| 3 (USA) The Ghost You Gave To Me | 4.0 |
| A Lot Like Birds No Place | 3.5 |
| A Moment's Ornament Swingsets: Dawn Breaks Like First Love Blooms | 4.5 |
| A.S.A.P. Silver and Gold | 4.0 |
| A.S.A.P. Silver and Gold | 4.0 |
| Abstract Deviation Abstract Deviation | 3.5 |
| Cutting edge progressive instrumental metal here. Should warrant a listen and a following to be sure. |
| Abstract Deviation Aliedora | 3.0 |
| Act of Defiance Birth and the Burial | 3.3 |
| Adebisi Shank This is the Second Album | 4.0 |
| Adebisi Shank This is the Album | 3.5 |
| Adimiron Burning Souls | 2.5 |
| Aeon Spoke Aeon Spoke | 4.5 |
| Aerodyne Flex Transmissions | 4.5 |
| This is djent's "Colors." Everything the subgenre purports to be, executed perfectly. |
| Airbourne Runnin' Wild | 3.5 |
| Al Joseph Out in the Open | 4.0 |
| All Human Teenagers, You Don't Have to Die | 5.0 |
| Althea Eleven | 3.4 |
| American Football American Football (LP3) | 4.0 |
| An Endless Sporadic Ameliorate | 4.5 |
| Anathema We're Here Because We're Here | 4.5 |
| Anathema Falling Deeper | 3.0 |
| Anathema Judgement | 4.0 |
| Anathema Weather Systems | 4.5 |
| Anathema Distant Satellites | 3.3 |
| Anathema The Optimist | 4.0 |
| And So I Watch You From Afar All Hail Bright Futures | 3.5 |
| And So I Watch You From Afar The Endless Shimmering | 4.2 |
| Angel Vivaldi Universal Language | 4.2 |
| Angel Vivaldi The Speed of Dark | 4.0 |
| 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). |
| Angel Vivaldi Away With Words - Part I | 3.5 |
| Angel Vivaldi Synapse | 3.5 |
| Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion | 5.0 |
| Animal Collective Strawberry Jam | 3.0 |
| Animal Collective Painting With | 4.0 |
| Animal Collective Tangerine Reef | 2.0 |
| Animals As Leaders Animals as Leaders | 5.0 |
| Animals As Leaders Weightless | 3.0 |
| 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 Joy of Motion | 4.7 |
| Animals As Leaders The Madness of Many | 3.0 |
| Animals As Leaders Parrhesia | 3.2 |
| 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. |
| Anthony Green Would You Still Be In Love | 3.0 |
| Anti-Flag American Fall | 3.8 |
| Anubis Hitchhiking to Byzantium | 3.4 |
| Arab Strap As Days Get Dark | 4.5 |
| Aramid Obsidian | 4.0 |
| Arcade Fire Funeral | 4.5 |
| Arcade Fire Neon Bible | 3.5 |
| Arch Enemy Wages of Sin | 3.5 |
| Arcturus The Sham Mirrors | 4.0 |
| Art of Illusion Round Square of the Triangle | 4.0 |
| Ashes Divide Keep Telling Myself It's Alright | 4.0 |
| Assimilated Mind Phase Involuntary Deconstruction | 3.0 |
| Astra The Weirding | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| At the Gates Slaughter of the Soul | 4.0 |
| Atheist Unquestionable Presence | 3.5 |
| Athletics Who You Are Is Not Enough | 4.0 |
| Atoma Skylight | 4.5 |
| Atreyu Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses | 3.5 |
| Augury Concealed | 4.0 |
| August Burns Red Constellations | 4.0 |
| Avenged Sevenfold City of Evil | 3.5 |
| Avenged Sevenfold Waking the Fallen | 3.0 |
| Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold | 2.5 |
| Ayreon Into the Electric Castle | 4.5 |
| Ayreon The Human Equation | 5.0 |
| Ayreon 01011001 | 3.0 |
| Ayreon The Universal Migrator, Pts 1-2 | 4.0 |
| Ayreon The Theory of Everything | 3.5 |
| Ayreon The Source | 3.7 |
| bansheebeat Spiral Power | 4.5 |
| Barrier Dark Days | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Beck Colors | 3.5 |
| Behemoth Demigod | 3.5 |
| Behold... The Arctopus Skullgrid | 3.5 |
| Being Arrival | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Being Anthropocene | 2.5 |
| Ben Howard I Forget Where We Were | 4.2 |
| 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. |
| Benjamin Clementine I Tell A Fly | 5.0 |
| Between the Buried and Me Alaska | 4.5 |
| Between the Buried and Me The Silent Circus | 3.5 |
| Between the Buried and Me The Great Misdirect | 3.5 |
| Between the Buried and Me Colors | 5.0 |
| Between the Buried and Me The Parallax II: Future Sequence | 4.0 |
| Between the Buried and Me Colors II | 4.0 |
| Big D and the Kids Table Fluent in Stroll | 5.0 |
| 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. |
| Big D and the Kids Table For the Damned, the Dumb, and the Delirious | 2.0 |
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. |
| Big D and the Kids Table Strictly Rude | 3.5 |
| Big D and the Kids Table Stroll | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| I just can't stop listening to "Pinball" it's just that good. |
| Black Sabbath Paranoid | 3.5 |
| Black Widow Sacrifice | 5.0 |
| I conjuh thee I conjuh thee I conjuh THEE I conjuh thee appear! |
| Blind Guardian Imaginations from the Other Side | 5.0 |
| Blind Guardian Nightfall in Middle-Earth | 3.5 |
| Blind Guardian A Twist in the Myth | 4.0 |
| Blood Cultures Happy Birthday | 3.5 |
| Bloodletters and Badmen Bloodletters and Badmen | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago | 5.0 |
| Bonobo The North Borders | 4.0 |
| Bootsy Collins Blasters of the Universe | 4.0 |
| Born of Osiris A Higher Place | 2.0 |
| Botch We Are the Romans | 4.5 |
| brokeNCYDE The Broken | 1.0 |
| brokeNCYDE I'm Not a Fan, but the Kids Like It! | 1.0 |
| brokeNCYDE Will Never Die | 1.0 |
| brokeNCYDE Guilty Pleasure | 1.0 |
| Bruce Dickinson Skunkworks | 4.5 |
| Bruce Dickinson The Chemical Wedding | 4.5 |
| Bruce Dickinson Accident of Birth | 4.0 |
