| Abhorrent (USA-TX) Intransigence | 2.0 |
| Adagio Sanctus Ignis | 4.0 |
| Adagio Archangels in Black | 3.5 |
| Adagio Life | 1.0 |
| Is this a sick joke? |
| Ade Spartacus | 3.5 |
| Not remarkably original. Think if Nile ditched Ancient Egypt for Ancient Rome. |
| After Forever Decipher | 4.0 |
| Agalloch Ashes Against the Grain | 4.0 |
| Agalloch Pale Folklore | 3.5 |
| Agalloch The Mantle | 4.5 |
| Agalloch The White | 3.5 |
| Very refreshing mixture of folk and dark ambient. |
| Agalloch Marrow of the Spirit | 2.5 |
| It's definitely a grower album. This is Agalloch's darkest material and is accented very well by the album's warm, organic production. Musically, Marrow contains unique, satisfying moments but unfortunately, they're a bit too scattered. As well, the album is bookended by two unnecessary and tedious tracks, the first of which isn't that bad but the last track--To Drown--is almost completely unredeeming and if not removed from the album entirely, could have easily been cut down by 7 minutes. |
| Aghora Formless | 4.0 |
| Aiumeen Basoa Iraganeko Bide Malkartsutik | 3.0 |
| Alestorm Captain Morgan's Revenge | 3.5 |
| Alestorm Black Sails at Midnight | 2.5 |
| Alestorm Back Through Time | 2.0 |
| Alestorm Sunset on the Golden Age | 3.0 |
| Alice in Chains Dirt | 3.5 |
| Alice in Chains Facelift | 4.0 |
| Alice in Chains Alice in Chains | 2.5 |
| Alkaloid The Malkuth Grimoire | 4.5 |
| 2015's biggest surprise. We all knew this would be good. No one knew it would be this good. |
| Amorphis Silent Waters | 4.5 |
| Amorphis Under the Red Cloud | 3.0 |
| Amorphis Tales from the Thousand Lakes | 4.5 |
| Andromeda II=I | 4.0 |
| Andromeda Extension of the Wish | 3.5 |
| Angel Dust Bleed | 3.0 |
| Aquilus Griseus | 3.5 |
| Arch/Matheos Sympathetic Resonance | 4.0 |
| Archspire The Lucid Collective | 2.0 |
| Arsis A Celebration of Guilt | 4.0 |
| Asphyx Last One on Earth | 4.0 |
| Atheist Elements | 4.0 |
| Atheist Unquestionable Presence | 4.5 |
| Atheist Piece of Time | 3.0 |
| Atlantean Kodex The White Goddess (A Grammar Of Poetic Myth) | 3.0 |
| Augury Illusive Golden Age | 3.0 |
| Augury Concealed | 2.0 |
| Augury Fragmentary Evidence | 3.5 |
| Bathory Blood Fire Death | 3.5 |
| Bathory Under the Sign of the Black Mark | 3.0 |
| Bathory Hammerheart | 3.5 |
| Battle Beast Battle Beast | 4.0 |
| Battle Beast Bringer of Pain | 2.0 |
| Batushka Litourgiya | 4.5 |
| Between the Buried and Me Colors | 4.5 |
| Between the Buried and Me Alaska | 4.0 |
| Between the Buried and Me Colors [2020 Remix / Remaster] | 4.5 |
| Between the Buried and Me Alaska (2020 Remix / Remaster) | 4.5 |
| Beyond Creation The Aura | 4.0 |
| Black Sabbath 13 | 4.0 |
| By no means a bad record, just a tad generic. r |
| Blackguard Firefight | 2.5 |
| Generic metal paired with epic symphonic leads. There is good material on this disc, but those looking for something original will not find it on Firefight. |
| Blackguard Profugus Mortis | 3.5 |
| Blackguard So it Begins | 2.0 |
| Blind Guardian Nightfall in Middle-Earth | 4.0 |
| Blind Guardian A Night at the Opera | 3.5 |
| Blind Guardian Imaginations from the Other Side | 4.0 |
| Blotted Science The Machinations of Dementia | 4.0 |
| Blut Aus Nord The Work Which Transforms God | 4.5 |
| Brymir Breathe Fire to the Sun | 3.5 |
| Burzum Daudi Baldrs | 3.5 |
| Though I understand where the hatred for this album comes from, I will say that it is one that you have to "get" to enjoy. Daudi Baldrs takes the listener through the tortured, dungeonous mind of a Norwegian arsonist and murderer. Though the sounds on this album are of the dreadful quality, a tone is achieved and manages to convey sadness, anger, and torment--and in some way the low quality MIDI sounds work in the album's favor. Never have I heard such minimalism instill so much darkness in my ears. I am in the vast minority when I say that I fully understand what Vikernes was trying to do with this album (though that's not to say anyone is wrong for disliking it). There is only one serious gripe to be made, and that is the pure repetition that is found. Once you hear the first 30 seconds (and often less) of a song you have essentially heard the rest of it. Strangely (and as with the low quality MIDI samples) this repetition somehow works in the album's favor, but when some songs approach 10 minutes long, even I can admit that these melodies have overstayed their welcome. |
| Caladan Brood Echoes Of Battle | 4.0 |
| Candlemass Epicus Doomicus Metallicus | 4.0 |
| Carach Angren Lammendam | 2.5 |
| Carach Angren Where the Corpses Sink Forever | 3.5 |
Brilliant symphonic black metal matched by an equally brilliant concept. Music doesn't really break new
ground but it practically masters the niche.
