| Boys Like Girls Boys Like Girls | 3.5 |
| blink-182 One More Time... | 4.0 |
| MxPx Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo | 4.5 |
| Thrice The Artist in the Ambulance (Revisited) | 5.0 |
| Name Taken Hold On | 4.0 |
| Frank Turner FTHC | 4.0 |
| The Used The Used | 4.5 |
| Posture and The Grizzly I Am Satan | 4.0 |
| Posture and The Grizzly Posture & The Grizzly | 3.5 |
| Cigar Speed is Relative | 4.0 |
| Beloved Failure On | 5.0 |
| Thrice Horizons/East | 3.5 |
| Weezer The Red Album | 3.5 |
| Slow Gherkin Double Happiness | 4.0 |
| Anberlin Blueprints for the Black Market | 3.5 |
| The Planet Smashers Mighty | 3.5 |
| The Presidents of the United States of America The Presidents of the United States of America | 4.5 |
| The Mighty Mighty Bosstones When God Was Great | 3.0 |
| Plankeye Commonwealth | 3.5 |
| Jeff Rosenstock SKA DREAM | 5.0 |
| Joystick! This Time It's Personal | 4.0 |
| Touche Amore Lament | 4.0 |
| Touche Amore ...To the Beat of a Dead Horse | 3.5 |
| Touche Amore Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me | 4.0 |
| Smash Mouth Astro Lounge | 3.0 |
| Smash Mouth Fush Yu Mang | 3.0 |
| Reel Big Fish Why Do They Rock So Hard? | 3.5 |
| Reel Big Fish Turn the Radio Off | 3.5 |
| Kill Lincoln Can't Complain | 3.5 |
| Kill Lincoln That's Cool... | 3.5 |
| The Ataris Blue Skies, Broken Hearts, Next Twelve Exits | 4.0 |
| Hot Mulligan You'll Be Fine | 4.0 |
| Weathered Everything All at Once | 3.5 |
| No Note if this is the future then I'm in the dark | 4.0 |
| Hum Inlet | 3.5 |
| Slick Shoes Rotation and Frequency | 4.0 |
| Mil-Spec World House | 3.5 |
| Chubby and The Gang Speed Kills | 3.5 |
| No Knife Fire In The City Of Automatons | 4.0 |
| Old News Self-Acceptance Speech | 4.0 |
| Settlefish The Plural Of The Choir | 4.0 |
| Slick Shoes Rusty | 4.5 |
| Oso Oso Real Stories of True People Who Kind... | 4.5 |
| Microwave Stovall | 4.0 |
| Pkew Pkew Pkew Pkew Pkew Pkew | 4.0 |
| Sicko You Are Not The Boss Of Me | 4.5 |
| Pinegrove Marigold | 3.5 |
| Jeff Rosenstock NO DREAM | 4.5 |
| The O.C. Supertones Supertones Strike Back | 3.5 |
| The Fad Kill Punk Rock Stars | 4.5 |
| The Suicide Machines Battle Hymns | 4.0 |
| The Suicide Machines Revolution Spring | 4.0 |
| Grade Under the Radar | 4.5 |
| Algernon Cadwallader Some Kind Of Cadwallader | 4.0 |
| Lifetime Jersey's Best Dancers | 4.0 |
| Bodyjar How It Works | 4.0 |
| Bodyjar Role Model | 4.0 |
| Dogleg Melee | 4.5 |
AOTY 2020 incoming
Update: this is exactly how emo should sound at the end of the world |
| Kemuri 77 Days | 4.5 |
| Rx Bandits Those Damn Bandits | 3.0 |
| Rx Bandits Progress | 4.0 |
| Rx Bandits Halfway Between Here and There | 3.5 |
| Dogleg Remember Alderaan? | 4.0 |
| Green Day American Idiot | 4.5 |
| Green Day Kerplunk | 4.0 |
| The Whoopass Girls Headacher | 4.5 |
| Origami Angel Somewhere City | 4.5 |
| Voodoo Glow Skulls Firme | 4.5 |
| Joyce Manor Joyce Manor | 4.5 |
| Jeff Rosenstock Thanks, Sorry! | 5.0 |
| Piebald We Are the Only Friends We Have | 4.0 |
| My Chemical Romance The Black Parade | 4.5 |
| My Chemical Romance Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge | 4.0 |
| My Chemical Romance I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love | 4.0 |
| Bomb the Music Industry! Vacation | 4.0 |
| Bomb the Music Industry! Scrambles | 4.5 |
| Bomb the Music Industry! Goodbye Cool World! | 4.0 |
| Reel Big Fish Everything Sucks | 2.5 |
| Operation Ivy Energy | 5.0 |
| The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Don't Know How to Party | 3.5 |
| The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Question the Answers | 4.0 |
| Kill Lincoln Good Riddance to Good Advice | 3.0 |
| The Interrupters Say It Out Loud | 3.5 |
| The Interrupters The Interrupters | 3.5 |
| The Good Skamaritans Time To Save The World | 3.5 |
| Big D and the Kids Table How it Goes | 3.5 |
| Assorted Jelly Beans Assorted Jelly Beans | 4.0 |
| Mustard Plug Evildoers Beware! | 4.0 |
| Hot Water Music Fuel for the Hate Game | 4.5 |
| Chance the Rapper The Big Day | 3.5 |
| The Ergs! Dorkrockcorkrod | 4.5 |
| The Home Team Better Off | 3.5 |
| Ghoti Hook Sumo Surprise | 4.5 |
| Less Than Jake Losing Streak | 3.5 |
| Less Than Jake Pezcore | 4.0 |
| No Doubt Tragic Kingdom | 3.5 |
