Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another mini review post! There are ten albums I want to talk about here, in a wide variety of genres.

As always, these are all just my personal feelings on these albums, and even if I say something negative it’s not intended to be mean or anything. It’s just how I personally feel. Music is subjective.

I’ve gotta say, this year for music has been very disappointing so far, at least when it comes to the stuff I’ve been listening to. I’ve really struggled to find great albums this year, despite really looking for them … but fortunately, we’re starting this post with …

The Collective by Kim Gordon:

Kim Gordon is a name I’ve seen/heard online a lot, but I wouldn’t have been able to tell you anything about her until very recently. I didn’t even know she was a member of Sonic Youth until after I had already listened to this album.

Anyway, I saw this album getting quite a bit of critical acclaim, and I was curious to hear it … and good thing I gave it a chance, because this is an absolutely excellent industrial hip hop album which hit way harder than I was expecting!

The percussion has some excellent dynamics to it which I think really gives this album a lot of power in certain moments, but there are also some subtler moments where it feels like tension is building, making it hit so much harder when things get more intense. And it’s not just the percussion that does that, it’s the overall instrumentation and production.

Lyrically this album is very cryptic and difficult to untangle, and while I haven’t really figured it out yet, that very well might be the point. I mean, a lot of it kind of feels like it might be about feeling like you’re losing touch with reality, although again, it’s very cryptic and hard to untangle. But if that is what it’s about, then it feels kind of fitting how mysterious it all is. I mean, the album opens with a track that feels like the narrator panicking while packing for a trip, trying not to forget anything, and then we start to get some tracks that feel like horror stories, such as “Psychedelic Orgasm” and “Tree House”, even though it’s hard to fully paint the picture in your mind of what is going on.

But it all kind of feels like it fits together, creating a cohesive album experience that’ll pull you in so many different directions emotionally. This album is incredibly haunting, with the industrial production that really gives this such a stormy vibe, and Kim Gordon’s delivery has such a sense of desperation to it that pulls you into the album experience.

Start to finish, this is packed with bangers which might be a lot more ‘fun’ than they’re supposed to, but it’s also an album that might be a very challenging listen. I mean, I’ve listened to a lot of noisy, industrial music that’s not meant to be easy listening at all, and even for me this album feels like a challenging listen.

But again, I think this album is absolutely excellent! The sound is kind of messy at points, but not in a way that takes away from the awesome dynamics, and nothing really overpowers the mix in a really notable way. And the percussion has so much variety to it which is one of many reasons this is such a gripping album all the way through. And often the sort of spacey vibe can really help with the atmosphere, making it all the more eerie and haunting!

So, overall, I would highly recommend this album! I guess you could maybe call it nightmare fuel, but it also goes incredibly hard and kind of has a bit of a ‘culmination of experimental music’ feeling to it. That’s not to say this is the best album I’ve ever heard or that it’s the end of experimental music, but this still really caught me off guard in a way I was not expecting, and it’s one hell of a listen that might amaze you! I’m going to give this a strong 8.5/10! Awesome stuff!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “BYE BYE”, “The Candy House”, “I Don’t Miss My Mind”, “I’m A Man”, “Trophies”, “Psychedelic Orgasm”, “Shelf Warmer”, “The Believers”
Least Favourite Track: “It’s Dark Inside”

Bleachers by Bleachers:

I was originally planning on listening through Bleachers’ discography in preparation for this review, but I’ve got so much else going on and I just decided not to. However, I did relisten to Jack Antonoff’s 2021 solo album under the Bleachers name, which I remember listening to multiple times when it came out and not really being a big fan of … and I stand by my original feelings on the album. A lot of it felt really bland and forgettable and blends in with a lot of indie pop-rock to me. But with that being said, “Stop Making This Hurt” and “Chinatown” are both legitimately excellent songs, which made me curious about this new album …

And I’m reminded of all the negative comments I’ve seen about Jack Antonoff’s production in recent years. And it’s been really interesting, because he’s produced a lot of very critically acclaimed albums, but it also kind of feels like there’s been this general attitude of, ‘Oh no, Jack Antonoff’s producing this album, that’s worrying’ (I’m not talking about this specific album, just in general). And to me it’s always felt hit-or-miss. His production usually has a bit of a hollow sound to it, which in certain contexts can really work, whether that be in the introspectiveness of Taylor Swift’s Folklore and Lana Del Rey’s album from last year, or giving more of a soaring energy to the best songs on that last Bleachers album.

But here I’m reminded more of The 1975’s album from 2022 which I did not like at all, with a lot of the vocal production that feels so mushy and contorted, borderline robotic, and it really holds back a lot of these tracks, such as “Alma Mater”, which features guest vocals from Lana Del Rey, and with the feeling of randomness in the lyrics and some of the vocal production and instrumentation, this track subtly reminds me of “Part of the Band”—I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as that track, but still not a good sign. And some of the synths and guitar have a similar vibe to that album as well, especially with the percussion which really lacks a lot of punch in my opinion.

And the goopiness of some of the synths and the feeling of disconnect between the instruments creates a really awkward texture that reminds me a lot of the production on Taylor Swift’s Midnights (that album and The 1975’s 2022 album were both produced by Jack Antonoff). Also not a good thing in my opinion.

And I don’t find a lot of the vocal melodies all that interesting here, either. A lot of them just feel really generic—not like they’re ripping anything off as far as I can tell, just that they don’t feel all that interesting and sound a lot like what I’d typically imagine when I think of a generic vocal melody, such as on “Isimo”, a song which I think has potential as one of the moments where I think the airy production works for similar reasons to the best songs from that 2021 album, but it just feels like it meanders and meanders. And the following “Woke Up Today”—with the exception of the reverb—sounds like an early-to-mid 2010s mainstream indie folk song, and even as someone who likes some of the songs that made it big in that sound, I don’t mean that as a compliment.

Lyrically I think there’s some interesting storytelling and imagery here and there. I like how “Me Before You” celebrates a new relationship while showing how miserable he was before, without glamourizing self-destructive behaviour or anything like that, but just acknowledging what things were really like in the past (I’m not sure if this is a song about personal experience or not, but I think you get the point). And “Modern Girl” has some good imagery in it, even though the saxophone sounds like crap in my opinion.

But then there’s a song like “Self Respect”, which seems to be a song about trying to deal with fame and getting so much attention, and that being overwhelming and sometimes wanting an escape from that … but the line, ‘Let’s do something I’ll regret’ feels a little odd. I know it’s not meant literally, but it still feels pretty off-putting here, and the vocal layering sounds really bad, making this track feel very cluttered.

So, overall, I don’t think this is a bad album at all. But it is a very messy, inconsistent one that I think could have used much better production, even though there are moments that I think work quite well. So, for me it’s a 6/10, probably the same rating I’d give Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night, but I don’t think there’s a song here nearly as amazing as “Chinatown”. I still think this is worth hearing, though.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Jesus Is Dead”, “Me Before You”, “Isimo”, “Hey Joe”, “Call Me After Midnight”
Least Favourite Track: “Self Respect”

eternal sunshine by Ariana Grande:

So, this is a bit of a tricky album to discuss, because a lot of it involves a bunch of the drama surrounding Ariana’s personal life, and a part of me just wants to say, ‘It’s none of my business, I’m going to stay out of it.’ But there’s also a part of me that says, ‘Well, it does have a lot to do with the album, and I won’t be able to review it as well if I don’t look into it a bit.’ But at the end of the day I’d rather just stay out of it, especially because based on what I’ve heard here and there, the full truth isn’t totally confirmed to the public.

I mean, maybe I’m missing something—again, I haven’t looked into the situation much—but anyway, do I like the album?

Well, again, it’s a tricky one to review when I don’t really know the full story of the relationship drama, and whether or not anyone cheated, or anything like that … but I can say that the album isn’t really doing a whole lot for me.

Melodically there aren’t a lot of really strong hooks that stand out to me all that much, and a lot of the lyrics can feel very simple and don’t feel all that layered. Maybe I’m missing something, but it’s not really wowing me.

And the production really doesn’t work a lot of the time, with a lot of the vocals sounding kind of robotic at points such as on “the boy is mine” as well as various other tracks on the album, which in my opinion really doesn’t work considering how personal this album is, trying to convey a lot of emotion.

And there’s also just such a messy feeling to a lot of these tracks, as this album often has a much hollower sound than I would have liked … that is, when one element doesn’t totally overpower everything like the bass in “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”.

There is the occasional moment that feels a bit more unexpected, such as “imperfect for you” which feels like she’s thinking outside the box a bit more, with the watery acoustic guitar timbre which I think fits really well with the sharp snare, and the vocal melodies take an odd turn in the chorus that caught me off guard, but I really like it! But the vast majority of this album feels to me like radio filler.

But I don’t think this is bad, and Ariana is a very good singer … so, I’ll give this a 6/10. I don’t think I’m going to go back to it much, but it’s pretty decent.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “don’t wanna break up again”, “eternal sunshine”, “imperfect for you”
Least Favourite Track: “the boy is mine”

Depthdweller by UZLAGA:

Here’s a new black metal album that came out at the start of this month, and while I haven’t seen or heard a whole lot about it (I just came across this album when looking online for black metal albums), the reception I have seen for it seems to be mostly positive. But I didn’t really have any reason to believe this was going to be great or anything … but I decided to give it a chance anyway.

And while I think it’s decent, I don’t find it to be particularly hard-hitting or memorable. The basslines don’t really have all that much power to them, there are a few moments where the guitar can hit pretty hard but for the most part I wish it had more crunch to its sound, and it feels like this could have used more layers to add a more interesting texture.

I couldn’t find any of the lyrics to this album when I looked them up, and I can’t hear what they are, so this review is just based on the way the album sounds … and again, it sounds decent, but I’m just not all that wowed by this.

I think my biggest issue with it is that it doesn’t feel all that distinct to me. It’s not that I don’t think some of these moments are at least somewhat hard-hitting, because I do. “Alone” has arguably my favourite production on the album, with the way the howling vocals cut through the mix while still letting the snare and guitar dominate, and the title track is very intense with drumming that I think fits the instrumental very well.

But even the moments here that do hit harder just don’t feel all that experimental, catchy, or memorable. And maybe that’s a me thing, but at the end of the day these reviews are all just based on how I personally feel anyway.

And especially when there are moments like “Light of the Moon” where everything sounds so hollow and lacking in firepower, I have a hard time fully understanding the appeal of this album. And it’s not that I think it’s bad, because I don’t. But it’s a difficult album to recommend, and I hate to say it especially considering it’s from a smaller act. But if you love black metal and are looking for a mostly conventional black metal album that’s under a half hour, this might satisfy your wishes.

Maybe there’s more to it than I’m giving it credit, but as someone who’s listened to a lot of black metal albums over the past few years, this didn’t feel all that distinct to me. I’m going to give this a 6/10, because again, there is the occasional moment that I think is mostly enjoyable while it’s on, and I don’t find very many sections of this album annoying. But again, this isn’t really for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Know More”, “Alone”, “Lucidity”
Least Favourite Track: “Light of the Moon”

Spectral Evolution by Rafael Toral:

I’ve seen this ambient album getting quite a bit of critical acclaim online, and after giving it multiple listens I’m struggling to fully understand why.

I mean, I guess some of the textures are nice, and there’s some variety here, too, but a lot of it is pretty boring to me.

Maybe I’m just missing some subtle details, I’m not sure. But this just isn’t quite clicking for me as much as I was hoping it would. It doesn’t really bring much imagery to my mind, it doesn’t really make me feel much of anything, and it really just feels like background noise to me that I kind of forget is even playing.

There are moments here and there where it feels a bit more experimental, like something that maybe I could really like if there were some adjustments made to it, but I’m just not wowed by this at all.

But I’m probably missing something, as this has been arguably one of the most critically acclaimed albums this year. I mean, I don’t dislike it, and in the right context I might hear it as somewhat pleasant background music … but I don’t think I’m going to return to this much, if at all.

But at least it does get a bit more interesting toward the end of the record, even though I wish the synths had a less watery timbre.

So, for me personally this is getting a 5/10, as it’s not for me at all. But if you’re looking for some experimental ambient music … I mean, I’m not sure if you’re gonna really be all that wowed by this—I like ambient music, and this didn’t click for me at all—but it might be worth a shot. Clearly a lot of people are hearing something in this that I’m not. (Also, I can’t pick favourite and least favourite tracks because this album is just one forty-plus minute track.)

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: N/A
Least Favourite Tracks: N/A

As Grande As by Grande Mahogany:

This is the debut album from an artist I’d never heard of until recently, and it’s both very funky and very experimental, with the cutting production sounding really nice—the sound quality of this album is awesome!

But while I like a lot of the experimentation here, and there are some really strong vocal melodies at points, something feels missing that’s holding this back from clicking for me more.

Maybe it’s just that I get a bit tired of hearing a similar style of music for over half an hour, but even early in the album I’m left feeling like I should like this a lot more.

Maybe it just feels too reminiscent of other music I’ve already heard … but I can’t even figure out which music this reminds me of.

In any case, I do think this could use maybe a little more stylistic variety in the instrumentation, and I can’t quite say I love this album.

And I could make nitpicks about how some elements such as the bass can feel a little quieter than I’d like at points, getting kind of drowned out in the mix, but again, I can’t fully place what it is that’s holding this back for me.

I only found a small percentage of the lyrics on this album, so this review is almost entirely about the way this sounds. And again, the sound quality of this album is excellent, but something feels missing to me. So, I’ll give it a 7/10, and while I’d absolutely recommend it, I wouldn’t recommend you set your expectations super high. But for fans of funk music with a lot of experimentation, this could be totally up your alley!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Bop Your Head (Till It Drop!)”, “Angle of the Dangle”, “Spaceboy Pinkhead”
Least Favourite Track: “November Jewels, the Great Cuddle”

Where’s My Utopia? by Yard Act:

I remember putting Yard Act’s debut album on my list of the worst albums of 2022, and after relistening to that album recently … well, I might have been too harsh on it, but I still found it to be an exhausting listen, and one that certainly didn’t bring up my expectations for this new album.

And I definitely like this more than their debut, but it’s still so far from actually being my cup of tea.

The instruments still feel distant from each other in the production, not really blending well, and I’m still struggling to find a lot of melodies or hooks that really stand out to me in a positive way … or, in this case, that really stand out to me at all.

Now, when it comes to the lyrics … okay, I’ll just be honest and say that I just got over a cold (maybe it wasn’t a cold, but either way, I was sick), and at the time of writing this review I’m really struggling to get back on schedule with my reviews … so, I’m kind of half-assing this review, and while I’m often one to not look super deeply into lyrics, I usually look into them more than I did with this album, at least if there seems to be some huge statement the album is trying to make.

And if it really seemed like there was a lot to it and I might end up really liking the lyrics if I looked into them more, I would have … but I did read the lyrics, and I’m making a(n) (possibly unfair) assumption that there’s not really a lot to it. That’s just what it seems like on the surface level. If I’m wrong, feel free to let me know in the comments, and maybe I’ll do a re-review of this album in the future. Who knows?

There are some catchy moments here and the occasional line that I really like, but overall this just isn’t doing much for me.

Yard Act’s sophomore album for me is getting a 5/10, but it very well may deserve a much higher rating. I wanted to get this review out, though, and I know this album isn’t really clicking for me, even though there may be more to it than I realize.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “We Make Hits”, “Petroleum”, “Grifter’s Grief”
Least Favourite Track: “When the Laughter Stops”

Underdressed at the Symphony by Faye Webster:

I went through Faye Webster’s discography in preparation for this review, and while I’ve gotten into country music a lot more in recent years, there are still a lot of artists who have kind of an indie country sound where I just really struggle to get into it. And in the case of Faye Webster … well, her albums mostly seem to be about breakups and the struggles that come with that. And maybe it’s just me having been single my whole life up to this point, but her music hasn’t really clicked for me. I definitely prefer her first two albums over 2019’s Atlanta Millionaires Club and 2021’s I Know I’m Funny haha, but none of her albums have fully clicked for me.