"It's hard to breathe within this thick cloak of sulphurius mist, conjuring slaughtering soldiers into sickening
silhouettes." (most memorable part on the album) |
| Carach Angren Death Came Through a Phantom Ship | 2.5 |
| Carcass Surgical Steel | 3.5 |
Feels like a mix between Necroticism and Heartwork. Some fantastic material on this record, but I can't help
but feel it's just 47 minutes of the same thing. |
| Celtic Frost Monotheist | 3.5 |
| Celtic Frost To Mega Therion | 4.0 |
| Celtic Frost Into the Pandemonium | 3.5 |
| Circus Maximus The 1st Chapter | 3.5 |
| Comus First Utterance | 3.0 |
| Cruachan Folklore | 1.5 |
| Cruachan The Living and the Dead | 3.0 |
| Cryptopsy None So Vile | 4.5 |
| Cryptopsy Cryptopsy | 2.5 |
| Cryptopsy The Unspoken King | 1.0 |
| Cryptopsy Blasphemy Made Flesh | 3.0 |
| Cryptopsy The Book of Suffering - Tome 1 | 3.5 |
| Cynic Traced in Air | 2.0 |
| Dagoba Post Mortem Nihil Est | 2.0 |
| Dan Swano Moontower | 4.0 |
| Dark Moor The Hall of the Olden Dreams | 3.0 |
| Dark Moor Ars Musica | 1.5 |
| Darkwater Calling the Earth to Witness | 3.0 |
| Death The Sound of Perseverance | 5.0 |
| Death Individual Thought Patterns | 4.0 |
| Death Symbolic | 3.0 |
| Death Human | 4.0 |
| Decapitated Blood Mantra | 1.5 |
| Decapitated Organic Hallucinosis | 4.0 |
| Decapitated The Negation | 3.0 |
| Decapitated Nihility | 3.0 |
| Decapitated Winds of Creation | 4.0 |
| Decapitated Anticult | 2.0 |
| Decapitated Cancer Culture | 1.0 |
| Decrepit Birth ...And Time Begins | 1.5 |
| Sterile, devoid of character, abysmal production. Atrocious. One of the worst albums in the genre I have ever had the displeasure of hearing. |
| Decrepit Birth Polarity | 3.5 |
| Decrepit Birth Diminishing Between Worlds | 3.5 |
| Decrepit Birth Axis Mundi | 2.5 |
| What is with half of the runtime being taken up by covers? |
| Deicide Deicide | 4.0 |
| Demilich Nespithe | 4.0 |
| Desultor Masters of Hate | 3.0 |
| Devin Townsend Ocean Machine: Biomech | 4.0 |
| Diablo Swing Orchestra Pandora's Pinata | 3.5 |
| Disillusion Back to Times of Splendor | 4.0 |
| Disillusion Gloria | 3.0 |
| Disillusion Alea | 3.5 |
| Disillusion The Liberation | 2.0 |
| Dissection Storm of the Light's Bane | 3.0 |
| Dominici O3, A Trilogy Part 3 | 3.0 |
| Dream Theater When Dream and Day Unite | 2.0 |
| Dream Theater Octavarium | 3.5 |
| Dream Theater Black Clouds and Silver Linings | 3.5 |
| Dream Theater Images and Words | 4.5 |
| Dream Theater Systematic Chaos | 3.0 |
| Dream Theater Train of Thought | 4.5 |
| Dream Theater Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory | 3.5 |
| Dream Theater Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence | 3.0 |
| Dream Theater Falling into Infinity | 3.0 |
| Dream Theater Awake | 4.0 |
| Dream Theater Dream Theater | 1.5 |
| Dream Theater A Dramatic Turn of Events | 3.0 |
| Dreamscape End of Silence | 4.0 |
| Dreamscape 5th Season | 3.5 |
| Dreamscape Trance-like State | 2.0 |
| Dreamscape Everlight | 1.5 |
| Dying Fetus Wrong One to Fuck With | 2.5 |
Really, really surprised by this, especially after hearing the less than remarkable singles. This is
quintessential Dying Fetus, in that the band have finally struck the balance right. Things are
incredibly techy this time around, yet the album is absolutely dripping with groove. Everything
that made Destroy the Opposition great is pretty much here. Nothing is self-servingly technical or
showy; the music is almost always accented with crushing groove and purposeful progressions--
and you don't have to search to find those moments like you have to with other of the band's
albums. Also incredibly consistent with very little to no filler--again, a great achievement for the
band. Quite easily their best album since Destroy the Opposition. |
| Dying Fetus Reign Supreme | 3.5 |
| Dying Fetus Descend into Depravity | 2.5 |
