AtomicWaste
Thompson D. Gerhart
Staff

Reviews 130
Soundoffs 129
News Articles 29
Band Edits + Tags 63
Album Edits 155

Album Ratings 897
Objectivity 65%

Last Active 01-01-70 12:00 am
Joined 01-01-70

Review Comments 2,918

Average Rating: 3.80
Rating Variance: 0.56
Objectivity Score: 65%
(Fairly Balanced)

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5.0 classic
All Human Teenagers, You Don't Have to Die
Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion
Animals As Leaders Animals as Leaders
Ayreon The Human Equation
Benjamin Clementine I Tell A Fly
Between the Buried and Me Colors
Between the Buried and Me The Blue Nowhere
Big D and the Kids Table Fluent in Stroll
An album that simply never gets old for me, Fluent in Stroll is everything that embodies the positive side of relationships. A pick-me-up in dark times and a booster in bright hours, the point is never missed here.
Black Widow Sacrifice
I conjuh thee I conjuh thee I conjuh THEE I conjuh thee appear!
Blind Guardian Imaginations From The Other Side
Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago
Casualties of Cool Casualties of Cool
I'm not sure that I'd ever call this album a surprise - part "Trainfire" and "Blackberry" with the rest of its composition made up of Ghost's haunting ambiance, Casualties of Cool is an album that's been a long time coming from ol' Dev. The blues have always been evident in his playing, as has the expert layering needed to pull of that subtle elements like the sax in "Moon" or the early electronics of the record. With Devin previously indicating that "Ghost" was the direction he felt he needed to move in, it makes absolute, perfect, beautiful sense that Casualties is the next step... and that it's as picturesque and wonderful as it is.
Clever Girl No Drum And Bass in the Jazz Room
Coheed and Cambria The Second Stage Turbine Blade
Coheed and Cambria In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
Coheed and Cambria From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
Cynic Traced in Air
David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
David Bowie Blackstar
Deafheaven Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Devin Townsend Ocean Machine: Biomech
Devin Townsend Project Ghost
Dream Theater Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
Emerson, Lake and Palmer Tarkus
Fair to Midland Arrows and Anchors
Fear Before The Always Open Mouth
Gilgamesh Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into
Gojira From Mars to Sirius
Haken The Mountain
Iron Maiden Somewhere In Time
Iron Maiden Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
ISIS Panopticon
Judas Priest Painkiller
Judas Priest Sad Wings Of Destiny
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly
Kevin Gilbert The Shaming of The True
King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King
King Crimson Discipline
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Butterfly 3000
King's X Gretchen Goes to Nebraska
Kishi Bashi Lighght
Laura Stevenson Wheel
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV
Megadeth Rust In Peace
Metallica Master Of Puppets
Miles Davis Bitches Brew
Modest Mouse This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About
Neal Morse One
I have been listening to a Neal Morse album from 2004 far more than any new release from 2020. Author of Confusion is amazing.
Opeth Ghost Reveries
Opeth Blackwater Park
Orbs Asleep Next to Science
I think this may be my album of the year. The whole thing is just so fresh... Heavy yet light. Poppish yet well-grounded. Deviating yet catchy. The vocals are a little hard to get into upon first listen, but you come to love them very, very quickly. And the lyrics... They're quirky, but fun. This whole album is simply great.
Orbs These People Are Animals
Adam Fisher is a god of turning the most inane and incomprehensible lyrics into something beautiful. Yes, even moreso than Jon Mess.
Orbs Past Life Regression
I'll betcha used to be a burrrrrro. I'll betcha used to be a prog rock band. I'll betcha started watching Jaws and getting high at night while writing rhymes that carry you off time. I'll betcha no one expected industrial. I'll betcha no one expected new wave and chords straight out of the Beatles. I'll betcha no one thought you'd poison your Campbells with Sauvignon Blanc or that you'd trade in the kids stuff for sex stuff; I'll betcha that no one expected LOVE! SWEET LOVE! Love of starting with something that seamlessly morphs into LOVE! SWEET LOVE! Transforming and crawling and crushing and falling apart in mass of sweaty post-coital LOVE! SWEET LOVE! A love that begins again and again and again and again and again? Golly, I suppose! Golly, I suppose - I do think so!
PM Today In Medias Res
Porcupine Tree In Absentia
Queen A Night at the Opera
Queensryche Operation: Mindcrime
Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication
Reflux The Illusion Of Democracy
Rush Moving Pictures
Rush 2112
Rx Bandits ...And the Battle Begun
Scale the Summit The Collective
Scale the Summit put out another astonishing release that really shows the band maturing ranother degree past Carving Desert Canyons. While there's no doubt that all of the musicians rhere have honed their skills since their last release, what's really been sharpened is the roverall sound of the album.rOn each track, there's simply not a note out of place, and the instruments come together to rform a larger picture more now than they did on Carving Desert Canyons (and even moreso on rMonument), where the framework would often be set for a guitar battle. And yes, that kind of rskill and the show of it are still around, but they're even more artfully exercised than rbefore. Which is saying a lot.rThe album loses some cohesion between tracks, which wasn't much of an issue on the past two rreleases, but the increase in technicality and the more mature sound definitely makes up for rit.rHard to put it at a 5 just yet, but it's definitely no lower than a 4.5.
Scatman John Scatman's World
Sieges Even The Art of Navigating by the Stars
Strawberry Girls French Ghetto
Arithmetic is the foundation of everything beautiful.
Streetlight Manifesto Everything Goes Numb
Streetlight Manifesto The Hands That Thieve
Color me impressed with Streetlight's ability to push the envelope album after album. Not as
immediate as their past releases, but following Somewhere in the Between, that's not too
much of a shock. "If Only for Memories" may be my favorite right now, but every track is a
winner. The Hands That Thieve is just a testament to what can happen if you give good
musicians the time they need to make an album.
Sufjan Stevens Illinois
Sufjan Stevens The Age of Adz
Sufjan Stevens Silver & Gold
Sufjan Stevens Carrie and Lowell
The Dear Hunter Act II: The Meaning of, & All Things Regarding Ms. Leading
The Dear Hunter The Color Spectrum (Complete Collection)
The Postal Service Give Up
The Residents God in Three Persons
The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Touche Amore Stage Four
WU LYF Go Tell Fire to the Mountain

4.9 classic
Lost Ubikyst in Apeiron Abstruse Imbeciles Nailed on Slavery
Meticulously crafted, programmed, and engineered over the course of six years, Abstruse Imbeciles Nailed On Slavery is one of the tightest, most well-executed progressive metal releases to grace 2014. Now, if only we could do something about that goofy band name and album title...
Ne Obliviscaris Citadel
If it successfully follows in its own footsteps, does that do anything to impact its remarkability? Yes, only in that it's not a surprise. It's a notch. I don't see how anything else can really be counted against this album - a stunning successor tarnished only by the fact that it follows a stunning initial release.

4.8 classic
Coevality Multiple Personalities
I talk a big game about a lot of stuff, but this is an early contender for 2021's finest. If you want to listen to an awesome 2021 instrumental prog album, this is it
Moon Tooth Crux
Thank You Scientist Maps of Non-Existent Places

4.7 superb
Animals As Leaders The Joy of Motion
Julien Baker Sprained Ankle
Monobody Monobody
Awesome, fun, funky, and fresh. Doesn't get much better than this for a debut.
Night Verses From the Gallery of Sleep
Origami Angel Gami Gang
Porcupine Tree Fear of a Blank Planet
So Long Forgotten Beneath Our Noble Heads
So Long Forgotten put out a release that is laced with interesting guitar work, some nice bass grooves, and solid drumming. When coupled with pleasant vocal harmonies sung to the tune of intelligent lyrics, this boils down a very good album that comes off as surprisingly non-preachy for the group's pronounced Christian views.rDefinitely worth a position in your collection.
Thank You Scientist Terraformer
The Comet Is Coming Trust in the Lifeforce of Deep Mystery
The Most Of What We Have

4.6 superb
Damascus When Last We Met
Stolas Allomaternal
The Mercury Tree Permutations
"Unintelligible" is this year's "Cockroach King" for me - memorable, spastic, and full of flawlessly executed threads that would utterly collapse without total mastery behind them.

