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Staff
Reviews 666
Soundoffs 104
News Articles 99
Band Edits + Tags 361
Album Edits 2,321
Album Ratings 3331
Objectivity 73%
Last Active 01-01-70 12:00 am
Joined 01-01-70
Review Comments 44,719
| | Best User Reviews: October 2024 | | 1 |  | Hippotraktor
Stasis
"Part of this winning combination comes from the precision mixing and mastering work given to the album. Low end wavelengths punch through alongside snappy yet huge-sounding drums and make any song sound gigantic; the deep guitar tones pile on layer after layer of their own heaviness to each riff. And yet ever-present is a current of higher riffs that oscillate like synths in the background, morphing between dissonance and unison drone, adding yet another complexity. Excellent vocal harmonies and powerful shrieks bring completion to the picture, creative a dazzling mosaic of driving metal grooves intersecting with splashes of atmosphere." --MTObsidian | | 2 |  | Missy Higgins
The Second Act
"‘The Complicated Truth’ is to Higgins and The Second Act what Adele’s ‘My Little Love’ was to her own post-divorce album 30: a mother’s attempt to help her child understand what divorce means even as she herself is struggling to make sense of it. “You've been asking lots of questions lately, trying to figure out/Why the endings in your books don't match ours/And it breaks my heart trying to find some words you'll understand/’Cause, baby, nothing about this was in the plan.” It is arresting and creative and engaging, arguably the high-point on an album full of songs befitting all those adjectives." --lz41 | | 3 |  | Ajstash
Nights like this
"Despite the heavy use of autotune and processed vocals, which is a standard in the genre, there’s still a sense of authenticity in his delivery. It’s not just about sounding polished—it’s about creating an atmosphere that fits the mood of each track. The beats are contemporary, yet there’s a slight nod to phonk’s retro, lo-fi roots, giving his sound a slight edge over more generic trap productions. Ajstash clearly knows his market and his audience, and he's carving out a niche for himself with calculated precision." --gbongzilla | | 4 |  | Black Curse
Burning in Celestial Poison
"I don’t quite know if I’d call this war metal, but war is all I can think of while jamming it. The blizzard of blast beats and chaotic trems will literally leave you feeling dizzy. Its hard to keep up with the barrage of insane technicality paired with a paranoid schizophrenic atmosphere and insanely painstaking shrieks and growls that sound as if they're literally being conjured from beyond the bloody grave." --Hawks | | 5 |  | Godspeed You! Black Emperor
No Title as of 13 Feb 2024 28,340 Dead
"“NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD” is frustrating. Honestly, I think it should’ve been an EP. The final twenty-or-so minutes are Godspeed You! Black Emperor at their best, an atmospheric ride through misery, fear, anger, and cautious optimism, the likes of which we haven’t seen from the band since their debut all the way back in 1997. But the power of these final three tracks is stymied by a listless, bloated first half that feels largely like a collection of unrefined jam sessions." --YadMot | | 6 | | Godspeed You! Black Emperor
No Title as of 13 Feb 2024 28,340 Dead
" But there I go again, thinking that a piece of music’s impact on me specifically is somehow important. Thousands of people have died pointlessly; Godspeed have made a pretty good album, potentially also pointlessly; and I’m just sitting here, losing friends, getting stuck, writing strange, directionless prose. Overthinking, as I always do. Obsessing over things that don’t matter, and some that do, and not knowing the difference. Working. Playing video games. Twiddling my thumbs. Existing. We don’t all get the privilege of that these days, I guess." --Ocean of Noise | | 7 |  | The Black Dahlia Murder
Servitude
" After writing what many could call ‘formulaic’ death metal since 2003, it only makes sense that an artist is going to want to break from this mold and keep branching out to avoid stagnation. Nonetheless, it’s hard to shake the feeling that these tracks are not something from Revocation or Arsis’ B-sides and attempt to pull tools from TBDM’s repertoire that are, frankly, unsharpened. Contrasted with the level or standard of quality that we have come to except from the band, these tracks fall a bit flat and are ultimately underwhelming." --Launch | | 8 |  | Caribou
Honey
"On past Caribou albums Dan displayed a rare knack for taking interesting turns from track to track - delighting you with unexpected hooks or samples. This made these albums engaging all the way trough. Unfortunately, this rare talent isn’t on display on Honey. That’s not to say the album isn’t engaging. Instead, the engagement comes from the sheer forward momentum Dan keeps up. We’re not taking any turns here, we’re barreling down the highway at full speed. Unfortunately, foregoing surprising hooks means there are no real earworms here - no “Can’t Do Without You”, “Home” or “You and I”." --durkl | | 9 |  | Geordie Greep
