| 3.5 great |
| Allen/Olzon Army Of Dreamers |
| Alter Bridge Pawns and Kings |
| Amaranthe The Catalyst |
| Anette Olzon Strong |
| Starts off really well, and just gets stronger as it goes! |
| Anneke van Giersbergen Drive |
| As December Falls Happier. |
| Asia Aura |
| Beyond The Black Break The Silence |
| Brian Eno Foreverandevernomore |
| Broken Social Scene Let's Try the After - Vol. 2 |
| Charlotte Wessels Tales From The Six Feet Under |
| David Byrne Who Is The Sky? |
| Deep Purple =1 |
| Delain Dark Waters |
| Delerium Signs |
| Downes Braide Association Celestial Songs |
| Dream Theater A Change Of Seasons |
| Dream Theater A View From The Top Of The World |
| Eddie Vedder Earthling |
| Fight the Fade Fight The Fade |
| This band deserves a lot more recognition than they appear to be receiving. I wouldn't necessarily say that they are breaking new ground, but they are certainly refining elements that other bands have struggled to balance. |
| Floor Jansen Paragon |
| Not necessarily what one would expect, given her involvement with After Forever and Nightwish, but it makes sense that these more pop-oriented songs would make for a better solo product. |
| Foo Fighters But Here We Are |
| Garbage No Gods No Masters |
| Gazpacho Magic 8-Ball |
| Ghost (SWE) Skeletá |
| God Is an Astronaut Ghost Tapes #10 |
| God Is an Astronaut Embers |
| Halestorm Everest |
| Hallas Panorama |
| Hawkwind Stories from Time and Space |
| James LaBrie Beautiful Shade Of Grey |
| Juice WRLD Legends Never Die |
| Lana Del Rey Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd |
| Lauren Mayberry Vicious Creature |
| Lil Yachty Let's Start Here. |
| Magic Pie Maestro |
| Marillion Holidays In Eden |
| Marillion Brave |
| Meer Wheels Within Wheels |
| Metric Formentera II |
| Mondo Drag Through The Hourglass |
| Morrissey I Am Not a Dog on a Chain |
| I have to wonder how many of these ratings are for the man's politics vs. the actual music. It's very difficult to separate an artist's views from their output, especially when those views are abhorrent. That said, I was surprised at how listenable this album was compared to the past few releases. |
| Muse Drones |
| Muse Will of the People |
| Paramore This Is Why |
| Pattern-Seeking Animals Friend of All Creatures |
| Pearl Jam Dark Matter |
| Phantom Elite Titanium |
| Queensryche The Verdict |
| Exactly what it needed to be. Not necessarily anything transcendent, but a solid collection of songs that delivers the Queensryche flavor. |
| Rival Sons Darkfighter |
| Ronnie Atkins Make It Count |
| Ronnie Atkins Trinity |
| Sammy Hagar and the Circle Space Between |
| When it comes to Hagar's brand of music, this is pretty solid if a bit predictable. What impresses is that this sounds like it could have come out at any point in his long solo career, which considering his age, is hard to fathom. |
| Season Of Ghosts The Human Paradox |
| Silversun Pickups Widow's Weeds |
| Great on the first listen, but I have a feeling it will end up even higher by the time I've given it a few spins. |
| Silversun Pickups Tenterhooks |
| Soen Reliance |
| Spiritbox Eternal Blue |
| Spiritbox The Fear of Fear |
| I like the variety on this album. Some very heavy tracks, some others more atmospheric, but all recognizably Spiritbox. Their specific style has the potential to become stale over time, but they haven't hit that point yet for me. |
| Spiritbox Tsunami Sea |
| Starset Divisions |
| Steve Howe Love Is |
| Steve Howe Guitarscape |
| Steven Wilson The Overview |
| Stolen Babies Naught |
| Styx Crash Of The Crown |
| The Anix Revenge |
| The Anix Nightvision |
| The Cranberries In the End |
| The Flower Kings Look At You Now |
| The Flower Kings Love |
| The Gathering Disclosure |
| The Killers Pressure Machine |
| The Night Flight Orchestra Aeromantic II |
| If you are already familiar with NFO, then this is more of what they excel at producing. Great release! |
| The Psychedelic Furs Made of Rain |
| Tori Amos Ocean to Ocean |
| U2 Days Of Ash |
| VNV Nation Noire |
| I was a bit concerned given the long wait for new material, but this is a pretty solid effort! |
| Within Temptation Resist |
| I think it all comes down to expectations. Within Temptation has always been blending pop, orchestration, and heavier elements. This isn't too far afield from Stand My Ground, for example, and how many albums ago was that? So this is exactly what I've come to expect from the band, but frankly with a lot more energy than they've injected into things for quite some time. Definitely a step up from Hydra!r |
