| 4.0 excellent |
| Adele 21 |
| Andre 3000 New Blue Sun |
| he's not rapping, but it almost doesn't matter. immaculate sounds |
| Andy Mineo Heroes For Sale |
| Andy Mineo Never Land |
| Andy kills it on this album. His flow is impressive, fun to listen to, and honestly better than so many mainstream rappers these days. He does it all with positive messages, without explicit language, and without being corny. Bars everywhere. |
| Architects All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us |
| As Cities Burn Come Now Sleep |
| August Burns Red Constellations |
| August Burns Red Leveler (Anniversary) |
Holy crap. This is far better than the original Leveler. Not sure who mixed this, but it
sounds PRISTINE. The fact that they re-recorded essentially (almost) all the instruments
for this is already insane, then there is JAKE. Dude is a decade older and sounds BETTER
than he did in 2011. His highs are higher, his lows are lower, this is how I wish he
sounded on Guardians. And they way they are mixed makes for a far clearer and impactful
sound. Like holy crap. This is all without mentioning an added intro track, features by
Misha Mansoor from Periphery (solo slays), Ryan Kirby on Poor Millionaire, and actual
Matthew Heafy from Trivium. Nuts. Good show boys, Leveler is my least favorite ABR album
ever, but still, 4.0. Album rips. |
| Avril Lavigne Love Sux |
| beabadoobee Fake It Flowers |
| Boygenius the record |
| Brand New Daisy |
| Childish Gambino "Awaken, My Love!" |
| Childish Gambino Summer Pack |
| Coldplay Everyday Life |
| Counterparts Nothing Left to Love |
| Dance Gavin Dance Mothership |
| Dayglow Fuzzybrain |
| Emarosa Versus |
| ERRA Drift |
| ERRA ERRA |
| ERRA Cure |
| Foxes 2011 Demo |
| Foxes Organic Vessels |
| HalfNoise Volcano Crowe |
| HalfNoise Sudden Feeling |
| Hayley Williams FLOWERS for VASES / descansos |
| Better than PFA, and all instruments performed by Hayley, good god this is good |
| Hayley Williams Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party |
| Probably Hayley's best solo album. Def better than descanos. rad! |
| Hillsong United Zion |
| Hillsong United Empires |
| Hillsong Worship Awake |
| Hot Mulligan You'll Be Fine |
| John Givez Soul Rebel |
| John Mark McMillan Borderland |
| John Mark McMillan You Are the Avalanche (feat. Sarah McMillan) |
| John Mark McMillan Live at the Knight |
| John Mark McMillan Mercury and Lightning |
| John Van Deusen (I Am) Origami, Pt. 1 - The Universal Sigh |
| John Van Deusen (I Am) Origami Pt. 2 Every Power Wide Awake |
| John Van Deusen D-Sides |
| Justin Bieber Purpose |
| Kacey Musgraves Golden Hour |
| Kings Kaleidoscope Live In Color |
| Kings Kaleidoscope Asaph's Arrows |
| Kings Kaleidoscope The Beauty Between |
| Kings Kaleidoscope Zeal |
| Knuckle Puck Copacetic |
| Knuckle Puck Shapeshifter |
| Lecrae Church Clothes 3 |
| Levi The Poet Cataracts |
| Lizzy McAlpine Older |
| Memphis May Fire The Hollow |
| Movements Feel Something |
| Moving Mountains Moving Mountains |
| Northlane Alien |
| Novo Amor Cannot Be, Whatsoever |
| OneRepublic Native |
| Panic! at the Disco A Fever You Can't Sweat Out |
| PinkPantheress Heaven Knows |
| album's great. couple of the features fall a little flat (nice to meet you has a great chorus but that feature...ehhh) but aside from that one of my fav records this year. solid first outing by PinkPantheress. 4/5 |
| Plastic Tree Ink |
| Portugal. The Man The Satanic Satanist |
| PVRIS All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell |
| PVRIS Hallucinations |
| Remi Wolf Big Ideas |
| Sent By Ravens Mean What You Say |
| Snail Mail Lush |
| Snail Mail Audiotree Live |
| Mix on this is actually great, all the songs from Habit sound way better and you actually can get a grasp on their live sound. Solid! |
| Soccer Mommy Clean |
| Spiritbox Spiritbox |
| Spiritbox Eternal Blue |
| Spiritbox Tsunami Sea |
| Switchfoot Fading West |
| SZA S.O.S. |
| album slays, SZA's never sounded better. Top 10 albums this year easily |
| Taking Back Sunday Louder Now |
| Taylor Swift Evermore |
| The 1975 Notes on a Conditional Form |
| The 1975 Being Funny In A Foreign Language |
| Rating may change but for now Ill just say this may be my favorite 1975 opener out of all them. Its immaculate imo |
| The Devil Wears Prada Zombie |
| The Devil Wears Prada 8:18 |
| The Devil Wears Prada ZII |
| The Overseer Rest and Let Go |
| The Story So Far What You Don't See |
| Tides of Man Empire Theory |
| Tides of Man Dreamhouse |
| Tides of Man Young and Courageous |
| To Speak Of Wolves Find Your Worth, Come Home |
| Tori Kelly Unbreakable Smile |
| Treebeard Stars Over Somber Skies |
| Turnover Peripheral Vision |
| Twenty One Pilots Blurryface |
| Twenty One Pilots Clancy |
| Twenty One Pilots Breach |
| Underoath They're Only Chasing Safety |
| Underoath Lost In The Sound Of Separation |
| Wolves at the Gate VxV |
| Yellowcard Southern Air |
| 3.5 great |
| Adele 19 |
| Alicia Keys Alicia |
| Architects The Sky, the Earth & All Between |
| August Burns Red Messengers |
| August Burns Red Leveler |
| August Burns Red Guardians |
| August Burns Red Death Below |
Wow; Im rather surprised because the singles didnt really interest me at all, but they are BY far the weakest on the
album.
