Average Rating: 3.55 Rating Variance: 0.39 Objectivity Score: 72% (Fairly Balanced)
Sort by: Rating | Release Date | Rating Date | Name5.0 classicThe Fire Theft The Fire Theft4.5 superbEmma Ruth Rundle Marked for DeathFleet Foxes Helplessness BluesGenesis The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway22nd January, 2022: Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (progressive rock, 1975) It’s kind of insane to think that once I didn’t like this. Like, really didn’t like it. I deleted it from my library, thinking I never would. It was Steve Hackett’s Genesis Revisited II that opened these songs up to me - and the ones I love here are almost all those from that re-recording. But of course, that one doesn’t have Mr Gabriel. This is truly his Genesis record, and it’s no surprise that he decided to bow out shortly after - what more could he do within the framework of progressive rock? This is their most melancholic and soulful album, with some of the melodies being absolutely heartbreaking, and the pomp doesn’t get in the way of conveying the emotional core. It is too long, as is every double album, but the more I listen to it, the less I care. At this point, it’s probably my favourite, of both Genesis and Gabriel. 8.2 (9th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionMew And the Glass Handed Kites11th March: Mew - And the Glass Handed Kites (progressive dream pop, 2005) “I could write an essay on this album”, I said, while listening to this one. And I probably will, but I don’t have the time to really dig into that now. This isn’t my favourite Mew album, nor do I think it’s anywhere near a masterpiece, but it might be one of the most important modern albums that no one really talks about. The turn from indie pop darlings into math-prog weirdos, somehow without losing the core of their sound, is worth an essay on its own, but really the big discussion point here is how Mew pioneered an entire way of playing guitar that would go on to define a decade in an entirely unrelated genre, progressive metal. I’m not even sure many of the modern prog metal bands know how much they owe to Mew, since it’s almost all second-hand influence from the genre’s big names - Leprous, Haken, Vola and Astronoid are all amongst the biggest names in the genre, and all of them take huge cues from the guitar playing on this album. Staccato, melodic, sharp, with chords used in the way bands used to use open string chugs. Shifting time signatures around accessible pop melodies, the focus on rhythmic memorability as well as melodic, and don’t forget the reverb. Someday I’ll get around to compiling my full thoughts, but in conclusion - this isn’t as good as Frengers, but it most certainly is more important 8.2 (13th listen)Moonface With Siinai: Heartbreaking BraveryListening diary 9th April, 2022: Moonface with Siinai - Heartbreaking Bravery (art rock, 2012) Spencer Krug's finest moment, and for the first 20 or so minutes, this is amongst the most anthemic and emotionally loaded indie rock I can think of. The matchmaking here is wonderful - Siinai are clearly a band with an ear for groove and texture, with their music as a group being vastly instrumental. They hold this album together alone, particularly in the integration of motorik beats with alt-rock bombast, but Krug takes it to another level. Wavering and passionate, some of these vocal lines are absolutely deserving of the album's title. It is a pity then that it does completely lose steam - the first four tracks flow seamlessly and never let up on the energy or the intensity, with a post-punk melancholy somewhere inside. The rest of the album finds bits and pieces of high quality but never quite reaches those lofty heights again, and perhaps is why I don't feel like putting it on again whenever I'm done with it. But with towering melodies like the ones atop "Yesterday's Fire", I can't help but love it at least a bit. 8.1 (6th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionSigur Ros Inni Listening diary 13th April, 2022: Sigur Rós - Inni (post-rock, 2011) I'm gonna be honest, seeing Sigur Rós live didn't totally blow me away. I learned since then not to have inflated expectations for artists that feel like they should be good live, because it was a serviceable show in a soulless arena, but I definitely set myself up expecting something miraculous. And so, I avoided this for a while, for similar reasons - and perhaps that was a mistake, because this is good enough to be their only major live album. The use of bowed guitar really stood out to me when I saw them, and this does a great job of showcasing how much they can do tonally just with one peculiarly played instrument. It honestly amazes me that more artists don't do it, because this is practically carried by it. It's a great setlist too, with most of the classics that you know but can't remember the names of, and even some of the ones that I didn't really care that much for before, like 'Hafs'l' actually come out of this with increased stock. It's not mindblowing, as you might hope it to be, but it's a decent summary of their catalogue at this point, and what more can you want from a live album? 8.8 (4th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionYes Fragile19th February, 2022: Yes - Fragile (symphonic prog, 1971) Just like the one that came after it, this has slowly wandered from being something I don’t get, to being something I get, to being something that might be one of my favourite releases of the era. It’s incredible how it manages to be so catchy - the revived success of “Roundabout” as an internet meme is testament to the hooks on this. And yet when you look closer, it’s still one of the most musically batshit things in existence. I mentioned while “South Side of the Sky” was on to one of my bandmates - I considered covering this until I took a look at the sheet music for it and couldn’t believe just how detailed it was. And that’s not even to mention just how oddly danceable some of these beats are - perhaps therein lies the difference between prime Yes and their legions of imitators, because at the heart of all this wizardry are some damn good hooks and some damn good grooves. 8.2 (10th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction4.0 excellentAn Abstract Illusion Illuminate the Path2nd February, 2022: An Abstract Illusion - Illuminate the Path (progressive death metal, 2016) The show is stolen a bit here by the final track, which is a cover, and has really got my noggin joggin about whether or not I include it as a part of my overall view of the album. After all, the interlude “Talvatis” is also a cover of sorts, being an interpretation of “Collapse the Light into Earth” by Porcupine Tree. But outwith the covers, this is still a very solid piece of melodic extreme metal - in fact I’d go as far as to say it’s one of the only melodic death metal albums I’ve really been taken by in recent years. It knows how to balance the styles, with frequent melodic and progressive passages punctuating the bursts of death metal. There’s also a nice absence of the sterile production associated with such genres, perhaps due to the band’s subtle black metal influence. But yeah, the cover track is exceptional. I was already a fan of that Windir record before I heard this, but this version has made me go back and re-evaluate it, and I might even go as far as saying it’s one of the best black metal tracks ever recorded. The version here transposes it into synth-led prog-black, which really just goes to show how strong the composition is that it’s able to make that adjustment. Honestly, it wouldn’t sound out of place in a nightclub with some of those huge synth lines. Someone do a house cover of it next. 7.3 (4th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionArti e Mestieri TiltListening diary 28th March, 2022: Arti & Mestieri - Tilt (progressive jazz rock, 1974) My relationship with this one comes and goes. There are days where it absolutely hits the spot, as arguably my favourite thing to come out of Italian progressive rock, but I'll admit that sometimes it has passed me by without much effect. A lot of it is down to the drumming - it carries the music to the degree where if you're not focused, you might miss just how good this is. Like a distant precursor to The Mars Volta, Arti & Mestieri create organised chaos by taking parts of genres both simplistic and detailed. There's a lot of jazz-rock rhythm in here, accentuated by the saxophones and clarinets, but there's also a punk-rock aggression that pulls it all together. The whole thing feels like an angsty musical workout, and on days where intensity is something I'm craving, few albums of this era do it better. 7.6 (7th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionBeyond the Bridge The Old Man and The SpiritListening diary 21st March, 2022: Beyond The Bridge - The Old Man & the Spirit (progressive metal, 2012) It's as cheesy as you'd expect from an AOR-meets-prog-metal opera with two lead vocalists, but in moments, this is strangely beautiful. AOR is a bit of a dirty word to some, and I can see why that is, but I love a good over-the-top slab of melodrama, as long as it's backed with a good tune. The cheesiest two tracks here - 'A World of Wonders' and 'Where the Earth and Sky Meet' are arguably its finest, with powerful lead melodies that could sound right as climactic act-enders in a West End musical. The metal here is occasionally solid and occasionally a bit forced, and I think the male singer struggles to balance a good performance with the obviously story-based lyrics (another link to musicals, but a less positive one), but on the whole I do really like the vast majority of this. Moments even remind me of Dream Theater, back when they knew how to have fun. 7.6 (7th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionBohren und der Club of Gore Sunset Mission16th April: Bohren & der Club of Gore - Sunset Mission (dark jazz, 2000) I was asked by my sister to put on “whiskey bar vibe music” for a game of cards. This was, very naturally, the first thing I thought of, even if less than half an hour later she asked for something “more upbeat” because it was putting her to sleep. This is pure, concentrated atmosphere. It has one idea, and does it for well over an hour with very little variation, but you’re not here for variation. You’re not here for light or technicality either. For anything that requires dark, immersive, pseudo-sophisticated and sinister jazz music, this is probably the best you’ll ever find. 7.2 (9th listen)Catherine Wheel Chrome3rd March: Catherine Wheel - Chrome (shoegaze, 1993) I’m gonna slide this one in with a hot take for the best 90’s shoegaze album. At the least, it’s got so much more going on than the canonical few. It isn’t just one mood - it gets heavy, proggy, psychedelic, noisy and dreamy all within a short run of tracks, and most of them have good hooks to top it all off. They don’t seem to be bound by the strict genre requirements of the shoegaze movement and it allows the songs to come in and out of noisy obscurity more naturally, often just sounding like slightly artsy alt-rock. 8.2 (6th listen)Cave In Jupiter16th January 2021: Cave In - Jupiter (alternative rock/post-hardcore, 2000) I think I’ve grown in appreciation of this since getting into the similarly styled Hum this year, although I’ve always enjoyed it to some degree. It’s a brilliant change from their (not to my taste) debut, essentially playing a kind of spacey and surreal alternative rock that’s big on choruses and memorability. But it’s that kind of memorability that mean this can get stuck in your head in a bad way at times - at least that’s how I’ve felt about it in the past. On this listen I didn’t really feel that at all, and I thoroughly enjoyed the way they construct melodies, even if the songs here are all a bit similar. 