it … and I don’t really know why I don’t dislike it more, but it’s FAR from the worst song I’ve ever heard.

And while I haven’t heard a ton of Lil Pump’s music, I’ve heard enough to know that my expectations for this album were extremely low. But curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to check it out.

And that’s an interesting topic … why do people listen to music that they’re almost positive they won’t like?

Well, part of it for me is that I’m a reviewer … but still, there are so many other albums I could have listened to and reviewed instead.

Well, again, curiosity got the best of me. I mean, if I ended up liking the album, that would be quite an interesting review, right?

As controversial as my music taste is, I’m not just doing whatever I can to be controversial. When I do my reviews, I’m trying to share how I honestly feel about the album. But that being said, I will admit that I often find controversial reviews more interesting than the average review.

This album has been getting a very negative reception as far as I can tell, and if I ended up liking the album, that could make this review very interesting!

And why am I writing about all this instead of the album itself?

Well, before I write about this album, I want to make it clear that all of this is just how I personally feel about this album. I mean, that’s the case for every review I do, but considering I’m going to be very harsh on this album, it feels like I should especially mention that here. And while I’m going to be very harsh, especially when it comes to the lyrics, I do understand that music is interpreted differently by different people. So, just keep in mind that none of this is intended as a personal attack on anyone, nor is it intended as some sort of ‘objective’ review of the album, whatever that means. It’s just my own personal feelings on this album.

So, how do I feel about the album?

Well … what is there for me to even say about this album? I mean, I could mention how annoying Lil Pump’s repetitive flows are, or how annoying some of these hooks are, or how fucking awful the lyrics are, with lyrics about guns, sex, drugs, etc. that, as far as I can tell, have almost nothing interesting to them aside from some lines that are super fucking awful, and there’s quite a few of them—enough that I don’t really see the point in listing them here … but I will say there are some lyrics here that have terrible messages to them. And I’m sure it’s not meant to be taken seriously, but I fucking hate the lyrics here that come across as incredibly sexist, and the lyrics that sound like an attempt to make dangerous drugs and other horrible behaviour sound ‘cool’ or something like that, and so many other fucking awful lyrics here. I’m not saying there were bad intentions here, but I still find these lyrics absolutely disgusting.

Or I could also mention the one metal song on this album … no, I’m not kidding. Lil Pump made a metal song. And it’s the worst song I’ve heard all year, not only because the production is some of my least favourite of the year so far, but also Lil Pump’s yelling on the track sounds so fucking annoying, and the lyrics are fucking garbage in my opinion. I mean, there’s that line where he says, ‘I fuck on your bitch with her tampon on,’ and there’s also all these lyrics about putting a gun to someone’s head, crashing cars, and slitting wrists … and it sounds like it’s supposed to come across as ‘cool’. No, I don’t think that was the intent, but that’s how the song sounds. And it’s fucking disgusting.

But what’s the point of me saying anything more about this album? I mean, there are a few interesting synths and the occasional flow that I like, but aside from that, this is some of the worst music I’ve heard in the past few years. As always, it’s just how I personally feel, but I never want to hear this ever again … extremely light 1/10, and I think it’s the worst album I’ve reviewed on my website. If you haven’t heard this album, I highly recommend that you don’t. Curiosity got the best of me, but I hope that doesn’t happen to you, because in my opinion, this album FUCKING SUCKS.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 1/10
“Favourite” Tracks: “I Don’t Mind”
Least Favourite Tracks: the rest of them … but especially: “No Hook”, “Pump Rock x Heavy Metal”, “Till I See You”, “She Know”, “Fendi on Fendi”, “Wok”, “Splurgin”

Hello, everyone. Welcome the second last of my year end lists for 2022. This is being posted a lot later than I hoped it would, but better late than never.

Anyway, today I’m talking about The Top 50 Best Albums of 2022! Okay, really it’s just my top 50 favourite albums of 2022, not ‘the best’ … but ‘The Top 50 Best Albums of 2022’ is a catchier title.

I listened to a ton of albums in 2022, and I mostly focused on listening to ones I had higher expectations for … and not only that, but it was a great year when it comes to the music I was listening to! So, I want to make it clear that I love every album on this list, and for different reasons, so even though I tried to make the order accurate, it’s not going to be perfect, and that’s okay. There’s a part of me that wants to ask you not to comment stuff like, ‘Really? You put this album at #33 but this album at #34?’ But that’s part of the fun of year-end lists in my opinion, so if you want to comment that, feel free to do so!

So, yeah, I legitimately love every album on this list, and most years I expect that to be the case, with maybe 1 or 2 more that miss the list … but this year, there were 5-10-ish … so, yeah, I had to make some very difficult cuts from this list, and there are a few things it could mean if one of your favourite albums of the year isn’t on here: a) I didn’t hear it, b) I love the album and it almost made the list, but just missed it barely, c) I like the album but don’t really love it, or d) I listened to it and just didn’t like it … not everyone has to agree on everything. (Those four reasons are not listed in any particular order.)

And yeah, my choices for this list are not necessarily the ‘obvious’ picks that you see all over year-end lists for 2022. There are a lot of super critically acclaimed albums that aren’t on here, and there are also going to be some controversial picks, because music is subjective. Again, these are my personal favourite albums of the year, not an objective list.

For an album to be eligible for this list, it must have been released sometime from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022. Also, I’m only including studio albums, not EPs, live albums, etc.

I also want to mention that there’s a good chance some of my lyrical analysis is not accurate at all, as I’m not very good at understanding lyrics, and I’m especially not good at writing about lyrics. So, I’ll mostly be talking about the way these albums sound, and when I do talk about lyrics I might totally miss the point of the lyrics. Just keep that in mind.

So, now that all of that is out of the way, let’s get started with #50!

#50 …

We’re starting off this list with the second album I ever reviewed! And 2022 was the year I started to get into ambient music, with this album being a big part of the reason why!

#50 – LP.8 by Kelly Lee Owens

So, this is a mostly mellow album that still feels quite intense, with a lot of eerie elements to it in songs like “Quickening” and “Sonic 8”.

But there are also some really calming tracks like the beautiful “Anadlu” as well as “Nana Piano”, both of which are contenders for my favourite song on the album.

At times it can get a little bit boring, but it’s only at a few moments throughout the album. Overall, it’s a great record (or, I guess, a great LP lol) that has a lot of variety to it, and while my review of the album wasn’t very good in my opinion (it was only my second album review on my website), the album absolutely is!

#49 …

This is the first metal album on this list, and if you’re not into metal, you probably won’t like this album. But as a metal fan myself, I certainly like it!

#49 – The Blazing Sun, A Fiery Dawn by Slowbleed

I couldn’t find the lyrics to this album when I searched for them, but I already mentioned that I’m very bad at understanding the meaning of lyrics. But when it’s so hard to hear what the lyrics are, it feels worth mentioning that I didn’t read them, because I have no idea what the lyrics are.

But this album sounds so good! It’s just some really great, intense metal music that is super heavy musically and I absolutely love it!

It’s also very well mixed, and the snares sound fantastic! The album also has a couple short instrumental tracks which I really like.

Again, I understand why some might not like this, but I absolutely love it!

#48 …

Some people might be surprised to find out that Weyes Blood’s newest album, And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow, didn’t make this list. It was really close, but it didn’t quite make it.

I don’t want to make this too much about the comparison, especially because I absolutely love both albums for different reasons, but here’s an album in a similar style that did make the list:

#48 – Big Time by Angel Olsen

Like I said in my review of the album, I understand why some might find it boring. It’s very mellow, and while I like some of the vocal melodies here, they’re not super catchy.

But when the instrumentation is so well-layered, it pushes this already good album to greatness for me.

Angel’s vocals on this album are absolutely incredible, especially on the amazing closing track, “Chasing The Sun”.

And these songs are so well crafted, with gorgeous pianos, lots of great chord progressions, beautiful vocals, and amazing production. And the percussion fits in really well, with one example being the snare in the chorus of “Right Now”.

Again, I get why it might be boring to some people, but it definitely isn’t to me!

#47 …

So, I often mention not being as big a fan of hip hop as a lot of people are, and it explains why so many of the really critically acclaimed hip hop albums of 2022 aren’t on this list. But there are exceptions …

#47 – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar

First of all, unsurprisingly, this isn’t my favourite Kendrick Lamar album. I’m guessing a very small percentage of critics would call this their favourite Kendrick Lamar album.

But this is still a great album … I mean, yes, it’s long, and there are notable flaws, and I get why some people were extremely disappointed by it, but when there are so many great instrumentals with Kendrick’s great flows and mostly great lyrics, the album clicks for me!

This album has a lot of variety on it sound-wise, with “N95” being a fantastic banger early in the album before the album goes in some really unexpected places. The album definitely isn’t an easy listen, and it goes to some really dark places, but there’s enough great flows and melodies to keep it somewhat fun to listen to. It’s not all fun—some of it is just heartbreaking—but there’s a lot of positivity here, too, and I think Kendrick balances these emotions throughout the album really well.

Also, while it’s not my absolute favourite on the album, “Purple Hearts” is probably the most underrated song here in my opinion, and I can’t believe it didn’t get more critical acclaim. I mean, people don’t have to like the song, but it still baffles me. All three artists absolutely kill it on this track, and the production is fantastic!

So, yeah, not Kendrick’s best album, but still great!

#46 …

This album is a style of ‘indie rock’ or ‘folk rock’ or something like that (I’m bad at giving albums genre labels) which isn’t typically a style I love, but there are exceptions:

#46 – Running with the Hurricane by Camp Cope

I love the production on this album, which sounds kind of messy on the surface, but there’s something magical about the way the instruments sound together here, despite the kind of demo-like feeling of the sound.

“The Mountain” is a gorgeous song where the drums have a real crunch to them, but it doesn’t take away from the beautifully layered instrumental. And “Sing Your Heart Out” is a fantastic closing track with some great piano melodies.

Going back to what I said about the ‘messy’ production, the title track is beyond amazing, with the gorgeous layering in the instrumentation which helps the song really soar like it’s trying to, and it’s such a fantastic song that I’d love to see become a massive hit! (And yes, I know, the odds of this becoming a massive hit are very low … but I hope it does.)

I still haven’t heard Camp Cope’s first two albums, but after hearing this album, now I really want to!

#45 …

This type of mellow, almost grunge-like alternative rock (if it can be considered rock) isn’t usually a style I love, but this album is an exception:

#45 – Together by Duster

Even I don’t fully know how to explain why this is here … I mean, I can say that about a lot of the albums on this list, but especially this one. It’s just got this really eerie feeling to it, and if you want to understand it better, I’d recommend listening to it.

Again, I wish I could say more, but it’s one that’s kind of hard for me to explain. Great album, though.

