Hello, everybody. Today I am reviewing an album that was released back in June of this year, Luke Combs’ third studio album, Growin’ Up. Thank you to my cousin, Ali, for recommending this review!

As of right now, this is the only Luke Combs album I’ve ever listened to. I already knew a few of his songs, but I wasn’t super familiar with his music.

And now that I’ve given this album multiple listens … I’m just going to be totally honest and say that this didn’t really click for me. And part of this is that I’m not a big fan of country music in general, but there is some country that I absolutely love … this just didn’t do much for me, though.

The album opens with the song, “Doin’ This”, which features an instrumental that I don’t really like that much, but I do like the lyrics about Luke Combs being asked what he’d do if he weren’t a famous musician … and he’d still be a musician. In the chorus he sings, ‘At the Grand Ole Opry or a show in some no-name town, I’d still be doin’ this if I weren’t doin’ this.’

Next is the song, “Any Given Friday Night”, which sounds to me kind of like a parody of country music someone who doesn’t like country music would make. It’s far from the worst country song I’ve ever heard, but I still don’t like it.

But while I’m not a big fan of either of the first two tracks, I like them both quite a bit more than the third track, “The Kind of Love We Make”, which has super cheesy lyrics, and even aside from that, this just sounds to me like a generic country track without much musically that stands out to me.

Speaking of songs I really don’t like, “On the Other Line” opens with some guitars that are really annoying in my opinion, and from that point on it feels like it doesn’t really go anywhere, at least to me.

Right after that is a collaboration with Miranda Lambert called “Outrunnin’ Your Memory”, which features some good melodies both vocally and instrumentally. It’s closer to clicking for me than the last few songs before it, but the production holds it back for me. I don’t like how much reverb there is on the snare (at least it sounds like there’s quite a bit). Also, something about the way the vocals are produced doesn’t work for me, but it’s hard for me to describe what.

“Used To Wish I Was” features some interesting lyrics where Luke describes different ways his life could have gone, and how he used to wish things turned out differently, but now he’s happy with how things turned out. And while I like the lyrical theme, overall the song just isn’t for me. Once again, there’s just so little in the instrumentation that I find interesting.

After a few more tracks, we finally get to the last two songs, which are also my two favourites. “Middle of Somewhere”, the second-to-last track on this album, features lyrics about a small town, and I love the line, ‘So just remember when you’re driving through nowhere, to us that’s the middle of somewhere.’ And I also like the tight production on this track.

The album closes with another really well-produced track, “Going, Going, Gone”, which also features some great vocal melodies in my opinion, and if I had to pick a favourite song on the album, it’s probably this one.

But still, as a whole, this album mostly bored me. It’s got its moments in my opinion, but overall, I’m going to give this album a 4/10. It’s interesting, and I get the appeal, but it’s not for me.

But, as always, this is just how I felt about the album. Feel free to let me know how you feel about the album and/or what you thought of this review. I’m still pretty new to reviewing music, and I’d like to improve my reviews. My apologies if these reviews aren’t very good, but I’ll try to make them better.

Also, I know I didn’t say a ton about this album … and there’s more I could have written, but I decided to keep it somewhat brief … there are quite a few things I noticed lyrically (some which I liked, some which I didn’t) I either didn’t mention or mentioned briefly, but I’m not very good at analyzing and writing about lyrics (I’m sure I’ll get to a point eventually where I’m good at it), and musically, this album didn’t give me a lot to say. Also, I skipped talking about a few songs, because I had a hard time describing how I felt about them with words. Maybe someday I’ll do a throwback review of this album and review it better. But for now, I’ll be back with more posts soon. Thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “Middle of Somewhere”, “Going, Going, Gone”
Least Favourite Tracks: “The Kind of Love We Make”, “On the Other Line”, “Better Back When”

Hi, everyone. Today, I’m reviewing the debut album by the band, Fleshwater, We’re Not Here to Be Loved.

I hadn’t heard of Fleshwater until the release of this album, but I saw a lot of critical acclaim for it, and I decided to check it out.

I’ve seen this album described as alternative metal, and while I’m bad at determining what genre different albums are, I will say that seems like a fitting description. It’s very heavy, and also features melodic vocals.

And after giving this album multiple listens, if I’m being honest, it’s not something I really see myself going back to.

I just feel like there’s not much about these songs that really stands out to me. I don’t find the hooks very catchy, and I find a lot of the melodies boring.

It’s not that I find this album annoying to listen to, I just find that it doesn’t really interest me all that much. They have their sound, and I understand why so many people love it, but it’s just not for me.

I want to start by talking about the closing track, “Foreign”, which is my favourite track on the album. I like the lyrics, even though I don’t really understand what they mean … but the passing of time seems to be a theme here. I also find this track interesting musically, with the way it progresses. I love the guitars in this song, too. But while I like this track, I’m not going to say it’s amazing or anything. I’m not a big fan of the mixing, with the drums being really quiet at points, and that does hold me back from liking it more.

But until the closing track, this album just isn’t my cup of tea. And one thing I’ve noticed that I’m not a big fan of on this album is a lot of the vocal mixing … I don’t like how quietly the vocals are mixed at some points on this album, like on “Baldpate Driver”, “Woohoo”, “Linda Claire”, “Kiss the Ladder”, “Enjoy”, and even “Foreign”. And it’s not that quietly mixed vocals are always an issue for me, especially in this kind of music, where a lot of the time, quietly mixed vocals help it click for me. But on this album, a lot of the instrumentals I don’t find all that interesting. For example, on “Baldpate Driver”, which has this noisy instrumental, which, at least to me, sounds very generic, and there’s not much melodically in the instrumentation that really clicks for me … and like I said, I don’t like how it drowns out the vocals.

While I often love distorted guitars, something in a lot of the distorted guitars here just doesn’t sound very good to me, and I’m not sure how to describe it. I notice this on songs like “Closet”, “The Razor’s Apple”, “Linda Claire”, “Kiss the Ladder”, and “Backstairs Breathing”. On these tracks, something about the guitar distortion just doesn’t work for me, and I can’t really tell what.

In the second half of this album, we get my two least favourite tracks here, one being “Kiss the Ladder” which isn’t even really a full song … it’s less than a minute and a half, and while I like the opening guitar melody, aside from that it doesn’t really do much for me.

Right after that is the song, “Enjoy”, which, at least to me, sounds very generic, with the boring vocal melodies and the intense guitars that don’t do much for me.

Overall, despite me liking the closing track, I’d rather just listen to that song than listen to the eight other tracks before finally getting to one song I like. So, as a full album, this just didn’t click for me.

I wanted to review this, because I gave it a few listens, and it’s a debut album by a metal band, and it didn’t seem like too much work for me to review, especially considering that it doesn’t give me a lot to say … but yeah, like I just said, it doesn’t give me a lot to say.

But, of course, as always, this is just how I feel about the album. For me, this is getting a 4.5/10. I don’t think it’s bad, but I don’t find it all that interesting. But I get the appeal of it.

Feel free to let me know in the comments how you feel about this album, and I’ll be back with more reviews soon! Thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Foreign”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Kiss the Ladder”, “Enjoy”

Hi, everyone. Welcome to another post of mini reviews! I have more album reviews coming soon, but for now … here are nine mini reviews (eight new albums and one throwback)!

As always, this is just me talking about my taste in music and how much or how little these albums clicked for me personally. I’m not trying to be ‘objective’ or anything like that. None of this is meant as a personal attack on anyone.

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

Blue Rev by Alvvays:

What a way to start off this post!

Alvvays are a band who I knew had gotten a lot of critical acclaim, but I hadn’t ever listened to an album of theirs until now … and I’m so happy I decided to listen to this album, because it’s AMAZING!

If you’re looking for some alternative rock that uses reverb (or at least what sounds like reverb) really well, has great mixing, and great melodies, I would highly recommend this album!

“Pharmacist” opens the album, and I love the synths on this track, as well as the fantastic mixing … and the album gets even better with songs like “Easy On Your Own?”, a song that’s just so magical with the beautiful production, and the small details add so much to this track, like what sounds like a synth in the background in the verses. I also love the guitar distortion.

Molly Rankin is an absolutely incredible vocalist, and I love how the vocals are mixed, too!

This album has a lot of variety. There are the faster-paced songs like “After The Earthquake”, which has that awesome guitar solo at the end, or “Pressed”, which has some absolutely amazing vocal melodies! But there are also some mellower tracks like “Lottery Noises” (which still has an awesome buildup at the end) and “Tile By Tile”. And then there are songs like “Very Online Guy” and “Bored In Bristol”, both of which feel totally different from so much of this album, but they don’t really feel too out of place to me … also, they’re both amazing songs!

For me, Blue Rev by Alvvays gets a 9/10! 

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “Easy On Your Own?”, “After The Earthquake”, “Very Online Guy”, “Velveteen”, “Tile By Tile”, “Pomeranian Spinster”, “Bored In Bristol”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Fourth Figure”

Crybaby by Tegan and Sara:

Before listening to this album, I hadn’t really listened to much Tegan and Sara … I had listened to their 2013 album, Heartthrob, once, and that’s about it. In preparation for this review, I decided to re-listen to that album, and while I’ve only listened to it twice, it’s still worth noting that both times, I found it mostly boring, and I didn’t like the majority of the production.

Now, I feel like most people have at least one ‘celebrity connection’ … maybe you know a celebrity, or you know someone who knows a celebrity, or you’re related to a celebrity … something like that. One of mine is that I know Tegan and Sara’s uncle, and maybe that’s partially what made me want to listen to this album. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain … but a lot of the time, when I hear the name, Tegan and Sara, I think of the fact that I know their uncle … even though I’ve never even met Tegan or Sara.

Anyway, after giving this album multiple listens … yeah, I like this a lot more than Heartthrob.

Now, that’s not to say this album doesn’t have its weaknesses in my opinion. There are times where it feels like there was so much potential that wasn’t lived up to. Obviously, I’m not the one to make the artistic choices for this album, and all of this is just based on my personal taste, but I want to mention a big example of this, which is during the bridge of “Sometimes I See Stars”. There’s this awkward key change, and I can hear in my head what it could have sounded like to make it really click for me, but it doesn’t go there.

There are also some things that don’t work for me in the production, like the snare being mixed really quietly in “This Ain’t Going Well”, and the instruments sounding kind of disconnected from each other in “I’m Okay.”

There’s also the song, “Fucking Up What Matters”, which is easily my least favourite on the album. I really don’t like the production on this track, with the bass feeling underpowered, and the snare sounding overproduced. I also don’t like how much louder the drums are than the rest of the instrumentation in the verses. I find the chorus of this song pretty boring, and also the bridge.

But that being said … there’s a lot to like here, too! And I’ll start by talking about some of my favourite hooks on this album, like the soaring hook on “Smoking Weed Alone”, with that buzzing synth in the background, and that snare which is mixed super well! I also love how the percussion is mixed on the hook of “Under My Control”, which also has a great melody on the hook. Also, despite what I mentioned about the bridge of “Sometimes I See Stars”, I will admit it’s got a great hook, with that awesome vocal effect!

I mean … overall, while this album has its flaws in my opinion, I still really like it … outside of a few songs, it’s consistently good, and while there are some production choices that don’t work for me, I think it’s a well-produced album for the most part. This is a really good album, it’s getting a 7.5/10 from me, and while it’s definitely a great example of an album that’s ‘not for everybody’ (even though there are pretty much no albums—probably none—that everyone, if they heard it, would like), if you have the time, I recommend you listen to it. It’s got a lot of variety, and you’ll probably at least find a song or two that you like. And for me, it works as a full album!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “All I Wanted”, “Smoking Weed Alone”, “Pretty Shitty Time”, “Under My Control”, “Whatever That Was”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Fucking Up What Matters”, “I’m Okay”

Being Funny In a Foreign Language by The 1975:

I’m not super familiar with The 1975’s music … I mean, I used to listen to a lot of their singles, many of which I don’t remember that well, but that was back when I would trick myself into thinking I loved pretty much all music I heard, so I’m not sure what I’d think about a lot of those songs now. And I’ve recently started to listen to some of their music … I listened to some of their singles I used to listen to, some of which I really like, some of which I don’t like. I also recently listened to their debut album, and while I need more listens to really know how I feel about it, so far it hasn’t really clicked for me. But despite this, The 1975 are near the top of my list of bands whose discography I want to listen through.