| Dying Fetus Destroy the Opposition | 4.0 |
| Dying Fetus Grotesque Impalement | 3.0 |
| Dying Fetus Killing on Adrenaline | 2.0 |
| Dying Fetus Stop at Nothing | 3.0 |
| Dying Fetus War of Attrition | 1.5 |
| Edge of Sanity Crimson II | 4.5 |
| Edge of Sanity Crimson | 4.0 |
| Edge of Sanity Purgatory Afterglow | 3.5 |
| Edge of Sanity The Spectral Sorrows | 1.5 |
| Emperor In the Nightside Eclipse | 4.0 |
| Emyn Muil Túrin Turambar Dagnir Glaurunga | 3.0 |
| Ensiferum Ensiferum | 4.0 |
| Ensiferum Iron | 4.0 |
| Ensiferum Victory Songs | 3.0 |
| Ensiferum Unsung Heroes | 1.5 |
| Ensiferum From Afar | 4.0 |
| Ensiferum One Man Army | 2.0 |
| ugh |
| Ensiferum Two Paths | 1.0 |
| The list of mistakes this album makes is staggering. What an embarrassment. If my pain fetishist tendencies flare up this month I'll give a shot at expressing how I feel about this album in review form. |
| Enslaved Axioma Ethica Odini | 3.5 |
| Enslaved Heimdal | 5.0 |
| Epica The Phantom Agony | 4.5 |
| Epica The Divine Conspiracy | 4.5 |
| Epica Design Your Universe | 4.0 |
| Epica Consign to Oblivion | 3.5 |
| Epica Omega | 2.0 |
| Bleh |
| Epicenter Subversion | 4.0 |
| Equilibrium Sagas | 4.5 |
| Equilibrium Turis Fratyr | 4.0 |
| Equilibrium Rekreatur | 3.5 |
| Equilibrium Waldschrein | 3.0 |
| It's good but nothing groundbreaking. Though, who would expect otherwise given the nature of this EP? |
| Equilibrium Erdentempel | 3.5 |
| Fairly simple and straightforward music, but Equilibrium have released their funnest and happiest sounding ralbum. They've also upped their folk influences to the max, and make no mistake, the music is still epic/huge r(just in smaller doses). Uns'Rer Floten Klang is also one of the best things I've ever heard. |
| Equilibrium Armageddon | 1.0 |
| Equilibrium Renegades | 1.0 |
| Evergrey Recreation Day | 3.5 |
| Evergrey The Inner Circle | 3.5 |
| Evergrey In Search Of Truth | 4.0 |
| Falkenbach Asa | 2.5 |
| Fates Warning Awaken the Guardian | 4.0 |
| Fates Warning The Spectre Within | 3.5 |
| Fates Warning Night on Brocken | 2.5 |
| Fates Warning No Exit | 4.5 |
| Fates Warning A Pleasant Shade of Gray | 4.5 |
| Fates Warning Perfect Symmetry | 3.5 |
| Fates Warning Disconnected | 4.5 |
| Fates Warning FWX | 4.0 |
| Fates Warning Darkness in a Different Light | 2.0 |
| One of my most noteworthy disappointments in music. I can't believe I waited 10 years for this. Fates Warning finally release something worth passing up. |
| Fates Warning Theories of Flight | 3.0 |
| Fates Warning Long Day Good Night | 2.5 |
| Fates Warning Parallels | 3.0 |
| Fates Warning Inside Out | 2.5 |
| Galneryus Under the Force of Courage | 4.0 |
| I just can't keep up with these guy's releases. But this is a strong album. |
| Galneryus Between Dread and Valor | 5.0 |
| Gentle Giant Octopus | 2.5 |
| Gojira L'Enfant Sauvage | 1.5 |
| Gojira The Way of All Flesh | 4.5 |
| Gojira From Mars to Sirius | 4.0 |
| Gojira Possessed (as Godzilla) | 4.0 |
| Gojira The Link | 3.5 |
| Gojira Magma | 2.0 |
| Gojira Terra Incognita | 3.5 |
| Gojira Fortitude | 2.0 |
| Gorguts Obscura | 4.5 |
| Gorod Kiss The Freak | 1.5 |
| My hunch is that this was just a fun little experiment for Gorod and little more. Because if this is a reflection of their sound to come, we're in trouble. Kiss the Freak sounds exactly if a bunch of musicians decided to tally a list of the most cliche, overused, unoriginal tropes in thrash metal, and then proceed to incorporate every one of said tropes in an attempt to make a thrash metal record of their own. Generic thrash. Generic thrash. That's all this is. They've done nothing unique with the thrash formula. They didn't integrate it. They emulated it. And the only question I'm left wanting to ask is: why? |
| Gorod Leading Vision | 4.5 |
| Gorod A Perfect Absolution | 2.5 |
| Gorod Process of a New Decline | 3.0 |