4.5 superb
A Moment's Ornament Swingsets: Dawn Breaks Like First Love Blooms
Aeon Spoke Aeon Spoke
Aerodyne Flex Transmissions
This is djent's "Colors." Everything the subgenre purports to be, executed perfectly.
An Endless Sporadic Ameliorate
Anathema We're Here Because We're Here
Anathema Weather Systems
Arab Strap As Days Get Dark
Arcade Fire Funeral
Atoma Skylight
Ayreon Into the Electric Castle
bansheebeat Spiral Power
Between the Buried and Me Alaska
Bloodletters and Badmen Bloodletters and Badmen
An outstanding album that brings the '70s rock and blues sound into the 21st century with an added indie folk presence and a varyingly serene and gruff vocal presence. My god, Kam, you've really done it with this one.
Botch We Are the Romans
Bruce Dickinson Skunkworks
Bruce Dickinson The Chemical Wedding
Buckethead Decoding the Tomb of Bansheebot
Buckethead Monsters & Robots
Canvas Solaris Sublimation
Casiopea Casiopea
Chicago Chicago Transit Authority
Chimp Spanner At the Dream's Edge
Closure in Moscow First Temple
Cynic Focus
Damascus Heights
David Maxim Micic Bilo 2.0
David Maxim Micic Bilo 3.0
David Maxim Micic is a genius.r"Daydreamers" is brilliant.
David Maxim Micic ECO
Thematically very different from Micic's Bilo series of EPs, ECO draws heavily on expanding David's electronic sensibilities towards the realms of pop and EDM. The vocals on ECO nurture its pop sensibilities while the primary musical layer of electronics on top of Micic's djenty lows continue his well-illustrated philosophy of incorporating crunchy extended range guitars that have been made boring by other groups in ways that are complementary and interesting to his primary melodies.
Deafheaven Sunbather
Death Human
Death Individual Thought Patterns
Devin Townsend Terria
Devin Townsend The Puzzle
Devin Townsend goes Sufjan Stevens, but with less ding dong ding dong and more saxophone and sing song sing song
Devin Townsend Project Addicted
Devin Townsend Project Ki
Devin Townsend Project Deconstruction
This is the sum total of everything that is Devin - drawing on riffs and phrases from albums past and weaving them into something new. And it's glorious.
Disperse Journey Through The Hidden Gardens
Jakub Zytecki has a band. And, thank god, they work to create a real, solid and creative progressive metal sound that ranks up there with the best. Zytecki is an astounding guitarist and the vocals and atmospheric work the rest of the band supply to accompany him astound, as well. "Circle's Complete" may be the capstone of the album, and it's the perfect track to go out on, providing what almost feels like a companion piece to Portal (Cynic)'s "Circle," replete with a vocal performance reminiscent of Aruna Abrams.
Dream Theater Images And Words
Emerson, Lake and Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Enemies Embark Embrace
Explosions in the Sky The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
Fair to Midland Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True
Fire! Orchestra Ritual
Flying Colors Flying Colors
fordirelifesake Dance.Pretend.Forget.Defend
This is stand out metalcore, any way you slice it. The now departed fordirelifesake play what seems to be the most melodic and upbeat album within the metalcore genre, and perhaps any music to feature screaming at all. The mixture of melody, breakdown, screaming, clean male and female vocal passages, and just down-right intelligently structured music provides some serious aural satisfaction.
Gab.riel Tangent
Giant Squid The Ichthyologist
Gordian Knot Emergent
Gorguts Colored Sands
Gru Cosmogenesis
Guilt Machine On This Perfect Day
Hayley Williams Petals for Armor
Heavens Gate In the Mood
Humanoid Remembering Universe
Ikuinen Kaamos Closure
Iron Maiden Brave New World
Jag Panzer Thane to the Throne
Jakub Zytecki Feather Bed
Zytecki extends the sound of Disperse's Foreword in this slightly trailing EP oozing reverb and electronic and downtempo influence. Much like Foreword, the fresh, breezy character of the album resonates well and gives listeners a superb take on guitar mastery that extends beyond distorted shredding.
Jakub Zytecki Ladder Head
With this kind of flair and innovation across 2 EPs and 1 LP (Foreword, with Disperse), it's going to be hard for Zytecki to stay much of a secret in the years coming.
Judas Priest Stained Class
JYOCHO The Beautiful Cycle of Terminal
King Crimson Larks' Tongues in Aspic
King Crimson Red
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Polygondwanaland
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Infest the Rats' Nest
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Phantom Island
King Gizz get extra brassy and extra breezy and it brings the soulful strut summer vibes you didn't know you were missing.
King's X Out of the Silent Planet
Last Dinosaurs In A Million Years
Lazer Kitty Ruins
Lazer Kitty MOONS
An amazing follow-up to the stellar (no pun intended) Ruins. Lazer Kitty are here to blow your socks off with their unique and atmospheric blend of progressive approach and spacy electronics all wound up in one orchestral package.
Le Grand Plastic Jazz
Leafhouse Leafhouse
Led Zeppelin Houses Of The Holy
Mark Hawkins Grandpa's Guitars
Excellent acoustic-hybrid progressive album from Soul Cycle and Robots Pulling Levers djentleman Mark Hawkins. The album blends elements of folk, metal, flamenco, and progressive to create a really interesting instrumental work. Definitely worth checking out.
Megadeth Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?
Megadeth Countdown To Extinction
Moron Police Boat on the Sea
Mountain Animation Lava Letter
BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO
Opeth Watershed
orchards Losers/Lovers
Overkill Necroshine
Parkway Drive Deep Blue
Porcupine Tree Deadwing
Protest the Hero Volition
Scurrilous is catchier, but this goes pretty hard too, so
Protest the Hero Palimpsest
Queen Queen II
Queen A Day at the Races
Radiohead In Rainbows
Radiohead OK Computer
Radiohead Kid A
Rolo Tomassi Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It
Rush Permanent Waves
Rush Hemispheres
Rush A Farewell To Kings
Rush Rush In Rio
Rx Bandits Gemini, Her Majesty
Savatage Dead Winter Dead
Savoir Adore Our Nature
Scale the Summit Carving Desert Canyons
Scale the Summit The Migration
Nothing but a continued example of instrumental excellence. Doubters and detractors beware.
Sithu Aye Isles
sleepmakeswaves In Today Already Walks Tomorrow
Soul Cycle Soul Cycle II
Steven Wilson To the Bone
Strawberry Girls Tasmanian Glow
Streetlight Manifesto Somewhere in the Between
Streetlight Manifesto Keasbey Nights
Sufjan Stevens Michigan
The Contortionist Exoplanet
The Contortionist Language
The Dear Hunter Indigo
"Progress" is about the only track on here that I really care for, but it's so good that it carries the whole Spectrum in my eyes.
The Dear Hunter White
Easily the best part of the collection (with Indigo clocking in at a solid second). White is simply incredibly moving, well-orchestrated songs, one after another without a miss.
The Dear Hunter Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise
The Dear Hunter Antimai
The Fall of Troy Doppelganger
The Great Gamble Book 1
I've been waiting for these guys to put out a finished product for a while now, and it does not disappoint. The vocals are reminiscant of King's X and Howard Jones's cleans on Killswitch Engage, while the instrumental offering sounds like a hybrid of Dream Theater and Symphony X in an epic-only format. It's interesting and certainly worth your time if you get a moment.rhttp://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thegreatgamble1
The Kymatica 2011 EP
The Microphones Microphones in 2020
The National Sleep Well Beast
The Omega Experiment Karma EP
The Prize Fighter Inferno Beaver Records EP
Superb EP. Its only downfall is being far too short.
The Receiving End of Sirens Between the Heart and the Synapse
The Wednesday Club Passing Strange
The World Is a Beautiful Place... Harmlessness
The World Is a Beautiful Place... Always Foreign
Tides of Man Dreamhouse
Tigran Hamasyan The Call Within
Tilian Material Me
Tim Bowness Flowers At The Scene
Touche Amore Is Survived By
Water's Edge An Abstract Collapse
We Broke the Weather we broke the weather
I really like this a lot, but the intro to "Fire Season" is "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down and it always makes me laugh.