#44 …

Again, I’m not a huge hip hop fan, but when the lyrics and flows are this great on one of the best produced hip hop albums I’ve heard from 2022 … yeah, this is making the list:

#44 – DRILL MUSIC IN ZION by Lupe Fiasco

Lupe Fiasco’s newest album takes a little bit to really get going, which is why it isn’t higher on the list, but once it does get going, it delivers some of my favourite hip hop of 2022! And honestly, some of my favourite music of 2022 in general!

Not only are Lupe’s flows really great here, but there are a lot of great melodies, like in the choruses on “PRECIOUS THINGS” and “SEATTLE”, both of which are sung by Nayirah, whose vocals sound great in those songs!

And yeah, the production is fantastic, too, but I also really like a lot of the lyrics. Again, I’m not very good at analyzing lyrics, but there is a lot here lyrically that I like. For example, on “PRECIOUS THINGS”, where Lupe raps about hands, but there’s a lot being said, and it’s really interesting.

Also, the first verse of “ON FAUX NEM” is fucking great!

#43 …

So, I mentioned that there are controversial picks on this list, and this is one of two albums that I feel are controversial not due to being on the list, but instead due to not being higher on this list. We’ll get to the other one later, but this is one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year that I’m sure is topping lots of Best Albums of 2022 lists.

And honestly, I don’t like it as much as their 2021 album, which is one of my favourite albums of that year … but this is still great!

#43 – Hellfire by black midi

Alright, let me explain … no, I don’t think the mixing is as great as is it is on Cavalcade, and it does get kind of boring at points, and it doesn’t feel like it all goes together into a full album experience as well as Cavalcade does … also, no song on this album is as mind-blowingly amazing as “Slow” (not that I expected there to be a song here I love as much as “Slow”, but I feel like mentioning it anyway). Also, the album’s not as musically tight as Cavalcade.

But still, it has the intensity of black midi that I love, with lots of fantastic moments in the instrumentation, and it’s got some really interesting lyrics. I mean, yeah, it’s ugly, but that’s the whole point … it’s painting an ugly picture of both reality and fiction, with some lyrics being futuristic. Yes, there’s a real lack of empathy here, but when the music is this messy, too, it helps it come across as painting a picture instead of actually sending a bad message.

Overall, I didn’t love this album as much as so many people did, and I kind of have a bit of a feeling I’ll like their next album less, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re a band who will have peaked early, at least for me. I would love to be proven wrong, but I have a strange feeling that from this point on in the near future, I might start to like their new albums less (totally random guess, I know) … but, I mean, it’s black midi, and there’s a very real chance they prove me wrong. And while I’m not the biggest fan of the direction they’re going in, the great melodies in the instrumentation and the awesome musical builds (as well as so much more) help this album click for me a lot.

One thing I can say is that no matter what black midi do next, they’ve put out some amazing music these last few years, and I’m so grateful for that!

#42 …

I keep saying I’m not a big fan of hip hop … but hip hop albums keep showing up on this list:

#42 – 5 to the Eye with Stars by R.A.P. Ferreira

Not only are there a lot of great lyrics here, but I also love the flows on this album.

It’s really well produced with great instrumentals. I love the variety in the instrumentals on this album, and the percussion sounds great, too!

Again, I’m not very good at analyzing lyrics, but there is a lot here in the lyrics that I really like, including some lyrics which seem to possibly be about the music industry. And there’s so much more to this album that really got me thinking, even though I don’t fully understand all the lyrics.

If you’re more of a fan of hip hop than I am, there’s a good chance you’ll end up liking this even more than me, so I highly recommend it!

#41 …

This album is a lot to take in. I mean, it’s over an hour long, and there are some heavy topics discussed on this album … but for me, when the lyrics are so incredible, and the album has so many great hooks, I think it earns that running time.

#41 – angel in realtime. by Gang of Youths

angel in realtime. is a very deep album lyrically, as Dave Le’aupepe tells a fascinating story following the death of his father, in which he eventually finds out lots of secrets his father kept, including another family Dave didn’t know about.

Also, there are so many great songs here!

In “forbearance”, Dave apologizes for past mistakes, but he also realizes he can’t change what he’s done, so instead he’ll try to do better in the future.

I also want to mention “the kingdom is within you”, which is a tribute to Pasifika migrants, and the lyrics here are incredible, as well as that roaring guitar that erupts in the second verse!

Speaking of roaring guitars, that guitar solo on the bridge of “the angel of 8th ave.” sounds so amazing I can’t even put it into words!

Overall, this is a fantastic album with great storytelling which is super emotional and very detailed. And when it’s also got so many great hooks and melodies … yeah, this is really something special!

#40 …

Up until recently, I wasn’t really a fan of instrumental music. This album is almost entirely instrumental, and it’s a big part of the reason I’ve gotten into instrumental music!

#40 – A Memory of Something Vast and Elemental by Spunkshine

I still haven’t gone back and listened to any more of Spunkshine’s music, but this album has made me very excited to do that!

Not only is it really well-mixed, but the instrumental melodies are fantastic and sound great when produced the way they are, with the right amount of reverb to add that spacey feeling to these tracks.

And when you combine the production with the melodies, and the great mixing, you get this fantastic electronic album which doesn’t give me a ton to say, but makes me want to keep going back to it, and it’s a great listening experience!

#39 …

While I’m not the biggest fan of country music, there are definitely some exceptions, and this album really wowed me!

#39 – River Fools & Mountain Saints by Ian Noe

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this … but it really turned out great! The guitars sound fantastic, Ian Noe is a great vocalist, and there are lots of great melodies! I also really like a lot of the lyrics here.

This album is full of really well-crafted country songs with great storytelling on a variety of topics, and when it sounds this fantastic, too, it really stands out!

“POW Blues” is my favourite track here with it’s really interesting lyrics that tell the story of a prisoner of war trying to escape, and also some really great melodies and percussion! But that’s not to take away from the excellent guitar melody on “Burning Down the Prairie” or the clear-sounding rhythm guitar on “Tom Barrett”.

#38 …

Here’s an album that balances out the mellow and the heavy really well:

#38 – The Long Road North by Cult of Luna

I mean, I get why some people might not like this album. If you don’t like really heavy metal, there’s a good chance you won’t like this.

But as a metal fan, not only do I love the intensity in the metal parts of the album, but I also love the mix of heavy and mellow here. “Into the Night”, for example, is a fantastic mellow track with some great vocal melodies and fantastic production, with a really dreamy feeling to it which I think is pulled off so well!

But the metal parts of this album, in my opinion, are even better! The roaring guitars paired with the super powerful snares just sound absolutely amazing, and there’s so much to love melodically in the guitars.

This album is very long, but when it’s this well produced with so many great guitar melodies, a little more than an hour of this album is absolutely worth it!

Again, if you’re not into metal, you probably won’t like this album … but to me, this really hit hard!

#37 …

In one of my mini review posts in 2022, I reviewed The Beths’ newest album, Expert in a Dying Field, and I gave it a 3.5/10. And as someone who cares a lot about production in music, I’ll even say I mostly like the production on that album. Sure, there were elements in the production I didn’t like, but my main issue with the album was that so little of it stood out to me aside from the production. I mean, I respect the album a lot, it sounds like an album that had a lot of effort put into it, but most of it just really bored me personally.

This album has a similar sound to Expert in a Dying Field, but not only do these songs stand out to me way more, but while I mostly like the production on that album, I like the production here even more!

#37 – Emotional Creature by Beach Bunny

This is the kind of alternative rock (whatever that means) that I really love! The mixing is incredible, with no instruments standing out much as too quiet or too loud, and it’s full of great vocal melodies, too!

Lili Trifilio is such a great vocalist, and her vocals are so well-mixed, really giving the songs some real power, especially with the guitar distortion! And the snares sound amazing, too!

One of the album’s biggest highlights for me is the song, “Fire Escape”, which is a short song, clocking in at under two and a half minutes, but it still kind of feels like a multi-part song, and the distorted guitars combined with the great drumming add some fantastic crunch, which sounds even better with these awesome chord progressions!

I also love the pure joy of the closing track, “Love Song”, the absolutely amazing hook on “Entropy”, and the way Lili shows frustration on arguably my favourite track here, “Scream”, which features a scream that was a great addition to the track!

This is a pretty short album that is very replayable, and I’m really happy I gave it a chance. Great album!

#36 …

So, this one’s … interesting. On the surface, I could understand why this could be viewed as an annoying, uninteresting ‘alternative rock’ album. And if you don’t like this, I get it. But let me explain why this is here …

#36 – Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To the Sky by Porridge Radio

From just a casual listen, I get why this might be really boring. I mean, I wouldn’t say it is for me, because there are so many great melodies and great moments in the instrumentation … but you know what? I totally get why some might find this boring even when paying more attention to it. But for me, it’s not boring at all!

And maybe it’s partially because 2022 was such a complicated year for me, and there were lots of times when I was going through a lot of complicated emotions (which all of us do sometimes), but it hits hard for me, and again, these are my favourite albums of the year, not the ‘best’, whatever that means.

I think these complicated emotions shine through on tracks like “Birthday Party”, possibly the best example of an ‘obviously annoying’ song from an album on this list if it doesn’t hit this hard for you, but for me it does. I don’t think it’s annoying … I think it’s more annoyed, if that makes any sense. Or maybe frustrated is the right word.

And yeah, the production sounds kind of messy throughout this album … but to me, that’s one of its strengths, when you consider how much frustration there is here. And maybe that’s hypocritical of me because there are other albums where I don’t like the production nearly as much in part because of the messy production when you could also totally argue it fits the album, but for whatever reason this album really stood out to me in a positive way, and the messy production isn’t super messy … just enough to add to the experience of the album!

#35 …

If you read a lot of my reviews, you’ve probably noticed I complain a lot about production.

Okay, maybe ‘complain’ isn’t the right word, but what I’m saying is that there are a lot of people who don’t listen for production, mixing, etc. And that’s totally fine. Different people like different things, and that’s a good thing! I wouldn’t want everyone to agree on all music!

But I get why some might find it annoying when I go on and on about production/mixing elements that hold an album back for me. I’m sure it makes some people want to read my reviews more, but if it makes you want to read them less, that’s totally fair.

But I will say this: there are reasons I point out production/mixing elements that I don’t like. Because when I tell you how much I love the mixing/production on this album, it feels like I’m saying more than it otherwise would.

I don’t know if that made any sense, but either way, this album rules!

#35 – MUNA by MUNA

I mean, I could just go on and on about how great the mixing on this album is, with the percussion sounding incredible with those punchy snares adding so much power to these tracks, when there are already so many glorious synths and great basslines, leading to some really magical synth-pop tracks, like the opener “Silk Chiffon”, which starts off mellow before exploding in the chorus with an awesome chord progression and some magical synths that aren’t super loud, but add so much to this chorus!

