| 4.5 superb |
| Anathema A Fine Day to Exit |
| As Tall As Lions As Tall As Lions |
| As Tall As Lions You Can't Take It With You |
| B. Dolan Fallen House Sunken City |
| Bad Bunny Debi tirar más fotos |
| Better Lovers God Made Me an Animal |
| Between the Buried and Me Colors_Live |
| Brand New Daisy |
Seems like it's love it or hate it for a lot of people. On my part, I think this is absurdly good. I'm hesitant to give an album that is not even released yet a 5, but I feel that way. I will refrain, however, until I've given it some more time to sink in.
TDAGARIM was phenomenal. This is better. |
| Brand New Science Fiction |
| Bright Eyes Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground |
| Bring Me The Horizon POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR |
| Bring Me The Horizon POST HUMAN: NeX GEn |
Sputnik is rough on this band. This is pretty
good. All over the place yet it all fits well
together. This is really well written.
n/A is different and cheesy until you realize
it's really good. Awesome bridge.
youtopia seems strange as an opener but damn,
what a great chorus. Great vocal performance.
Lots of other highlights, limousine, a bullet
w/my name on, rip, amen, dig it |
| Carly Rae Jepsen Emotion |
| Circa Survive Blue Sky Noise |
| Circa Survive The Amulet |
| Converge Axe to Fall |
| This is absolutely fabulous. It's no Jane Doe, but I don't believe anything can match that. This comes close, at times. Only gets better the more you listen to it. |
| Converge The Dusk in Us |
| Cryptopsy Whisper Supremacy |
| Cursive The Ugly Organ |
| Dance Gavin Dance Mothership |
| Dark Time Sunshine Vessel |
| Dream Theater Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory |
| dredg The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion |
Put me in the group that thought this was going to suck. It's actually really, really, really good. I would say this is Dredg coming into their own (I hated El Cielo, while Leitmotif was good, and Catch Without Arms was better). I'm really impressed.
I didn't like the songs I heard before hearing the album in full, but that's how this album is -- the flow of the album really makes it. You have to listen to it from start to finish. |
| El-P Fantastic Damage |
| Envy On The Coast Lowcountry |
| Foxing Nearer My God |
| fun. Aim and Ignite |
| Glassjaw Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence |
| Glassjaw Material Control |
| Greyhaven Stereo Grief |
| Greyhaven Keep It Quiet |
| Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion II |
| Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion I |
| He Is Legend It Hates You |
Really quite fantastic. Whereas "Suck Out the Poison" was a grower, this one hits you right away. This is really the product (not the sum) of IAH and SOTP. But it's not only that, there's plenty of new elements added in that really bring it to a new level.
Call it ((IAH * SOTP) + NEW_ELEMENTS) = Superb Album. |
| He Is Legend few |
Other than "I Am Hollywood", every He is Legend release has taken a few listens to fully digest. They are each interesting enough to warrant more than one listen, and each listen yields a progressively greater appreciation of the record.
The pattern repeats with "few".
Perhaps the reason for this pattern is that every release sounds like He is Legend, but always introduces some small, yet not insignificant variation on their sound. "few" blazes a new path, sounding very much like the spiritual successor to Suck out the Poison, with a little bit of every other record mixed in for good measure (even IAH).
It's hard to judge at this point where "few" falls in relation to all the other releases. In my opinion, It Hates You remains the high point of their career, but "few" pulls everything together so well that it may in time come to eclipse their other efforts. |
| Intronaut The Direction Of Last Things |
| Janelle Monae The ArchAndroid |
| Katatonia Last Fair Deal Gone Down |
| Kendrick Lamar DAMN. |
| Kendrick Lamar GNX |
| Margot and the Nuclear So and So's The Dust of Retreat |
| Minus the Bear Planet of Ice |
| Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine |
| Nine Inch Nails Fixed |
| Nine Inch Nails Year Zero |
| Norma Jean Polar Similar |
| Norma Jean Wrongdoers |
| Opeth Blackwater Park |
| Opeth Ghost Reveries |
| Planes Mistaken for Stars Knife In The Marathon |
| Portugal. The Man Church Mouth |
| This album really needs another review. It's far better than the review that's up. |
| Portugal. The Man The Satanic Satanist |
They did an excellent job on this one. While Censored Colors felt like it would get stuck at moments, this album flows very well and manages to command your attention throughout. Workaholics they are, it still sounds like they're enjoying themselves and having fun. Going along with the silly sounding title, this may be their "funnest" album yet, all while sounding a lot more serious than they have in the past.