| Bruce Dickinson Balls to Picasso | 3.5 |
| Bruce Dickinson Tyranny of Souls | 3.5 |
| Bruce Dickinson Tattooed Millionaire | 3.0 |
| Bruce Dickinson The Mandrake Project | 3.3 |
| Buckethead Albino Slug | 3.0 |
| Buckethead Decoding the Tomb of Bansheebot | 4.5 |
| Buckethead Pepper's Ghost | 4.0 |
| Buckethead Crime Slunk Scene | 4.0 |
| Buckethead The Cuckoo Clocks of Hell | 3.0 |
| Buckethead Monsters & Robots | 4.5 |
| Cacophony Speed Metal Symphony | 3.5 |
| Canvas Solaris Sublimation | 4.5 |
| Capharnaum Fractured | 4.0 |
| Captain, We're Sinking The Future Is Cancelled | 4.0 |
| Captain, We're Sinking The King of No Man | 4.0 |
| Carthage Carthage EP | 3.5 |
| Case/Lang/Veirs Case/Lang/Veirs | 3.5 |
| Casiopea Casiopea | 4.5 |
| Casualties of Cool Casualties of Cool | 5.0 |
| 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. |
| Cavern Cavern | 3.5 |
| Chicago Chicago Transit Authority | 4.5 |
| Children of Bodom Blooddrunk | 3.0 |
| Children of Bodom Hatebreeder | 3.5 |
| Children of Bodom Are You Dead Yet? | 3.5 |
| Children of Bodom Hate Crew Deathroll | 3.5 |
| Children of Bodom Follow the Reaper | 4.0 |
| Children of Bodom Something Wild | 4.0 |
| Chimp Spanner At the Dream's Edge | 4.5 |
| Chimp Spanner All Roads Lead Here | 4.0 |
| Chinese Football Chinese Football | 3.7 |
| CHON Grow | 4.0 |
| Chosen Resolution | 4.0 |
| 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 Letchford Lightbox | 4.3 |
| Chris Schlarb Psychic Temple II | 4.0 |
| Chris Schlarb Psychic Temple | 4.0 |
| Chris Schlarb Psychic Temple IV | 3.2 |
| Chronophobe after a long year... | 4.2 |
| Chthonic Seediq Bale | 4.0 |
| Chthonic Relentless Recurrence | 3.5 |
| Chthonic 9th Empyrean | 3.5 |
| Circa Survive The Amulet | 3.5 |
| Circa Survive Blue Sky Noise | 3.5 |
| Circa Survive Descensus | 3.5 |
| Circulatory System Signal Morning | 4.0 |
| City of Ships Look What God Did To Us | 3.5 |
| Clever Girl No Drum And Bass in the Jazz Room | 5.0 |
| Closure in Moscow First Temple | 4.5 |
| Closure in Moscow Pink Lemonade | 3.0 |
| Cloud Gavin Posture | 4.0 |
| Cloudkicker ]]][[[ | 4.0 |
| Cloudkicker The Discovery | 3.5 |
| Cloudkicker Beacons | 4.0 |
| Cloudkicker Woum | 4.0 |
| Cloudyhead Abstraction | 3.5 |
| Coevality Multiple Personalities | 4.8 |
| 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 |
| Coheed and Cambria The Second Stage Turbine Blade | 5.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 | 5.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness | 5.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria No World for Tomorrow | 3.5 |
| Coheed and Cambria Year of the Black Rainbow | 3.5 |
| Coheed and Cambria The Afterman: Ascension | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria The Color Before The Sun | 3.3 |
| This grew on me a bit, but it still lacks the magic and bold identity of previous releases. |
| Colossal Figures Clockwork Dilation | 3.8 |
| Comadre Comadre | 3.5 |
| Corelia Nostalgia | 4.0 |
| cotoba Since the World is About to End | 4.0 |
| Covet technicolor | 3.8 |
| 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. |
| Covet catharsis | 3.5 |
| Cynic Traced in Air | 5.0 |
| Cynic Focus | 4.5 |
| Cynic Re-Traced | 3.5 |
| Cynic Carbon-Based Anatomy | 4.0 |
| Cynic The Portal Tapes | 4.0 |
| Cynic Ascension Codes | 4.2 |
| Cynic Kindly Bent to Free Us | 2.8 |
| It occurred to me just today that the bass on this sounds like Barry White's farts. |
| Dad Thighs The Ghosts That I Fear | 3.5 |
| Damascus When Last We Met | 4.6 |
| Damascus Of Whom I Always Think | 4.0 |
| Healthy, robust, pretty cool post-rock. Worth a listen. |
| Damascus Salutations, Distant Satellite! | 3.5 |
| Damascus Heights | 4.5 |
| Dan Dankmeyer Arcologies | 4.0 |
| Dan Dankmeyer Origin | 3.0 |
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. |
| Dan Dankmeyer X | 3.5 |
| Dan Dankmeyer Pure | 3.5 |
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 |
| Dananananaykroyd There Is A Way | 4.0 |
| Dance Gavin Dance Acceptance Speech | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Dance Gavin Dance Downtown Battle Mountain II | 4.0 |
| Dance Gavin Dance Instant Gratification | 4.0 |
| Dance Gavin Dance Dance Gavin Dance | 4.0 |
| Dance Gavin Dance Mothership | 3.2 |
| There's something Instant Gratification had that this is lacking. |
| Darkest Hour The Eternal Return | 3.5 |
| David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars | 5.0 |
| David Bowie Aladdin Sane | 4.0 |
| David Bowie Blackstar | 5.0 |
| David Maxim Micic Bilo | 4.0 |
| David Maxim Micic Bilo 2.0 | 4.5 |
| David Maxim Micic Bilo 3.0 | 4.5 |
| David Maxim Micic is a genius.r"Daydreamers" is brilliant. |
| David Maxim Micic ECO | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| David Maxim Micic EGO | 3.0 |
| David Maxim Micic Who Bit the Moon | 3.2 |
| Still listening, but this doesn't seem to be David's best work. Still solid for what it is, though. |
| Deadlock Manifesto | 4.0 |
| Deadlock Wolves | 3.5 |
| Deadlock Bizarro World | 4.0 |
| Deadlock The Arsonist | 1.5 |
| Deadlock Hybris | 2.7 |
| Deafheaven Sunbather | 4.5 |
| Deafheaven New Bermuda | 4.0 |
| Deafheaven Ordinary Corrupt Human Love | 5.0 |
| Deafheaven Infinite Granite | 3.6 |
| Death Human | 4.5 |
| Death Individual Thought Patterns | 4.5 |
| Death Symbolic | 4.0 |
| Death Cab for Cutie Transatlanticism | 3.5 |