The New Sound
"His voice and lyrics are growing in confidence together like some head over heels love affair (that might or might not involve a decapitation) while the songs themselves are now transitioning with intuitive natural grace; our hero is getting so damn comfortable with it all he's even getting away with incorporating outright silliness in his writing like the closing segment of 'Walk Up'. Don't ever take this as a sign we're not dealing with a 'serious person' here, because standout cuts like 'Holy, Holy', 'Motorbike' and 'The Magician' are as serious as your life." --DoofDoof | | 10 |  | As Living Arrows
Hope and Ruin
"Dark but melodic guitars are one of the band's defining features. Whilst clearly rooted in the Screamo genre, there's definitely elements of Post Rock and Post Metal sprinkled in as well to provide the band with a distinctive sound. The three guitars used all add something with punchy sounding chords bringing out the aggressive edge of the band whilst being accompanied by melodic lead riffs bouncing off of each other. Opening track “As Above so Below” perfectly captures everything the band does so well." --Kurai | | 11 |  | fantasy of a broken heart
Feats of Engineering
"Many different alternative pop subgenres find their way onto the album. Synths, orchestral strings, flutes, and even mellotron give it a distinctly neo-psychedelic pop texture. Wollowitz’s voice is often reminiscent of David Baker of Mercury Rev’s distinct low notes, while Nardo’s high notes echo dream pop tradition. The tracks on the first half behave as self contained indie pop singles, but the second half takes on a progressive pop structure of multi-sectioned songs that flow into one another. Both sides show that a big focus of Fantasy is to be catchy and accessible while still being exploratory and expansive." --ArsMoriendi | | 12 |  | Balance and Composure
with you in spirit
"These are a sampling of songs with a lot of potential that are let down by what is effectively lazy songwriting. Many very promising elements that rarely, almost never really come together into more than the sum of their parts and are usually let down by perplexing decisions in structure and song arrangement. To caveat, I generally avoid using 'lazy' to describe art since it's become a bit of a catch-all for anything that doesn't quite fire on all cylinders, but when there are so many baffling songwriting decisions that mire nearly every song on an album, it becomes a bit difficult to know how else to describe it." --pennyroyal22 | | 13 | | Godspeed You! Black Emperor
No Title as of 13 Feb 2024 28,340 Dead
"But is “No Title as of 13 Feb 2024 28,340 Dead” good noise? Well it doesn’t sound like Lift yr Skinny Fists. It soars, it beats, it crashes softly to the floor and explodes into serene disquiet. It is an embodiment of the present. Perhaps it is a disservice to do away with my objectivity as a proper Critic Of The Arts and respond with pure, undiluted emotion, but is that not the purpose of great art?" --Dashy | | 14 |  | Crippling Alcoholism
With Love From a Padded Room
"The twelve tracks, coming it at an even hour of cumulative playtime, have been carefully constructed to showcase twelve different perspectives of separate incarcerated inmates. The grinning face on the cover represents the only company they have – a voice that eats at their deepest regrets and forces them to endure torments spanning every waking minute of their days. Throughout a cacophony of brooding keys, pounding drums and dingy guitar riffs exists some of the most diabolical lyrics you could possibly imagine. Lines like “If they stabbed you in the kitchen and you left this place today, would your people front the funds to buy a tombstone for your grave?” and “That’s what trauma does, he outlives his victims, drinking their delicious blood, breathing white lies into black lungs” are just a taste of what lives here." --Scoot | | 15 |  | Strange House
All Is As Was
"The first track has a more gentle, plucky acoustic sound with a strong jazz influence in the rhythm. It’s a lush, gentle track with a funky bass part to break up the slow feel and a section that speeds up, only to end with a crunchy guitar. It showcases the instrumental band’s diversity handily. Dream Rotation, the second track, attempts to get a bit more math-y, or at least in your face. There’s a memorably chaotic riff that the bass corresponds with, clearly showing a band wanting to show off their instrumental abilities." --pizzamachine | | 16 |  | Better Lovers
Highly Irresponsible
"Putney isn't exactly a master producer, either, and while his work on Highly Irresponsible is nothing to write home about, it gets the job done, and when it comes to a debut that's really all you can ask for. I think Better Lovers will just go nowhere but up as time goes on as long as they keep down the path they've laid down here. The future is bright for this unholy fusion of two of the greatest core bands to ever do it...and the one dude from Fit For An Autopsy." --Valzentia | | 17 |  | Kelly Lee Owens