| Save Ferris It Means Everything | 3.5 |
| Five Iron Frenzy Upbeats and Beatdowns | 4.0 |
| Slapstick Slapstick | 4.0 |
| Plankeye The Spark | 4.0 |
| Spanish Love Songs Schmaltz | 4.5 |
| Schmaltz feels like the culmination of pop punk's recent trajectory toward unbridled, self-deprecatingly honest, and yet unironically joyous songwriting. Blending elements of Jeff Rosenstock, The Menzingers, Joyce Manor, and others, it manages to reach higher euphoric peaks and lower emotional depths than any of those artists' work over the past 4 or 5 years. If on the face it seems melodramatic, listen again. For those of us who can relate (and I honestly feel bad for you if you can?t) to the lyrics? themes of the hapless, aimless, apathetic cycles of life, there is nothing better than finding an album like Schmaltz to blast at full volume and sing along to. |
| The Interrupters Fight The Good Fight | 4.0 |
| Goo Goo Dolls Hold Me Up | 3.0 |
| Gin Blossoms Congratulations... I'm Sorry | 3.5 |
| The Chariot One Wing | 4.5 |
| The Chariot Long Live | 4.0 |
| Birds in Row We Already Lost the World | 4.5 |
| Senses Fail Let It Enfold You | 4.0 |
| Senses Fail Still Searching | 4.0 |
| As Cities Burn As Cities Burn | 3.5 |
| Jeff Rosenstock POST- | 3.5 |
| Turnstile Time and Space | 2.5 |
| The Wonder Years Sister Cities | 3.0 |
| Tiny Moving Parts Swell | 3.5 |
| Coheed and Cambria Vaxis I: The Unheavenly Creatures | 4.0 |
| Pinegrove Skylight | 3.5 |
| Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper A Star is Born | 4.5 |
| mewithoutYou [Untitled] | 4.5 |
| Andrew W.K. I Get Wet | 5.0 |
| Brockhampton SATURATION II | 4.0 |
| Brockhampton Iridescence | 3.5 |
| Thrice Palms | 3.0 |
| Eminem Kamikaze | 4.5 |
| Lucero Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers | 4.0 |
| Fugazi The Argument | 4.0 |
| Fugazi End Hits | 4.5 |
| Fugazi Red Medicine | 5.0 |
| Fugazi In on the Kill Taker | 5.0 |
| Fugazi Steady Diet of Nothing | 4.0 |
| Fugazi Repeater | 4.0 |
| Fugazi 13 Songs | 4.5 |
| Kanye West The Life of Pablo | 1.5 |
| Kanye West Late Registration | 3.5 |
| Kanye West The College Dropout | 4.0 |
| Knuckle Puck Copacetic | 4.0 |
| Jars Of Clay Jars Of Clay | 4.0 |
| Brian Fallon & Cincinnati Rail Tie The American Music EP | 4.5 |
| The Wildhearts Earth vs. The Wildhearts | 5.0 |
| Sum 41 All Killer No Filler | 5.0 |
| Crime In Stereo The Troubled Stateside | 4.5 |
my track-by-track review:
1. banger
2. banger
3.-8. bangers
9. banger
10. not a banger
11. banger
12. banger
4.5/5 |
| Brand New Science Fiction | 4.0 |
| Live Throwing Copper | 4.5 |
| Less Art Strangled Light | 4.0 |
| The Bouncing Souls Anchors Aweigh | 4.0 |
| Jeff Rosenstock WORRY. | 4.5 |
| Audioslave Audioslave | 3.5 |
| Coheed and Cambria The Afterman: Descension | 3.5 |
| Coheed and Cambria The Afterman: Ascension | 4.0 |
| The Menzingers After the Party | 4.0 |
| Seaweed Spanaway | 4.5 |
| In an alternate universe, this is Jawbreaker's major label debut, which is met with overwhelming critical and fan acclaim, catapulting Jawbreaker to mainstream success and leading to career longevity mirroring that enjoyed by the likes of Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers today. Instead, an overshadowed Seattle band released it a year too late for the grunge era and now it can only claim "lost classic" status. Oh well. |
| Frank Ocean Blonde | 4.0 |
| Diarrhea Planet Turn To Gold | 3.5 |
| mewithoutYou I Never Said That I Was Brave | 3.5 |
| Northstar Is This Thing Loaded? | 4.5 |
| Helmet Betty | 4.5 |
| Lustre (USA) Lustre | 5.0 |
| blink-182 California | 2.0 |
| blink-182 Take Off Your Pants And Jacket | 4.0 |
| blink-182 Enema Of The State | 4.0 |
| blink-182 Dude Ranch | 4.0 |
| Relient K Five Score and Seven Years Ago | 2.5 |
| Relient K Two Lefts Dont Make a Right But Three Do | 3.5 |
| The Avalanches Wildflower | 4.0 |
| Thrice To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere | 4.0 |
| Chance the Rapper Coloring Book | 3.5 |
| The Hotelier Goodness | 4.0 |
| Weezer The White Album | 3.5 |
| Helmet Meantime | 4.5 |
| Pinegrove Cardinal | 4.5 |
| Pinegrove Everything So Far | 4.5 |
These guys are getting ready to blow up, having signed to Run for Cover and landing an opening slot for Into It