So, I can’t really say my expectations were super high going into this album, but I was curious enough to give it a chance. And I actually think the production is legit fantastic, with the gentle piano adding a ton of emotion and giving this a feeling of optimism, and the drums have enough punch without being overpowering.

And the bass sounds great in the mix, too! The album’s production has such a nice crisp sound to it, just super pleasant to listen to!

And I think it fits for an album that seems to be trying to find comfort despite the narrator’s complicated, messy emotions, that might represent a part of most of the population that we don’t really want to acknowledge, but that plays a huge role in our lives.

I also really like how the emotions evolve throughout the album—there doesn’t seem to be any clear story throughout the album, and I’m not sure the order of the track list really matters all that much, but it feels like it all connects, with the complicated, messy emotions, with some happier moments like “Feeling Good Today” fitting in really well as a break from the more frustrated emotions on other tracks.

Overall, this feels like a much happier album than her previous few—honestly, probably her happiest album to date! And the juxtaposition of that while still keeping a lot of the frustration really works as an artistic choice in my opinion—no matter how happy we can become, there’s always still going to be struggles we have to deal with.

And there are so many great moments here sonically, such as those awesome shots of piano with reverb on “Lego Ring”, a song featuring Lil Yachty of all people, and I think it’s a great track! And there are some sudden noisy sections here, too, like on the title track and “Lifetime”, and the production really gives it a smooth feeling that really fits!

Overall, it’s a pretty easy album for me to review, but that doesn’t mean it’s boring, because I actually think this is the most I’ve liked a Faye Webster album to date! I thought I was going to give this an 8/10, but I actually think I’m gonna go with a light 8.5! If you love indie country, this is a gem of an album I don’t think you’ll wanna miss!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “But Not Kiss”, “Wanna Quit All the Time”, “Lego Ring”, “Feeling Good Today”, “Lifetime”, “He Loves Me Yeah!”, “eBay Purchase History”
Least Favourite Track: “Tttttime”

Where we’ve been, Where we go from here by Friko:

Here’s a new trio who have seen a sudden burst in popularity this year. And their debut album has been arguably one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year thus far …

And on my first few listens, sonically this wasn’t really doing a whole lot for me. It felt like it blended in with a lot of other indie-folk-rock (or whatever this style of music is called) that I’ve heard, with the sort of messy production not really helping.

And yeah, I still think in certain points the messiness of the production doesn’t really work, but not only have I noticed it actually sounds a lot tighter when I listen to it more closely, but when I started to pay more attention to the lyrics, I think there’s a lot more to this than what might appear on the surface.

Now, I will start by saying that I don’t think the album starts super strong, with the opening track not only being one of the weaker moments sonically, with the pretty simple acoustic guitar melodies and the messy production once things build up more, but the line ‘four feet between a wall and a window will make your wife a widow’ feels really out of place, considering it feels like the narrator is talking directly to the protagonist, and while it seems to be coming from a place of empathy and trying to be helpful, that feels like a terrible way to prove the point that is trying to be made. I understand that suicide is a massive problem and way too many people are taking their own lives, but that worst-case-scenario mindset in what seems like a conversational song (at least the way I hear it) is kind of awkward in my opinion. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain why this feels so off-putting to me, especially because a lot of it really depends on the way you hear it.

But either way, I do think the themes of not being satisfied are very interesting on this album. This continues into the next track, “Crimson To Chrome”, which seems to use metaphors for being caught in some sort of cycle where you’re not completing the tasks you want to, and you’re not living the life you want to, ‘Writing the same sad song.’ And then “Crashing Through” kind of feels like a dream sequence with its watery guitar roll in the verses and the awesome buildup in the chorus which feels kind of melodramatic, possibly representing a dream in which the narrator lets fear get in the way of completing a goal, mostly because the lyrics very much imply that. But then there’s “For Ella”, which is a haunting track which might be about someone who has passed away, but it feels intentionally unclear—but if there’s something that connects it with the previous few tracks, I think it’s missed potential; things could have been totally different. Also, on a bit of a side note, the strings and the production on “For Ella” sound fantastic!

But that theme seems to run throughout the album, and while I do wish the instrumentation felt more consistently interesting, it also kind of fits that it often sounds like it’s trying to do something different and unique but fails to stand out. I mean, considering the lyrics, it makes sense … and in points, the more restrained instrumentation does work for me, but as a whole … well, I don’t think I can quite call it great, in my own subjective opinion. It’s not super consistent, and I don’t think the lyrics fully make up for the fact that it does feel lacking in a bit more experimentation, but I totally understand how the relationship between the music and the words could totally work for the right audience.

So, I’m going to give this a 7/10. It’s not totally for me, but it’s very fascinating, and there is a lot more I could have said about it, but I wanted to keep this pretty brief considering it’s a mini review. I mean, I considered making it its own review, but I’m already working on another individual album review and I’ve been very busy with school, so for time reasons I decided not to.

But anyway, in short, I don’t quite love this album, but I certainly like it a lot and would highly recommend it to fans of indie folk, or indie rock, or anything in that vein.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Crashing Through”, “For Ella”, “Until I’m With You Again”, “Cardinal”
Least Favourite Track: “Statues”

Invincible Shield by Judas Priest:

This is my first time listening to a Judas Priest album, although I’ve heard lots of great things about them. They’re definitely a band whose discography I’d love to do more of a deep dive on at some point, but considering just how large their discography is as well as the fact that I’ve been very busy with school, I just decided to go into this without much of an idea of what to expect aside from the fact that it’s metal/hard rock. Although I have heard really good things about this album …

And I think the album is really good! The chugging riffs have some real power to them instead of feeling like they bog down the experience, and I think a big part of that is because it’s contrasted with enough melody, and speaking of which, the melodies here are often very strong! Although I do think the opener is kind of ruined by that interpolation of “Tom Sawyer” by Rush. I’m not sure if it was intentional or not, though.

Anyway, I think there are a lot of strong melodies here, both in the vocals and the lead guitar, which often together create some really nice polyphonic textures where the melodies complement each other really well, letting some of the hooks really soar!

And I think the production is mostly really strong, too! There are some occasional moments where I don’t really think it works, such as how unfit the drums feel in the production of “Crown of Horns”, but I mostly think the guitar distortion adds a lot of power here, and not only do the drums and bass provide a really nice rhythm section, but they sound really good together production-wise!

And there are some absolutely great tracks here! Like “Devil In Disguise”, with its lyrics about people who pretend to have good intentions in order to take advantage of people, and some of the hardest-hitting drum sounds on the album! Also, “Sons of Thunder” has some of the best guitar moments on the album, and there are some really strong vocal melodies in tracks like “The Serpent and the King” and “Escape from Reality”!

And while “Giants In the Sky” could’ve used a bit more firepower (pun somewhat intended) in the production, I really like the choice to end the album with a track that seems to be about leaving a legacy. For a band who’ve been around for over fifty years now, it feels fitting as they may be getting close to the end of their career as a band.

So, overall, I thought this was a very strong album! Maybe not the most unique metal album in the world—I mean, definitely not—but when the best songs hit this hard and there’s enough interesting commentary in the lyrics … I’ll give this a very strong 7/10! There are a few moments I wish I liked a lot more, but I still found it to be a very enjoyable listen overall. 

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Serpent and the King”, “Devil In Disguise”, “Escape from Reality”, “Sons of Thunder”, “Giants In the Sky”
Least Favourite Track: “Panic Attack”

Hi, everyone! I know it’s been a little while since I’ve made a mini review post, but I’ve still been working on lots of mini reviews, and I’m guessing I’ll have another one ready to post fairly soon.

As always, these are all just my personal feelings on these albums, and even if I say something negative it’s not meant to be mean or anything. I’m just some guy sharing how much or little I like these albums and why.

Ballad of a Bystander by The Reytons:

The Reytons are a band formed in 2017 whose 2023 sophomore album hit the top of the UK Albums Chart, but they haven’t really made it big worldwide. I was made aware of them by a friend of mine who’s a big fan of their music, and I decided to check out their first two albums. And while I mostly liked their first album, it didn’t really wow me and felt way too reminiscent of Arctic Monkeys, and I’m not even much of an Arctic Monkeys fan. And their sophomore album felt even less interesting to me, with fewer hooks that stood out and slightly weaker production.

And unfortunately this new album feels like a step down, even from their album from last year, as the drums feel very stiff and often overpower these tracks, the melodies are very boring, and the storytelling doesn’t feel as detailed or gripping, and that’s coming from someone who wasn’t really super gripped by their storytelling in the first place. But as I often say, take this with a massive grain of salt, as I’m not really great at analyzing lyrics for the most part. But it’s not really doing much for me.

It’s also worth noting that I couldn’t find all the lyrics to this album, although I found most of them.

Once again the Arctic Monkeys influence feels very obvious, maybe not as much as their first two albums, but it still doesn’t feel all that unique to me, often feeling like it blends in with a lot of generic songs you’d hear on rock radio.

The basslines feel really awkwardly miked in a way that really brings down the overall sound quality in my opinion, and some of the more watery guitar timbres feel really out of place as well.

So, overall … well, I don’t think it’s bad, but it doesn’t really give me a whole lot to say. There’s the occasional moment that I find mildly enjoyable, but none that I think I’m really gonna go back to much.

So, for me, album number three from The Reytons is a 5/10. I’m struggling to see the appeal in this.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Market Street”, “Listen”, “What She Won’t Do”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Let Me Breathe”, “2006”

Mountainhead by Everything Everything:

Recently I finally decided to listen through Everything Everything’s discography in preparation for this review of their seventh album. I was already familiar with their 2022 album, but after listening to their other five albums a few times each recently, I can’t really call myself much of a fan of the band. It just didn’t seem like it was for me at all, with a lot of the quirky lyrics and experimental instrumentation maybe feeling like it was trying a little too hard. Now, with all that being said, I didn’t look into the lyrics super deeply or anything, so I very well could be missing something. But it just didn’t seem like my cup of tea at all.

But their 2022 album Raw Data Feel made my top 50 albums of 2022, and after relistening to it I stand by that, for a bunch of reasons which will take a while to fully explain here. But anyway, were they able to follow it up with another great album? 

Well, a lot of the melodies are really strong, and Jonathan Higgs’ unique vocals are very engaging, and the grooves are quite strong, just like on Raw Data Feel.

And I really like a lot of the lyrics here, too. I don’t fully understand what the overall meaning of this album is, but it seems to have to do with an insatiable protagonist, trying to make it to the top of a metaphorical mountain only to be disappointed.

And I think the upbeat sound works considering something feels a little bit ‘off’, and there are so many catchy moments here with a lot of really great lines—one of my favourites has to be, ‘If I’m gonna be tomorrow’s bacon, you deserve a Michelin star,’ even though that song has some annoying reverb and other vocal effects that I don’t really like.

So, yeah, there’s a lot about this that I really, really like! I would absolutely recommend it if you’re looking for a really fun experimental pop album with very complex and layered lyrics … and I just really wish I liked the production more.

The vocals often sound drowned out in the mix, the percussion often feels kind of clunky, and the watery sound of this album really takes away from the punch it could have. I don’t think it fits at all with the vocal style or the quirky instrumentals, unlike Raw Data Feel which I think had great percussion and a lot of hard-hitting production that really helped the emotion shine through a lot more.

I don’t think this is a bad album at all—in fact, I think it’s really good, extremely close to great (there’s enough about this that I really love aside from the production that I nearly think it’s great regardless)—but I couldn’t fully get past what I think are some notable flaws in the production. I’m going to give this an extremely strong 7.5/10. Maybe I’ll call it great in the future, but as of right now, in my personal subjective opinion, it doesn’t quite get there.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “The End of the Contender”, “Cold Reactor”, “Buddy, Come Over”, “Canary”, “Enter the Mirror”, “City Song”
Least Favourite Track: “Wild Guess”

2093 by Yeat:

So, this is my first time ever listening to a Yeat album, and I’ve heard some very conflicting opinions on his music, as well as on this album.

And the first thing I’ll say is that I’m not really sure the lyrics are super important here. I think this album is a lot more about the vibe. Maybe I’m missing something, but that’s what it seems like to me … at least to a certain point, but I’ll talk more about that soon.

And honestly, I don’t really mind this album. Sure, the production at times can sound a little awkward, with some of the watery synth timbres feeling kind of out of place, and while I do like the crisp percussion on some of these tracks like “Morë” and “ILUV”, at times the percussion can also feel a little clunky. But overall I actually think the production mostly works, at least for the otherworldly vibe this album seems to be going for, almost like it’s trying to pull you out of reality for a brief moment in time.

And when you think about it that way, maybe the braggadocious lyrics are really just a disguise, showing someone trying to find an escape from insecurities, pretending that everything is totally great. Now, there’s not really a lot in the lyrics that directly imply that, at least not as far as I can tell. Although “Shade” has the line, ‘Let’s all get high as fuck and pretend,’ which might be the one moment on this album, or at least one of the only ones, where that’s actually strongly implied in the lyrics. Otherwise it’s all about the relationship between the words and the music, and while as far as I can tell the lyrics aren’t super deep or anything, I think they are often fitting with the music.

Am I totally overthinking this? Possibly. But I’m not going to deny that there may be more to this than what appears on the surface. And unfortunately that doesn’t change the fact that this album is incredibly long, with most of the songs blending together for me, without a lot of real strong hooks. Yeah, there are some catchy moments like “ILUV” and “Shade”, but the vast majority of this just feels super forgettable to me.

And also, Lil Wayne and Future both give very weak guest verses in my opinion, and it’s such a shame because in the latter case, “Stand On It” is otherwise a really, really good song!

So, overall, while I think there are a few strong moments here, it is a bit of a chore to get through as a full album. But I don’t think it’s bad, either. I guess I’ll give this a 5/10. I’ve definitely heard albums in this style that I like a lot less, and most of these tracks at least have something about them that I really like, even though I wish most of them felt more fully fleshed out. But again, I don’t think it’s bad. I’m pretty sure I like this a little more than I thought I would.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Morë”, “ILUV”, “Shade”, “Stand On It”, “If We Being Rëal”
Least Favourite Tracks: “U Should Know”, “2093”

TANGK by IDLES:

This is the fifth studio album from IDLES, a band who received a lot of critical acclaim for their 2017 debut, Brutalism, as well as their sophomore album from the following year, Joy as an Act of Resistance.. And I was really into their music as a kid, but a lot of the music I listened to as a kid I don’t really like nowadays and I really feel like I was forcing myself to like when I was younger. But I revisited all of IDLES’ previous albums, and I still think their first two are great! Maybe not the most revolutionary punk albums in recent years, but they were full of personality, humour, and social commentary, and also some interesting meta commentary.

And while their 2020 album Ultra Mono disappointed a lot of fans—and understandably, considering how much of IDLES’ charm was lost due to a much more straightforward approach to song writing—I still think it has a lot of bangers on it, including “Model Village” which might be a contender for my favourite song in IDLES’ discography!

But then there was CRAWLER in 2021, a much mellower album which was quite the change in sound for the band … and unfortunately a lot of it just didn’t click for me. There were moments I liked, mostly the moments where it felt like they were thinking outside the box a bit, but as a whole it didn’t feel as interesting, funny, or hard-hitting as their previous albums.

And considering the mostly lukewarm reception I’ve seen for this new album, I was a bit worried … and unfortunately my worries came true, because this feels like a disappointment for similar reasons to their previous two albums. It feels a lot more straightforward without the same cleverness as their first two albums, and sonically these tracks aren’t very hard-hitting, either.