7.4 (6th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionEmma Ruth Rundle On Dark Horses30th March: Emma Ruth Rundle - On Dark Horses (dream pop, 2018) My music spreadsheet used to have quite a sophisticated live function to it, bumping albums of artists that are playing shows soon higher up so I can decide if they’re worth seeing. In around April of 2020 I re-did my spreadsheet, and I didn’t bother to put the live album function back, because I thought it would be a while. Fastforward to a big longer than “a while” later, and I felt it was about time it made a return. With New Zealand’s borders finally (we hope) opening after more than two years of cultural isolation, we may get live music back. It was the announcement of Emma’s tour with Chelsea Wolfe, postponed from June 2020, that prompted me to bring the live function back, so it’s kind of fitting that this one shows up first. This is a lot better than I remember it to be. I’ve not heard it for a few years now, and all I can recall is that most of those listens were in Manchester, and that I thought the introduction of heavier elements was a bit of fan service from an artist that for whatever reason has found herself with a lot of metalhead fans. But you know what, I did it a disservice. This isn’t Marked for Death, nor could I expect an album to reach that height without the nostalgic attachment side of it, but it’s a sonically interesting and passionate take on several genres. There’s folk, pop, noise, metal and all sorts of alternative here, but it’s still all built around the singer/songwriter tradition, which I find a fascinating mix. The songs miss some marks in terms of memorability at times, but I think they’re well compensated for in the production and performance departments. 7.3 (4th listen)Ethereal Shroud Trisagion20th January: Ethereal Shroud - Trisagon (atmospheric black metal, 2021) An absolutely wondrous piece of atmospheric black metal that’s seemingly come out of nowhere. This is the evolution of a bedroom project, but with live drums, violin and guest vocalists this is anything but amateurish in its execution. If anything, this may be one of the best sounding metal records I’ve heard in a while. But it’s not just pretty sounds - there are consistent and frequent bursts of genuine inspiration in this. There are times where I recall Saor, Winterfylleth, Wolves in the Throne Room, Gris, Dead Can Dance and more, and the songs are structured in a way that never lets a section overstay its welcome - a serious feat given the runtimes here. And unlike so much in modern black metal, it isn’t just atmosphere - there are some serious riffs on this that are strong reminders of where black metal came from, as I do feel that the modern scene has become a bit carried away with all the reverb and shoegaze. All in all, this is one of the best things I’ve heard in a while in black metal, and someday might become one of the modern scene’s defining albums. 7.6 (3rd listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionGarmarna Vedergallningen11th February, 2022: Garmarna - Vedergällninge (nordic folktronica, 1999) Garmarna were an oddity before they decided to bring electronics into their sound palate, and although there are a couple of teething issues here, the fusion with their already groundbreaking Nordic-folk-meets-pop approach is surprisingly solid. Where these guys succeed are in the melodies, which are no doubt all lifted from the traditional folk playbook. It's fascinating to hear these kinds of pagan melodies sung with guitars and drums, let alone with synths and drum machines, but honestly the only time it isn't completely convincing is in the opening track. It helps, of course, that they've got outstanding vocals, but I've been impressed by the diversity in arrangements here too - they're not just leaning on the Nordic electronica gimmick for the entire album. 7.1 (4th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionIhlo Union11th January 2021: Ihlo - (djent, 2019) It took me a few listens to get into this, and I think I know why - it opens with its two weakest songs. The title track in particular isn't a great introduction, and I'd even go as far as to call it annoying, but as you spend time with the record the rest of it opens up and proves itself to be quite creative and enjoyable. I'd even go as far as saying it's the best thing to come out of 'djent' since that genre's timely demise in around 2015. And the reasons for that is that the djenting is quite superficial - the band don't rely on the chugs or the genre cliches to write their songs, and these songs could all work perfectly well with any other style of production around them. The star here is undeniably Andy Robison, both for his vocal performance and his excellent keyboard work. The melodies here, particularly in "Starseeker" and the closing epic "Coalescence" are nothing short of fantastic, sounding more like Radiohead than Periphery. He consistently finds ways to find hooks in small twists and turns that keep the songs in the latter half of the album completely engaging, and the melodic synth lines add to it with some influence from post-rock and ambient music coming through. As someone who was never really a fan of the djent sound, this is an album that you can quite easily ignore it and focus on the songwriting and melodies. 7.1 (4th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionIkuinen Kaamos Closure16th January: Ikuinen Kaamos - Closure (progressive metal, 2008) If you can look past the very loud and very obvious Opeth influence, this is actually a really solid release. And I wouldn’t even say that influence is as all-consuming as it is on some other Opeth clones, as some influences from black and gothic metal sneak in to give this a point of difference. The art of the Opethian slide riff is here and showcased well, as is the use of melancholic clean vocals to break up the heavy sections. It does always come with a bit of a caveat due to its lack of originality, but most of the musical ideas here are solid enough, and is probably a worthy addition to the library of anyone who misses the old growl days. 7.2 (6th listen)ISON Andromeda Skyline17th March, 2022: Ison - Andromeda Skyline (dream pop/post-rock, 2018) I give Ison a long rope because I honestly just really love that there is a band like them out there. Dreamy ambient pop bands are everywhere at the moment, but I can’t think of any that come to that from the same angle as these guys. This is essentially an album of metal interlude tracks - with the aesthetics and sound design being as informed by black and gothic metal as they are by dream pop and post-rock. It creates a really interesting product in the end, between Cocteau Twins and Isis, as the guitars that float in the background bring in occasional drops of grit, reminding you of the backgrounds of the musicians. Musically this one isn’t as good as Cosmic Drone, and almost entirely holds its own on the basis of the exquisite sound design, but when you’re making music this unique, I think you can be forgiven for missing the mark on composition. 7.4 (5th listen) Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell21st January, 2022: Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell (aor, 1977) I bought this one for the cover. Well, that, and the fact that I opened the record in the store (circa age 14) and saw that the first song was 9 minutes! Little did I know how much I would enjoy it. I can see all the criticism of Loaf and this album and deflect it with a simple retort of “you’re taking it too seriously”. This album is stupid. That’s the whole point. From the excessive song structures to the over-detailed piano playing to the excessive melodrama in the stories told, this is the story of a man writing a magnificent shitpost with full, complete irony, and another man singing it at the top of his astonishing range with complete unironic conviction. It’s a marriage that never happened again - all the bands who have tried to do this ever since have entirely missed the mark on matching sincerity and absurdity. And the music’s still great too. Okay, there are a few too many ballads, and it does lean a bit hard on the lyrics for entertainment value for some sections, but it’s got a guitar that sounds like a fuckin motorbike, what else do you need? RIP Meat, RIP Jim. Long live the Bat. 8.0 (12th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionOranssi Pazuzu Mestarin KynsiListening diary 24th February, 2022: Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi (avant-garde psychedelic black metal, 2019) This one's finally starting to click for me - a relief of sorts, since *Värähtelijä *is one of my favourite albums of all time, and the fact that I wasn't quite getting this one was threatening to put me in the pile of edgelords who complain about bands they like getting famous. I can definitely see why this one caused Oranssi to blow up, but it's not because it's more accessible, it's because it's more bonkers. There's far less of the atmospheric black metal style here, instead they've gone into some even more bizarre fusions including krautrock and synthesisers, and the psychedelia is turned up to 10. It's nowhere near as immersive as their previous records, and perhaps that's why I didn't latch on as easily, but the atmosphere is traded for some incredibly muscular grooves, and the overall creativity of the album couldn't be higher, especially for modern metal. 7.2 (6th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionPanopticon ...And Again into the Light12th April: Panopticon - …And Again Into the Light (atmospheric black metal, 2021) Despite playing more or less the same style for over a decade now, Panopticon are a bit hit or miss with me. The combination of cascadian atmospheric black metal with traditional American folk music, country and bluegrass sure is interesting, but only at a few points has Austin Lunn’s melancholic longing completely captivated me. Fortunately, this is one of them, and I’m glad to be firmly back on the wagon this time around. It’s the flirtations with post- metal that lock me in here - not just the usual blackgaze bits and pieces, but glimpses of the new scene of melancholic, heavy shoegaze in the vein of Holy Fawn, totally detached from black metal. Erik Moggridge’s feature absolutely lights this one up (although when does he not), bringing some slowcore melancholy to the already bleak mix of genres. It definitely still has long sections of relatively uneventful atmoblack, but when it’s on song this is truly some of the most passionate music in the genre. 7.2 (4th listen)Peter Gabriel SoIt's a pity that this album has such a run of dud sections, because the best parts of this are amongst the best that pop music has been, ever. The opening pair get most of the talk, quite rightfully, as two sides of the 80's prog pop coin - the emotional synth ballad juxtaposed with the upbeat funk-influenced megahit. But I'll also give strong mention to "Big Time", which I don't think gets as much credit, for its absolutely obnoxious levels of 80s synth cheese, but done with enough hooks to make it work both ironically and unironically. 7.8 (13th listen)Porcupine Tree Lightbulb Sun13th March: Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun (alternative rock, 2000) It’s the weakest of Porcupine Tree’s Radiohead trilogy (yes, worse than the B-side album), but that’s probably just due to the lack of a major standout. “Russia on Ice” flirts with being that standout through its incredible opening half, but then spins off into an uninspiring psych rock jam, complete with a corny as all hell wah section. This is a repeated problem here, and something that Steven would fortunately rectify later. It’s odd that a man so against the institution of guitar-centrism feels the need to pack his songs filled with so many drab solos. But the good parts from Stupid Dream are still here - the sweet britpop hooks, the awesome use of simple-but-effective drum/bass grooves, and there are even some great inclusions of strings to top it all off. Some of these tracks do feel a bit like attempts to ride the coat- tails of britpop, but pop hooks were always Steve’s biggest strength, whether sincere or attempting to create a hit. Some of these probably should have been hits, but I’m glad he abandoned this sound when they failed, because it could have ended up in a long run of diminishing returns if this was continued. 