| Gorod Transcendence | 4.5 |
| Gorod Neurotripsicks | 3.5 |
| Gorod A Maze of Recycled Creeds | 2.0 |
| Such an insanely tight sound on this album, even for Gorod's standards. The production is also amazing. Unfortunately, many of the songs themselves just aren't very good. |
| Gorod The Orb | 2.5 |
| Green Carnation Light of Day, Day of Darkness | 5.0 |
| Haggard Eppur si muove | 4.5 |
| Haken Aquarius | 4.5 |
| Haken Visions | 4.0 |
| Haken The Mountain | 2.5 |
| Halcyon Way Building the Towers | 3.0 |
| Hannes Grossmann The Radial Covenant | 3.5 |
| Heathen Foray Armored Bards | 2.5 |
| Heavenly (FRA) Virus | 4.5 |
| Heavenly (FRA) Dust To Dust | 4.0 |
| A bit bloated. There are a few songs that hinder the album's overall quality but at 70 minutes, there IS a healthy amount of good material here. And the material that's good isn't just good. It's jaw dropping. (for the record, the first half is by far stronger than the second.) |
| Heavenly (FRA) Carpe Diem | 3.0 |
| There's two or three standout tracks here while the rest are forgettable. If you can get passed the senseless, shameless, cringeworthy Queen worship on tracks 3 and 5 then it may be worthy a listen. |
| Herbst9 The Gods Are Small Birds, But I Am The Falcon | 4.0 |
| One full hour of dark, twisted, brooding evil. |
| Howard Shore The Fellowship of the Ring: The Complete Recording | 5.0 |
| Few musicians ever hit their mark of brilliance. And of the few that do, even fewer hit it to such a degree that their product is among the greatest music to ever be created. A flawless accompaniment to a flawless film. The greatest film score ever created. |
| Hypocrisy Virus | 2.0 |
| Ilbeltz Auskan Gabiltz Olatun Gainian | 4.5 |
Brilliant and unique blackened folk metal from the Basque
country. Perhaps one of the most underdiscovered albums
of all time. |
| Immolation Close to a World Below | 4.5 |
| Immortal Sons of Northern Darkness | 4.0 |
| Immortal Pure Holocaust | 2.0 |
| Immortal At the Heart of Winter | 3.5 |
| In the Woods... Omnio | 2.0 |
| Infected Mushroom Army Of Mushrooms | 3.0 |
| Infected Mushroom Converting Vegetarians | 4.0 |
| Infected Mushroom Vicious Delicious | 3.0 |
| Into Eternity Buried in Oblivion | 2.5 |
| James LaBrie Elements Of Persuasion | 3.0 |
| Jethro Tull Thick as a Brick | 5.0 |
| Jethro Tull War Child | 2.0 |
| Jethro Tull Aqualung | 4.0 |
| Jethro Tull Minstrel in the Gallery | 4.0 |
| Jethro Tull Songs from the Wood | 3.0 |
| Jethro Tull Heavy Horses | 4.0 |
| Jethro Tull Stormwatch | 2.0 |
| John Arch A Twist of Fate | 4.0 |
| Joseph Magazine Night Of The Red Sky | 3.5 |
| Judas Priest Nostradamus | 4.0 |
| Judas Priest Firepower | 3.5 |
| Judas Priest British Steel | 2.5 |
| Judas Priest Screaming for Vengeance | 3.5 |
| Judas Priest Sad Wings of Destiny | 4.0 |
| Judas Priest Painkiller | 4.5 |
| Judas Priest Jugulator | 3.0 |
| King Goat Conduit | 4.0 |
| Lost Horizon A Flame to the Ground Beneath | 2.0 |
| Marillion Misplaced Childhood | 3.5 |
| Maroon 5 Jordi | 1.0 |
| Martyr Warp Zone | 4.5 |
| Martyr Feeding the Abscess | 4.5 |
| Martyr Hopeless Hopes | 3.5 |
| Mastodon Leviathan | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Blood Mountain | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Crack the Skye | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Once More 'Round the Sun | 3.0 |
| Mastodon Emperor of Sand | 2.5 |
| Melechesh Enki | 3.5 |
| Melechesh Emissaries | 4.5 |
| Melechesh The Epigenesis | 4.0 |
| Meshuggah I | 3.5 |
| Meshuggah obZen | 4.0 |
| Meshuggah Catch Thirtythree | 3.0 |
| Meshuggah Nothing | 4.0 |
| Meshuggah Chaosphere | 3.0 |
| Meshuggah Destroy Erase Improve | 3.0 |
| Meshuggah Koloss | 3.5 |
| Meshuggah The Violent Sleep Of Reason | 3.5 |
| Meshuggah Immutable | 4.0 |
| Meshuggah obZen (15th Anniversary Remastered Edition) | 4.5 |
| Michael Pinnella Enter The Twelfth Gate | 2.0 |