And while some of the more acclaimed tracks here like “Runner’s High” aren’t huge standouts on the album for me, I still like every song on this album, and that’s something I can’t even say for some of the albums that are even higher on the list!

For me, some of the bigger highlights include “Solid”, which has one of my favourite hooks on the album, and also “No Idea”, which might seem off-putting musically at first with those really loud snares and the drop that I could totally see someone finding annoying … but for whatever reason, it’s one of those songs where on paper, it ‘shouldn’t’ work, but for whatever reason, it does!

And I can’t forget to mention “Anything But Me”, in which the narrator pretty much tells the narrator’s ex, ‘I’m done with the relationship, but if you need anything, let me know.’ And it’s just such a nice sentiment.

If you’re into synth-pop, I highly recommend this album! It’s got a great balance of fun and emotional, and it’s so well mixed and well produced, too!

#34 …

I feel like my music taste is kind of all over the place. By that, I mean that even if you hear me talk about music all the time, it would probably be hard for you to accurately guess how I feel about an album, even if you’ve heard the album … but there are some albums where if you know my music taste well, you’d pretty much know how I’d feel about them, and you’d be right.

And then there’s rare albums like this, which you probably wouldn’t expect me to like … and yet:

#34 – Raw Data Feel by Everything Everything

This is a synth-pop album partially written by AI, which has lots of bouncy production (something that usually annoys me) and other ideas that ‘should’ feel out of place … and yet, for whatever reason, Everything Everything find a way to make it all work on their sixth studio album, Raw Data Feel. And a big part of it for me is the percussion being mixed super well, and fitting the songs super well.

I think the band does a super good job on this album of filling in empty spaces without it sounding overdone to the point where it’s too noisy.

I could also mention how catchy the vocal melodies are on this album, some oddly enjoyable repetitiveness on songs like “Teletype” and “Cut UP!”, that awesome buzzing synth groove on “HEX”, and the incredibly tight production throughout this album … but despite me having somewhat of an explanation, I’m not even entirely sure why this album clicks for me as much as it does. But why should I care? I’m happy to listen to this regardless!

#33 …

Time for more metal …

#33 – Hymn to the Woeful Hearts by Pure Wrath

This is the kind of black metal that really clicks for me! Great guitar melodies, great vocals that are really well mixed so that the focus is still on the instrumentation, but the vocals still add some real intensity, and the chord progressions are great, too! And I also love how the drums switch up throughout the album!

Lyrically, this album is very bleak, and the music fits the lyrics really well. It’s a heartbreaking listen, but it’s absolutely worth hearing in my opinion, at least if you’re into metal.

I mean, I have to be in the right mood to listen to this, but it’s so hard-hitting, and it was quite a special album to me in 2022 and will continue to be going forward. Great stuff!

#32 …

And while we’re on the topic of metal …

#32 – Still as the Night, Cold as the Wind – Vital Spirit

Wow, those snares are so hard-hitting! And the album is mixed super well, letting those snares have that much power! And it’s worth mentioning that the snares aren’t always very loud here … and at times the snare is pretty quiet but it still sounds really powerful in the mix.

This album is also full of guitar melodies that fit really well with the drums, and it sounds so amazing!

There’s a lot to this album lyrically, and while I’m not very good at analyzing lyrics, it’s worth mentioning. It’s heartbreaking and absolutely not at easy listen—with lyrics about colonization that go into a lot of detail—but I highly recommend you hear this album!

What a great debut album! I’m really excited to hear more from this band!

#31…

In 2021, this artist made an album that I didn’t see get a lot of critical acclaim, but personally, I really like that album … and, I mean, I wasn’t really expecting this album to be as good as that one … but instead, I think it’s even better!

#31 – HOLY FVCK by Demi Lovato

Yeah, I know, a lot of people haven’t been a fan of lots of mainstream pop artists making pop-punk recently … and for me, whether or not I like these albums depends on the album, and Demi Lovato might have made my favourite of them that I’ve heard!

Demi absolutely kills it here vocally, as their vocals fit the song super well on pretty much every track here, and they hit the high notes incredibly well!

I should also mention how great the production is, with the snares sounding great, and the production feeling very tight for the most part, letting the guitars have the real power that really helps this album click! And also, there’s so much here melodically that I love, for example, on a song like “CITY OF ANGELS”.

But I should also mention the lyrics, where Demi sings about fame, addiction, and much more, and while it’s a lot to take in, I think it’s really quite amazing. This is an album that balances fun and emotional super well, and if you haven’t heard it, I highly recommend that you do! I get that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I think it’s worth a chance. But, of course, I’ll leave that up to you.

#30 …

So, this is quite a bleak album, and it’s very intense, with an aggressive musical and vocal style that I totally understand being off-putting to some … but for me, this hit really hard!

#30 – Trouble The Water by Show Me the Body

So, if you don’t like metal and hard rock, this probably won’t be your cup of tea. But personally, I found it really hard-hitting, with the incredible guitars, and the drums standing out in the mix without feeling overpowered.

There’s a big variety of sounds throughout this album, with songs like “Radiator” being very different from the metal style throughout a lot of this album.

Overall, this is a really hard-hitting album that is very bleak, and not an easy listen, but one that’s absolutely worth hearing in my opinion, at least if you’re into hard rock/metal.

I’ll have more to say about some of the lyrics in my list of my favourite songs of the year, but we’ll get to that later. For now, let’s keep talking about my favourite albums 2022 had to offer …

#29 …

This is one of the first albums I fell in love with in 2022 … and I understand why some people might find it way too intense, but in a year as difficult for me as 2022 was, this kind of music clicked for me a lot. In my opinion, this deserves all the critical acclaim it got!

#29 – Fawn by foxtails

I love the intensity in the instrumentation on this album, and it’s super well mixed, with the percussion sounding fantastic!

Those snares are so hard-hitting without feeling overpowered, and it sounds absolutely awesome!

The vocals are fantastic, and there are so many great melodies in the instrumentation, especially the strings.

In 2022, this kind of intense, bleak listen hit really hard for me … I mean, not every intense, bleak album from 2022 clicked for me, but when it’s mixed so well with such awesome instrumentation and vocals … well, this one absolutely clicked! It’s a really hard-hitting album, and if you can handle screaming in music, I highly recommend it. It’s really something special.

#28 …

So, going back to what I said about the ‘obvious’ picks, I’m not going to put all of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year on this list just because I want to be ‘cool’ or whatever. And while this isn’t one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year, I don’t see it being a particularly controversial pick, and it’s a style of music that often gets a lot of critical acclaim, and this album did, too, even if it’s not one of the most ‘obvious’ picks for a best of 2022 list. And yeah, I often like this style of music, but like any style of music, it depends on the album … and this is an example of this sound being done in a way that really clicks for me:

#28 – You Can’t Kill Me by 070 Shake

Haunting, eerie, glitchy pop … if this can even be considered pop. Either way, 070 Shake took this sound and turned it into a fascinating listening experience that evokes many different emotions through its sound alone, with the lyrics adding even more to the experience.

This album is full of catchy melodies, great production and mixing which really helps the percussion stand out, and I love the variety on it, too!

Also, “Come Back Home” kind of blew my mind, and (spoiler alert) it’s pretty much a lock for my favourite songs of 2022!

This kind of avant-garde music isn’t always my cup of tea, and I’m not going to go, ‘Oh, it’s critically acclaimed! That means I must love it!’ And I’m full of controversial music opinions, but I’m also not going to do whatever I can to be controversial … I’d rather talk about the albums from 2022 that clicked the most for me personally, and this is among them! Great stuff!

#27 …

I had never reviewed an album by (an) artist(s) I know in real life until I reviewed this album (yes, I know, I only started my website in May of 2022, but it’s still worth mentioning), and while there was a part of me that told me I had to like this album because I know the artists, I was able to put aside that bias … it just so happens that the album is phenomenal!

#27 – Title the Document by Spade

I was very briefly in a band once with both members of Spade (Spade Hoile and Steve Wright), but that’s another story.

I want to talk about the album, which I think is absolutely fantastic!

The album is full of great melodies in both the vocals and instrumentation, it’s produced incredibly well, with fantastic drums (both the rhythm and the mixing), and both vocalists sound great here! There’s also a lot to love lyrically, including the lyrical progression throughout the album, becoming more optimistic as the album goes on.

Every track here, to me, is at the very least decent, and most of them are awesome!

“We Live Forever” is a great, optimistic closing track with some amazing guitar distortion and guitar melodies as well as a fantastic hook, “Derealization” is a more mellow track which suddenly has this crushing chorus that absolutely rules before eventually getting to an amazing guitar solo, and “Home Is Where the Art Is” is next-level great with phenomenal drumming, great melodies, great lyrics, and also some of the best guitars I’ve heard from 2022!

I highly recommend you check out this album, especially if you’re into rock! It’s absolutely incredible!

#26 …

Alright, this is the last album in the bottom half of this list!

I often say that I listen to music more for the way it sounds than I do for the lyrics … and it’s probably true, but at the same time, it’s worth mentioning that there’s a lot of music that is held back for me due to some sort of moral issue I have with the lyrics. I mean, art is open to interpretation, and I get that a lot of the time it’s just my own interpretation and not the actual meaning of the art, but again, in my reviews, I’m mostly talking about my own perspective on the music.

And let me just say right now that I could totally understand someone having an issue with some of the lyrics on this album, and if you know me well, when you read these lyrics, you might be surprised to see this here.

It’s very important not to take every lyric on this album seriously. Now, let me explain why this is on the list!

#26 – Ghostlight by Poets of the Fall

Maybe I’m misinterpreting the lyrics, but there are some lyrics here which I very much think are about suicide. And there’s nothing wrong with writing about suicide … in fact, when done well, it’s super important! But it depends how you write about it. If it clearly sends the message that suicide is wrong, that’s great! It’s part of the reason I like Logic’s “1-800-273-8255” more than a lot of people do (although even I’ll admit that, ‘Who can relate? Woo!’ line is super cringey and holds the song back from being way better). But there are a lot of songs where I really don’t like how the writer writes about suicide, because I feel like it’s making a huge problem seem like ‘no big deal’, even if it’s not the intent. Or, in some cases, like one song in particular which landed very high on my Worst Songs of 2022 list, it kind of feels like it’s celebrating it (even though, again, I’m sure it wasn’t the intent).

So, why do I love the song “Sounds of Yesterday” when it seems to possibly be telling the story of a suicide with happy-sounding instrumentation? Well, this song works for me for the same reason as Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song”, where I interpret it as being in one’s imagination, even in the context of the song … if that didn’t make any sense, here’s maybe a better way to word it: I think I love this song for the same reason people love watching fictional murder shows. Because it’s a song, and it works for the same reason why so many fun songs about murder work. It’s not real.