| Deerhunter Halcyon Digest | 3.5 |
| Devin Townsend Ziltoid the Omniscient | 4.0 |
| Devin Townsend Terria | 4.5 |
| Devin Townsend Ocean Machine: Biomech | 5.0 |
| Devin Townsend Empath | 3.0 |
| Devin Townsend The Puzzle | 4.5 |
| Devin Townsend goes Sufjan Stevens, but with less ding dong ding dong and more saxophone and sing song sing song |
| Devin Townsend Project Epicloud | 3.0 |
| 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 Addicted | 4.5 |
| Devin Townsend Project Ki | 4.5 |
| Devin Townsend Project Deconstruction | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Devin Townsend Project Ghost | 5.0 |
| Devin Townsend Project Z2 | 3.4 |
| Devin Townsend Project Transcendence | 3.0 |
| Disperse Journey Through The Hidden Gardens | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Disperse Living Mirrors | 2.5 |
| Disperse Foreword | 4.2 |
| Dispirited Spirits The Redshift Blues | 4.0 |
| DragonForce Ultra Beatdown | 1.5 |
| DragonForce Inhuman Rampage | 3.0 |
| DragonForce Sonic Firestorm | 3.5 |
| DragonForce Valley of the Damned | 3.0 |
| Dream Theater Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory | 5.0 |
| Dream Theater Images and Words | 4.5 |
| Dream Theater Awake | 4.0 |
| Dream Theater Train of Thought | 4.0 |
| Dream Theater Octavarium | 3.5 |
| Dream Theater Systematic Chaos | 3.0 |
| Dream Theater Black Clouds and Silver Linings | 3.5 |
| Dream Theater Dream Theater | 3.5 |
| Dream Theater The Astonishing | 3.5 |
| Drewsif Stalin's Musical Endeavors A Particularly Beautiful Day | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Drewsif Stalin's Musical Endeavors Excursion | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| Elder (USA-MA) Lore | 3.5 |
| Emerson Lake and Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer | 4.5 |
| Emerson Lake and Palmer Tarkus | 5.0 |
| Enchant The Great Divide | 4.0 |
| Encircle Watch The Sky Fall | 3.0 |
| Endless, Nameless Living Without | 3.8 |
| Enemies Embark Embrace | 4.5 |
| Enemies Valuables | 4.0 |
| Enslaved Isa | 3.0 |
| Epica The Divine Conspiracy | 3.5 |
| Erlang Kovata Shattered | 4.2 |
| Exodus Bonded by Blood | 2.5 |
| Explosions in the Sky The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place | 4.5 |
| Fair to Midland Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True | 4.5 |
| Fair to Midland Arrows and Anchors | 5.0 |
| Falconer Northwind | 2.0 |
| Fates Warning Perfect Symmetry | 3.5 |
| Fates Warning Parallels | 3.5 |
| Fates Warning Awaken the Guardian | 3.0 |
| Fates Warning Theories of Flight | 4.0 |
| Fear Before The Always Open Mouth | 5.0 |
| Fire! Orchestra Ritual | 4.5 |
| Flying Colors Flying Colors | 4.5 |
| Flying Colors Second Nature | 3.8 |
| Flying Colors Third Degree | 4.0 |
| Geronimo >>>>>>> |
| Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace | 3.5 |
| fordirelifesake Dance.Pretend.Forget.Defend | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| fordirelifesake Breathing in Is Only Half the Function | 3.0 |
| fordirelifesake A Daydream Disaster | 2.5 |
| Forests Spending Eternity In A Japanese Convenience Store | 4.0 |
| Foxing Nearer My God | 4.3 |
| Funeral for a Friend Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation | 3.5 |
| Gab.riel Tangent | 4.5 |
| Gamma Ray Land of the Free II | 2.0 |
| Gamma Ray Land of the Free | 4.0 |
| Gates (USA-NJ) Bloom and Breathe | 3.9 |
| Genesis Not Planet All Turn To Dust | 3.5 |
| Russian Instrumental Gojira. I shit you not. And hey, it's actually pretty good! |
| George Benson Breezin' | 4.2 |
| Giant Squid The Ichthyologist | 4.5 |
| Giant Squid Metridium Fields | 3.5 |
| Gilgamesh Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into | 5.0 |
| Girugamesh Music | 4.0 |
| Girugamesh 13's Reborn | 3.5 |
| Girugamesh Girugamesh | 3.0 |
| Givers In Light | 4.0 |
| Glass Animals How To Be A Human Being | 3.5 |
| Glassjaw Material Control | 4.0 |
| God Is an Astronaut All Is Violent, All Is Bright | 4.0 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! | 2.5 |
| Maybe I just don't "get it" yet, but I find this album boring. |
| Godsticks Spiral Vendetta | 4.0 |
| Gojira The Way of All Flesh | 4.0 |
| Gojira From Mars to Sirius | 5.0 |
| Gojira L'Enfant Sauvage | 2.5 |
| 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 | 2.5 |
| Gojira Magma | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Gordian Knot Emergent | 4.5 |
| Gorguts Obscura | 4.0 |
| Gorguts Colored Sands | 4.5 |
| Graph Rabbit Snowblind | 3.5 |
| Green Day American Idiot | 2.5 |
| Gru Cosmogenesis | 4.5 |
| Guilt Machine On This Perfect Day | 4.5 |
| Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy | 2.5 |
| Guns N' Roses Appetite for Destruction | 4.0 |
| Hacktivist Hacktivist | 2.5 |
| Hail the Sun Divine Inner Tension | 4.0 |
| Haken The Mountain | 5.0 |
| Haken Aquarius | 4.0 |
| Haken Affinity | 3.5 |
| Halford Resurrection | 3.5 |
| HammerFall Threshold | 3.5 |
| HammerFall Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken | 3.5 |
| Hayley Williams Petals for Armor | 4.5 |
| Hayley Williams FLOWERS for VASES / descansos | 4.0 |
| Heavens Gate In Control | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Heavens Gate Planet E. | 3.0 |
| Heavens Gate Menergy | 3.0 |
| Heavens Gate Hell For Sale! | 4.0 |
| Heavens Gate Livin' In Hysteria | 4.0 |
| Heavens Gate Open The Gate And Watch! | 3.5 |