Over It & TWIABP. Indie rock with more than a little bit of folk and country, a hint of Bon Iver, a dash of Neutral
Milk Hotel, all wrapped up in a recognizable yet hard to pin down emo sound. Incredibly unique band. |
| A Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders | 4.0 |
| Foxing Dealer | 3.5 |
| Bay Faction Bay Faction | 4.0 |
| The Arrogant Sons of Bitches Three Cheers For Disappointment | 5.0 |
| The World Is a Beautiful Place... Harmlessness | 4.5 |
| Jeff Rosenstock We Cool? | 4.0 |
| The Wonder Years No Closer to Heaven | 4.0 |
| Rancid ...And Out Come the Wolves | 4.0 |
| The Suicide Machines Destruction By Definition | 4.5 |
| Neck Deep Life's Not Out To Get You | 4.0 |
| Saves the Day Through Being Cool | 4.5 |
| Man Overboard Heavy Love | 3.0 |
| mewithoutYou Pale Horses | 4.0 |
| Turnover Magnolia | 3.5 |
| The Movielife This Time Next Year | 4.0 |
| Less Than Jake Anthem | 4.0 |
| Jack's Mannequin Everything in Transit | 4.5 |
| Madvillain Madvillainy | 4.0 |
| Chance the Rapper 10 Day | 4.0 |
| The Sidekicks Runners in the Nerved World | 3.5 |
| Chance the Rapper Acid Rap | 4.0 |
| Joey Badass B4.DA.$$ | 4.0 |
| Alkaline Trio Goddamnit | 3.5 |
| The Avalanches Since I Left You | 4.5 |
| Sunny Day Real Estate Diary | 4.5 |
| The Gaslight Anthem Get Hurt | 3.5 |
| I Can See Mountains Life On a Houseboat | 4.5 |
| Weird Al Yankovic Mandatory Fun | 3.5 |
| Cap'n Jazz Shmap'n Shmazz | 4.0 |
| The Wallflowers Bringing Down the Horse | 4.0 |
| Gin Blossoms New Miserable Experience | 4.5 |
| Jane's Addiction Ritual De Lo Habitual | 4.0 |
| Justin Timberlake The 20/20 Experience - 2 of 2 | 3.5 |
| Park Jefferson Park Jefferson | 3.5 |
| Lorde Pure Heroine | 3.0 |
| Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties We Don't Have Each Other | 3.0 |
| Gorillaz Gorillaz | 4.0 |
| Counting Crows Recovering The Satellites | 5.0 |
| Braid No Coast | 4.0 |
| The Jazz June They Love Those Who Make the Music | 4.0 |
| The Jazz June The Medicine | 4.5 |
| Lana Del Rey Ultraviolence | 4.5 |
| Sublime 40 Oz. to Freedom | 4.5 |
| Superdrag Regretfully Yours | 4.0 |
| The Menzingers Rented World | 3.0 |
| Brand New Your Favorite Weapon | 4.0 |
| Mineral EndSerenading | 3.5 |
| Mineral The Power of Failing | 4.5 |
| Toad The Wet Sprocket Dulcinea | 4.0 |
| Japandroids Post-Nothing | 3.0 |
| The Hotelier Home, Like NoPlace Is There | 4.5 |
| Modern Baseball Sports | 3.0 |
| Modern Baseball You’re Gonna Miss It All | 2.5 |
| HAIM Days Are Gone | 3.5 |
| Into It. Over It. Intersections | 4.0 |
| The Sidekicks Awkward Breeds | 4.0 |
| The Lost Years Traditions | 3.0 |
| It's just good enough to where it makes me really badly want to listen to their far superior debut. |
| Good Luck Into Lake Griffy | 4.5 |
| This is one of those albums that truly must be heard to be believed. There's no way to describe it, and there's nothing else like it. Give it a listen. |
| You Blew It! Keep Doing What You’re Doing | 3.5 |
| Have Mercy (Indie) The Earth Pushed Back | 4.0 |
| The Hotelier It Never Goes Out | 4.5 |
| Frameworks Every Day Is The Same | 4.0 |
| Counting Crows Films About Ghosts: The Best Of | 4.5 |
| The World Is a Beautiful Place... Whenever, If Ever | 3.5 |
| Snowing Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit | 4.0 |
| We Still Dream Something to Smile About | 3.0 |
| Real Friends Put Yourself Back Together | 3.0 |
| Rainer Maria Look Now Look Again | 3.5 |
| State Champs The Finer Things | 4.0 |
| Lions MTNZ | 3.0 |
| Foxing The Albatross | 4.5 |
| New Found Glory Sticks and Stones | 3.5 |
| The Menzingers Chamberlain Waits | 3.5 |
| Lions Roosevelt | 3.0 |
| Lions Forgettingism | 4.0 |
| Two of the best twinkly, mathy, poppy, emo revival-y, punk songs you will likely ever hear. |
| Benton Falls Fighting Starlight | 4.5 |
| Balance and Composure The Things We Think We're Missing | 4.0 |
| Whoever decided to leave the dude's voice crack in on Parachutes is a fool. |
| Knuckle Puck Don't Come Home | 3.5 |
| Knuckle Puck The Weight That You Buried | 4.0 |
| Disappointed in Real Friends' latest EP? Listen to Real Friends' real friends Knuckle Puck instead! |
| The Dangerous Summer Golden Record | 3.0 |
| Hey AJ, less screaming and more singing next time, bud. You swear your last name is Palumbo and not Perdomo, or something. |
