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User
Reviews 3
Approval 98%
Soundoffs 223
News Articles 60
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Last Active 01-06-23 2:36 pm
Joined 02-20-16
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| Steak's Top 20 This Year 2017
I listened to a lot of music I enjoyed this year, here are my favorites in order until I state otherwise. Hopefully you check out something you haven't heard and you love it, thus making you edit your list mwahahahaha | | 1 |  | Ghost Atlas
All Is In Sync, and There's Nothing Left to Sing
Post-Hardcore
My boi Jesse Cash coming through with the best Saosin album is years. Jk, but goddamn this album is a thing of post-hardcore beauty. Jesse's voice has certainly evolved over his years with Erra, and that maturity has made this album that much stronger. The vocals are diverse in both their delivery and their melodies, and oh boy those backing instrumentals are perfectly suited for his voice (the solos on this album are absolutely phenomenal). You have standard post-hardcore bangers on here, there's a nice acoustic for your feelings, some southern influence, and all around this is just one hell of a time. AOTY for Steak
Recommended steaks: Cry Wolf, Vertigo, Legs, Fox Rain, Surrogate Lover, NightDrive, Rabid Dog, t/t | | 2 |  | Young Lions
Mr. Spaceman
Post-Hardcore / Alt Rock
If you've read my review for their album 'Blue Isla', then you already know how much I admire this man's voice. Two years later, and Zach Britt has somehow gotten even more range with his voice, and it is still as smooth as butter that you can't believe is not butter. Rather than relying on the 30 Seconds To Mars-esque sound that garnered them a lot of attention in the Australian music scene, they dial back the anthemic instrumentation for a more atmospheric feel. This works very well for the band because it gives Zach more room to use his voice to the fullest potential that he can. Not to worry tho, there are still some strong post-hardcore vibes on this album, and once again they perform them with ease and mastery. Go to space with this album you earthling bois
Recommended steaks: Blue Heaven, Burn The Money, Destroy Me (my personal song of the year), Message, Mr. Spaceman, Superhuman | | 3 |  | Novelists
Noir
Proggy Metalcore
This album took a bit to warm up to me as much as it did, but after the 5th or 6th listen it really clicked with me. The first thing that I noticed on this album was a lesser reliance on the heavy instrumentation of their debut album, and more of a structured, technical, and sometimes jazzy chords-driven instrumentation. There are some astounding guitar solos on this thing, Monochrome being the highlight in that area. The vocals were the next big observation, as I had noticed that the vocalist Matt drastically improved his clean singing abilities, and thus relied on them more often than on the debut. That's not to say that the heaviness is gone, quite the contrary actually. There are some crushing songs on this album, and just as Matt improved his cleans, his unclean vocals really took a step up.
Rec'd steaks: L'appel Du Vide, Monochrome, Grey Souls, Stranger Self, Joie De Vivre (features both vocalists from my 1 and 2 spot) | | 4 |  | Make Them Suffer
Worlds Apart
Metalcore / Deathcore
Make Them Suffer is back with another change in their sound, and this once again proves that they can pull off whatever sound they want to go for. Almost completely abandoning their roots, they focus more on creating a spacey and doomy atmosphere, with riffs aplenty. Sean stays the undisputed highlight of the album, as his vocals are vicious, effective, diverse, and colossal at times. New female vocalist/keys Booka is a nice fit for this sound, and she managed to come up with more interesting vocal melodies and piano melodies than the previous female vocalist Louisa. Fans of their older style will be happy to hear that there are some disgustingly vicious moments on here, with Dead Plains being the most savage song they're ever made.
Rec'd steaks: The First Movement, Uncharted (not the game), Grinding Teeth, Power Overwhelming, Midnight Run, Dead Plains | | 5 |  | CHON
Homey
Prog Rock / Jazz Fusion
This album is exactly what summer sounds like imo. Sugary guitar leads everywhere, jazzy chords aplenty, and my goodness their drummer goes fucking OFF on this album. Mario and Erik continue to serenade the ears with the melodies from their guitars, improving their songwriting abilities rather exceptionally. There are a couple of tracks on here that are rather experimental, ranging from hip hop to almost lofi at points, and these new sounds are executed superbly, only accentuating the summery vibe of the album.
Rec'd steaks: Sleepy Tea, Waterslide, Checkpoint, Nayhoo, Feel This Way, Continue? | | 6 |  | Sufferer
Sufferer
Post-Hardcore / Emo?
This album came out of nowhere, but goddamn am I glad that my dude MarsKid (shoutouts to the Marsbro m/) rec'd this. This is the album that I wanted to hear after No Place from A Lot Like Birds, and as such I'll always consider this project the spiritual successor No Place. Using 3 vocalists might sound absurd, but they really make it work; each vocalist shines, and the band really makes use of all three of them. And oh boy this album RIFFS MY GUY! The guitars on this album go off the walls with riff after riff after riff, giving all of the tracks so much life, as well as making the entirety of the album a fun and engaging listen.