| Yes, as a keyboardist, I do see merit in the musicianship of this release. However, the songwriting is incredibly unfocused and there are essentially no coherent ideas present throughout the album. Pinella has released a record that proves his virtuosity, but he needs to work on refining song structures and album pacing. |
| Mindwork Eterea | 3.5 |
| Moonsorrow Voimasta ja kunniasta | 4.5 |
| Moonsorrow Kivenkantaja | 4.5 |
| Moonsorrow Verisäkeet | 3.0 |
| Moonsorrow Viides luku - Hävitetty | 2.0 |
| Moonsorrow Jumalten aika | 2.5 |
| Morbid Angel Illud Divinum Insanus | 1.0 |
| The only album that has literally made me let out laughter. |
| Nazgul De Expugnatione Elfmuth | 4.0 |
| Neal Morse Sola Scriptura | 4.5 |
| Necrophagist Epitaph | 4.0 |
| Necrophagist Onset of Putrefaction | 4.0 |
| Nevermore The Politics of Ecstasy | 4.5 |
| Nevermore This Godless Endeavor | 3.0 |
| Nevermore The Obsidian Conspiracy | 3.0 |
| Nevermore Enemies Of Reality | 3.5 |
| Nevermore Dead Heart In A Dead World | 4.0 |
| Nevermore Dreaming Neon Black | 4.0 |
| Nightwish Century Child | 4.0 |
| Nightwish Oceanborn | 3.0 |
| Nightwish Wishmaster | 3.5 |
| Nightwish Once | 4.0 |
| Nile Annihilation of the Wicked | 4.5 |
| Nile Those Whom the Gods Detest | 4.0 |
| Nocternity Onyx | 3.5 |
| Nokturnal Mortum The Voice of Steel | 4.5 |
| A truly beautiful folk/black metal album with a dreamy atmosphere. A superb release on so many levels. The biggest thing stopping this from perfection is the mediocre By Path of Sun. Every other track is sublime. |
| Nokturnal Mortum Verity | 2.5 |
| Obliveon Nemesis | 3.5 |
| Obliveon From This Day Forward | 4.0 |
| Obscura Akróasis | 2.5 |
| Obscura Cosmogenesis | 4.0 |
| Obscura Omnivium | 3.5 |
| Obscura Retribution | 2.0 |
| Obscura Diluvium | 2.0 |
Nothing really I can say that Jacquibim didn't already
better, but I will nonetheless add to the pot. Diluvium
did not arrive as a sucker punch. It's a continuation
from the mess that began on Akroasis. Genuine
thoughtlessness begets songwriting that is indulgent
without having earned the right to be so. Despite the
phenomenal production, we have music that conveys little
of substance. It wanks and it plods and it sweeps and it
plods and it blast beats and it plods and it plods and it
plods and it plods. Obscura throws in every measure of
technicality they can muster until they go red in the
face; they keep this up for fifty minutes, and at the end
of it all you wonder if they had ever stopped to ask
themselves "should we write in one good riff?" |
| Opeth Watershed | 4.0 |
| Opeth Deliverance | 4.0 |
| Opeth Orchid | 4.5 |
| Opeth Morningrise | 5.0 |
| Opeth Still Life | 4.5 |
| Opeth Blackwater Park | 4.5 |
| Opeth Damnation | 3.5 |
| Opeth Ghost Reveries | 2.5 |
| Opeth Heritage | 2.0 |
| Opeth Pale Communion | 3.0 |
| Opeth Sorceress | 1.5 |
| Opeth My Arms, Your Hearse | 2.0 |
| Orion's Reign Nuclear Winter | 4.0 |
Some really interesting songs on this epic power metal debut. The choruses are catchy as fuck and the instrumentalists are awesome. Only problem is originality; there's nothing new here. But that's not a bad thing
necessarily. Orion's Reign takes an already kickass forumla and perfects it. |
| Orphaned Land Mabool (The Story of the Three Sons...) | 4.5 |
| A truly unique blend of folk, doom, death, and progressive metal. A classic album that needs to be heard by all fans of any of the above listed genres. |
| Orphaned Land All Is One | 3.0 |
| This is Orphaned Land watered down and commercialized. All is One lacks the atmosphere, ambition, and musical variance found on their previous two works. This is nothing more than a collection of pretty decent tracks. |
| Osaka Punch Voodoo Love Machine | 3.0 |
| Outworld Outworld | 4.0 |
| Pain of Salvation Remedy Lane | 4.5 |
| Pain of Salvation The Perfect Element, Part 1 | 4.5 |