And while the album ends with someone committing suicide on the closing track (at least it seems that way), it’s not glorifying it, it’s just acknowledging the unfortunate truth that some people have committed suicide. I wish that message was clearer in the song, but it doesn’t ruin the album for me.

But all that was mostly me focusing on things that don’t hold this album back for me … and there are so many things I do like about this album, such as the fantastic production and the detailed instrumentation, and I love how powerful the snares are!

And when there are so many great melodic hooks, too … yeah, this is such a great album! Almost in my top 25 of the year! And speaking of which …

#25 …

So, we’re now in the top half … and I honestly didn’t have super high expectations going into this album, and I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe it’s because despite this band being quite popular, I hadn’t seen them get a ton of critical acclaim … but wow, this was worth hearing!

#25 – Fix Yourself, Not The World by The Wombats

This came out early in the year, I listened to it not long after it came out, and it quickly became a contender for this list, and here it is.

“This Car Drives All by Itself” is such a bop with a super catchy chorus and some fantastic melodies, and it’s also mixed really well!

I also love “Wildfire”, in large part due to how much swing the chorus has to it with that awesome guitar melody!

This is a really well-produced, well-mixed alternative rock album with so many great melodies, and it’s too bad I don’t hear these songs on the radio, but whatever. I’ll just listen to it myself.

#24 …

99% of the time, if I use the term ‘snooze fest’ to describe an album, I mean it in a negative way … but what about the other 1% of the time?

#24 – Once Twice Melody by Beach House

This album is so calming, and just feels so nice to listen to! I don’t even have that much to say about it. I mean, I could mention that it’s eighty minutes long and I still don’t want it to end when it gets later in the album. And I could mention the fantastic percussion … or I could just say this album is pure magic that you have to hear to understand!

#23 …

I’m not super familiar with this critically acclaimed artist’s discography, but I’ve seen/heard a lot of critics say this album was a disappointment. This artist is on my list of artists to listen to more, and I’m really excited, because if this is a disappointment, that makes me wonder how much I might love her previous albums. But either way, despite a lot of critics not liking this nearly as much, it’s making my personal list:

#23 – Laurel Hell by Mitski

After hearing the singles from this album, I was really excited … and I don’t want to say it didn’t disappoint, because if I’m being totally honest, I kind of had a feeling I’d love it even more … but it certainly didn’t disappoint much.

This album has beautiful production, so many layers in the instrumentation, and so many fantastic melodies!

Slower songs like “Heat Lightning” and “I Guess” are really great, with those two songs being very different from each other, but I love them both! I also love a lot of the faster-paced songs here, like “Love Me More” and “Should’ve Been Me”

And when there’s so much great lyricism here, too, it makes this album even better! And yeah, it’s one of my favourites of the year!

#22 …

I remember a few years ago I used to watch The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon pretty much every day … and I still watch it sometimes. And, if you watch that show often, you probably know that The Roots are the house band on the show. And I know The Roots are known for way more than just The Tonight Show, but as someone who still hasn’t listened to their albums yet, that’s where I recognize the band from. But while I still haven’t listened to much of The Roots’ music, their lead MC, Black Thought, made a collaboration album with Danger Mouse, and it’s one of my favourites of the year!

#22 – Cheat Codes by Danger Mouse & Black Thought

I’m not going to say a lot about this album, because, again, I’m not very good at analyzing lyrics … I mean, I’ve read the lyrics, and I mostly like them (despite a few questionable lines here and there), but especially with how much of a time crunch I’ve been in to finish these year-end lists for 2022, I’m not going to talk about the lyrics much when I’m not very good at writing about lyrics anyway. And yes, I know I don’t need to be in a time crunch, but I want to have time to listen to lots of 2023 albums and get my year-end lists for 2023 out by early January of 2024.

Anyway, this is an album that uses a lot of heavy sampling, and I love how the instrumentals are slightly changed, like on the song “Aquamarine”.

This album is also very well-mixed, with the percussion sounding fantastic.

Black Thought’s flow is incredible here, too, and I want to at least say a little bit about the lyrics, some of which are political. I also like a lot of the philosophical lyrics here, like on “Aquamarine”. If you can’t tell, I’m a huge fan of that track! Spoiler alert: it’s on my Top 100 Favourite Songs of 2022. There are also so many great rhymes on this album.

There are a lot of super critically acclaimed albums from 2022 that aren’t on this list, but this album, which is often considered one of the best of 2022, is an album I absolutely love!

#21 …

As a fan of post-punk, even I’ll admit that a lot of it feels really over the top, like it’s trying too hard to be creative (that might be totally unfair … I’m not saying it IS trying too hard, just that it kind of feels that way). But here’s a post-punk album that doesn’t do anything too out of the ordinary (at least musically … again, I’m not very good at analyzing lyrics), but is still super creative …

#21 – Archive Material by Silverbacks

Rarely do I find an album in which I love the mixing as much as this one … especially the percussion! But also, the guitar and bass sound fantastic together!

But this isn’t just making the list because of the mixing. There’s lots of great, catchy hooks, like on “A Job Worth Something”, “Recycle Culture”, and “Econymo”, to name a few.

I should also mention the use of hand-claps (or at least something that sounds like hand-claps) on the song, “Rolodex City” … hand-claps in music often annoy me, but in this case, it sounds awesome, and I’m not sure why!

Also, if you want an example of a song in which I love the use of reverb, “Central Tones” is a big example of that!

If you’re into post-punk, I highly recommend this album!

#20 …

So, going back to what I said about MUNA’s self-titled album … look, I’m not trying to take away from how much I love that album. Which of these two albums I’d rather listen to depends on the time. But that being said, this one has a similar magic to its sound … and in my opinion, it’s even better!

#20 – Giving The World Away by Hatchie

It feels like most years there’s a big hit song on the Billboard Hot 100 by an artist who was quite well-known already, but not for mainstream hits. I know the odds of the next one being any one specific artist are very low … but wouldn’t it be awesome if it’s something from this album? Imagine “The Rhythm” as a mainstream hit that gets played on the radio! As someone who listens to pop radio a lot, that would be awesome!

But anyway, this album is phenomenal! And it doesn’t even give me a ton to say, it’s just such a great synth-pop album which is such a joy to listen to, and it’s full of fantastic hooks and amazing production!

If you’re into synth-pop with great melodies, I highly recommend this album! It’s really special!

#19 …

One of many music critics whose YouTube channel I watch a lot is Mark Grondin of Spectrum Pulse. And I’ve got to say, watching his videos has gotten me into a lot of great music this year, including some albums on this list, like Archive Material by Silverbacks and Ghostlight by Poets of the Fall … as well as some others. I’ve got to say a big thanks to Mark for introducing me to so much great music, and that includes this album:

#19 – Aeroplane by Patricia Taxxon

This album only features one song with lyrics, and it’s another reason why I’ve gotten into instrumental music recently.

I love the ways it changes throughout, and it’s a mostly calming listen overall, despite how experimental it is.

Oh, and also, the one non-instrumental track, “Kitty”, is probably my favourite song on the album, and is such a joy to listen to! It has such an amazing build to it and so many great melodies, and the way everything in this song comes together makes it such a magical listen!

Overall, this album really wowed me! It’s magic in music form that I highly recommend!

#18 …

I’ve seen this band get a ton of critical acclaim, and after seeing their third album is probably their most critically acclaimed album to date, even as someone who still hasn’t listened to their first two albums, I really wanted to check this out … and yeah, for me it really lives up to the hype!

#18 – Blue Rev by Alvvays

So, “After The Earthquake” is probably the most critically acclaimed song on this album, and like most critics, I absolutely love that song, but it’s not even one of my top favourites here!

My favourite is close between “Velveteen” and “Very Online Guy” … but anyway, this album is full of great hooks and great melodies, and I love the production, too! I often feel like I’m not as big a fan of reverb as a lot of people are, but maybe that’s not really the case. Sure, there are albums where the reverb really holds them back for me, but here, for some reason, it really works! And also, maybe I’m totally imagining the reverb here, but there’s something to this that gives it an airy sound, which I’m guessing is reverb, but I could be wrong.

Either way, it sounds incredible, and I expect to be going back to this a lot! What a fantastic album!

#17 …

Something I’ve said a few times on this list is, ‘If you’re not into metal, you probably won’t like this album.’ But I’m not even sure that’s the case here. If you’re looking to get into black metal, this might be a great introduction:

#17 – Origins by Saor

If you’re looking for some soaring black metal with amazing guitar melodies and amazing production that helps it really soar, I highly recommend this!

I love the intensity in the instrumentation, and the vocals sound great, too! It’s super well-mixed and the instruments sound great together!

And in a way it kind of feels like it’s all building up to something … and that build in the second half of the closing track absolutely blew my mind!

I’ve seen/heard some people say this was a disappointment, and as someone who hasn’t listened to any of Saor’s previous albums, that just makes me more excited to hear them, because if this is a disappointment, I really want to know how great those albums are!

#16 …

And while we’re on the topic of metal … unfortunately, I didn’t get into as much 2022 melodic metalcore as I was hoping. A lot of what I heard in that genre really didn’t do that much for me, and as someone who loves the genre, that was very disappointing for me.

But at least I discovered this:

#16 – Obsidian by Northlane

FUCK YES! This is full of fantastic melodic hooks and detailed instrumentation that sounds absolutely awesome!

I don’t want to spoil too much about my final 2022 year-end list, but “Inamorata” is one of my favourite songs of 2022 with that incredible hook with some phenomenal guitar distortion!

But that’s not to take away from a more experimental track like “Is This a Test?”, which may be off-putting at first, but it really stands out to me as one of my favourites on the album, with some great melodies and fantastic production!

I absolutely love this kind of melodic metalcore, and in my opinion, Northlane really pulled it off with this album! Fantastic stuff!

#15 …

In my mini review of this album, I said I’d be shocked if this didn’t make my top 50 of the year … and as I expected, it’s not only on the list, but it’s pretty high on the list, too.

#15 – Datura by Boston Manor

One thing that really contributes to me loving an album/song is when I love the melodies … and also, I listen for production and mixing a lot. And Boston Manor absolutely nailed all those things here, with some super catchy vocal melodies that I absolutely love on tracks like “Passenger” and “Crocus”, and the tight production makes it stand out even more, with the snares being so well-mixed, having a ton of power, helping the instrumentation feel complete!

The album isn’t even half an hour long, but it feels like a full album experience, and an absolutely incredible one, helped by the mostly instrumental track, “Shelter from the rain”. That song is a really key part of the album in my opinion, and works as a really nice change from the sound of the rest of the album, which is an amazing sound, don’t get me wrong. The album didn’t need this track for the album to be great, but this track makes it even better!

If you’re a fan of alternative rock, I highly recommend this album! It’s super good!

#14 …

So, like I said earlier, Hellfire by black midi is one of two albums on this list where I really feel like it’s controversial not due to being on the list, but due to not being higher on the list. And this is the other of those two albums.