4.4 superb
Marina Froot

4.3 superb
Chris Letchford Lightbox
Foxing Nearer My God
Hoth Oathbreaker
If someone directed an animated short to just one of these tracks, it would do the entire backstory to A New Hope justice. Finally.
Solange A Seat at the Table

4.2 excellent
And So I Watch You From Afar The Endless Shimmering
Angel Vivaldi Universal Language
Ben Howard I Forget Where We Were
There's something very special about I Forget Where We Were that I can't quite put my finger on, which is probably what makes it very special.
Chihiro Yamanaka Utopia
Chronophobe after a long year...
Cynic Ascension Codes
Disperse Foreword
Erlang Kovata Shattered
George Benson Breezin'
Jakub Zytecki Wishful Lotus Proof
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard The Silver Cord
Kishi Bashi Sonderlust
ManDancing The Good Sweat
Messa The Spin
Native Construct Quiet World
This is a landmark of a new standard in progressive metal - the kind of stuff that brings the same sort of drama and intrigue that Images and Words once sparked.
Subsignal Beacons of Somewhere Sometime
Thrice To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere
Trousdale Growing Pains
TTNG Animals
Vasudeva Generator

4.1 excellent
Shabutie Plan to Take Over the World [EP]
I'm a bahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaastaaaaaaaaaaard, I'm a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaastaaaaaaaaaaard.

4.0 excellent
3 (USA) The Ghost You Gave To Me
A.S.A.P. Silver and Gold
A.S.A.P. Silver and Gold
Adebisi Shank This is the Second Album
Al Joseph Out in the Open
American Football American Football (LP3)
Anathema Judgement
Anathema The Optimist
Angel Vivaldi The Speed of Dark
A notch above Universal Language, on Vivaldi's second outing, he shows a side to his music more infused with emotion than in his latest offering while still showcasing the skills that classify him as a neo-virtuoso (although, admittedly, cutting back on the "neo" part).
Animal Collective Painting With
Aramid Obsidian
Arcturus The Sham Mirrors
Art of Illusion Round Square of the Triangle
Ashes Divide Keep Telling Myself It's Alright
At the Gates Slaughter of the Soul
Athletics Who You Are Is Not Enough
Athletics What Makes You Think This Is How It All Ends?
Augury Concealed
August Burns Red Constellations
Ayreon The Universal Migrator, Pts 1-2
Barrier Dark Days
This is the raw metalcore (if not simply technical hardcore) sound so many bands have aimed for only to somehow fall short. There is no pretense, there is no complication, there is only that pure, channeled aggression maneuvered through technicality and dexterity of instrumentation. If you're trying to be heavy with sincerity, this is how it's done.
Between the Buried and Me The Parallax II: Future Sequence
Between the Buried and Me Colors II
Big D and the Kids Table Stroll
Now that's what I'm talkin' about. Well, for the most part. This isn't really the "stroll" rwe heard on Fluent anymore. This is spaced out reggae stroll that likes to forego a lot of rits ska beginnings, which is why it's not as good as its predecessor. Some tracks come rcloser, some are further away, but it's still miles beyond The Damned, The Dumb, and The rDelirious.
Big D and the Kids Table Stomp
I just can't stop listening to "Pinball" it's just that good.
Blind Guardian A Twist In The Myth
Bonobo The North Borders
Bootsy Collins Blasters of the Universe
Bruce Dickinson Accident Of Birth
Buckethead Pepper's Ghost
Buckethead Crime Slunk Scene
Capharnaum Fractured
Captain, We're Sinking The Future Is Cancelled
Captain, We're Sinking The King of No Man
Children of Bodom Follow the Reaper
Children of Bodom Something Wild
Chimp Spanner All Roads Lead Here
CHON Grow
Chosen Resolution
After Intrinsic turned out to be a bust, someone had to step up.rThank god. I've been waiting for a metal album like this.
Chris Schlarb Psychic Temple II
Chris Schlarb Psychic Temple
Chthonic Seediq Bale
Circulatory System Signal Morning
Cloud Gavin Posture
Cloudkicker ]]][[[
Cloudkicker Beacons
Cloudkicker Woum
Coheed and Cambria The Afterman: Ascension
Yup, it's a Coheed album. A grower, at that. "The Afterman" won't get out of my head and now that I can hear the rest in good quality, it's slowly creeping in there as well.
Coheed and Cambria The Afterman: Descension
Pop prog. "Number City" borrows shamelessly from The Police, but it's a great track and this is a really good album, so who cares?
Coheed and Cambria Vaxis I: The Unheavenly Creatures
Coheed and Cambria Vaxis III: The Father of Make Believe
Corelia Nostalgia
cotoba Since the World is About to End
Cynic Carbon-Based Anatomy
Cynic The Portal Tapes
Damascus Of Whom I Always Think
Healthy, robust, pretty cool post-rock. Worth a listen.
Dan Dankmeyer Arcologies
Dananananaykroyd There Is A Way
Dance Gavin Dance Downtown Battle Mountain II
Dance Gavin Dance Instant Gratification
Dance Gavin Dance Dance Gavin Dance
David Bowie Aladdin Sane
David Maxim Micic Bilo
Deadlock Manifesto
Deadlock Bizarro World
Deafheaven New Bermuda
Death Symbolic
Devin Townsend Ziltoid the Omniscient
Dispirited Spirits The Redshift Blues
Dream Theater Awake
Dream Theater Train of Thought
Drewsif Stalin's Musical Endeavors A Particularly Beautiful Day
A really nice ambient EP that sounds like the description of its title - A Particularly Beautiful Day. It's just one 12 and a half minute instrumental track that breezes on through and leaves you with a bit of inner peace.
Enchant The Great Divide
Enemies Valuables
Fates Warning Theories of Flight
Flying Colors Third Degree
Geronimo >>>>>>>
Forests Spending Eternity In A Japanese Convenience Store
Gamma Ray Land of the Free
Girugamesh Music
Givers In Light
Glassjaw Material Control
God Is an Astronaut All Is Violent, All Is Bright
Godsticks Spiral Vendetta
Gojira The Way of All Flesh
Gojira Magma
A slower, more deliberate Gojira that make their punches poignant. There's a certain Gothic charm to this album that's not really present on previous outings and though many elements of Gojira's style are instantly recognizable, there's a tangible difference between Magma and previous outings. But where L'Enfant Sauvage started to see the band's well of crushing, groove-centered ideas drying up, Magma is an undeniably fresh and interesting direction for the band.
Gorguts Obscura
Guns N' Roses Appetite for Destruction
Hail the Sun Divine Inner Tension
Haken Aquarius
Hayley Williams FLOWERS for VASES / descansos
Heavens Gate In Control
The first release from German Power Metal band Heavens Gate, In Control comes across as something fresh to the Metal scene, though sporting high pitched vocals common to the era, the guitars have a special, gravelly quality, which, when coupled by the absolutely superb solos on this album make it not their very best album, but at least their heaviest and a very promising one.
Heavens Gate Boxed
Heavens Gate Hell For Sale!
Heavens Gate Livin' In Hysteria
Helloween Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I
Icarus the Owl Icarus the Owl
Iced Earth Horror Show
Iced Earth Night Of The Stormrider
Ikuinen Kaamos Fall of Icons
Into Eternity Buried in Oblivion
Iron Maiden The Number Of The Beast
Iron Maiden Piece Of Mind
Iron Maiden Powerslave
ISIS Oceanic
ISIS Wavering Radiant
Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins A Scarcity Of Miracles
John 5 The Art of Malice
John 5 The Devil Knows My Name
Joncofy Rorschach Inkblots
Judas Priest Defenders Of The Faith
Judas Priest Screaming For Vengeance
Julien Baker Turn Out The Lights
K Sera Collisions and Near Misses
Kalisia Cybion
Killswitch Engage The End of Heartache
King Crimson Beat
King Crimson Three of a Perfect Pair
King Diamond The Graveyard
King Diamond "Them"
King Diamond Abigail
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of...
Lar Kaye EP
Lazer Kitty SPIES
LodeStar Dynasty Blurry Moon
One of the strangest, if not best albums to appear this year - this short, but sweet 4 song EP draws from metal, djent, rock, hip hop, dubstep, electronica, and classical piano sounds to create a well-blended mix that maybe whispers originality more than it hollars it. The djenty guitars perhaps stick out a bit too much in many areas, but on tracks like "Blurry Moon" and "Breaker," LodeStar Dynasty comes across more like a heavy version of Nujabes than anything else.
Lorde Pure Heroine
Marty Friedman True Obsessions
Marty Friedman Dragon's Kiss
Mastodon Blood Mountain
Mastodon Leviathan
Mastodon Remission
Mastodon The Hunter
Megadeth United Abominations
Megadeth Endgame
The thing I love about Megadeth is the way they've always shown a progression. Even on shit like Risk, they've been willing to try something new. But there's really not much new on Endgame aside from Dialect Chaos, which is just Chris Broderick being Christ Broderick.rIt IS just Rust in Peace 2, which is the problem. Move forward, Megs, not backward. You can create something so much more interesting than this album which has nearly zero replay value.
Megadeth Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!
Metal Church The Human Factor
Metallica Ride The Lightning
Metallica Kill 'Em All
Michael Romeo The Dark Chapter
Mindplotter Imperative
Minus the Bear Planet of Ice
Misery Signals Mirrors
MODELING Ep1
Mogwai Every Country's Sun
Nathan Derr itsudattakke
No-Man Love You to Bits
Numbers Numbers
Obscura Cosmogenesis
Oh No Ono Eggs
Opeth Deliverance
Opeth Damnation
orchards Bicker
Orion Where Whales Go To Die
Deep, dark, and heavy where it needs to be, yet intriguingly melodic in a very soft-spoken, yet beautiful way. This may be one of the few bands to have the right mixture of djent chugs and melody down to make it work out properly.
oshwa Chamomile Crush
Oshwa simply smacks of potential, with "Old Man Skies" being an obvious standout for leading lady Alicia Walter's dynamic and kooky vocal delivery, perfectly off-beat math rock timing, and crystaline melodies. While there are peaks and valleys throughout the rest of the album, Chamomile Crush largely "goes with the flow" to a point where most tracks simply blend together. The sound that they blend into is easily enjoyable, but it'd be nice if there were a little more that stood out like "Old Man Skies."
Pain of Salvation The Perfect Element, Part 1
Pain of Salvation Scarsick
Paramore Riot!
Parkway Drive Horizons
Parkway Drive Killing With A Smile
Periphery Juggernaut: Alpha
Where previous Periphery albums sacrifice melody to focus on rhythmic variation, Alpha expands on the melodic focus presented on tracks like "Jetpacks Was Yes" and expanded on in their sophomore album to appealing effect. Fans of the less tonal debut will be bothered by the more colorful melodic outings on Alpha, but can find solace in the album's heavier offerings.
Periphery Periphery IV: Hail Stan
Oh my god this subtitle is even stupider than I could have dreamed.
Planet X MoonBabies
Porcupine Tree The Incident
Porcupine Tree We Lost the Skyline
Protest the Hero Kezia
Protest the Hero Fortress
Protest the Hero Scurrilous
pulses. Yo! Champ in the Making!
Punky Bruster Cooked on Phonics
Queen Sheer Heart Attack
Red Hot Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium
Reel Big Fish Why Do They Rock So Hard?
Remmirath Polis Rouge
Rush Fly By Night
Rush The Spirit Of Radio: Greatest Hits
Russian Circles Guidance
Ryan Wall Sleep
A good mix of chug grooves, post-rock atmosphere, and well-directed guitar make Sleep an intriguing listen, but it's Wall's vocals that sell the album. Oscillating between gritty yet flowing cleans, not-too-harsh sustained growls, and high screams that retain that harsh note of strained emotion, it's no surprise why Wall is auditioning to fill the vocalist void in Tesseract.
Samson Shock Tactics
Samson Head On
Sarah Neufeld The Ridge
Savatage Hall of the Mountain King
Scale the Summit Monument
Scar Symmetry Holographic Universe
Secret Band LP2
Seventh Wonder Mercy Falls
Shearwater The Golden Archipelago
Sithu Aye Cassini
Skyharbor Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos
Skyharbor Guiding Lights
Sleep Parade Inside/Out
Soul Cycle Soul Cycle
Interesting melodic djent with the capability of becoming something more. A lot of the characteristic djent chugging, especially present on the first tracks of this album are really distracting and almost annoying, but there's enough of an interesting approach to the solos and lead riffs that when the chugging isn't going on, the music is really great.rQuite frankly, it'd be a 4 without the chugs, which are mostly present and distracting before "Landscapes to Infinity" (which is a fantastic track).
Spaces Nothing Exists but Atoms and the Void
Special Providence Soul Alert
Star One Victims of the Modern Age
Stellar Circuits Sight To Sound
Steve Vai Sex and Religion
Steven Page Page One
Steven Page Heal Thyself Pt. 1: Instinct
Steven Page Discipline: Heal Thyself, Pt. II
Strapping Young Lad Alien
Strapping Young Lad City
Streetlight Manifesto 99 Songs of Revolution: Volume I
Sun Ra Atlantis
Symphony X Paradise Lost
Symphony X The Divine Wings of Tragedy
Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster Exegesis
Tenacious D Jazz
TesseracT Concealing Fate
TesseracT Tesseract Demo
Thank You Scientist Stranger Heads Prevail
The Algorithm Polymorphic Code
The Darien Venture Indications
The Darien Venture A Kite, A Key and A Storm
It's not often that I get excited about indie projects I find on bandcamp that haven't even gotten their release out yet, but after hearing the first two tracks off of this album, I'm really excited for it.
The Darkness Permission to Land
The Dear Hunter Act I: The Lake South, the River North
The Dear Hunter Act III: Life and Death
The Dear Hunter Violet
The Dear Hunter Yellow
The Dear Hunter Red
The Dear Hunter Green
The Dear Hunter Black
The Dear Hunter Orange
The Dear Hunter Migrant
Not necessarily the curveball everyone sort of expects from The Dear Hunter, Migrant follows the same direction as many of the tracks from The Color Spectrum which played closer to the usual sound of the band. Still, while the album plays things a little softer and a bit safer, it remains as lavish yet fitting as always, resulting in another beautiful success for Casey and what's quickly becoming the near entirety of the Crescenzo family.
The Dear Hunter Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional
The Elijah I Loved I Hated I Destroyed I Created
The Menzingers After the Party
The New Mastersounds Therapy
Awesome jazz funk. Listen to this or be labelled lame for all eternity.
The Ocean Precambrian
The Physics House Band Incident on 3rd
The Prize Fighter Inferno My Brother's Blood Machine
The Prize Fighter Inferno Half Measures
Coheed's been selling this while on tour ahead of its slated Comicon release.

