| Dashboard Confessional A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar | 4.0 |
| Dashboard Confessional The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most | 2.5 |
| Minor Threat Minor Threat | 4.5 |
| Minor Threat First Demo Tape | 3.5 |
| Minor Threat In My Eyes | 4.0 |
| Minor Threat Out of Step | 4.0 |
| Minor Threat Complete Discography | 4.5 |
| From First to Last Aesthetic | 2.5 |
| From First to Last Heroine | 3.5 |
| From First to Last Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count | 4.5 |
| The Offspring Ignition | 3.0 |
| The Offspring Splinter | 4.5 |
| The Offspring Americana | 4.0 |
| The Offspring Smash | 3.5 |
| The Offspring Greatest Hits | 3.0 |
| Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution A Call To Arms | 3.5 |
| Nirvana In Utero | 4.0 |
| Nirvana Bleach | 3.5 |
| Nirvana Nevermind | 4.0 |
| Evanescence The Open Door | 2.5 |
| Evanescence Fallen | 3.5 |
| Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon | 3.0 |
| Rise Against Siren Song of the Counter Culture | 3.5 |
| Rise Against The Unraveling | 4.0 |
The Unraveling is the first work by the now widely-known rock band Rise Against. Luckily for music fans, this album’s title is not at all an indicator of its quality. Here the listener can hear the beginnings of the Rise Against sound that has become rather popular in the punk world today. Alternating between melancholic and empowering, the message of “soldiering on” that Rise Against has popularized in its later works began with this album. This is also their hardest album; it has a sound much more akin to hardcore punk albums then it does to the pop/acoustic sounds of Swing Life Away.
The album covers a variety of topics, from love to the state of the world to religion. The stand-out song from the album, Gethsemane, is a perfect close to the album, with a catchy tune and very interpretable lyrics. (With arms raised to the stars begging them to listen…with scars cut from these olive branches…tonight we give in to temptation). Either a love song or a song about Jesus’ final betrayal, it’s up to the listener to decide.
Ultimately, the complex lyrics and catchy, pounding tunes of Rise Against have earned a wide following. Seeing where it all began and uncovering the inception just takes a little unraveling.
Recommended Tracks: Gethsemane, Everchanging, Stained Glass and Marble. |
| Rise Against The Sufferer and the Witness | 3.5 |
| Misfits Collection II | 3.0 |
| DragonForce Valley of the Damned | 4.0 |
| Big D and the Kids Table Strictly Rude | 4.0 |
| Ska-P Que Corra La Voz | 4.5 |
| System of a Down Toxicity | 4.0 |
| System of a Down System of a Down | 4.0 |
| System of a Down Mezmerize | 4.5 |
| System of a Down Hypnotize | 5.0 |
| Maroon 5 Songs About Jane | 4.5 |
| Maroon 5 It Won't Be Soon Before Long | 4.0 |
| Rob Zombie Hellbilly Deluxe | 4.0 |
| Rob Zombie Past, Present & Future | 3.5 |
| Rob Zombie Educated Horses | 4.0 |
| Arkona (RUS) Lepta | 4.0 |
| Turisas Battle Metal | 4.0 |
| Lordi The Arockalypse | 3.5 |
| Less Than Jake Losing Streak | 4.0 |
| Less Than Jake Pezcore | 3.5 |
| Less Than Jake Hello Rockview | 4.5 |
| Less Than Jake Anthem | 4.0 |
| Reel Big Fish We're Not Happy 'Till You're Not Happy | 4.0 |
| Reel Big Fish Monkeys for Nothin' and The Chimps... | 2.5 |
| Reel Big Fish Cheer Up! | 3.5 |
| Funeral for a Friend Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation | 3.5 |
| Alesana Try This With Your Eyes Closed | 3.0 |
| Haste the Day When Everything Falls | 3.0 |
| Good Charlotte The Young And The Hopeless | 3.5 |
| Good Charlotte The Chronicles of Life and Death | 2.5 |
| Good Charlotte Good Charlotte | 2.0 |
| Good Charlotte Good Morning Revival | 2.0 |
| Simple Plan Simple Plan | 1.0 |
| Hard-Fi Stars Of CCTV | 4.0 |
| Bad Brains Rock For Light | 4.5 |
| Bad Brains Bad Brains | 4.5 |
| Mad Caddies Quality Soft Core | 4.0 |
| The Black Eyed Peas Elephunk | 3.0 |
| Yellowcard Ocean Avenue | 4.0 |
| Yellowcard Paper Walls | 2.5 |
| Thrice Vheissu | 4.0 |
| Thrice The Artist in the Ambulance | 4.5 |
| Nightwish Dark Passion Play | 3.0 |
| Catch 22 Keasbey Nights | 5.0 |
| Catch 22 Alone in a Crowd | 5.0 |
| Dethklok The Dethalbum | 3.5 |
| Coheed and Cambria In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 | 3.5 |