And it feels funny to say that considering how high this is on the list, but it’s easily the most critically acclaimed album of the year, and it’s topping tons of Best Albums of 2022 lists. And again, I love every album on this list, as well as some 2022 albums that didn’t even make the list, so I don’t want people to get the idea that I don’t like this album, or even that I don’t absolutely love this album!

I remember when this came out in early 2022, and it was such a big deal in the online music reviewing community. And I get why. I’m not even sure it feels like an album as much as it feels like an experience … and one that goes to some really interesting, dark places, but that’s part of the reason I love it so much! And yeah, I’ll have more to say and maybe what I’m trying to say here will make more sense:

#14 – Ants From Up There by Black Country, New Road

First of all, as sad as it was to hear the news, I have a ton of respect for Isaac Wood for leaving the band to focus on his mental health.

Now, about the album itself, even as someone who absolutely loves Black Country, New Road’s debut album For the First Time, I didn’t expect to love this album this much. But Black Country, New Road’s second album is an experience like no other, and one that absolutely blew my mind, even as someone who loves their first album.

This album is experimental, epic, meticulous, punchy, dramatic, heartbreaking yet still so charming, and it’s beautiful. An album that goes through so many emotions, and one that goes to some uncomfortable places, but the subject matters are so unique, and while I don’t necessarily relate to the lyrics themselves, it feels relatable, partially because of how much emotion goes into this album … but also partially because there are some truths about myself I’ve never wanted to admit, and this album to me represents acknowledging some uncomfortable truths about ourselves that we might not want to admit, even to ourselves.

Maybe none of that made any sense if you haven’t heard the album, but hopefully when you listen to this, you’ll get out of it what I and so many others have. This is truly magnificent, and while it goes to some uncomfortable places you might not be prepared for, I think it’s totally worth it. The album is so rewarding, and while I don’t see Black Country, New Road topping this any time soon—probably ever—they still made this. Also, I’m pretty confident this will go down as a classic as it absolutely deserves to! And you never know, they could prove me wrong in the future.

#13 …

So, now these top 13 are more controversial than they otherwise would have been, because some people might not be happy with me for putting all these albums ahead of Ants From Up There. And yeah, I tried to put these albums in an order I was happy with, and especially this high on the list, the order becomes more important … but just because these albums are higher doesn’t mean I would always rather listen to them over Ants From Up There. It obviously depends on the time. So, now that I’ve said all that, you can make the argument this isn’t anywhere near as good as Ants From Up There, and while that’s a totally fair argument, if I had to pick, as of right now, which one I like a tiny bit more, it’s this one:

#13 – Where Myth Becomes Memory by Rolo Tomassi

So, before I talk about the album itself, I just want to mention something funny I noticed: this album came out on the exact same day as Ants From Up There.

But about the album itself … look, I get that this style isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. It’s a metalcore album with lots of intense screaming and metalcore style guitars, which, again, it’s not rare at all for me to hear people say this isn’t a genre they like.

But for me, this hits so hard. It pulls me in so many directions emotionally, and while I have no idea what the majority of these lyrics mean, there’s still lots of amazing poetry here, and Eva Korman’s stunning vocals, both in her soothing melodic vocals and in her thunderous screams … and then the band pulls you into these walls of sound which sound like pure euphoria. (I’m not sure if ‘walls of sound’ is the right wording, but I’ll go with that because I don’t know what other description to use.)

The guitar distortion really helps the stormy feeling of these songs come to life, with those booming snares which sound pretty much perfect in the mix being the cherry on top that turns this already great album into being in my top 15 of the year.

It’s bleak listen, but there’s some optimism, too. And again, I get why this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but this resonated for me so much! And especially with some of the lines which seem to be about struggling to accept the passage of time (even though I might be interpreting those lines wrong) … yeah, that makes those walls of sound hit even harder! What a phenomenal album!

#12 …

I’ve got to say, I’m not sure I heard a 2022 album that’s more fitting to listen to early in the morning before sunrise … yeah, I know that was really random, but while I haven’t listened to it at that time of day yet (because I’m not usually up that early), I’m sure that would be a great time to listen to it!

#12 – Heart Under by Just Mustard

This is kind of an industrial post-punk album, and it’s full of super powerful snares with absolutely awesome guitars and basslines!

It really has this feeling of being a passenger in a car during a massive storm … and while that’s terrifying in real life, this album is the good version of that feeling. It’s an album that is so calming yet so dramatic, with some incredible builds throughout, finding the right times to add more intensity to the instrumentation and the right times to strip it back.

It’s a hypnotizing listen that absolutely rules, with nearly every track being legitimately phenomenal, and there isn’t a single bad track on this album. If you’re just playing this in the background, I doubt it has anywhere near the same impact, and it would probably come across as a boring post-punk album that has almost nothing to it, but when you listen to it closely, there is so much more here! One of my favourite albums of 2022! It’s this high on the list for a reason!

#11 …

Putting this album this high feels kind of … I don’t know what the word I’m looking for is. It feels kind of … unusual for me? If you know my taste in music well, you probably wouldn’t expect me to love this enough to put it on this list, and yet not only is it on the list, it’s almost in the top 10!

But I’m not going to deny how much of a chord this struck with me.

#11 – Sun Soaking by lobsterfight

It’s kind of funny to me how this is possibly the only album from 2022 that I would say is ‘awkward’ in a good way, and it happens to be this high on this list! But there’s some real charm to this album with the combination of messy instrumentals, intense vocals that are super unique, and the lyrics which are very open to interpretation.

There seems to be a story going on throughout this album, and while I had a hard time following along, I felt like I understood it just enough to find it compelling, made even more compelling by the mystery of it!

The vocal melodies here aren’t particularly catchy, but for some reason, it really works, contributing to the really messy feeling of this album. I like how all-over-the-place it is, because emotions are all-over-the-place, and at least for me, this is an example of an album where that really works, because the sound of this album really resonates with me as someone whose emotions are always all over the place. I mean, that can probably be said about almost everyone, but there’s something about the all-over-the-place feeling of this album that really hits that spot for me!

It’s an album like none I’ve ever heard before, even though there are a lot of comparisons I could make to Ants From Up There … and I think it’s even better!

#10 …

So, you may have noticed there’s not as much hip hop on this list as there is for a lot of critics. Again, not one of my preferred genres, but that’s just me. But while some of the most critically acclaimed hip hop albums (including some that I listened to) aren’t on this list, because maybe just maybe there’s a chance that not every person on the planet has exactly the same music taste, this one did make the list:

#10 – Aethiopes by Billy Woods

Well, this is quite a complicated album … there’s a lot going on here in the lyrics, and I’m not going to try to analyze every line right now, and I’ll admit, like most of the albums on this list, I don’t fully understand the meaning of the lyrics. Again, that’s something I want to work on going forward, but I’ve been trying to get this post out sooner rather than later. And again, I listen to music more for the way it sounds than the lyrics … and this album sounds fantastic! I love the haunting vibe of a lot of these tracks, and Billy Woods’ flows are great, too!

I want to do a deeper look into this album’s lyrics when I have time, but that’s one of the things I love so much about this album. There’s pretty much an unlimited amount of interpretations of a lot of these lyrics.

There’s a lot of lyrics about colonization, slavery, and so much more, and there are so many lines which have multiple meanings to them. A lot of this album seems to have to do with the possibility of history repeating itself, and also how a lot of the ‘issues of the past’ are still very big issues to this day, even though some are big issues in different ways.

Yeah, again, this album is a lot to take in, but it’s absolutely a great one in my opinion, and one that blew my mind!

I’ve never heard an album anything like this, you probably haven’t, either, and neither of us probably ever will … aside from, well, this album itself. It’s super complicated, and I’ll admit that I don’t fully understand it, but I absolutely LOVE this album! And if you haven’t heard it, I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend that you do!

#9 …

I still haven’t listened to this band’s debut album from 2005, but this is their second album. Yes, you read that right.

#9 – The Loser by Gospel

2022 was a very busy year for me, and most of the time I spent listening to music I spent listening to 2022 music … and when I did listen to other music, I mostly listened to stuff I already knew. And that’s why I still haven’t listened to Gospel’s 2005 debut album, The Moon Is a Dead World. Fortunately, I have a plan for 2023 which will hopefully give me enough time to listen to even more albums from 2023 than 2022 while still giving me more time to do other things, including discovering more music from the past, and that album is on my list of albums I want to check out!

But anyway, this comeback surprised a lot of people, as it’s only Gospel’s second studio album, seventeen years after their first! And while I still haven’t listened to their debut, I’ve got to say, WHAT A COMEBACK!

Adam Dooling’s vocals here are incredible, with the intense screaming on this album really fitting with the bleak lyrics.

And yeah, the lyrics are very bleak … again, I’m not the best at analyzing lyrics, but one example of a song with great lyrics in my opinion is “Hyper”, which seems to possibly be describing a war, maybe even just in a dream, but as dark as it is, when the music is so good and it really fits with the bleak lyrics by sounding really eerie, it works super well in my opinion! And the song is also a total banger, with some incredible synths, and the mixing is phenomenal!

And there’s so much musical intensity here that I absolutely fucking love! Especially with the synths adding tons of atmosphere, for example at the beginning of “S.R.O.”, and I also love how it speeds up at the start of that track.

I love the jumpy feeling of some of these tracks, like “S.R.O.” which I just mentioned, and that’s also the case with “Deerghost”.

This is one of those albums where the instruments are pretty much all perfectly timed to make the intensity feel so much stronger, and the mixing is fantastic, helping each individual melody play off each other at the same time super well without any of them feeling too distracting! It’s punchy, atmospheric, spacey, and super hard-hitting!

But I think what pushes it to that next level for me, making it one of my top 10 favourite albums of 2022, is, well, personal reasons. Because when I feel like there’s a battle going on inside my own mind, and I’m feeling really frustrated … well, sometimes the best way to take out frustration is just to sit down and listen to some music. This album is a lot to take in, but a great way to take out my frustration, and it also fucking bangs! If you’re into post-hardcore or punk, I highly doubt you’ll wanna miss this!

#8 …

And this album is also very hard-hitting with lots of intense music … and it’s one of the most terrifying albums of 2022 that I’ve heard. I don’t usually mean that as a compliment, but in this case I do!

#8 – Artificial Brain by Artificial Brain

I’m not sure if I find this album heartbreaking, fun, or just insightful … maybe it’s all of those things. And I’m not sure if ‘insightful’ is the right word, but it seems to be looking ahead to the future and a bunch of things that could go wrong. Lyrically, this album is super dark, and I totally understand why some might find it way too much to take in, especially people who don’t like metal, but it hits super hard for me!

The guitar melodies, the drums, the mixing, the vocals … it sounds so incredible, and the music on this album is really fitting considering the lyrics.

