| Unwound Leaves Turn Inside You | 4.5 |
| Radiohead The Daily Mail/Staircase | 4.0 |
| Strand of Oaks Pope Killdragon | 4.0 |
| Time To Burn Is.Land | 4.0 |
| Rosetta The Galilean Satellites | 5.0 |
| Mos Def Black on Both Sides | 4.5 |
| Queensryche Operation: Mindcrime | 3.5 |
| Discordance Axis The Inalienable Dreamless | 4.0 |
| The Stooges Fun House | 4.0 |
| Wormrot Abuse | 4.0 |
| Run the Jewels Run the Jewels | 3.5 |
| Black Flag Damaged | 3.5 |
| The Stooges The Stooges | 3.5 |
| Kid Dynamite Shorter, Faster, Louder | 4.0 |
| P.O.S Never Better | 4.0 |
| Danny Brown XXX | 4.0 |
| Chance the Rapper Acid Rap | 4.5 |
| El-P Fantastic Damage | 4.0 |
| clipping. Midcity | 4.5 |
| Food for Animals Belly | 3.0 |
| Animal Collective Fall Be Kind | 4.5 |
| Milo Things That Happen At Night | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Leviathan | 4.0 |
| Behemoth The Satanist | 4.0 |
| Beck Odelay | 4.0 |
| Cannibal Ox The Cold Vein | 3.5 |
| System of a Down Toxicity | 4.0 |
| J Dilla Donuts | 4.0 |
| Death Grips Death Grips | 4.5 |
| The Cure Pornography | 4.0 |
| Death Grips Government Plates | 4.0 |
| Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill | 4.0 |
| Killswitch Engage Alive or Just Breathing | 3.5 |
| The clean vox and the frequent, chugging bro-downs take away from the experience somewhat. But all musical snobbery aside, you have to be fairly soulless not to enjoy this stuff. This is really tight and catchy. And I'll be honest, a few of those bro-downs did get me awkwardly headbanging with headphones on, alone in my room at 2AM. Hey, I'm not going to deny what is essentially a good bit of fun. Metal can groove, too. |
| Darkthrone A Blaze in the Northern Sky | 4.5 |
| Joanna Newsom The Milk-Eyed Mender | 4.0 |
| Miles Davis Kind of Blue | 4.5 |
| Wolves in the Throne Room Two Hunters | 4.5 |
| The acme of Cascadian Black Metal. Natural beauty is channeled here in a way you'd never think possible in the hands of an extreme metal band. But to call this supremely calming and ambient record "extreme" seems a little misguided. You can get lost in the lush sonic expanse if you're not careful -- and once lost, you may not wish to find your way back again. This is living, breathing music. A wonderful re-contextualizing of Norwegian BM tropes. The macabre becomes the triumphant. The bleak becomes... well, bleak - but tempered by awe in the face of nature. This is the best kind of cultural appropriation and there needn't be any controversy. |
| Gorguts Obscura | 5.0 |
| This is true madness. Uncharted territory. Here be dragons (and beasts far worse). Precision and chaos co-exist, but not peacefully. This is a jazz holocaust, a prog genocide. This is more than tech death. This is Beefheart metal. It might serve as lobby muzak in hell. But this snarling, gnashing abomination was never meant for mortal ears. Approach at your own risk. |
| Earl Sweatshirt EARL | 4.0 |
| OutKast Stankonia | 4.0 |
| Dr. Octagon Dr. Octagonecologyst | 4.0 |
| OutKast Aquemini | 3.5 |
| John Frusciante To Record Only Water for Ten Days | 4.0 |
| Nas Illmatic | 3.5 |
| Korn Korn | 4.0 |
| The Roots Things Fall Apart | 3.5 |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience Electric Ladyland | 4.0 |
| Megadeth Rust in Peace | 4.0 |
| Wavves Afraid of Heights | 3.0 |
| Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend | 3.5 |
| Akira Yamaoka Silent Hill 2 | 4.0 |
| Kendrick Lamar Section.80 | 4.0 |
| Brian Eno Ambient 1: Music For Airports | 4.5 |
| Distilled, elemental, patient and seemingly vacant. The few moments of trembling anticipation, that might prefigure some great breakthrough or climax, quickly subside. This would frustrate, if not for the record's ingenious use of space. Matter and antimatter. Void and volume. Inhalation and exhalation. Whispers, but never speech. What Eno offers sonically is not a cleansing rainstorm, nor a complex river system - all tributaries and runoff, green fingers fanning out across yellow land - but instead a solitary drop in an ocean. Yes, all well and good. But where are the guitar solos and drum fills, Brian? |
| Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine | 3.5 |