The Cleansing, Revival, and Dark Divide are some of their best songs in a while. There’s a little prog, the
deathcore moments shine, spoken word is back, and even some electronic elements we haven’t heard much of on ABR
records. Dub |
| Beartooth Sick |
| Bo Burnham what. |
| Childish Gambino EP |
| Childish Gambino Camp |
| Clairo Charm |
On first listen through I thought this was good with the feeling it could turn into a
"great" over time. feels like a grower. she's essentially taken her two sonic "sides," and
melded them here. Its a blending of the production-driven indiepop grooves of Immunity and
the more organic instrumentation of Sling. I was personally hoping for a return to a sound
more aligned with Immunity so a good thing in my book, though I wish she had done so even
more. the mix still has this very "open and airy" feel like Sling, whereas I really enjoyed
the closer feel of Immunity. Others may disagree. Middle section is strong with the run of
Terrapin, Juna, and Add Up My Love. Groovy. 3.5/5 |
| Dayglow People In Motion |
| Dayseeker Creature in the Black Night |
Feels in some ways a pt 2 to Dark Sun. Leans heavily into the gothic synthwave vibe theyve
been going for, perhaps their softest album as well, the second half is mostly rock ballads.
Not a bad thing though, as theyre basically at the top of their game and this genre right
now. In fact I might like this even more than Dark Sun. Solid 3.5/5 |
| Driveways Skeptic |
| Dustin Kensrue Carry the Fire |
| Girl In Red if i could make it go quiet |
| Girl In Red DOING IT AGAIN BABY |
| Gracie Abrams Good Riddance |
| Gracie Abrams The Secret of Us |
| Great Grandpa Patience, Moonbeam |
| Halsey If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power |
| Hayley Williams Petals For Armor I |
| Hayley Williams Petals For Armor: Self Serenades |
| Hillsong Worship OPEN HEAVEN / River Wild |
| Holly Humberstone Falling Asleep At The Wheel |
| Into The Flood Vices |
| J. Cole Born Sinner |
| J. Cole 2014 Forest Hills Drive |
| J. Cole The Off-Season |
| Mixtape vibes, but feels like a return to form after KOD. Cole clearly has been working on his craft, this is definitely a record for actual fans of hip hop. Each song demonstrates not only different flows, with Cole rapping on the off beat or casually doing flow change ups, but also pays homage to previous hip hop eras on essentially every song here. Casual fans won't really catch what he's doing but there are a lot of gems here for those that love the genre and know the history. Solid, dare I say great, but not quite amazing. Here's to hoping The Fall Off will live up to the hype. |
| Japanese Breakfast Jubilee |
| Joe Vann Found in the Smoke |
| John Mark McMillan People With Dreams |
| Julien Baker Little Oblivions |
I feel like this grows as it goes, I actually like the non singles much better here. Hardline-Bloodshot I found less
interesting, i’d probably give them all 2.5-3. But everything from Ringside till the end rules. She’s evolving, but
doesn’t quite feel like final form yet. Good nonetheless. 3.7 imo |
| Justin Bieber Justice |
Solid album from Beiber after Changes. Second half is decidedly more interesting to me than the
first, Hold On, Unstable, and Somebody sound really reminiscent to the Purpose era in the
production and even melody choice departments. Makes sense since Skrillex returned to help on
production on this. Not bad! |
| Kacey Musgraves Same Trailer Different Park |
| Kacey Musgraves Star-Crossed |
| This is excellent. production choices are pristine. lots of non-traditional song-rstructures. same honest kacey songwriting. a few choruses burn themselves into your brain r(breadwinner, what doesn't kill me). album oscillates between mexicana-inspired rromantic tragedy and synthwave at times. highlights: good wife, justified, breadwinner, rhookup scene, WDKM. pretty damn good. |
| Kanye West Jesus Is King |
| KJ-52 It's Pronounced Five Two |
| Lecrae Rehab |
| Lecrae All Things Work Together |
| Logic The Incredible True Story |
| Machine Gun Kelly Tickets to My Downfall |
| Maggie Rogers Don’t Forget Me |
| Its great for what it is. Not her best album but doesn't need to be really. Opener It Was Coming Along is sonically beautiful. Highlights: So Sick of Dreaming, The Kill, If Now Was Then, and Don't Forget Me are top tier Maggie songs. Feel like the ballads don't hit as hard as she hoped but the highs are pretty high so evens out. solid 3.5 |
| Memphis May Fire Memphis May Fire |
| Memphis May Fire Challenger |
| Movements No Good Left to Give |
| Moving Mountains Waves |
| Noah Gundersen Carry the Ghost |
| nothing,nowhere. Void Eternal |