| Heavens Gate In the Mood | 4.5 |
| Helloween Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy | 2.5 |
| Helloween Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I | 4.0 |
| Hoth Astral Necromancy | 3.5 |
| Hoth Oathbreaker | 4.3 |
| If someone directed an animated short to just one of these tracks, it would do the entire backstory to A New Hope justice. Finally. |
| Humanoid Remembering Universe | 4.5 |
| Icarus the Owl Icarus the Owl | 4.0 |
| Iced Earth The Crucible of Man | 1.5 |
| Iced Earth Framing Armageddon | 3.5 |
| Iced Earth Horror Show | 4.0 |
| Iced Earth Something Wicked This Way Comes | 2.5 |
| Iced Earth Night of the Stormrider | 4.0 |
| Iced Earth Iced Earth | 3.0 |
| Iced Earth Dystopia | 3.5 |
| This should be subtitled "How Stu Block saved Iced Earth" |
| Ikuinen Kaamos Closure | 4.5 |
| Ikuinen Kaamos Fall of Icons | 4.0 |
| In Flames Colony | 3.0 |
| In Flames The Jester Race | 3.5 |
| In Mourning Shrouded Divine | 3.5 |
| Interiors Syntax | 3.5 |
| Into Eternity The Incurable Tragedy | 2.5 |
| Into Eternity Buried in Oblivion | 4.0 |
| Into Eternity Into Eternity | 2.5 |
| Into Eternity Dead or Dreaming | 3.5 |
| Into Eternity The Scattering of Ashes | 3.5 |
| Iron Maiden A Matter of Life and Death | 3.5 |
| Iron Maiden Virtual XI | 2.0 |
| Iron Maiden Brave New World | 4.5 |
| Iron Maiden Somewhere in Time | 5.0 |
| Iron Maiden The Number of the Beast | 4.0 |
| Iron Maiden Piece of Mind | 4.0 |
| Iron Maiden Powerslave | 4.0 |
| Iron Maiden Seventh Son of a Seventh Son | 5.0 |
| Iron Maiden Dance of Death | 3.5 |
| Iron Maiden Fear of the Dark | 3.0 |
| Iron Maiden Killers | 3.0 |
| Iron Maiden Iron Maiden | 3.0 |
| Iron Maiden The Book of Souls | 3.2 |
| Iron Maiden does Iron Maiden as well as Iron Maiden can do Iron Maiden. |
| ISIS Panopticon | 5.0 |
| ISIS Oceanic | 4.0 |
| ISIS Wavering Radiant | 4.0 |
| islnds History Of Robots | 3.5 |
| Jag Panzer Thane to the Throne | 4.5 |
| Jakszyk, Fripp and Collins A Scarcity Of Miracles | 4.0 |
| Jakub Zytecki Wishful Lotus Proof | 4.2 |
| Jakub Zytecki Feather Bed | 4.5 |
| 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 | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Jakub Zytecki Nothing Lasts, Nothing's Lost | 3.5 |
| James LaBrie Elements Of Persuasion | 3.5 |
| Jeff Rosenstock WORRY. | 3.5 |
| Joe Satriani Is There Love In Space? | 3.5 |
| Joe Satriani Unstoppable Momentum | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| John 5 The Art of Malice | 4.0 |
| John 5 The Devil Knows My Name | 4.0 |
| John Di Pasquale Move The Uncovered Boxes Away | 3.8 |
| John Petrucci Suspended Animation | 3.5 |
| John Wesley Disconnect | 3.3 |
| Joncofy Rorschach Inkblots | 4.0 |
| Journal Unlorja | 3.0 |
| Judas Priest Stained Class | 4.5 |
| Judas Priest Angel of Retribution | 2.5 |
| Judas Priest Painkiller | 5.0 |
| Judas Priest Ram It Down | 3.0 |
| Judas Priest Defenders of the Faith | 4.0 |
| Judas Priest Screaming for Vengeance | 4.0 |
| Judas Priest British Steel | 3.0 |
| Judas Priest Sad Wings of Destiny | 5.0 |
| Judas Priest Killing Machine | 3.0 |
| Julien Baker Turn Out The Lights | 4.0 |
| Julien Baker Sprained Ankle | 4.7 |
| JYOCHO The Beautiful Cycle of Terminal | 4.5 |
| K Sera Collisions and Near Misses | 4.0 |
| Kalisia Cybion | 4.0 |
| Kalisia Skies [Demo] | 3.5 |
| Karnivool Asymmetry | 2.5 |
| Keith Merrow Awaken the Stone King | 2.5 |
| "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. |
| Keith Merrow The Arrival | 2.0 |
| 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. |
| Keith Merrow Lonestar Transcend | 3.0 |
| Keldian Journey of Souls | 3.5 |
| Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly | 5.0 |
| Kevin Gilbert The Shaming of The True | 5.0 |
| Killswitch Engage Killswitch Engage: Remastered | 2.0 |
| Killswitch Engage The End of Heartache | 4.0 |
| Killswitch Engage Alive or Just Breathing | 3.5 |
| Killswitch Engage Killswitch Engage (2009) | 2.5 |
| Killswitch Engage As Daylight Dies | 3.5 |
| Killswitch Engage Disarm the Descent | 3.0 |
| Killswitch Engage Incarnate | 2.3 |
| 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. |
| King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King | 5.0 |
| King Crimson Larks' Tongues in Aspic | 4.5 |
| King Crimson Starless and Bible Black | 3.5 |
| King Crimson Red | 4.5 |
| King Crimson In the Wake of Poseidon | 3.5 |
| King Crimson Discipline | 5.0 |
| King Crimson Beat | 2.5 |
| King Diamond The Graveyard | 4.0 |
| King Diamond Give Me Your Soul...Please | 3.5 |
| King Diamond Abigail II: The Revenge | 3.0 |
| King Diamond House of God | 3.5 |
| King Diamond ''Them'' | 4.0 |
| King Diamond Abigail | 4.0 |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Polygondwanaland | 4.5 |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Infest the Rats' Nest | 4.5 |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Butterfly 3000 | 5.0 |
| King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard The Silver Cord | 4.2 |
| King's X Gretchen Goes to Nebraska | 5.0 |
| King's X Out of the Silent Planet | 4.5 |
| Kishi Bashi Lighght | 5.0 |
| Kishi Bashi Sonderlust | 4.2 |
| Lamb of God Ashes of the Wake | 2.0 |
| Lamb of God Sacrament | 2.5 |
| Lar Kaye EP | 4.0 |
| Last Chance to Reason Level 2 | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Last Dinosaurs In A Million Years | 4.5 |
| Laura Stevenson Wheel | 5.0 |
