| Childish Gambino Because the Internet | 4.0 |
| MisterWives Our Own House | 3.5 |
| Broods Evergreen | 4.0 |
| Royal Blood Royal Blood | 4.5 |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium | 4.5 |
| Seven Lions Worlds Apart | 4.5 |
| Banks Goddess | 4.0 |
| Lorde Pure Heroine | 3.5 |
| Taylor Swift 1989 | 4.0 |
| Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head | 4.0 |
| Coldplay X&Y | 3.5 |
| Coldplay Ghost Stories | 4.0 |
| We Were Promised Jetpacks These Four Walls | 3.5 |
| U2 The Joshua Tree | 3.5 |
| Danny Brown Old | 4.0 |
| Yuna Nocturnal | 4.0 |
| Echosmith Talking Dreams | 2.0 |
| Protest the Hero Volition | 4.0 |
| Lucius Wildewoman | 4.0 |
| ASAP Rocky LONG.LIVE.A$AP | 3.5 |
| Strike Anywhere Exit English | 4.0 |
| Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols | 2.5 |
| Thursday War All the Time | 4.0 |
| Arcade Fire The Suburbs | 3.5 |
| Katy Perry Prism | 3.5 |
| Radical Face Ghost | 4.0 |
| Thursday Full Collapse | 4.0 |
| The Naked and Famous In Rolling Waves | 4.0 |
| Between the Buried and Me The Parallax II: Future Sequence | 5.0 |
| Youth Lagoon The Year of Hibernation | 4.0 |
| Local Natives Gorilla Manor | 4.0 |
| Kendrick Lamar Section.80 | 4.0 |
| Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city | 5.0 |
| Modest Mouse The Lonesome Crowded West | 4.5 |
| Of Monsters and Men My Head is an Animal | 4.0 |
| Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City | 4.5 |
| Passion Pit Chunk of Change | 3.0 |
| The Naked and Famous Passive Me, Aggressive You | 4.0 |
| Metric Fantasies | 4.0 |
| The Avett Brothers The Carpenter | 3.5 |
| The Killers Battle Born | 2.5 |
| Muse The 2nd Law | 3.0 |
| Bloc Party Four | 3.5 |
| Bloc Party A Weekend in the City | 4.0 |
| Deadmau5 For Lack of a Better Name | 4.0 |
| The xx xx | 4.0 |
| The xx Coexist | 3.5 |
| Angels and Airwaves We Don't Need to Whisper | 2.5 |
| Tegan and Sara So Jealous | 3.5 |
| Tegan and Sara The Con | 4.0 |
| Passion Pit Gossamer | 3.0 |
| Opeth Heritage | 4.0 |
| Grizzly Bear Shields | 3.5 |
| Local Natives Hummingbird | 4.0 |
| Macklemore and Ryan Lewis The Heist | 4.0 |
| Radiohead Hail to the Thief | 4.0 |
| Underoath They're Only Chasing Safety | 3.0 |
| Taking Back Sunday Tell All Your Friends | 4.5 |
| Taking Back Sunday Louder Now | 4.0 |
| Gojira L'Enfant Sauvage | 4.5 |
| Silversun Pickups Swoon | 3.0 |
| Silversun Pickups Carnavas | 3.5 |
| Rilo Kiley Take-Offs and Landings | 3.5 |
| The National Trouble Will Find Me | 4.5 |
| Hilltop Hoods State of the Art | 4.0 |
| Machine Gun Kelly Lace Up (LP) | 3.5 |
| Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy | 5.0 |
| Underoath Define the Great Line | 4.0 |
| Opeth Watershed | 4.5 |
| Coldplay Mylo Xyloto | 4.0 |
| Protest the Hero Kezia | 3.5 |
| Protest the Hero Fortress | 4.5 |
| Protest the Hero Scurrilous | 5.0 |
| Whitley The Submarine | 4.0 |
| Bright Eyes Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground | 5.0 |
| Stars Set Yourself On Fire | 3.5 |
| Polar Bear Club Chasing Hamburg | 4.0 |
| Owl City All Things Bright And Beautiful | 1.5 |
| Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning | 4.5 |
| Bloc Party Silent Alarm | 4.0 |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs Fever To Tell | 4.0 |
| Trans-Siberian Orchestra The Lost Christmas Eve | 3.0 |
| Dio Holy Diver | 4.5 |
| The National Alligator | 4.5 |
| Death Cab for Cutie Plans | 3.5 |
| Opeth Blackwater Park | 5.0 |
| Megadeth Endgame | 4.5 |
| Katy Perry Teenage Dream | 2.0 |
| Underoath Ø (Disambiguation) | 4.0 |
| The Strokes Room on Fire | 3.5 |
| The Cure The Head on the Door | 4.5 |
| The Cure Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me | 3.0 |
| Arcade Fire Funeral | 5.0 |
| Death Cab for Cutie Transatlanticism | 5.0 |
| Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends | 4.0 |
| Lenka Lenka | 2.5 |
| Stars In Our Bedroom After The War | 3.0 |
| The National High Violet | 4.5 |
| K'naan Troubadour | 3.0 |
| Eminem Recovery | 4.0 |
| Iced Earth Horror Show | 4.5 |
| Blind Guardian Nightfall in Middle-Earth | 5.0 |
| Stars The Five Ghosts | 3.0 |
| The National Boxer | 4.5 |