And there’s a good chance you’re thinking, ‘Simon, if you haven’t really been liking what you’ve heard by them, why would they be near the top of that list?’ And part of the reason is because of some singles of theirs that I love, but also … well, even though from what I’ve heard by them, they don’t seem like a band I’d really like that much … I’m fascinated by this band. And you never know, maybe I’ll end up loving some of their albums!

Part of the reason I’m so fascinated by this band is because of the very mixed opinions I’ve seen and heard about them. Of course, like any famous artist, lots of people like their music, and lots of people don’t … but I especially notice this with The 1975, and there aren’t a lot of bands I can think of whom I’ve noticed this with more than The 1975. 

Maybe in a different post when I write about this band, I’ll explain more about why their music fascinates me so much, but for now I want to talk about their newest album, Being Funny In a Foreign Language, which seems to be their most critically acclaimed album to date … and personally, I really don’t like this album. There are some songs here that I barely even understand the appeal of … and if you love these songs, that’s great! I respect your opinion, even though I have a hard time understanding. For example, the song “Wintering”, which, to me, offers pretty much nothing interesting at all, with underpowered percussion and guitars, and the instruments sounding super disconnected … and I don’t find the vocal melodies interesting, either. “Part of the Band” is similar to me … while I respect the effort it takes to even make a song, it’s hard for me not to wonder how “Part of the Band” was even written, because as someone who’s helped write songs, I just wonder what the idea was for this song … I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it, I’m just saying I don’t understand it. But I’m not trying to judge the artistic choices here, I’m just writing about how I feel about this song, and I don’t like it.

Even some of this album’s most critically acclaimed songs don’t click for me that much. For example, “Oh Caroline”, which I think had a lot of potential, and the melodies in this song make it almost work for me, but the production sounds really messy, and for a song that sounds like it was supposed to be the big, epic moment on the album that makes everybody want to dance (yes, I know, I described this horribly lol), the messy production stops it from fully clicking for me. Also, “Happiness” sounds to me like the song was recorded, and then somebody went into the studio, messed around with the production without hearing how it sounded, and then said, ‘This is the final version.’ (I’m not saying that’s what happened … I’m almost positive it’s not what happened. I’m just saying it sounds that way to me.) But unlike “Oh Caroline”, I don’t really like the vocal melodies on this song.

I do like the lyrics discussing gun violence on “Looking For Somebody (To Love)”, and I like that it tries to understand gun violence without excusing it. Also, “About You” is a great track with a great vocal effect, and I love the synths that are super loud in the mix, but for whatever reason, it really fits the song for me. “About You” is easily my favourite song on the album.

But one more song I want to mention before the review is over is “I’m In Love With You” … I find the hook of this song so annoying … I mean, I’ve heard worse hooks, but still, whether or not you agree with me on this hook, if you listen to it, you’ll probably understand where I’m coming from.

Personally, I really don’t like the production on this album, and there’s not a lot in the vocal melodies that I like, either. While I respect the creativity of this album, it’s just not for me. 3/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3/10
Favourite Tracks: “Looking For Somebody (To Love)”, “About You”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Happiness”, “Part of the Band”, “I’m In Love With You”, “All I Need To Hear”, “Wintering”

Forget Your Own Face by Black Dresses:

So, yes, I know this album came out way earlier in the year … but because it’s from this year, I don’t count it as a throwback. And after seeing how short this album is, I decided to check it out … and …

Well, it’s interesting, to say the least. Now, let me start by saying that if you can’t stand metal, you’re probably not going to like this, even though it’s not really a metal album … or is it?

Well, that’s a tricky question to answer, as I’m not very good at defining genres … but it has a lot of elements of metal in it. The screaming, as well as the noisy, chaotic sounds.

While I find this album interesting, it didn’t fully click for me. I think the first two tracks are really hard-hitting, but after that, it starts to sound a bit too all over the place.

I think I prefer the heavier moments over the mellower moments … but I often feel like the heavy and mellow moments on this album don’t mix together in a way I really like, and I’m not really sure why.

Overall, for me, Forget Your Own Face by Black Dresses gets a 5.5/10. It’s an enjoyable album, but not one I see myself going back to.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “U_U2”, “Let’s Be”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Earth Worm”, “Money Makes You Stupid”

Nymph by Shygirl:

And speaking of interesting experiments that don’t really click for me … yeah, I feel kind of similarly toward this album to how I feel about Forget Your Own Face. There are some cool ideas, and I like some of the songs here, and it feels like I could try to force myself to feel like I love this album, but that just wouldn’t be true.

“Firefly” was the first song I heard from this album, and it’s pretty enjoyable to listen to. It’s got some good vocal melodies, that’s for sure … but I’m just left feeling like it’s missing something to make it fully click for me.

And that’s kind of how I feel about the album as a whole. That’s not to say there aren’t tracks here that I like, such as “Woe” (I love the production on this one), “Come For Me” (the percussion sounds amazing here), “Coochie (a bedtime story)”, and the closing track, “Wildfire”. It’s just not an album I see myself going out of my way to listen to as a whole.

I’m giving this album a 5/10 … it’s interesting, but not really for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Woe”, “Come For Me”, “Coochie (a bedtime story)”, “Wildfire”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Little Bit”, “Nike”, “Poison”, “Missin u”

THROWBACK REVIEW – Pang by Caroline Polachek (2019):

I always say that the scores I give albums are just based on my own personal taste, and that’s it … and while I respect different people’s opinions, and I respect this album a lot … do you ever see a huge amount of critical acclaim for an album, and it seems like pretty much everybody agrees that it’s amazing, and then you listen to the album, and you’re just left wondering, ‘What am I missing?’

Now, that’s not to say I don’t get why some people love this album … it’s just that I don’t get why it’s so agreeably great. And personally, I find the vast majority of this album to be a slog to get through. For example, the song, “Door”, which features a repetitive chorus that I find kind of annoying.

“Hit Me Where It Hurts” just sounds so boring to me … although I do like the production on this song. But aside from that, there’s so little to this song that clicks for me.

And speaking of boring … “I Give Up” … exists. That’s pretty much all it really gives me to say. The thing about this song I find most interesting is how uninteresting I find it.

And I know I don’t have a huge amount of followers, but if I had more followers than I do, I feel like this would cause a ton of controversy for me to say, but “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings”, possibly the most critically acclaimed song on this album, is one of those songs that pretty much everybody seems to agree is absolutely amazing, and I just don’t get it … there’s not much in the instrumental that I like, the vocal melodies are boring to me, and the ‘show me the banana’ line is so cheesy.

But I don’t think that’s the most controversial opinion in this review … because there’s also the song, “Ocean of Tears”, which isn’t one of my least favourites on the album, mostly because of a fantastic bassline and some great synths … but aside from that, this song sounds to me like a modern-day Maroon 5 single. Yes, you read that right. And while I’m not super familiar with Maroon 5’s music, based on what I have heard from them in recent years, this isn’t a compliment.

But I want to end off this review talking about the one song here that I like … and honestly, I can’t even put into words how much I love the song, “Insomnia”. It pretty much must be heard to be believed! It’s so interesting to me how I find so much of this album to be so boring, but in the middle of the album is a song I love this much! And I don’t even know where to begin with this song … I mean, Caroline’s vocals on this song are arguably some of the best vocals I’ve heard on any song from the past five years! Also, the lyrics, the vocal melodies, and the instrumental are all beyond fantastic, and it’s even better when you put it all together! Honestly, I don’t even know what else to say about this song, because whatever I say about it will feel like a massive understatement … but I will say this: to me and many others, music is much more than a hobby … and my feelings about this song are a huge example of that. I’m sure I’ll end up writing about this song in the future, but for now, I want to make it clear that this is an incredibly special song to me, and despite me finding the vast majority of this album to be a slog to get through (and also pretty annoying sometimes), this song brings the score up to a 4/10. Even though I don’t like this album, I’m so glad I took the time to listen through it, because otherwise I probably never would have discovered this song.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “Insomnia”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Hit Me Where It Hurts”, “I Give Up”, “Hey Big Eyes”, “Go As a Dream”, “Caroline Shut Up”, “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings”, “Door”

Threshold by Cloud Rat:

So, I saw quite a bit of critical acclaim for this album, and … well, I don’t think I’m as big a fan of this album as most critics are, but I do like it overall.

For the most part, I love how the snares sound, and while I think the album could have used more variety, it’s still got some great songs, and I love the intensity in the guitar and drumming. The vocals and instrumentation also sound awesome together!

Some of the shorter songs don’t click for me as much, like “Listening Ear” and “Shepherd”, both of which just kind of feel like they come and go without leaving much of an impact on me, and like I said, this album could have used more variety in my opinion, but there’s still a lot to like here.

For me, this is a 6.5/10. If you’re into metal, I recommend it. If you’re not into metal … well, you probably won’t like this. But as a metal fan myself, this clicked for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Aluminum Branches”, “12-22-09”, “Imaging Order”, “Kaleidoscope”, “Corset”, “Babahaz”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Listening Ear”, “Shepherd”, “Persocom”

Datura by Boston Manor:

So, I care a lot about production and mixing in music … it’s a big part of what forms my opinions … and while it’s often hard for me to describe with words what kinds of production and mixing really click for me, I can say this: if you want an example of the kind of production and mixing that I absolutely love, listen to Boston Manor’s new album, Datura. The snares are hard-hitting but not too loud, and I love how the distorted guitars sound.

There are also a lot of super catchy hooks on this album, especially the hook on “Passenger”. It reminds me a lot of the song, “Flux” by Poppy … and considering how much I love that song, that’s a huge compliment! But I’ll even go further … I think I like “Passenger” even better! The vocal melodies are fantastic, the guitars and drums sound awesome together, and it’s mixed super well! I also love how at times some of the instrumentation is taken out, which helps it hit even harder when all the instrumentation kicks in again! This song is absolutely incredible!

Musically, “Foxglove” starts off pretty simple, but simple doesn’t necessarily mean boring or uninteresting. I personally love this song! The snare is mixed super well, and the guitar sounds awesome, too! I love the hook on this song, too! But while this song starts off mostly simple, once it gets to the bridge, there’s this ascending guitar progression that adds a lot to the track, and if I remember correctly, it kind of surprised me!

“Floodlights on the Square” is one of my favourites on the album, if not my favourite. The melodies in the instrumentation are fantastic, and I love the production and mixing, too!

I could go on and on about this album, but I’ve already done that with multiple albums in this post so far, and these are supposed to be mini reviews. But this is easily one of my favourite albums of 2022, and I’d be shocked if it doesn’t make my top 50 of the year! So, with that being said, I’ll assume I’ll have more to say at the end of the year, and right now, I’m going to give this a strong 9/10! Keep in mind, that doesn’t mean it was almost a 10 … it was almost a 9.5. But still, I think me giving this a strong 9/10 tells you a lot about how I feel about this album … and if you’re a fan of rock, I highly recommend this album … also, it’s not even a half hour long, but it’s still a great full album experience!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “Floodlights on the square”, “Foxglove”, “Passenger”, “Shelter from the rain”, “Inertia”
Least Favourite Tracks: I guess the two that aren’t in my favourite tracks, if I had to pick

Enveloping Absurdity by Phobophilic:

So … where do I begin with this one?