Dreamstate
"Specifically, this album seems to burn itself out on higher energy grooves around its halfway point. Such that most of the tracks on the back half of this LP - save the gorgeously textured 'Sunshine' - fall back on flat atmospherics and uncharacteristic melodrama. You could argue that it may have worked better - or at least as a tighter package - as an EP. This isn't to say that the album falls apart - it merely loses the momentum of the point-counterpoint relation of rhythm and flourish that made its front half so tantalizing." --SublimeSound | | 18 |  | Jerry Cantrell
I Want Blood
"I Want Blood is a much needed addition to his catalogue, closing the circle nicely and offering a stark contrast to its lighter and brighter counterpart (pun intended). Bringing, yet again, an impressive team of musicians, including Gil Sharone, Duff Mckagan, Greg Puciato and adding former collaborators Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin to the fold, the lead singer/guitarrist fullfills the promise for a riff heavy and darker sound. “Vilified” wastes no time kicking off the album, with a faster paced drum beat and a chugging guitar riff, and also including a talkbox harkening to the classic era of Alice In Chains. You could almost hear Layne singing through some parts of the song." --bananatossing | | 19 |  | Frost*
Life in the Wires
" Life In The Wires is in a dead heat with Experiments In Mass Appeal for Frost*'s worst album, and while their biggest sources of inspiration are wildly different (LITW is classic prog, EIMA mined from Foo Fighters), the end result feels nigh the same in creative exhaustion and aesthetic underdevelopment. The marketing would have you believe this is a return to the band's roots, all Milliontowns and endless solos and bombast, but putting aside the dubious quality of even these moments, the album's pacing is mostly an endless string of ballads and sweeping symphonies, where the big instrumental moments are more jam band than prog virtuosity." --Lowlander2 | | 20 |  | Swallow the Sun
Shining
"Swallow the Sun's trademark of melancholic, dramatic death/doom has undergone a transformation from raw and organic to cold, bright and sterile. Dan Lancaster's production is perhaps the most contentous element of this album, making everything sound oversaturated, overexposed and scrubbed of any dynamics or humanity. Producing an album full of soul-baring, deep compositions with the production befitting of being in Tiktok shorts is frankly baffling. There are definitely hints here and there that this is the same band that wrote 'The Morning Never Came' but they're few and far between - the occasional background riff or two. Otherwise this is a doom metal album that is cutting and direct." --DarkNoctus | | 21 |  | Inspirative
Invisible Bonds
"Both the emotive album closer, “Behind the Horizon”, and the title track opener feature the familiar post-rock structure, with the former drawing together the album’s various threads in a euphonious climax as echoed keys play over a repetitive chorus of guitars and synths. Alas, a fadeout would have been perfect here, but the album instead finishes with an eerie, unsettling ambience that’s still rather fitting." --surskit | | 22 |  | Devin Townsend
Powernerd
"Once again we're given some straight up anthems, in songs like the titular Powernerd, the powerfully humble Gratitude, and the absolutely driven chorus in Younger Lover. Devin's "heavy" sensibilities are rarely held back, as are his abilities to turn a moment upside down with clear acoustics and ambience that seems like the writing process for Empath and Snuggles left a mark on his approach to writing that's here to stay. Progressive metal has always come naturally to him, but somehow the guy keeps figuring out ways to keep things interesting." --NudeTayne | |
Sowing
11.01.24 | I was particularly impressed with both the turnout and quality of reviews this past month. Just reading some of the excerpts gives you an idea of how much time and effort you put in. | artificialbox
11.01.24 | beautiful! | Hawks
11.01.24 | Nice!! Thanks for the inclusion Sowing buddy! | Scoot
11.01.24 | cheers my man | ArsMoriendi
11.01.24 | Nice
Happy to see my review here. Anyone who likes fun indie should check it | EphemeralEternity
11.01.24 | I thought 14 would hit me like a hurricane but it sort of just washed over me aside from one or two tracks, I'll need to revisit it with the lyrics on hand
Positively pulchritudinous prose pals
| NudeTayne
11.01.24 | omg thanks for adding my review to this! | mkmusic1995
11.01.24 | Very awesome stuff per usual! Glad to see this monthly list make a return, Sowing! | bananatossing
11.08.24 | Awesome! | DoofDoof
11.08.24 | I am very surprised I feature on this list for this month! Appreciated. | Zac124
11.10.24 | Great reviews as usual! Well done everyone | YoYoMancuso
11.10.24 | I love to see the user base keeping discussion alive on here | Kurai
11.17.24 | Just seen my review got added to this. Thanks for the inclusion! |
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