7.8 (11th listen)Primordial To The Nameless Dead23rd January, 2022: Primordial - To the Nameless Dead (folk metal, 2007) There’s a contagious passion to this album that I can’t fully describe - something about the wrought vocals and atmosphere of distant nostalgia that combine to give an overwhelming series of emotions. Folk metal has long been a genre that’s difficult to take seriously, but when it’s delivered with such fervour and intensity, matching the soul and heart of traditional folk with the fury and rage of metal, you actually get something quite poignant. The vocals are always going to be a sticking point for people, but I absolutely love them. They remind me the most of Patrick Walker, of Warning and 40 Watt Sun, particularly in the twisted and overwrought modes of his early work, and they are perhaps equally as divisive. But for anyone who has written off folk metal as a bunch of cheesy larpers, give this one a spin for something different on the genre. 7.3 (4th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionRichard Dawson 202015th January: Richard Dawson - 2020 (art rock, 2019) If I ever return to doing yearly music awards (which I might, they are good fun), I think I might name one after this album. It would be called The Richard Dawson Award for the Album That Actually Made Me Care About Lyrics. Or something like that. It’s well documented at this point that I don’t really care about lyrics in my music. I care about vocals, and the voice as an instrument, and the choice of words can obviously make or break a melody, depending on whether the words lock in with the shape of the notes, but the actual content? Don’t know, don’t care. I don’t even know what the vast majority of my favourite songs are about; nor do I have any intention to learn. But this album doesn’t let you ignore its lyrics - in part it’s due to Dawson’s full frontal vocal display, but it’s also the frequent usage of utterly mad lines which you just can’t let fly by. I’ll confess, it took until my third listen to really notice the lyrics, but the allusions to Galashiels and Lionel Messi and raising money for the British Red Cross was just too amusing for me to ignore. It probably helps considering my life situation right now. It’s been a year since I last lived in Britain, and I’m beginning to miss it a lot. Dawson is from the northeast, an area I have a lot of love for, and though this record tells tales of sadness and struggle and frustration, what’s endearing about it is the very English spirit to it all - the unity in having a rubbish time and finding a way to enjoy it anyway. I live in a country of saccharine optimism - New Zealand has most of its roots British culture, both England and Scotland, but instead of embracing the negatives, most people here choose to pretend they don’t exist. The first time I really sat down with this album and its lyrics I got these incredibly strong feelings of homesickness - for a place that isn’t my home. There’s so much soul and heart here, to the point where it’s made me break my own rules on talking about lyrical content in reviews. Oh damn, I should probably talk about the music. That’s what I normally do, right? Well, it’s not as if this is an album that relies on its lyricism to stand up - far from it. Dawson has an incredible range of influences, but the strongest ones here to me are fellow Tynesiders Everything Everything, if you could imagine them playing sludgy art rock with strong Comus influences. He isn’t afraid to veer into serious prog rock at times here, and the off-kilter avant-folk that characterised his early work is always a part of the musical palette, especially the fingerpicked guitar. The hooks here are excellent too, somehow managing to fit insanely catchy melodies into these bizarre and angular chord progressions. Some parts of it are a touch too avant for my tastes, but there are enough quality melodies here to bridge the gaps nicely. 7.5 (5th listen)Robbie Basho Zarthus5th January, 2022: Robbie Basho - Zarthus (american primitivism/avant-folk, 1974) This is probably the first album I've heard from Robbie that I don't love in its entirety - but the 20-minute monolith "Rhapsody in Druz" almost entirely makes up for it. You can hear some of the otherworldly beauty that he would perfect in its follow-up here, with the wavering falsetto showing up in several places and being every bit as enchanting as it was at his peak. The first half does suffer from a bit of a lack of direction though - a few too many meandering flamenco guitar parts and often going too long without a vocal break or a change in tone. But still, it's almost entirely worth it for the closing track alone, which might stand as one of Robbie's finest ever pieces. 7.2 (6th listen)Rolo Tomassi Time Will Die And Love Will Bury ItListening diary 23rd April, 2022: Rolo Tomassi - Time Will Die & Love Will Bury It (post- hardcore, 2018) It's been a real pleasure to follow Rolo Tomassi over the years. It's been a decade since I first heard Astraea, right in the middle of the period where I was convinced that mathcore was a worthless genre, and since then they've done nothing but grow in creative ways. You could hear it back then, what was coming - how else were they album to sell mathcore to someone who can't stand the style? And so it's no surprise that they move into softer pastures with an incredibly refined compositional sense - this isn't your regular heavy- band-goes-soft routine. I can't say that I think this is a masterpiece, but it's certainly a very creative album and fuses elements of genres that have never really been pushed together. Dream pop, black metal, post-hardcore, progressive rock, ambient, it's all here. Eva Spence sounds as confident making demonic hell sounds as she does under a post-rock delay guitar progression. And the use of dynamics is excellent, a skill that is absolutely necessary if you're going to try the heavy-meets-soft album. They still have some room to grow in terms of the musical ideas, but I feel like this is a band with a very high ceiling, and we could see an era- defining album from them still to come. 7.9 (5th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionSavatage Streets: A Rock Opera26th January: Savatage - Streets (heavy metal, 1991) One of those albums where my enjoyment of it comes with quite a few buts. I mean, it’s a glam metal rock opera from 1991, if that doesn’t start you off on bad note already. But there are just so many good melodies and riffs in this thing, both heavy and ballad, that you can look past the mediocre vocals, corny production, over-the-top solos and overall rubbish aesthetic. Oliva’s voice has never been to my taste, but at least here he can find some bits of passion and intensity in the way he works melodic ideas, and honestly some of the hooks here get stuck in my head all the time. It also doesn’t really have any filler - although some segments (read: the solos) meander a bit, every song has at least one or two great riffs or great musical moments. As far as glam metal operas go, this one is probably one of the best. 7.2 (6th listen)Scott Walker Scott 314th February: Scott Walker - Scott 3 (baroque pop, 1969) Every time I put on this record, I have a moment where I wonder why I’ve never given it a higher score. It’s Scott at the peak of his powers in a perfect balance between accessible and art, with equal parts stellar melodies and peculiar string arrangements. But then the second half whirls around and I remember why - half of it is completely dry. The A-Side may be Walker’s finest, from the opening lines to the magnificent melancholy of “Rosemary” to the ironic triumphant blaring of “We Came Through”, it’s an atmospheric marvel, and one of the best uses of his remarkable vocal talent. But yeah, what’s up with the second side? Not only are there no great tracks, but “30 Century Man” I’d even argue is quite annoying, and it really does leave you a bit cold coming out of it. Still, the moments when this shines are probably my favourite of any Scott album. 7.3 (8th listen)Slowdive Slowdive17th April: Slowdive - s/t (dream pop/shoegaze, 2017) It’s probably impossible to avoid mentioning the context of this - after all, it’s not every day that a 20+ year return from the dead album actually ends up being worth the hype. It’s the perfect reunion album, taking enough of Slowdive’s original sound and adding just enough modern shoegaze twist to keep it sounding relevant and to help the album avoid redundancy. But above all, they’ve made sure the songs are still good. In fact, these are some of their best ever, and even when the sound design is lacking, the melodies shine brilliantly above everything. 7.9 (10th listen) Soldat Hans Dress Rehearsal7th March: Soldat Hans - Dress Rehearsal (post-metal, 2014) A genuinely scary piece of post-something, coming somewhere in between Kayo Dot’s metal era and an artist like White Ward, at least with the darkjazz influence. There are full sections of Badalamenti-esque jazz music on this, which compliment the noisy and intense post-metal bursts brilliantly. The atmosphere throughout is incredibly potent, with so many different genres coming in to create a surprisingly unified final product. 7.9 (6th listen)Spiritualized Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space6th January: Spiritualized - Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (neo-psychedelic space rock, 1997) I had a moment listening to this one last night. On a late-night walk around my earthquake- ravaged hometown, I walked into the grounds of my old primary school, just as "Broken Heart" came on. It turned a relatively harmless walk down memory lane into something quite poignant. There's a street that runs through the school grounds - a scarcely used, relatively useless street that they close when the school is on. We used to play there, on this bit of road sealed off with gates. I stood there, strings swelling and ever so powerful, looking around - the buildings that survived the earthquake, the field that was grass that is now astroturf, the tree I that I referenced in one of my own songs about nostalgia, and all the new buildings that came up after the earthquake that I don't recognise. I'm not sure I would have had that moment with any other song. There are parts of this album that don't really click with me, but there are a handful of truly exceptional moments that raise it up a lot in my evaluation. Even the long and over- repetitive sections are often built around an enjoyable musical idea - and for a neo-space rock album with multiple drug references, it is actually fairly diverse. Sometimes I put it on and forget about the great sections, because they really do sneak up on you a bit. 7.4 (8th listen)The Chameleons Strange Times14th January: The Chameleons - Strange Times (post-punk, 1986) The weakest of the original Chameleons trilogy, but by no means any less essential. This one is a bit more uneven - the undeniable standout is “Swamp Thing”, a beautiful piece of progressive dreamy post-punk that is everything The Chameleons were about in this incarnation - moody, emotive, melancholic and passionate. The rest of the album never reaches those heights, which makes this one feel a bit different from their first two albums, neither of which had obvious standout tracks. But considering how few aritsts managed to encapsulate the sound of this band, this is still an essential listen, even if it’s slightly weaker than its predecessors. 7.4 (5th listen)Throes of Dawn Our Voices Shall RemainListening diary 29th March, 2022: Throes of Dawn - Our Voices Shall Remain (progressive rock, 2016) At times in the past Throes of Dawn have played progressive metal, gothic metal and even black-tinged doom metal, all to varying degrees of success - I'm particularly partial to the goth-prog on The Great Fleet of Echoes, which to my ears still stands as their best album. This one however, is a bit of a departure, moving to softer pastures to end as a sort of gothic Pink Floyd. The lead guitars are as Gilmouresque as they come, and the slow moving instrumental passages sound somewhere between Animals-era Floyd and crescendocore post-rock. But most importantly with any band taking strong cues from Floyd, the soul is there. The gothic influence is welcome to break the style up too, as without it one would feel this is a touch generic, and the band don't forget their metal roots entirely either. 