And I understand the idea of a mostly optimistic, fun album that isn’t as deep or layered as their first two albums … as much as there’s absolutely a place for art that really makes you think, it also can be nice to kind of turn your mind off from all the problems in the world and just try and have a good time, which seems to be the majority of this album’s theme, despite some exceptions.

And I just don’t find this to be all that fun to listen to—for example, there’s “Dancer”, which lyrically feels like it’s supposed to be a joyful track about just dancing and having a good time, but the eeriness of the guitars doesn’t fit at all in my opinion. And at points this album can get quite annoying, like the extremely underwhelming chorus of “Gift Horse”, with one of the most annoying vocal performances on the album and extremely underpowered guitar.

I like the positivity of this album’s lyrics, and there are moments that I think have potential, such as the opener with its twinkling piano complementing the eerie vibe, or the percussion groove of “Grace”, but I found this album really underwhelming as a whole. In fact, it’s probably my least favourite IDLES album to date. For me this is a 5/10—I really wish I liked it more, but it feels like IDLES might be running out of ideas.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “IDEA 01”, “Grace”, “Monolith”
Least Favourite Track: “Gift Horse”

She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She by Chelsea Wolfe:

I recently decided to try and at least somewhat familiarize myself with Chelsea Wolfe’s discography, and after listening to all six of her albums, I absolutely get the hype!

And while I’m definitely becoming a fan of Chelsea Wolfe’s music, her 2019 album Birth of Violence did feel a little underwhelming to me compared to her previous few albums, as it didn’t feel as detailed, and it left me wondering if maybe she was starting to run out of ideas.

But it has been about four and a half years since Birth of Violence, and I felt cautiously optimistic going into this … I mean, it’s been getting a lot of critical acclaim, so that’s promising, right?

And I hate to say it, but this album was a big disappointment for me. I think the biggest reason—actually, not necessarily the biggest reason, but the first notable reason I noticed—is the vocal production. Whereas her previous few albums let the vocals feel like a part of the messy atmosphere which really fit considering the lyrical content, the vocal production here feels so distant from the instrumentation, really taking away from the emotional resonance.

And while some of the guitar has some nice crunch, the drums feel way clunkier than I would have liked, and the album often has a bit of a demo-like sound to it, which keeps this from hitting way harder.

And when it comes to the lyrics … well, there are some similarities to her other albums lyrically, a lot of which seem to be about trauma, and escapism, and also giving a huge middle finger to those who inflict suffering on her. And while I don’t know this for sure, I’m pretty sure she writes from her own experience, and who am I to judge someone’s art as a way to try and cope with trauma?

But at the same time, I can’t deny that this just doesn’t feel nearly as interesting or layered as her best albums, and it doesn’t feel as much like a complete album, more like a collection of songs, without a clear theme throughout the album that really ties these songs together. Maybe there is and I’m just missing it, but whereas some of her albums feel like the songs are way more connected musically and lyrically, this doesn’t feel that way to me.

I do think there are some good melodies on this album, and Chelsea is a hell of a singer (even though I don’t like the vocal production here), so it’s enough for me to give this a 6/10, but I can’t pretend I love this. Again, I hate to say this, but I think this might be Chelsea Wolfe’s worst album to date. It just isn’t hitting nearly as hard for me as I was hoping it would.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Tunnel Lights”, “The Liminal”, “Place In The Sun”
Least Favourite Track: “Everything Turns Blue”

COMING HOME by Usher:

So, I was originally planning on listening to some (or maybe all) of Usher’s albums before reviewing this album, but considering the number of albums I review and the fact that I’ve been going through a few other artists’ full discographies, I just decided not to for now. I would like to listen to more of Usher’s music at some point, but the time just got away from me here, and I wanted to get this review out sooner rather than later.

Anyway … this is a long, messy, inconsistent album that has some really strong moments and also some really weak moments … and a lot of it just feels bland and forgettable to me.

On the more negative side, there are songs like “BIG”, with that McDonald’s line being really cringey in my opinion, and the horns and bass in this song sound really obnoxious, as do the vocal melodies. And some of these songs can feel a bit possessive and creepy, too, like “Please U”, which feels pushy despite him saying his intentions are good—it feels like one of those faux nice guy anthems. And there are also some moments on this album where it feels like cheating is being glorified. I’m not saying the lyrics were written with bad intent—I’m confident they weren’t—but it still feels really off-putting.

And I wish the production was a bit less airy in certain parts of the album, where it often feels like it lacks more punch.

But on the more positive side … I think the album starts and ends relatively well, and outside of Latto’s verse I kind of feel like I like “A-Town Girl” way more than I should … I mean, on paper it seems like a terrible idea, with the combination of the interpolation of Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” and the trap beat, but I actually think it works pretty well! Why is that? I have no idea!

And some of the melodies are really strong in certain songs, like “Stone Kold Freak”, which might be my favourite song on the album—although “One of Them Ones” is also a contender!

As a whole, I’m going to give this a 5/10, but not because I think it’s super boring and forgettable or anything like that … I just think it’s inconsistent.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Coming Home”, “A-Town Girl”, “Stone Kold Freak”, “I Am the Party”, “One of Them Ones”
Least Favourite Tracks: “BIG”, “On the Side”, “I Love U”, “Please U”, “Margiela”

Mercy by Remo Drive:

So, I was going to check out Remo Drive’s other albums before this one, but to save time I just decided to go into this one without having heard their others …

And to me this mostly just feels like some pretty bland indie rock. I mean, there are some interesting moments, like the lyrics on “White Dress” in which the narrator is explaining to his partner why he’s not ready to get married, and I also really like the roaring guitar on the title track.

But a lot of this just feels really forgettable to me, without a lot of strong vocal melodies or catchy hooks.

The instruments feel more distant from each other in the production than I would have liked, and the drums don’t have the punch that I wish they did.

I guess the lyrics are kind of interesting—there seems to maybe be a theme of the complexities of human emotions, and there are a variety of song topics here—but a lot of it just doesn’t really grab my attention all that much … and yeah, that’s a me thing, I’ll admit.

But overall I’m going to give this a 5.5/10. I don’t think I’m going to go back to this much, if at all. At least not any time soon.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “White Dress”, “Mercy”
Least Favourite Track: “Houseplant”

See The New Dawn by Caleb R.K. Williams:

Last year, I reviewed a Caleb R.K. Williams album, and I didn’t really love it, but I found it mostly pleasant as background music, and I decided to listen to this album which came out at the start of February 2024.

And once again, it’s not doing a whole lot for me. It’s a very mellow ambient album that has some nice synth tones, and it can create a very calming, peaceful listen at certain moments, but the vast majority of it just feels like it’s there, and that’s about it.

And at points this can get very boring, without doing much at all that makes it feel distinct in the field of ambient music. And as much as I’ve gotten into the genre a lot more recently, a lot of it just feels very forgettable to me, including this album. That’s not to say it’s bad, or that I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, just that it’s not for me.

The strings can often create a nice, warm vibe, and while I wish the texture felt a little more clean and the strings had a bit of a softer sound, they do still add a nice touch that makes some of these tracks fairly pretty.

And I think this album also does bring some images to my mind, maybe of an empty field where not much is happening, but it feels like something huge is about to transpire, whether that be physical or just in one’s own mind. Yes, that was very oddly specific considering there are no lyrics here, but it’s what I could think of … I’m not sure that fully explains how this makes me feel, but I think it’s close enough.

But I also think my uncertainty of how I personally interpret it does kind of say something here. This album doesn’t really pull me into its world all that much, and thus I have a hard time getting into it.

So, overall … well, I don’t think it’s bad. In fact, if you’re a fan of ambient music, I could understand why one might really like this! So, I’d definitely recommend it to some fans of instrumental ambient music, but even as someone who’s warmed up to this style of music a lot in recent years, this album isn’t really my cup of tea. So, I’ll give it a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Overcome I”, “Home”, “Thought Sanctum”, “I Am A Stranger Here”, “Overcome II”
Least Favourite Track: “Fields Of Gold”

Loss Of Life by MGMT:

So, up until very recently, MGMT were one of those bands whose name I’d seen/heard a lot but whom I hadn’t really listened to. But when I saw they had a new album coming out, I decided to give all four of their albums a few listens each in preparation for this review. And while I, like seemingly pretty much everyone else, think “Kids” is a fantastic song, I do go against the general consensus on that album, their 2007 debut Oracular Spectacular, as it just didn’t really do much for me. The production didn’t feel as tight as I would’ve liked, and the melodies didn’t stand out to me all that much. And after listening to their other albums a few times each I don’t really think any of them rise above just decent for me, and I don’t think they’ve come close to making a song as great as “Kids”—although “Me and Michael” is lowkey a pretty great song from their 2018 album Little Dark Age.

But it’s been about six years since Little Dark Age dropped, and I was hoping maybe they’d have more up their sleeves this time …

And I think they did, as this is easily my favourite MGMT album to date, even though I don’t quite love this album.

I like a lot of the lyrics, some of which seem to be the duo reflecting on their success over the years, such as on “Bubblegum Dog”, at least the way I hear it, like they’re trying to be creative and unique with their music but might feel like they’re running out of ideas—partially ironic considering I think this is their best and most interesting album, and also kind of fitting considering just how much this track reminds me of “Tranquilize” by The Killers ft. Lou Reed (a song I don’t really like at all), with the kind of booming percussion, the vocal style, and some of the melodies. I do like this song more than “Tranquilize”, though.

And “Nothing Changes” is probably my favourite MGMT song to date—that’s right, I probably love this even more than “Kids”! This track seems to be about feeling like you provide nothing for the world, and even though that’s clearly an overreaction that so many of us worry about even though it’s not true at all, there’s also the fact that we exist and can try to find enjoyment in life regardless, which really seems like the message they’re trying to send on the bridge. And the acoustic guitar really fits the vibe super well!

And I think the album ends really well, too, but there are also some moments that feel like they should be a lot better, such as “Dancing In Babylon”, which starts off really strong but then those icky synths in the post chorus just ruin it.

And the production on this album often doesn’t feel nearly as tight as I’d like. For an album that seems like it’s supposed to be this epic, emotional experience, I just wish it hit a lot harder.

I don’t dislike this album—in fact, I mostly like it—but I can’t go higher than a 7/10. It’s good, but I wouldn’t call it great.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Nothing Changes”, “I Wish I Was Joking”, “Loss Of Life”
Least Favourite Track: “Loss Of Life, Pt. 2”

Girl With No Face by Allie X:

Before listening to this new album, I decided to check out Allie X’s first two albums, neither of which really did a whole lot for me. I felt like I’d heard that style of synth-pop done way better, and the hooks didn’t really stand out to me all that much.

But this album is by far her most critically acclaimed album to date, so that definitely brought my hopes up …

And it’s just not really doing much for me. The drums don’t feel super connected with the rest of the instruments in the way they’re produced, which leads to moments like “Staying Power” with its overpowering snare, or that incredibly obnoxious kick on “Hardware Software” that I think is way too loud in the mix.

And the synths often don’t feel as sharp as I’d like, just not having much of an impact if you ask me.

And it’s not like the melodies or hooks really do a whole lot to stand out to me, either. And while Allie X is a pretty good singer, I just don’t feel much of a desire to go back to this album.

Lyrically, a lot of this seems to be about personal demons and trying to find self-love, and struggling with that but still just pushing forward and trying to enjoy life despite all your struggles. Maybe I’m not interpreting it totally right, but either way, as much as I respect the lyrics here, it doesn’t really grab my attention all that much personally.

I don’t think this is a bad album, and there’s the occasional moment I really like, such as those awesome synths on “Galina”! But as a whole this didn’t really do much for me, so I’ll give it a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Galina”, “Black Eye”, “Saddest Smile”
Least Favourite Track: “Hardware Software”

Hello, everyone! It’s time for another individual album review! It’s the new Alan Doyle album, Welcome Home.

So, you know when you see the name of a musical artist online, and you know you’ve heard of the artist, but you don’t know why? And maybe you even know the artist is in a famous band, but you can’t think of which band?

Well, that happened to me recently. I was in the classroom at college, my class had just ended, and I realized I hadn’t decided what music I was going to listen to on my way home, so I started looking for new albums that had just come out, and I saw there was a new Alan Doyle album. I knew that name rung a bell, but I couldn’t place why. I was pretty sure he was in a famous band, but I wasn’t sure which band, and I wasn’t totally sure about that. I later found out he was a member of Great Big Sea, a band I’ve heard of quite a bit but haven’t listened to much at all.

Anyway, I decided to download this album, not really having super high expectations for it, but I thought I’d give it a shot. I mean, I didn’t have any reason to think this would be bad, but it was just a random album I came across when looking for new albums that had been released. There was nothing that made me feel like this would be all that good.

But then I went on the bus and listened to this album for the first time, and it reminded me of a few different bands, arguably most notably Spirit of the West, a band from BC, Canada who I used to listen to a lot as a kid. And even though Spirit of the West’s music isn’t totally my cup of tea nowadays (outside of Weights & Measures—that album is great!), this album still brought me a lot of feelings of nostalgia, and I also think I discovered it at the right time. I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I do, but I’m so glad I came across this album! If it weren’t for everything lining up perfectly I probably would have just ignored this, and I’m really happy that I didn’t!

So, what is it about this album that really clicked for me? Well, a lot of it is hard to explain, because again, I think some of it is when I discovered it. That’s not to say I’d necessarily like it any less had I discovered it at a different time—in fact, my guess is that I’d like it just as much—but does it ever feel like an album was made specifically for you at the exact right time?

Maybe none of this is making any sense, but back to the main point I was trying to make, I think my feelings on this album say a lot about me, not just about the album. And it’s kind of hard to explain why this clicked for me as much as it did. At least to some extent, that is.

This is the kind of album that often feels so sugary-sweet in a way that can be really obnoxious a lot of the time, but when the hooks are this strong and the production sounds this good, combined with the nostalgia that I mentioned … well, it makes for a pretty special album in my opinion!

So, where do I really begin here?

Well, first of all, I’m not really sure what genre(s) to use to describe this album. I kind of feel like it’s a country album—a lot of the instrumentation feels reminiscent of a lot of country music I’ve heard—but that doesn’t totally feel accurate. It’s definitely not the kind of music I’d expect to hear on a mainstream country radio station, that’s for sure. But at the same time, there’s a lot of indie country that I’d also never expect to hear on a mainstream country radio station, so that wouldn’t necessarily make this ‘not a country album,’ would it?

Also, I want to mention another comparison that might seem a little strange until you really think about it: early Barenaked Ladies. I mean, even modern Barenaked Ladies music might be a good comparison, too, even though I don’t like their newer stuff nearly as much as their older stuff. Although I’m especially reminded of their earlier albums like Born On a Pirate Ship and Maroon, and that’s a huge compliment!

Part of that Barenaked Ladies comparison is the instrumentation, with a lot of reminiscent strings, and the way the instruments sound when all put together also reminds me of that era of Barenaked Ladies. And it’s got a similar mood to it with some happy and sad moments, and in some of the more upbeat songs the sort of kookiness reminds me of some of the moments on those Barenaked Ladies albums. That’s not to say it’s quite the same, because it’s hard to compare—at the end of the day, there are a lot of differences—but I did find some of the similarities very noticeable.

For example, there’s “Dancing Like We Did Last Night”. Yeah, I could totally understand someone finding it really corny and insufferable … I mean, there’s a part of me that feels like I’ve heard pretty much this exact song many times before … but when the melodies are this strong and the song has this much of a feel-good energy to it, the corniness doesn’t bother me at all! And that’s something I can also say about some of Barenaked Ladies’ early material. For the most part I don’t think this album quite has the same creativity and personality of early Barenaked Ladies, but it’s more than made up for with so many great hooks and melodies, and much more which I’ll talk about soon!