| Radiohead The Bends | 5.0 |
| The Strokes Is This It | 4.0 |
| The Killers Hot Fuss | 2.5 |
| The Postal Service Give Up | 4.0 |
| Coldplay Parachutes | 4.0 |
| Augustana Can't Love, Can't Hurt | 3.0 |
| Owl City Ocean Eyes | 2.0 |
| Mew Frengers | 5.0 |
| The Fray How to Save a Life | 3.0 |
| The Fray The Fray | 2.0 |
| She and Him Volume Two | 3.5 |
| Phoenix (FRA) Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix | 4.0 |
| Lil Wayne Rebirth | 1.0 |
| Butch Walker I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart | 4.5 |
| Mew And the Glass Handed Kites | 3.5 |
| Mew No More Stories | 4.5 |
| Beach House Teen Dream | 3.5 |
| Radiohead Kid A | 4.0 |
| Between the Buried and Me The Great Misdirect | 3.5 |
| Radiohead In Rainbows | 4.0 |
| Slayer World Painted Blood | 3.0 |
| Radiohead OK Computer | 5.0 |
| Scar Symmetry Dark Matter Dimensions | 3.0 |
| Dethklok Dethalbum II | 4.5 |
| Muse The Resistance | 4.0 |
| De La Soul 3 Feet High and Rising | 4.5 |
| Saosin In Search Of Solid Ground | 2.5 |
| Dream Theater Black Clouds and Silver Linings | 3.5 |
| The Cure Disintegration | 4.0 |
| French Teen Idol Enlightened False Consciousness | 4.0 |
| Taking Back Sunday New Again | 4.0 |
| ShEver Ocean of Illusions | 2.0 |
| Seventh Void Heaven is Gone | 3.0 |
| The Safety Fire Sections | 4.0 |
| The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Lonely Road | 1.0 |
| Anacrusis Suffering Hour | 2.5 |
| Arch Enemy Doomsday Machine | 3.0 |
| Kidcrash New Ruins | 3.5 |
| D-Alternative Hidden Chamber | 3.0 |
| Kidcrash Jokes | 3.5 |
| Iron Thrones Visions of Light | 4.0 |
| Hurt Goodbye To The Machine | 4.0 |
| Chimaira The Infection | 4.0 |
| Lacuna Coil Shallow Life | 2.0 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream | 5.0 |
| The Decemberists The Hazards of Love | 3.5 |
| Propagandhi Supporting Caste | 4.5 |
| The Offspring Club Me | 3.0 |
| Lo-Fi Scorpio Noir | 4.0 |
| Justin Kline 6 Songs | 3.0 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness | 4.0 |
| Six Red Carpets Nightmares + Lullabies | 3.5 |
| Tripp Good Boy Charm | 3.0 |
| Lukeing Forward Wandering In Urban Fog | 3.0 |
| Radius System Escape/Restart | 4.0 |
| The Pax Cecilia Blessed Are The Bonds | 4.5 |
| SOiL Scars | 2.5 |
| Bullet for My Valentine The Poison | 3.0 |
| Franz Ferdinand Tonight: Franz Ferdinand | 3.5 |
| The Offspring Splinter | 3.0 |
| Cattle Decapitation The Harvest Floor | 3.5 |
| Nickelback All the Right Reasons | 1.5 |
| Lostprophets Liberation Transmission | 3.5 |
| Katy Perry One of the Boys | 3.0 |
| Earshot Two | 2.5 |
| Slipknot All Hope Is Gone | 4.0 |
| sleepmakeswaves In Today Already Walks Tomorrow | 4.0 |
| Arghoslent Hornets of the Pogrom | 4.0 |
| Fall Out Boy From Under the Cork Tree | 2.5 |
| The All-American Rejects When the World Comes Down | 2.5 |
| Ikuinen Kaamos Closure | 4.5 |
| Fall Out Boy Folie a Deux | 3.5 |
| Black Sabbath Dehumanizer | 3.0 |
| Kamelot The Black Halo | 5.0 |
| Type O Negative Dead Again | 4.5 |
| Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy | 3.5 |
| Muse Black Holes & Revelations | 4.5 |
| Porcupine Tree In Absentia | 4.5 |
| Dream Theater Train of Thought | 3.5 |
| Dream Theater Systematic Chaos | 3.5 |
| Dream Theater Octavarium | 3.5 |
| Between the Buried and Me Alaska | 4.5 |
| The Cure 4:13 Dream | 4.0 |
| Within Temptation The Silent Force | 3.0 |
| Within Temptation Mother Earth | 3.0 |
| Gojira The Way of All Flesh | 4.5 |
| Rise Against Appeal to Reason | 4.0 |
| Scar Symmetry Holographic Universe | 4.0 |
| Acrid Semblance From the Oblivion | 3.5 |
| Acrid Semblance completely blew me away with From the Oblivion. They're the first Indian metal band that I listened to, and they impressed me greatly. Despite their nationalities, they sound more in sync with the Scandinavian metal scene. Imagine Dragonforce meets In Flames in a way, with many glorious melodic guitar harmonies and both keyboard (with an obvious Dream Theater influence) and guitar solos, epic instrumentals all around, harsh (though slightly lacking) vocals, and some decent drumming, and you get this album. Main complaints are that the vocals could use some improvement, since the growls lose energy fairly quickly. Also, the song, Running for Eternity is a complete ripoff off of the In Flames cover of the Treat song, World of Promises. The tragic flaw is that the album isn't too consistent, and the band needs slightly less filler in their songs. Though one can easily argue that it's just standard melodeath, it's still a very strong album for such an obscure (out of India) band, and I'm quite surprised that they have so little recognition. |