7.2 (4th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionThy Catafalque Vadak25th January, 2022: Thy Catafalque - Vadak (avant-garde progressive metal, 2021) There’s an argument to be made for this as Thy Catafalque’s best record. Tamás Kátai has been working within similar lines for well over a decade now, playing off-kilter, drum machine-led blackened prog metal of various forms, and although every album from that period was good, none were outstanding. I would hesitate to call Vadak outstanding either, but it does have enough of a range of sounds to make it the most wholly enjoyable album I’ve heard from the project - Kátai’s work is well known for lengthy repetitive sections which don’t add an awful lot, as well as tracks that only have one genuinely good idea and seem to loop around ad infinitum on it. This one is surprisingly varied - the folk metal undertones which dot other records come out in full force in certain tracks here, as do the synthwave and prog electronic bits he developed on side project Neolunar . What results is a surprisingly diverse album with pretty much everything you expect from Thy Catafalque, and a few things you don’t. 7.4 (6th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionVillagers of Ioannina City Age of Aquarius22nd March, 2022: Villagers of Ioannina City - Age of Aquarius (stoner rock, 2019) It feels odd to call this one better than its predecessor, because it’s so much less unique, less creative and less interesting, but the songs here are just so much stronger. The Villagers made a name in combining stoner rock and metal with traditional Mediterranean folk music, and at times on albums they went off on tangents completely abandoning modern sounds. This one still has some distinct folk influence, but there are no deviations nor even major segments of oddity, which would probably result in a mixed response, right? Everything that made this band unique has been watered down? Well yes, but no. The stoner rock sound of the band was never that captivating before, but here they’ve tapped into something exquisite. The title track is grandiose and powerful, even evoking some progressive rock undertones, and there’s a post-rock melancholy to some of the longer instrumental sections too. But more than anything, they’re just writing better melodies. I loved Riza for its unique genre combination, I love this one because I can sing along to it. 7.7 (3rd listen)Wilderun Veil of Imagination12th February: Wilderun - Veil of Imagination (symphonic progressive metal, 2019) Every time I talk about this record, I think it comes with a few too many buts and howevers. It’s good - of course it is, but it’s also the follow-up to one of my favourite albums of all time, and an album I would consider amongst the best to have ever graced the progressive metal genre. And like this as I do, that’s hard to avoid. Especially when, for whatever baffling reason, this one seems to get all the attention. Don’t get me wrong, I love the attention, and I’m glad that Wilderun have started to gain the following they deserve - in fact it almost pains me to say that I don’t really get this album because I so sorely want to, even only just to show support for a band who were amongst the best in the underground for so long. But this just misses out on so much of what Sleep at the Edge of the Earth had in terms of melody, heart and power. It still has the phenomenal arrangements, brilliant performances and passionate vocals, and it’s far better produced, but that’s not quite enough for me. I should probably talk a bit about what I like here, since I have given this a decent score, and I don’t like doing reviews where I mostly focus on the negatives in a positive review, but in all honesty everything good about this record can be found by reading my review of Sleep. These guys know how to write riffs, they know how to incorporate strange Radiohead-esque chord substitutions, they know how to be brutal and how to be soulful, and they do this all whilst operating in a genre that is known for being the cheesiest music alive. I will commend them for leaving the folk metal behind though, as I think that’s a smart piece of evolution - too often bands that begin cornered into a genre will remain there indefinitely, and after literally perfecting folk metal, why bother staying? This one takes symphonic metal for a spin and although the arrangements are detailed and ambitious, there is an element of artificiality to them that perhaps dampens their effect. I’d love to hear how this sounds with a real orchestra behind it. But regardless of all my moaning, I’m glad that Wilderun exist and are making creative progressive metal. No one else in the history of this side of the genre has ever done music with this much heart, and I honestly never thought it was physically possible. This one hasn’t got a feather on its predecessor, but who really cares? That one was a masterpiece, I’m not going to shoot them for missing the mark. 7.1 (6th listen)Windir Arntor18th March, 2022: Windir - Arntor (melodic black metal, 1999) Revisiting this for the first time since An Abstract Illusion’s cover awakened me to the astonishing achievement of “Svartesmeden og Lundamyrstrollet”, and yeah, I have to confess this is some of the best melodic black metal has to offer. Despite loving melodic music and black metal, I never have been taken by too many artists in the style, possibly due to the strange juxtaposition of black metal anguish with melodic joy. This one somehow makes it work. It’s cheesy, in a dumb folk metal kind of way, and the sorts of melodies they conjure are amongst the most captivating I’ve heard in the genre. But through embracing the cheese it can become an emotionally resonant piece of a different sort than what we’re used to in black metal - I mean, there’s a “yee-haw” in the middle of the second track - and becomes a joyous piece of melodic fun. 7.7 (6th listen)Wolvennest VOIDListening diary 6th April, 2022: Wolvennest - Void (atmospheric black/post-metal, 2018) In the right light, this is astonishingly good, and unlike anything else I’ve heard. The sound is somewhere between the schools of black, post, psych and doom, but really doesn’t fit neatly into any category. The atmosphere is pure black metal, with tremolos and distorted reverb everywhere, creating the kind of cavernous expanse typical of their Icelandic labelmates on Ván Records. But there are no harsh vocals, nor any blast beats. Instead we get hypnotic droned clean vocals, like something out of a krautrock album. The comparisons to Oranssi Pazuzu are also apt, in particular the merger of psychedelic guitarwork with black metal darkness, but this is far more meditative and doesn’t have any of the chaos. It definitely strikes me as an album that I only love in darkness though, as some of the atmosphere doesn’t really work unless you’re in the right mood. But even if it’s not perfect, there is no one else doing this out there. 7.9 (7th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction3.5 greatA.C.T. Imaginary Friends Listening diary 25th March, 2022: A.C.T - Imaginary Friends (progressive rock, 2001) A.C.T's incredibly distinctive brand of pop-prog-metal-rock opera is already very evident here, and though it's not quite as complete as on Last Epic, it's still worth celebrating. Whether you love this music really comes down to your ability to handle cheese, because this packs it in at an unprecedented rate. Every melody on it is sugary sweet, straight out of a Disney Channel musical, but with the prog sensibility of the guitars and song structuring, you get a frequent break to allow some of those hooks to sink in without getting to overbearing. The metal here is fairly tame and anyone coming for riffs will likely be disappointed, but if you like musicals and cheese, this is some of the best out there. 6.8 (3rd listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionAd Nauseam Nihil Quam Vacuitas Ordinatum Est12th January: Ad Nauseam - Nihil Quam Vacuitas Ordinatum Est (avant-garde technical death metal, 2015) Is it happening? Am I starting to enjoy death metal? I come to this one via my love for the kinds of black metal that sound like you’re falling into the depths of hell. Reverb, dissonance, chaos, and drummers that defy limbs - turn the lights out and let the darkness wash over you. I even compiled as stupidly titled spotify playlist to cover it, and decided to include death metal artists with the same atmosphere too. That has brought me to Ad Nauseam, who are truly a death metal band, even if the atmosphere is more adjacent to Deathspell Omega and Svartidauði than anyone else. And despite the standard issues I have with death metal vocals and riffs, I actually find myself enjoying this. It’s terrifying and menacing and captivating in the way a good horror is - somehow all without falling into the comical or silly like so much death metal does. 6.5 (2nd listen) Aquilus Bellum I19th March: Aquilus - Bellum I (atmospheric symphonic black metal, 2021) The first Aquilus album is a bit of an enigma - arguably more classical music than metal, despite being primarily synthesised instruments, it’s set a high watermark for modern era symphonic black metal that has never been reached in terms of ambition. And now, a decade later, we finally have a sequel, and all the problems you’d expect from a follow-up to such a unique album are here. Despite the orchestral elements still being prominent, this is most certainly a metal album first and foremost, but it still has some very detailed and interesting arrangements for the symphonics. But beyond that point of difference, this really does feel like a fairly shameless attempt at repeating past glory, and it falls short on pretty much every measure. The ambition isn’t quite as high, nor are the quality of melodic ideas. The production is a bit better though, something Griseus struggled with due to its cast of thousands. It’s certainly good to hear more music from Aquilus, as no one has ever come close to replicating the sound, but it’s definitely not the triumphant return many were hoping for. 6.2 (4th listen)Converge I Can Tell You About Pain10th February, 2022: Converge - I Can Tell You About Pain (mathcore/post-metal, 2017) So, as someone who kind of hates anything and everything related to metalcore, Converge are one of those bands I’ve never been into. Fortunately, “Eve”, which makes up more than half of this EP, isn’t metalcore at all! Brilliant. So here, I can clearly see where Converge get their followers from. Even the opening track with its relatively brief runtime gets a pass from me. The use of dynamics and textures are unrivalled in this area of music, in particularly the expressive drumming and layered guitars. I’d love to hear what they sound like for an entire record devoid of metalcore (I’m yet to hear the one with Chelsea Wolfe, so hold that thought), and I can probably say that “Eve” is one of the best metal-meets-shoegaze songs that I’ve come across. 6.8 (5th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionFalling Up Dawn EscapesListening diary 1st April, 2022: Falling Up - Dawn Escapes (alternative rock, 2005) I definitely wasn't expecting this one to be good. Falling Up's humble beginnings are well- known to fans, and rather sadly seem to be what they are remembered for in some quarters - as it stands, the juvenile Christian rap-rock of *Crashings *has more RYM ratings than the excellent art rock of Your Sparkling Death Cometh or the self-titled. I was expecting this one to be more of the same from the debut, but this is already a strong evolution, and I would say even has hints of their late-era glory already. This is the heaviest album they ever did, but strangely some of that heaviness, often lifted from alt and nu metal, absolutely works in this context. At its absolute best, this sounds like early Karnivool, with the same sorts of nu metal riffs, but married with strong melodies, using the genre's high intensity to its advantages. The hooks are there too - not as plentiful or as developed as later on, but still strong and still incredibly well performed. And more importantly, there's none of the christian rap segments from the first album here. In fact, this is a surprisingly mature album from a band who just came out of that phase, and it set them up nicely for a long and fascinating career. 