| Pain of Salvation In the Passing Light of Day | 3.0 |
| Pain of Salvation Remedy Lane Re:mixed | 5.0 |
| Pestilence Consuming Impulse | 3.5 |
| Pestilence Testimony of the Ancients | 4.0 |
| Pestilence Spheres | 4.0 |
| Pestilence Resurrection Macabre | 3.5 |
| Pestilence Doctrine | 3.5 |
| Pestilence Obsideo | 3.0 |
| Pestilence Hadeon | 2.0 |
Big shame. No matter how much Mamelli pumps up his projects on social media, no matter how many times he claims he's created a revolution, a modern masterpiece, no matter how many times he conjures excitement and makes fans get their hopes way up that something brilliant and fresh is on its way, he lets. Everyone. Down. This guy cannot make music anymore. Actually, I wanted to briefly note that to me his past three albums have been totally listenable. They're filled with groove and quality riff writing. I'm in the minority and that's fine. But the problem is when he claims he's crafted something totally new. And it just so happens that this new album is not just the same deal (x10), it simply is more or less unredeeming. For once, the horde of claims of genericism--to a fault--towards modern Pestilence is something I agree with.
His talk has been confirmed useless and untrustworthy. The weirdest thing is that after three decades of making music you'd think, just for himself, that he'd be craving freshness,-- to create something totally new. Yet clearly he does not. And this is fine; he's completely entitled to create the art he wants to create. He's content to dial it in, and I'm not here to claim that he's wrong. I just don't want to listen to his music. |
| Pestilence Exitivm | 2.5 |
| How many more meh albums in a row are needed before I finally give up on this band? |
| Protest the Hero Kezia | 4.0 |
| Protest the Hero Fortress | 4.0 |
| Psychotic Waltz Mosquito | 3.0 |
| Psychotic Waltz Into the Everflow | 5.0 |
| Psychotic Waltz A Social Grace | 2.5 |
| Psychotic Waltz Bleeding | 3.5 |
| Psychotic Waltz Demo 1986 (as Aslan) | 4.0 |
| Psychotic Waltz The God-Shaped Void | 3.0 |
| Psycroptic The Scepter of the Ancients | 4.5 |
| Psycroptic The Inherited Repression | 4.0 |
| Queensryche The Warning | 3.5 |
| Queensryche Operation: Mindcrime | 4.0 |
| Queensryche Empire | 2.5 |
| Ravi Shankar Three Ragas | 4.0 |
The appeal of certain albums and alas entire types of music, is often meant to be derived in far
different ways than most Westerners are used to. This is one of such albums. These aren't three
songs, these are three ragas. And trying to listen to them as the former will only lead to
disappointment and confusion. The listener is meant to bask in the flowing river of astounding musical
display put on by Shankar. The listener is meant to enter something of a meditative trance when
listening to this. As vague and pretentious as this may come across, the listener must become the
sitar. If Three Ragas is listened to in such ways, then it won't sound merely like pointless repetitive
sitar twanging (as I've heard mentioned elsewhere online). Shankar is a musicians musician, and this
remains true even if not at all versed in traditional music. The skill is utterly mind-numbing. |
| Redemption The Fullness of Time | 4.5 |
| Simply fantastic musicianship and composition on this album. The vocal melodies in particular are brilliant. A true classic in the progressive metal scene. |
| Redemption Snowfall on Judgment Day | 4.0 |
| Redemption This Mortal Coil | 3.0 |
| Redemption Long Night's Journey Into Day | 1.5 |
Bad in all the ways bad prog metal is in 2018. Boring,
cliched, derivative, uninspired, lazy, sorry excuse for a
record. Despite never having any claim to originality,
Redemption were once a band that cut through the mire of
an endless sea of contemporaries by offering a heavy-
hitting, yet emotive brand of prog metal with a
remarkable penchant for melody and grounded song-writing.