| Meshuggah obZen | 3.5 |
| The Offspring Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace | 3.5 |
| Foo Fighters In Your Honor | 3.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails The Slip | 3.5 |
| Good Charlotte The Young And The Hopeless | 1.0 |
| Dashboard Confessional A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar | 3.0 |
| Simple Plan Still Not Getting Any... | 1.0 |
| My Chemical Romance Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge | 3.0 |
| In Flames A Sense of Purpose | 3.5 |
| Gojira The Link | 4.0 |
| Between the Buried and Me Colors | 4.0 |
| Diecast Tearing Down Your Blue Skies | 3.0 |
| American Head Charge The Feeding | 2.5 |
| In Flames Clayman | 4.5 |
| Blind Guardian A Twist in the Myth | 4.5 |
| Gojira From Mars to Sirius | 4.5 |
| Slayer Reign in Blood | 3.5 |
| In Flames Reroute to Remain | 3.0 |
| Soilwork Stabbing the Drama | 2.5 |
| Deftones White Pony | 4.5 |
| Within Temptation The Heart of Everything | 2.5 |
| Mastodon Blood Mountain | 3.0 |
| 3 Inches of Blood Fire Up The Blades | 3.5 |
| 3 Inches of Blood certainly do stick out somewhat in today's metal scene. They even stick out in the current power metal scene. While it's not a rarity for power metal bands to feature falsetto and growled vocals, it is more uncommon for them to feature a singer who sings in exclusively falsetto, and who's not afraid to give his falsetto a ragged touch. That's exactly what Cam Pipes (what an appropriate last name) succeeds in pulling off, proving that he's not afraid to roughen up his clean singing. Meanwhile, Jamie Hooper's metalcore and occassional black metal growl complement the falsettos fairly well, with very few exceptions. Overall, the musicianship is quite mature, with instrumentals heavily influenced by power and speed metal, featuring many melodic guitar solos, though some do seem to be taken straight out of speed metal's playing book. Drumming is standard drumming, featuring plenty of double-kicks and speed drumming. The instrumentals are often bursting with melody, even if its the same melody over and over again. There are quite a lot of standout songs, such as Night Marauders, Forest King, and Trial of Champions, but there are also horribly vague songs such as Infinite Legions (standard speed metal) and Black Spire. Overall, while clich?n a lovable fashion, and repetitive in some aspects, Fire Up the Blades is still a surprisingly mature (to some degree) and enjoyable record. |
| DevilDriver The Fury of Our Maker's Hand | 3.5 |
| Dethklok The Dethalbum | 4.0 |
| Hurt Vol. II | 4.5 |
| Diecast Internal Revolution | 3.5 |
| Five Finger Death Punch The Way Of The Fist | 3.5 |
| 10 Years The Autumn Effect | 3.5 |
| All That Remains The Fall of Ideals | 4.0 |
| Three Days Grace One-X | 3.0 |
| Tool 10,000 Days | 4.0 |
| Seether Karma And Effect | 2.5 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Lullabies to Paralyze | 3.5 |
| Muse Origin of Symmetry | 4.5 |
| Muse Absolution | 4.0 |
| Nirvana Nevermind | 3.0 |