It’s very rare that my opinion on an album is changed this much by one song … but it happens, and in this case, one song makes an otherwise fantastic metal album just decent for me.

I want to be careful with how I write this review, because while I’m sure the intentions were good on the closing track (which is also the title track), I absolutely can’t stand the lyrics on this song. This song features the line, ‘This absurd human experience, can it only be corrected by suicide?’ Obviously, the answer to that question is no, and while that’s the message this song trying to send, I don’t like the way it’s done, because it doesn’t clearly send that message … and to me, if that line is going to be included, it would have had to more clearly send the message that the answer is no.

And I actually really like the way the closing track sounds, with the really well-mixed drumming, and the awesome guitars. I still really don’t like the song, but the way it sounds at least saves it from being among my least favourite songs of the year.

I’ll admit there are songs I like even less that end up on albums I love … and when I like the rest of this album so much, you might be wondering why this song ruins it for me.

Well, it’s partially because of the song itself, and partially because it’s the closing track. It works so terribly as a closing track in my opinion, because there’s nothing that comes after it to send the right message.

Of course, some might think it does a better job of sending the right message than I think it does … but for me, it ruins the album.

I mean, there are still some great songs here, specifically “Those Which Stare Back”, which is probably one of my favourite songs of 2022 so far, with its awesome progression musically, and the drums are mixed amazingly well!

Overall, this album was so close to really clicking for me, but I can’t help but be pissed off by the last track, even though I’m sure the intentions were good. And I don’t mean this as a personal attack on anybody. Again, while it pisses me off, it might end up really helping somebody! Art is subjective, and like with every album I review, I’m just sharing my opinion.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Enantiodromia”, “Those Which Stare Back”, “Cathedrals of Blood (Twilight of the Idols)”, “The Illusion of Self”, “Survive in Obscurity”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Enveloping Absurdity”

Hello, everyone … as I work on my next post of multiple mini reviews, I have a review of an album I was very excited about: the new Taylor Swift album, Midnights. I’ve been planning on reviewing this album for a while, and now it’s finally out.

This is a review of the standard thirteen-track edition of this album. I’ve heard some of the bonus tracks, and I will listen to all of them at some point, but for now I’m just reviewing the standard edition.

Now, before I get into my thoughts on the album, I want to talk about my opinions on Taylor Swift’s music up to this point.

I would consider myself a pretty big fan of Taylor Swift … and calling myself a ‘pretty big fan’ kind of feels like an understatement, but the reason I use that term instead of ‘huge fan’ or anything like that is just because I haven’t listened to enough of Taylor Swift’s music to call myself a ‘huge fan’, specifically her early music.

That’s not to say that I love everything I know by Taylor Swift, but overall, I’m a pretty big fan. And I had very high expectations … until the album came out and I started seeing some mixed reviews, which were way more negative than I expected.

I also saw that this was more of a pop album than her last few, which I was surprised to find out. But anyway, now that I’ve given the album multiple listens, how do I feel about it?

If I had a huge following, this review would cause a ton of controversy … for a few different reasons. First of all, my opinions on some specific songs on this album are quite controversial. Also, I am a reviewer who nitpicks a lot about production, and this review is no exception to that. But another reason is because … well … unfortunately, I think it’s a pretty big step down from evermore. And no, it’s not because Taylor Swift went back to making pop music … in fact, I think I prefer 1989 over evermore if I had to choose between the two. I think 1989 is a really, really good album, and this album reminds me of it in a lot of ways … but the production is a big part of why this album doesn’t click for me as much as 1989. And also melodies.

That being said, I want to mention a fourth big reason why this might be a controversial review … which is that, despite me finding this album quite disappointing, I think it’s better than a lot of people are giving it credit for. I don’t think this album is bad. Just very disappointing, considering how excited I was about it.

I’m going to have a lot to say here, and I’m going to start by going through each track on the album. Then I’ll have more to say after that.

“Lavender Haze” opens the album, and at least to me, it sounds like a generic radio hit from 2015. In my opinion, it has pretty basic percussion, not a lot melodically that really clicks for me, and I don’t like the mixing, either, with the percussion way louder than the other instrumentation.

Where I think this album gets more interesting is on the second song, “Maroon”, which features a really nice buzzing synth with percussion that’s mixed really well. This song also has a very 1989 feeling to it, and I think it’s done well, even though I think it’s far from as good as the best songs on 1989.

Then there’s the song, “Anti-Hero”, which I feel conflicted on. I love the vocals and vocal melodies on the verses. It’s a song that I still think is pretty decent, but I feel like there’s so much missed potential here. I just find that it kind of kills the song for me when the chorus kicks in with, ‘It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem. It’s me.’ That just feels really cheesy to me and the chorus doesn’t have much melodically that clicks for me. Also, there are some extra synths added into the chorus which feel out of place. Also, I don’t mean this as a good thing or a bad thing, but am I the only one who thinks the post-chorus sounds kind of like a Christmas song?

But what I will say for sure is that I like it more than the next track here, “Snow On The Beach”, which features Lana Del Rey. There’s just not much here that I find all that interesting. I think it starts off promising, but as the song goes on, the production starts to annoy me a bit, specifically with the bass just sounding kind of … awkward. And I’m not even sure how to describe why. The post-chorus feels unnecessarily repetitive to me, too. Also, the drums are mixed so quietly on this track to the point where I wonder why they’re even here.

But then there’s the one I’m sure so many fans were the most excited about, and that is track five. If you know, you know. “You’re On Your Own, Kid” is track five on Midnights, and it’s a song I respect a lot more than I like. It seems to be a very personal song to Taylor, and I’m not trying to disrespect that. But I personally just find the melodies kind of boring, and there’s not a lot in the instrumentation that really grabs my attention, either. Something just feels missing to make it fully click for me.

When I saw the track list of the album for the first time, the one that I was most excited about was probably “Midnight Rain”, the sixth song here, just because … I don’t know, I guess the title just really gave me a good feeling about this song. And I will admit the song disappointed me a bit, as it’s nowhere near being close to one of my favourite Taylor Swift songs, but I still think it’s one of the better songs on the album. I think it’s mixed really well, with the percussion and synths sounding really good together. I also really like the chorus of this song.

The next song, “Question…?”, has some good melodies in it, but I don’t like the boring beat in the first half of the song, as well as that synth that continues throughout pretty much the entire track and really doesn’t fit with the song in my opinion.

Right after that is my least favourite track here, “Vigilante Shit”. Musically, it kind of sounds like my least favourite track on Lover, “You Need To Calm Down”, if it were on Reputation. The percussion sounds absolutely terrible in my opinion, and there’s so little in the instrumentation, which isn’t always a bad thing, but when there’s so little here melodically that interests me, all there really is to focus on is the lyrics, which I’ll talk a bit about later. But still, musically, this song is a total mess in my opinion.

The next song on this album is “Bejeweled”, which I think has some really good lyrics, and I like a lot of the melodies, too. But there’s one big issue I want to point out here, which is how quiet the bass is. If the bass weren’t so quiet, I think this would have been one of my favourites on the album, but it really holds this back for me, and makes it feel like it’s missing something.

But right after that is the one song here that I truly love, and that is “Labyrinth”. I love the production on this song, and there’s some details that really just bring it to another level for me, like the part a minute and a half in where all the instrumentation goes away except for that synth (or whatever it is) which sounds absolutely incredible! Also, there’s a sound with about twenty seconds left in the song which I’m not really sure how to describe other than that it reminds me of the Radiohead song, “Kid A”. That’s a huge compliment! But most notably, the detail that I probably love the most in this song is that rising sequence of four notes that keeps showing up throughout this song. It’s such a magical sound that I never get tired of listening to! Especially in the context of this song, where it fits pretty much perfectly!

“Karma” is another one of my favourites on the album. It’s got a great chorus, percussion that’s mixed well, and the synths add lots of detail, but instead of too much to the point where it feels like a bunch of random synths added in to make it sound like there’s more here than there really is, it’s the right amount of detail in my opinion. I also really like the glitchy intro of this song. It’s just a really enjoyable song to listen to, and I’ve added it to my sunny day playlist!

After that is the second-to-last track, “Sweet Nothing”, which is enjoyable while it’s on, but there’s not much about this track that makes it stand out to me. At least to me, it’s just kind of … there.

Finally, there’s the closing track, “Mastermind”, which sounds like it’s really lacking something in the instrumentation, and I can’t quite tell what. Maybe more powerful percussion? Maybe another synth? I’m not sure, but something feels missing to me. Overall, there’s not a lot melodically that I like in this track, either. I just don’t really like this track as a closer, or as a song in general.

But, of course, considering this is a Taylor Swift album, it doesn’t feel right for me to review this album without talking about the lyrics.

I think despite some highlights in the production, I do think it’s a bit of an issue for me on this album. Same with the melodies. But for the most part, the lyrics are one element of this album that do work for me. But it’s not just about the lyrics of each individual song, as—like probably every Taylor Swift album I’ve listened to—there seem to be some themes throughout the album where songs connect together.

Now, I feel it’s worth mentioning that, personally, I don’t listen to music for the lyrics as much as I listen for production and melodies. In other words, compared to a lot of critics, I don’t care as much about lyrics. But lyrics do still contribute to my opinions, just not as much as they probably do for most.

Now, there’s a part of me that wants to say, ‘Look, as much as I like a lot of the lyrics, it’s too much for me to fully understand unless I put in way more effort than I want to to try and make it all make sense.’ And no, I’m not going to spend all my time looking into the lyrics to find all the details … but there’s a lot to these lyrics, and I decided to try to analyze the lyrics a bit more than I would for most albums.

I also want to make it clear that, as always, these are just my personal interpretations of the lyrics. I might be totally missing the point.

Also, as always, any ‘criticisms’ here are not meant to be disrespectful. I understand that a lot of these lyrics are very personal to Taylor, and I’m just sharing whether or not these lyrics click for me personally.

So, with all that being said, I think the best place for me to start is by talking about the song, “Anti-Hero”, which is the album’s first single … and like I said earlier, I feel conflicted on this song, with the verses sounding fantastic to me, but the chorus not so much. But overall, I like the lyrics. In this song, Taylor seems to be painting herself as the villain, calling herself the anti-hero … and there are some great lines here in my opinion, most notably the line in the second verse, ‘sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby, and I’m a monster on the hill.’ But I’m still left feeling like the upbeat sound of the song doesn’t really work with the lyrics.

Now, there are also some other songs where Taylor is singing about revenge and karma, one example of the latter being on—you guessed it—the song, “Karma”, where she calls out somebody’s bad actions, calling karma ‘a relaxing thought’, because she wants to feel like this person’s going to have to face some sort of consequence for these actions. Revenge is a theme on “Vigilante Shit”, and even though I really don’t like how this song sounds, I mostly like the lyrics on this song, with Taylor giving somebody proof of something this person’s spouse did. It’s still my least favourite track here, but it’s closer than it would have been if it weren’t for the lyrics.

But the thing is … I’m kind of left wondering what the point of the album is lyrically. It kind of feels all over the place. And that doesn’t ruin the album for me … there are albums I love in which I don’t really care about the lyrics! It’s just that I’m not really a big fan of a lot of the melodies and production, and while I like most of the lyrics, I feel like this album needed something more to really click for me … and if I liked the way the themes were tied together more, it might have gotten there for me.

Now, I want to talk about some other lyrics on this album, including the song, “You’re On Your Own, Kid” … and while I find the melodies and instrumentation really boring, I love the lyrics on this song, which seem to be about mistakes Taylor made in the past, all to try and get a relationship to work out, but it never did, and she acknowledges that she went too far. Like I said earlier, this is just my interpretation, but I love the lyrics here. I just wish I liked the instrumentation and melodies more.