7.0 (5th listen)Gris Il Était Une Forêt... Listening diary 1st March, 2022: Gris - Il Était une Foret (atmospheric depressive black metal, 2007) It's hard to separate this one from just how good its follow-up is, because this just doesn't quite do it as much for me, despite being in a similar vein. But I suppose I've never been taken much by so-called "depressive" black metal, and this is far more in the veins of that genre's heart, so in a way it's an achievement that I feel much from it. And it truly is depressing - the anguished wails, the bleak production, the deep sense of melancholy. It's some of the bleakest music that humanity has ever conceived, and for once I actually feel some of that emotion rather than indifference at what feels to be trying too hard, as most depressive black metal gets out of me. The real standout though is of course the closing track - not black metal at all, but still every bit packed with emotion. It foreshadows what would come later from this project, and almost feels like a completely different album honestly. 6.4 (5th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionGround Zero Revolutionary Pekinese Opera, Ver. 1.2824rd January, 2022: Ground-Zero - Revolutionary Pekinese Opera Ver.1.28 (musique concréte/plunderphonics, 1996) There are no other albums like this one. That much is an observable fact. Taking traditional Chinese opera and mangling it into something between ambient, industrial and jazz rock is an absolutely ridiculous concept, and at points it definitely works. I just think I have to be in a particular mood to enjoy this one - the same mood that would accompany a record like Kayo Dot’s Choirs of the Eye. It’s dense, detailed, aggressive, surreal and utterly punishing, but if you’re in the mood for something like that it can be excellent. But if not, the flurry of noise and chaos can just go in one ear and out the other, without leaving much of an impression. 6.3 (4th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionHave a Nice Life Deathconsciousness7th February: Have a Nice Life - Deathconsciousness (post-punkgaze, 2008) I’ll confess that I don’t like this one anywhere near as I feel I should, but in time it has opened itself up to me. My repeated trying was mostly on the back of Giles Corey, which remains one of my favourite records of all time. This is twice as long and half as interesting, but some of Barrett’s skills for melancholic beauty still come through. “Bloodhail” is a pretty great track, and the overwhelming atmosphere here is as good as any gloomy post-punk album, but there’s also a stackload of filler and a heap of sections with nothing but dry drum machines and ambience. Maybe I’m just not quite sad enough. 7.0 (6th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionJoanna Newsom Have One on Me4th January, 2022: Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me (progressive/chamber folk, 2010) This is one of those albums in which my view on it is severely swayed by whether I’m in the mood for it. There are days in which the meandering and illogical song structures annoy me and Joanna’s aversion to traditional hooks means they go by without any engagement, but there are others where it builds a trance-like atmosphere and every dink or plink of piano or harp adds to the surrealist vibe. There are hooks to be found here, if you dig deep enough, but Joanna is certainly more interested in her songs telling a story than them being memorable, and I think that there is where we divide - as someone who doesn’t really listen to music for lyrics, there’s only so far that 10 minute harp wanderings can take me. But still, the atmosphere is spellbinding, and Joanna is a star both with her bizarro vocal inflections and her more traditional piano and harp playing. There may exist a timeline somewhere in which she releases a piece of concise songwriting that fully appeals to me, but I don’t think she has much interest in doing that. And that’s okay. 6.9 (7th listen)Karnivool Asymmetry15th January, 2021: Karnivool - Asymmetry (post-prog, 2013) Given that these guys have two of my favourite ever albums preceding this, I’ve always felt like I should go back and try and get this. This was attempt #4 and probably my most successful yet, but I’m still not really sold. I admire them a lot for making this - it’s undeniably quite creative and is miles away from Sound Awake just as that was miles away from Themata. But there’s just nothing to grip onto - no hooks, no atmospheres, no melody, no riffs. It’s got some great drumming and some great production, but I never seem to remember anything from it, which is the antithesis of their first two albums. Perhaps I’ll never get it, but at least I know that whenever they emerge with album 4 it won’t be them standing still. 6.4 (4th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionKate Bush The Sensual World7th January, 2022: Kate Bush - The Sensual World (art pop, 1989) As much as I’m hesitant to admit it, I’m still struggling a bit with Kate Bush outwith Hounds of Love. It’s one of my favourite albums of all time, and yet I struggle to find another album of hers I even consider a quarter of its quality. This, its direct follow up, is no different. The first few tracks present interesting ideas, and are certainly unique enough to call them enjoyable, but there are no otherworldly emotions or memorable hooks or passionate performances to lock me in. The only real time we come close to the truly transcendent work of its predecessor is on “This Woman’s Work”, which is a fine way to bow out. Maybe I just need more time. Not just with this, but most of her other records. 6.1 (5th listen) King Crimson Discipline10th January: King Crimson - Discipline (new wave/art rock, 1981) My appreciation for King Crimson is near endless. My enjoyment of them is mixed, at the best of times. This is another perfect example. This isn’t just creative, it’s one of the most downright bonkers sounds I think I’ve ever come across, particularly for its era - the reinvention of Robert Fripp’s insane guitar skills as some kind of afrobeat Talking Heads-esque dance rock is a hell of a turn. In different parts of the album he finds ways to make the guitar do things that had never been heard at the time - you can hear math rock, post-rock and even prog metal all over this album. And for about half of it, there are some genuinely great moments beyond the sheer genius of the sound. Adrian Belew does a hell of a job on vocals, particularly on the heartfelt “Matte Kudasai”, and there are some very memorable hooks throughout it - I find myself shouting I WISH YOU WERE HERE TO SEE IT at inopportune times on the regular these days. But the drawback for me here is just how clinical most of this is - barring a couple of vocal-led bits of passion, this is probably the coldest and most emotionless Crimson have ever sounded, unless you count weird dance feelings as strong emotions. I love this from an academic perspective, but I only really like half of it from a pure enjoyment perspective. Still, it’s an essential record and one that anyone with any interest in the guitar as an instrument must hear. 7.0 (6th listen)Kingston Wall III - Tri-Logy13th January: Kingston Wall - III - Tri-Logy (psychedelic progressive rock, 1994) An album that perhaps should not work. Does mid-90’s psych-prog really get anyone out of their seat? Coupled with the fact that it’s partly influenced by psytrance? There were a few artists kicking around doing this sort of thing in the 90s, but not many that I can say do it as convincingly as Kingston Wall. And it’s all because they write good songs first, before they go and drop acid and jam out the instrumental passages. If this was half the length and all the weird psych bits were removed, it would be a passable alt-rock album with strong melodies, good performances and memorable hooks. The psych doesn’t necessarily detract from that - it’s more the fact that all piled together there’s 70+ minutes of stuff here. But when it’s good, it’s some of the best that 90’s prog got to. 6.8 (5th listen)Koyaanisqatsy From the Yearning to Burst the Perpetual CircleListening diary 8th March, 2022: Koyaanisqatsy - From the Yearning to Burst the Perpetual Circle (neoclassical progressive metal, 2000) It's probably no surprise that this album has something of a cult - it's a one-off album from a band with a strange name, in a style that has honestly not been explored as much as you'd think. Sure, there's tons of symphonic progressive metal, and tons of instrumental technical stuff, but not a lot that really first partway through that. This is an instrumental metal album that doesn't feel like it's there to show off how good the guitarist is. In fact, entire parts of this feel like a piece of classical music, with the same focus on instrumental melodies, recurring motifs and slow mood changes. The guitar here isn't a lead, shining above the rest, it's just a part of an orchestra. This is a symphony, not a concerto. But it has a ceiling - power metal has never interested me and although it's great to have some without any nail scratching vocals, the sections of instrumental power chugging aren't particularly interesting. There are also parts where the limits of creating an orchestra with keyboards in the year 2000 show up - this sounds painfully fake for great lengths. At times when the melodies are good enough to carry it, that's fine, but there are sections where that isn't the case. 6.6 (4th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionLow Things We Lost in the Fire8th February, 2022: Low - Things We Lost in the Fire (slowcore, 2001) My newfound love of Low is starting to creep backwards into their slowcore era, which I had only really heard I Should Live in Hope from previously. This is a great, slow burning record, that actually seems to know when to speed up every now and then - slowcore’s greatest asset is also arguably its greatest flaw, at least in longer records. There are actually some quite sweet and uplifting melodies here, piercing through the melancholy and lethargy, and I think perhaps with a bit of time I could find myself preferring this to their debut. 6.8 (3rd listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionMacabre Omen Gods Of War - At War3rd February, 2022 - Macabre Omen - Gods of War - At War (pagan black metal, 2015) Triumphant and passionate, if a bit overboard at times, I’ve slowly warmed to this after some of its melodies started to grow on me. It’s black metal with a strong sense of nationalism, which can be divisive at the best of times - and that’s just on the musical side. There’s often an attempt to shoehorn in some traditional instruments of the nation, and it doesn’t always work - but here I think they strike a good balance between folky tinges and avoiding tacky cliche. This kind of black metal always has a bit of a ceiling for me, as there isn’t much in terms of an atmosphere, but it’s pretty catchy and has some lovely melodies in a few tracks. 6.3 (4th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionMy Chemical Romance Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge21st April: My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (emo-pop/post-hardcore, 2004) My Chemical Romance were arguably my first ever musical love, and while I do welcome their critical re-evaluation (the real ones always knew it was coming), I have to say that I was never as taken by this album as many fellow fans were. I think it's the almost excessive melodrama, with absolutely every vocal line and every guitar solo embellished beyond recognition, and with the hardcore roots still firmly in place here, it can be quite abrasive. Way is clearly excellent at composing melodies, why can't he just sing them? Why does he need to overdo everything? But there are clearly many excellent songs here, and a great hint at the masterpiece that would soon follow. The aggressive punk and hardcore influences that would later disappear do add a different twist to it, and at times they're even utterly brilliant, with the opener absolutely blowing my 10 year old mind with how they could just make a song start fast, end fast, and never stop being anything but intense. Nostalgia from some has painted this in a better light, as it is gapingly flawed, but as a cornerstone record for rock music in the 21st century, it's definitely worth celebrating. 