So, yeah, I'm probably gonna review the crap out of this soon.
The Reign of Kindo Play With Fire
The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream
Thrice Vheissu
Thrice The Illusion of Safety
tide/edit Lightfoot
Toby Lightman The Snow Day Collection
With a warm, soulful voice and catchy, upbeat melodies rooted in pop from days gone by, it's hard not to fall in love with Toby Lightman's holiday/winter EP Snow Day.
Tre Watson Lexicon of the Human Subconscious
Tre Watson kicks out an album in the "djent" category that definitely showcases a few new and improved elements as well as styles similar to Buckethead ("That Which is Past Predicts F") and variations on existing themes ala Powerglove ("Charmander Used FLamethrower!"). Tre comes out sounding a bit like a slightly less skilled Tosin Abasi or Chimp Spanner, though that's not to say he's not good - the potential is definitely there, and with a bit more channeling and attention to structure and flow of the music and album as a whole, Tre Watson has the potential to be a HUGE force in music today.
Tre Watson Gravestones
Mellow and amazing from the first listen, to the spastic and (very out of place) rheavy/deathcore, this is a synthesis of where Tre Watson should be going and where Tre rWatson has been. "The Mortal Coil" is nothing short of great, but is followed by the rconfusing and out of place heavy metalcore stylings of "Demise" (fully accompanied by death rgrowls that really jar the listener). This seems to carry into the beginning of "Thread of rHumanity," where atonal guitar riffs and blast beats dominate the track after a brief, but rundermixed orchestral intro. It does, however even out in its latter half to become a good rtune, while the epic, 18-minute long r"Dancing on Gravestones" features vocals from The Omega Experiment frontman Dan Wieten which rare, admittely, too low key for his abilities, yet still intriguing. The EP ends on an up rnote, but seriously, "Demise," while not entirely bad, just doesn't fit in.
Trivium Shogun
Trivium Ascendancy
Trivium What the Dead Men Say
Wings Denied Awake
Wintersun Wintersun
WRVTH No Rising Sun
Yngwie Malmsteen Rising Force
you, infinite you, infinite

3.9 excellent
Gates (USA-NJ) Bloom and Breathe

3.8 excellent
Anti-Flag American Fall
Colossal Figures Clockwork Dilation
Covet technicolor
I love restraint in service to the song - I practically worship at the altar of the very concept, as does this album. Still, for the prowess of Yvette and her band, it feels a bit like rudderless lip service. A joyful jaunt in no particular direction. Sure, it's fun, it's nice, it's skillful, but... Well, it doesn't go anywhere meaningful. Ultimately, it's still a great and enjoyable album, but missing a spice of purpose that would take it to the next level.
Endless, Nameless Living Without
Flying Colors Second Nature
John Di Pasquale Move The Uncovered Boxes Away
Michael McCormack Interstellar Channels
oshwa I We You Me
pulses. Speak It Into Existence
Seven Impale Summit
The World Is a Beautiful Place... Illusory Walls
thoughtcrimes Tap Night
Tre Watson Harrier
I am so very happy to hear Tre Watson return in 2015 after 4 years without a solo release.
Harrier takes a dark twist from the relatively bright and shiny Gravestones, but
still finds itself full of clever hooks and musical pathways amid some pummeling deathcore cuts
and truly vile, monstrous vocals.

Tre's songwriting and producing continues to improve, showing proper restraint and focus amid an
intense, diverse, and wrenching musical experience, which is something not too many others rooted
in deathcore can boast. I think the world has still yet to see the best from Tre Watson, but he's
given us all a damn good introduction.
Trivium The Sin and the Sentence
I thought we passed a resolution barring Trivium from making better-than-average albums after Shogun?
Vasudeva Life in Circles

3.7 great
Ayreon The Source
Chinese Football Chinese Football
Mastodon Hushed and Grim
Plini The End of Everything
The New Mastersounds Out On The Faultline

3.6 great
Deafheaven Infinite Granite
Scale the Summit V
Tides of Man Young and Courageous
I never thought I'd like a Tides of Man album without Tilian better than a Cynic album with the whole crew, but here we are.rThere are definitely some tracks here which are built for Pearson's vocal delivery with a guitar subbed into his place and on the whole the album resembles Empire Theory with an extra post-rock twist. Its first half switches things up enough to stay interesting and intriguing, but it seems to grow too long at the end to really stay impressive, but there's enough interesting material here to merit the continuation of a band that was all but forsaken.

3.5 great
A Lot Like Birds No Place
Abstract Deviation Abstract Deviation
Cutting edge progressive instrumental metal here. Should warrant a listen and a following to be sure.
Adebisi Shank This is the Album
Airbourne Runnin' Wild
And So I Watch You From Afar All Hail Bright Futures
Angel Vivaldi Away With Words - Part I
Angel Vivaldi Synapse
Arcade Fire Neon Bible
Arch Enemy Wages of Sin
Atheist Unquestionable Presence
Atreyu Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses
Avenged Sevenfold City Of Evil
Ayreon The Theory of Everything
Beck Colors
Behemoth Demigod
Behold... The Arctopus Skullgrid
Being Arrival
Arrival is a good initial effort by a band with a new take on things. Unfortunately, they're still feeling out their sound, and it shows on some tracks, such as their cover of "A Glorious Dawn," which sounds quite attrocious. On the other hand, songs such as "Perpetual Groove" are spacey, sparkly, and interesting. Their approach to vocals are particularly notable. In some songs they drown in production, gasping for air in a quagmire of autotune effects, while at other moments the sound is just wet enough to give it the right quality to enhance the sound. Being could release a very good freshman debut and have the potential to be innovators in their arena, but they need to work on establishing and tweaking their tune first.
Between the Buried and Me The Silent Circus
Between the Buried and Me The Great Misdirect
Big D and the Kids Table Strictly Rude
Black Sabbath Paranoid
Blind Guardian Nightfall In Middle-Earth
Blood Cultures Happy Birthday
Bruce Dickinson Balls To Picasso
Bruce Dickinson Tyranny Of Souls
Cacophony Speed Metal Symphony
Carthage Carthage EP
Case/Lang/Veirs Case/Lang/Veirs
Cavern Cavern
Children of Bodom Hatebreeder
Children of Bodom Are You Dead Yet?
Children of Bodom Hate Crew Deathroll
Chthonic 永劫輪迴 Relentless Recurrence
Chthonic 靈魄之界 9th Empyrean
Circa Survive The Amulet
Circa Survive Blue Sky Noise
Circa Survive Descensus
City of Ships Look What God Did To Us
Cloudkicker The Discovery
Cloudyhead Abstraction
Coheed and Cambria No World for Tomorrow
Coheed and Cambria Year of the Black Rainbow
Comadre Comadre
Covet catharsis
Cynic Re-Traced
Dad Thighs The Ghosts That I Fear
Damascus Salutations, Distant Satellite!
Dan Dankmeyer X
Dan Dankmeyer Pure
While it outclasses Origin without much effort, Pure is a bit of a slog for
anyone. With the majority of its tracks clocking in at over 7 minutes of meandering post-
rock influenced instrumental metal, it's just easy to forget where things are. There's
nothing terribly wrong with it aside from that - the material's actually pretty good despite
the way it drags its feet. The opener and closer "The Air at Midnight" caught my attention
in particular.