I also love the self-confidence on “Bejeweled”, and I feel like this song was so close to clicking for me, but the thing I mentioned earlier about the bass just holds it back for me, as well as the verses sounding kind of boring instrumentally.

I also love the lyrics on the outro of “Midnight Rain”, where Taylor seems to be looking back at a past relationship from before she got famous, and I love the line, ‘I guess sometimes we all get some kind of haunted, some kind of haunted. And I never think of him, except on midnights like this.’

“Labyrinth” shows Taylor falling in love, and worrying that the relationship will fail, and I think the lyrics fit really well with the sound of this song.

But back to the idea of Taylor painting herself as the villain, I want to briefly mention the song, “Mastermind”. While I understand this song isn’t meant to be taken seriously, it is creepy lyrically. And it’s songs like this that hold the album back for me … even though there are a lot of great lyrics on this album, and I like the majority of the lyrics on this album, I don’t find the lyrics as consistently good as they would almost have to be in order for this album to click for me despite my feelings on the production, melodies, and instrumentals.

So, overall … I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m giving Midnights a 5/10. It’s one of the most disappointing albums of the year for me, but again, a lot of that is due to just how high my expectations for this album were. There are some real highlights on this album for me, too. But as a whole, I don’t see myself going back to this anytime too soon.

But as always, this is just how I felt about the album. Feel free to let me know in the comments what you thought of it. Overall, it’s an album I respect a lot more than I like.

If there are any other albums you want me to review, 2022 albums or otherwise, feel free to let me know … no guarantee I’ll review them, but there’s a chance.

I have another mini review post I’m working on right now … I’m not sure when it’ll get posted, but hopefully soon.

I really appreciate all the support I’ve gotten so far, and thanks to everyone who has read my reviews!

And with that, I’ll be back with more posts soon!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Maroon”, “Midnight Rain”, “Labyrinth”, “Karma”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Lavender Haze”, “Snow On The Beach”, “Vigilante Shit”, “Mastermind”

Hello, everyone. So, I said a while back that I had one more album review before I mostly take a break from posting album reviews … well, this is that review. Even since then, I’ve already made a post with seven mini reviews, and at this point it’s hard for me to predict what I’ll be posting on this website over the next few months before my year-end lists … but for now, here’s an album review I wanted to post a while ago, but better late than never!

Anyway, this is a first for me.

Up until now, I have never reviewed music by anybody whom I know in real life. Spade are a duo consisting of Spade Hoile and Steve Wright, both of whom I used to be in a band with for a week or so when I was a lot younger.

Now, of course, this creates a challenge for me as a music reviewer … because I have to try to put aside the bias of knowing the artists. Of course there’s a part of me that says, ‘Simon, you have to like this.’

But I tried to put aside that bias, and on my first few listens, the album wasn’t really clicking for me that much … but after listening to it more, it’s grown on me a lot! And that’s when I asked both Steve and Spade whether or not they were okay with me reviewing it (it didn’t feel right to me to review an album by people I know in real life without asking first … as far as I know, it’s allowed, but personally, I wanted to ask). I told them it was going to be a positive review, because I’d listened to the album quite a bit at that point, and I already really liked it … but since then, this album has grown on me even more, to the point where it’s one of my favourite albums of 2022!

Now, I will say, as much as I tried to put aside the bias of knowing the artists, I can’t say with 100% certainty that it didn’t impact my opinion … but, hey, I can’t guarantee that I’d feel the same about any album if it weren’t for some factor unrelated to the album itself.

So, I’ll start by saying that this album does a great job of sounding like a conventional rock album, without feeling too generic or simplistic. It’s super creative with lots of details in the instrumentation, and uses interesting song structures.

This album reminds me quite a bit of Fear Of The Dawn by Jack White from earlier this year (which I reviewed in my post with ten mini reviews). But while I kind of like Fear Of The Dawn, I like this album way more, and I find it a lot more consistent.

Title the Document begins with the song, “Spokes”, and while I’m not a big fan of this track as an individual track, I think it’s a key track on the album as an opener, starting the album off on a more pessimistic note, but the lyrics seem to get more optimistic as the album goes on.

The second song on the album is “Game Point”, which features really interesting lyrics relating to pressure kids feel from their parents. The percussion is mixed super well, especially the crash cymbals with the guitar riff, which, by the way, is an awesome riff.

Despite “Game Point” being a fantastic song, right after that is a song that, in my opinion, is so much better than the first two, and that is “Home Is Where the Art Is”. This song features awesome guitar, both clean and distorted, and fantastic drumming. The drums are also incredibly well mixed, as is pretty much everything in this song. Overall, the production on this song is fantastic, and I love the progression of it, too! Steve sounds great vocally on this track, and I especially love the vocal harmonies between Steve and Spade when they sing the title line together! It’s songs like these that represent why I love music so much, not only because it kind of seems to be the point (look at the title of the song), but also because of just how much I love the way this song sounds! It’s one of my favourite songs of 2022 so far!

Speaking of great production and great vocal harmonies, “Derealization” is also really well mixed, and Steve and Spade sound great vocally here. The guitars sound fantastic, too, and I also love the piano outro!

“Out of Hand” is also incredibly well produced. I love how it changes between clean and distorted guitar, the drumming is great, and the timing of the instruments is great, too! There is something minor here that makes me like the song a bit less, which is the line in the chorus, ‘I needed to rhyme’, which makes this line rhyme with the last two. That line just doesn’t really work for me, but it doesn’t even come close to ruining the song.

“The Long Internal Struggle” starts off with some great guitar and drums, and I think the instrumentation that sounds kind of happy and kind of sad fits the lyrics well. I interpret this song to be about mental health struggles, but it’s got some optimism, too.

“My Dear Heart” has an absolutely incredible guitar riff that I can’t even put into words … you’ll just have to hear it to understand. The mixing is fantastic, too.

Even early on, before the album grew on me, I loved “Rest in Pieces”. The drumming on this song is fantastic, and it’s mixed super well, too. The song starts off with an awesome guitar riff … and I also love the mellow part with the clean guitars sounding amazing! And this song also has a great opening line, ‘Have you ever thought about perspective? I mean other than your own.’

Right after that is the song, “Utopia”, which I’m not a big fan of. While I feel like this song is pretty enjoyable, there’s not a lot about it that really makes it special to me personally. I like some elements of it, like the guitar solo (especially with that high-pitched sound in the background), and the guitars throughout this song sound great, but to me it kind of feels like it doesn’t go anywhere.

While “Massive Gap” isn’t one of my favourites on the album, that says more about how great the album is than anything. This is such a bizarre song that somehow works for me. The transition from the heavier verses into the chorus seem like something that on paper shouldn’t click for me … but for whatever reason, I think it works!

“This Is Truth”, while I may be misinterpreting it, seems to be from the perspective of a person who so badly wants to believe they’re right all the time that they’re never willing to see other perspectives. The drumming is fantastic, and I love that slide in the background.

Finally, the album closes with what I feel is one of the best songs here, “We Live Forever”. This ends the album on a mostly optimistic note, and just like most of the tracks here, the guitar and drums are mixed super well. I love the opening guitar riff, and I love how layered the instrumentation is, with nothing really feeling out of place!

Look, I reached out to Spade and Steve to make sure they were okay with me reviewing this album, and I told them it would be a positive review … even then, I didn’t know it would be this positive … the album grew on me even more, and at this point, I’m giving it a 9/10. I’d be shocked if this doesn’t make my year-end list of my favourite albums of 2022.

This is an amazing album, and if you’re into rock, I highly recommend that you give this album a listen!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9/10
Favourite Tracks: “Game Point”, “Home Is Where the Art Is”, “Derealization”, “Out of Hand”, “The Long Internal Struggle”, “My Dear Heart”, “Rest in Pieces”, “This Is Truth”, “We Live Forever”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Spokes”, “Utopia”

Hello, everyone! I’m back!

Yes, I know it’s been a while. I originally had the plan to do one more album review before mostly taking a break from album reviews, but that one review (which I’m still going to post) is taking longer than expected, and some of the other ideas for posts I had also aren’t happening as soon as I expected. So, why not do some more mini album reviews?

First of all, I have a lot more to say about some of these albums than others. I didn’t want to spend too much time on this post, and also, these are supposed to be ‘mini reviews’ … but some of these albums I had more I wanted to say about.

Also, as always, none of this is meant as a personal attack on any of the artists or anybody involved in making the albums. And also, if you like these albums, that’s great! It’s all just based on my own personal taste in music. And even though this is the case with all of my reviews, I especially feel the need to make it clear in this post, because … well … let’s just say, for the most part, these albums didn’t click for me.

And with that, let’s start with an album that somewhat pleasantly surprised me …

Suckerpunch by Maggie Lindemann:

Before I listened to this album, the only Maggie Lindemann song I knew was “Pretty Girl”, which was released in 2016 and became a hit in some countries in 2017. And I feel like this is probably an unpopular opinion in the music critic world, but I love that song!

If it weren’t for “Pretty Girl” I doubt I’d be listening to and reviewing this album in the first place (I’m not even sure I’d be very aware of it). But despite me loving “Pretty Girl” … well, there seems to be this trend of me discovering one song I like by an artist, and then I listen to an album by that artist, and I’m very disappointed. And maybe that’s just a coincidence, but I still had a strange feeling I wasn’t going to like this album.

But still, I decided to give Maggie Lindemann’s debut album a chance, and … yeah, this didn’t really click for me.

I’ve mentioned before that percussion is a big factor in my opinions on music, especially snares. And this is especially true in rock music … and on this album, a lot of the time, I don’t like the way the percussion is produced.

Now, that’s not to say it’s an issue on every song. “take me nowhere”, the first full-length track on this album, is easily my favourite track here, partially because of the powerful snare which is mixed really well. But on tracks like “casualty of your dreams”, “girl next door”, “we never even dated”, and “hear me out”, the percussion sounds underpowered. I also find that to be an issue on the chorus of “novocaine”, with the snare being mixed in a way that really doesn’t work for me. I also think the trap percussion really doesn’t fit with the song on “phases”, and I also don’t really think the percussion fits on “break me!”.

But I also think there’s quite a bit to like here. I already mentioned “take me nowhere”, but I also love the transition from “intro / welcome in” into “take me nowhere”. I also love the song, “self sabotage”, and the muddy (hopefully this is the word I’m looking for) production on that song. Despite my issues with the percussion, “hear me out” is still a song I like. And even on some of the tracks that don’t fully click for me, there are elements that I absolutely love … for example, the synths, the vocals, and some of the vocal melodies on “casualty of your dreams”.

So, overall, I like this album more than I expected to. I’m not saying it’s amazing, or even something that I see myself returning to in full, but I recommend listening to it!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “take me nowhere”, “self sabotage”, “hear me out”
Least Favourite Tracks: “phases”, “break me!”, “novocaine”, “you’re not special”, “how could you do this to me?”

Will Of The People by Muse:

Going into Muse’s new album, I had heard some very negative things about it … but I wanted to give it a chance, and … yeah, this is pretty bad in my opinion.

I’m going to start by talking about the title track, which, in my opinion, is one of the worst songs that I’ve heard from 2022. The hand-clap-like percussion sounds terrible in my opinion, this song is super repetitive without much of a build at all, and overall the production really doesn’t work for me, especially when it sounds like it’s really missing something … but the worst thing about this song in my opinion is THAT FUCKING CHORUS! I don’t think I even have to explain why I find that hook to be so fucking annoying … I think if you listen to it, you’ll almost definitely understand, whether or not you agree with me.