That Redemption is not the Redemption featured on this
album. Instead we have a Redemption chasing its own tail,
so caught in its own formula, uninterested in playing a
single note off the beaten path.
This is an album that makes no statement. It's redundancy
distilled to its purest form. Abysmal. |
| Redemption I Am The Storm | 2.0 |
| Replicant Negative Life | 4.5 |
| Wow. Simply wow. This is one of the most unique, creative, groove-busting technical death metal albums released in a long, long time. If these guys aren't on your radar you should put them on right now. Because you'll be hearing about them everywhere very very soon anyway. 2018's easy album of the year thus far |
| Revocation Revocation | 4.0 |
| Their best release so far. A nice fusion of styles from their previous two albums with some new stuff thrown in. |
| Revocation Netherheaven | 3.5 |
| Rivers of Nihil Where Owls Know My Name | 2.0 |
| Riverside Anno Domini High Definition | 4.5 |
| Riverside Second Life Syndrome | 4.0 |
| Riverside Rapid Eye Movement | 2.5 |
| Royal Hunt Paradox | 4.5 |
| Royal Hunt Moving Target | 4.0 |
| Royal Hunt Show Me How To Live | 4.0 |
| Royal Hunt release some of their best material since Paradox. |
| Royal Hunt A Life to Die For | 2.0 |
| Imagine listening to what would equate to 46 minutes of Show Me How to Live b-sides. Stale. |
| Sabaton Carolus Rex | 4.5 |
| Fantastic production, amazingly consistent. Surely one of the best albums of 2012. |
| Sabaton Coat of Arms | 3.5 |
| Sabaton Primo Victoria | 3.0 |
| Sabaton The Art of War | 3.5 |
| Sabaton Heroes | 2.5 |
| There are a couple of unique moments/experimentations on this disk. There's the folky To Hell and Back. rThere's the pounding vocals on Far From the Fame. There's also the song Ballad of the Bull, (obviously) a rballad but it's unlike any ballad the band have done and wouldn't be too out of place on an X Japan CD. rUnfortunately, besides these isolated moments, I found myself saying "haven't I heard this song before?" way rtoo frequently. Just listen to the first five seconds of Aces in Exile and then the first five seconds of Smoking rSnakes. It's almost offensive. It's not even the fact that the material is familiar, it's the fact that the material is rmediocre and familiar. Carolus Rex was so refreshing because the concept was fresh and so was the music to rmatch it. I think Sabaton needs to consider ditching WWII for longer than just one album.rEasily their worst album (not counting Metalizer) |
| Sabaton The Last Stand | 2.0 |
| Sabaton The War To End All Wars | 4.0 |
| Savatage Streets: A Rock Opera | 4.0 |
| Savatage Gutter Ballet | 3.5 |
| Savatage Hall of the Mountain King | 3.5 |
| Scritti Politti Cupid & Psyche 85 | 4.5 |
| Serpent (JPN) xGODx | 5.0 |
| Serpent (JPN) Cradle of Insanity | 5.0 |
| Seventh Wonder Waiting in the Wings | 4.5 |
| Undoubtedly Seventh Wonder's best album to date. Not a single mediocre track on here, in fact nearly all of them are jaw dropping, some of them perfect. Unbelievable virtuosity (but not crossing into wankery) and song writing. Some of the most catchy, but progressive, metal you will ever hear. |
| Seventh Wonder The Great Escape | 3.0 |
| Seventh Wonder Mercy Falls | 4.0 |
| Seventh Wonder Tiara | 3.5 |
| Seventh Wonder The Testament | 2.0 |
| Shadow Gallery Carved In Stone | 2.0 |
| Very, very inconsistent album. Cloying, saccharine, material. Even though both those descriptors apply to all of the band's albums, this one does them worse than the rest. One of Shadow Gallery's worst, easily. |
| Shadow Gallery Room V | 3.0 |
| Shadow Gallery Tyranny | 3.0 |
| Shadow Gallery Digital Ghosts | 2.0 |
| Sigh Imaginary Sonicscape | 4.5 |
| Sigh Gallows Gallery | 3.0 |
| Sigh Hangman's Hymn | 3.0 |
| SikTh Death of a Dead Day | 4.5 |