| Angsty, grimy, vulnerable, suffering major growing pains. This is some profoundly adolescent music, but if you can get past that, you will find a synth pop record unlike any other. No twinkling, bubblegum wonderland here, just rusty razor blades and pounding machinery. At this point in Trent's development the industrial trappings are still just that, trappings. He is yet to realise the full potential of the aesthetic that would cement TDS as a modern classic. But this record represents a solid prototype for future projects. Things are taking shape. It's more than a curiosity. It stands alone, youthful, impetuous, and catchy as hell. |
| Coheed and Cambria The Second Stage Turbine Blade | 3.5 |
| Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city | 4.5 |
| Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights | 4.0 |
| Oh, this is that band fronted by 'Generic Post-Punk Vocalist #17?' I've been meaning to check them out for years. Heard great things. This album is chill, for the most part. Sometimes it's beautiful even. Trying my hardest to get lost in the expansive, rippling sound-scape, I definitely feel something. But it's faint. The lights flicker expectantly, before being snuffed out by the vengeful ghost of Ian Curtis -- icy cold, drained of vitality. EDIT: grows on you once you get past the vocals. |
| Van Morrison Astral Weeks | 4.5 |
| Dirty Three Ocean Songs | 4.0 |
| It's like looking on as something tragic transpires, but not feeling compelled to intervene. You just sit and watch. And it works out in the end. For post-rock, which so often courts the bombastic, this record displays impressive restraint. This is all very pretty and has some solid catharsis on offer. But crescendo-core it is not. It's too understated to evoke the infinite or inspire awe, instead it's almost parochial - could only be Australian. Docking a point because of length and some occasionally unmemorable passages. |
| John Frusciante From the Sounds Inside | 3.5 |
| Cocteau Twins Heaven or Las Vegas | 3.5 |
| Saccharine sweet, but lacking nutritional value. Hoping it's a grower. Immensely likable, but not loveable (yet). |
| The Cure Disintegration | 5.0 |
| Television Marquee Moon | 4.0 |
| Botch An Anthology of Dead Ends | 4.5 |
| Angers me to think what these boys could have accomplished with a few more years, a little more refinement. But what a fucking swan song. An EP with all the power of an LP. A solid grasp of quiet/loud dynamics that would have elevated their LPs to a whole other level. Afghamistam, which is essentially an interlude, has the audacity to be the longest track on the album. A window into what the band's future might have held. Hushed emo vocals give way to some glorious Slint worship in the closing minutes. It gives new perspective to the uncompromising violence in Botch's sound. If this is a dead end, it was well worth the detour. |
| Madvillain Madvillainy | 4.5 |
| Infest No Man's Slave | 3.5 |
| Converge You Fail Me | 4.0 |
| Mac DeMarco Rock and Roll Night Club | 3.5 |
| Steely Dan Aja | 4.5 |
| Botch We Are the Romans | 4.0 |
| Serge Gainsbourg Histoire de Melody Nelson | 4.0 |
| Atheist Unquestionable Presence | 3.5 |
| Jesu Jesu | 4.0 |
| DJ Shadow Endtroducing..... | 4.0 |
| Morbid Angel Altars of Madness | 4.0 |
| Swans White Light From the Mouth of Infinity | 4.0 |
| Hella Hold Your Horse Is | 4.0 |
| The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin | 3.5 |
| Childish Gambino Camp | 3.5 |
| Thy Art Is Murder Hate | 3.5 |
| The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed | 4.0 |
| Darkthrone Transilvanian Hunger | 4.0 |
| The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet | 4.0 |
| Pink Floyd Animals | 3.5 |
| David Bowie Low | 4.5 |
| Daft Punk Discovery | 3.0 |
| Protest the Hero Kezia | 4.0 |
| Protest the Hero Fortress | 4.0 |
| Metallica Master of Puppets | 4.0 |
| Gris À L'Âme Enflammée, L'Âme Constellée... | 4.0 |
| This was a consistently beautiful album. I want to give it a 4.5, but I just think it's a little on the long side. As a result, its ebb and flow becomes more predictable as it drags on. The dramatic peaks and atmospheric interludes are nicely arranged, though. |
| Kvelertak Kvelertak | 4.0 |
| The most fun I've had with a black metal(?) record in a long time. Almost like listening to blackened party rock anthems. Maybe a little repetitive on occasion, but the album is a tasteful length, does not overstay its welcome. |
| Chelsea Wolfe Pain Is Beauty | 3.0 |