| The Killers Hot Fuss | 4.0 |
| The Lost Years This Year Brought Out The Worst In Me | 4.5 |
| Northstar Pollyanna | 5.0 |
| Pretty Lights A Color Map of The Sun | 4.0 |
| LETS GET BUSY, YEAH, WHO'S WITH ME bangerrrrrr |
| Counting Crows Hard Candy | 3.5 |
| Kanye West Yeezus | 1.5 |
| On My Honor Nature and Nurture | 3.5 |
| On My Honor I Never Deserve The Things I Need | 4.5 |
| Challenges Our Honest Opinion | 4.0 |
| Man Overboard Heart Attack | 3.5 |
| Fall Out Boy Take This to Your Grave | 4.0 |
| Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) What It Takes to Move Forward | 4.5 |
| The Wonder Years The Greatest Generation | 5.0 |
| And to think, some people still find pop punk to be immature, trite, and uninspired. |
| Fireworks Gospel | 4.0 |
| 2 Chainz Based On a T.R.U. Story | 1.5 |
| Chief Keef Finally Rich | 1.0 |
| ASAP Rocky LONG.LIVE.A$AP | 2.0 |
| Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city | 2.0 |
| Mumford and Sons Babel | 2.0 |
| Justin Timberlake The 20/20 Experience | 4.5 |
| Rudimental Home | 4.0 |
| Streetlight Manifesto The Hands That Thieve | 4.5 |
| Misser Every Day I Tell Myself... | 4.0 |
| Transit Young New England | 2.5 |
| Handguns Angst | 3.0 |
| Losing Streak The Long Run | 4.0 |
| The Story So Far What You Don't See | 4.5 |
| Macklemore and Ryan Lewis The Heist | 3.5 |
| Park Jefferson Childhood | 4.5 |
| You Blew It! Grow Up, Dude | 4.0 |
| Transit Keep This To Yourself | 3.5 |
| Tigers Jaw Tigers Jaw | 3.5 |
| Texas Is the Reason Do You Know Who You Are? | 4.5 |
| The Summer We Went West Following The Holy Moon Goddess | 3.5 |
| Sublime Sublime | 4.5 |
| SR-71 Now You See Inside | 2.0 |
| Signals Midwest Burn the Blueprints | 3.0 |
| Relient K The Anatomy of Tongue In Cheek | 3.5 |
| The Promise Ring 30 Degrees Everywhere | 3.5 |
| Piebald When Life Hands You Lemons | 3.0 |
| Nujabes Metaphorical Music | 4.0 |
| Kukim Live Morgantown Sound Radio Show | 4.5 |
| Jack White Blunderbuss | 3.5 |
| Hey Mercedes Everynight Fireworks | 3.5 |
| The Get Up Kids Four Minute Mile | 4.0 |
| The Gaslight Anthem Señor and the Queen | 3.5 |
| fun. Some Nights | 3.5 |
| The Format Dog Problems | 3.0 |
| The Forecast In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen | 3.5 |
| Fenix TX Fenix TX | 3.0 |
| EPMD Back in Business | 4.0 |
| The Crystal Method Vegas | 4.0 |
| Counting Crows This Desert Life | 4.0 |
| Counting Crows August And Everything After | 4.5 |
| Carridale Relapse in the River City | 4.0 |
| blink-182 Blink-182 | 4.5 |
| The Almost Southern Weather | 3.0 |
| Against Me! Reinventing Axl Rose | 3.5 |
| Hostage Calm Please Remain Calm | 3.5 |
| The Menzingers On the Impossible Past | 4.5 |
| Green Day Dookie | 4.5 |
| The Bouncing Souls How I Spent My Summer Vacation | 4.5 |
| Yellowcard Southern Air | 3.5 |
| Yellowcard continues their trend of great album, relative dud of an album in sequence. Southern Air has five good to great songs, and five mediocre to poor songs, including the worst song of their career, "Here I Am Alive". Luckily the good slightly outweighs the bad, enough to keep them relevant for another album cycle, which will see them inevitably produce another great album on the next outing. |
| Set Your Goals This Will Be the Death of Us | 3.0 |
| Set Your Goals Burning At Both Ends | 3.0 |
| Set Your Goals Mutiny! | 4.0 |
| Forever Came Calling Contender | 4.0 |
| blink-182 Neighborhoods | 3.5 |
| Thrice Anthology | 5.0 |
| Lana Del Rey Born to Die | 4.5 |
| Chamberlain Fate's Got A Driver | 4.5 |
| This Time Next Year Road Maps and Heart Attacks | 4.5 |
| Man Overboard Man Overboard | 4.0 |
| I Call Fives I Call Fives | 3.5 |
| The Dirty Guv'nahs Somewhere Beneath These Southern Skies | 4.0 |
| The Gaslight Anthem Handwritten | 4.0 |
| Pianos Become the Teeth The Lack Long After | 4.0 |
| Pendulum Hold Your Colour | 3.5 |
| Aesop Rock Skelethon | 4.0 |
| Signals Midwest Latitudes & Longitudes | 4.5 |
| The Dirty Guv'nahs Youth Is In Our Blood | 3.5 |
| The Dirty Guv'nahs The Dirty Guv'nahs | 3.0 |
| Emay Adam | 3.5 |
| Forever Came Calling HopE.P.assion | 3.0 |
| Piebald If It Weren't For Venetian Blinds It Would Be Curt | 4.5 |
| CunninLynguists Oneirology | 3.5 |
| Kno Death Is Silent | 3.5 |
| Turnover Turnover | 3.5 |