Now, if you want me to talk about the positives … well, my favourite track here is either “Verona” or “Euphoria”, but if I had to pick one, I think I’d go with “Verona”, which has great synths and lead guitar, and I also love when the drums come in. “Euphoria” has a great chorus and some great melodies, and speaking of great choruses, “Kill Or Be Killed” has a great chorus with some awesome guitars!

But there’s also “Won’t Stand Down”, which is saved from being a lot worse by a well-produced hook with good melodies, but … well, Matt Bellamy has said this song is about standing your ground against bullies, and this could have been done really well … but after saying he won’t stand down in the chorus, he tells the bully/bullies, ‘Now die alone.’ I don’t even have to explain all the problems with that line.

I should also mention the closing track, which is at least terrible in a hilarious way in my opinion … it’s called “We Are Fucking F****d” … yes, seriously, that’s what it’s called. If you want to laugh, then it’s worth a listen, but otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend it.

Overall, for me, there are some highlights on this album, but as a whole album, I’m giving it a strong 3.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Kill Or Be Killed”, “Verona”, “Euphoria”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Will Of The People”, “Won’t Stand Down”, “Ghosts (How Can I Move On?)”, “You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween”, “We Are Fucking F****d”

Throwback Review – Born to Die by Lana Del Rey (2012)

So, this is an album that I had heard before, but not for a long time, and I hadn’t really listened to it very closely.

Part of the reason I decided to listen to this and review it is because it’s rare for an artist to have such mixed opinions from critics as Lana Del Rey. In the online music critic world, lots of people seem to think Lana Del Rey is an amazing artist, and lots seem to think her music is terrible. I was really curious to see where I would land on this album.

And after multiple listens to this album, I think it’s safe to say that I land on the side who doesn’t like this album.

Now, I want to point out something interesting … my last throwback review was MARINA’s second album, Electra Heart, which was also released in 2012. And these two albums are actually quite similar in a lot of ways. First of all, the vocal style is quite similar on both albums. Also, both albums are a mix of mellow and more upbeat … and also, there’s just something I can’t quite describe in the way these albums sound that is so similar … if you listen to them both, you’ll probably hear it, too. Also, while the lyrics are very different in a lot of ways, they both seem to at least somewhat be about somebody who is caught up in an unhealthy lifestyle of bad behaviour.

But there are multiple reasons why I like that album so much better than this one. One of those reasons is the production, which is one thing I really love about Electra Heart … but on this album, there’s a lot about the production that I don’t like. For example, the strings being so quietly mixed on “Off to the Races”, “Blue Jeans”, “Dark Paradise”, and “Summertime Sadness”, or the way the instruments sound together on “Video Games” and “Carmen”.

Also, a lot of the percussion on this album really doesn’t work for me. For example, on “National Anthem”, it’s mixed really quietly, and I also think it’s really underpowered on “Dark Paradise”, a song in which the percussion also feels too fast at some points, which is also an issue for me on “Summertime Sadness”. I also find the percussion to be underpowered on “Radio” and “Carmen”.

And then there’s the lyrics … and even though I highly doubt this was the intent, it often seems like these behaviours are being celebrated. For example, the song, “National Anthem”, where she sings about a relationship which involves drinking and driving, drugs, and she also sings the line, ‘And you can’t keep your hands off me or your pants on.’ So, why does this song sound so upbeat? And this is an issue for me on quite a few songs, even though I’m almost positive this wasn’t the intent.

But I should also mention my least favourite track here, “Diet Mountain Dew”, which, in my opinion, is SO ANNOYING! I find the chorus super annoying, especially with those pianos which, in my opinion, sound HORRIBLE on that chorus, and the underpowered percussion. Also, this song feels super repetitive without much of a build. And then there’s the lyrics, which contain the line, ‘Maybe I like this roller coaster. Maybe it keeps me high.’ Look, I get that this wasn’t intended to be celebrating the lifestyle described throughout this album, but it really sounds that way … and when Lana admits on this album that there are problems with this lifestyle, it’s usually done in a way that doesn’t feel very interesting to me … for example, on this song when she says, ‘You’re no good for me, but, baby, I want you.’ I mean, at least she’s admitting it … but still, overall, this song just makes me want to turn it off immediately.

But this album also has the song, “Million Dollar Man”, which is easily my favourite track here. I love the strings on this song, the instruments fit together really well, it’s got some great melodies, and I think it might be the one example of a song here that I feel really succeeds at the overall lyrical theme of the album, showing how people and things aren’t always as great as they seem at surface level. And also, Lana’s vocals on this song are fantastic!

Overall, while I’m curious to listen to more of Lana Del Rey’s albums, this one really didn’t click for me, and I’m giving it a strong 2.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 2.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Million Dollar Man”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Born to Die”, “Off to the Races”, “Video Games”, “Diet Mountain Dew”, “Radio”, “Carmen”, “Summertime Sadness”, “This Is What Makes Us Girls”

Hold The Girl by Rina Sawayama:

I was super excited to hear a new album by Rina Sawayama considering how much I love her debut album, Sawayama, and now her second album is out … what do I think of it?

Well … I can’t believe I’m saying this, but … to me, this is kind of mediocre. And a lot of this is because of the production. A lot of these songs sound very messy. For example, the song “Holy (Til You Let Me Go)”, in which the mixing is a big issue for me, as the instruments are mixed really low at the start, and eventually, the vocals are mixed really quietly. Another example is on the song, “Hurricanes”, with a lot of the instruments sounding like they were each produced for a different song.

Also, when it comes to vocal melodies, this album is way weaker than her debut, and there are some moments where the vocal melodies really don’t work for me, like the chorus on “Forgiveness”, the post-chorus of “Frankenstein”, and the ‘ooh’s on “Send My Love To John”. I also don’t find the vocal melodies very interesting on “Send My Love To John”, and it’s also an issue for me on “Imagining”.

Now, I’m not saying this album is bad. I don’t think it is. It’s just super disappointing to me. This was one of my most anticipated album releases of this year, and despite having a few great songs, I don’t see myself going out of my way to listen to this album as a whole.

Also, I don’t find the production to be an issue in every song … in fact, “Catch Me In The Air” has exceptionally great production in my opinion … the percussion and guitar are mixed well, and the pre-chorus sounds fantastic!

But on a lot of these songs, the way the percussion is produced bugs me. For example, sounding really underpowered on “Forgiveness”, “Holy (Til You Let Me Go)”, “Hurricanes”, “Phantom”, and “To Be Alive”, and also just sounding really annoyingly snappy on “Frankenstein”.

Overall, while I like some of the lyrics on this album, and I found it to be an enjoyable listen, it’s not something I’m going to be going back to much, if at all. So, Hold The Girl gets a 5/10 from me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Minor Feelings”, “Hold The Girl”, “This Hell”, “Catch Me In The Air”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Forgiveness”, “Imagining”

Asphalt Meadows by Death Cab for Cutie:

So, I get that some people probably don’t want me to continue to go on and on about percussion that doesn’t really work for me, but … yeah, it’s one of the big reasons why this album doesn’t really work for me.

The snare feels really underpowered on “Pepper” and the chorus of the title track, and the drums are mixed super quietly on “Fragments From the Decade”. Also, “Rand McNally” has percussion that sounds really disconnected from the rest of the song, and overall, the track sounds kind of like it could have been on Interpol’s newest album … that’s not meant as a compliment.

And then there’s “Foxglove Through The Clearcut”, where the drums sound too quiet on the chorus … although I do love the guitars on the chorus. It just could have been so much better in my opinion … and I’m also not a big fan of the spoken word delivery on the verses.

And the snare on “Here to Forever” I find to be quite annoying, as it really doesn’t fit the song in my opinion, at least at the speed it’s going … and something about it feels really annoyingly snappy.

I do think the album starts well, though. The first two tracks are my two favourites on the album, and I think the percussion sounds better on these tracks than on most of this album.

But still, despite the positives, I’m giving this album a 4/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “I Don’t Know How I Survive”, “Roman Candles”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Asphalt Meadows”, “Here to Forever”, “Pepper”, “Wheat Like Waves”

Expert in a Dying Field by The Beths:

I mean … in my opinion, the percussion sounds better than it does on most of these albums … but aside from that, there’s not a ton about this album that really works for me.

That being said, there are some highlights on the album for me. “Best Left”, my favourite track here, is a really well produced song. I love the way the instruments sound together, and the mixing is great.

“Change in the Weather” and “2am” are also highlights for me, the latter of which has a really good build toward the end … and other than those three songs, this album mostly bored me. The melodies feel really uninteresting to me, and there’s not a lot in the instrumentation that really works for me.

Expert in a Dying Field gets a 3.5/10 from me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Best Left”, “Change in the Weather”, “2am”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Knees Deep”, “Silence Is Golden”, “Your Side”, “I Want to Listen”, “When You Know You Know”, “I Told You That I Was Afraid”

The Hardest Part by Noah Cyrus:

Well, we’re ending this post on a … kind of positive note … kind of.

I like this album better than the majority of the albums in this post, but that’s not saying a ton. This is quite a mellow album, and quite a few of these songs almost work for me, but not quite. For example, “Unfinished”, which has a chorus that I really like, but the verses feel kind of boring to me (or should I say they feel unfinished? … hahahahahahahaha! LOL … yes, I know that wasn’t funny).

“Hardest Part” is a song in which I like the lyrics and the drums, but there are some details about it that make it fail to fully click for me, like the pauses in the instrumentation, and the vocal effects during those pauses. There are also some parts that just bore me.

Overall, I think this album is worth a listen, but it’s just not really for me outside of “Ready to Go”. I’m giving this album a 4.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Ready to Go”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Every Beginning Ends”, “My Side of the Bed”, “Loretta’s Song”

Hello, everyone. My name is Simon, and this is a post where I am doing mini reviews of seven albums (six 2022 albums and one throwback).

For my first two of these mini review posts (this is only my third), I listed a few things to note. Please read the intros to those two posts, because they explain a few things about these mini review posts, and the same rules apply here. Just like the last two, this post is very late.

Another thing to mention is that after this post, I have one more album to review, and then I’ll probably be taking a break from album reviews. That’s not to say I won’t continue to post on this website, I’ll just be making different types of posts, still related to music. And it doesn’t mean I’m quitting making album reviews, I’m just taking a break … and I’m not even sure I’ll be taking much of a break, because I might change my mind and/or discover an album that I really want to review. Either way, I’ll continue to listen to new albums, even if I don’t do many reviews soon.

With all that being said, let’s start off with a review of a metal album!

Key to a Vanishing Future by Falls of Rauros:

So, I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before on this site … but one of my favourite music genres, if not my favourite, is metal. And for whatever reason I haven’t found a ton of metal from this year that’s really clicked for me (at least compared to last year), but I was curious to check out the newest Falls of Rauros album, Key to a Vanishing Future. This album came out in March of this year, and it’s my first time listening to this band. How is it?

Honestly, it’s not really my style of metal. It’s not to say this sound can’t be done in ways that click for me, but possibly the biggest issue for me on this album is the production, as the instruments often sound very disconnected from each other.

Also, a lot of these songs just don’t have much about them that really stand out to me in a positive way. And considering that the shortest song here is over six and a half minutes, that’s really a bad sign if you ask me.

I will say this: there are some cool instrumental moments on this album, like the end of the closing track, “Poverty Hymn”, with the lead guitar and the drums. I also like the start of “Desert of Heart”. And I understand why this album might click for a lot of people. It’s just not really for me. Also, the part of “Daggers in Floodlight” when the drumming changes just over a minute in sounds horrible in my opinion.

I’m giving this new Falls of Rauros album a 4/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “Clarity”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Survival Poem”, “Known World Narrows”, “Daggers in Floodlight”

Surrender by Maggie Rogers:

I wasn’t sure if I was going to listen to this new Maggie Rogers album … but I’m so glad I did, because it’s great!