3.3/5
Dance Gavin Dance Acceptance Speech
Some of the songs on this (most notably the two released prior to the stream) are really catchy... A lot of them are really forgettable, though. Not sure how I feel about this yet. I love Tilian in anything he does, though.
Darkest Hour The Eternal Return
Deadlock Wolves
Death Cab for Cutie Transatlanticism
Deerhunter Halcyon Digest
DragonForce Sonic Firestorm
Dream Theater Octavarium
Dream Theater Black Clouds and Silver Linings
Dream Theater Dream Theater
Dream Theater The Astonishing
Dream Theater Parasomnia
Drewsif Stalin's Musical Endeavors Excursion
It's clear on "Excursion" that Drewsif is making use of the tones he used before on "A Particularly Beautiful Day" and to good effect. Of course, that's in-between the more-common djent sound that is incorporated throughout the album. Some of the guitars here are really exceptional though, especially on final track "Affection," which features guitarist Tre Watson.rAll in all, pretty solid.
Eidolon The Parallel Otherworld
Elder (USA-MA) Lore
Epica The Divine Conspiracy
Fates Warning Perfect Symmetry
Fates Warning Parallels
Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Funeral for a Friend Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation
Genesis Not Planet All Turn To Dust
Russian Instrumental Gojira. I shit you not. And hey, it's actually pretty good!
Giant Squid Metridium Fields
Girugamesh 13's Reborn
Glass Animals How To Be A Human Being
Graph Rabbit Snowblind
Haken Affinity
Halford Resurrection
HammerFall Threshold
HammerFall Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken
Heavens Gate Open The Gate And Watch!
Hoth Astral Necromancy
Iced Earth Framing Armageddon
Iced Earth Dystopia
This should be subtitled "How Stu Block saved Iced Earth"
In Flames The Jester Race
In Mourning Shrouded Divine
Interiors Syntax
Into Eternity Dead or Dreaming
Into Eternity The Scattering of Ashes
Iron Maiden A Matter Of Life And Death
Iron Maiden Dance Of Death
islnds History Of Robots
Jakub Zytecki Nothing Lasts, Nothing's Lost
James LaBrie Elements Of Persuasion
Jeff Rosenstock WORRY.
Joe Satriani Is There Love In Space?
John Petrucci Suspended Animation
Kalisia Skies [Demo]
Keldian Journey of Souls
Killswitch Engage Alive or Just Breathing
Killswitch Engage As Daylight Dies
King Crimson Starless and Bible Black
King Crimson In the Wake of Poseidon
King Diamond Give Me Your Soul...Please
King Diamond House Of God
Laura Stevenson The Big Freeze
Light Bearer Silver Tongue
Machinae Supremacy Deus Ex Machinae
Madder Mortem Eight Ways
Marty Friedman Loudspeaker
Marty Friedman Music for Speeding
Marty Friedman Scenes
Marty Friedman Inferno
Megadeth The System Has Failed
Megadeth Youthanasia
Megadeth So Far, So Good... So What!
Metal Church Masterpeace
Metal Church The Weight Of The World
Metallica ...And Justice For All
Metallica The Unnamed Feeling
Great for the fact that it includes Jaymz Hetfield introducing "MISTER ROBERT TRUHIJUL!" and
calling for "love and respect for Robert!" Then "forgetting the fucking words" on Ride the
Lightning and pondering if this is "A crazy dream? Or is it just a dream?"

In other words: novelty. If that's not your bag, this is crap.
Necrophagist Onset of Putrefaction
Nerve The Distance Between Zero and One
Nerve End Axis
Nevermore This Godless Endeavor
Nightwish Dark Passion Play
Oh No Ono Yes
Opeth Heritage
Opeth My Arms, Your Hearse
Orphaned Land Mabool (The Story of the Three Sons...)
Overkill Horrorscope
Panopticon Collapse
Parliament Medicaid Fraud Dogg
Patrick Shiroishi Hidemi
Paul Gilbert Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar
Pinnick, Gales and Pridgen Pinnick, Gales & Pridgen
Pomegranate Tiger Entities
Porcupine Tree Nil Recurring
Queen News of the World
Queen Live Killers
Queensryche Empire
Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Redkey Rage of Fire
Reel Big Fish Turn the Radio Off
Return To Earth Automata
Roadrunner United The All-Star Sessions
Rush Roll The Bones
Rush Vapor Trails
Rush Test For Echo
Rush Feedback
Sam Locke Era
Savatage Streets: A Rock Opera
Shabutie Penelope
Shai Hulud Reach Beyond the Sun
Skyfire Timeless Departure
So Long Forgotten So Long Forgotten
Sonata Arctica Unia
Steve Vai Passion and Warfare
Steven Wilson The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)
Sun Ra Space is the Place
Symphony X The Odyssey
Symphony X V: The New Mythology Suite
Synaptical Glitch Monoliths
Mitch McLaine has been refining his sound as "Synaptical Glitch" for a little over a year rand 15 EP releases, now, and the refinement shows on Monoliths. Combining a use of rreverb and electronics to simulate a very drawn out, spacey mood while keeping things dark rand heavy through compressed guitars, Monoliths presents a well-crafted and large, rsophisticated sound that rumbles with other high profile djenters such as David Maxim Micic rand Chimp Spanner.
TesseracT Altered State
While parts like the end of "Exile" shine in technical instrumental harmony with Ashe O'Hara's stunningly lush vocal deliveries, the album falls into the djent quagmire of "too much groove, not enough variation." Altered State is at its best when it's at its most experimental - saxophones, synth leads, etc.; at its worst when it follows the straight and narrow of chug guitar rhythms, which permeate the structure of the album almost to the point of nausea at times.rAll the same, I enjoy it.
The Dali Thundering Concept When X Met Y...
Attempting to define movements in art through music is a bold, but ultimately interesting and successful move. In some instances, The Dali Thundering Concept play it a bit too safe - while the track on Futurism opens with a very loopy, synthetic sound entirely characteristic of our notions on societal and musical progression in many ways, they all too often fall into their heavy, chugging deathcore ways. In some ways, it seems an artistic incorporation of the dark and brutal approach to nearly all things (spare Surrealism, which is fair), but it's really hard to way whether that's giving the artist the benefit of the doubt or if it's a simple cop out. With the amount of liberal atmosphere and synth-metal pepperings, opinion is likely to lean towards the former, though. And uhh... I don't know, while I'm likely to say that the end of Avantgarde is entirely unnecessary, it is highly avant garde, so there's that.
The Dear Hunter Blue
The Littlest Man Band Better Book Ends
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones More Noise and Other Disturbances
The Ocean Pelagial
The Reign of Kindo Rhythm, Chord & Melody
Tides of Man Empire Theory
Times of Grace The Hymn of a Broken Man
Two Voyeurs
Vasudeva No Clearance
Voices from the Fuselage Odyssey: The Destroyer of Worlds
Wide Eyes Volume
A pu pu platter of what decent instrumental djent has to offer. Though it's not the most memorable listen in the world, it makes for some good background noise and raises eyebrows here and there, but is overall nothing that special to the stagnating subgenre.
Wide Eyes The Unreleased EP
Widek 2010/2011 Songs
Wintersun Time I
Wooden Shjips V
Xanthochroid Blessed He With Boils
Yellowcard Yellowcard

3.4 great
Althea Eleven
Anubis Hitchhiking to Byzantium
Devin Townsend Project Z2

3.3 great
Act of Defiance Birth and the Burial
Anathema Distant Satellites
Bruce Dickinson The Mandrake Project
Coheed and Cambria The Color Before The Sun
This grew on me a bit, but it still lacks the magic and bold identity of previous releases.
Devin Townsend Powernerd
John Wesley Disconnect
Laura Stevenson Cocksure
Opeth Sorceress
This sounds like a fairly ideal form of the retro prog sound Opeth have been targeting since Heritage. I hope that means we can move on from this now.
TesseracT One
Trophy Scars Holy Vacants