| Real Friends Everyone That Dragged You Here | 4.0 |
| The Tallest Man on Earth There's No Leaving Now | 3.5 |
| Polar Bear Club Chasing Hamburg | 4.0 |
| The Forecast Everybody Left | 3.5 |
| mewithoutYou Ten Stories | 4.5 |
| River City Extension Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Your Anger | 3.5 |
| The Gaslight Anthem Sink or Swim | 4.5 |
| Lucero Women & Work | 2.5 |
| Metallica Death Magnetic | 2.0 |
| Metallica St. Anger | 1.0 |
| State Lines Hoffman Manor | 5.0 |
| Burial Kindred | 4.0 |
| Burial Street Halo | 3.0 |
| Algernon Cadwallader Parrot Flies | 4.5 |
| Braid Frame & Canvas | 4.5 |
| Saves the Day Stay What You Are | 4.5 |
| Stay Ahead of the Weather We Better Get Goin' If We're Gonna | 3.5 |
| Yeah so this sounds pretty much exactly like the album Proper by Into It. Over It. Which of course isn't a bad thing. |
| Thursday Full Collapse | 4.0 |
| Thursday War All the Time | 4.0 |
| Saosin Translating the Name | 4.5 |
| Chiddy Bang Breakfast | 4.0 |
| Chiddy Bang prove with Breakfast that their generation's brand of poppy, electro-infused, "industry" friendly hip-hop can in fact be absorbing, layered, lyrically proficient, and brilliant. Xaphoon's beats, in some cases so good that they outshine Chiddy, backbone every verse that Chiddy rips through with his now world-record flow. The samples are tight and utilized to perfection, while the hooks are, quite simply, the catchiest in the game right now. I highly doubt that anything this year will be more infectious than "Ray Charles" or "Mind Your Manners", but if there is, it will be one hell of an achievement. Breakfast is that good. |
| Swarms Old Raves End | 4.0 |
| Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine | 4.5 |
| Rage Against the Machine Evil Empire | 4.5 |
| Rage Against the Machine The Battle of Los Angeles | 4.5 |
| The Story So Far Under Soil and Dirt | 4.0 |
| fun. Aim and Ignite | 5.0 |
| This is what pop music should sound like. Plain and simple. |
| The Promise Ring Nothing Feels Good | 5.0 |
| Taking Back Sunday Where You Want To Be | 4.0 |
| Taking Back Sunday Tell All Your Friends | 4.5 |
| Sepalcure Sepalcure | 4.0 |
| Pavement Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain | 4.0 |
| 1997 ...A Better View Of The Rising Moon | 4.5 |
| Arcade Fire Funeral | 3.5 |
| Weezer Maladroit | 3.5 |
| Weezer Make Believe | 1.0 |
| Into It. Over It. Proper | 4.5 |
| The Milk Carton Kids Prologue | 3.0 |
| Skrillex Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites | 1.0 |
| Nujabes Spiritual State | 4.0 |
| Astronautalis This Is Our Science | 3.5 |
| Weezer The Green Album | 2.5 |
| Dowsing All I Could Find Was You | 3.0 |
| The Black Keys El Camino | 4.0 |
| Junior Battles Idle Ages | 3.0 |
| Weezer Pinkerton | 4.0 |
| Weezer Weezer | 4.5 |
| My Epic Broken Voice | 3.0 |
| Basement I Wish I Could Stay Here | 3.5 |
| Transit Stay Home | 5.0 |
| Junior Battles Junior Battles | 2.5 |
| Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere | 3.0 |
| Transit Listen and Forgive | 4.5 |
| The Get Up Kids Something to Write Home About | 3.5 |
| American Football American Football | 4.5 |
| Blind Melon Soup | 3.0 |
| Blind Melon Blind Melon | 4.5 |
| Pianos Become the Teeth Old Pride | 4.0 |
| Spin Doctors Pocket Full of Kryptonite | 3.5 |
| Everclear Sparkle And Fade | 4.0 |
| Atmosphere When Life Gives You Lemons... | 3.5 |
| Team Teamwork The Ocarina of Rhyme | 3.5 |
| River City Extension ... And The Unmistakable Man | 4.0 |
| Moby Play | 4.0 |
| M83 Hurry Up, We're Dreaming | 4.0 |
| Joyce Manor Constant Headache | 3.5 |
| Everyone Everywhere Everyone Everywhere | 4.5 |
| Everyone Everywhere A Lot Of Weird People Standing Around | 3.0 |
| Emancipator Safe In The Steep Cliffs | 3.5 |
| Bad Rabbits Stick Up Kids | 3.0 |
| Spraynard Funtitled | 4.0 |
| Lou Reed and Metallica Lulu | 1.0 |
| The Dangerous Summer Reach for the Sun | 4.5 |
| La Dispute Wildlife | 4.0 |
| Wildlife is very similar to Defeater's Empty Days and Sleepless Nights in the sense that both are still pretty darn good, but can just in no way live up to their predecessor. That makes both albums the biggest disappointments of the year for me. |
| Every Time I Die Hot Damn! | 3.5 |
| Thousandaires Thousandaires | 3.0 |