A lot of what makes this album so good are the small details, like the pianos on “Want Want”, the high-pitched synth on “Symphony”, and what sounds like a flute or something on “Begging For Rain”.

Maggie gives some fantastic vocal performances on this album, with some examples being on the incredible track, “Honey”, as well as at the very end of “Shatter”.

Speaking of “Honey”, this song is so amazing! I already mentioned the vocals, which also sound amazing over the instrumental, which features some super powerful drums, and some great lead guitar on the chorus! This song just sounds so … magical.

Overall, this is a great album which combines alternative rock, folk, and maybe a bit of pop, too? I have a hard time telling genres apart from each other, so I’m not sure … but what I will say is that for me, this is a 7.5/10 … and also, that’s an extremely strong 7.5!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Overdrive”, “Anywhere With You”, “Be Cool”, “Begging For Rain”, “Honey”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Horses”

Traumazine by Megan Thee Stallion:

So, the first thing I should mention is that I haven’t looked super closely into the lyrics on this album … they are a lot to take in, and I don’t want to take that much time to try to understand the meaning of every line on this album, especially when there’s so many lyrics. I’ve read most of the lyrics on this album, but just keep in mind that I haven’t looked super closely into the lyrics (which could be said about a lot of albums I review, but especially this one).

I also think some of these songs (not all of them) are just supposed to be fun to listen to and aren’t really about the lyrics (I could be wrong about this, though).

Anyway, Megan’s rapping on this album is great, and I like the instrumentals for the most part, too. And as much as some of these songs seem like bad ideas on paper … they end up being great! For example, the song, “Her”, which I love, but even I’m not entirely sure why … I’m not even going to try to describe why this feels like it shouldn’t work on paper. You’ll just have to hear it if you want to try to understand what I’m saying.

I also think “Gift & a Curse” is another song that really isn’t the kind of music I usually listen to, but for whatever reason, I love it! Megan sounds great on this track, and the instrumental is great, too!

Also, this is probably an unpopular opinion, but my favourite song on the album is probably “Pressurelicious”. I think this song is supposed to be stupid, and in that context, the ‘terrible’ lyrics don’t bug me. The instrumental sounds great, and Megan and Future both sound great here, too! Honestly, I love this song for similar reasons why I love “Magnolia” by Playboi Carti … both songs, at least to me, seem really stupid, but for whatever reason, they’re just too much fun to listen to, and I don’t really take either of them seriously.

Overall, while I don’t think this album is very consistent, most of the better songs here are great, and most of the worse songs here are not even that bad, with some exceptions, like my least favourite song on the album, “Sweetest Pie”, but overall, for me, this is a 6.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “NDA”, “Her”, “Gift & a Curse”, “Anxiety”, “Flip Flop”, “Star”, “Pressurelicious”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Ungrateful”, “Who Me”, “Sweetest Pie”

PANORAMA by Hayley Kiyoko:

I haven’t seen/heard a lot of opinions on this album, but it’s the kind of album that I could easily see a lot of critics calling bland, generic, and boring, and there’s reasons for that … but to me, while I don’t love this album, or even particularly like it, I feel like there are some interesting ideas here, and a few great songs.

I love the lyrics on “chance”, where Hayley sings about wanting to be in a relationship with someone who she knows would never take a chance on her, and then later realizes that she herself never took a chance on the two of them. I also like the opening lyrics, ‘Does she feel the energy the way that I do? In the air whenever we get in the same room? ‘Cause I don’t know how to read her mind, and I don’t wanna cross the line.’

I really like the chorus of “well…” and the synths that open “found my friends”, and both are good songs overall in my opinion. “forever” is a great song with a great hook, and it’s my second favourite song on the album, only behind the title track, which is also the closing track. It’s an optimistic way to end the album, which I interpret as being about appreciating the good things in life, and I love the instrumental chorus on this track.

So, those are some good songs … but I’m reviewing the album as a whole, and while some of the other songs have notable elements to them that I like, the album as a whole doesn’t fully click for me.

“for the girls” and “underground” both have really good choruses in my opinion, but the verses don’t click for me nearly as much.

And then there’s “s.o.s.”, which just has so little to it that really stands out to me personally, and the chopped up vocals at the start of the verses really don’t sound good in my opinion.

The majority of these songs are decent at best to me, but I get why this might click a lot more for some people, so I recommend that you hear it if you have the time … it’s certainly interesting! But I could also see why some might like it a lot less than me. For me, it’s a 5.5/10. I respect the creativity of it, and some of it really works for me … but as a whole album, it’s not really something I feel like going back to.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “forever”, “chance”, “well…”, “found my friends”, “panorama”
Least Favourite Tracks: “flicker start”, “s.o.s.”

Unwanted by Pale Waves:

So, this is a tricky review for me to do.

I remember listening to Pale Waves’ 2021 album, Who Am I?, which I remember being an album I respect way more than I like. I remember it being a very personal album, but it just didn’t really click for me personally, despite me understanding the appeal of it.

And this new album … just like that one, I wondered if I should even review it, because I can tell it’s a very personal album, and despite that, it doesn’t really click for me. But like I said, it’s just my own personal taste, so here I am reviewing it (especially considering that I was planning to review it before I even heard it … that’s not to say I’ll never decide not to review an album I planned to review, but I think that’ll be extremely rare).

And once again, I get that there’s an audience for this. It’s an album that I recommend you listen to if you haven’t already, especially if you’re into pop-punk.

But for me, the production holds it back a lot, with the drums feeling too underpowered a lot of the time. And there’s not a lot melodically that really clicks for me, either.

But with that being said, I have to mention what is easily my favourite song on the album, “The Hard Way”. This is a heartbreaking song where lead singer, Heather Baron-Gracie, sings about somebody she used to go to school with who ended up taking her own life after being bullied, and Heather wishes she helped this person, but it’s too late to change what happened, and Heather ended up learning the hard way. This song has a really important message of being careful with how we treat people, and of trying to help people who are struggling.

With that being said, the album as a whole is a 4/10 for me. But even if you don’t listen to the whole album, I highly recommend that you at least listen to “The Hard Way”. That song is amazing.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Hard Way”, “Reasons To Live”, “So Sick (Of Missing You)”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Lies”, “Unwanted”, “Alone”, “Clean”, “You’re So Vain”

Hold On Baby by King Princess:

Well, this is quite something! And not what I was expecting, either!

Going into this album, the only song I knew by King Princess was her 2018 single, “1950”. That song made me curious to check out this album … and on a bit of a side note, I like that song.

And I like this album, too! Some specific highlights for me are the super well-produced “Dotted Lines”, “For My Friends”, which has a great sudden buildup as the chorus kicks in, and the excellent closer, “Let Us Die”, which sees King Princess realize that a relationship isn’t going to work, and she has to accept that and live without this person.

There are a lot of cool ideas here musically, and overall, I really like this album! There are a few songs that don’t work for me, and “Sex Shop” is terrible in my opinion, but with the songs I mentioned as well as some others, this album has lots of good songs in my opinion, and I’m giving it a 7/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “I Hate Myself, I Want To Party”, “Little Bother”, “For My Friends”, “Too Bad”, “Dotted Lines”, “Let Us Die”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Hold on Baby Interlude”, “Change the Locks”, “Sex Shop”

THROWBACK REVIEW – Electra Heart by Marina and The Diamonds (2012):

And we end this post with a throwback review!

For a while, MARINA (formerly known as Marina and The Diamonds) had been one of those artists who I kept hearing great things about but hadn’t taken the time to listen to. And there are multiple reasons why I wanted to make this my next throwback review. Anyway, as of right now, this is the only MARINA album I’ve ever listened to, and …

Well, it’s … interesting, to say the least.

So, the first thing I’m going to say is that I’m not sure how much of the lyrics on this album are personal stories and how much is fictional … but I’m going to refer to the narrator as a ‘character’, whether it’s MARINA (or somebody else) in real life or just a character.

Also, it’s worth mentioning that all of this is just my interpretation … whatever I say about the lyrics is just how I interpret them. I’m not sure what these lyrics are supposed to mean, and I haven’t done much research about them.

So, the next thing I’ll say is that on my first listen, a few tracks in, I had a really good feeling about this album. I could tell this was going to be a concept album (whatever that means), and I like the idea of this character trying to convince herself that she’s not doing anything wrong, even though it’s quite obvious that she is.

The problem to me is that despite a really interesting idea for a story throughout the album … unless I’m missing something, there isn’t much of a story here. Yes, I know on the closing track, this character finally realizes how much of a problem this lifestyle has been, and decides to make a change, but up until then, at least to me, it mostly feels like the same themes being sung about over and over again, just with different details and explaining different elements of this character. And that’s something that could have really clicked for me … but it just doesn’t feel all that interesting to me, because it feels like outside of a few songs, the order of the track list could be shuffled and it wouldn’t make much of a difference. And in my opinion, for a concept album like this one, that’s a problem.

Now, all that being said, for me to like an album, there doesn’t have to be some big idea throughout the track list that really clicks for me. If the songs are good enough, I’m willing to give an album a positive score. And, spoiler alert (not really much of a spoiler), I’m not going to give this album a 10, but even for me to give an album a 10 it doesn’t have to have a theme throughout the album that really clicks for me.

And fortunately, I like most of the songs on this album. “Living Dead” is musically somewhat upbeat but not too much to the point where it feels like it doesn’t fit with the much sadder lyrics. “The State of Dreaming” is another sad song with great strings, and it really clicks for me. While I love both of those songs, my personal favourite on the album is “Primadonna”, which is the second song on the album, and the one that shows that this character isn’t very happy with this lifestyle … but it’s all disguised with upbeat instrumentation, as this character is trying to hide how she’s feeling.

Overall, while this album disappointed me a bit after the first few songs on my first listen … it’s still really good! I’m giving this album a 7.5/10, and I’m especially excited to check out some of MARINA’s other albums, as I have a feeling I’ll like some of those even more.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Primadonna”, “Lies”, “Starring Role”, “The State of Dreaming”, “Living Dead”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Valley of the Dolls”, “Hypocrates”

Hello, everybody. I recently made a post where I did mini reviews for ten albums (nine new albums and one throwback) … this time, I’m doing seven albums, with six new albums and one throwback.

A few things to mention:

1 – I have rated all the albums and then randomized the order that I review them in.

2 – Yes, I know this is really late … multiple things delayed this post.

3 – All of this is just based on my personal taste. If you disagree with me, that’s totally fine. No hate meant to any of the artists or anyone else involved in making these albums.

Bronco by Orville Peck:

So, I’ll admit to not being the biggest fan of country music … but that’s not to say I don’t like any of it. I’d seen/heard some positive stuff about Bronco by Orville Peck, so I decided to give it a chance, and … we’re starting this post on a positive note!

First of all, yes, I know this album came out months ago, but this doesn’t count as a throwback for me, because it came out this year.

Anyway, if you’re looking for some fast-paced country, listen to the title track or “Any Turn”, both of which are really fun songs. Overall, I’m not as big a fan of the slower songs on this album, but there are some that I like, such as “Iris Rose”.

This album has lots of great melodies, Orville Peck is a great singer, and there’s a lot of great instrumentation, too! If you’re into country, I highly recommend that you hear this if you haven’t already … and even if you’re not into country, I recommend it. Because as someone who’s not a big fan of country music myself, even I like this!

I’m giving Bronco by Orville Peck a 6.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Outta Time”, “Lafayette”, “Kalahari Down”, “Bronco”, “Any Turn”, “All I Can Say”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Hexie Mountains”, “Let Me Drown”, “City of Gold”

a lighter shade of blue by Christina Perri:

First of all, I want to mention that after seeing a few Christina Perri interviews about this album, I heard her talk about how important this album is to her, and let me just make it clear that, as always, this is just based on my personal music taste.