| Within Temptation Bleed Out |
| Wytch Hazel V: Lamentations |
| Yes The Quest |
| I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Definitely a step up from Heaven & Earth. It is unapologetically "prog rock", very album-oriented. I look forward to how some of these songs will continue to grow on me. |
| 3.0 good |
| Amaranthe Manifest |
| Exactly the kind of cheesy fun that I was expecting from this band. |
| Asia Arena |
| Boston Manor Glue |
| Bring Me The Horizon amo |
| Broken Social Scene Let's Try the After - Vol. 1 |
| It's a nice little slice of BSS, but feels like it's over before it can really get going. |
| Dave Matthews Band Walk Around the Moon |
| Seems very much like everything they've put out over the last 20 years. Some highlights here and there, like "Madman's Eyes", but I can see myself forgetting about a lot of these songs. |
| Dayseeker Creature in the Black Night |
| Down 'n' Outz This Is How We Roll |
| This is the first I've heard of this band, and I was pleasantly surprised. There are a few generic rockers in the mix, but throughout there are also callbacks to the 1970s era of psychodelic pop and rock that sound like they shouldn't belong but serve to give the whole album a sense of fun that is often lost in more "serious" projects. |
| Duran Duran Future Past |
| Fight the Fade In Love. in Hope. in Peace. |
| I would love to give this a higher rating, since there is a wide variety of styles on this album and most of the time, it works. But it doesn't quite feel cohesive and the remarkably short running time means they only really hit their stride in a second half that feels like it needs a little more room to breathe. |
| Fish Suits |
| Foo Fighters Medicine at Midnight |
| Front Line Assembly Mechanical Soul |
| Hayley Williams Petals for Armor |
| Helalyn Flowers Nyctophilia |
| I enjoy the vocals and the gothic stylings enough to overlook some of the tired pop elements. It feels like they are aspiring to the lush sounds of The Birthday Massacre but falling short with the reliance on synth-pop production. |
| I:Scintilla Swayed |
| There are definitely some strong moments, which makes it worth a listen for fans (or fans of bands of a similar sound), but there are also moments that feel sloppy or just shy of the intended mark. |
| Jon Anderson 1000 Hands: Chapter One |
| This is vintage solo Jon Anderson, which means that it was a miracle that the album was even completed at all, and it's ultimately a bit scattershot and somewhat random, as befitting the production process and the long gestation of many of the songs/ideas. The vocals are solid, the lyrics are fairly standard Anderson fare, and the music has some intriguing elements despite being all over the map. It's all very pleasant, but this is not Yes, so don't expect anything too heavy or edgy musically. Then again, if you're looking into Jon Anderson album, it's unlikely you were expecting that in the first place! |
| Lacuna Coil Black Anima |
| There are some nice highlight tracks and there is definitely some energy there, but I have to agree with those who say that it suffers from a lot of trudging sameness throughout. |
| Linkin Park From Zero |
| Lloyd Cole On Pain |
| Marko Hietala Pyre Of The Black Heart |
| It's definitely not as polished as a Nightwish project, but the bass is pretty prominent (as one would expect) and there is a palpable sincerity that makes the cheesiness a bit more palatable. |
| Morrissey Make-Up Is A Lie |
| It's growing on me a little more after a couple turns, but overall, this is only a tad above average. I doubt I will come back to this often. |
| Muse Simulation Theory |
| Phantom Elite Blue Blood |
| A few great tracks, but this one doesn't have the hooks that previous releases had. |
| Project Vela Disconnected: Special Edition |
| The band is little more than a transparent attempt to replicate the more successful schtick of Starset, but that doesn't meant that there's a lot of potential to become something a bit more distinct. The songwriting stumbles here and there, but considering this is an expansion of their initial "proof of concept" EP, that's forgivable. |
| Season Of Ghosts A Leap Of Faith |
| Some great songs, but overall, it feels like there is a layer of creativity that has been lost since The Human Paradox... |
| Sting The Bridge |
| The Last Dinner Party Prelude to Ecstasy |
| The Pretty Reckless Death By Rock and Roll |