| Deepspace5 The Future Ain't What It Used To Be | 4.5 |
| The best hip-hop album you've never heard. Possibly working on a review for this in the future. |
| The Dangerous Summer War Paint | 4.0 |
| P.O.S Audition | 4.0 |
| Buck 65 20 Odd Years | 3.5 |
| Needtobreathe The Reckoning | 3.5 |
| Switchfoot Vice Verses | 2.0 |
| The Horrible Crowes Elsie | 3.5 |
| The Weeknd Thursday | 3.0 |
| Thrice Major/Minor | 4.5 |
| The Swellers Ups and Downsizing | 3.5 |
| The Swellers Good For Me | 4.0 |
| Crosses EP | 2.5 |
| The Wonder Years The Upsides | 4.5 |
| The Starting Line Say It Like You Mean It | 3.5 |
| Crash of Rhinos Distal | 4.0 |
| Streetlight Manifesto Somewhere in the Between | 4.5 |
| Portrait Discography | 4.0 |
| Lucero 1372 Overton Park | 3.5 |
| The Wonder Years Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing | 5.0 |
Suburbia really sneaked up on me. A beyond solid, catchy, expansive pop-punk release in a year destined to
go down as the best year for pop-punk possibly ever. That was my first impression. But upon delving
deeper into the lyrics, Dan "Soupy" Campbell's genius storytelling becomes evident through the allusions,
motifs, and indelible one-liners found throughout every song. Even more astounding is the fact that his
lyrics are frighteningly personal, and yet every listener will be able to relate to and empathize with the
experiences described in Suburbia. On a final and maybe most important level, as one reviewer put it: I can't
help but think that this is the kind of music I would make if I made music. It's just so darn fun. |
| Emancipator Soon It Will Be Cold Enough | 4.0 |
| Maybeshewill Not For Want Of Trying | 3.0 |
| Paramore Riot! | 3.5 |
| Yellowcard Lights and Sounds | 3.0 |
| Yellowcard When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes | 4.0 |
| Yellowcard Ocean Avenue | 4.5 |
| The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Let's Face It | 4.0 |
| WU LYF Go Tell Fire to the Mountain | 3.5 |
| Frank Turner England Keep My Bones | 4.0 |
| Chiddy Bang Peanut Butter and Swelly | 3.0 |
| Hawkboy Hawkboy | 3.5 |
| Devin Townsend Project Deconstruction | 1.5 |
| Sights and Sounds Monolith | 4.0 |
| Thrice Live At The House Of Blues | 5.0 |
| Consider the Thief Signs and Wonders | 3.5 |
| Dustin Kensrue Please Come Home | 3.5 |
| Agnostic Front Another Voice | 1.0 |
| Bon Iver Blood Bank | 3.5 |
| P.O.S Never Better | 5.0 |
| Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon Iver | 4.5 |
| Is it too early to start considering Justin Vernon as the greatest musician of his generation? |
| Justin Vernon Hazeltons | 3.0 |
| Justin Vernon Self Record | 3.5 |
| The Rural Alberta Advantage Hometowns | 4.0 |
| The Snake The Cross The Crown Cotton Teeth | 4.0 |
| Moving Mountains Foreword | 3.5 |
| Big Gigantic A Place Behind the Moon | 3.5 |
| Putting the sexyphone in electro jams |
| Anberlin Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place | 3.5 |
| Bruce Springsteen Born in the U.S.A. | 3.5 |
| Bruce Springsteen Born to Run | 4.5 |
| Deadmau5 For Lack of a Better Name | 2.5 |
| Augustana All the Stars and Boulevards | 3.0 |
| Duck Sauce Greatest Hits | 3.0 |
| Skillet Comatose | 2.5 |
| Skillet Awake | 1.5 |
| Flogging Molly Float | 2.5 |
| Capital Lights This Is An Outrage! | 3.5 |
| Hawk Nelson Smile, It's the End of the World | 2.0 |
| Hawk Nelson Letters To The President | 2.5 |
| Latterman No Matter Where We Go...! | 4.0 |
| The Hold Steady Boys and Girls in America | 4.0 |
| Defeater Empty Days and Sleepless Nights | 3.0 |
| Moving Mountains Pneuma | 4.5 |
| Pretty Lights Passing By Behind Your Eyes | 3.5 |
| NOISIA Split The Atom | 3.5 |
| The Glitch Mob Drink the Sea | 4.0 |
| Why? Alopecia | 4.0 |
| Listener Wooden Heart | 4.5 |
| Fleet Foxes Sun Giant | 3.0 |
| Colour Revolt Plunder, Beg, and Curse | 3.0 |
| Colour Revolt Colour Revolt | 4.5 |
| I haven't sensed this much lyrical conviction or disturbance concerning religion since Come Now Sleep. The turmoil churning within the lyricist's uncertain beliefs becomes as tangible as the air we breath through his achingly desperate vocals, so much so that it is occasionally hard to listen to. It's a shame Colour Revolt couldn't replicate the creativity and mastery of the music into a consistent full-length, or else this band could have been something extremely special. |