And while we’re on the topic of some of the more fun moments on the album, I may as well mention “Long Night”, which was one of my early favourites on the album. I just love the carefree energy of this song, about enjoying the present moment and not worrying too much about the future, with those gorgeous strings just giving this such a glorious texture to fit with the pure bliss of this chorus, with the different instruments sounding totally locked in with each other, and those joyous vocal melodies. And the guitar timbres are excellent as well, helping this song with strong campfire vibes actually hit really hard in my opinion! And that’s saying a lot coming from me!

And I think it’s important not to always take all the lyrics with that energy totally literally here. I mean, the opening track “Yours and Mine” has the line, ‘Take the high road or the low.’ But I don’t interpret it as seriously being about not worrying about the consequences of your actions … I just take it to mean don’t be overly worried about that. And as such I think it really gives this track a lot of magic, especially with that gorgeous guitar timbre and so many subtle instrumental details!

And some of the more mellow, emotional moments really work, too! “You’ll Still Be with Me” is a mellow track which seems to show the narrator trying to move on from losing someone—maybe a breakup, or maybe someone has passed away—but either way, the narrator just accepts that it’s time to move on, while still not forgetting this person.

And there’s also “How Did We Get from Saying I Love You”, which might be the most downbeat song on the album. As far as I can tell, it’s simply just a song that shows two exes who are now just ‘talking about the weather’ and it’s never going to be the same again. But it doesn’t feel as much ‘sad’ as it does frustrated … and it seems like both of them agree it’s for the best, but that doesn’t make it any less difficult, at least not on the narrator, the only perspective we really see in the song.

And I can’t not mention the closing track, “All for a Song”, which has some of my favourite poetry on this album, with lots of great rhyming and excellent storytelling, which I think is about an adventure that may seem like it was all for nothing … but it could inspire a song. And it’s such a great way to end the album, as I’m pretty sure what this song really is is a celebration of music, and that’s so fitting for an album that I’d consider one of the very best albums I’ve heard from this year—in fact, as of right now this is my favourite album of the year.

And the more I write about this album, the more I realize how little it really gives me to say. Okay, maybe that’s not entirely true, but I was actually planning on posting this review probably about a month ago, but I wanted to really put in the effort to make it a long, detailed review. I mean, I’ve listened to the album about a dozen times, and I thought I’d be able to write a much more detailed review … and yeah, I could talk about so many of the subtle details in so many of these songs that make them so unbelievably great, and all the details in the production that I think sounds so amazing, and a bunch of my memories I’ve made with this album already, including one time I listened to it on one of the most memorable days of the year for me so far, which was one of the best and worst days of 2024 for me … I mean, it’s a long story, but let’s just say “Long Night” really hit hard that day. And part of me feels like I discovered this album at exactly the right time. It’s the kind of album that brought me feelings of nostalgia that I wasn’t expecting at all, but I’m so glad I gave it a chance!

But what I’m really saying is … well, it doesn’t have to be a super deep album for me to put it among my absolute favourites of the year. It doesn’t have to be doing anything revolutionary or super experimental. And while I would very much recommend this album, I honestly wouldn’t recommend setting your expectations too high, because I know for a lot of people this is going to be very forgettable. But for me, this is the emotional journey of an album that I didn’t know I needed! And it’s also so amazingly well produced, with the gorgeous acoustic guitar timbre, the drums that fit so well in pretty much every track, and such an amazing sound quality that helps the layered textures sound absolutely phenomenal! 

If I have to make any nitpicks … I mean, as much as I like “Dancing Like We Did Last Night”, I wish the vocals didn’t get buried in the mix in the chorus, and the title track could maybe use a bit of a stronger chorus …

But I want to end this review by talking about the title track. Because to me this song works way better in the context of the album, as it seems to be about trying new things and growing up … but still going back home and maybe feeling like a kid again, even if just for a short time. And I guess that might be why this album hits this hard for me, as it feels reminiscent of a lot of the music of my childhood, and the album kind of feels like a celebration of itself!

So, for me it’s a light 9.5/10, and while I think the odds you’ll love it as much as I do are very low, I still absolutely recommend you listen to it! This is some absolutely phenomenal stuff, with endless standout choruses, great vocals, great production … and again, it had that emotional resonance for me that it probably won’t for most people, but you never know.

Alright, so I know I haven’t been posting much recently—in fact, it’s been nearly three weeks since my last post—so, I just want to quickly give a bit of an update of what’s coming up soon. I’ve got a mini review post with ten mini reviews that’s in the final stages of editing, and it’ll probably be out sometime in the next few days, possibly later today. I’ve also started working on some more mini reviews for my next mini review post after that one, and I’m planning on doing an individual review for the new Kacey Musgraves album, because after giving it a couple of listens already I’m thinking I’ll have a lot more to say about it than I was expecting, and while I’m hoping to have that review out by next weekend, it’s going to take a lot of listens and I’ll probably have a lot to say about it, so it might end up getting delayed.

But for now, thank you so much for reading this review, and I’ll be back with more soon!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Yours and Mine”, “You’ll Still Be with Me”, “Hard Old Hands”, “Long Night”, “How Did We Get from Saying I Love You”, “Best I Never Had”, “All for a Song”
Least Favourite Track: “Welcome Home”

Hello, everyone! So, today, instead of a normal mini review post, I’m just reviewing seven instrumental ambient albums. I wasn’t planning on doing another post like this anytime soon where I just review albums in one genre, but I’ve really been wanting to get ahead of schedule with my reviews, and these albums are much easier to review than the average album. And hey, hopefully I’ll find some great albums while doing so … but I guess the only way to find out is to keep reading!

Anyway, as always these are just my personal feelings on these albums. And like my previous mini review post, I’m going to keep these pretty brief. I’m hoping for my next few mini review posts I’ll be able to go into more detail, but we’ll see. Anyway, let’s start the reviews with:

starsdust by Runnner:

This album is twelve tracks long but under half an hour, and I think it’s a mostly calming listen with production that I mostly like.

The crisp percussion sounds nice, the synth layering has some nice texture to it, and there are some good instrumental melodies.

Now with all this being said, to me it does blend in with a lot of music in this style, and thus I don’t think I’m going to go back to it much, but it’s still a mostly enjoyable listen while it’s on.

There are a lot of subtle details that I think add quite a bit, and while there are definitely moments I find boring, I think it’s a mildly enjoyable album for the most part, so I’ll give it a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “two”, “four”, “five”, “ten”, “eleven”
Least Favourite Track: “six”

Fractal Light by Thaniel Ion Lee:

This ambient album is only one track, and it’s under twenty minutes long … and it feels kind of like it’s building up to some really huge moment where it’s all going to explode into a noisy mess … and that doesn’t happen.

And I actually think that’s quite fitting, creating a suspenseful listening experience in which the lack of a huge moment anywhere could potentially represent something thematically … and, of course, I might be overthinking this, but I do find it fascinating.

But with that being said, I’m not in love with this album, and I do wish I found more subtle details in it. As it is, I’m left feeling like it’s a decent album that feels close to being great but doesn’t really get there for me. I just find it a lot more boring than I’d like.

So, I guess I’ll give it a 6/10. Not a bad album, but also not one that really wowed me. Still, though, I think it’s worth hearing.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: N/A
Least Favourite Tracks: N/A

God Bless Jonathan Walsh by melancholia blue:

Here’s a very short album that was released in early February, and it’s quite a calming listen that I really like!

I love how this album just washes over you, with lots of subtle details really adding so much to this experience. I mean, it’s not an album that gives me a ton to say, and it doesn’t feel experimental enough that I think it’ll be among the top tier of albums for me this year, but it is quite comforting and beautiful at a lot of moments.

It’s hard to describe with words, and I think you’ll have to hear it to really understand … but it’s got this feeling of calmness despite all the chaos of the world, and it feels quite magical to me.

And when the atmosphere is this strong with such great synth timbres … well, I guess I’ll give it an 8/10. This is a pretty great album if you ask me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “Frown”, “Perspective”, “Drowsy”, “Disinfectant”
Least Favourite Track: “Solace”

To Cover Up the Red Tinted Patches by Lurking:

This is the debut studio album from an artist I’d never heard of until this year. It was released on January 1st, and I just recently listened to it …

And I kind of like the eerie vibes of it, with some slightly staticky sounds and the feeling of suspense throughout a lot of this album.

But unfortunately I just don’t think there’s much beyond that that’s going to make me want to go back to this album. It’s got some nice atmosphere that fits the sort of spooky vibes, especially on the second of the two tracks here, but I wish there was a bit more variety … or maybe that’s not even it, but something feels missing here.

It’s a pretty short listen (under twenty minutes) and I’d recommend it to fans of ambient music if you’re looking for something eerie with a lot of subtle details, but I can’t say it really clicked for me, which is why I’m giving it a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Track: “To Cover Up the Red Tinted Patches II”
Least Favourite Track: “To Cover Up the Red Tinted Patches I”

Beyond The Old Growth by Forsaken Kingdoms:

This is a half-hour long ambient drone album by another artist I’d never heard of until recently.

And this album doesn’t really give me much to say. I mean, it’s kind of eerie, but also kind of soothing, with some nice atmosphere that brings to mind images of fog in a forest (and I don’t even think this is due to the album cover). But overall … well, it’s an ambient drone album. There’s not much for me to say about it. That’s not to say this genre never has albums that I could say a lot about, but it’s rare.

I mean, I guess I could try to explain how it makes me feel … but even that is hard to describe. I do like this album, but that doesn’t mean I find it super interesting.

I know this is kind of a bit of a non-review, but I do mostly like this, and I’ll give it a 7/10. The watery timbre of the second track sounds really nice, and I can’t really find any notable flaws in this. I just wish it did a little more for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Track: “Endless Winter Game Trails”
Least Favourite Track: “Windswept Shadows Beneath Winter”

Broe by Elijah Rah:

So, this album is quite experimental and also very short, and while I can respect the creativity of it, it can often get quite annoying, especially with that super noisy section in the first track.

That’s not to say there aren’t moments that I like here—at points I like the atmosphere in the second track—but overall this just didn’t do a whole lot for me.

Again, it’s creative and experimental, but I just wish the ideas felt like they fit together more.

And thus, while I’d recommend it to someone looking for some experimental ambient music, it’s not for me at all, so I’m giving this a 5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Track: “The Bro Church”
Least Favourite Track: “Two Bros Kissing”

Ancient Gods by Cauldron 80:

So, this is quite a melodic ambient album, full of buzzing synths, and I can’t really say it’s clicking for me.

Something about the rough synth timbres just doesn’t really work for me, and I don’t find the melodies particularly catchy or memorable.

I do sometimes like the way the higher and lower frequency sounds go together here, but for the most part this album just fell flat for me.

I can kind of see the appeal of this album, but it’s not my cup of tea. So I’m giving it a light 5.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Grimoire Of Wolves”, “Seasons Of Man”
Least Favourite Track: “Fire At Midnight”

Hello, everyone! Welcome back to more mini album reviews!

So, going into the year I was hoping to be consistently putting a lot more effort into my reviews and making them more high-quality, but I’ve been really wanting to get ahead of schedule with my reviews so I can hopefully be more thorough in my reviewing process soon, so for now here are some reviews that I’ll admit I didn’t put as much effort into as I would have liked. I mean, I’m almost never really one to look as deeply into lyrics as I want (mostly because I sometimes try to do that and still feel like I don’t understand them as much as I wish I did, but that’s something I’m working on), but with these albums I looked into them even less than usual. And I’m keeping these reviews pretty brief, too. I did look into the lyrics at least a little bit, but probably less than usual.

And yeah, there’s a part of me that feels like my job as a reviewer is to make sure I’m reviewing all aspects of the album really thoroughly … but at the end of the day it’s just my personal feelings on the albums, and even when I do put more effort in to try and understand the lyrics, my thoughts on the album are still not objective. I mean, some people don’t care about lyrics at all and still review albums, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, either.

Alright, now that that’s all out of the way …

Be Right Here by Blackberry Smoke:

Blackberry Smoke are a country band whom I’ve heard of quite a bit, but until just recently I’d never actually listened to one of their albums.

And I think this is a mostly good first impression, with some nice guitars that have a lot of power to them, and there are some good melodies here, too.

But unfortunately I don’t really like the production all that much, as it often sounds really messy, holding these songs back from hitting a lot harder.

But still, it’s got a nice, uplifting vibe to it, and there are some really strong moments. The basslines are really good, as are the vocals … I mean, there’s a lot to like here, so I’ll give it a 7/10, but I don’t quite love it.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Dig A Hole”, “Like It Was Yesterday”, “Other Side Of The Light”
Least Favourite Track: “Hammer And The Nail”

Sparagmos by Spectral Voice:

This is a black metal album that I saw getting a lot of critical acclaim recently, and I was quite excited to hear it!

And I like some of the production, with the grit of the guitar and drums giving this a really heavy sound that I think fits with the often dark and graphic lyrics, even though I don’t really understand what the lyrics mean here.

I do wish the bass fit a little more with the rest of the instrumentals, though, and I’m not super wowed by the melodies here.

So, overall I’ll give this a 6/10. It’s not a bad listen, and I’ll admit I haven’t looked into it all that deeply, so there’s a good chance it’s better than I’m giving it credit … but I just don’t really think it’s for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Red Feasts Condensed Into One”, “Sinew Censer”
Least Favourite Track: “Be Cadaver”

Unwired Detour by Asian Glow:

I can’t say I had super high expectations for this album, despite the fact that Asian Glow’s 2022 album Stalled Flutes, means was one of my absolute favourite albums of that year. Part of this is because that album felt like pretty much everything fell into place perfectly, creating a super unique listening experience in a style of music I’m not really a huge fan of, where I could easily see it just being a one-off … and also, part of it is that I didn’t really love Asian Glow’s collab album with sonhos tomam conta last year.

Anyway, this is the final album being released under the name Asian Glow … and unfortunately it’s not fully clicking for me.

The lyrics feel very open to interpretation like on Stalled Flutes, means, and I’m not really sure what they’re about. And musically it’s got some interesting moments, and I mostly like the percussion.

But this also doesn’t feel nearly as unique as Stalled Flutes, means, and there’s not a whole lot of melodies that really stand out to me here.

The production is solid but not all that memorable in my opinion, and it’s also not super consistent, with some moments sounding kind of messy.

I like the way the closing track erupts, which was a nice twist, and I think the album starts pretty strong, and I mostly like the vocals here … but I’m just not super wowed by this as a whole. 7/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Down in the sink”, “Kuroitamago #2”, “Lightpipe”, “Tunnel of Glass”
Least Favourite Track: “Yr Pane”

Grief Chapter by Mother Mother:

Mother Mother are a band I’ve heard of quite a bit, but I haven’t really listened to them much. But I have heard a few of their songs, and most of what I’d heard didn’t really impress me all that much, so I didn’t really have high expectations going into this …

And thus I’m not really all that disappointed that this is not really doing much for me. I like it about as much as I expected, which is not very much.

This style of indie rock feels very mid-2010s, and I feel like this just blends in with so much other radio rock that I also find very boring and generic. I mean, there are some creative lyrical and musical moments here, and I understand why it might click for some people, but to me it often just comes across as maybe a little corny. I respect their ambition to try to create something different, but to me personally it just feels like I’ve heard this before.

Yeah, I know I’m pretty much contradicting myself over and over again in this review, but hopefully what I’m saying makes sense.

Now, with all this being said, I don’t think this is all bad. Like I said, there are moments that I like, such as “Explode!” with its explosive chorus (see what I did there?).

But most of the production here really doesn’t work for me, with certain elements being overpowering, leading to a really messy sound that doesn’t feel nearly as punchy as I think it’s supposed to.