I’m not sure if I’d ever heard an album before this one that is so terrifying yet so much fun, but Artificial Brain absolutely pulled it off, and there are so many fucking phenomenal songs on here!

The title track opens the album with some incredible intensity in the instrumentation, with the pummeling drums sounding incredible overtop of the incredible guitar melodies, especially when it’s mixed this well.

From that point on, it’s full of bangers with incredibly well-crafted instrumentals, and I can’t even put into words how much I love this album! And I also can’t fully put into words why I love it so much, but if you’re into metal, prepare to have your mind blown! But be careful—the monsters of Artificial Brain’s world might eat you alive!

#7 …

And while we’re on the topic of albums that get super dark, and are absolutely not easy listens …

#7 – Endure by Special Interest

A big part of the reason this is here is because of the lyrics, and like with all of these albums, my interpretation could be totally wrong, so my apologies if I totally misunderstand it.

But yeah, like I said, not an easy listen. This super hard-hitting punk album isn’t afraid to get political, and it acknowledges a lot of harsh realities. To me, it feels like an album that is trying to find ways to fix huge problems in the world, but is struggling to do so … I think part of the point of the album is the idea that, ‘Maybe it won’t have any impact.’ And that’s part of the reason it’s such a bleak, haunting listen, because when listening to this album, you kind of think, despite the moments of optimism that are here, ‘Is there any optimism here?’ And, yeah, there is, but some of it comes with the sad possibility that violence is the only option sometimes. We’ve seen so much effort to try and peacefully change things, and there’s still so much further to go … and in some issues, we’ve gone backward.

And musically, this album is fucking amazing, especially when combined with the lyrics. There are some really great grooves here that don’t distract from the bleak lyrics, like on “(Herman’s) House” with that awesome bass groove and the incredible pianos! I also love how the clicking beat sounds on this track, keeping that haunting feeling to the track.

I also love the reverb on the percussion in the song, “Love Scene”, adding to the messy feeling of the instrumentation, with those industrial sounds also sounding absolutely amazing!

The percussion on this whole album sounds amazing, with the different beats each fitting their songs really well. And the album is super well mixed, where pretty much every instrument consistently has a ton of power to it! There are lots of fantastic melodies in the instrumentation, too! And somehow, despite how heartbreaking so much of this album is, I won’t deny that at times the album is really fun to listen to, with some of the fantastic grooves and great melodies!

So, yeah, again, not an easy listen at all, but an absolutely fantastic one! Obviously it’s up to you whether or not you listen to it, but you’re probably missing out if you don’t.

#6 …

One thing about my reviews that might bug some people is that I make a lot of nitpicks … now, it’s worth mentioning that I also point out minor details I really like, and some of the ‘nitpicks’ are more critical parts of the album to me than they are to some people. Like every music fan, there are certain elements in music I care more about than others. And a lot of the time, I’ll come across an alternative rock album which has a lot of potential to be something I really love, but one element in particular will hold it back for me, like the production, or the mixing, or the melodies …

But on this album, when it comes to all the main musical elements I’m listening for, this band nails it all pretty much from start to finish; the production, mixing, instrumentation, vocals, vocal melodies, rhythm … for me to feel this positive about all of those elements in one album is extremely rare, but in 2022, this band pulled it off!

#6 – Formentera by Metric

Metric are a band I haven’t listened to a ton, and I plan to check out their full discography very soon … but after I got into their absolutely phenomenal 2018 album Art of Doubt earlier in 2022, I was super excited to hear this album. But this couldn’t be as good as Art of Doubt, right?

Honestly, I think it’s even better. None of these songs are any less than great, and it takes so many elements I love from Art of Doubt, but turns it into an album with even more musical variety and even better vocal melodies … but I also can’t deny that a big part of it is a me thing.

I turned eighteen years old in 2022, and it’s really been hitting me just how fast everything is changing … and if there’s an album from 2022 that felt like the soundtrack to that realization I’ve had, it’s this one.

But it’s an album that’s helped me embrace the changes in my life and embrace the passing of time. In a lot of ways it feels like the soundtrack to this part of my life, and me accepting that things aren’t going to be the same as they used to be. And there are so many examples I could give, but the song that really stood out to me the most in this regard is “Enemies of the Ocean”, which is not only amazingly produced with an awesome hook and tons of great vocal melodies, but it all adds up to a song that meant so much to me in 2022, and will continue to going forward. And while I’m not sure if this was intended or not, it seems like the lyrics might have to do with the passing of time, and looking back on the past thinking, ‘How has so much changed?’. But then there’s that amazingly placed final instrumental pre-chorus that just sends this song to a whole different level!

And yeah, the mixing on this album is incredible, with the snares sounding pretty much perfect! The music is so tight throughout the album, and I struggle to even find negative things to say about this album! It’s just so fucking incredible! Like I said, it’s a soundtrack to this era of my life, and if that isn’t incredibly special to me, then I don’t know what is. I’m very confident this will end up as one of my favourite albums of the 2020s … and while I didn’t expect to love it nearly as much as I do, considering my high expectations, that is saying a ton!

#5 …

This is an album that I feel needs some context to understand why it works. Because on the surface, while this isn’t the case for every track, there are a lot of songs here with some very ‘morally wrong’ lyrics … that is, unless you don’t take it literally. It’s a very complicated album, and let me explain why it works for me …

#5 – God’s Country by Chat Pile

Let me start by making this clear: this is NOT an easy listen, and not a fun listen AT ALL. It’s a messy, complicated album which I totally understand being way too much for some people.

I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Honestly, I wish I had done a full review of it when it came out so I could go into a lot more detail. And I’ll probably do a throwback review of it at some point, but for now, I’m going to try to explain why it works for me without going on and on for too long. But I will be using the term ‘fucked up’ a lot, and my apologies if it becomes too repetitive.

This album is full of harsh realities in the world, and it all builds up to the final track which might be the most difficult listen of any 2022 song that I’ve heard, and as fucked up as the song is … well, it’s supposed to be a fucked up song, and with how fucked up a lot of things in the world are, these kinds of songs hit really hard. And I’m not going to tell you what happens in this song, because I don’t want to spoil the album, but I will warn you that this song is an extremely difficult listen, and it’s rare that I say this about a song I love, but I’ll say it: this song is disgusting, horrifying, and like I said, it’s incredibly fucked up. But it’s just a song at the end of the day … actually, no, it’s not ‘just a song,’ it’s a deep look at a huge problem in this world that goes to some INCREDIBLY dark places. And it’s important to understand that what the lyrics are doing is just painting a picture of a fucked up situation.

The closing track isn’t the only fucked up track here, but it’s important to note that the fucked up elements on this album really help it click for me, because, again, there’s a lot in the world that’s fucked up, and there are moments when all I feel like doing is listening to music about it, at least trying to find some sort of silver lining when I’m feeling angry about problems in the world.

But not all of this album is fucked up … some of it is calling out fucked up things from a non fucked up perspective, like the song, “Why”, a song about homelessness which has one of my favourite lyrics of the year, ‘Why do people have to live outside when there are buildings all around us?’

Again, this album is not an easy listen at all. But seriously, it’s fucking phenomenal, it absolutely blew my mind, and while I am cautiously recommending it, I absolutely fucking love it. INCREDIBLE ALBUM!

#4 …

It’s hard for me to describe why this album landed so high on this list … I mean, that can be said about all the albums this high on the list, because music is so subjective, and different music resonates with different people. And the music that is this special to different people obviously depends on the person. So, even though this album is incredible well mixed and well produced, and full of incredible melodies … I can’t say too much about it to explain why it’s here. It just really moved me emotionally in a way that very few albums do, and I don’t even entirely know why … so, I’ll let its placement this high on the list speak for itself.

#4 – Stalled Flutes, means by Asian Glow

Well, I’ll start by saying that the production is some of the best I’ve heard from 2022, with the percussion having a bit of a fuzzy feel to it, but one that really works when combined with the right melodies, which it absolutely is in my opinion!

The strings sound absolutely incredible here, and I like how compressed a lot of the album sounds, really helping the percussion sound even better! I’m not sure if there was actually compression used or not (I’m bad at figuring those things out), but at points it certainly sounds like there was.

But why did this resonate with me this much? Honestly, I’m not really sure. So, I’ll just say this: if you’re into shoegaze, or alternative rock, or dream pop, or anything like that, I can’t recommend this album highly enough! If you don’t want to listen to it, that’s fine, but you’re probably missing out if you don’t. And even if you aren’t into those genres, albums like these are so incredibly rare, and I would still absolutely recommend it!

#3 …

And speaking of super emotional albums … and like a lot of the albums in the top 10, this isn’t an easy listen. But it’s a fucking amazing one!

#3 – Onryō II: Her Spirit Eternal by Saidan

This is one of the most heartbreaking albums of 2022 that I’ve heard, not only because of the lyrics, but because of the way the lyrics and music combine together.

It’s an album which seems to be about a cycle of trauma and abuse, where the trauma and abuse is passed from one person to another … and if it wasn’t obvious enough from what I’ve said already, this album goes to some super dark places. But it’s an extremely powerful statement on some of the biggest issues in the world, and it’s done with some absolutely incredible instrumentation as well.

The guitars and drums sound incredible together, with the heartbreaking melodies being the perfect fit for an album like this.

Again, not an easy listen at all … but one of the most powerful albums I’ve heard from 2022. It’s so fucking awful that stuff like this happens in real life, but if we give more exposure to albums like these, hopefully it’ll change things … we can at least hope, right?

#2 …

To lighten the mood now (compared to the last album, that is) … this is such a fun album to listen to! But if you know me and my taste in music well, you’ll probably be shocked to see this at #2 on my list! I’m not usually as big a fan of this kind of avant-garde, glitchy, ‘experimental’ music or whatever as a lot of people are (I put experimental in quotes because … isn’t being experimental the point of art? So, I’m not sure why it’s described as a genre). That’s not to say I don’t like any of it, but a lot of the time I listen to that kind of music and think to myself, ‘It’s … interesting. But I just don’t enjoy listening to it at all.’

But there’s an album that came out in 2022 which is probably one of the most ‘out there’ albums I’ve ever heard, and yet somehow managed to be super close to my favourite album of the entire year! And I listened to a ton of 2022 albums!

It’s a strangely fun album to listen to despite all the dark elements to it, and a lot of the sounds here which may seem off-putting at first are, for whatever reason, elements of the album that I absolutely fucking love, adding to the eerie feeling of it even more, and putting this album on another level!

But why is it this high on the list? Well … let me explain!

#2 – Most Normal by Gilla Band

But really, if I’m being honest, this is a very difficult one for me to explain. This is the kind of really ‘out there’ album that could be described as avant-garde, or glitchy, or something like that. I think ‘industrial’ is a word that describes this album well. And this style of music isn’t usually one that I really love, at least not as much as most critics.