I’m not super familiar with Christina Perri’s discography, but I’ve listened to her 2011 debut album Lovestrong recently, and I’m pretty sure I like the album? I think? I don’t know, I haven’t listened to it much, but I definitely love some of the songs on that album.

But this new album didn’t really click for me. That being said, there are some elements to this album that I like, including in the lyrics on some of these songs. I like the time machine theme on “back in time”, especially the first verse when she changes her mind about whether or not she would go back in time. I also like the theme of wanting to go back to your hometown (possibly to escape fame) in the song, “home”, the story being told on “roses in the rain”, and the message of celebrating the small things in life (or at least the things that seem small) in “tiny victories”.

But a lot of these songs feel pretty boring musically, and a lot of the vocal melodies really bore me. I mean, the song, “hurt”, for example, which, at least to me, feels like it’s just … there.

And then there’s “fever”, which could have been really good in my opinion … the vocals and melodies are great! But the production is what kind of ruins it for me, with the percussion sounding out of place in my opinion, and the track overall just sounding a bit like a demo.

“fighter” is a song I respect a lot more than I like. I get why this track might click for a lot of people, and I’m not trying to be disrespectful here … it sounds like a song that is probably very personal to Christina … it’s just that the instrumentation mostly bores me, and there’s not much in the melodies that I like, either … and most notably, the percussion sounds awful if you ask me.

There are two songs here that I like, one being “tiny victories”, which has a nice build to it, and I like the lyrics, too. The other is “roses in the rain”, which, like I said earlier, has a well-told story, and it also has some really nice pianos, vocals, and vocal melodies. “roses in the rain” is my favourite song on the album, and a legit great song in my opinion. There are elements of other songs, too, that save this album from getting a lower score, but overall, it’s not really my cup of tea. 4/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “tiny victories”, “roses in the rain”
Least Favourite Tracks: “surrender”, “hurt”, “blue”, “i do it for you”, “fighter”

The Other Side of Make-Believe by Interpol:

Interpol are a band who I haven’t listened to much … the only album of theirs I had listened to before this was Turn On the Bright Lights, and just like almost everyone, I love that album!

But my expectations weren’t super high going into this album, considering that the common opinion on Interpol seems to be that they’ve never made another album as great as Turn On the Bright Lights, and haven’t even come close in recent years.

And after giving this album multiple listens … how is this the same band who made Turn On the Bright Lights? In my opinion, this is really, really bad.

The production is terrible in my opinion, with the drums sounding so disconnected from the rest of the instrumentation a lot of the time, like on “Fables”, “Something Changed”, and “Renegade Hearts”.

A lot of this album sounds like a bunch of demos, and it’s a slog to get through.

For me, this album is a 3/10. I like “Mr. Credit” and that’s it. Some of the other tracks are okay, but overall, this isn’t for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3/10
Favourite Tracks: “Mr. Credit”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Toni”, “Fables”, “Into the Night”, “Gran Hotel”, “Big Shot City”, “Go Easy (Palermo)”

THROWBACK REVIEW – Habits by Neon Trees (2010):

I used to listen to this album a long time ago, but I was very young back then, and my music taste has changed a lot.

Over the past year or so, I’ve gone back and revisited to a lot of the music I used to like when I was really young, and a lot of it still works for me despite my big shift in music taste as I entered my later teens … but a lot of what I went back and revisited was the music that I remembered better and continued listening to longer. I used to listen to lots of music about a decade ago, and then I eventually ended up just listening to five to ten bands around 2016 or 2017. Of what I’ve recently revisited of those five to ten bands, most of it I still like despite my big shift in music taste … but a decade ago, I liked a lot of music I would consider terrible now. Seriously, when I was maybe five or six, I regularly listened to “My Humps” by Black Eyed Peas.

So, I was curious to go back and listen to this album, and … well, this was a strange listen.

First of all, in my opinion, the second half of this album is waaaaaayy better than the first half … but still, as a whole, the album doesn’t fully click for me, despite a few fantastic songs.

“Sins of My Youth” opens the album, and while I mostly like the production and some of the melodies, overall, I don’t like this song … you see, this is a song where Tyler Glenn sings about habits he’s having a hard time breaking, and maybe this is just me making assumptions, but when I hear people singing about having a hard time breaking habits, I usually think they’re probably bad habits … and this is a good lyrical theme for a song … so, I guess the best and most fitting way to do that is … how about upbeat, happy-sounding instrumentation? Right?!

“Love and Affection” is probably my least favourite song here, as it’s not only very boring musically, but the lyrics are pretty creepy and kind of possessive. Although I also really don’t like “Animal”, which happened to be the big hit off this album. The production on “Animal” really doesn’t work for me, with the drums sounding so underpowered, and there’s not much melodically or lyrically that really stands out to me as particularly good.

That being said, “1983” is incredibly well produced, and would be my favourite on the album by far if it weren’t for the line, ‘And it ain’t so pretty when you’re playing cute, when your body’s up against some fool,’ which just gives me you-should-be-with-me-instead vibes, even though I’ve heard much worse lyrics … but you know what? Pretty much everything else about this song is so exceptional that I still love this song despite that! And I said if it weren’t for that line, it would be my favourite on the album by far … but it’s probably still my favourite track here.

I also think “Our War” is a great track that works even better as the closing track to the album. I especially love the moment at the start when the guitar kicks in. This song is super well mixed, and the lyrics are very emotional, too. This song is fantastic!

And back to talking about Interpol … there’s one more song on Habits I want to talk about, and that is “In the Next Room”. This is a song with creepy lyrics where Tyler Glenn sings about a romantic and/or sexual interest, and he says he won’t take no for an answer … this sums up a lot of my issues with this whole album … and yet, for whatever reason, this song really clicks for me! I think it’s partially because I just recently got into Interpol’s 2002 debut album, Turn On the Bright Lights, an album I love which features a lot of lyrics from the perspective of the villain. Musically (and sometimes vocally), this song sounds like a lot of what’s on that album, so maybe that’s why this song has more of a ‘playing the villain’ feel to it. If you know me and my music taste, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t expect me to like this song, but I actually love it … why? Well, that, I can only partially answer.

But overall, I feel like the lyrical themes of this album hold it back from being better, with at least somewhat creepy lyrics on “Love and Affection”, “Your Surrender”, and (maybe) “Animal” taking away from my enjoyment of the album, as well as that one line I mentioned in “1983”. “In the Next Room” is just the exception that works for some reason that even I don’t fully understand.

Aside from “Animal” (and maybe another track), this album is well produced, and there’s a few great songs … but it doesn’t work for me as a whole. 5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “1983”, “In the Next Room”, “Our War”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Sins of My Youth”, “Love and Affection”, “Animal”, “Your Surrender”

Preacher’s Daughter by Ethel Cain:

First of all, this came out almost three months ago … I’m late to this one.

Anyway, I saw a lot of critical acclaim for Ethel Cain’s debut album, Preacher’s Daughter, and I was super excited to hear it!

And after multiple listens, I can confidently say this is an album I respect a lot more than I like.

It turns out this is one of those albums where I see/hear a ton of critical acclaim, and it feels like pretty much every critic agrees that it’s great, and I feel like the one person who’s not really a fan of it.

Now, like I said, I do respect this album, and I can tell there was a lot of effort put into it. It has an interesting story throughout the album, and there’s a lot to like lyrically.

With that being said … a lot of these songs just aren’t really my style for the most part … very mellow songs like “Thoroughfare” that drag on for a while, and I just lose interest. And it’s not helped by the production, as a lot of the time, it feels like some elements are drowning out others.

This album reminds me of Wolf Alice, but even as someone who is a massive fan of Wolf Alice, I don’t even mean it as a compliment … because, to me, it sounds like Wolf Alice if they had much worse production, lyrics that didn’t click for me as much, and dragged out their songs way longer than I would have liked. Or maybe a better way to put it is that this album sounds to me like I’d imagine Wolf Alice sound to people who don’t like Wolf Alice.

Speaking of the production … yeah, it’s a big issue for me on this album, even on two of my favourite tracks here, “American Teenager” and “Hard Times”, especially on the former, in which the percussion sounds awkward, and the synths really don’t fit in the chorus. But it’s also an issue for me on “Western Nights”, “Sun Bleached Flies”, and “Family Tree”, the latter of which is very … muddy? I’m not sure if muddy is the word I’m looking for, but it’s what comes to mind.

“Gibson Girl” is easily my favourite track here, because not only does it fit into the album really well as the moment she realizes her ‘love’ is really the villain, but the production sounds excellent, too. Ethel Cain’s vocals on this song are fantastic, as well as the effect used on her vocals.

But then there’s the song, “Thoroughfare”, which at least to me, really drags on.

Overall … 4/10 for me, but if you have the time, I would highly recommend that you listen to this, because I’m pretty sure most of the people I’ve heard/seen talk about it love it. It’s not for me, but I respect this album a lot, and I get the appeal, so I think it’s absolutely worth giving a chance.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “American Teenager”, “Hard Times”, “Gibson Girl”
Least Favourite Tracks: “A House In Nebraska”, “Western Nights”, “Family Tree”, “Thoroughfare”, “Sun Bleached Flies”, “Strangers”

Emails I Can’t Send by Sabrina Carpenter:

So, I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this new Sabrina Carpenter album, and … there are a few songs here I like, but I’m not really a fan of the album.

Now, even on some of the songs I’m not a big fan of here, there are some elements that I like. “because i liked a boy” addresses assumptions and online hate Sabrina received over a bunch of stuff I don’t want to get into right now. While I like the lyrics, I’m not really a fan of the song due to the way it sounds.

I’m not a fan of the song, “Tornado Warnings”, but I do like the bass on this song.

The pre-chorus of “skinny dipping” reminds me a lot of Olivia Rodrigo … and that’s a compliment, as a huge fan of Olivia Rodrigo myself … although the song as a whole doesn’t really work for me, mostly because of the verses, in which Sabrina’s delivery just sounds awkward over the instrumental (because of the timing). Sabrina herself has said it was supposed to be awkward, and I respect the creativity of it, but it just doesn’t really work for me.

“Fast Times” is the one song here that I truly love, which has that awesome keyboard melody, great vocals from Sabrina, and a great chorus!

“bet u wanna” and “Nonsense” are also highlights for me, but then there’s “Already Over”, which musically feels like it goes nowhere, and the bass doesn’t mix well with the vocals on the pre-chorus, and “Bad for Business” has pretty much nothing about it that really clicks for me, and the album as a whole I’m just pretty bored by. 4/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: “bet u wanna”, “Nonsense”, “Fast Times”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Vicious”, “Read your Mind”, “Already Over”, “Bad for Business”

Entering Heaven Alive by Jack White:

In my last post of a bunch of mini reviews, I reviewed Fear Of The Dawn by Jack White, his first of two 2022 albums. That album is more of a rock album, and I’d heard this was a mellower album. I’m not a big fan of that album, but I also don’t think it’s bad, and I was curious to hear Entering Heaven Alive … so, how is it?

Well, I’m going to end off this post with a … kind of positive review? Also kind of a negative review … just like with Fear Of The Dawn, this album has its positive highlights, but as a whole, it doesn’t fully click for me.

“Love is Selfish” and “Please God, Don’t Tell Anyone” are major highlights for me, with the latter being really well produced and containing an excellent snare!

On “Queen of the Bees”, however, I find the drums to be terribly mixed, and the closing track is a mellower version of “Taking Me Back” from Fear Of The Dawn, and I easily prefer the original … this version just sounds … awkward. And I’m not entirely sure why.