6.9 (5th listen)My Dad Is Dead The Taller You Are, the Shorter You Get23rd March: My Dad is Dead - The Taller You Are, the Shorter You Get (post-punk, 1989) The focus here is likely to be almost entirely on the lyrics, as they are self-deprecating to an excessive degree, but I think the music behind them is far more interesting. This is true 80s post-punk but with much more focus on being catchy than overly depressive, and if it wasn’t for the rather pessimistic lyrics, you’d be mistaken for thinking this is a fun album. The real issue is that it is far, far too long, and most songs seem to lean on just one or two hooks. Most of them are good - good enough to make me really enjoy this on first listen - but there isn’t an awful lot of depth here beyond the main draw, with only “What Can I Do” really sticking out to me as a genuinely outstanding track. But still, I don’t know enough old school post-punk with this kind of melodic accessibility, and perhaps it will sit better with fans of the genre’s more recent incarnations. 7.0 (4th listen) Neptunian Maximalism Eons18th February, 2022: Neptunian Maximalism - Eons (avant-garde jazz/zeuhl/drone metal, 2020) A fascinating genre salad, and one that initially struck me as total gimmickry but has opened up with subsequent revisiting. It’s primarily a jazz fusion record - mostly instrumental, and almost all utterly chaotic. But beneath that are incredibly strong lines of drone metal a la Sunn O))) and manic avant-prog a la Magma. And somehow, this strange mix doesn’t sound like a total mess. The drone sections are a welcome break from the furious dexterity of the prog and jazz parts, and the occasional vocals are a welcome break from the incessant instrumental noodling too. I’m still not sure how I feel about it as a whole, but it’s certainly very creative, which is something that should be celebrated. 6.4 (3rd listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionNoMeansNo Wrong8th January: NoMeansNo - Wrong (post-hardcore, 1989) Ridiculously creative - for post-hardcore of this era, I’ve never heard anything that so seamlessly merges the genre’s ability to be both complex and simplistic, finding the virtues in both sides. Some of its abrasiveness is still taking a while to settle with me though, but it is growing on me each time, and maybe after a while I’ll be able to praise it just on having good songs rather than its obvious creativity and influence. I really like a couple of cuts here - the opener and “The End of All Things” being the most notable, but both are obviously where the album takes a turn for the melodic, and the progressive rock influence comes out. Still, I like this a hell of a lot more than what I expected (don’t ask what exactly I expected), and in my long quest to find albums I like from 1989 (the lowest rated year on my spreadsheet), this could well end up amongst the top. 6.5 (5th listen)Open Hand You and Me16th March: Open Hand - You & Me (alternative rock, 2005) Brilliantly eclectic alt-rock that probably becomes its own downfall as many of its strengths turn to weaknesses. It lies somewhere between grunge, shoegaze, post-hardcore and stoner rock, and takes cues from each in varying degrees throughout the album, but with very short tracks and a strong focus on being diverse rather than memorable, it can fly by without much sticking. I also am not entirely convinced on the production or tones here, but you can’t deny the creativity, and when it does break out the hooks it’s very good. 6.8 (5th listen)Phosphorescent Pride9th March 2022: Phosphorescent - Pride (americana, 2007) Warm and welcoming, like all the best mood country should be, but beneath the surface there’s an interesting psychedelic undertone, and bits and pieces of Comus-esque freak folk break this apart from the standard fare. Although the production and performances are top notch here, I don’t think Houck at this point had developed his sense for a great melody that would show up on some of his later works. 6.5 (3rd listen)Prefab Sprout Steve McQueen30th January, 2022: Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen (sophisti-pop, 1985) I’ve started telling people to invest in this record. Stock up, horde the rare variants, because it’s only a matter of time before the zoomers get a hold of it and it becomes a sensation once again. The combination of sweet and sugary hooks, pseudo-jazz sensibility and almost ironic referencing of muzak fits right in with the new wave of fandoms for artists like Steely Dan or Fleetwood Mac. And yeah, I’ll concede, this is menacingly catchy. I’m not sure there’s much else going for it, as the soft rock aesthetic can get incredibly corny when it’s not backed with juicy hooks, but fortunately for the majority of this album that isn’t a problem. 6.7 (3rd listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionRobert Wyatt ShleepListening diary 22nd April, 2022: Robert Wyatt - Shleep (canterbury/art rock, 1997) A strange record from a strange man, but Wyatt has this odd ability to be totally compelling with his strangeness, even when writing about sleep. I hear a lot of Richard Dawson in this, and I have no doubts that a lot of his idiosyncrasies are influenced by Mr Wyatt, particularly in the incorporation of atonal avant-folk in to otherwise straightforward songs. There's nothing here that stands out to me as being exceptional, but it flows by without making much noise and occasionally will bring out a section that really sounds unlike anything else, particularly in the scene of prog rock greats making albums in the 90s. You could even call parts of this post-rock, with its minimalist intricacies calling to mind Bark Psychosis and Talk Talk far more than the 70s prog greats. I don't think I'll ever totally love a Wyatt album, but I'm glad he exists, because he's strange, and we need more strange. 6.5 (5th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionSade Love Deluxe27th March, 2022: Sade - Love Deluxe (sophisti-pop/smooth soul, 1992)rAn atmospheric masterclass, crafting such a distinctive mood that so many artists have tried and failed to replicate. If you?re looking for something that fits a tone, locks it in and stays there for its full length, this is certainly it. It also manages to bring together multiple areas of music cohesively - you?d be fooled by just how well-developed this sound is, but it isn?t exactly a common mix. Sure, the moods of the influences overlap, but the combination of r&b, sophistipop, trip hop and soul is rarely found elsewhere. And though both of these elements are rare feats, I stop short of loving this. Perhaps because it?s such excellent background music, they seem reluctant to make the songs stick out from the crowd too much. There are occasional melodies and basslines and even guitar touches that are immediately noticeable, but as a whole, this doesn?t have too many standout ideas to match its standout mood and style.r6.5 (4th listen)Sadness I Want to Be There21st February, 2022: Sadness - I Want to Be There (blackgaze, 2019) It's pretty clear why this is the breakout record for Sadness - I mean, look at that title and that album art. I saw this being played by a younger sister of a friend on spotify and realised that somehow this project shot into the underground mainstream without me even noticing, and honestly the guy deserves it, with all his work ethic and consistency. But on the actual release, well, I'm not so sure. It's good, and it's probably the most hazey of the Sadness releases of this era, but it's no Circle of Veins is it? The ingredients that Damien has honed over the years are all there - in particular those spinechilling clean vocals, but it all seems fairly run of the mill for him. Maybe I'm just not getting it yet. 6.2 (3rd listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionScott Walker Climate of Hunter15th February: Scott Walker - Climate of Hunter (art pop/rock, 1984) Scott’s first slice of true oddity is, like most of his career, a bit hit or miss with me. I love the synths and the almost Blade Runner aesthetic that this has going - you could even hear some influence on vaporwave if you squint hard enough. But this is early enough in Scott’s career that he still has some semblance of pop in the songwriting, with some of it even being a little catchy. I don’t think it’s quite as immersive as Tilt, nor as beautiful as some of his 60’s pop, but for a transitional album between baroque beauty and… whatever the fuck came after this, it’s a pretty solid effort. 7.0 (4th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionSlowdive MorningriseListening diary 3rd April, 2022: Slowdive - Morningrise (shoegaze/dream pop, 1991) Far from my favourite Slowdive release, and gee the production here is borderline dodgy, but it still contains its fair share of great ideas, and it’s enjoyable to hear early era Slowdive do some tracks that focus on expansive, almost space-rock jams. There are far fewer hooks here, but they’re made up for with some smooth timbral exercises, particularly during the instrumental passages. It’s also over far too quickly, but fortunately the band would take this kind of sound much further on future releases. 6.6 (5th listen)Super Diamono de Dakar Jigeenu NdakaruListening diary 2nd April, 2022: Super Diamono - Jigeenu Ndakaru (mbalax, 1982) I don't know anything about this artist, genre, or even country, but I have somehow found myself quite enjoying this album. It follows the afrobeat traditions of merging danceable jazz, funk and dub from western music and merging it with countless african influences. I'm sure there's some subtlety to the Senegalese musical tradition that I'm totally brushing a broad stroke over here, but I'm not educated enough in the sounds of the region to parse it. I do know that I'm not a big fan of music centred around danceability, so this must be something special to get me out of my seat. It's fun, catchy, the instrumentation is diverse, and the repetition is kept to a minimum. Definitely one of the most interesting records I've heard out of Africa. 6.5 (4th listen)The Butterfly Effect Final Conversation of Kings22nd February: The Butterfly Effect - Final Conversation of Kings (post-prog, 2008) Probably their best album - although I do feel that you could pick any of the three depending on what your tastes are. This one is certainly the most refined, with most of the nu metal influence of the early work gone, and the band now playing firmly within the lines of Aussie post-prog. But in a way I think they might have traded away some of those great hooks for better production, arrangements and aesthetics, and I do find that it’s missing a bit of the catchiness of their early albums. It’s certainly got nothing on the major albums from other artists in this scene, but for a mini-opus of their own, it’s not too bad. It’s a pity they called it a day after this one, because I think a bit more refinement could have led to something excellent. 6.9 (5th listen)The Mars Volta The Bedlam in Goliath4th January: The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath (experimental progressive rock, 2008)rThis is my first listen to this in six years, dating back to the days where I didn?t really get The Mars Volta at all. In fact, this was the first record I heard from them and it really confused my teenage mind who thought prog was just alt-rock with long songs at the time. In the intervening years, not only did I get a taste for Volta themselves via Deloused, but over the last few years I?ve even been turned around on their newer material, to the point where this is now the only album of theirs I don?t love. About time for a revisit then?rAnd you know what, I quite like it. I?ll have to give it some more spins but I found myself enjoying parts of pretty much every song, and there?s definitely room for growth there too. It does suffer a bit from being quite long and a few songs meander, but if there?s anything I?ve learned from my experience with this band, it?s that you learn to love the meanders after a while.r7.0 (4th listen)The Supremes Where Did Our Love Go6th February, 2022: The Supremes - Where Did Our Love Go (motown, 1964) The Supremes were one of my earliest ever musical memories. I honestly might have been 4 or 5 at the time, listening to a compilation of their songs along with some Diana Ross solo cuts. Which is odd, because I don’t actually remember half of the songs on this. Maybe they weren’t on that CD? Anyway, this is pretty much the pinnacle of sugary motown pop, and once you can get past the fact that all the songs are 2 minutes and sound the same, it’s a pretty solid listen. I’m not actually sure if I like Diana’s voice the most here - there’s a timbre to it that isn’t quite as pleasant as the other singers. But every backing instrument is perfectly placed, as all hyper commercial 60s pop was. A lot of the songs lean on a single melody for their appeal, but that’s fine to a point, especially when you’re dealing in such small doses anyway. 