| 2009 |
| A Wilhelm Scream A Wilhelm Scream | 4.0 |
| Flyleaf Memento Mori | 2.5 |
| Say Anything Say Anything | 4.0 |
| The Lawrence Arms Buttsweat and Tears | 4.0 |
| Between the Buried and Me The Great Misdirect | 4.5 |
| Thrice Beggars | 4.0 |
| Blessthefall Witness | 2.5 |
| Converge Axe to Fall | 3.5 |
| AFI Crash Love | 3.5 |
| Paramore Brand New Eyes | 3.5 |
| Strung Out Agents of the Underground | 4.0 |
| Alice in Chains Black Gives Way to Blue | 3.0 |
| Brand New Daisy | 4.5 |
| Every Time I Die New Junk Aesthetic | 3.0 |
| It Dies Today Lividity | 3.5 |
| Megadeth Endgame | 4.0 |
| Muse The Resistance | 2.5 |
| Rodrigo y Gabriela 11:11 | 4.5 |
| Banner Pilot Collapser | 4.0 |
| The Used Artwork | 4.5 |
| The Used's new album is one that defines the word grower. At first it might seem that the album is just a couple of great song and the rest merely ok-solid filler. Those great songs are the ones that sound the closer to The Used of old, however once you get pass that first impression one realizes that the rest of the songs are very good on their own and that different doesn't have to mean bad. Artwork sees the band continuing in the more melodic direction established in Lies for The Liars while exchanging Bert's mindless screaming for more melody and smoother song structures. While many, like me, will miss Bert's screams, the album works just fine without them and adding them for the sake of having them would disrupt the flow of the songs and come out feeling forced. Overall, it feels like The Used made the album they wanted to make. It's safe to say that the days of their self-titled are over, however Artwork demonstrates that the band doesn't need to make another self-titled to play great music and once that sinks in you'll find yourself enjoying this album more than you thought you would at first listen. My recommendation when approaching this album is to listen to it twice. |
| BATS Red In Tooth and Claw | 3.5 |
| Chevelle Sci-Fi Crimes | 3.0 |
| Rx Bandits Mandala | 3.0 |
| Memphis May Fire Sleepwalking | 3.0 |
| August Burns Red Constellations | 3.5 |
| Florence and the Machine Lungs | 3.0 |
| Stereopony Hydrangea ga Saiteiru | 4.0 |
| Coalesce OX | 3.0 |
| A Skylit Drive Adelphia | 2.0 |
| Rancid Let the Dominoes Fall | 3.0 |
| Taking Back Sunday New Again | 3.5 |
| Emery ...In Shallow Seas We Sail | 3.5 |
| Consider the Thief Signs and Wonders | 4.0 |
| Marilyn Manson The High End of Low | 2.5 |
| mewithoutYou It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream! It's Alright! | 4.0 |
| Green Day 21st Century Breakdown | 3.0 |
| Exivious Exivious | 3.0 |
| Gallows (UK) Grey Britain | 3.5 |
| With this album the band moves away from Hardcore and focuses on a more centered Punk style. Grey Britain doesn't fail to deliver catchy enjoyable punk anthems, working hooks and sing-a-longs very well. Yet the band lost it's identity and the album is affected by it. The musicianship has changed turning simpler yet effective, the vocals are weaker and sometimes don't fit the rest of the song. Overall the album is a step back for Gallows, but that doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed. |
| ISIS Wavering Radiant | 4.0 |
| Fightstar Be Human | 4.0 |
| Strung Out Prototypes and Painkillers | 3.5 |
| Eleventh He Reaches London Hollow Be My Name | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Crack the Skye | 3.5 |
| The Decemberists The Hazards of Love | 2.5 |
| Mono Hymn to the Immortal Wind | 5.0 |
| The Number Twelve Looks Like You Worse Than Alone | 3.5 |
| Propagandhi Supporting Caste | 4.0 |
| Thursday Common Existence | 4.0 |
| The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Lonely Road | 2.0 |
This albums is mainstream to the core, and made to attract the fans of all the other bands out there like Fall Out Boy and Paramore. It brings nothing special and new in musicianship and song structure. Even so the vocals are well done and the melodies, even if strongly generic, are catchy enough to make this album somehow enjoyable.