But there’s something about this album that has this feeling to it of waking up in the middle of the night, and not knowing where you are. If that doesn’t sound appealing to you, I totally get it, but I fucking love this album!

It reminds me a lot of Hey What by Low, another absolutely fantastic album. And, of course, rest in peace, Mimi Parker. It’s fucking awful how many people have died from that horrible disease.

On a lighter note, Hey What is absolutely incredible, and it also has that feeling to it that I mentioned of waking up in the middle of the night. And I absolutely love both albums for different reasons, and which album I’d rather listen to depends on the time, but if I had to compare the two, I love this one even more!

And like with my #1 album on this list, I’m not going to say as much about it as you might think, partially because I didn’t want this list to be out much later than this, but also because both of these albums speak for themselves in my opinion. But I will just say this album is full of industrial rock sounds that I understand why some people might absolutely hate. There are some very harsh noises on this album, and if reading that makes you not want to listen to it, that’s totally fair. Really, you don’t have to listen to any of the albums on this list. That’s up to you, of course.

But yeah, if any of what I said sounds appealing to you, I highly recommend you listen to it for yourself—it’s an experience that might change your life.

#1 …

Like I said earlier, 2022 was a very difficult year for me. I’m not going to go into detail about it here—I’ve been talking to professionals to help with my mental health, and I’m going to leave getting really personal for those conversations—but you might think my favourite album of the year would be one that really resonated for me deeply in an emotional way, and that’s not really the case.

Okay, it kind of is. But even though this album is full of rage in the lyrics, and I do love the lyrics, the biggest reason this is topping the list is because it’s so much fun to listen to!

I kind of had a feeling when I heard this album back in March that nothing else in 2022 would top it … and I’m not going to say it wasn’t close. It had some close competition, that’s for sure. But at the end of the day, nothing else topped it … it’s a very political album, and there’s a lot of dark subject matter, but there’s a very optimistic feeling to it, with the upbeat instrumentation, making this album a ton of fun! So much fun to the point where it’s my album of the year!

#1 – Diaspora Problems by Soul Glo

Yes, I know, a lot of the ‘obvious picks’ for this list didn’t end up making my list. But this critically acclaimed pummeling hardcore punk album not only made my list, but it’s my album of the year for 2022!

I think the biggest reason why this is topping the list is the feeling of optimism despite so many problems in the world. And one thing that I notice a lot when I listen to music is that music resonates with me personally for different reasons than intended. What I mean by that is I don’t have to relate to the lyrics on an album for there to be a personal connection, as I interpret music in different ways than intended. Even if I know what a song is about, it might resonate with me because of some other potential double-meaning, even if I know that double-meaning wasn’t meant to be there.

And yeah, sometimes I just wanted to feel optimistic while still letting out my anger … and the best way for me to let out my anger is listening to music like this! But while listening to Gospel’s album from 2022 feels more bleak, despite this album also having lots of bleak subject matter, it’s a much more fun listen! Both albums work well for different reasons, and I’m not trying to take anything away from that album, I’m just explaining why this is topping my list.

And yeah, there’s a lot of great commentary on this album, too, with lyrics about police brutality, capitalism, and so much more, including the toll it all takes on people’s mental health. Some of the lyrics seem to be about not knowing who to trust, and feeling like you’re all alone.

But the biggest reason I love this album so much is because the music kicks ass! It’s unbelievably fun, with the incredible vocals, drumming, guitars, and everything! The way the instrumentation all goes together is absolutely incredible!

I also love how “Driponomics” suddenly shows up in the middle of the album, and it’s a rap banger that somehow doesn’t feel out of place on this hardcore punk album, despite sounding absolutely nothing like the rest of the album!

Honestly, it’s an album that needs to be heard to be believed … so, whether you’re a fan of hardcore punk or not, I highly recommend you listen to this album, and make of it what you will. If there’s one album on this list I recommend the most … I’m not sure it’s this one, but it’s certainly up there. And yeah, Diaspora Problems by Soul Glo is my personal favourite album of 2022!

…

Thanks for reading this post! Again, it was way later than I wanted it to be, and that’s despite me rushing this post a bit and not putting in as much effort as I wanted to. Hopefully my 2023 list will be better, but we’ll see. Anyway, I only have one year-end list for 2022 left!

Hello, everyone! It’s time for another album review! I’m reviewing the newest shame album, Food for Worms.

This is the third studio album by shame, a post-punk band who have gotten lots of critical acclaim over the past five years or so. And before I talk about this album, I want to talk about my very controversial feelings about shame’s music. Are they extremely creative? Yes. But that doesn’t change the fact that their debut album, Songs of Praise, felt like a total slog for me to get through. Yes, I know, you’re probably thinking, ‘SERIOUSLY? A TOTAL SLOG TO GET THROUGH?’ And, to me, yeah, that album gets incredibly boring/annoying, and I can’t say I really love one song on the album.

Then came their second album, Drunk Tank Pink, which was released in 2021 … and I like it more than their debut, as I like the production a bit better, and at least it has one song that I love, that being the closing track, “Station Wagon”. But while there are lots of interesting ideas on the album, it also felt like a slog to get through, and while I like it more than their debut, I only like it slightly more. A lot of the lyrics felt really cringey and musically it didn’t interest me that much … and at times, the album gets very annoying.

Keep in mind these are just my personal feelings on this band’s music. When I do my reviews, the ratings I give albums are always based on how much/how little I personally ended up liking the album, not some sort of ‘objective rating’, whatever that means.

So, yeah, I’ve seen all the critical acclaim, and people saying they’re one of the best bands out there right now, and … even as a fan of post-punk, I just haven’t been able to get into shame’s music up to this point.

So, my expectations for this new album were not very high. But sometimes bands/artists/etc. whose music I really don’t like will suddenly put out an album I really love, and while it’s unlikely with each individual album, it does happen sometimes. So, I decided to check out shame’s newest album, Food for Worms, which I’ve also seen getting quite a bit of critical acclaim. So, what do I think of it?

Well, first of all, I do like that every shame album has had a totally different sound. Songs of Praise, while it is very much a post-punk album (at least if I understand what post-punk is … I don’t know how to define music genres), is probably the closest to a straight-ahead rock album they’ve put out, even though there’s a lot of creativity. Then Drunk Tank Pink was more avant-garde in my opinion … I mean, it had a kind of similar sound to Songs of Praise, but only kind of, and at points it sounded like a totally different band. This new album sounds totally different to me … it’s more mellow—although it does get intense at points—and while I’d still call this post-punk, it’s probably the least post-punk album of the three they’ve put out so far. But again, I don’t know how to define music genres.

Anyway, this is my favourite album they’ve put out to date. Now, that’s not to say I love the album—I don’t. But it shows them going in a direction I find much more interesting, and it makes me excited to hear whatever they put out next after this!

That being said, this album does have a lot of flaws that hold it back for me, and I’m not really a big fan of this album as a whole, even though it has some huge standout tracks to me.

The album opens up with “Fingers of Steel”, which starts with some awesome pianos, and some fantastic distorted guitars! I do find the snares a bit underpowering in this song, though, and the production overall feels quite messy, and it holds me back from liking the song a lot more.

The next track, “Six-Pack”, I like a bit more. It seems to be about someone whose happiness comes from imagination. I don’t see it as a criticism of that, because there’s nothing wrong with using your imagination to feel happy … I’m sure we all do it sometimes. I certainly do. But that being said, this song seems to show that this character really wants to find happiness from real life, and it seems to be a reminder to the listener not to spend too much time in your own head. I find the repetitive guitars a little bit annoying, but I do like the track overall.

“Yankees” features some really great guitar melodies and a huge hook that, while having some messy production that I don’t really like, mostly works for me. I’m not going to say I love the track, but I do like it.

“Alibis” is one of my favourite shame songs to date … possibly my favourite. This song has a super catchy hook that I could totally understand someone finding very annoying, but to me it is really fun to listen to! This song reminds me of “Water in the Well”, my second favourite song on Drunk Tank Pink, but with a better chorus in my opinion.

“Adderall” is the next track. Musically, it’s a very mellow track at points but is also heavier at points. This song shows the narrator trying to encourage someone to get help for a drug addiction, but you get the feeling that the attempts to help this person aren’t working. I don’t love the song, but I find it a lot more interesting than the next song on the album.

“Orchid” is also kind of mellow, but it almost feels like it doesn’t really go anywhere until the very end. Also, the pianos that come in partway through feel out of place. Yes, it builds a lot, but I just don’t find much about the track very interesting, and the vocal melodies bore me. Although I like the very end of the song with the intense drumming and the distorted guitars with a great melody!

“The Fall of Paul” is the next song, and it opens up with some awesome guitars! I don’t usually say this in a review, but it’s one of those songs where I don’t really know how to describe why I like it so much … I just do! And I recommend you give it a listen for yourself!

The drums sound mostly good on the next track, “Burning By Design”, and I also really like the guitars, both electric and acoustic, and the melodies are really good, too! I love the way it suddenly gets musically intense in the final minute!

“Different Person” features some really interesting lyrics, and I love the eerie feeling of the track musically. The drumming on this song is fantastic, and I love the guitars, too! I think the lyrics really fit well with the music, as the narrator seems to be having a hard time accepting how much this person has changed. It’s arguably my favourite song on the album!

Finally, there’s the closing track, “All the People”. While I like the lyrics on this track, which seem to be about trying to look for the positives in life even when it seems like everything’s going wrong, I do find the instrumental really boring, and there’s not much melodically that I really like here. It’s also the longest song here, and it feels like it really drags on.

So, overall … well, I like quite a few of the songs here, but as a full album something just feels missing, and I can’t quite tell what. Also, a lot of the production still feels messy, which is something that held back their first two albums for me, and it does so here as well … but still, it’s pleasant while it’s on, and it’s got some songs that I absolutely love, and it’s the most I’ve liked a shame album so far … so, I’m going to give it a strong 5.5/10. I feel like I ‘should’ like it more, but I still like it more than I thought I would, and I’m really curious to hear the next shame album.

Anyway, feel free to let me know in the comment section what you think of this album and/or what you think of this review. And I’ll be back with more reviews soon!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Alibis”, “The Fall of Paul”, “Burning By Design”, “Different Person”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Orchid”

Hello, everyone! Yes, I know, my last 2 year-end lists for 2022 are not done yet. Seriously, they are coming. I haven’t cancelled them.

Anyway, for now, here are some more mini reviews! As always, it’s all just based on my own personal feelings on these albums. Feel free to let me know in the comments what you think of these albums.

Also, while these are ‘mini reviews’, so they’re not supposed to be very long, I will admit that like my last few mini review posts these are very short. Until I post my last 2 year-end lists for 2022, these mini reviews will probably continue to be very brief.