| SikTh The Trees Are Dead and Dried Out, Wait for Something Wild | 4.0 |
| SikTh Opacities | 3.0 |
| SikTh The Future In Whose Eyes? | 2.5 |
| Sonata Arctica Pariah's Child | 3.5 |
| Sonata Arctica Silence | 3.5 |
| Sonata Arctica The Ninth Hour | 2.0 |
| Sonata Arctica Clear Cold Beyond | 5.0 |
| It's really good. |
| Spawn of Possession Cabinet | 4.0 |
| Spiral Architect A Sceptic's Universe | 3.5 |
| Stamina System of Power | 1.5 |
| Stamina Perseverance | 3.0 |
| Strapping Young Lad City | 2.5 |
| Suffocation Pierced from Within | 5.0 |
| Suffocation Effigy of the Forgotten | 3.5 |
| Suffocation Breeding the Spawn | 3.0 |
| Suffocation Hymns From the Apocrypha | 4.0 |
| Summoning Oath Bound | 2.0 |
| Summoning Stronghold | 2.0 |
| Summoning Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame | 1.5 |
| Summoning Minas Morgul | 2.5 |
| Sunless Rise Promo | 4.0 |
| Symphony X The Odyssey | 4.0 |
| Symphony X V: The New Mythology Suite | 4.0 |
| Symphony X Twilight in Olympus | 4.0 |
| Symphony X The Divine Wings of Tragedy | 4.0 |
| Symphony X Paradise Lost | 3.5 |
| Symphony X The Damnation Game | 3.0 |
| Symphony X Iconoclast | 2.5 |
| Taake Hordalands Doedskvad | 4.5 |
| Taake Kong Vinter | 2.5 |
| Teramobil Multispectral Supercontinuum | 2.5 |
| The Contortionist Exoplanet | 4.0 |
| The Last Successor The Last Successor | 3.0 |
| The Sword Warp Riders | 4.0 |
| The Sword Used Future | 2.0 |
| The Sword Age of Winters | 2.5 |
| The Sword Apocryphon | 3.5 |
| Theocracy Mirror of Souls | 4.5 |
| Theocracy As the World Bleeds | 4.0 |
| Theocracy Ghost Ship | 2.0 |
| Therion Theli | 4.0 |
| Threshold Dead Reckoning | 1.5 |
| Threshold Extinct Instinct | 3.5 |
| Threshold Wounded Land | 4.5 |
| Threshold Subsurface | 4.0 |
| Threshold Clone | 4.0 |
| Threshold Critical Mass | 4.0 |
| Threshold Hypothetical | 3.5 |
| Threshold Psychedelicatessen | 2.0 |
| Threshold March of Progress | 2.5 |
| Threshold For The Journey | 1.0 |
| Coming from a diehard of some of their previous material: Threshold needs to die already. Hopefully next time around they'll decide against releasing the same album eight times in a row (with each iteration being worse than the last). |
| Thy Primordial The Heresy of an Age of Reason | 3.5 |
| Thy Primordial At the World of Untrodden Wonder | 3.5 |
| Tool Fear Inoculum | 3.0 |
| Triptykon Melana Chasmata | 4.0 |
| Vanden Plas Chronicles of the Immortals: Netherworld (Path 1) | 4.0 |
| Virgin Black Requiem - Mezzo Forte | 4.5 |
| Visions Of Atlantis Trinity | 4.0 |
| Warlord The Holy Empire | 3.0 |
| While Heaven Wept Vast Oceans Lachrymose | 4.5 |
| While Heaven Wept Of Empires Forlorn | 4.0 |
| While Heaven Wept Suspended at Aphelion | 2.5 |
| A bit too heartfelt and cheesy at times. Just not enough riffing. Not enough epic. |
| While Heaven Wept Sorrow of the Angels | 3.5 |
| Whispered Thousand Swords | 3.5 |
| Whispered Shogunate Macabre | 4.0 |
| Wilderun Sleep at the Edge of the Earth | 3.5 |
| Wilderun Olden Tales and Deathly Trails | 4.0 |
| Windir Arntor | 3.0 |
| Winglord The Chosen One | 3.0 |
| Wintersun Wintersun | 4.0 |
| Wintersun Time I | 4.0 |
| Met and shattered every expectation. A grandiose, over-the-top release, while remaining incredibly mature. rOnly complaint is the album length. It just feels a tad underwhelming when you are only left with ~35 minutes rof metal. |
| Wintersun The Forest Seasons | 2.5 |
| Wuthering Heights Far from the Madding Crowd | 4.5 |
| Wuthering Heights To Travel For Evermore | 2.0 |
| Wuthering Heights Salt | 3.5 |
| The Mad Sailor = the greatest feel-good metal song of all time. |
| X Japan Art of Life | 4.5 |
| X Japan Blue Blood | 1.5 |
| X Japan Dahlia | 3.0 |
| Yes Fragile | 3.5 |
| Yngwie Malmsteen Rising Force | 3.5 |
| Yngwie Malmsteen Trilogy | 4.0 |
| Zero Hour The Towers of Avarice | 4.0 |