Rec'd steaks: Chapter II, Chapter III, Chapter IV, Chapter VI, Chapter IX | | 7 |  | PVRIS
All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell
Electropop / Sythnpop
This album is hard to describe due to the varied sounds that are found throughout this dark and gloomy album. There are some upbeat songs on here, some moody tracks, some depressing tracks, some sugary sweet moments, but one thing remains constant: Lynn's vocals are fantastic from start to finish. Lynn guides us through the album, delving into her personal struggles, and she furiously and almost violently delivers these melodies straight to the listener. The feel of the album is overall rather dark and murky, and Lynn absolutely kills it on this album with her improved vocal performance.
Rec'd steaks: Heaven, Half, What's Wrong, Walk Alone, Winter, No Mercy, Nola 1 | | 8 |  | Ice Nine Kills
Safe Is Just A Shadow (Re-Recorded)
Metalcore
It seems that I'm in the small minority of people that prefer Ice Nine Kills older sound as opposed to their "horrorcore" sound or whatever people want to call it. I much preferred when they were churning out technical leads and riff-driven metalcore, so when they announced that they'd be re-recording 'Safe Is Just A Shadow', I was ecstatic. Every track sounds much beefier than the original, at the slight cost of some lead guitar parts being quieter in the mix. Spencer continues to be the highlight of the band, with his vocals ripping apart this album from front to back. His bellowing lows, strong mids, and newfound high screams sound pristine, and his cleans are phenomenal as always
Rec'd steaks: Proximity Mines In The Complex, Chris Brown's Latest Hit, Newton's Third Law, Red Sky Warning, The People Under The Stairs, The Greatest Story Ever Told | | 9 |  | Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas
New Sunrise
Electronicore / Metalcore / Post-Hardcore
I had heard of this band before, but it wasn't until a couple of months ago that I checked them out. I was rewatching my favorite anime Parasyte, and I decided to look up the band that did the intro for it because I loved it. After checking the full song, I decided to listen to more of their music, and something about them was so infectious that I just fell in love with the band. These guys are basically a Japanese Attack Attack with proficient musicians, and they really know how to write catchy music. Riffs aplenty, heavy synths, some monstrous unclean vocals, and vocoder vocals are the name of the game here, and they are used extremely effectively.
Rec'd steaks: Return To Zero, Power of Life And Death, LLLD, Shine, Accept Each Other's Sense of Values, The Sun Also Rises | | 10 |  | Born of Osiris
The Eternal Reign
Deathcore / djenty bros
Apparently the year for great re-recordings, because as my main man betray would say, "this shit slap". While at times the glossy production can lessen the impact of some moments on the album, it more often than not brings out a lot more oomph to the songs. Improved vocals, some rewritten guitar parts, drastically improved synth sound, and riff and riff that kicks you in the mouth repeatedly, I love this re-recording. The "new" song on here sounds like it would fit right in, and I wonder why they never included it on the original recording.
Rec'd steaks: All of it my dudes, shit is like 24 minutes, Best is Empires Erased, Abstract Art, Brace Legs, BOW DOWN, Glorious Day | | 11 |  | Sithu Aye
Senpai EP II: The Noticing
Prog Rock / Prog Metal
More instrumental proggy goodness, but with a focus on that stereotypical anime music style, which is right up my alley. This EP starts with the school bell, and then you're immediately taken to a slice of life anime. Honestly this is some weeb shit but I fucking love every second of it
Rec'd steaks: Summer Break!, A Rival Appears!, The Noticing!, Anime As Leaders (The Woven Weeb) | | 12 |  | Currents
The Place I Feel Safest
Metalcore
Another release that came out of nowhere for me, and I ended up loving it. They pull off the modern metalcore sound very well, and fuse it with some djenty elements for some crushing riffs and breakdowns for me to enjoy. The vocalist has a lot of variation in his vocals, shifting from blistering highs, hard-hitting lows, strong mids, and decent cleans here and there. This can get a bit samey, but they change it up just enough so that it doesn't become an issue.
Rec'd steaks: Apnea, Night Terrors, Withered, The Place I Feel Safest, Silence | | 13 |  | Counterparts
You're Not You Anymore
Hardcore / Metalcore
The boys are back and continue to throttle me with well-written hardcore tunes. As my boy JeetJeet said, this shit is all killer and no filler, and it immediately shot up to my second favorite album of theirs. Brendan continues to assault the ears with his seemingly throat-shredding vocals, and the riffs hit hard on this all the way through.
Rec'd steaks: Bouquet, Arms Like Teeth, Haunt Me, Rope, Fragile Limbs | | 14 |  | Our Hollow, Our Home
Hartsick
Melodic Hardcore / Metalcore
I'm just gonna copy my soundoff for this tbh:
Phenomenal mix of melodic hardcore and metalcore. Excellent harsh vocalist that mixes yells, lows,
and highs very frequently, and the clean vocalist can sing exceptionally well with a good range.