And yeah, I don’t really describe things in a lot of detail here. And when I’m describing elements I don’t like in an album, it might seem unfair to do that, especially when I don’t give a lot of detail describing why. But I’m not trying to tell people what kind of music they should make … if one of the lead artists, producers, or anyone else involved in making these albums reads this post, I have nothing wrong with that, but my reviews aren’t really meant for the people who made the album. 99.9% of the time, my ‘criticisms’ of music aren’t actually criticism, because I want people to make whatever kind of music they want to make (with very few exceptions, like if it’s sending a terrible message or something like that).

Now, let’s get these reviews started!

Desire Pathway by Screaming Females:

So, here’s a band whom I’d heard of but hadn’t listened to before now … and this album makes me want to hear more from this band! Because this is really good!

The first thing I want to mention is the production, which sounds fantastic! The snares are super well mixed, and I love the powerful guitars! The guitar distortion is fantastic, and it sounds great over the basslines! Almost everything sounds really tight in the mix!

A lot of the vocal melodies are really good, and while at times it can get boring and sound a bit generic, the vast majority of the time this album is a ton of fun!

I wish there was a bit more in the instrumentation to put this album on another level, but I still really like this! And for me, it’s a very light 8/10! If you’re a fan of rock, I highly recommend you give this a listen!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “Brass Bell”, “Ornament”, “So Low”, “Titan”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Desert Train”

Pollen by Tennis:

Like with most of the albums I’ve reviewed, this is my first time listening to an album by the artist … anyway, how do I feel about this album?

Well, I can’t really say I like it. I mean, I don’t dislike it, but there’s not much here that really makes me want to go back to it.

It’s got a lot of pleasant vocal melodies, but aside from that, there’s not much about most of these tracks that makes me want to revisit them.

“Glorietta” is a fantastic track with some great vocal melodies and some really nice acoustic guitar, but it’s followed by “Let’s Make a Mistake Tonight”, a song which I find really annoying with some synths that feel out of place, percussion I find boring, and some of my least favourite vocal melodies on the album.

Once it gets toward the end of the album, I get really tired of listening to it, and I’m going to give this album a 5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Glorietta”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Let’s Make a Mistake Tonight”

All Fiction by Pile:

So, this was a strange listening experience … on my first couple of listens, I’m not going to say I loved this album, but I certainly found it more interesting than I do now … but the more I listened to it, while I still mostly enjoyed it, it feels slightly uninteresting to me. And I say ‘slightly’ because it’s still a pretty enjoyable listen with a lot of interesting ideas … but I’m also not going to say it blew my mind or anything.

Musically, there’s a lot of tension being built here, but I wish it erupted more … and that’s not to say it needs to for me to like it, but it’s not like I love the vocal melodies, and often something just feels missing in the instrumentation.

Now, there are some melodies here that I like, such as those high notes in the vocals on “Poisons”, and the keyboard melody on “Lowered Rainbow” (at least I think it’s a keyboard). And again, the album is still a pretty enjoyable listen, but the percussion isn’t always mixed in a way I really like and these songs kind of feel like they meander a bit, which is probably totally unfair because they don’t meander at all. It’s just that this kind of somewhat mellow grunge or space rock or whatever you call this style just isn’t usually my cup of tea.

And you know what? It’s actually saying quite a bit that I mostly like this considering what style of music this is. For me, it’s a 6/10. If you like this sound, you’ll probably like it more than I do.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “It Comes Closer”, “Gardening Hours”, “Blood”, “Lowered Rainbow”, “Poisons”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Loops”, “Nude with a Suitcase”

Heavy Heavy by Young Fathers:

Here’s a band who’s been around for a while but whom I’d never heard of until I saw this album getting a lot of critical acclaim. And after listening to it … it’s certainly interesting, to say the least!

There’s a lot of variety across this album. There are some faster-paced songs like “Drum”, “Sink Or Swim”, and “Holy Moly”, and then there’s “Tell Somebody” which isn’t as fast-paced but has a huge build to it, and then there’s “Geronimo”, which is a mostly mellow, more poppy song, without really sounding quite like a pop song. And I haven’t even mentioned “Shoot Me Down”, which is very avant-garde.

And there’s a lot here that I really like. There’s a lot of interesting lyrics and lots of great melodies, and I love so many of the small details here, like that beeping synth sound in “I Saw”. Sometimes the production here can feel a little bit messy, like the instruments don’t blend together as well as I would have liked, but I still really enjoyed this album!

You know what? I’m going to give this album an EXTREMELY strong 7.5/10! If you haven’t heard it, I highly recommend that you do! It really is something special! And if 2023 music ends up disappointing me a lot , and/or if this album grows on me, it’ll probably make my top 50 of the year! As of right now, I don’t think it will make my top 50, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “I Saw”, “Drum”, “Geronimo”, “Sink Or Swim”, “Holy Moly”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Rice”

TRUSTFALL by P!nk:

While this is my first time listening to a P!nk album, I have heard quite a few of her singles—mostly from hearing them on the radio—and I have very mixed feelings on those singles. There are some I find incredibly annoying like “Get the Party Started”, “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)”, and “F**kin’ Perfect”, but she also has some songs I absolutely love, like “Try”, “Who Knew”, and especially “Irrelevant”, which—potential spoiler alert—might make my top 100 songs of 2022!

So, I decided to listen to P!nk’s new album, TRUSTFALL, and while there are lots of personal lyrics here, and I can tell this album is very important to her, it doesn’t mean I personally have to like the album. And the production is a big part of the reason why this album didn’t click for me much.

Some of the percussion here feels really awkward-sounding over the rest of the instrumentation, like on “Turbulence” with the snare which seems to have reverb on it, and I don’t like how it sounds. I also don’t really like the snappy snare in “Feel Something”.

And while P!nk is a good singer, I’m not a big fan of a lot of the vocal production, like in the chorus of “Runaway”, and also in the chorus of the title track. Actually, I’m not even sure it’s the vocal production as much as it is that I don’t like a lot of the other elements in the production when paired with the vocals.

And a lot of the time, it just feels like something in the instrumentation is missing to make it fully click for me.

Also, a lot of the vocal melodies don’t do much for me.

So, for me, it’s a 4.5/10, but keep in mind that score is just based on how much/how little I like the album. I often see comments on other people’s album reviews saying things like, ‘Why would you give this a number? Just because it didn’t click for you doesn’t mean it deserves a low score.’ And while I get that argument, I want to make it clear that my ratings are based on how much/how little the album clicks for me, and that’s it. I’d recommend you give this album a listen. You might like it more than I do.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “When I Get There”, “Last Call”, “Hate Me”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Long Way to Go”, “Runaway”, “Our Song”, “Just Say I’m Sorry”

Glow by Wesley Joseph:

I haven’t reviewed much hip hop from 2023 yet, so, considering how much of a time crunch I’ve been in with 2023 reviews and 2022 year-end lists, I decided to check out this album which isn’t even twenty-five minutes long.

And not only is it short, which makes it easier to review quickly, but it’s also pretty good! Some of the production is a bit messy with the percussion not always sounding great to me in the mix, but Wesley’s flows here are really good!

There’s a lot to like lyrically, too, and while I don’t fully understand what all the lyrics are about, a lot of it seems to have to do with fame and achieving goals, and the struggles that come with that. Maybe my interpretation is totally wrong, I don’t know, but that seems to be part of what this album is about, and there are a lot of interesting lyrics here.

Overall, I think this is a pretty solid album! 7/10!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “I JUST KNOW HIGHS”, “COLD SUMMER”, “LIGHT LIGHT”
Least Favourite Tracks: “SUGAR DIVE”

Chrysalis by Polymoon:

So, here’s another one of those albums which has a lot going on, and it’s really impressive, but I can’t say I really enjoy listening to it that much. I mean, there are a lot of cool moments here, but as a whole it just doesn’t interest me much.

Part of it is how the vocals often sound drowned out by the instrumentation, and I’m not really a big fan of the airy production on this album.

But with some albums, I really like the airy production, and the instrumentation drowning out the vocals … but something just sounds really messy here, and while it was probably intentional and done as an artistic choice, it doesn’t mean I have to enjoy listening to it.

So, in the end, I might really like it as background music, but it’s not really clicking for me much. Strong 5/10 for me … again, there are cool moments here … but the vocal melodies don’t grab me much and it feels really inconsistent to me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Instar”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Wave Back To Confusion”

Fandens kall by Tulus:

I haven’t listened to a ton of metal from 2023 yet, and as a metal fan, I wanted to listen to more metal from this year, so here’s a band who’s been releasing albums since the 1990s, and this is my first experience listening to an album by this band. How is it?

Well, I can’t say I really ended up loving it. I like some moments on this album, but as a whole, to me it’s far from great. And part of that is the production, where the guitars often feel overpowering, and the snares at times sound really out of place to me and lacking the real power I wish they had.

Now, let me make it clear that the only language I speak/understand is English, and when I looked up the lyrics so I could translate them, I couldn’t find them. So, just keep in mind that I don’t know what the lyrics are saying here.

I do like how the guitars sound aside from how they sometimes wash out other elements of the instrumentation, and there are some good guitar riffs, chord progressions, and basslines, but I wish I liked this album more than I do. Extremely light 6/10 for me … I like it, but just barely.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Fandens Kall”, “Allstøtt”, “Sjelesmerte”, “Bloddråpesvermer”, “Barfrost”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Isråk”

Gloria by Sam Smith:

This is my first time listening to a full Sam Smith album, but I was already familiar with some of their singles, some of which I really like or even love, and some of which I don’t like, so I really wasn’t sure what to expect going into this album, especially considering the variety in the singles of theirs that I do know. But going into this album, I already knew one of the singles, “Unholy”. I like that song, so I was excited to check out the album!

And overall, I’m feeling more positive than negative here … yes, the album is inconsistent, and I often find the percussion kind of annoying, but there’s a lot of honest, personal song writing here that I really like … and there’s also some song writing here that is intentionally stupid, like “Unholy”, which describes a man cheating on his wife and turns it into a fun dance song, but I can’t take that song seriously at all, and I think it’s a banger, even though the percussion does feel really out of place to me.

I like the lyrics about self-love on songs like “Love Me More” and “Gloria”, and also on the Ed Sheeran collaboration, which is probably my favourite song on here, as it’s a beautiful track celebrating love and embracing who you are, and the production is absolutely gorgeous, and both singers do a great job on vocals!

But this album also has the song, “Gimme”, which probably has the most annoying chorus I’ve heard in a 2023 song so far. And with a lot of these songs feeling like they’re missing at least one element in the instrumentation to give them more punch, I think a strong 6/10 feels accurate to describe how I feel about the album as a whole. I love some of these songs, but as a whole album … I like it, but I don’t love it.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Perfect”, “How To Cry”, “Gloria”, “Who We Love”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Gimme”