| Good Old War Only Way To Be Alone | 3.0 |
| Frank Turner Love, Ire & Song | 4.5 |
| Attack in Black Marriage | 4.0 |
| The State Lottery When the Night Comes | 4.0 |
| The Saddest Landscape You Will Not Survive | 4.0 |
| Angels and Airwaves I-Empire | 4.0 |
| Angels and Airwaves We Don't Need to Whisper | 4.0 |
| Girl Talk All Day | 3.0 |
| James Blake James Blake | 1.5 |
| Guillemots Through the Windowpane | 3.0 |
| Pearl Jam Ten | 4.5 |
| Alice in Chains Facelift | 1.0 |
| Mumford and Sons Sigh No More | 2.5 |
| The Gaslight Anthem American Slang | 4.0 |
| Flogging Molly Drunken Lullabies | 3.0 |
| Kings of Leon Come Around Sundown | 3.5 |
| Lucero That Much Further West | 4.0 |
| Pretty Lights Spilling Over Every Side | 4.5 |
| Pretty Lights Making Up A Changing Mind | 4.5 |
| banger after banger after banger after banger after banger after banger |
| Pretty Lights Glowing in the Darkest Night | 4.0 |
| Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus | 4.0 |
| La Dispute Vancouver | 3.0 |
| Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy | 4.0 |
| I approached this album telling myself it was going to be terrible, that Kanye was a giant doucher, and that the title was terrible. Well Kanye is still a doucher and the title is still terrible, but this album is no way terrible. In fact, it is quite good, and I enjoy it. But there are stiil a few too many hit or miss moments lyrically. And by that I mean, there are a lot of stupid lyrics. |
| The Felix Culpa Sever Your Roots | 4.0 |
| Gospel The Moon Is a Dead World | 5.0 |
| The Chemical Brothers Dig Your Own Hole | 3.5 |
| Ronald Jenkees Ronald Jenkees | 3.0 |
| Kings of Leon Because Of The Times | 4.0 |
| Kings of Leon Only By The Night | 2.5 |
| The Prodigy The Fat of the Land | 4.0 |
| Ronald Jenkees Disorganized Fun | 5.0 |
| Burial Untrue | 4.0 |
| Justice † | 3.5 |
| B.o.B The Adventures of Bobby Ray | 3.0 |
| The Avett Brothers I and Love and You | 3.5 |
| Alexisonfire Watch Out! | 4.5 |
| Linkin Park A Thousand Suns | 1.5 |
| Nirvana In Utero | 1.0 |
| Nirvana Bleach | 1.0 |
| Weird Al Yankovic Straight Outta Lynwood | 3.5 |
| Weird Al Yankovic Poodle Hat | 4.0 |
| Weird Al Yankovic Running With Scissors | 4.5 |
| Weird Al Yankovic Bad Hair Day | 4.0 |
| The Gaslight Anthem The '59 Sound | 5.0 |
| Lucero Tennessee | 4.5 |
| The Wrens The Meadowlands | 2.0 |
| Eels Tomorrow Morning | 2.5 |
| E has always been a goofy guy, but he drifts a little too far into Weird Al territory with some of these lyrics I'm afraid. |
| Relient K Mmhmm | 4.0 |
| Eels Electro-Shock Blues | 4.0 |
| Eels Souljacker | 4.0 |
| Nirvana Nevermind | 1.0 |
| As Cities Burn Hell or High Water | 3.5 |
| Future of Forestry Travel III | 3.5 |
| Weaver At The Loom I Was Searching and I Found | 4.5 |
| Arcade Fire The Suburbs | 2.0 |
| Future of Forestry Travel | 4.0 |
| I kind of view this and Travel II as one album, and then it just barely misses out on a five. |
| Future of Forestry Travel II | 4.5 |
| Future of Forestry Twilight | 3.0 |
| The Classic Crime Vagabonds | 2.0 |
| The Classic Crime The Silver Cord | 3.5 |
| The Classic Crime Albatross | 3.5 |
| Snapcase End Transmission | 3.0 |
| Less Than Jake Hello Rockview | 4.5 |
| letlive. Fake History | 4.5 |
| A stunning showcase of all the genre has to offer. This album literally has a little bit of everything and should be regarded as the example of how to execute the perfect post-hardcore album. Unfortunately, it doesn't break enough new ground or differentiate from an all-too-familiar formula to earn a 5. |
| Goldfinger The Best of Goldfinger | 2.5 |
| I got this for those two songs in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. I think that's all it's good for. |
| The Roots How I Got Over | 3.5 |
| Catch 22 Keasbey Nights | 4.5 |
| A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory | 4.5 |
| Streetlight Manifesto Everything Goes Numb | 5.0 |
| Them Crooked Vultures Them Crooked Vultures | 3.0 |
| Jane's Addiction Nothing's Shocking | 4.5 |
| Jane's Addiction Strays | 2.5 |
| Switchfoot Nothing is Sound | 4.0 |
| Switchfoot The Beautiful Letdown | 4.0 |
| Switchfoot Hello Hurricane | 2.5 |
| Switchfoot Oh! Gravity. | 3.5 |
