"...It’s almost a curse--any unfortunate band labeled as ‘having potential’ either follows up on that promise substantially or fades away into obscurity..."

This sentence reads a little wonky. Makes it sound like the 'follow up substantially' is a bad thing or something... either that or it's somewhat redundant in that we already assume either outcome would happen. I dunno. Might just be me.

Album Rating: 3.5

Perfectly fine to feel that way my man. It's moreso meant to enunciate the general failure of these bands that get thrown about for a week then are never heard from again. The focus should be on their imminent downfall, which is also a part of my criticism of just describing something as 'having potential' and not much else.



I welcome comments of all kinds, be them personal, technical, nitpicky, or random

I wonder if Arcane's last offering ''Known/Learned'' falls into that territory, as it was considered by many AOTY when it was dropped, and now barely anyone talks about it. And it's a pity, both because it was a brilliant album and because they'd poured mind and soul over it.

Album Rating: 3.5

Many groups fall into that territory.



I personally take an optimistic stance in some regards in terms of modern music.



Most say originality is dead, which is not entirely false: since music has been explored for decades upon decades, it's become increasingly difficult to create something that could be entirely considered your own work with no influence from anything else. However, artists still take genres and twist them into their own sort of identifiable sound that, while its inspirations can be found, still retains its character as a release of 'that band'.



Essentially I think it's unfair to say shit like "________ is dead" because it holds modern groups up to an unfair standard. If you only want to hear the most, completely original pieces of music, you'll end up actually liking MAYBE 1 release per year, and that's being generous.



However, because of how easy it is now to record, even in high-quality, without a conventional studio--artists like Plini have gotten famous from self-recording, for example--the market has become over-saturated. So many bands come out with a cool release and are touted about by every magazine under the sun, then another band overtakes them and takes the spotlight for a week. This is also made more of an issue with decreasing attention spans, as many people constantly search for something new (which I am guilty of myself sometimes)



So it is unfortunate that albums like that and most likely this will make a small splash and then drown despite described as having such high potential. People move on so quickly.



Not sure if anything I just wrote makes sense, got a bit rambly towards the end.

I have to agree with the short attention span. On this site particularly, I wonder how many of the albums each person supports as ''best from this year'' do listen to the next one. You're also true about saturation.

Where I don't agree is that music has been so thoroughly explored that something new with no influences won't come out. That never happens. Always you step on something to create something new. No virgin ever gave birth. But, that has to do with the way people experience music nowadays and how we're still so attached to the classical norm of how things should sound, that even if it's impossible to run out of new songs, it's a matter whether we'll run out of ''new'' songs.

Album Rating: 3.5

Well I don't mean that originality is impossible, but you're not going to find it often.



Plus we're all so obsessed now with genre classifications and "this sounds like x, y, and z" that no bands can escape inevitable influence charges.

true, indeed.

Album Rating: 3.5

It's a rough life for new bands, in conclusion, especially if you want to do music as a career.

Excellent review. Pos'd. This sounds right up my alley so I will definitely be giving it a listen.

Don't understand the praise to this, sorry

Someone compared them to Karnivool.... not even close

I'm put off by the vocals....its like he doesn't quite hit the note until a split second too late, and it drives me nuts. I don't think the comparison to Karnivool is fair at all - two different beasts as far as I'm concerned. I'm going to hold judgement for now, because I AM digging the music.

Album Rating: 3.5

These guys are def different from Karnivool, that's a weird comparison.

Album Rating: 3.0

I'm right there with 0guyman0. I don't think the vocalist has the confidence to hit his notes. Everything vocally feels hesitant and it results in a lot of stuff sounding out of tune. I don't want anything auto-tuned but seriously dude... you gotta hit the notes. He just doesn't have any power to his voice that, to contrast, someone like Daniel Tompkin or Chris Baretto has.

Album Rating: 3.5

I think a more powerful voice wouldn't fit this music tho, I actually don't come into conflict with his singing.



Might just be alone on this one.

music is great but the vocals are so offensively bad i honestly couldn't even finish the album

Album Rating: 3.5

Sad days, dang, didn't really find an issue with his voice

Album Rating: 2.0

I found his voice a little off, but for the most part I though it fit the music well enough. Jut the whole package didn't engage me that much unfortunately

Album Rating: 3.5

To each their own I suppose m/

Album Rating: 3.0

Well again, the vocal lines aren't bad. But compare his whispered, vulnerable vocal delivery to what someone like Chino Moreno does. If Chino was the vocalist on it it would honestly be gold. But because he's not supporting the notes with enough air it doesn't come across quite as powerfully as it could.

Album Rating: 3.5

I can understand that, yeah. Dunno, this guy's pretty nice imo