3.2 good
Animals As Leaders Parrhesia
I'd love to see this band have fun again. Feels like another of their monochromatic installments. Not as much as Madness of Many, but it's missing the colorful spark from The Joy of Motion or the self titled.
Chris Schlarb Psychic Temple IV
Dance Gavin Dance Mothership
There's something Instant Gratification had that this is lacking.
David Maxim Micic Who Bit the Moon
Still listening, but this doesn't seem to be David's best work. Still solid for what it is, though.
Iron Maiden The Book Of Souls
Iron Maiden does Iron Maiden as well as Iron Maiden can do Iron Maiden.
Opeth Pale Communion
Eternal Rains Will Come is pretty cool, but this is almost as forgettable as Heritage.
Periphery Periphery III: Select Difficulty
The Contortionist Clairvoyant

3.0 good
Abstract Deviation Aliedora
Anathema Falling Deeper
Animal Collective Strawberry Jam
Animals As Leaders Weightless
Good, if not a bit hollow. It's simply not the grandiose metal meets flamenco on an 8 string guitar sound anymore. It's become this pseudo-electronic jam noise. Maybe it's because they're trying to dedicate more presence to the drum and bass work (and it's good stuff), but the sound feels lacking compared to the debut.
Animals As Leaders The Madness of Many
Anthony Green Would You Still Be In Love
Assimilated Mind Phase Involuntary Deconstruction
Astra The Weirding
You can only be so stuck in the past. This is a big re-hash of old prog with little innovation. It's not bad, but it goes nowhere fast.
Avenged Sevenfold Waking The Fallen
Ayreon 01011001
Bruce Dickinson Tattooed Millionaire
Buckethead Albino Slug
Buckethead The Cuckoo Clocks of Hell
Children of Bodom Blooddrunk
Closure in Moscow Pink Lemonade
Dan Dankmeyer Origin
Some excellent moments surrounded by the mediocre and strange. Maybe it's what Dan was
shooting for this time around, but it's a pitfall in the road after Arcologies.
David Maxim Micic EGO
Devin Townsend Empath
Devin Townsend Project Epicloud
For everything Devin's done previously (especially under the "Project" label), Epicloud comes across as safe, soulless, and, frankly, a little boring. "Kingdom" is easily the most memorable track on the album and it's a re-recording, while the best of the rest are "More!" and "Save Our Now." Other tracks like "Lucky Animals" and "Grace" come across as b-sides from previous project outings that lack the same kind of personal passion. While the quartet of Ki, Ghost, Addicted, and Deconstruction may not have always had the most serious lyrics in the world, the arrangements were unique, forward-thinking, and easily some of the most personal and reflective of Devin's career.rEpicloud, on the other hand, seems like the stale remnants of those projects - forgettable, if not a little enjoyable in the moment.
Devin Townsend Project Transcendence
DragonForce Inhuman Rampage
DragonForce Valley Of The Damned
Dream Theater Systematic Chaos
Encircle Watch The Sky Fall
Enslaved Isa
Fates Warning Awaken the Guardian
fordirelifesake Breathing in Is Only Half the Function
Girugamesh Girugamesh
Heavens Gate Planet E.
Heavens Gate Menergy
Iced Earth Iced Earth
In Flames Colony
Iron Maiden Fear Of The Dark
Iron Maiden Killers
Iron Maiden Iron Maiden
Joe Satriani Unstoppable Momentum
It's good - nothing really new for Professor Satchafunkilus, though. Just the standard fare noodles and caboodles over rock tracks. Enjoyable as background music. Not much to say other than that.
Journal Unlorja
Judas Priest Ram It Down
Judas Priest British Steel
Judas Priest Killing Machine
Keith Merrow Lonestar Transcend
Killswitch Engage Disarm the Descent
King Diamond Abigail II: The Revenge
Last Chance to Reason Level 2
This album wears its Cynic and BTBAM influences on its sleeve, and does so wonderfully. Last Chance to Reason blend intriguing, clean, spacey sections with the crushingly heavy to create something genuinely interesting. It's hard to find a band with a sound you can call "similar to, but not exactly the same as Cynic," but this is it.
Life In Vacuum Lost
Linkin Park Hybrid Theory
Locktender Kafka
Manchester Orchestra A Black Mile to the Surface
My first experience with this band. Nothing special. I'm more than a tad disappointed.
Marty Friedman Introduction
Marty Friedman Tokyo Jukebox
Marty covers a bunch of Japanese songs from Maximum the Hormone (known best in America for
doing the theme song "What's Up People?" for Death Note) and Mr. Children to some of the
more poppish stuff out there.

It's all instrumental and it's all a tasty solo jam and thank god it is, because Future
Addict was a wreck with Jeremy Colson's singing.

I'm not huge on the J-Pop stuff, but I like the songs as they're presented here and it's a
return to form in Marty's quality. Maybe it's even a sign that his next non-cover album will
deliver the goods like Loudspeaker or Music for Speeding.
Marty Friedman Bad D.N.A.
Megadeth Greatest Hits: Back To The Start
Megadeth The World Needs A Hero
Megadeth Cryptic Writings
Megadeth Th1rt3en
Metal Church A Light In The Dark
Metal Church Metal Church
Metal Church The Dark
Metallica Metallica
Milhouse Thrillhouse
Nile In Their Darkened Shrines
Noah and the Whale Last Night On Earth
Ocean is Theory In My Blood Again
Orion All This World Means
Overkill Immortalis
Overkill Killbox 13
Overkill ReliXIV
Periphery Periphery II: This Time It's Personal
Portals (USA-OH) A Continuous Spectrum
Chock full of melodic atmosphere augmented by some heavy chug riffs on the heavy side and
piano on the light side, A Continuous Spectrum is a good album that can sometimes
come across as a bit repetitive. A lot of this comes from the fact that, with the exception
of opener "Canis Minor" and "Hibernation," the whole of the album tends to blend together in
such a way that one track bleeds right into another. It's not bad music at all, just hard to
immerse yourself into. Maybe after a few more listens.

3.2ish for me right now.
Powerglove Saturday Morning Apocalypse
Powerglove Metal Kombat for the Mortal Man
Powerglove Total Pwnage
Primal Fear Primal Fear
Progenie Terrestre Pura U.M.A.
Queen The Miracle
Red Hot Chili Peppers By the Way
Red Hot Chili Peppers One Hot Minute
Royal/Revise Revival
Sam Locke Crossing the Barrier
As memorable and enticing as Era was, Crossing the Barrier comes across as a bit flat. Faulting from djenting cranks to repetitive melodic riffs, Crossing the Barrier simply spins its own cogs a few too many times before moving on to bigger things. It's certainly not without its brilliant ideas and remains a cut above the monotones of Keith Merrow, but it remains a bit of a letdown after its predecessor's promise.
So Long Forgotten Things We Can See and Things We Cannot
Unfortunately far less creative and soulful than their debut, Things We Can See and Things We Can Not takes a harder, more abrasive style to So Long Forgotten's previous groove-laden approach. Though some of those subtle, tasty drumming quirks spark up here and there, the overall feel has just lost passion and creative direction. Hopefully the boys will rebound sometime soon with something more akin to Beneath Our Noble Heads.
Star One Space Metal
Star One Revel in Time
Tonally and conceptually derivative from Victims of the Modern Age... Only the subject matter of the movies being turned into music doesn't follow the dark sci-fi thread so neatly as its predator. There's a serious Terminator track and a goofy Bill and Ted Track... both with the same musical power but thematically very opposed. Victims is a mainstay for me with plenty of tracks that easily stand on their own... Revel in Time is a passable second helping that fails to elevate musically in the same way its predecessor did, leaning more into the heavy, dark riffing and away from the confluence of space and melody both instrumental and vocal that made Victims something special.
Storm Corrosion Storm Corrosion
I blame the primary mediocrity of this album on Steven Wilson.
Sufjan Stevens Enjoy Your Rabbit
TesseracT Polaris
The Contortionist Intrinsic
I don't get how everyone's proclaiming that they've toned down the deathcore bit so much - sure, there's less of it, but now it's really annoying and intrusive instead of convergent and smooth. At the end of the day, that's all Intrinsic is - an even more spaced-out Exoplanet whose breakdowns are more a nuisance than anything else. And, to be frank, it's just not as interesting.
The Fall of Troy Phantom on the Horizon
The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium
The Omega Experiment The Omega Experiment
The Residents The Ghost of Hope
Tradjectory Invasion EP
Excellent instrumentals and production flawed only by the presence of entirely soulless and atonal clean vocal passages. Unfortunate, since, if they were on-key, this would be excellent.
Tradjectory Tradjectory
Tre Watson Death of a Monarch
Much that was innovative, interesting, or quirky about Tre's previous release, "Lexicon of the Human Subconscious" is gone here, leaving just the shell of what was once something promising. Take Tre's Metalcore band, Carthage - who are mostly (and somewhat surprisingly) very generic and mediocre - and apply the same sense of pure and endless dedication to brutality and commitment to the constraints of genre to Tre's solo efforts and this is what you get.rBland and boring. But worst of all, nothing new. One step forward, and two steps back.
Tre Watson Death of a Monarch [Re-Release]
Trivium In Waves
Trivium Vengeance Falls
I don't know where the comparisons to The Crusade are coming from. This is a little same-y and it's not as innovative as an album like Ascendancy, but it's still pretty good.
Widek Multiverse
Xanithon Serpent
Pretty decent instrumental metal. A bit boring with the chugs at times, but there's some
good melody to make up for it. There's room for improvement, but it's a good starting block.