"Mornings" is gorgeous. |
| Propagandhi Supporting Caste |
| Propagandhi Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes |
| Propagandhi Failed States |
| Protest the Hero Scurrilous |
| Protest the Hero Volition |
| Rx Bandits The Resignation |
| Rx Bandits ...And the Battle Begun |
| Soilwork Stabbing the Drama |
| Soilwork The Living Infinite |
| Sole and the Skyrider Band Plastique |
| Sufjan Stevens Carrie and Lowell |
| Taking Back Sunday New Again |
| This is actually really, really good. I wasn't even interested in this and hadn't thought about giving it a listen until I saw it getting better reviews here. I decided to try it out and I am glad I did. A very strong effort. |
| Thank You Scientist Stranger Heads Prevail |
| The Barbarians of California And Now I'm Just Gnashing My Teeth |
| The Dear Hunter Act II: The Meaning of, & All Things Regarding Ms. Leading |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Ire Works |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Option Paralysis |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan One of Us Is the Killer |
| The Haunted rEVOLVEr |
| The Mars Volta The Bedlam in Goliath |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium |
| The Number Twelve Looks Like You Worse Than Alone |
| The Reign of Kindo This Is What Happens |
| Tool Lateralus |
| Typhoon (USA-OR) White Lighter |
| Ulver Perdition City |
| Vektor Terminal Redux |
| 4.0 excellent |
| A Wilhelm Scream Mute Print |
| Amorphis Elegy |
| Amorphis Under the Red Cloud |
| Anathema We're Here Because We're Here |
| Atmosphere When Life Gives You Lemons... |
| Between the Buried and Me Colors II |
| Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago |
| Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon Iver |
| Boys Night Out TrainWreck |
| Converge Petitioning the Empty Sky |
| Cursive Happy Hollow |
| Cursive Domestica |
| Dance Gavin Dance Instant Gratification |
| Deftones White Pony |
| Deftones Around the Fur |
| Deftones Koi No Yokan |
| Dot Hacker Inhibition |
| Dot Hacker How's Your Process? (Play) |
| Emperor Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk |
| Frank Ocean Blonde |
| Grade Under the Radar |
| Greyhaven This Bright and Beautiful World |
| Greyhaven Empty Black |
| Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy |
| He Is Legend Suck Out the Poison |
| He Is Legend Heavy Fruit |
| It's more of a grower than the other albums, but after a few listens, it definitely gets there. |
| letlive. The Blackest Beautiful |
| Lydia Run Wild |
First listen: "This is good, nothing special."
Second listen: "A bit better than I thought initially."
Third listen: "Oh...it's their best album."
I'm probably in the minority because I think Illuminate was weaker than their later efforts. Illuminate was consistently good but nothing wowed me. Paint it Golden and Devil, on the other hand, had some really great songs but occasionally descended into mediocrity.
One of Lydia's problems over all their albums is that while the music just exudes feeling, on each album, that feeling tends to be the same, song after song. While that is still somewhat true, they've broken that mold a bit with Run Wild. The songs here are more varied, helping to keep you interested. The strings and synths help fill out the songs a lot more.
The album is consistently strong throughout, except for 2 songs near the end, Coffee Drips and Watching the Lights, which, while not bad, are just not on par with the rest. The album closes on a strong note with Georgia.
Special attention needs to be paid to Riverman, which is, hands down, the best song they've ever written.