| Laura Stevenson Cocksure | 3.3 |
| Laura Stevenson The Big Freeze | 3.5 |
| Lazer Kitty Ruins | 4.5 |
| Lazer Kitty MOONS | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Lazer Kitty SPIES | 4.0 |
| Le Grand Plastic Jazz | 4.5 |
| Leafhouse Leafhouse | 4.5 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV | 5.0 |
| Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy | 4.5 |
| Life In Vacuum Lost | 3.0 |
| Light Bearer Silver Tongue | 3.5 |
| Linkin Park Hybrid Theory | 3.0 |
| Locktender Kafka | 3.0 |
| LodeStar Dynasty Blurry Moon | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| Lost Ubikyst in Apeiron Abstruse Imbeciles Nailed on Slavery | 4.9 |
| 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... |
| Lou Reed and Metallica Lulu | 1.0 |
| Machinae Supremacy Deus Ex Machinae | 3.5 |
| Machinae Supremacy Phantom Shadow | 2.8 |
| 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. |
| Madder Mortem Eight Ways | 3.5 |
| Manchester Orchestra A Black Mile to the Surface | 3.0 |
| My first experience with this band. Nothing special. I'm more than a tad disappointed. |
| ManDancing The Good Sweat | 4.2 |
| Marina Froot | 4.4 |
| Mark Hawkins Grandpa's Guitars | 4.5 |
| 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. |
| Marty Friedman Introduction | 3.0 |
| Marty Friedman Loudspeaker | 3.5 |
| Marty Friedman Music for Speeding | 3.5 |
| Marty Friedman True Obsessions | 4.0 |
| Marty Friedman Scenes | 3.5 |
| Marty Friedman Dragon's Kiss | 4.0 |
| Marty Friedman Future Addict | 1.0 |
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? |
| Marty Friedman Tokyo Jukebox | 3.0 |
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. | 3.0 |
| Marty Friedman Inferno | 3.5 |
| Mastodon Blood Mountain | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Leviathan | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Remission | 4.0 |
| Mastodon The Hunter | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Hushed and Grim | 3.7 |
| Megadeth The System Has Failed | 3.5 |
| Megadeth Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? | 4.5 |
| Megadeth Rust in Peace | 5.0 |
| Megadeth United Abominations | 4.0 |
| Megadeth Greatest Hits: Back to the Start | 3.0 |
| Megadeth The World Needs a Hero | 3.0 |
| Megadeth Endgame | 4.0 |
| 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 Cryptic Writings | 3.0 |
| Megadeth Youthanasia | 3.5 |
| Megadeth Countdown to Extinction | 4.5 |
| Megadeth So Far, So Good... So What! | 3.5 |
| Megadeth Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! | 4.0 |
| Megadeth Th1rt3en | 3.0 |
| Megadeth Super Collider | 2.0 |
| 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. |
| Megadeth Dystopia | 2.7 |
| Meshuggah obZen | 2.0 |
| Metal Church A Light in the Dark | 3.0 |
| Metal Church Masterpeace | 3.5 |
| Metal Church The Weight of the World | 3.5 |
| Metal Church The Human Factor | 4.0 |
| Metal Church Metal Church | 3.0 |
| Metal Church The Dark | 3.0 |
| Metallica St. Anger | 1.0 |
| Metallica Master of Puppets | 5.0 |
| Metallica Death Magnetic | 2.5 |
| Metallica Metallica | 3.0 |
| Metallica ...And Justice for All | 3.5 |
| Metallica Ride the Lightning | 4.0 |
| Metallica Kill 'Em All | 4.0 |
| Metallica The Unnamed Feeling | 3.5 |
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. |
| Michael McCormack Interstellar Channels | 3.8 |
| Michael Romeo The Dark Chapter | 4.0 |
| Miles Davis Bitches Brew | 5.0 |
| Milhouse Thrillhouse | 3.0 |
| Mindplotter Imperative | 4.0 |
| Minus the Bear Planet of Ice | 4.0 |
| Minus the Bear Omni | 2.5 |
| Misery Signals Mirrors | 4.0 |
| Mithras Behind the Shadows Lie Madness | 2.5 |
| Mithras Worlds Beyond the Veil | 2.5 |
| MODELING Ep1 | 4.0 |
| Modest Mouse This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About | 5.0 |
| Mogwai Every Country's Sun | 4.0 |
| Molecular Corporation Ambient Sputnik and The Dancing Government | 2.0 |
| 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. |
| Monobody Monobody | 4.7 |
| Awesome, fun, funky, and fresh. Doesn't get much better than this for a debut. |
| Moon Tooth Crux | 4.8 |
| Moron Police Boat on the Sea | 4.5 |
| Mountain Animation Lava Letter | 4.5 |
| BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO BANJO |
| Nathan Derr itsudattakke | 4.0 |
| Native Construct Quiet World | 4.2 |
| 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. |
| Ne Obliviscaris Citadel | 4.9 |
| 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. |
| Neal Morse One | 5.0 |
| I have been listening to a Neal Morse album from 2004 far more than any new release from 2020. Author of Confusion is amazing. |
| Necrophagist Onset of Putrefaction | 3.5 |
| Nerve The Distance Between Zero and One | 3.5 |
| Nerve End Axis | 3.5 |
| Nevermore This Godless Endeavor | 3.5 |
| Night Verses From the Gallery of Sleep | 4.7 |
| Nightwish Dark Passion Play | 3.5 |
| Nile In Their Darkened Shrines | 3.0 |
| No-Man Love You to Bits | 4.0 |
| Noah and the Whale Last Night On Earth | 3.0 |
| Numbers Numbers | 4.0 |
| Obscura Cosmogenesis | 4.0 |
| Ocean is Theory In My Blood Again | 3.0 |
| Oh No Ono Eggs | 4.0 |
| Oh No Ono Yes | 3.5 |
| Opeth Ghost Reveries | 5.0 |
| Opeth Blackwater Park | 5.0 |
| Opeth Watershed | 4.5 |
| Opeth Deliverance | 4.0 |
| Opeth Damnation | 4.0 |
| Opeth Heritage | 3.5 |
| Opeth My Arms, Your Hearse | 3.5 |