Overall, while this album has its moments, I’m still giving it a 5/10. I find it to be inconsistent, and not something worth returning to as a whole.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Love is Selfish”, “If I Die Tomorrow”, “Please God, Don’t Tell Anyone”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Help Me Along”, “I’ve Got You Surrounded (With My Love)”, “Queen of the Bees”, “A Madman from Manhattan”, “Taking Me Back (Gently)”

Beach Bunny – Emotional Creature – Album Review

Hi, everybody. I know I haven’t posted in a while, and there’s multiple reasons why. One of those reasons is that I’m working on a post where I review seven albums (six new albums and one throwback) in one post … it is going to be published later than I was hoping, but I feel like it’s getting close. The latest album to be released of the seven was released on July 22nd, and all the others were released earlier than that, so … yeah, it’s really going to be late, considering that I’m currently reviewing an album that also came out on July 22nd.

Anyway, speaking of the album I’m reviewing right now, Beach Bunny are a band whom I’d heard of, and I might have heard a few songs of theirs in the past, but nothing that I remember.

As I continue to discover new music, I decided to check out Beach Bunny’s second studio album, Emotional Creature. And I’m so happy I did, because this album is amazing! If you haven’t heard this and you’re a fan of alternative rock, I highly recommend listening to this album!

“Entropy” opens the album, and it’s arguably my favourite song on the album. I love the vocal melodies on the chorus, and lead singer Lili Trifilio’s vocals on this song are amazing! The band sounds totally in sync with each other on this song, and that lead guitar on the chorus is awesome! I love this song so much, and it’s just one of many fantastic songs here!

This album is thirty-six minutes long, and I feel like that’s pretty much the perfect length for this album. It’s not that I think these songs are too similar … they’re not. And most of these songs stand out to me on their own. It’s just that when I’m listening to them all together, if it were any longer I might start to want a bit more variety, even if the songs are great. But with the album being as short as it is, I don’t think that’s an issue here.

I also think some of the shorter songs here are effective despite being so short, such as “Eventually”, which is just over two minutes, and especially “Fire Escape”, which isn’t much longer. “Fire Escape” has absolutely awesome distorted guitars, and I love how quickly the song changes throughout, which explains why I think it works so well clocking in at under two and a half minutes.

That being said, my least favourite song here is “Infinity Room”, which is also the shortest song here, clocking in at a minute and ten seconds. But despite finding this song pretty boring, it’s short enough that it doesn’t take away too much from the full album experience. Also, I respect the willingness to put this song on the album as short as it is, instead of forcing it to be ‘long enough’.

“Gravity” is an instrumental track which I don’t think I’d go out of my way to listen to on its own, but it works really well as an interlude.

There’s one more track I want to mention right now, and that’s “Scream”. There are some great vocal melodies on this track, and I love the lyrics, too. The lyrics on this song seem to be about Lili Trifilio having a hard time opening up about her struggles, and she criticizes people who judge others for opening up about their struggles. She also mentions how that affects her and makes her afraid to open up. At least this is how I interpret the song. It’s another one of my favourites on the album.

I haven’t even yet mentioned the production throughout this album and how awesome the drums sound in the mix!

If you’re a fan of alternative rock, I highly recommend listening to this! It’s amazing!

I’m not saying this album is perfect, and there’s a few things here and there that bug me, but overall, I love this album! Emotional Creature by Beach Bunny is getting an 8/10 from me!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “Entropy”, “Deadweight”, “Gone”, “Fire Escape”, “Weeds”, “Scream”, “Love Song”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Infinity Room”, “Karaoke”

Metric – Formentera – Album Review

Hello, everybody … in case you missed it, I just recently made a post where I reviewed ten albums in the same post in mini reviews … I do plan to continue to do that in the future (I’m not sure how often), but today I have a single album review of the new Metric album, Formentera.

Metric is a band who’s been on my list to listen to more. Going into this album, I wasn’t super familiar with their discography, but I just recently got into their 2018 album, Art of Doubt … and before I get into my thoughts on their new album, I’m going to take this opportunity to say that I highly recommend listening to Art of Doubt if you haven’t already. If you don’t have the time (or would rather prioritize other things), that’s totally fair. But if you’re interested, have the time, and want to take the time to listen to it … I mean, I can’t guarantee that you’ll like it, but I absolutely love that album!

Even without being super familiar with Metric’s discography, Art of Doubt alone is so amazing that it got me super excited about the follow-up, Formentera.

“All Comes Crashing” dropped as the lead single back in April, and I really didn’t like it. But then I started to hear it more, and it was getting stuck in my head … not that it getting stuck in my head necessarily means I have to like it, but eventually I found myself wanting to listen to it, and I liked this song by the time the album dropped.

The almost ten-and-a-half-minute “Doomscroller” was released as the second single, and I’m pretty sure I only heard it once before the album came out.

Then, there was the final single released prior to the release of the album, “What Feels Like Eternity” … just like with “All Comes Crashing”, I really didn’t like this song at first, but it grew on me a lot. At this point, I love this song!

So when I was very disappointed by the album on first listen, I wondered if it would grow on me, like some of the singles did … and it did … A LOT.

This album kept getting better the more I listened to it, and I’m at the point now where I can easily call it one of my favourite albums of 2022!

The first thing I want to talk about is the production, which is fantastic! For example, on “What Feels Like Eternity”, which has both clean and distorted guitars, and finds the right times for both of them. The percussion is mixed really well, too, and the instruments sound fantastic together!

“Oh Please” starts off with an awesome combination of synths and guitar, and the percussion fits really well with the rest of the instrumentation. They do a great job on this song of finding the right places to take away instrumentation and the right places to add it back in.

“I Will Never Settle” builds up super well with the synths and percussion sounding amazing together, and really well mixed. Then that guitar riff comes in and it’s fantastic!

Most of these songs are really tightly produced … possibly the only exception for me is “All Comes Crashing”, where the instruments at times can sound a bit awkward together. But with that being said, despite some minor issues I have with it, this song grew on me even more! Going into the album I liked this song, but I didn’t love it … at this point, I love this song!

I feel like most of us have that one element in music that we care about way more than most listeners, and for me, it’s percussion … the speed and rhythm of the percussion, but also how it’s mixed/produced. And the percussion on this album is fantastic, and mixed well on almost every track, if not every track. Examples of great-sounding percussion on this album are the snap of the percussion on “What Feels Like Eternity”, the super well-mixed snare on “Enemies of the Ocean” that adds tension while still keeping the calm feeling of the song, the mellow snare on the first post-chorus of “I Will Never Settle”, the echoey snare on “False Dichotomy”, and the snappy snare on “Paths in the Sky” … yes, I know, I love great-sounding snares! But I also should point out the quiet kick drum in the verses of “Paths in the Sky”, where the emphasis is on the other instruments, but the kick is still there to add just the right amount of power.

But I should also mention the percussion in “Oh Please” … not just how it’s produced and mixed, but the fantastic rhythm of the drums throughout the song, with the off-beat kick drum right before the snare. The drums are also mixed super well in this song, and the snare sounds amazing!

Now, I also think there’s a lot of great melodies here. In terms of vocal melodies, some examples are in the chorus of “All Comes Crashing”, the start of “Enemies of the Ocean”, the first post-chorus of “I Will Never Settle”, and the verses and bridge on “Oh Please”. And in terms of melodies in the instrumentation … the guitar solos on “What Feels Like Eternity” and “I Will Never Settle”, the synths on the title track, the synth at the start of “False Dichotomy” (also the synth on the chorus of that song), and the lead guitar throughout “Oh Please”, a song that sounds like a lot of what’s on The Killers’ 2004 debut album, Hot Fuss, which, by the way, is also an amazing album.

Now, like I said in my mini review of DRILL MUSIC IN ZION by Lupe Fiasco, I don’t pay as much attention to lyrics as a lot of critics do … it’s not that I don’t pay any attention to them, it’s just that I care more about vocals, melodies, production, mixing, etc. But while I don’t know what all the lyrics mean on this album, there are some themes and some lines that I like here. For example, while I’m not totally sure what all the lyrics of “Oh Please” mean, it seems to have a theme of confidence, and I love the line, ‘I can kill with my eyes, and I’m murdering.’

The band’s lead guitarist, James Shaw, told Apple Music that “I Will Never Settle” is about not going back to your past of anxiety and demons, and knowing what you’re capable of so you can move forward, and just like on pretty much every track here (and on most albums), there’s some lyrics that I don’t understand. But I still find the lyrics in this song to be interesting.

Also, “All Comes Crashing” has an apocalyptic theme lyrically, and the band’s lead singer, Emily Haines, sings about making the most of the time we have instead of living in fear of everything coming to an end.

There are a lot of moments on this album that remind me of Art of Doubt, despite these two albums being very different. The powerful percussion and the buildup on “Paths in the Sky” reminds me of “Underline the Black”, some of the guitar melodies on the bridge of “What Feels Like Eternity” remind me of “Risk”, and the synths on the title track remind me a bit of “Anticipate”.

Speaking of Art of Doubt, I don’t want to make this whole review about which album is better, because I love both albums! They’re both amazing in different ways! But with that being said, in case you’re wondering … do I love this as much as Art of Doubt?

At this point … yes! And I’ll even go a step further … I love this even more!

That’s not meant as a criticism to Art of Doubt … that album is still very special to me and I still love it just as much as I did … it’s more to show just how much I love this new album!

If you’re wondering what my top favourites on this album are, as of right now, my top three in order of appearance are the title track, “Enemies of the Ocean”, and “Oh Please”. The song “Formentera” starts off with some fantastic strings, and I love the subtle buildup of this track. I especially love those amazing synth melodies I mentioned earlier, and they sound even better with the bassline. I also love the way Emily sings the word ‘Formentera’ near the end of the song, and the way the vocals are mixed at that part. And I also have to mention the pianos at the part when the title is sung.

“Enemies of the Ocean” is a somewhat mellow track that’s produced amazingly well, Emily’s vocals are fantastic, and the chorus of this track is phenomenal! I also have to mention the synth pad before the first verse.

Oh, please don’t let my praise of those tracks distract from how much I love the second-to-last track on the album (I know, horrible joke) … “Oh Please” is amazing! Emily Haines’ vocal performance is incredible here, and I also love the effect used on her voice in the verses. The guitars and percussion sound amazing together. I also mentioned the vocal melody on the bridge, which is fantastic! I mentioned the comparison between this and Hot Fuss by The Killers, but I’ll go a step further: I don’t think there’s a song on Hot Fuss that I love as much as this one, and that’s extremely high praise!

Before this review is over, I want to talk about the ten-and-a-half-minute opener, “Doomscroller”, which changes lots throughout the song, and for the first few minutes, it has this eerie feeling to it that works super well in my opinion … eventually it gets more intense, and then more mellow at the end … it’s quite a journey!

Formentera blew my mind! This album is amazingly produced and performed, the percussion sounds incredible, and Emily Haines’ vocals are amazing!

Like I said earlier, this album is one of my favourites of the year. To follow up an album as amazing as Art of Doubt, and for it to not only be as good, but better … that’s extremely impressive!

For me, this is a 9.5/10, the highest score I’ve ever given an album on this website … until now, I’d never scored an album higher than an 8! But this deserves it … holy shit, this album is amazing!

Thanks for reading my review of Formentera. While I enjoy making negative reviews, too, I’m more excited about these kinds of reviews, where I can throw a ton of praise on albums I love this much!

Let me know in the comments what you thought of this album and/or what you thought of my review … I’m a big fan of constructive criticism, so if there’s anything you want to point out that would help me improve my reviews, feel free to let me know. But, of course, only comment if you want to.

If you have any recommendations of albums I could review, feel free to let me know. And with all that said, I’ll be back with more reviews soon!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “What Feels Like Eternity”, “Formentera”, “Enemies of the Ocean”, “I Will Never Settle”, “False Dichotomy”, “Oh Please”
Least Favourite Tracks: I love every song here … but I guess the three I didn’t list in my favourite tracks are my least favourites.