Highlights:
Riverman
The Sounds in Your Dream
When It Gets Dark Out
Paint My Mind
|
| Minus the Bear Highly Refined Pirates |
| Minus the Bear They Make Beer Commercials Like This |
| Minus the Bear Menos El Oso |
| Nine Inch Nails With Teeth |
| Opeth Still Life |
| P.O.S We Don't Even Live Here |
| Planes Mistaken for Stars Up In Them Guts |
| Porcupine Tree Fear of a Blank Planet |
| Porcupine Tree Deadwing |
| Portugal. The Man Censored Colors |
| Portugal. The Man Evil Friends |
| Propagandhi Potemkin City Limits |
| Protest the Hero Fortress |
| Protest the Hero Kezia |
| Radiohead In Rainbows |
| Rolo Tomassi Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It |
| Royal Blood Royal Blood |
| Run the Jewels Run the Jewels |
| Rx Bandits Gemini, Her Majesty |
| Rx Bandits Mandala |
| Saves the Day Stay What You Are |
| Soilwork The Chainheart Machine |
| Soilwork A Predator's Portrait |
| Soilwork Natural Born Chaos |
| Spiritbox Tsunami Sea |
| Spoon They Want My Soul |
| The Chariot One Wing |
| The Chariot Long Live |
| The Dear Hunter Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Miss Machine |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Irony Is a Dead Scene |
| The Flashbulb Soundtrack to a Vacant Life |
| The Haunted The Haunted |
| The Mars Volta Octahedron |
| As (almost) always, a very strong effort. I really enjoy the more mellow vibe with this album. The word was out that this was their "acoustic" album; it's not so much acoustic as it's just chilled out a lot more. They manage to create some really moody stuff on this. It's almost the polar opposite of TBIG, which was for the most part balls to the wall. This is a lot more subdued and it works. |
| Thought Industry Short Wave on a Cold Day |
| Tove Styrke Sway |
| Vince Staples Big Fish Theory |
| 3.5 great |
| '68 Two Parts Viper |
| A Wilhelm Scream Career Suicide |
| A Wilhelm Scream Ruiner |
| Aesop Rock Labor Days |
| Akercocke Words That Go Unspoken... |
| Anathema Hindsight |
| Anderson .Paak Malibu |
| Aphex Twin Drukqs |
| At the Gates Terminal Spirit Disease |
| B. Dolan Kill The Wolf |
| Bad Bunny Un Verano Sin Ti |
| Boys Night Out Fifty Million People Can't Be Wrong |
| Bright Eyes Letting Off the Happiness |
| Bright Eyes Fevers & Mirrors |
| Bright Eyes Digital Ash in a Digital Urn |
| Casualties of Cool Casualties of Cool |
| Cephalic Carnage Lucid Interval |
| Children of Bodom Hatebreeder |
| Children of Bodom Follow the Reaper |
| Circa Survive Juturna |
| Circa Survive On Letting Go |
| Converge No Heroes |
| Cryptopsy None So Vile |
| Cryptopsy And Then You'll Beg |
| Cursive Burst And Bloom |
| Defeater Travels |
| Dot Hacker How's Your Process? (Work) |
| Dream Theater Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence |
| dredg Catch Without Arms |
| Exotic Animal Petting Zoo Tree of Tongues |
| Grimes Art Angels |
| Handsome Boy Modeling School White People |
| He Is Legend I Am Hollywood |
| Iglooghost Little Grids |
| Lights Midnight Machines |
| Lydia Devil |
| Meshuggah obZen |
| Minus the Bear Acoustics |
| Opeth Watershed |
| Portugal. The Man Waiter: ''You Vultures!'' |
| Portugal. The Man Woodstock |
| Prefuse 73 One Word Extinguisher |
| Propagandhi Less Talk, More Rock |
| Protest the Hero Pacific Myth |
| ScHoolboy Q Blank Face LP |
| Sevendust Black Out the Sun |
| Strawberry Girls American Graffiti |
| Taking Back Sunday Tell All Your Friends |
| Taylor Swift The Life of a Showgirl |
| The Crown Deathrace King |
| The Dear Hunter Act III: Life and Death |
While generally weaker than Act II throughout, this is still a very good album. Considering that, much of my disappointment in this can be attributed to the extremely high expectations I had.
This is a much more cohesive album that Act II, and that is where the problem begins. It seems that Casey has really settled on his "sound" and as such, all the songs exhibit a certain feel. Many of them are overly bombastic, a trait that was featured in Act I and Act II but not to this extent. The beauty of Act II was how erratic it was at times -- bouncing from one genre to another, one mood to another. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of different things going on in Act III, but it all feels toned down and less inspired.
I disagree with some of the other reviewers who feel this gets weaker as it goes along. I believe it starts out weak and actually gets stronger as it goes along.
Possibly a 4.0, but a 3.5 feels more accurate. |
| The Number Twelve Looks Like You Mongrel |
| The Number Twelve Looks Like You Nuclear. Sad. Nuclear. |
| The Sound of Animals Fighting The Ocean and the Sun |
| The Tuss Confederation Trough EP |
| Tool Opiate |
| Tool Undertow |
| Tool 10,000 Days |
| Ulver Kveldssanger |
| Vince Staples Summertime '06 |