| Eve 6 Horrorscope | 4.5 |
| Eve 6 Eve 6 | 4.5 |
| Green Day 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours | 4.0 |
| Green Day Kerplunk | 3.5 |
| Green Day Dookie | 3.0 |
| Green Day Insomniac | 4.0 |
| Green Day Nimrod | 3.5 |
| Green Day Bullet In A Bible | 1.0 |
| Green Day International Superhits | 2.5 |
| Green Day Shenanigans | 1.0 |
| Green Day American Idiot | 4.5 |
| Green Day Warning | 5.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness | 4.5 |
| Coheed and Cambria No World for Tomorrow | 3.5 |
| Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols | 3.0 |
| Reel Big Fish Why Do They Rock So Hard? | 4.0 |
| Reel Big Fish Turn the Radio Off | 2.5 |
| Streetlight Manifesto Keasbey Nights | 3.5 |
| Avenged Sevenfold Sounding the Seventh Trumpet | 4.0 |
| Avenged Sevenfold City of Evil | 3.5 |
| Avenged Sevenfold Waking the Fallen | 3.5 |
| Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold | 4.0 |
| The Matches E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals | 3.0 |
| The Clash London Calling | 5.0 |
| Streetlight Manifesto Everything Goes Numb | 5.0 |
| The Clash London Calling: Legacy Edition | 2.0 |
| Alkaline Trio Goddamnit | 4.5 |
| Alkaline Trio Alkaline Trio | 3.5 |
| Alkaline Trio Maybe I'll Catch Fire | 4.0 |
Alkaline Trio’s sophomore full-length album, Maybe I’ll Catch Fire, marks a strong departure from their previous works in Goddamnit! Much of the latter contained lyrics mostly dealing with the dark side of life, with a dark edge to it but had lighter melodies and long riffs with no vocals. In MICF, the dark side has almost completely taken over in some ways. One song after another expresses self-loathing and hatred for unnamed persons and situations. It expresses a rather murderous thirst for vengeance and violence, such as seen in the fifth track, Sleepyhead (Hey there sleepy smile/I see you brought your bedroom eyes/ I’m assuming you want to keep ‘em/ I’m assuming you reckon you won’t). While still highly witty and at times amusing, it is a much more angry album then their first effort. MICF is also more compact, with less of the long riffs very common in Goddamnit!
Overall, Alkaline Trio morphed their sound quite a bit between their first and second albums, but in the end there is still enough in common that fans of Goddamnit! will almost surely find something to enjoy.
Recommended Tracks: Sleepyhead, Maybe I’ll Catch Fire, Radio |
| Alkaline Trio Good Mourning | 5.0 |
| Alkaline Trio Crimson | 4.5 |
| Alkaline Trio Remains | 4.5 |
| The Damned Grave Disorder | 4.5 |
| Flogging Molly Drunken Lullabies | 3.0 |
| Flogging Molly Within a Mile of Home | 3.0 |
| Good Riddance A Comprehensive Guide to Moderne Rebellion | 4.5 |
| Heavens Patent Pending | 5.0 |
| Nightwish Century Child | 4.0 |
| Nightwish Once | 3.0 |
| Bad Religion Suffer | 4.0 |
| Bad Religion Against the Grain | 5.0 |
| Bad Religion No Control | 5.0 |
| Bad Religion Generator | 3.0 |
| Bad Religion The Process of Belief | 4.0 |
| Bad Religion The Empire Strikes First | 5.0 |
| Bad Religion New Maps of Hell | 4.5 |
| Eve 6 It's All In Your Head | 5.0 |
Eve 6 had an amazing run as a band. While many claim they faltered in their last album before breaking up in 2005, I personally think it’s just in their heads. Their third album is more than amazing. True, it is not as hard an album as Horrorscope and Eve 6. However, the diversity in the topics and styles presented more than makes up for that.
Hey Montana is a rather slow sad song, with no drums. Still Here Waiting is a fast-paced, almost punkish song about, well, waiting. Hokis, the hardest song on the album, is almost a headbanging song. Bring the Night On lyrically sounds quite a bit like rap; it is quite clever and unique.
Overall, It’s All In Your Head will get in your head in a big way. With one of the greatest rock songwriters of recent times behind it, there can be no doubt that an appreciator of good music can find something to enjoy here.
Recommended Tracks: Hokis, Bring the Night On, Good Lives. |
| My Chemical Romance I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love | 4.5 |
| Tiger Army Music From Regions Beyond | 5.0 |
| A Wilhelm Scream Career Suicide | 4.0 |
| Streetlight Manifesto Somewhere in the Between | 5.0 |