So, overall I’m feeling a light 5/10 on this album. I don’t dislike it, but it’s not really doing much for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Explode!”, “Head Shrink”
Least Favourite Track: “Days”

Ashes In the Huron River by Theophonos:

Here’s another black metal album that’s been getting quite a bit of critical acclaim recently. I’d never heard of this band until this album, but I decided to give it a chance …

And I certainly get the appeal. The devastation in the lyrics fits really well with the crushing drums and guitars, and overall I quite like the production, which I think sounds very tight.

And I’m not really sure why it’s not clicking for me more … maybe I just wish there was a little more variety in the sound, or maybe it’s the fact that the screamed vocals just aren’t really doing much for me, and I’m not really sure why. But that’s a me thing, and if you’re into black metal I would highly recommend this.

It’s not really my thing personally, which is why I’m giving it a 6/10, but there’s a good chance you’ll absolutely love it!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Built World”, “An Elegy”, “Ashes In the Huron River”
Least Favourite Track: “Grid of Sorrows”

Peacemaker by Vera Sola:

Here’s a new album by an artist I’d never heard of until recently, and this has been getting a lot of critical acclaim.

And unfortunately it’s not really clicking for me. The production often feels messy, with the percussion feeling out of place and the bass sounding kind of awkward, and I’m not a huge fan of the vocal melodies here, either.

There are some interesting lyrics, although I’m having a hard time understanding what they’re about, even though I like a lot of the imagery and metaphors. There seem to possibly be themes of people not understanding things and things not being how they seem on the surface—I could be totally wrong about this, though. But if I’m right, then does it feel more or less fitting that I haven’t looked into it super deeply? I’m not sure, but make of all this what you will.

Overall, though, it just kind of feels like an album I’ve heard before. There’s not really a lot about this that pulls me to go back to it. So, I’m going to give it a 6/10, but I would absolutely recommend you listen to it, because it’s kind of fascinating.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “I’m Lying”, “Desire Path”, “Waiting”
Least Favourite Track: “Get Wise”

Everybody Can’t Go by Benny the Butcher:

This is my first time listening to a Benny the Butcher album, and while there are definitely ideas and moments that I like here, I can’t really say I love this album as a whole.

And like with a lot of hip hop albums, a lot of it might be due to me not really understanding it. But still, there are things about this that I really like, such as some of the instrumentals (especially on a lot of the tracks produced by The Alchemist), and I also really like the storytelling on some of these tracks like “TMVTL” and “How To Rap”.

Hip hop is a genre I definitely want to listen to more and try to understand more, because as much as I respect the genre it’s not one I’d consider myself a huge fan of personally, and I know that says more about me than the genre itself.

But I have loved some hip hop albums, and this just isn’t one of them, especially with moments like the really cringeworthy Lil Wayne verse on “Big Dog”, even though that song might have one of my favourite instrumentals on the album.

But I’m also not really a huge fan of a lot of Benny the Butcher’s flows on this album, and the way the instruments sound when put together can be a little awkward at points. So, I’m going to give it a 6.5/10. There might be way more to it than I realize, but I can’t really say it’s clicking for me personally.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Jermanie’s Graduation”, “TMVTL”, “Buffalo Kitchen Club”, “How To Rap”, “Griselda Express”
Least Favourite Track: “Back Again”

Hi, everyone! Welcome to another mini review post! 

As always, these are just my personal feelings on these albums. Also, I kept these reviews pretty brief for the most part, as I’ve had a busy week with a lot of college exams.

Alright, let’s start the reviews!

Jaime by Brittany Howard:

Brittany Howard is one of those artists whose name I’ve seen/heard a lot but whose music I hadn’t listened to … that is, until recently, as I decided to listen to her 2019 debut solo album Jaime a few times, although I still haven’t listened much to Alabama Shakes. Anyway, Jaime didn’t really click for me, but I was curious to hear this new album …

And I do like it more, but it’s not fully clicking for me, either.

Brittany Howard is a good singer, and I mostly like the production (although at points the instruments create a bit of a strange texture when you put them all together), but overall this often feels like it’s missing more stronger hooks and vocal melodies.

Lyrically it doesn’t feel super deep or anything, but I do mostly like it, with a variety of topics discussed, with some more uplifting songs as well as some more frustrated ones, with the title track showing the evolution of the narrator’s mindset after a breakup, and it would probably be my favourite song here if I liked it more sonically—as it is, “To Be Still” is my favourite track here.

I mostly like the percussion on this album, and there are some strong moments that really show a lot of potential in my opinion, but I don’t love this album. It’s a 7/10 for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “I Don’t”, “What Now”, “To Be Still”, “Every Color In Blue”
Least Favourite Track: “Interlude”

The Pilgrim, Their God and the King of My Decrepit Mountain by Tapir!:

This band was formed in 2019, and this is their debut studio album. I’d never heard of them until now, but I’ve seen this album getting a lot of critical acclaim …

And I’m not really sure what to say. I guess you could maybe call it an indie folk album—or something like that—and it’s got a similar sound to it as a lot of super critically acclaimed albums, with the crisp percussion, the breezy acoustic guitar, and the way the instruments kind of blend together almost to the point where it feels like just one instrument making all the sounds … okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but I think it gets across what I’m trying to say.

And it’s a sound that I’m just not really a huge fan of. The production doesn’t have the prettiness that I usually like in this style of music, and I’m not all that wowed by the vocal melodies, either.

There seems to be some sort of story throughout the lyrics about a pilgrim on a journey, and I’m not sure I’m totally following along with it, and also some points feel overly simple … that’s probably just a me thing—there may be way more to this than I’m giving it credit—but it’s not really resonating for me. I guess I’ll give this a 6/10. I guess I might like it as background music, but I don’t think I’m going to go out of my way to listen to it much.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Nether (Face To Face)”, “Act 2 (Their God)”, “Untitled”, “My God”
Least Favourite Track: “Broken Ark”

Hall by Flophouse jr:

This is the newest album from a very underground act whom I’d never heard of until recently, and you probably haven’t heard of, either. But a friend of mine recommended this album to me, and I decided to give it multiple listens …

And unfortunately it’s not really clicking for me. I mean, I like some of the funkier moments, and there’s some good melodies, but the percussion often feels clunkier than I would have liked, and the production can feel a little overpolished to me at points.

The basslines have some nice melody to them but also can feel a little out of place with these songs in my opinion, and some of the kind of buzzing sounds here are a little distracting.

I didn’t dislike this, but I also don’t think I’m going to go back to it much. I guess I’ll give it a 6/10. It’s got the occasional catchy moment like “Between”, but as a whole this isn’t really for me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “In The Beginning/How it’s Going to End”, “Between”, “You Tried”
Least Favourite Track: “Listening”

Snow as a Metaphor for Death by SENTRIES:

I’d never heard of this band until very recently, and I don’t think a huge amount of people had. This is the second studio album from this noise rock band from BC, Canada (I’m mentioning this because I’m also from BC—not really all that relevant, but I just felt like pointing that out), following their 2023 album Agonizer, which I listened to once in preparation for this review. And while I didn’t follow along with the lyrics or anything, and I only listened to it once, on first glance it didn’t really seem like it was for me.

But this new album has been getting a lot of critical acclaim, and while I wasn’t feeling too confident I would love it, I wanted to give it a chance … and once again, I’m not really all that wowed.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s got some nice intensity to it, with some powerful basslines that I really like, and the band sounds pretty locked in with each other musically, without being afraid to experiment.

But at the same time, this doesn’t feel all that out of the ordinary for noise rock, with the drum grooves and distorted guitars often feeling reminiscent of a lot of other albums in this style. And that’s not always a bad thing, but there’s not much else here to make up for it in my opinion.

The lyrics feel very abstract and hard to piece together, and while I’m fascinated by them at points, overall this album didn’t do a whole lot for me lyrically. Yes, that’s a me thing, but once again I’m just sharing my personal feelings on these albums.

I like the feeling of tension building in “Séance”, the percussion sounds great in the mix on “Entity/Selector”, and I also like the let loose energy of “Force”, and there are other moments here that I like, too, but I also don’t think I’m going to go back to this much. I’m going to give this a 6/10—I think it shows some promise, but I had a hard time getting into this.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Entity/Selector”, “Force”, “Séance”
Least Favourite Track: “Witches”

VENUS by Zara Larsson:

This is the fourth studio album by Zara Larsson, and it’s the follow-up to her 2021 album Poster Girl, an album I don’t really remember liking when it came out. Now, I was planning on listening to her first two albums before posting this review, but this week has been really busy for me and instead I just re-listened to Poster Girl once, as it had been years since I’d heard it and I was still very much discovering my musical taste in 2021—I mean, I still am now, but I think you get what I mean. But after revisiting it, I still think that album is mediocre or maybe even kinda bad. The hooks didn’t stand out to me much at all, the production felt overpolished, and the lyrics felt very generic.

And after giving this new album a few listens … wow, I’m surprised just how much I ended up disliking this. In my opinion, this is awful. The production sounds super messy, including the mixing, with certain elements feeling really overpowering, and the clunky percussion choices really don’t help.

And once again, the lyrics and vocal melodies just don’t impress me at all. It all feels so generic to me, barely doing anything that I personally find interesting at all.

And the vocal production really holds this back for me too, because while I think Zara is a really good singer, it all sounds so overprocessed and it’s got this mushy feeling to it that I find really off-putting.

There’s the occasional moment that I don’t really mind, such as the opening and closing tracks which at least are pretty decent compositionally, but even at its best moments this album doesn’t really have much to offer to me personally.

I don’t want to come across as being mean or anything. At the end of the day it’s just how I personally feel, but I did not like this album at all. I’m going to have to go with a 3/10. Aside from what I’ve already said as well as that I think this sounds like a bad attempt at making an Ava Max album, there’s barely anything for me to say about this. I mean, I could try to go more in-depth if I really wanted to, but I’d rather just give this some brief thoughts and move on. I don’t want to listen to this any more.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3/10
Favourite Track: “Can’t Tame Her”
Least Favourite Tracks: “On My Love”, “Ammunition”, “None Of These Guys”, “Escape”, “Sountrack”, “Venus”

New Last Name by Courting:

Courting are a British post-punk band formed in 2018 whose debut album, Guitar Music, was released in 2022. And while that album had its strong moments in my opinion, it didn’t really click for me all that much as a whole.

And I’m feeling similarly about this new album. At points I really like the vocal melodies, and the production, while inconsistent, sounds awesome at its best moments … and Sean Murphy-O’Neill is a fantastic vocalist with a ton of personality behind the mic, and the emotion really shines through!

But at points this album can feel a little forced, like the band is trying so hard to make something ‘unique’ that it can just feel a little corny. I mean, I’m not really sure what they were trying to do, but I’m just telling you how I hear it.

There are some interesting lyrical moments, though, that I think fit well with the music a lot of the time, often seeming to be about the complexities of human emotions.

So, overall … just like with their debut, I mostly like it, but I don’t love it. So, I’ll give it a 7/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Throw”, “We Look Good Together (Big Words)”, “Emily G”, “Babys”
Least Favourite Track: “The Wedding”

Hi, everyone! Welcome back to another mini review post! As always, these are just my own personal feelings on these albums. Even if I say something negative, it’s not meant to be mean or anything, it’s just my own personal feelings on these albums.

Alright, time for the reviews!

Stations by Fellers Island:

Here’s a mostly instrumental ambient album from a Canadian artist I’d never heard of until recently.

And while I mildly enjoyed this album, I also don’t think I’m going to be going back to it much. There are moments that I like, such as the twang on “Pacing Around the Parking Lot” and some of the haunting layers of “Little Life City”, but as a whole this album fails to fully grab my attention all that much.

It seems to be aiming for a really atmospheric, enchanting sound, but it often doesn’t feel as well polished as I’d like, especially with the goopy production on “The Bench”. I wish this sounded a little more ethereal, but overall I’m mostly just lukewarm on this album.

I will say this album can bring up some strong imagery … I’m thinking maybe a beach at sunset, or a road trip late at night, those are two things that come to my head … and it does bring me some feelings of nostalgia.

But overall, I don’t think I’m going to revisit this album much. The shiny production is hit-or-miss, and the compositions feel kind of boring to me.

Still, I’ll give this a 6/10. It’s pleasant while it’s on, I guess.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Pacing Around the Parking Lot”, “Stillwater Gratto”, “Little Life City”
Least Favourite Track: “The Bench”

What an enormous room by TORRES:

This is the sixth studio album from TORRES, an artist whose 2021 album I remember listening to a few years ago. And before listening to this new album, I decided to re-listen to that album and give TORRES’s other albums a few listens each (if you’re wondering how I find the time to listen to so much music … well, honestly, it amazes me too), and while I mostly liked what I heard, I didn’t really love any of the five albums.

But with that being said, 2021’s Thirstier is probably my favourite of those five, and “Don’t Go Puttin Wishes in My Head” is a fantastic song, so I was excited to hear this …

And unfortunately it’s not doing a whole lot for me. Not only does it not have the same level of anthemic moments as Thirstier, but the vocal melodies feel underwhelming, and the production is inconsistent.

TORRES has said this album is trying to infuse listeners with energy/hope, and there are moments that I like here. “Jerk into joy” is a pretty fun track, with some nice piano and an uplifting carefree attitude which is actually something I think is pulled off pretty well throughout this album. And I also really like how “Wake to flowers” seems to represent constant mood shifts, while trying to appreciate the positive moments. And on that topic, again, I think there are good moments here …

But a lot of this just didn’t do a whole lot for me, and it’s kind of hard to fully describe why, or even for me to figure it out myself. I guess part of it is that musically a lot of this doesn’t feel like anything all that new for TORRES, with the crunch of the guitars and the sort of ‘empty’ vibe of the production at points often sounding mostly pleasant, but not really pulling me to go back to it.

But there are definitely some production elements that hold this album back for me, such as a lot of the watery synths, awkward percussion choices, and I’m not a huge fan of the mixing.

And also, “Collect” has a really icky feeling to the combination of the vocal melodies with that rougher guitar in the chorus … the messy sound doesn’t fit with this track at all in my opinion.

“Artificial limits” features some of my favourite lyrics on the album. It feels quite cynical and full of worry, with the haunting truth that we can never fully know someone else’s intentions with certainty, and how that just loiters in the air around all of us, and it can be hard to ignore sometimes. And I think it fits well with the distorted guitar and that sort of clicking percussion, giving the song even more of a feeling of angst.

Also, “Ugly mystery” is probably my favourite song on the album, tackling the disappointment of being left by a partner, and the song has some really nice atmosphere with the way the synths and guitar complement each other, but I really wish I liked the rest of the album more. I guess I’ll give this a 6/10, as I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s easily one of my least favourite TORRES albums, if not my least favourite.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Wake to flowers”, “Ugly mystery”, “Artificial limits”, “Jerk into joy”
Least Favourite Track: “Collect”

Black Flames from the Voidhand by VOIDHAND:

I’m not sure who VOIDHAND is, but this is VOIDHAND’s debut studio album. It’s a fairly short black metal album that I was curious to listen to, even though I haven’t seen it getting that much attention.

And after a few listens, I can’t really say it’s for me.

It’s worth mentioning that I couldn’t find the lyrics for this album when I looked them up, and I can’t hear what they are, so I can’t comment on the lyrics … but I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the way this sounds.

When it comes to the production, pretty much everything feels really crammed, blending really awkwardly. Although the snare for whatever reason sounds super distant from everything else, and it creates a really strange messy feeling.

And the fuzziness really takes away from the punch this could have, feeling especially overpowering on “Antediluvian Burial Mounds”. And there’s also the goopy synth timbres which also get quite annoying.

And the thing is, there are seeds of a really good album here … I like a lot of the compositions, with some haunting melodies and nice drum rhythms, and the ferocious vocals are mixed really well, adding some grit that definitely elevates this album for me … but the production really holds the album back for me overall.