6.6 (4th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionWode Wode24th March, 2022: Wode - s/t (black metal, 2016) This one spurned a bit of an internal discussion last night about genre biases. How sometimes, we have genres of music that we simply enjoy, almost no matter of the uniqueness or creativity. I’ve started to feel that way about hypnotic atmospheric black metal recently. There’s something just so comforting about this kind of music, just knowing the sorts of patterns, knowing when the blast beats will come in, knowing the consistency of foot-tapping and humming along - after all, it’s not as if the riff will change until after its eighth repeat. This is a good album, and I feel like I should talk about how there really isn’t anything special about it, but the simple fact is that I just really like black metal, if it’s well produced, has dynamic drumming, well mixed vocals and interesting chromatic progressions, I can vibe with it. There’s something comforting about it. 7.0 (3rd listen)Wolvennest WLVNNST18th January: Wolvennest Featuring Der Blutharsch & the Infinite Church of the Leading Hand - WLVNNST (psychedelic metal, 2016) Although it’s not quite as powerful as their later work, Wolvennest’s debut is already fairly confident in terms of asserting its own style, a style that is utterly unique in the world of metal. Fusing psychedelic jam rock with blackened doom metal, all the hypnotic riffs and lengthy improvised sections are here already, albeit in need of some refinement. The opener is the undeniable standout, and remains one of the band’s most immersive tracks. 7.0 (3rd listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionWolves in the Throne Room Celestite9th February, 2022: Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestite (dark ambient/progressive electronic, 2014) Okay, it’s probably their worst album, but you’ve got to give Wolves credit for how competent this is, given they’d never really even hinted at a sound like this before. It’s not like so many of the modern atmospheric black metal bands, who owe an awful lot to Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream in their synth wandering - WITTR had always struck me as more earthly and grounded, about nature not space, and this is a really strong change of aesthetic for them. I particularly enjoy the occasional bursts of guitars and darkness, reminding everyone who they really are, but the ambience is solid regardless. It does what it’s meant to do, and it makes for excellent nighttime reading music. 6.3 (4th listen)3.0 goodBob Dylan Oh Mercy19th January 2021: Bob Dylan - Oh Mercy (pop/folk/roots rock, 1989) I’ll have to revisit this. I’ve never been much of a Dylan fan, even of his most acclaimed material, so I put this on not expecting much. And for the first half, I wasn’t really paying much attention. Same old moaney old bloke that I’ll never get. But on Side B I started to actually get into it a bit, as it took on a quite nice atmosphere that reminded me the most of recent War on Drugs records. Maybe I should have paid more attention in the first half. 5.7 (1st listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionChelsea Wolfe Mistake In Parting19th April: Chelsea Wolfe - Mistake in Parting (singer/songwriter, 2006) I can definitely see why Chelsea wants this one gone from the internet, but in all honesty it's an interesting piece of history on her development - and many artists have albums of this type. It's just a pity that she released it under her own name. To me this feels like a slightly edgy version of singer/songwriter mum-pop. I honestly hear a lot of Brooke Fraser in this, and for the non-New Zealanders who don't know who she is, it's like inoffensive and occasionally inspired generic-bandground-pop-for-cafes. Like Brooke Fraser, this is part pop, part folk, part rock, but all focused on the voice, and sadly there's a bit too much of a focus on the rather poor lyrics. Some of the songs here are undoubtedly juveline and unrefined, but she's still a great singer, and there's a weird niche that this fills between goth rock and adult contemporary. 5.9 (3rd listen)Damien Rice 913th January, 2021: Damien Rice - 9 (contemporary folk, 2006) His worst album by a margin, but not without some stellar moments. It's just a bit of a lopsided mess and is the sort of lopsided mess that leaves you with a bad taste since it ends so much poorer than it starts. Aside from the Shrek song (which is excellent), there really aren't many of Rice's signature memorable choruses here, except maybe "Rootless Tree". But if the rest were just inoffensive folk music that wouldn't be an issue - unfortunately there are some rather poor moments, particularly in "Dogs" and "Me, My Yoke and I" which attempt to undermine the good work done by the album's opening. 5.9 (2nd listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionGrant Lee Buffalo FuzzyListening diary 31st March, 2022: Grant Lee Buffalo - Fuzzy (alt-country/americana, 1993) I'm not quite getting this one, which is a pity since I found Mighty Joe Moon really enjoyable, and as someone who doesn't love a whole lot of country music, I was looking forward to hearing more. There are moments of greatness here, no doubt, but they're all relatively brief, and the overall songwriting here just isn't quite as memorable. The fusion of alternative rock standards with americana and alt-country is undeniably a strong point of difference stylistically, but without the songwriting to back it up, this is just a decent album. 5.8 (4th listen)Horrendous Idol5th April: Horrendous - Idol (progressive death metal, 2018) I don’t really like death metal much, honestly. So the fact that I kind of sort of maybe enjoy this is probably an achievement in itself. This new wave of death metal actually has some interest to me because of its consistent prog influence, more accessible production and less reliance on repetitive chug-offs. I can definitely tell why this is considered great for its genre, and there are even some Opethian bursts of melody that break the heavy monotone. But at the end of the day, it’s death metal, with the same riffs, vocals and themes that do absolutely nothing for me on an emotional level. Maybe someday I’ll understand. 5.3 (2nd listen)Mar de Robles Indigena12th January, 2021: Mar de Robles - Indigena (progressive rock, 2007) Nothing too special here, but this is a pretty nice instrumental prog album that has a bit more to keep you in than most instrumental prog albums. The star here is the saxophone, carrying the lead on a few songs and giving a great point of difference. At times it almost feels like a softer version of Merkabah, particularly in the kind of melodies that the saxophone holds and the way they allow it to carry the songs. 6.0 (3rd listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionMy Dying Bride The Angel and the Dark RiverListening diary 8th April, 2022: My Dying Bride - The Angel and the Dark River (gothic doom metal, 1995) I think at this point I can say that I’ve given My Dying Bride a fair shake of the stick and can throw them pretty firmly in the “do not get” pile. I first tried this when I was but a wee lad and before I grew a full appreciation for more extreme forms of metal, but even after a decade of waiting, I still think this is reasonably dry and uninteresting. The death vocals take a firm backseat here for a focus on gothic melancholy, and for small fragments there are sections resembling the kind of melancholic beauty they so clearly aim for - and on the whole I think this has more good material than bad. But there are long stretches of meandering nothing here, with the slow tempos being ruthlessly exposed when they’re not held in place by captivating musical ideas. I love a good piece of sad-bait, but I didn’t feel any kind of sadness at all in this, mostly boredom. 5.1 (5th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionNick Cave and Warren Ellis Carnage14th March: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Carnage (art/chamber pop, 2021) There are some nice string arrangements, and Cave occasionally taps a melancholy that resonates with me quite well, but I think this is just a bit too singer-songwritery for me - the focus is certainly far more on the lyrics than music. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but as someone who doesn’t care for lyrics, being left with them and a focus on Cave’s less than magnificent voice doesn’t give me a whole lot to grasp. 5.8 (2nd listen)Prince Sign o' the Times10th March: Prince - Sign “☮︎” the Times (contemporary r&b/pop/funk rock, 1987) Right, I guess it’s hot take o’clock here. This is kinda bad. And I say this as someone who enjoys a bit of Prince, and I do understand what he’s trying to get at for parts of it, but it’s 80 (eighty) minutes long, and at least half of the tracks add absolutely nothing. But maybe it just isn’t for me, after all, I find myself not even understanding the megahit title track, despite Steven Wilson’s cover version being one of my all time favourite covers. I think if there’s ever an opinion to get me cast out from society, it might be that one - but the song is so thin and lifeless for such a great set of hooks. And yeah, there are some good moments, like “The Cross” is nice, and “Play in the Sunshine” is kinda fun (up until that utterly vomit-worthy closing cliche melody), but there’s so much fluff. There’s so much nothing. What’s the point of “Hot Thing”, or “It’s Gonna Be a Beautiful Night”, which extends at least three times longer than is necessary. I appreciate the mix of genres on show throughout the record, but most of the arrangements are just so thin that it does nothing for me either as a rock album nor a dancey pop album. I think I’m gonna have to put this one firmly in the “do not get” pile. Sorry Prince. 5.1 (5th listen)Richard Dawson PeasantListening diary 25th February, 2022: Richard Dawson - Peasant (avant-folk, 2017) I don't really like writing these bits for albums I'm on first listen for, but I didn't listen to an awful lot of music on the 25th of February, so this will have to do. I had heard a live rendition of "Ogre" a while back, after my obsession with 2020 reached google search levels. It immediately struck me just how freak folk it was, and though this version isn't the same level of intensity as the live version, it's certainly a world away from the sound of its successor. I hear a lot of Comus and Exuma here, both artists that I love at the best of times but frequently fly off into unnecessary bouts of obscurity, and that can be heard here too. Time will tell if I warm to the more abrasive segments, but regardless of that I still believe that Dawson is a very special artist and what he does is completely unique. 