| Opeth Pale Communion | 3.2 |
| Eternal Rains Will Come is pretty cool, but this is almost as forgettable as Heritage. |
| Opeth Sorceress | 3.3 |
| 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. |
| Orbs Asleep Next to Science | 5.0 |
| 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 | 5.0 |
| 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 | 5.0 |
| 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! |
| Origami Angel Gami Gang | 4.7 |
| Orion Where Whales Go To Die | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Orion All This World Means | 3.0 |
| Orphaned Land Mabool (The Story of the Three Sons...) | 3.5 |
| oshwa Chamomile Crush | 4.0 |
| 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." |
| oshwa I We You Me | 3.8 |
| Overkill Necroshine | 4.5 |
| Overkill Immortalis | 3.0 |
| Overkill Killbox 13 | 3.0 |
| Overkill ReliXIV | 3.0 |
| Overkill Horrorscope | 3.5 |
| Owl City All Things Bright And Beautiful | 1.5 |
| Pain of Salvation The Perfect Element, Part 1 | 4.0 |
| Pain of Salvation Scarsick | 4.0 |
| Panopticon Collapse | 3.5 |
| Paramore Riot! | 4.0 |
| Paramore Paramore | 1.5 |
| 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. |
| Parkway Drive Deep Blue | 4.5 |
| Parkway Drive Horizons | 4.0 |
| Parkway Drive Killing with a Smile | 4.0 |
| Parkway Drive Atlas | 2.5 |
| Parliament Medicaid Fraud Dogg | 3.5 |
| Patrick Shiroishi Hidemi | 3.5 |
| Paul Gilbert Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar | 3.5 |
| Periphery Periphery | 2.0 |
| Periphery Periphery II: This Time It's Personal | 3.0 |
| Periphery Juggernaut: Alpha | 4.0 |
| 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 III: Select Difficulty | 3.2 |
| Periphery Periphery IV: Hail Stan | 4.0 |
| Oh my god this subtitle is even stupider than I could have dreamed. |
| Phlebotomized Immense, Intense, Suspense | 2.5 |
| Pinnick, Gales and Pridgen Pinnick, Gales & Pridgen | 3.5 |
| Planet X MoonBabies | 4.0 |
| Plini The End of Everything | 3.7 |
| PM Today In Medias Res | 5.0 |
| Pomegranate Tiger Entities | 3.5 |
| Porcupine Tree The Incident | 4.0 |
| Porcupine Tree Fear of a Blank Planet | 4.7 |
| Porcupine Tree Deadwing | 4.5 |
| Porcupine Tree In Absentia | 5.0 |
| Porcupine Tree Nil Recurring | 3.5 |
| Porcupine Tree We Lost the Skyline | 4.0 |
| Portals (USA-OH) A Continuous Spectrum | 3.0 |
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 | 3.0 |
| Powerglove Metal Kombat for the Mortal Man | 3.0 |
| Powerglove Total Pwnage | 3.0 |
| Primal Fear Primal Fear | 3.0 |
| Progenie Terrestre Pura U.M.A. | 3.0 |
| Protest the Hero Kezia | 4.0 |
| Protest the Hero Fortress | 4.0 |
| Protest the Hero Scurrilous | 4.0 |
| Protest the Hero Volition | 4.5 |
| Scurrilous is catchier, but this goes pretty hard too, so |
| Protest the Hero Palimpsest | 4.5 |
| pulses. Yo! Champ in the Making! | 4.0 |
| pulses. Speak It Into Existence | 3.8 |
| Punky Bruster Cooked on Phonics | 4.0 |
| Queen The Miracle | 3.0 |
| Queen Queen II | 4.5 |
| Queen A Night at the Opera | 5.0 |
| Queen Sheer Heart Attack | 4.0 |
| Queen A Day at the Races | 4.5 |
| Queen News of the World | 3.5 |
| Queen Live Killers | 3.5 |
| Queensryche Operation: Mindcrime II | 2.5 |
| Queensryche Operation: Mindcrime | 5.0 |
| Queensryche Empire | 3.5 |
| Queensryche Frequency Unknown (Tate's Queensryche) | 2.0 |
| Radiohead In Rainbows | 4.5 |
| Radiohead OK Computer | 4.5 |
| Radiohead Kid A | 4.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium | 4.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers By the Way | 3.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication | 5.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers One Hot Minute | 3.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik | 3.5 |
| Redkey Rage of Fire | 3.5 |
| Reel Big Fish Why Do They Rock So Hard? | 4.0 |
| Reel Big Fish Turn the Radio Off | 3.5 |
| Reflux The Illusion Of Democracy | 5.0 |
| Remmirath Polis Rouge | 4.0 |
| Return To Earth Automata | 3.5 |
| Roadrunner United The All-Star Sessions | 3.5 |
| Rolo Tomassi Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It | 4.5 |
| Rorcal Vilagvege | 2.0 |
| Royal/Revise Revival | 3.0 |
| Rush Roll the Bones | 3.5 |
| Rush Vapor Trails | 3.5 |
| Rush Test for Echo | 3.5 |
| Rush Moving Pictures | 5.0 |
| Rush Permanent Waves | 4.5 |
| Rush Hemispheres | 4.5 |
| Rush A Farewell to Kings | 4.5 |
| Rush 2112 | 5.0 |
| Rush Fly by Night | 4.0 |
| Rush Rush in Rio | 4.5 |
| Rush The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits | 4.0 |
| Rush Feedback | 3.5 |
| Russian Circles Guidance | 4.0 |
| Rx Bandits ...And the Battle Begun | 5.0 |
| Rx Bandits Gemini, Her Majesty | 4.5 |
| Ryan Wall Sleep | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Sam Locke Era | 3.5 |
| Sam Locke Crossing the Barrier | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Samson Shock Tactics | 4.0 |
| Samson Head On | 4.0 |
| Samson Survivors | 2.5 |
| Sarah Neufeld The Ridge | 4.0 |
| Savatage Dead Winter Dead | 4.5 |
| Savatage Streets: A Rock Opera | 3.5 |
| Savatage Hall of the Mountain King | 4.0 |
| Savoir Adore Our Nature | 4.5 |
| Scale the Summit Carving Desert Canyons | 4.5 |
| Scale the Summit Monument | 4.0 |
| Scale the Summit The Collective | 5.0 |
| 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. |
| Scale the Summit The Migration | 4.5 |