This kind of feels like it could be the soundtrack to a horror movie. In that context it might work for me more, but as it is … I don’t dislike it, but it’s also not hitting as hard for me as I’d like. I’ll give it a 6/10, and with better production it might be more like a 7 or a 7.5 … but as it is, I’d only call it decent.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Thunderous Wail of Black Iron Blades”, “Vomiting Swarms of Locusts”, “In the Wake of Dark Medieval Supremacy”
Least Favourite Track: “As the Night Wyvern’s Roar Shatters the Dawn”

The Night Has Passed Already by Vanity Productions:

Vanity Productions is the solo project of Christian Stadsgaard, whose music I’ve never listened to before this new album came out. And this album is my first experience with his music ever.

I guess this could be described as an ambient drone album, and it’s got a lot of staticky sounds throughout, with a bit of a dreamlike feeling to it as well.

It’s hard for me to really describe the feeling I get when listening to this, but it’s kind of like I’m in another world, wondering what’s going on, with the atmosphere providing a lot of mysterious feeling.

I don’t think this album is mind-blowing or anything like that, but it is very fascinating, and brings lots of images to my head of someone feeling like they’re losing their way in life, trying to figure out what to do next.

And I highly doubt that’s what this album is supposed to represent, but that’s one thing I find so interesting about instrumental music—it’s arguably more open to interpretation than any other music.

I can’t quite say I love this album—there’s not a ton about it that really makes me want to revisit it much, and some of the higher frequency sounds can be a bit annoying—but this is still some really strong ambient music that I’m glad I gave a chance. 7/10 for me!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Shrouded in Silence”, “Way Around the Canvas”, “So Dried Up and Malnouirshed”
Least Favourite Track: “The Night Has Passed Already”

Sd-2 by Loukeman:

Here’s a new album from an artist I don’t think I’d heard of until I saw this album came out. It was released in early-to-mid January, and I think it could probably be described as house music, although I’m not very good at determining what genre an album is.

And unfortunately I don’t think this is all that good. It’s got a few catchy moments here and there, but for the most part this felt pretty bland to me. But with all that being said, it does make me kind of curious to hear more from Loukeman, as I am at least somewhat interested in some of the experimentation on this album.

I do think this is mostly well-produced, with the sharp synths that don’t feel too overpolished, as well as the percussion sounding really good in the mix. Parts of this album feel like they could work for a road trip or something, although I still don’t think this album is going to have a lot of replay value for me, if any.

Despite me mostly liking the production, there are some exceptions to that. “Gorgeous Stuff” ironically has some of the ugliest production here in my opinion, and I don’t like the overpowering bass in “Giverrr”.

And compositionally I’m not all that wowed by this either, without a lot of standout melodies in my opinion, and “Winzzz” sounds like a song from Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind, albeit with better production.

There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of lyrics on this album, as the vocals seem to mostly be chopped up. I couldn’t find many lyrics when I looked them up, and I’m pretty sure there aren’t many here anyway.

So, reviewing this based on the way it sounds … well, it’s not for me at all. I’m going to give this a 5/10. It’s got some enjoyable moments, but it’s also got its low points.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Take”, “Idrk”, “Real Life Man”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Baby You’re a Star”, “Gorgeous Stuff”, “Giverrr”

Wall of Eyes by The Smile:

This was a highly anticipated album for a lot of people, the second studio album by the Radiohead spin-off The Smile, composed of Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood as well as drummer Tom Skinner. And as much as I like Radiohead, I’ll admit I haven’t listened to them nearly as much as I’d like—and thus I’m in the process of listening through their discography, something I just never really got around to doing until recently.

Anyway, The Smile’s 2022 debut album got a lot of critical acclaim, and I didn’t really remember loving that album, but I wanted to relisten to it in preparation for this, and it’s once again not really clicking for me all that much. I mostly like that album, but I don’t love it. It sounded very much like Radiohead but without doing a whole lot that I found all that interesting outside of a few moments.

And just like that album, Wall of Eyes has been getting a lot of critical acclaim, and unfortunately once again it’s not really clicking for me all that much.

And it’s not really an album that gives me a whole lot to say. There are some haunting vocals and instrumentals, the production is pretty good, and I’m mostly bored by the melodies/compositions.

Lyrically, there are some interesting moments, such as the feelings of isolation and worry of “Friend of a Friend”, and I like how there seems to be a running theme throughout the album about the things we take for granted. And “Bending Hectic” has some of the most haunting lyrics here, and it’s probably my favourite song on the album, with the way it turns a brief moment into an eight-minute track, and that awesome crunch of the guitar later on.

Also, on a bit of a side note, “Friend of a Friend” has strong “Pyramid Song” vibes, and I do like this song even though I don’t like it as much as “Pyramid Song”.

Anyway, overall as a whole album this didn’t really wow me all that much, and a lot of it just felt like stuff I’ve heard from Radiohead but done a lot better with more creativity and uniqueness. But as always, that’s just my opinion. For me, this is a 6.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Under Our Pillows”, “Friend of a Friend”, “Bending Hectic”
Least Favourite Track: “You Know Me!”

The Perils of Love and Loss by Sankaku:

I recently discovered this album by a fairly new artist I’d never heard of until very recently.

This is a pretty short black metal album which features some pretty hard-hitting guitar and drums, and I like a lot of the guitar melodies. I think it could have used a bit more bass presence—I mean, I can hear the bass, but the production doesn’t make it feel like as big a part of the album as I wish it did—but sonically this is quite strong for the most part!

And there’s a lot of emotion in the lyrics and the vocals as well, which fits really well with the sonic elements of this album. “Ura Gatame” hits especially hard for me, showing the narrator trying to find an escape from something.

This album doesn’t seem super deep or anything, but I don’t think it needs to be in order to hit really hard … it’s a heartbreaking listen, but I’m really glad I gave it a chance!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Kosoto Gake”, “Ko-uchi-makikomi”, “Ura Gatame”, “Harai-tsurikomi-ashi”
Least Favourite Track: “Hiza Guruma”

Shoelace & a Knot by yungatita:

Here’s an album that came out back in early January of this year, and it’s the debut album from an indie rock band that’s been getting some buzz recently, and this seemed to be getting a generally positive reception.

And understandably, as I think it’s pretty good! The guitar has some killer distortion that just burns throughout this album remarkably well, the punchy drums sound awesome (especially the snares)—with “Descenda” featuring a fantastic passage with the kick and snare being the clear stars of the show—and their lead vocalist Valentina Zapata has a lot of personality behind the mic that really shines through and shows a lot of potential for this band!

And while the lyrics may seem simple on the surface, a lot of it seems to be a disguise for much darker themes, and I think it’s really well written and layered, with possible themes of trying to untangle what causes toxic behaviour, all hidden behind the personality, like the album is trying to deceive you into thinking this is a happy album … and to me, it represents someone trying to find an escape from trauma, and it’s much more heartbreaking than you’d think for what seems like a fun, upbeat indie rock album. And of course this is all just my interpretation, but this really impressed me!

And unfortunately, it’s one of those cases where there are so many individual elements of the album that I really like, and yet it doesn’t work as well when you put it all together. Because again, musically I think this is really strong—it reminds me in some ways of Girl with Fish by feeble little horse with its quirky energy, scuzzy guitars, and those melodies that kind of feel like they go against the rest of the song and yet work better than you’d expect—but as you may have figured out if you read my reviews a lot, lyrics and music go hand in hand for me a lot of the time; a lot of it is about how they work together.

And I really wish there was a bit of a darker edge in the music here, but almost all of the time, there isn’t. And it’s not that I don’t like fun, upbeat indie rock, but the combination of these lyrics with the music creates an incongruous experience that doesn’t work nearly as well as it feels like it should.

And even on top of that, I do wish the basslines stood out to me a little bit more and had more presence in the mix, and there are more occasional production nitpicks I could make here.

I still mostly enjoyed this album, don’t get me wrong. And there is the occasional moment that really stands out to me in a positive way, with “Whiplash” probably being my favourite song on the album as the music actually feels more fitting, but the more I listened to this the less I could look past those awkward contrasts.

I’m going to give Shoelace & a Knot a 7/10. It’s got so much about it that I really, really like, but unfortunately I just don’t think it fully sticks the landing. I still mostly like it though, and for fans of indie rock I would definitely recommend this!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Other”, “Pick At Your Face”, “Whiplash”, “Pack It Up”
Least Favourite Track: “2 Cigs”

Prelude to Ecstasy by The Last Dinner Party:

This band has definitely had quite the big breakout story over the past year, with their 2023 debut single “Nothing Matters” being a pretty big song on the UK charts, and now they’ve released their debut studio album to large amounts of critical acclaim. And based on what I was seeing/hearing it was seeming like this is a glam rock album. I’m not entirely sure how to define Glam Rock, but it made me curious to listen to this.

And to be totally honest, I’m struggling to get what the massive hype around this album is. Yes, there are some good lyrical ideas here, talking about a variety of subjects such as feminism, fame, religion, and much more, but I personally don’t find it to be as layered or interesting as I think I’m supposed to. Often this album feels like it’s trying to make a huge statement and it just ends up leaving me underwhelmed, with “The Feminine Urge” being a big example of that, as like with a lot of the songs here the lyrics feel pretty surface level for the most part.

And as always, I very well could be missing something, and of course there’s nothing wrong with lyrics being surface level … but considering the grandness of this album, and the fact that it feels like it’s supposed to really make you think … I just wish there was a little more to it. At least that’s how I hear it.

Now, with that being said, there are some lyrical moments I really like, such as the melodramatic sense of nihilism in “Nothing Matters”, and “Caesar on a TV Screen” seems to revolve around main character syndrome and a desire to be the most powerful force, and honestly that’s probably in a small part of most of us. And tracks like “On Your Side” and “Portrait of a Dead Girl” have some heartbreaking lyrics showing the narrator’s attachment to a toxic relationship, with one of the most striking lines on the album coming from the latter, ‘If anyone could kill me, it probably would be you.’

And there’s also “Burn Alive”, which describes the narrator’s relationship with fame, and the anthemic instrumentation has enough real power to it to really fit with the lyrics which are full of melodrama despite the real grief mentioned here, and the melodrama is surprisingly fitting here, with the sense of desperation for satisfaction. And I like the sort of full-circle moment of “Mirror” which is similar thematically.

But most of the time this album feels really underwhelming sonically. The instrumentals don’t have a lot of firepower to them, nor does the production, and for an album that feels like it’s trying to be so anthemic that can be really underwhelming.

Often I find that the drums sound like they were produced for a different song, such as in “On Your Side” or “Sinner”. And the mixing on this album isn’t really working for me, either, especially in “The Feminine Urge” in which the vocals get buried in the mix.

And while there are a few exceptions, most of the vocal melodies aren’t doing a whole lot for me, either, and as a result of that these songs aren’t as catchy as I’d like.

I mean, I get why people like this album, but I don’t fully understand all the massive hype. Again, there are some lyrical ideas that I like here, and I do also really like the occasional hook like on “Burn Alive” and “My Lady of Mercy”, but I’m not as impressed by this as I feel like I’m supposed to be.

So, in the end I guess I’ll give it a 6/10. I respect the ambition here, and at points it clicks for me, but those moments are few and far between. I don’t think there’s a bad song here, but I also don’t think there’s a lot of great ones.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Burn Alive”, “My Lady of Mercy”, “Nothing Matters”
Least Favourite Track: “The Feminine Urge”

The Pyre Aflame by Abyssal Frost:

This is the debut album from an underground death metal band I’d never heard of until recently. Now, it’s worth mentioning that I’m not a huge fan of death metal, but I decided to give this a chance anyway. I mean, it’s pretty short, and it can be nice to listen to genres I don’t usually listen to.

And while my distaste for the genre overall is probably a contributing factor to me not liking this more than I do, I will say this did pleasantly surprise me, and I’ll have to keep an eye out for future releases from this band! This grabbed my attention a lot more than I thought it would!

I really like the way this combines death metal and black metal—I’d say it’s more the former overall but it’s got elements of both.

The ferocious vocals sound great in the mix, with that awesome double-kick feeling like a really good foundation at points, even though it’s only in specific parts of the album. And the distorted guitar feels like it represents an attack of some sort, which feels fitting considering the album’s lyrics. And that guitar solo on “Refuge In a Tomb” was a really nice surprise!

The graphic lyrics may make some people uncomfortable, but I like how this album paints a picture of a bleak future with a lot of potential metaphors, and the sound of the album is really fitting with the lyrics.

This feels like the kind of album that would be really fitting to listen to when I’m feeling really frustrated, as a way to try and get rid of whatever anger is inside me. Would it work? I’m not sure. But it is a lot of fun to listen to despite the bleakness of it!

This album reminds me a lot of Artificial Brain’s self-titled album from 2022, and while I don’t think this is as good as that album, I still ended up liking this a lot more than I thought I would! I’ll give this a light 8/10! I’m not totally wowed by it, but it is quite a fascinating listen that I could see having a good amount of replay value.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Pyre Aflame”, “Awakening (The Pyre Aflame Pt. III)”, “Hypothermic Amputation”, “Refuge In a Tomb”, “Coronal Mass Ejection”
Least Favourite Track: “Diseased Machines (The Pyre Aflame Pt. II)”

Hello, everyone! Welcome back to another mini review post! I know it’s been a while since my last mini review post, but I’ve been busy recently, and I wanted to wait until I was done a bunch of mini reviews so I could make another post with 9 or 10 albums (10 in this case).

As always, these are just my own personal feelings on these albums. Music is subjective, and even if I say something negative it’s not meant to be mean or anything. I’m not claiming to be objectively right about these albums.

Alright, time for the reviews!

Neck Deep by Neck Deep:

This is the fifth studio album by Neck Deep, a band I’ve heard about quite a bit but hadn’t really listened to much … and before going into this album, I quickly listened to their other albums, and while I wasn’t super impressed by what I heard, I was still curious to listen to this new album.

And while there are some elements that I like here, I also wasn’t really wowed by this, and some elements of this album are really off-putting. And it leads to a mediocre album in my opinion.

I will start by saying the guitar riffs are pretty good for the most part, especially with some of the crunch the distortion provides—even though it washes over some of the other elements, but I’ll get to that later—and Ben Barlow’s vocals are good, too, amplifying the angst and frustration of the lyrics, and there’s the occasional good vocal melody …

But the production really doesn’t work for me at all, most notably the mixing, as the guitar just overpowers everything. The drums and vocals feel buried, and the bass is like pineapple on pizza, and in my opinion that’s not a good thing.

And it gets even worse considering how bad the vocal layering sounds to me, creating a really gooey texture that doesn’t fit well at all with the guitars.

And some of the attempted self-awareness in the lyrics feel really off-putting, especially in a song like “Dumbstruck Dumbf**k”, where the narrator is painted as being knowingly in the wrong and still acting very self-centered. And often the lyrics can also just feel really surface-level and cliché.

Now, with that being said, I do like some moments like “It Won’t Be Like This Forever” which seems to be showing the narrator trying to help someone else through tough times, but the narrator can’t fully relate, because no one can fully relate to anyone else … although I also kind of wonder if the ‘you’ in this song is the pessimistic side of the narrator. And it works really well with a strong chorus and such bright vocal melodies.

And I like how “We Need More Bricks” shows the narrator wanting things to change but also feeling helpless, calling on someone else to save the day.

But overall, this album isn’t for me. The production and mixing sound really messy and it only really clicks for me in occasional moments. So, for me it’s a 5/10. If you love pop-punk, this might be up your alley … but even as someone who likes a lot of pop-punk, this isn’t my cup of tea at all.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “We Need More Bricks”, “It Won’t Be Like This Forever”, “Moody Weirdo”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Sort Yourself Out”, “They May Not Mean To (But They Do)”

Big Sigh by Marika Hackman:

I was looking online for new albums to review, and I came across this album by an artist I’m not sure I’d heard of until just recently. And I considered listening through the rest of her discography before checking out this album, but considering how many other reviews I’ve been working on and some other large discographies I’ve been listening through in preparation for reviews, I decided not to do that here, and to just go into this album without much of an idea of what to expect.