If you are looking for some really great music that plays with the limits and tries to do something new and refreshing then this is definetly not what you are looking for. If, on the other hand, you are looking for the same catchy pop-rock/pop-punk stuff that you have already heard from multiple bands then you will probably find this album to be somewhat enjoyable. |
| Two Tongues Two Tongues | 3.5 |
| Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion | 2.0 |
| 2008 |
| Fall Out Boy Folie a Deux | 3.5 |
| A surprisingly good release by Fall Out Boy. It show energy, it shows flare, it show the listener a good time. Adventurous, vibrant and, damn catchy it has everything it needs to keep their fanbase beyond happy and to show the rest of us that they really do have the talent to make good music. |
| Thrice Live At The House Of Blues | 4.5 |
| Britney Spears Circus | 1.0 |
| The Fall of Troy Phantom on the Horizon | 3.5 |
| David Cook David Cook | 2.5 |
| Nickelback Dark Horse | 3.0 |
Nickelback's new album is different yet the same. Taking the proven formula that has gained them multi-platinum albums and adding a more noticeable rock and roll feel Nickelback manages to release a surprisingly good album.
If you manage to get the stick out of your ass, forget the other albums, and just listen to this looking to enjoy yourself you will find that Dark Horse is fun, catchy, and an overall solid album that you might find yourself spinning every once in a while, especially when u need some energy to enter your ears.
|
| Dir En Grey Uroboros | 3.5 |
| Thursday/Envy Thursday/Envy | 3.5 |
| Cynic Traced in Air | 4.5 |
| Tat Soho Lights | 4.0 |
| Think Paramore. Now think of how Paramore would be if Haley's voice would be a little punkier instead of poppy clean, and if they had better musicianship all around. That's pretty much what this is, just as catchy and easily just as good. If you like Punk this will be, not only better than Paramore, but unexpectedly satisfying. |
| The Cure 4:13 Dream | 2.5 |
| Escape the Fate This War Is Ours | 2.0 |
| Dillinger Four C I V I L W A R | 4.5 |
| Funeral for a Friend Memory and Humanity | 3.0 |
| Senses Fail Life Is Not a Waiting Room | 2.5 |
| Rise Against Appeal to Reason | 4.0 |
| Trivium Shogun | 2.5 |
| In This Moment The Dream | 4.0 |
| Kings of Leon Only By The Night | 3.0 |
| The Butterfly Effect Final Conversation of Kings | 4.0 |
| Metallica Death Magnetic | 3.5 |
| Adebisi Shank This is the Album | 3.5 |
| The Sound of Animals Fighting The Ocean and the Sun | 2.0 |
| United Nations United Nations | 4.5 |
| Okkervil River The Stand Ins | 3.5 |
| Underoath Lost in the Sound of Separation | 4.0 |
| Hollywood Undead Swan Songs | 2.0 |
| DragonForce Ultra Beatdown | 2.5 |
| Exotic Animal Petting Zoo I Have Made My Bed in Darkness | 3.5 |
| The Gaslight Anthem The '59 Sound | 4.0 |
| Banner Pilot Resignation Day | 4.0 |
| Miley Cyrus Breakout | 2.0 |
| Alkaline Trio Agony and Irony | 3.0 |
| Les Fragments De La Nuit Musique du Crepuscule | 3.5 |
| Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends | 3.0 |
| The Offspring Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace | 3.5 |
| Katy Perry One of the Boys | 1.5 |
| Opeth Watershed | 4.0 |
| Disturbed Indestructible | 1.5 |
| The Carrier No Love Can Save Me | 4.5 |
| Filter Anthems for the Damned | 2.5 |
| Goldfinger Hello Destiny | 4.0 |
| Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV | 5.0 |
| In Flames A Sense of Purpose | 3.5 |
| Blacklisted Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God | 2.5 |
| Panic! at the Disco Pretty. Odd. | 3.0 |
| A Kiss Could Be Deadly A Kiss Could Be Deadly | 3.5 |
| Fireflight Unbreakable | 3.0 |
| Glass and Ashes Glass and Ashes | 4.0 |
| The Used Shallow Believer | 3.5 |
| Four Letter Lie What A Terrible Thing To Say | 2.5 |
| Protest the Hero Fortress | 3.5 |
| Bullet for My Valentine Scream Aim Fire | 3.0 |
| Have a Nice Life Deathconsciousness | 4.0 |
| Soundtrack (Film) Juno | 3.5 |
| Daitro/Sed Non Satiata Split | 4.5 |
| In Mourning Shrouded Divine | 4.0 |
| Off Minor Some Blood | 3.5 |
| 2007 |
| The Carrier One Year Later | 4.5 |