| Nothing but a continued example of instrumental excellence. Doubters and detractors beware. |
| Scale the Summit V | 3.6 |
| Scar Symmetry Holographic Universe | 4.0 |
| Scatman John Scatman's World | 5.0 |
| Secret Band LP2 | 4.0 |
| Seven Impale Summit | 3.8 |
| Seventh Wonder Mercy Falls | 4.0 |
| Shabutie Penelope | 3.5 |
| Shabutie Plan to Take Over the World [EP] | 4.1 |
| I'm a bahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaastaaaaaaaaaaard, I'm a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaastaaaaaaaaaaard. |
| Shai Hulud Reach Beyond the Sun | 3.5 |
| She Was the Universe Whalesong | 2.5 |
| Shearwater The Golden Archipelago | 4.0 |
| Sieges Even The Art of Navigating by the Stars | 5.0 |
| Sithu Aye Cassini | 4.0 |
| Sithu Aye Isles | 4.5 |
| Skyfire Timeless Departure | 3.5 |
| Skyharbor Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos | 4.0 |
| Skyharbor Guiding Lights | 4.0 |
| Sleep Parade Inside/Out | 4.0 |
| sleepmakeswaves In Today Already Walks Tomorrow | 4.5 |
| So Long Forgotten Beneath Our Noble Heads | 4.7 |
| 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. |
| So Long Forgotten Things We Can See and Things We Cannot | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| So Long Forgotten So Long Forgotten | 3.5 |
| Solange A Seat at the Table | 4.3 |
| Sonata Arctica Unia | 3.5 |
| Soul Cycle Soul Cycle | 4.0 |
| 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). |
| Soul Cycle Soul Cycle II | 4.5 |
| Spaces Nothing Exists but Atoms and the Void | 4.0 |
| Special Providence Soul Alert | 4.0 |
| Star One Victims of the Modern Age | 4.0 |
| Star One Space Metal | 3.0 |
| Star One Revel in Time | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Steve Harris British Lion | 2.0 |
| 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. |
| Steve Vai Sex and Religion | 4.0 |
| Steve Vai Passion and Warfare | 3.5 |
| Steven Page Page One | 4.0 |
| Steven Page Heal Thyself Pt. 1: Instinct | 4.0 |
| Steven Page Discipline: Heal Thyself, Pt. II | 4.0 |
| Steven Wilson To the Bone | 4.5 |
| Steven Wilson The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) | 3.5 |
| Stolas Allomaternal | 4.6 |
| Storm Corrosion Storm Corrosion | 3.0 |
| I blame the primary mediocrity of this album on Steven Wilson. |
| Strapping Young Lad Alien | 4.0 |
| Strapping Young Lad City | 4.0 |
| Strawberry Girls French Ghetto | 5.0 |
| Arithmetic is the foundation of everything beautiful. |
| Strawberry Girls Tasmanian Glow | 4.5 |
| Streetlight Manifesto Everything Goes Numb | 5.0 |
| Streetlight Manifesto Somewhere in the Between | 4.5 |
| Streetlight Manifesto 99 Songs of Revolution: Volume I | 4.0 |
| Streetlight Manifesto Keasbey Nights | 4.5 |
| Streetlight Manifesto The Hands That Thieve | 5.0 |
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. |
| Subsignal Beacons of Somewhere Sometime | 4.2 |
| Sufjan Stevens Illinois | 5.0 |
| Sufjan Stevens The Age of Adz | 5.0 |
| Sufjan Stevens Michigan | 4.5 |
| Sufjan Stevens Silver & Gold | 5.0 |
| Sufjan Stevens Enjoy Your Rabbit | 3.0 |
| Sufjan Stevens Carrie and Lowell | 5.0 |
| Sun Ra Space is the Place | 3.5 |
| Sun Ra Atlantis | 4.0 |
| Symphony X Paradise Lost | 4.0 |
| Symphony X The Odyssey | 3.5 |
| Symphony X The Divine Wings of Tragedy | 4.0 |
| Symphony X V: The New Mythology Suite | 3.5 |
| Synaptical Glitch Monoliths | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster Exegesis | 4.0 |
| Tenacious D Jazz | 4.0 |
| TesseracT Concealing Fate | 4.0 |
| TesseracT Tesseract Demo | 4.0 |
| TesseracT One | 3.3 |
| TesseracT Altered State | 3.5 |
| 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. |
| TesseracT Polaris | 3.0 |
| TesseracT Sonder | 2.7 |
| Somewhere between "eh" and "meh" on this one. |
| Thank You Scientist Maps of Non-Existent Places | 4.8 |
| Thank You Scientist Stranger Heads Prevail | 4.0 |
| Thank You Scientist Terraformer | 4.7 |
| The Advaita Concept The Ratio | 2.0 |
| The Algorithm Polymorphic Code | 4.0 |
| The Callous Daoboys Celebrity Therapist | 2.5 |
| I feel like I've heard dozens of bands do this schtick and most of them do it better. |
| The Comet Is Coming Trust in the Lifeforce of Deep Mystery | 4.7 |
| The Contortionist Exoplanet | 4.5 |
| The Contortionist Intrinsic | 3.0 |
| 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 Contortionist Language | 4.5 |
| The Contortionist Clairvoyant | 3.2 |
| The Dali Thundering Concept When X Met Y... | 3.5 |
| 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 Darien Venture Indications | 4.0 |
| The Darien Venture A Kite, A Key and A Storm | 4.0 |
| 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 | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Act I: The Lake South, the River North | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Act III: Life and Death | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Act II: The Meaning of, & All Things Regarding Ms. Leading | 5.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Indigo | 4.5 |
| "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 The Color Spectrum (Complete Collection) | 5.0 |
| The Dear Hunter White | 4.5 |
| 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 Violet | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Yellow | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Blue | 3.5 |