| love letter to alt music. heavily hybrid theory inspired, in a good way. nothing doing his thing pretty much but with more features and better production. |
| Paramore This Is Why |
| Polaris The Mortal Coil |
| Polaris The Death of Me |
| Portugal. The Man Church Mouth |
| PVRIS White Noise |
| PVRIS White Noise (Deluxe Version) |
| Silent Planet Superbloom |
| Snail Mail Valentine |
Received pre-ordered vinyl a day early. We see some more of the same kind of fair from Lush,
but it's so damn good it almost doesn't matter. There's also a "groove" here that wasn't in
Lush (see Ben Franklin, Forever/Sailing). Just the right amount of experimentation (both
vocally on Lindsey's part, and instrumentally) to push slightly forward while maintaining
the standard of her first. Impressive she doesn't slump here. Also its a bit more tender
than I expected (see Light Blue and c. et. al.). Standout tracks: Glory, Ben Franklin,
Forever (Sailing), Valentine. Solid, 3.5 that will probably evolve into a 4 over time imo. |
| Soccer Mommy Color Theory |
| Switchfoot interrobang |
| The 1975 I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It |
| The Band CAMINO The Band Camino |
| The Devil Wears Prada Space |
| The Devil Wears Prada The Act |
| The Japanese House Saw You In A Dream |
| The Japanese House Good At Falling |
| The Japanese House Chewing Cotton Wool |
| So good. Something Has To Change is musical cocaine. |
| The Maine Pioneer |
| The Maine Forever Halloween |
| The Ongoing Concept Again |
| The Overseer We Search, We Dig |
| The Story So Far The Story So Far |
| The Wonder Years No Closer to Heaven |
| Thousand Below The Love You Let Too Close |
| Underoath The Changing Of Times |
| Underoath They're Only Chasing Safety Special Edit |
| Underoath Ø (Disambiguation) |
| We Came As Romans Cold Like War |
| We Came As Romans All Is Beautiful… Because We're Doomed |
| This is actually solid. For those of us who grew up listening. Cool to see the guys push on. Dave also sounds frankly incredible. not even glazing. dude actually sounds like he put in grind and leveled up. sounds like sam used to sound on architects. not changing the industry, but an above average metelcore album |
| William Fitzsimmons Lions |
| 3.0 good |
| Architects The Here and Now |
| Architects The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit |
| Childish Gambino Because the Internet |
| Clairo Sling |
| I do not know how I feel about this. loved her debut and this is quite a sonic shift. Might be a grower, but can't tell even after 3 listens. Its not BAD, I just dont know if its good yet. We shall see |
| Coldplay Ghost Stories |
| Dayglow Harmony House |
| ERRA Neon |
| Hayley Williams Petals for Armor |
| Hillsong Worship Let There Be Light |
| J. Cole Cole World: The Sideline Story |
| J. Cole 4 Your Eyez Only |
| Justin Bieber Changes |
After 3 full listens, would give it a 3.2 if I could. Not quite great, but this is a solid Justin album.
Slightly more "stripped down" in a sense, more subdued, less "dramatic" than Purpose was (I
loved Purpose), but is still a progression for him. The first third of the album contains primo
Justin, and feels like the natural progression from Purpose. Habitual, Come Around Me, Intentions,
and Available are all fantastic. The middle section is full of features, and brings down the album
imo. He would've been better to keep what he was doing straight through, but I get from a
commercial sense why they're here. The last third of the album goes back to the more subdued
Justin from the beginning, but with more of a "personal love songs" vibe. ETA and especially
"Changes" are standout tracks here. Justin's vocals on Changes are probably some of the best
he's ever done. 3.2, solid album. Dude seems like he's grown up a lot, good for him. |
| Kid Cudi Man on the Moon III: The Chosen |
| Kings Kaleidoscope Power Perfect. |
| Lecrae Church Clothes 2 |
| Linkin Park From Zero |
| Memphis May Fire Unconditional (Deluxe) |
| Taylor Swift Fearless |
| Taylor Swift Red |
| Taylor Swift Reputation |
| The Devil Wears Prada Plagues |
| The Devil Wears Prada With Roots Above and Branches Below |
| Twenty One Pilots Scaled and Icy |
| Seems to be a grower, did not really care for this first and second times through. After a bit with it today the bottom half is better than I first thought, No Chances has that dark energy TOP is so good at (though not as dark as the best of Blurry or TRENCH) and Redecorate has a groove that grows on you. Other than that Saturday has sort of a 80's pop/1975 inspired vibe, I almost wish they went with this sound more here. If this was a bunch of songs that sounded like Saturday and Level of concern this probably would've been stellar. Anyway. 3.0 from me |
| Yours Truly Self Care |