| Nirvana initially changed the course of music in America. They shifted the focus from the '80's glam bands to the new rising alternative rock bands, setting a perfect atmosphere for alternative rock to flourish. While Nevermind is often credited for bringing alternative rock into the mainstream, and for being an incredibly influential album, the quality of the actual album's content, on the other hand, is questionable. Nevermind contains a mix of (in the modern sense) generic grunge music. Not surprising, seeing as how they helped bring grunge to fame. However, the music it contains are nothing extraordinary, instead, the music is written rather simply. Simple catchy alternative pop rock with occassional punk or hard rock influences is what it is. The album kicks off with Smells Like Teen Spirit, possibly one of the heaviest songs on the album. Lithium gives a nice break away, and gives the listener a sense of false joy in listening to its catchy pop melodies. However, the mood is instantly shifted when the song, Polly, is reached. Polly consists of incredibly simple guitar chords, with a fairly simple to understand story about a combination of rape and torture via a blowtorch. The rest of the album is mainly filler, before reaching Something in the Way, which is nothing more than a soft, quiet song, which appears to wish to put people to sleep. Honestly, what is there really to distinguish between songs like On a Plain or Lounge Act? Nothing really. But why give Nirvana so much credit? Because of the better bands who emerged, strongly influenced by Nirvana (or so they claim). |
| Drowning Pool Sinner | 2.5 |
| Lostprophets The Fake Sound Of Progress | 3.5 |
| DragonForce Inhuman Rampage | 2.5 |
| Disturbed Ten Thousand Fists | 3.5 |
| Cold 13 Ways to Bleed On Stage | 4.0 |
| Godsmack IV | 3.5 |
| Godsmack Faceless | 2.5 |
| Crossfade Falling Away | 2.0 |
| Hurt Vol. 1 | 4.0 |
| Evans Blue The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume | 2.5 |
| Breaking Benjamin So Cold | 2.5 |
| Breaking Benjamin Phobia | 3.5 |
| Breaking Benjamin We Are Not Alone | 2.5 |
| The Offspring Smash | 4.5 |
| Strike Anywhere Change Is a Sound | 4.0 |
| Rise Against The Sufferer and the Witness | 4.0 |
| Staind Chapter V | 2.0 |
| Staind Break The Cycle | 3.5 |
| Chevelle This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In) | 3.0 |
| Chevelle Wonder What's Next | 4.0 |
| Eighteen Visions Eighteen Visions | 2.5 |
| Cold Year Of The Spider | 4.5 |
| At first glance, Cold is your basic cookie-cutter rock band, with a blast of grunge-influenced alt metal, perfect for modern rock stations to play endlessly. However, their music goes beyond that. Year of the Spider is by far, the most solid, and most well done album Cold has ever made. It features a large range of melodic metal, with fresh, catchy guitar riffs as well as Scooter's signature vocals. His vocals are one of the best elements of this album. Sure, it may sound generic in the field of grunge, and sure, we may call it a Maynard James Keenan ripoff, but in that sense, which post-grunge band vocalist isn't? Ward's vocals has improved dramatically in comparison to 13 Ways to Bleed on stage, where he showed a brutal, gruff style of singing which favored heaviness over melody. This album does quite the opposite, by featuring many of the catchiest songs you will have heard from that year. From a basic grunge/hard rock song like Remedy, to an emotional acoustic ballad such as Wasted Years, to even Kill the Music Industry, a post-punk song that revives Cold's past, this is truly an album to be appreciated. |
| System of a Down Toxicity | 4.0 |
| Tool Ænima | 5.0 |
| Slipknot Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses | 3.5 |
| Chevelle Vena Sera | 3.0 |
| Evans Blue The Pursuit Begins When This Portrayal of Life Ends | 3.5 |
| While Evan Blue's sophomore album is by no means extraordinary, it still shows a natural progression of both musicianship and maturity. Demonstrated on this album is an improved sense of melody, though with some slight flaws. It's also shown Evans Blue try on new paths with their music, with songs like Q floating dangerously close to pop, and other songs like Painted, showing a new depth to their sound previously not explored before, with haunting instrumentals, and even some mature and melodic guitar solos. The vocals are still overbearing, but less overbearing than their debut album, and really, that's the main complaint that I have on this album. The guitars have shown a lot of improvement, no longer mainly limited to power chords as seen on their debut. The fact remains that The Pursuit Begins When This Portrayal Of Life Ends does not suffer from the sophomore curse. |