| The Dear Hunter Red | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Green | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Black | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Orange | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Migrant | 4.0 |
| 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 IV: Rebirth in Reprise | 4.5 |
| The Dear Hunter Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional | 4.0 |
| The Dear Hunter Antimai | 4.5 |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Calculating Infinity | 2.0 |
| The Elijah I Loved I Hated I Destroyed I Created | 4.0 |
| The Fall of Troy Doppelganger | 4.5 |
| The Fall of Troy Phantom on the Horizon | 3.0 |
| The Great Gamble Book 1 | 4.5 |
| 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 | 4.5 |
| The Littlest Man Band Better Book Ends | 3.5 |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium | 3.0 |
| The Mars Volta Frances the Mute | 2.5 |
| The Menzingers After the Party | 4.0 |
| The Mercury Tree Permutations | 4.6 |
| "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. |
| The Microphones Microphones in 2020 | 4.5 |
| The Mighty Mighty Bosstones More Noise and Other Disturbances | 3.5 |
| The Most Of What We Have | 4.7 |
| The National Sleep Well Beast | 4.5 |
| The New Mastersounds Therapy | 4.0 |
| Awesome jazz funk. Listen to this or be labelled lame for all eternity. |
| The New Mastersounds Out On The Faultline | 3.7 |
| The Ocean Precambrian | 4.0 |
| The Ocean Pelagial | 3.5 |
| The Omega Experiment Karma EP | 4.5 |
| The Omega Experiment The Omega Experiment | 3.0 |
| The Physics House Band Incident on 3rd | 4.0 |
| The Postal Service Give Up | 5.0 |
| The Prize Fighter Inferno Beaver Records EP | 4.5 |
| Superb EP. Its only downfall is being far too short. |
| The Prize Fighter Inferno My Brother's Blood Machine | 4.0 |
| The Prize Fighter Inferno Half Measures | 4.0 |
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 Receiving End of Sirens Between the Heart and the Synapse | 4.5 |
| The Reign of Kindo Rhythm, Chord & Melody | 3.5 |
| The Reign of Kindo Play With Fire | 4.0 |
| The Residents God in Three Persons | 5.0 |
| The Residents The Ghost of Hope | 3.0 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream | 4.0 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness | 5.0 |
| The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza Danza IIII: The Alpha - The Omega | 2.0 |
| The Wednesday Club Passing Strange | 4.5 |
| The World Is a Beautiful Place... Illusory Walls | 3.8 |
| The World Is a Beautiful Place... Harmlessness | 4.5 |
| The World Is a Beautiful Place... Always Foreign | 4.5 |
| thoughtcrimes Tap Night | 3.8 |
| Thrice Vheissu | 4.0 |
| Thrice The Illusion of Safety | 4.0 |
| Thrice To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere | 4.2 |
| tide/edit Lightfoot | 4.0 |
| Tides of Man Dreamhouse | 4.5 |
| Tides of Man Empire Theory | 3.5 |
| Tides of Man Young and Courageous | 3.6 |
| 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. |
| Tigran Hamasyan The Call Within | 4.5 |
| Tilian Material Me | 4.5 |
| Tim Bowness Flowers At The Scene | 4.5 |
| Times of Grace The Hymn of a Broken Man | 3.5 |
| Toby Lightman The Snow Day Collection | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Touche Amore Is Survived By | 4.5 |
| Touche Amore Stage Four | 5.0 |
| Tradjectory Invasion EP | 3.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| Tre Watson Lexicon of the Human Subconscious | 4.0 |
| 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 Death of a Monarch | 3.0 |
| 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] | 3.0 |
| Tre Watson Gravestones | 4.0 |
| 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. |
| Tre Watson Harrier | 3.8 |
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 Shogun | 4.0 |
| Trivium Ascendancy | 4.0 |
| Trivium The Crusade | 2.0 |
| Trivium In Waves | 3.0 |
| Trivium Vengeance Falls | 3.0 |
| 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. |
| Trivium The Sin and the Sentence | 3.8 |
| I thought we passed a resolution barring Trivium from making better-than-average albums after Shogun? |
| Trivium What the Dead Men Say | 4.0 |
| Trophy Scars Holy Vacants | 3.3 |
| TTNG Animals | 4.2 |
| Two Voyeurs | 3.5 |
| Van Canto Break the Silence | 2.5 |
| They should really stick to being a cover band that I can laugh at. |
| Vasudeva Life in Circles | 3.8 |
| Vasudeva No Clearance | 3.5 |
| Vasudeva Generator | 4.2 |
| Voices from the Fuselage Odyssey: The Destroyer of Worlds | 3.5 |
| Vulfpeck Shvitz | 2.8 |
| Watchtower Energetic Disassembly | 2.5 |
| Water's Edge An Abstract Collapse | 4.5 |
| we broke the weather we broke the weather | 4.5 |
| I really like this a lot, but the intro to "Fire Season" is "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down and it always makes me laugh. |
| Wide Eyes Volume | 3.5 |
| 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 | 3.5 |
| Widek Multiverse | 3.0 |
| Widek 2010/2011 Songs | 3.5 |
| Wings Denied Awake | 4.0 |
| Wintersun Wintersun | 4.0 |
| Wintersun Time I | 3.5 |
| Wooden Shjips V | 3.5 |
| WRVTH No Rising Sun | 4.0 |
| WU LYF Go Tell Fire to the Mountain | 5.0 |
| Xanithon Serpent | 3.0 |
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. |
| Xanthochroid Blessed He With Boils | 3.5 |
| Yellowcard Yellowcard | 3.5 |
| Yngwie Malmsteen Rising Force | 4.0 |