2.8 good
Cynic Kindly Bent to Free Us
It occurred to me just today that the bass on this sounds like Barry White's farts.
Machinae Supremacy Phantom Shadow
Phantom Shadow doesn't really step too far away from any part of Machinae Supremacy's resume. The rock beats and chiptunes are all there. The uniquely Swedish slant to the male vocals is there. The same riffing that made "Player One" sound like a beefed up and cooler ripoff of Jimmy Eat World's "Takes My Pain Away" is there, but things are over-the-top cheesy on this one. This is a band whose claim to fame is a song about being in a video game and they're trying to take themselves far too seriously. It doesn't work, and the album, while interesting at parts, is just too long.
Vulfpeck Shvitz

2.7 average
Deadlock Hybris
Megadeth Dystopia
TesseracT Sonder
Somewhere between "eh" and "meh" on this one.

2.5 average
Adimiron Burning Souls
Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold
Being Anthropocene
Disperse Living Mirrors
Exodus Bonded by Blood
fordirelifesake A Daydream Disaster
Godspeed You! Black Emperor 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Maybe I just don't "get it" yet, but I find this album boring.
Gojira L'Enfant Sauvage
It just gets boring. Gojira used to be pretty good about throwing in enough change-ups and points of interest, but this is just an okay album that really holds no playback value.
Gojira The Link
Green Day American Idiot
Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy
Hacktivist Hacktivist
Helloween Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy
Iced Earth Something Wicked This Way Comes
Into Eternity The Incurable Tragedy
Into Eternity Into Eternity
Judas Priest Angel Of Retribution
Karnivool Asymmetry
Keith Merrow Awaken The Stone King
"Awaken the Stone King" is Keith Merrow doing the same thing he did on his last two albums... Only this time there's a guest solo by Jeff Loomis (that's quite good, though the video showing the tracking for it is laughable) and a very lengthy track ("Stone King (The Awakening pt. 2)") that shows promise and evolution, but isn't enough to make up for the rest of the album. Oh, and that Keith expects money for his music now.
Killswitch Engage Killswitch Engage
Lamb of God Sacrament
Metallica Death Magnetic
Minus the Bear Omni
Mithras Behind the Shadows Lie Madness
Mithras Worlds Beyond the Veil
Parkway Drive Atlas
Phlebotomized Immense, Intense, Suspense
Queensryche Operation: Mindcrime II
Samson Survivors
She Was the Universe Whalesong
The Callous Daoboys Celebrity Therapist
I feel like I've heard dozens of bands do this schtick and most of them do it better.
The Mars Volta Frances the Mute
Van Canto Break the Silence
They should really stick to being a cover band that I can laugh at.
Watchtower Energetic Disassembly

2.3 average
Killswitch Engage Incarnate
Is this band really out of tricks already? At this point, I'd rather have a new Times of Grace release than a new Killswitch Engage release.

2.0 poor
Animal Collective Tangerine Reef
Big D and the Kids Table For the Damned, the Dumb, and the Delirious
Bland and boring, especially when compared to Big D's previous release, Fluent in
Stroll, which had a uniquely energetic ska-lounge sound. To go from that to a blander
version of Strictly Rude just isn't acceptable to me.
Born of Osiris A Higher Place
Falconer Northwind
Gamma Ray Land of the Free II
Iron Maiden Virtual XI
Keith Merrow The Arrival
To anyone who's heard the latest "djent," much of Keith Merrow's material is nothing new. rTracks like "Bioluminescent" reek of the formulaic down-tuned chugging emblematic of the rgenre, and while there are some decently creative riffs and solos in this album, they rare generally nothing earth shattering. And when they are, the song seems to take too long rto get to the point or it goes back to the monotony of the chug (take "Io" for example, or r"Shorted Out" which has a great start, but spins into the chug very quickly). rIt's still better than some of the stuff out there, but it could be a lot better.
Killswitch Engage Killswitch Engage (Remastered Edition)
Lamb of God Ashes of the Wake
Megadeth Super Collider
What happens when you mix Cryptic Writings, Risk, and a few dashes of Symphony is apparently Super Collider.rBut most of the blame can still probably be attributed to Dave Mustaine supporting Rick Santorum and writing songs about abortion.
Meshuggah obZen
Molecular Corporation Ambient Sputnik and The Dancing Government
For every track where someone actually tried (and produced something cool, like "Bubbles"), there's 4 where someone recorded themselves trying to yell "Raiders of the Lost Arc" while projectile vomiting. As was expected.
Periphery Periphery
Queensryche Frequency Unknown (Tate's Queensryche)
Rorcal Vilagvege
Steve Harris British Lion
For an album featuring one of the most prolific bass players in rock/metal history, British Lion is extraordinarily devoid of any outstanding grooves.rThere's moments where it seems like the album might take off, but it never does. It just seems like a failed attempt at something like ASAP because, fuck it, if Adrian can do it way back then, Steve can do it now... Only he can't. If the Steve v. Bruce thing were still an issue, I think the solo careers would prove it's Bruce all the way.
The Advaita Concept The Ratio
The Dillinger Escape Plan Calculating Infinity
The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza Danza IIII: The Alpha - The Omega
Trivium The Crusade

1.5 very poor
Deadlock The Arsonist
DragonForce Ultra Beatdown
Iced Earth The Crucible Of Man
Owl City All Things Bright And Beautiful
Paramore Paramore
You know, I thought Haley's voice was the one decent facet of this album, then I heard "Ain't It Fun." This is just a shit pop album and though it's main fault is its lack of instrumental backing (hindsight kudos to the Farro brothers) Haley really didn't do anything to back it up.

1.0 awful
brokeNCYDE The Broken
brokeNCYDE I'm Not a Fan, but the Kids Like It!
brokeNCYDE Will Never Die
brokeNCYDE Guilty Pleasure
Lou Reed and Metallica Lulu
Marty Friedman Future Addict
Marty bastardizes pretty much everything he's ever done on this album. From Megadeth to
Cacophony, yup, it's all here, and it's all spat upon with either slugged down riffing or
the terrible, terrible performance of vocalist (and drummer!) Jeremy Colson.

Why Marty, why?
Metallica St. Anger
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