| Yesterdays. Man what a powerful song. Every other song feels even worse because of how good Yesterdays is. In truth, the rest of the album isn't that bad (excluding Circles and Head Over Heels, awful tracks), but this effort never had a chance at being as good as their two previous albums. |
| The Tallest Man on Earth Shallow Grave | 4.0 |
| DJ Shadow Endtroducing..... | 4.0 |
| The Black Keys Brothers | 3.5 |
| Sleigh Bells Treats | 3.0 |
| Irrestibly obnoxious... but still obnoxious nonetheless |
| Converge Jane Doe | 2.5 |
| Hey look at me I'm a loser, I don't want to rate this as a 17 or whatever. |
| My Epic Yet | 4.0 |
| Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind | 4.5 |
| Phoenix (FRA) Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix | 3.5 |
| The Tallest Man on Earth The Wild Hunt | 4.5 |
| ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Source Tags and Codes | 4.0 |
| Grits 7 | 3.5 |
| Frightened Rabbit The Midnight Organ Fight | 4.0 |
| Band of Horses Cease to Begin | 3.5 |
| Band of Horses Everything All the Time | 3.5 |
| Modern Life Is War Witness | 4.0 |
| Bear vs. Shark Terrorhawk | 3.5 |
| Fang Island Fang Island | 3.0 |
| Defeater Travels | 4.0 |
| Defeater Lost Ground | 4.0 |
| La Dispute Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair | 4.5 |
| Frodus And We Washed Our Weapons In The Sea | 3.5 |
| Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes | 4.0 |
| Refused The Shape Of Punk To Come | 4.5 |
| Circle Takes the Square As the Roots Undo | 4.5 |
| I hate this album |
| Phosphorescent Here's To Taking It Easy | 3.5 |
| Emery ...In Shallow Seas We Sail | 4.5 |
| Anberlin Never Take Friendship Personal | 4.0 |
| Anberlin Cities | 4.0 |
| Anberlin New Surrender | 4.0 |
| Autopilot Off Make A Sound | 4.0 |
| TV on the Radio Dear Science | 4.0 |
| TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain | 3.0 |
| Deftones Diamond Eyes | 4.0 |
| Deftones White Pony | 4.0 |
| Chiddy Bang The Swelly Express | 3.5 |
| My Epic I Am Undone | 4.0 |
| Needtobreathe The Outsiders | 3.5 |
| Needtobreathe The Heat | 3.0 |
| Titus Andronicus The Monitor | 4.5 |
| Secret And Whisper Teenage Fantasy | 4.0 |
| Secret And Whisper Great White Whale | 4.0 |
| Thursday Common Existence | 4.0 |
| Passion Pit Manners | 3.5 |
| Matt and Kim Grand | 2.5 |
| The National Alligator | 4.0 |
| The National Boxer | 4.5 |
| The National High Violet | 4.0 |
| dredg Catch Without Arms | 3.5 |
| dredg El Cielo | 4.0 |
| dredg Leitmotif | 3.5 |
| At the Drive-In Relationship of Command | 4.5 |
| The Antlers Hospice | 4.0 |
| Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago | 5.0 |
| Aesop Rock None Shall Pass | 4.0 |
| Aesop Rock Labor Days | 4.0 |
| Gorillaz Demon Days | 4.5 |
| Gorillaz Plastic Beach | 3.0 |
| mewithoutYou A to B: Life | 4.0 |
| mewithoutYou Brother, Sister | 4.5 |
| It's just not as good as Foxes sorry |
| mewithoutYou It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream! It's Alright! | 4.0 |
| mewithoutYou Catch For Us the Foxes | 5.0 |
| Brand New Deja Entendu | 4.0 |
| Brand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me | 4.5 |
| Brand New Daisy | 3.5 |
| Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea | 5.0 |
| Neutral Milk Hotel On Avery Island | 2.5 |
| Fatboy Slim Why Try Harder | 4.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria Year of the Black Rainbow | 2.5 |
| Coheed and Cambria No World for Tomorrow | 4.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness | 4.5 |
| Coheed and Cambria In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 | 4.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria The Second Stage Turbine Blade | 4.5 |
| As Cities Burn Son, I Loved You at Your Darkest | 4.5 |
| As Cities Burn Come Now Sleep | 5.0 |
| Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II | 4.0 |
| Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV | 4.0 |
| Thrice Identity Crisis | 4.0 |
| Thrice The Illusion of Safety | 4.5 |
| Thrice Beggars | 4.0 |
| Thrice The Artist in the Ambulance | 5.0 |
| Thrice Vheissu | 5.0 |
| THE album. Before this masterpiece graced my ears, body, and soul, I had no clue what music was. I owe full credit to this album to opening the doors for me. Thrice, I salute you. |