5.8 (1st listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionSoilwork The Living Infinite18th April: Soilwork - The Living Infinite (melodic death metal, 2013) I listened to this once, nearly a decade ago, and entirely wrote it off. In fact, there's a likelihood that I didn't even listen to all of it, because it is 20 damn tracks. So I don't know what I was expecting when my beloved spreadsheet told me to revisit it, but it certainly wasn't any sort of moderate enjoyment. But you know what, this is decent, and with a bit (okay, a lot) of trimming, it could even be good. The real feather in the cap here is that they frequently deviate from the melodeath formula - sometimes into cringey metalcore riffs, very occasionally into power metal bursts of speed, but often into rich melodic passages more akin to goth, prog or alt-metal. At its absolute best, this sounds like a cheap Chaos Divine knockoff, and that's high praise coming from someone who believes Chaos Divine to be the masters of progressive melodeath. But yes, this is far, far too long, and even with the variation that does take its toll. The metalcore influence is also a bit tiresome, but at least they don't do breakdowns. All in all, I was expecting to totally hate this but I came out with moderate enjoyment. 5.4 (2nd listen)Svrm Згарище6th January, 2021: Svrm - ??????? (atmopheric black metal, 2018) This is the only album I listened to on this day - an 18-minute EP of black metal from Ukraine. The rest was spent watching elite and muscular New Zealand cricket team become the best in the world. I?d write a review of that if I could. All I really remember from this is that I kind of liked it, in particular the track ?Allt k�tt �r h�?, which interestingly has a Swedish title. I?ll have to give it some more listens as 18 minutes is definitely not long enough to make a lasting impression on me, and ultimately renders this the most pointless diary entry of the year so far. Thanks for reading. 5.8 (1st listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionTelevision Adventure17th January: Television - Adventure (post-punk/new wave, 1978) Having fallen for the critical darling Marquee Moon recently, it’s interesting to dive into this one - a sophomore slump so famous that the band almost entirely fell out of relevance after it. This most certainly is a slump, but it’s not a slump to genuine poor material - this just lacks the overt creativity and uniqueness of the debut. Gone is much of the prog influence and the long, winding song structures, and in are some more accessible new wave sounds. And it’s not all bad, in fact some of the hooks on here are pretty good as far as early new wave goes. It’s just a bit of a disappointment in context. 5.9 (1st listen)The Arrogant Sons of Bitches Three Cheers For Disappointment26th February: The Arrogant Sons of Bitches - Three Cheers for Disappointment (ska punk, 2006) My recent fandom for Jeff Rosenstock and his brand of modern pop punk doesn’t quite extend to this album - perhaps because it’s still part of the old scene rather than the no-care, passion-led vibe he’s been running for about a decade on his solo material. There’s also the ska and the hardcore influences, which I can only take in doses - and though the doses are small here, I don’t think either aspects of the sound really add much. There are still hooks though - it wouldn’t be a Jeff album without them - and some are pretty catchy, serving their purpose well. Nothing here though sticks in your brain any more than surface level though, which is a death sentence for an album in a genre built on catchiness. 6.0 (5th listen)The Kinks Something Else by The Kinks27th January, 2022: The Kinks - Something Else (baroque pop rock, 1967) This… didn’t really grow on me. At all. I can appreciate The Kinks a lot for what they were at the time, this daring, ahead-of-the-curve pop act with an excellent sense of humour and an ear for a great melody, and on first listen I thought this was more of that, but the more I’ve sat with it, the more it’s begun to kind of annoy me. And also, the more “Waterloo Sunset” has stood out - at first I wasn’t really convinced by that song’s reputation above the rest here, but it’s definitely the only thing I’d ever come back to in a hurry. The rest is competent, and occasionally quite catchy, but a few too many of these are catchy in the wrong sort of way. I found “Love Me Till the Sun Shines” and “Harry Rag” in my head a few times, neither of which are particularly good things to have sitting in there. There aren’t quite enough hooks here to justify just how irritating some of this, although yes, there are some excellent bits and pieces in here. 5.8 (4th listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionThe Winstons Smith28th January, 2022: The Winstons - Smith (canterbury scene, 2019) A peculiar bit of anachronism - a record from 2019 that calls in majority back to the early 70’s Canterbury scene of progressive rock. And they’re from Italy. But I feel like there is a place for some Canterbury influence in modern music, as the kind of humour and whimsy of those bands can be found in a lot of modern indie. The Winstons aren’t a pure clone - bits of this are more Tame Impala than Soft Machine, and I think the combination of the jazzy and fun old school prog with modern production is a nice one. 6.0 (2nd listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction2.5 averageAl-Kamar 枯れた献花台(karetakenkadai)9th January 2021: Al-Kamar - Karetakenkadai (avant-garde blackgaze, 2013) I can see why people struggle with this, and I did too for similar reasons - the production is absolutely horrific. Not just an on-trend black metal kind of lo-fi, it's actually just recorded poorly, with bad mics and bad takes. Adding to that all the genre hopping and it ends up as an utter mess, but somehow I don't fully despise it - because it's creative. Blackgaze has become saturated with samey sounding projects and this certainly sounds nothing like any other kind of blackgaze. There melodies are j-pop influenced and the heavy parts pull from noise rock and drone as much as black metal. It's a fascinating release that sounds like utter garbage, and it's a pity this band kind of dropped off because I would have liked to have heard where they could take this sound. 4.4 (1st listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionEluveitie Slania14th January, 2021: Eluveitie - Slania (celtic melodic death metal, 2008) Right on the fence with this - there are pretty much equal parts stuff I like, stuff I think is rubbish and stuff I have no strong views of, often within the same song. The hurdy-gurdy is fantastic, and really adds a beautiful texture to some of the songs here, but some of the melodies it plays range from great to ultra corny. Still, on the whole it’s definitely a net positive. What I don’t like here is the death metal, it’s just… unimaginative. The riffs are occasionally completely dry and the vocals definitely get on my nerves more than I enjoy them. I definitely appreciate this band’s existence but I can’t fully get behind this one. 4.9 (2nd listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionSting The Dream of the Blue Turtles18th January, 2021: Sting - The Dream of the Blue Turtles (sophisti-pop rock, 1985) I had one of those “wait, that was a cover?” moments when listening to this, the kind that make you really question everything you thought you knew about a song or an album. The song in question is “Russians”, which I first heard done by doom metal band The Foreshadowing. I probably should have known - I always remember the song’s lyrics being utterly bizarre and totally out of place for that band. Hearing it here really took me by shock, but I have to say that I don’t even think this version is better - at least in the doom metal version there was some kind of awareness at the daftness of the lyrics, but Stingy here sings them with such utter sincerity. The rest of the album? Oh I can’t remember any of it, must have been boring. 4.6 (1st listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionThe Orb Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld1st February: The Orb - The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (ambient dub/house, 1991) I wish I could get behind this, but there’s something about dub that rubs me the wrong way so extensively that I can’t even enjoy this on the surface level. “Little Fluffy Clouds”, devoid of any of that dub influence, is the notable exception, as a fascinating piece of space- ambient-meets-house that you never knew was possible. 4.9 (2nd listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction2.0 poorAndrew Lloyd Webber Cats: Original Broadway Cast19th January: Andrew Lloyd Webber - Cats (show tunes, 1984) Okay, yep, the theatre kids are right. This one does suck. I’m a casual Lloyd Webber defender - although I’m no fan of musical theatre in general, and I abhor some of the works he influenced, but at least Phantom and JCS had hooks. Well, a couple of songs from them did. Where are the hooks, Andrew? This isn’t catchy, or fun, or musically interesting, it’s just annoying. And that’s without even getting to the nonsensical subject matter. I read that he began this as a musical exercise, to challenge himself to write melodies to pre-written lyrics. Anyone who’s had a go at songwriting knows just how difficult that is, and I’m surprised someone of Webber’s statute allowed his half-finish splurges of compositional practice reach other ears, let alone become one of the most popular musicals of all time. Pass. 3.7 (1st listen) Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunctionSerpent Column Endless Detainment5th January 2021: Serpent Column - Endless Detainment (blackened mathcore, 2020)rI suppose this is my genre bias showing.rI really enjoyed Serpent Column on 2019?s Mirror in Darkness. I thought they had a brilliant atmosphere and used their influences from punk and hardcore to create an Ulcerate-esque kind of infernal chaos. This short release sees them flipping the script and essentially playing mathcore with black metal influences more than vice versa. And? I?m not into it. I?m just not into mathcore at all, and it seems that can?t even be remedied when an artist I enjoy does it. Too screamy, too meandering, not enough emotion and not enough melody. Maybe it?ll grow on me (stranger things have happened), but until now I?ll stick to their black metal albums.r3.7 (1st listen)rPart of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction1.5 very poorJames Blunt The Afterlove30th January: James Blunt - The Afterlove (pop, 2017) James Blunt, more commonly known today for being funny twitter man, was once a fairly important part of my musical development. These days only a handful of his songs I can stomach, and all of them have flaws, but he could write a great melody and had some pretty beautiful chord progressions. You’d think, with all the money in the world, an undeniably solid basic understanding of songwriting and his well-known sense of humour, that he could pull of some fairly good late-career self-satire? Sadly not. This is the first truly bad album I’ve heard from Blunt, and oh boy is it bad. He’s not even being bad with his tongue in cheek here, as there’s very little to differentiate most of this from Ed Sheeran, and if I’m honest the pathetic trendhopping in the sounds here makes it even worse. I don’t think Blunt needs to prove anything to anyone, so I’m honestly not even sure why he’d bother making an album like this. Maybe it’s all just to fuel those so epic jokes he posts. 2.7 (1st listen)1.0 awfulThe Black Dahlia Murder Unhallowed9th January: The Black Dahlia Murder - Unhallowed (melodic death metal, 2003) As some of you know, I use an algorithm written into a spreadsheet to tell me what to listen to, at least for revisiting albums I’ve already heard. I didn’t always use this method (naturally), so sometimes it tells me to listen to albums that I last heard a decade ago, but because I only listened once, I should revisit. This was one of those. It amazes me just how far removed this is from what I know as melodic death metal - having grown up on Insomnium, this just seems like another world of music. And it’s not particularly melodic, honestly. Any melody here is in the form of trite drop tuned chug riffs, the kind you’d get from someone just learning guitar and working out how many ways they can play the same riff to come up with a full repertoire. But the real killer here is the vocals - these are the kinds of vocals I imagine when people talk about blanket hating harsh vocals. They’re just aesthetically hideous, and instantly offputting. I don’t really know how anyone can stomach them. So yes, this is about as bad as the score I gave it 10 years ago. Congrats, teenage me, you were right. 1.8 (2nd listen)
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