| Lady Radiator Bounce Energy Hear Me Out | 3.5 |
| Dead Poetic The Finest | 3.0 |
| Streetlight Manifesto Somewhere in the Between | 4.5 |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Ire Works | 1.5 |
| Meniscus Absence of I | 3.5 |
| Otep The_Ascension | 3.0 |
| The vocals of this album are very refreshing and entrancing; its too bad the rest of the album fails to maintain those same qualities. The album starts out strong, but after a while the luster is gone and you just have an OK metal album that, apart from the beggining and a few other moments of brilliance, is uninteresting and gives nothing worth remembering. I thought this would be good because I knew this guys have potential, but this album really failed to reach my expectations. |
| Say Anything In Defense of the Genre | 5.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria No World for Tomorrow | 4.0 |
| Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II | 4.0 |
| Jimmy Eat World Chase This Light | 2.0 |
| Radiohead In Rainbows | 2.0 |
| A Wilhelm Scream Career Suicide | 5.0 |
| Soulja Boy Souljaboytellem.com | 1.0 |
| After Forever After Forever | 3.5 |
| Nightwish Dark Passion Play | 4.0 |
| Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace | 3.0 |
| Fightstar One Day Son This Will All Be Yours | 4.0 |
| Between the Buried and Me Colors | 4.0 |
| HIM Venus Doom | 4.0 |
| Soundtrack (Film) Across the Universe | 3.0 |
| The Birthday Massacre Walking With Strangers | 3.5 |
| Chiodos Bone Palace Ballet | 2.5 |
| Epica The Divine Conspiracy | 3.0 |
| Atreyu Lead Sails Paper Anchor | 1.5 |
| Blaqk Audio CexCells | 2.0 |
| Yellowcard Paper Walls | 4.0 |
| Paper Walls manages to surpass the musical upgrade that was Lights and Sounds demonstrating that Yellowcard is a band with true potential and not just a better Simple Plan. Consistently solid and with great musicianship, Paper Walls is an album that one can really enjoy. The lack of deeper and stronger hooks and the lack of a bit more violin play are some of the flaws that hold back a potentially head-turning album. An album really worth checking out (especially for pop-punk fans) because it might not be superb, but it is still an album that will be very much enjoyed and a very good fun time. |
| Bad Religion New Maps of Hell | 3.5 |
| Kidcrash Jokes | 4.5 |
| Mayday Parade A Lesson In Romantics | 3.0 |
| brokeNCYDE The Broken | 1.5 |
| Silverstein Arrivals and Departures | 3.5 |
| The Number Twelve Looks Like You Mongrel | 3.5 |
| Strung Out Blackhawks Over Los Angeles | 4.0 |
| Paramore Riot! | 3.5 |
| Fair to Midland Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True | 4.5 |
| Marilyn Manson Eat Me, Drink Me | 1.0 |
| Tokio Hotel Scream | 2.0 |
| The Gaslight Anthem Sink or Swim | 3.5 |
| The Used Lies for the Liars | 3.5 |
| The Used third album is one that demonstrate the potencial of the band. It is fun, but one can notice how serious the band was when making it. With this album the band is stating the way they want to be seen and they did it in a superb manner. Fun, catchy, energergetic, emotional, and with improved music and vocals, Lies For The Liars is an excellent work that points the band in the right derection. A must get album for both fans, and not fans alike. |
| Hillsong United All of the Above | 2.5 |
| Maroon 5 It Won't Be Soon Before Long | 2.5 |
| We Are The Fury Venus | 2.0 |
| Funeral for a Friend Tales Don't Tell Themselves | 2.0 |
| Linkin Park Minutes to Midnight | 2.0 |
| New Years Day My Dear | 3.0 |
| The Fall of Troy Manipulator | 3.0 |
| Caliban The Awakening | 3.5 |
| Avril Lavigne The Best Damn Thing | 2.5 |
| Dark Tranquillity Fiction | 4.0 |
| Porcupine Tree Fear of a Blank Planet | 3.5 |
| Mika Life in Cartoon Motion | 1.5 |
| In This Moment Beautiful Tragedy | 3.5 |
| Finger Eleven Them vs. You vs. Me | 2.5 |
| Combichrist What The Fuck Is Wrong With You People? | 2.5 |
| Smoke Or Fire This Sinking Ship | 3.5 |
| The Queers Munki Brain | 2.0 |
| Fall Out Boy Infinity on High | 2.0 |
| A Skylit Drive She Watched the Sky | 3.0 |
| Atreyu The Best of Atreyu | 2.5 |
| Krypteria Bloodangel's Cry | 3.5 |
| Steven Curtis Chapman This Moment | 3.0 |
