feature this

Album Rating: 4.0

Fuck yeah the Johnny Scars review drop of the cento



This gonna prove the definitive in online Astral Pariah discourse

Album Rating: 4.0

Am I the only one who thinks Cosmic Suicide is a wonderful song and ideally suited to close this out?

One of those sputnik bands I don't understand

Digging: Radwimps

Album Rating: 5.0

Apologies for the incoming spam, Sputnik yelling at me for having too long a comment... 😅



“There’s enough self-conscious pandering bullshit in the world already and I think many of us owe this band a greater debt than we realise for having the balls to unpack such goofy pockets of imagination to such unapologetically outlandish lengths. Get over the cognitive dissonance of whether or not they should be good, and you’ll appreciate that they’ve actually brought something quite special to the table - the kind of thing that can only be hell or salvation to a jaded listener.”



I live for this combination of ambition and creativity.

Album Rating: 5.0

“Hell, it’s only a minute longer than the band’s post-hardcore high watermark Goodnight Alchemy, and even that record feels twice as long.”



This is so true and I didn’t realize it until you mentioned it!

Album Rating: 5.0

“Individual layers still land memorable accents where necessary (the fleeting harmonies of “Father (Pt I)”’s backing vocals are a notable treat)”



I also want to emphasize the backing vocals in Father (Part II). I fucking love having the harsher vocals erupting in the distance on top of the overall softer climax, it’s dissonant in the best of ways.

Album Rating: 5.0

“Make no mistake, Astral Pariah is a fantastic album: it’s slick, richly crafted and endlessly infectious, but I feel there needs to be some dialogue over how wise the band were to do away with their excessive side entirely.”



Go ahead and condemn me as a “stan”, but I love both sides of this coin and don’t feel its necessarily “wise”, but rather just growth without a good/bad qualifier attached. The excessiveness and overindulgence that could be argued of AA, BL, and HV still gave me a particular kind of emotional rollercoaster that no one else has been able to do. This new super-trimmed, super-dense, and super-short (only one song hitting 5 minutes, which literally is only hitting 5 minutes) evolution of TS has made for a completely different emotional rollercoaster that I’m also loving, but I do still love the messy, overindulgent, and longer (both number of tracks and song lengths) version of TS.

Album Rating: 5.0

Re: “(closer “Cosmic Suicide” plays a somewhat underwhelming epilogue role and is the only point that might have been pared back even further).” and “a lacklustre closer”



I actually think you provide the answer I want to give — which is that



“Jerry Jones. As many have remarked at various points, his role in the band has always been a little oddball: he’s a writer first, frontman second; a narrator coexisting with music rather than a vocalist singing, uhm, songs. Not anymore; Jones’ performance is strictly complementary, at points even secondary, to the dust clouds his bandmates convect with such precision.”



and so I feel once we have the lyrics and can follow this story from beginning to end properly, that the finale will justify its existence, placement, and emotional impact much more firmly.



Good review, was a pleasure to read and gave me lots to think about, reflect, and engage with; thanks for writing and sharing. ❤️

Album Rating: 4.0

Ugh.......yeah. those slinky slide acoustic guitar riffs are sick.

Album Rating: 3.5

this could end up at a 4 but it’s too shooort

simps watching the clock when they should be soaking up that meticulous fking pacing
"I love both sides of this coin and don’t feel its necessarily “wise”, but rather just growth without a good/bad qualifier attached"
vaguely agreed; obviously TS would never have ended up here if they hadn't gone for such a concertedly different track from BL thru HV so in that sense it's silly to criticise their growth, but i'm also wary praising this to the extent that it comes out in some form of final-form light. both this and, say, BL have aspects that might have benefitted the other, and since this band have always been forward-thinking in what they've changed from release to release, i don't think we should be complacent in what we accept as definitive from them either

Album Rating: 5.0

feature this [2]



simps watching the clock when they should be soaking up that meticulous fking pacing [2]

Album Rating: 4.0

"One of those sputnik bands I don't understand"



they're very artsy-fartsy. i can see how they'd feel pretentious

shart harder

Album Rating: 4.0

First listen, love. Love the slide guitar. Nothing in this seems redundant compared to the last few albums. I see that as a win

Album Rating: 4.0



"One of those sputnik bands I don't understand"



Fine bro, I didnt like the vox on first listen, back 5 years ago. Then I fell in love. If you don't like, all good. Not for you. I wouldn't want it any other way at this point

Album Rating: 3.5

You can listen to the entirety of the album while reading this review. Props.

Still not entirely convinced by the choices on this lp but knowing TS it will come with time.

Album Rating: 4.0

fairly new to these guys and only about halfway through this but its already easily one of the best things ive ever heard out of them