The guitarists switch from breakdown to riff to melodic lines all over this record, and the
drummer has some nice fills here and there
Rec'd steaks: Throne To The Wolves, Worms Wood, Hartsick, Feast For The Crows, Web Weaver | | 15 |  | Polaris (AUS)
The Mortal Coil
FROM HERE ON OUT IS JUST HONORABLE MENTIONS IN NO ORDER
Metalcore
The Aussie boys finally made a full length album, and this shit shreds from front to back. There are so many riffs packed into this album, and they have less reliance on breakdowns which is great. The harsh vocalist Jamie sounds stellar on this album, but he almost completely dropped his lows which makes the album suffer a little bit because it could've been even better with more vocal variety. At least he still does the pitch screaming and those nice mids. Other than that gripe this is a killer album
Rec'd steaks: Lucid, The Remedy, Consume, Casualty, Sonder | | 16 |  | Coldrain
FATELESS
Metalcore / Post-Hardcore
Another Japanese band, but this is one that I've always been on the fence about. I liked a couple of their songs, but never really latched onto them for a full album. I'm happy to say that this album is the one that finally clicked for me, because this is full of great songs. The vocalist has a very nice voice, both clean and unclean, and the instrumentation hits hard. Only gripe with this is that the album is very top heavy
Rec'd steaks: ENVY, FEED THE FIRE, LOST IN FAITH, BURY ME, R.I.P., COLORBLIND, AFTERMATH | | 17 |  | Thousand Below
The Love You Let Too Close
Metalcore / Post-Hardcore
Fantastic debut from a young band with a lot of potential. It's very clear that these guys are heavily influenced by Underoath, but that doesn't distract from the powerful vocalist being the highlight of the album. He sings and screams his heart out on this thing, and he has a lot of passion behind his shouts and singing which is always a plus. The instrumentation is a mix of soothing and atmospheric, and absolutely mental and vicious
Rec'd steaks: Sinking Me, Never Here, Sleepless, Carry The Weight, The Love You Let Too Close, The Wolf And The Sea, Vein | | 18 |  | Belle Haven
You, Me And Everything In Between
Melodic Hardcore / Metalcore
These guys tightened up their songwriting and came out with a punishing, yet beautiful album. The vocalist has strong unclean vocals, and while his cleans aren't the most powerful out there, they fit the music very well.
Rec'd steaks: You., The Carving Knife, Selfmade, Little Polaroid Boy, Me. | | 19 |  | Earthists.
Dreamscape
Progressive Metalcore
Another Japanese band, this time in the vein of the early Erra sound. Impressive guitar leads and riffs are all over this thing, as well as some nostalgic Erra-like synths. The vocalist is pretty strong for the most part, but if he could put some more power into his singing then they'd sound even better
Rec'd steaks: Dreamscape, Footprints, Absolutely Zero, FLUX, Radial, Winterfell | | 20 |  | Shoji Meguro
Persona 5 Original Soundtrack
Jazz / Rock
bruh I don't know how to explain this shit. It's jazzy, poppy, and has a lot of rock in it, it's fucking beautiful. Play the game as well, it's the best game this year for me | |
SteakByrnes
01.01.18 | Here's my list bois, I love you all, Happy New Year < 3
I got lazy with the write ups towards the end srry | Drifter
01.01.18 | Zoinks | SteakByrnes
01.01.18 | Jinkies | SteakByrnes
01.01.18 | Bump | FullOfSounds
01.01.18 | dope list
anything youd rec me? | SteakByrnes
01.01.18 | Thanks man, you're a huge fan of Architects if I recall, so you might dig some of that Polaris album my dude | SteakByrnes
01.01.18 | Mayhem check everything on this list right now | SteakByrnes
01.01.18 | Bump my dudes | Drifter
01.01.18 | Lol "check everything else on this list right now" | SteakByrnes
01.01.18 | He still hasn't come back so I assume he's been busy doing it since last night, this man has't gone to sleep yet either he's just been chillin with the tunes in the back | SteakByrnes
01.01.18 | Had you never checked Make Them Suffer out before? | SteakByrnes
01.02.18 | My favorite song of theirs is still Widower, but Ether is pretty great. I love how consistent they are while also changing up their sound every album | SteakByrnes
01.02.18 | I feel you. I've grown off of one of my favorite bands recently and just can't listen to their sound anymore tbh, their new album this year was too samey and now all of their music sounds too samey to me. Band is Dayseeker btw | ZombieToyDuck
01.02.18 | lots of stuff I haven't checked here, will have to get on that! | SteakByrnes
01.02.18 | Peep them all my dude, you'd probably like a lot on here |
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