But now that I’ve listened to this, I might actually listen to her other albums soon, because this is a great first impression! And the first thing I want to point out is just how much haunting atmosphere there is to this album. These tracks feel very delicately crafted, with the production sounding absolutely gorgeous! First of all, the vocal production sounds excellent, and it fits the mood of so many of these songs, like the emptiness of the lyrics amplified by the airy sound and the slightly buried vocals on the title track, or the vocal layering in the post-chorus of “Hanging” which kind of nails that huge feeling of grandness it seems to be aiming for!

Lyrically there’s a lot of introspection, with a lot of it seeming to be about trying to find self-love while you feel surrounded by your own insecurities, and I think it mostly pulls that off really well, especially with the way the lyrics are paired with some excellent compositions.

And I also really like some of the moments that let loose a bit more, such as “Slime” with its horny lyrics and a super catchy chorus which sounds awesome with those gorgeous vocal melodies and with the guitar and drums providing some grit, or “Vitamins” in which she questions how special she really is … and I think it’s hard not to feel like a speck of dust sometimes in this massive universe, and this song really encapsulates that with its spacey production, amplifying that sense of distance.

But still, at its core, this feels like a very trapped album, if that makes any sense. It kind of feels like an album I could imagine being released in 2020 or 2021 when the pandemic had taken over the world … and considering how the effects of the pandemic are still very much with us today and probably won’t fully go away, I think this album hits really hard. It’s got such a haunting feeling of isolation and doubt, and the absolutely excellent production elevates this a lot, too!

I will say some moments here do leave a bit to be desired, especially toward the end of the album when the vocal melodies feel a little more meandering, and I do occasionally have a production nitpick here and there despite how gorgeous it sounds overall. But still, to me this is the first legit great album I’ve reviewed this year! If you’re a fan of folk-rock or anything like that, maybe in the vein of acts like boygenius, I think you’re really missing out if you haven’t heard this! It’s an 8/10 for me! I’m so glad I gave this a chance, and I’m now really curious to check out her other albums!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “The Ground”, “No Caffeine”, “Big Sigh”, “Hanging”, “Vitamins”, “Slime”
Least Favourite Track: “Please Don’t Be So Kind”

ORQUÍDEAS by Kali Uchis:

So, this is actually my first time listening to a Kali Uchis album. Yes, I’ve seen/heard the massive amounts of critical acclaim, but the only song of hers I knew going into this was “telepatía”. And despite how much critical acclaim that song has gotten, I’ve never been as big a fan of it as a lot of people are, as I feel like it sounds overproduced and I don’t find the vocal melodies all that interesting.

But I saw this album getting a lot of critical acclaim, and I wanted to give it a chance. And … well, unfortunately I can’t say this is really clicking for me all that much.

First of all, I should mention that a lot of the lyrics are in Spanish, and I don’t know Spanish, so while I found translated versions of the lyrics online, I’m not sure how accurate the translations are. I will say that based on the translations I saw, the lyrics don’t seem to have that much to them in my opinion, but I don’t think they’re bad, either, and they often fit well with the sound of these songs.

But overall, as a whole album it just leaves a lot to be desired for me.

I do like some of the glossier production at points, such as on the first two songs here, and for the most part I really like the percussion … but the vocal melodies often feel underwhelming, and at points this can get quite annoying—well, actually, I’m mostly talking about one song, that being “Muñekita”, which … well, there’s the overpowering percussion that’s too loud in the mix (one of the few moments here where I don’t like the percussion), and the annoying flows and the overall lack of anything I find at all interesting.

But as a whole … I mean, I’d say I mostly enjoyed this. I’ll give it a strong 6/10, as it’s got some good features, and I mostly like Kali Uchis’s vocals, and I think the album starts really strong … I just don’t think I’m gonna go back to it much.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “¿Cómo así?”, “Me Pongo Loca”, “No Hay Ley Parte 2”
Least Favourite Track: “Muñekita”

Consumption Without End by Escaping Aghartha:

Escaping Aghartha started as a solo project by Avery Dart and then grew to feature more members, and considering their large discography I decided not to listen to those albums before this one, and I just went into this with no idea at all what to expect … well, not much of an idea, at least. Because I did see this described as drone metal, which didn’t really give me the highest of expectations, but I was curious.

And … well, I actually don’t really mind it. It’s the kind of musical experience where I can see why it might work, even though it’s not really for me, and the progression throughout the album is pretty impressive. This album isn’t as much about huge musical transitions/shifts, more a gradual process which slowly turns into a nightmarish soundscape that actually has some vigor to it. The last of the three tracks here (two of them are over ten minutes, so the album is about half an hour long) is easily my favourite!

On Bandcamp it shows what the album is about, and it’s described as ‘a concept album about the negative environmental impacts of consumerism and all which it entails.’ And while I personally struggle to associate it with that considering there are no lyrics, the music does feel kind of fitting to describe the planet slowly dying.

Now, with that being said, even if it’s intended to represent a bleak future, some of these sounds are pretty unpleasant to listen to, like the distorted noise on “Without” that sounds like a diesel truck, and the roaring vocals (or at least what sound like vocals) throughout this album that just feel unnecessarily distracting from the overall vibe.

But speaking of which, the overall vibe here is pretty strong, as bleak as it is, with the icy feeling of the production mixed with the blazing distortion that does actually sound pretty good in my opinion—most of the time, that is.

I guess it’s an album I get the appeal of more than one that I actually really like all that much, but if you can associate the album’s intended meaning with the music itself you might really dig this! For me personally … well, it’s not really my thing, and thus I’m giving this an extremely light 6/10. I absolutely recommend giving it a listen, at least if you’re into ambient/drone music, and I certainly like it more than a lot of the stuff I’ve heard in this genre, and the drama keeps feeling bigger and bigger throughout … but I don’t think I’m going to go back to this much, if at all. I think it’s a fascinating album, but I wouldn’t call it great.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Track: “End”
Least Favourite Track: “Without”

plastic death by glass beach:

This is the second studio album by glass beach, a band whose debut album came out in 2019 and was quite critically acclaimed. And before listening to this album, I gave that album one listen … and it didn’t really do much for me. Maybe if I listen to it more it’ll grow on me, but I doubt it.

Anyway, I didn’t have the highest of hopes for this, but I have seen this getting a lot of critical acclaim, even more than their debut … and I can at least say it’s an interesting album, that’s for sure.

Stylistically there is a lot of variety, from the kind of Radiohead-esque songs like “slip under the door” and “abyss angel” to “the killer” which kind of feels like a mid-2010s indie rock song to “puppy”, which is probably my favourite song here as it blends a very funky vibe with an alt-rock sound, and while it kind of sounds like a demo I actually think it really works, and the mixing sounds better than you’d probably imagine for a song with such a demo-like sound to it!

Musically this feels like a journey meant to make you think and possibly to leave you baffled at what you just listened to … and while I think it’s a fascinating album, I can’t say it’s really clicking for me all that much. And a big part of that is just how jumpy a lot of these instrumentals feel, taking away from the atmosphere these songs could provide … and there’s also the fact that the mix of musical styles here doesn’t really lead to a cohesive album experience for me. It’s not that I don’t like variety, but it almost feels like it’s trying too hard if you know what I mean.

The lyrics feel quite cryptic, although there are some reoccurring themes throughout, including multiple mentions of mayflies … and it feels like an album that’s trying to make you rethink the world and how it works, using as many possible ways to do that as it can. Keep in mind I could be wrong about any of this—it’s just my interpretation—but it keeps feeling like it’s leaving something to be desired for me, and I can’t fully place what. But it’s not really resonating with me emotionally nor is it making me think as much as it seems to be trying to.

And I’ll admit I could have looked into this album more deeply than I did … but it just doesn’t really seem like the kind of album that’s for me. Yeah, you could say that’s kind of unfair of me considering I’m reviewing the album, but as always I’m just sharing my own personal feelings on the album … and it is a mini review.

So, yeah, while I very well could be missing something here, it just doesn’t feel as cohesive or interesting as I’d like, with a lot of the metaphors feeling like they’re lacking more depth, and again, it feels a bit too all over the place musically for me.

But is the production at least good?

Well … not really, if you ask me. The instruments feel way more distant from each other than I would have liked, and at times they can blend together really awkwardly, like in the noisy section toward the end of “the CIA”.

But still, with all this being said, I would absolutely recommend this album. It is a fascinating listen that you might get way more out of than I do … but especially considering its length of over an hour, it just left a lot to be desired for me personally. I’ll give it a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “slip under the door”, “whalefall”, “puppy”, “commatose”
Least Favourite Track: “guitar song”

Down There! by Folly Group:

This post-punk band gained some traction a few years ago for their 2021 debut EP, Awake and Hungry. Now, I personally haven’t listened to either of their EPs, but this is their official debut studio album, and as a fan of post-punk I was curious about this album. So, I decided to give it multiple listens and review it here.

And there is definitely a lot for me to like here. There are some strong grooves with pummeling drums which sound great when paired with the rest of the instrumentation and also sounds really good in the mix, and I like the vocal performances, too, which contribute to the catchiness of these tracks!

Overall, I think the album is quite well produced. Yeah, I do wish the instrumental timbres blended together a little bit better, but the bass has enough presence in the mix, and there are some really nice details in the production that I really like, such as the watery sound of the guitar in “I’ll Do What I Can”, the blazing guitar sounding fantastic on “Bright Night”, or the way the pummeling snare fits super well in “East Flat Crows”.

But I can’t say I’m as big a fan of the vocal melodies. These songs often feel like they’re so close to being super catchy bangers, but a lot of them feel like they’re missing something, and I think stronger melodic hooks might be what this feels like it’s lacking.

Lyrically a lot of this seems to be about trying to have empathy and understand others, at least on some tracks, and while I very well could be missing something, I will say it doesn’t feel all that interesting or layered to me personally, even though I like a lot of the themes.

But at points it feels hard-hitting enough with the slightly cryptic lyrics of certain songs where I don’t really care about depth, and there are some good basslines and catchy guitar moments … so, overall, I mostly ended up liking this. It’s some pretty solid post-punk, and it’s getting a 7/10 from me!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “I’ll Do What I Can”, “Bright Night”, “East Flat Crows”, “Nest”
Least Favourite Track: “New Feature”

Π​α​ρ​α​μ​α​ι​ν​ο​μ​έ​ν​η by Ὁπλίτης:

This album from the one-man project of Liu Zhenyang is one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year so far. And considering I saw it described as black metal, I was definitely curious to hear it.

Now, it’s worth mentioning the lyrics are in Greek, and the only language I know is English, so while I translated the lyrics online, I don’t know how accurate the translations are. But that doesn’t mean I can’t end up liking the album, so does it live up to the hype for me?

Well, it seems based on the translation I read of the album’s description on Bandcamp that this was inspired by Liu’s mental health struggles, and while I certainly hope this helped him and I hope he’s doing well, I can’t say I’m a fan of the album.

It reminds me in some ways of Victory Over the Sun’s album from last year which nearly made my top 10 favourites of that year, although I like pretty much everything about that album more than this one. First of all, the cryptic lyrics here don’t really bring up as much imagery for me—although again, I’m reading translated versions of the lyrics—and while the music sounds like it’s aiming for this really experimental sound, a lot of it doesn’t feel all that distinct to me. And when it does feel more experimental, there’s not really much that I found that ties it all together to create a whole album I’d want to revisit.

And considering how long this album is, too, it makes it feel kind of like a slog for me to get through. It’s like I’m waiting for that huge, epic moment, and outside of maybe the last track when the metal instrumentation fades back in toward the end, it doesn’t even come close to happening if you ask me.

But is the production at least good? Well, I can’t really say I like it, with the guitar sounding a lot more raspy than I would have liked, and some oddly clunky snares that sound overpowering. And then there’s the saxophone, which creates some really awkward texture in my opinion with the way it’s produced, not really sounding all that great to me over the rest of the instrumentation.

I mean, the bass does sound pretty good in the mix, which is kind of a saving grace for this album, but I’m just not wowed at all by this, despite the huge amounts of critical acclaim. I’m just being totally honest here, so for me this is a 5/10, and I doubt I’ll be going back to this any time soon.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Track: “ Ἄπαυστα θεία μανία”
Least Favourite Track: “ Ἡ τῶν λυσσημάτων ἄγγελος”

Obsidian Wreath by Infant Island:

This is the third studio album by this metal band whom I’d never heard of until recently, and before listening to this album I decided to listen to their first two albums a few times each … and while they have some intensity to them with some punishing instrumentation that I really like, I can’t say I love either album. I do think their second album showed some improvement lyrically, with some interesting commentary on nihilism and questioning whether or not ego is a good thing (this is all just my interpretation, though), whereas their debut felt like it was disguised in the musical atmosphere as being really deep, when the vagueness of the lyrics just didn’t impress me all that much—I very well could be missing something, but to me it just didn’t feel very interesting lyrically.

But I saw this new album getting a lot of critical acclaim, probably the most of their three studio albums! So, I was very excited to check it out! Did it live up to the hype?

Well, first of all, the lyrics don’t feel as vague as they do on the first album. That’s not to say they aren’t open to interpretation or difficult to understand, because they are, but it at least seems to have more to it if you ask me. Although it doesn’t feel as fully fleshed out lyrically as it could have, as I struggle to find my own meaning in these songs … I mean, maybe that’s the point, but it’s just not really doing a whole lot for me lyrically. There are seeds of ideas that I like, such as how “Amaranthine” is potentially about losing a loved one after subconsciously denying the inevitability of death, or how the closing track “Vestygian” seems like an attempt to untangle the motives behind immoral behaviour—keep in mind I’m probably wrong about all of these interpretations—but to me personally it just feels like this album could have used a little more lyrical depth to really give these tracks more meaning for me beyond just song concepts. Again, this is just how I hear it, but this is my review.

But even sonically I can’t call myself a big fan of this. Compositionally it feels pretty by-the-numbers for this kind of screamo music. Sure, there’s the occasional moment that feels a little less expected, such as the chilly atmosphere with vocals that sound very distorted on “Found Hand”, which I think fits well with the bleak lyrics. But for the most part the intensity doesn’t click as much as I think it’s supposed to, with these tracks not really feeling like they’re building all that much or really creating a whole lot of tension.

And part of this is because of the production. Because while the basslines add some nice melody, the bass also feels so distant from the rest of the instruments with the way it’s all produced, and it really doesn’t feel like it has as much presence in the mix, despite being at around the right volume for me. And the guitars don’t have nearly the crunch I think they were supposed to, often just sounding more distracting than anything, especially in “Veil”, which easily has my least favourite production on the album, with the fuzzy distortion and the clunky drums, and an overall messy sound that I don’t think works at all.

I don’t think this is a bad album, but it was a pretty big disappointment for me considering how highly praised it’s been … I’m gonna give this a 6/10. I just struggled to get into it.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Fulfilled”, “Found Hand”, “Clawing, Still”, “Kindling”
Least Favourite Track: “Veil”

She’s Back! by Mery Steel:

This is a debut album that I was not aware of until I saw Spectrum Pulse’s review of it, and considering it’s a country album and I’ve recently become a country music fan, I was really excited to hear this!

And yet … it’s just not doing much for me at all. Compositionally and melodically it just doesn’t feel all that interesting to me, with the occasional good melody here and there, but overall it doesn’t really make me feel anything.

The production on this album feels quite polished, which I think does work to some extent, as this kind of music can be really underwhelming with messy production. However, at points it can feel overdone, like in “Honey”, with the underpowered guitar timbre and the goopy combination of the instruments with the way it’s produced.

I think the album’s at its best when it’s got just the tiniest bit of a rough sound to it without taking away from the smooth production—the biggest example I think is “Bear In Your House”, a great song with a killer bassline and great vocal production, and the glossy production feels just right with that harsh snare feeling different from everything else, but not really out of place, helping to match the messy post-breakup narrative, trying to figure out what went wrong.

And speaking of the lyrics … well, as far as I can tell, most of the lyrics throughout this album aren’t particularly deep. Maybe I’m missing something, but they just seem to me like lyrics that either resonate for you emotionally or they don’t … and it just didn’t do much for me personally.

I think the album starts pretty strong and does have some good moments throughout, but as a whole I’m just not wowed by it. If you’re looking to get into country music but haven’t listened to much of it, this might be a good intro to the genre, but it’s nowhere near the best country music I’ve heard in recent years. Still pretty good, though. I’ll give it a 6/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “What’s Best”, “Bear In Your House”, “Love You”
Least Favourite Track: “Honey”

It’s Sorted by Cheekface:

One thing I’ll say about Cheekface is that there aren’t a lot of bands I’ve heard who sound similar to them. The way they fill their songs with social commentary that has their own unique perspective is … well, on paper, that seems like something a lot of bands do, because it is, but the way they do it is just … it’s hard to describe with words. But with all that being said, I have struggled to really get into their music. I often find the spoken-word delivery kind of off-putting as it often can sound kind of forced, and the lyrics often feel quite corny.

But still, I was curious to hear this new album of theirs … and unfortunately it’s just not really doing a whole lot for me. Once again I struggle to get into Greg Katz’s spoken-word delivery, and when there are more melodic moments it doesn’t really grab my attention all that much, often feeling kind of like I’m listening to a really cheesy commercial or something.

And when it comes to the lyrics … well, as expected for a Cheekface album, it’s full of humour as well as a lot of social commentary. And while I’m not great at analyzing lyrics accurately, a lot of this just feels like a failed attempt to be really thought-provoking. As always, I very well could be missing something here, but while I do like the occasional line here and there, a lot of this is just kind of in one ear and out the other, feeling a lot more generic lyrically than I think was intended.

Now I will say there are seeds of some really good lyrical ideas in my opinion, like how “I Am Continuing to Do My Thing” is a self-focus anthem with that possible underlying satire considering how important it is we all help each other out, and “Don’t Stop Believing” (not a Journey cover) talks about the impact money has had on our society. But often even when there are good ideas here, the lyrics can feel a lot more surface level and basic than I would have liked, especially on the closing track, “Plastic”. But just keep in mind I very well could be wrong about all of this, especially considering how little knowledge of the world I have compared to a lot of people. Although it might be saying something when I don’t really feel like I’ve learned all that much from the points being made on this album.

Now, with all this being said, I do mostly like the production here. Yeah, the bass could use a bit more presence—although at points it sounds really good, like in “Grad School”—but I like the punchy snares and a lot of the guitar timbres. Compositionally a lot of these songs can feel like they blend together, but I really like the overall sound quality of it all.

But I still don’t think this album is going to have much replay value for me. There are some good songs on this album, but I don’t think I’d call any of them great, and the playful vibe of this album is the kind that can feel way too sugary at points. So, for me it’s a 6/10 … if you’re looking for some quirky indie rock with a lot of social commentary, then this might be for you. But I feel like I’ve heard this style done a lot better.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Grad School”, “Trophy Hunting at the Zoo”, “There Were Changes in the Hardcore Scene”, “Don’t Stop Believing”
Least Favourite Track: “Largest Muscle”

Hi, everyone, and welcome back! It’s time for another individual album review, this one being of the newest album from Sleater-Kinney, Little Rope.

For such a long time Sleater-Kinney have been one of those bands whose name I’ve seen/heard all over the internet, and yet I’m not sure I’d ever even listened to one of their songs until just recently when I decided to listen to all ten Sleater-Kinney albums multiple times each in preparation for this review of their eleventh album.

And despite all the critical acclaim, I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Sleater-Kinney. Their first four albums, all released in the 1990s, bring a lot of energy and showed some promise, but I just didn’t find the song writing all that interesting, and the production was very hit-or-miss.

Now, with that being said, their 2000s music did grab my attention a little bit more, with albums like All Hands on the Bad One and One Beat showing them going in an interesting direction with punchier production and a bit more of a post-punk vibe at points, but I’ve just struggled to understand what the massive hype is with this band. Yes, there’s some interesting social commentary and the occasional strong hook, but I just find their full albums much harder to get into than a lot of critics.

After their most critically acclaimed album, The Woods, which was released in 2005, the band went on a hiatus and didn’t release another album until 2015’s No Cities to Love, a very good album that I think is quite well produced, with nice guitar distortion and lots of low-end presence that gives the songs more of an anthemic feeling, and some interesting commentary as well. But even that album just didn’t fully click for me, partially because I didn’t find the hooks super strong, and there are also other nitpicks in the sound quality and some moments that just didn’t feel as fully fleshed out as I would’ve liked.

And then came 2019’s The Center Won’t Hold and 2021’s Path of Wellness, both of which felt like generic alternative rock albums without much that really stood out to me at all, and it didn’t lead to me having high expectations for this new album. But I wanted to give it a chance, so after quite a few listens, what do I think of Little Rope?

Well, I do like it more than I thought I would, and considering my low expectations that’s not really saying much … but I do actually think this is a pretty decent album, and it shows that Sleater-Kinney might not be past their prime.

First of all, I think the production is mostly solid, giving some of these songs a bit more grit with the punchy snares and the cutting guitars. “Don’t Feel Right” is a good example of this, even though I find the more joyful instrumentation kind of awkward considering the frustrated lyrics. But it’s got strong guitar work, and the snare tones are really nice and the drums sound good in the mix! This song has kind of a post-punk vibe to it that I think mostly works.

Now, when it comes to the lyrics … well, this album comes in the aftermath of Carrie Brownstein losing her mother and stepfather. I’m not sure how much that influenced the lyrics, but either way, I don’t want to be insensitive here … but at the same time, I can’t really say the lyrics wowed me or anything. That’s just me, though, of course.

“Hell” is the opening track on this album, and it just doesn’t really do much for me. Yeah, it’s mixed well and the booming snare sounds really good, but while I get that there is a place for songs about not worrying too much and just trying to have a good time, this song feels like it tackles that subject in a really cliché way without bringing anything interesting to the table.

Thankfully the next track is way better in my opinion, that being “Needlessly Wild”, which also seems to represent a sort of carefree attitude, and the awesome fuzzy drums and some Deftones-esque vocal effects really help this song have more grit and energy! And that bassline totally rules! This is a great song that feels like something new for this band, and not like a bad attempt to recapture the feeling of their early records!

“Say It Like You Mean It” has some of my favourite vocal melodies on the album, as well as one of the best vocal performances. It’s a very emotional song about saying goodbye to people you care about, and the change to the higher vocal register in that final chorus is just heartbreaking, and the guitar sounds really good and adds a lot to the track!

But there’s one big thing that holds this track back for me. It might sound like too much of a nitpick, but the kick drum and the bass sound really awkward when combined with each other, creating a sort of watery texture that really kills the vibe of this song. I still think this song is really good, but if it weren’t for that one thing I think it would be a great song.

But I definitely like it more than the next song, “Hunt You Down”, which has some of the messiest production on the album, with the clunky drums and the sort of fuzzy-sounding bass that feels really out of place. And the kick drum feels overpowering in the mix. I do at least like some of the guitar work on this track, but there’s not really much about the vocal melodies that grabs my attention—it’s easily one of the weaker tracks on this album in my opinion.

I definitely like the mixing better on “Small Finds”, in which the distorted guitar and the drums complement each other quite well, with a strong bassline, too, and it’s got some punch to it. And I mostly like the chorus, too, although it kind of feels like it’s all building up to some big, epic moment that never happens. But still, it’s a mostly likeable track.

I do wish I liked the chorus better on the next track, “Don’t Feel Right”, but the mixing is really strong, with the drums adding some punch and the guitar having some great presence without feeling too overpowering. Like I said earlier, I like the sort of post-punk vibe of this song.

Next is “Six Mistakes”, which has some nice guitar melodies, even though the guitar distortion can be a bit much at points. The drums cut through the mix really well, though.

“Crusader” is my least favourite song on the album, partially because of just how polished the production feels, with the tightness of the sound actually working against the song in my opinion as it feels like it’s trying so hard to be this indie rock banger where all the instruments fit together perfectly … and instead it just sounds like a clunky mess, especially with the distortion on the guitar sounding much more like farts than I think was intended. And that chorus melody is very underwhelming, with lyrics that feel like cliché after cliché.

I do think the album ends pretty well, though, with the great bassline on “Dress Yourself”, which also has some really good percussion that’s got a bit of a shuffling sound to it, and then the closing track “Untidy Creature” with the desperation of trying to escape in the lyrics, and some of the best guitar distortion on the album, as well as that really good booming snare.

Overall, I like this album more than I thought I would, but I can’t say it’s an album I really think will have much replay value for me outside of “Needlessly Wild” and maybe “Say It Like You Mean It” and/or “Untidy Creature”.

Often the album’s got a fuzzier sound than I would like, and I wish the vocal melodies clicked for me more, but it does at least make me curious to hear whatever the band does next. So, for me it’s a 6/10, and I’d definitely recommend this to indie rock fans.

As always, though, feel free to let me know in the comments what you think of this album and/or what you think of my review. This is all just how I personally feel, and I’d love to hear what you think.

I know I didn’t go as in-depth as I would have liked, but I’ve been very busy recently. Anyway, I’ll be back with more reviews soon, and as always, thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Needlessly Wild”, “Say It Like You Mean It”, “Small Finds”, “Dress Yourself”, “Untidy Creature”
Least Favourite Track: “Crusader”

Hi, everyone! My name is Simon, and it’s time for another individual album review, this time of the new Green Day album, Saviors.

So, recently, before listening to this album, I decided it was finally time for me to try and familiarize myself a bit more with Green Day’s music. So I went through their discography and listened to all of their albums with the exception of the trio of albums they released in 2012—I haven’t heard good things about them and it saved time to just skip them—and … well, despite the massive amounts of hype, I just can’t say they’re really for me.

Don’t get me wrong, their music is interesting and clearly seems like the kind of music it takes guts to make, but the production didn’t really work for me for the most part, and I didn’t find the hooks to be super strong, leading to a streak of consistently decent albums throughout the 1990s … and while American Idiot has got some moments that work for me, for an album trying so hard to be this huge, epic rock opera, it feels like it leaves a lot to be desired, such as more lyrical detail, or production to help the songs soar like they seem to be trying to.

And ever since then it’s been downhill, especially with Father of All Motherfuckers in 2020 … and I honestly wonder if they were trolling with that album. Either way, that album is quite bad, and I couldn’t help but think this was going to be an improvement … and it is, but is that really saying much?

Well, I’m actually pretty surprised by the generally positive reception this album has gotten from critics. And it’s not just because it’s a Green Day album in 2024 (which makes it feel destined to get a negative critical reception, like pretty much any other pop-punk band who was famous decades ago when putting out a new album), but also because I don’t think this is very good.

And it’s an album that doesn’t give me a whole lot to say … yes, I’m giving it its own review, but it’ll be a pretty short one. And if it weren’t for the fact that I planned for this to be an individual review for a while and did all that preparation by listening to their other albums, this would probably be a mini review.

I just don’t find much about this album all that interesting. As always this is just my opinion, but this feels like it’s supposed to be this huge, epic album with a huge statement to make, but it just feels really generic, blending in with a lot of generic music I hear on rock radio stations.

Even the best songs here feel like they’re lacking something. “Dilemma”, for example, has some introspective lyrics that I like, and the chorus melody is pretty catchy … and yet, the verses feel really boring and the production on this track doesn’t have the punch it needs to really click for me.

And there are other examples of otherwise strong hooks being held back by production, such as the clunky drums taking away from the firepower in “Goodnight Adeline”, or how the vocals are drowned out in the mix on “1981”, or the overpowering distorted guitar in the chorus of “Living in the ‘20s”.

This album just has such a messy feeling to its sound, with the mixing usually burying Billie Joe Armstrong’s vocals, which really doesn’t help with the anthemic vibe these songs seem to be aiming for.

And there are some real head-scratchers on here … for example, there’s the opener, “The American Dream Is Killing Me”, which to me sounds like pretty much the most generic political song one could make. I mean, it’s at least got some energy to it, but it mostly falls flat for me.

The first real highlight on the album for me is … well, “Dilemma”, I guess, but again, it feels like it’s being held back from hitting way harder. I think it’s a good song as it is, but not a great one.

“1981” and “Goodnight Adeline” both could be a lot worse, but they just don’t do a lot for me. And then there’s “Coma City”, which has some good vocal melodies, but the clunky drums sound awful—as they do in “Suzie Chapstick”—and I find it kind of cringey how Bille Joe Armstrong uses the phrase ‘Coma City’ seemingly referring to things shutting down due to the pandemic.

“Corvette Summer” has to be my favourite track here. It does kind of feel like it’s missing something and I can’t really place what, but it’s got a nice, catchy chorus, and the percussion sounds really good in the mix.

“Suzie Chapstick”, on the other hand, I don’t like at all. I already mentioned the clunky drums, but there’s also some airy production which leaves this with a really hollow feeling that doesn’t work at all in my opinion. Some of the melodies on this track feel like they could potentially really hit hard, but in this song it just doesn’t click for me at all, especially with some cringey moments like the post-chorus or the line, ‘I just wanna be your nobody.’

And then there’s “Strange Days Are Here to Stay”, which … well, it’s one of the better produced songs here in my opinion, with the snare legitimately sounding really good paired with the electric guitar, but I find it kind of awkward when Billie Joe sums up the world’s problems to, ‘Ever since Bowie died, it hasn’t been the same.’ And yes, I know he’s not actually trying to make it sound like David Bowie’s death was the one thing that totally caused everything to collapse, but still, it’s a strange line considering the rest of the song. Of course it was sad when David Bowie died, and I’m not denying the impact his death has had, but this song almost has this mindset of, ‘Well, everything was perfect before that!’ Again, I know that’s not literally what this is about, but it still feels awkward, considering there’s barely anything interesting here lyrically as far as I can tell.

“Father to a Son” is a nice song after the very underwhelming “Living in the ‘20s”, and then the album ends with the title track and “Fancy Sauce”, which … I mean, they’re fine, but just like the vast majority of this album, they leave a lot to be desired for me. To me they kind of represent the mindset of not worrying too much about being a hero … of course it’s good to do your part, but we can’t just fix all the world’s problems by ourselves, we need each other’s help. And while I don’t think either of these last two tracks are doing anything super interesting musically or lyrically, it’s a decent ending, I guess.

But by far the worst song on this album in my opinion is “Bobby Sox” … what the hell is that chorus? It’s so fucking annoying! 

At the end of the day, this is all just my own personal opinion, but I really couldn’t get into this at all. The production sounds messy, with a lot of clunky drums, annoyingly watery guitar sounds, basslines that sound foggier than I would have liked, and again, there’s the mixing and how the vocals sound buried a lot of the time.

And there are so many cringey lyrics that I could keep going on and on about, but if you want an example, ‘I got a buzz like a murder hornet.’

This album just isn’t for me at all. I’m gonna have to give this a 5/10. It’s not a bad album, but I also don’t think there’s a great song on here. And even as someone who’s not really a Green Day fan, I do think they have some great songs … just not on this album.

But, as always, let me know your thoughts in the comments. I’ll admit this review was kind of rushed, considering how busy this January is for me … but it also just isn’t an album I’d really want to spend that much time on anyway, and I still gave it half a dozen listens.

And with that, thanks for reading! I’ll be back with more reviews soon!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Dilemma”, “Corvette Summer”, “Father to a Son”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Bobby Sox”, “Suzie Chapstick”