| I love this girl. Pains me to give a lukewarm rating. The album is let down constantly by weak, unmemorable melodies. As usual, there's a persistent, haunting atmosphere. But it's not enough. |
| Chelsea Wolfe Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs | 3.5 |
| Arcade Fire Reflektor | 4.0 |
| This was a pleasant surprise. The bombastic, but ultimately empty anthemics of earlier Arcade Fire releases is redressed here with a healthy dose of cheesy fun. There's still plenty of OTT emoting, but Win Butler sounds a little more self-aware this time around. James Murphy's influence is much appreciated. Synths often take precedence over guitars, highlighting the dance punk qualities of the band's sound. Love the clear and airy production on the back end of the album, too. |
| Sigur Ros Kveikur | 3.5 |
| Danny Brown Old | 4.0 |
| The National Trouble Will Find Me | 3.5 |
| Between the Buried and Me The Great Misdirect | 4.5 |
| Liturgy Aesthethica | 4.0 |
| Sly and The Family Stone There's A Riot Goin' On | 3.0 |
| The Velvet Underground Loaded | 3.5 |
| Mac DeMarco 2 | 4.0 |
| David Bowie Hunky Dory | 4.5 |
| Leonard Cohen Songs of Love and Hate | 4.0 |
| Ghostface Killah Supreme Clientele | 3.5 |
| Blind Guardian Nightfall in Middle-Earth | 4.0 |
| Death Human | 3.5 |
| Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica | 4.0 |
| Camp Lo Uptown Saturday Night | 4.0 |
| Paul Simon Paul Simon | 3.5 |
| Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP 2 | 3.5 |
| La Dispute Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair | 4.5 |
| Germ Grief | 4.0 |
| Vocals like banshee shrieks. Sparkling metal guitars, almost blackgazy. Really good stuff. Could do with being a little shorter. |
| The Smiths The Queen Is Dead | 4.0 |
| Fripp and Eno No Pussyfooting | 4.0 |
| Fripp and Eno Evening Star | 3.5 |
| The Who Tommy | 4.0 |
| Neil Young After the Gold Rush | 3.5 |
| Neil Young Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere | 4.0 |
| Paul Simon Graceland | 4.5 |
| Burial Untrue | 4.0 |
| Grimes Visions | 3.5 |
| Shabazz Palaces Black Up | 4.5 |
| Tool Ænima | 3.5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream | 4.0 |
| Converge Jane Doe | 5.0 |
| Between the Buried and Me Colors | 5.0 |
| At the Drive-In Relationship of Command | 4.5 |
| Husker Du Zen Arcade | 3.5 |
| The National Alligator | 4.0 |
| The National Boxer | 4.0 |
| Spiritualized Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space | 4.5 |
| Refused The Shape Of Punk To Come | 5.0 |
| Joni Mitchell Blue | 4.0 |
| Big Black Atomizer | 4.0 |
| Big Black Songs About Fucking | 4.0 |
| Deftones White Pony | 4.5 |
| Nirvana Nevermind | 3.5 |
| Porcupine Tree Stupid Dream | 3.0 |
| Tool Lateralus | 4.5 |
| Pink Floyd The Piper at the Gates of Dawn | 4.0 |
| Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon | 4.0 |
| Porcupine Tree The Sky Moves Sideways | 3.5 |
| Porcupine Tree In Absentia | 3.5 |
| Prince Purple Rain | 3.0 |
| Pixies Surfer Rosa | 4.0 |
| Pixies Doolittle | 4.5 |
| Simon and Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water | 4.0 |
| Katatonia Brave Murder Day | 4.5 |
| Jethro Tull Thick as a Brick | 4.5 |
| The Beach Boys Pet Sounds | 4.0 |
| Bob Dylan The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan | 4.0 |
| Cynic Focus | 4.0 |
| ISIS Panopticon | 4.0 |
| Metallica Ride the Lightning | 4.5 |
| Kraftwerk Trans-Europe Express | 3.0 |
| Michael Jackson Thriller | 4.0 |
| John Coltrane A Love Supreme | 4.0 |
| Pink Floyd Meddle | 4.5 |
| Drudkh Autumn Aurora | 4.0 |
| Drudkh Blood In Our Wells | 4.5 |
| Candlemass Epicus Doomicus Metallicus | 4.5 |
| The Velvet Underground White Light/White Heat | 4.0 |
| The Beatles Abbey Road | 4.5 |
| Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago | 3.5 |
| Black Sabbath Master of Reality | 4.5 |
| Lou Reed Transformer | 4.5 |
| Sigh Imaginary Sonicscape | 4.5 |
| Cattle Decapitation Monolith of Inhumanity | 4.5 |
| Nails Abandon All Life | 4.0 |
| Animals As Leaders Animals as Leaders | 4.0 |
| Dinosaur Jr. You're Living All Over Me | 4.0 |
| David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars | 5.0 |
| The Who Who's Next | 4.5 |
| Elliott Smith Either/Or | 4.0 |
| Joy Division Unknown Pleasures | 4.5 |
| Slayer Reign in Blood | 4.5 |
| Iggy Pop Lust For Life | 3.0 |
| King Crimson Red | 4.5 |
| Burzum Det Som Engang Var | 3.5 |
| Oneohtrix Point Never Replica | 3.5 |
| Alcest Souvenirs D'Un Autre Monde | 4.0 |
| Negura Bunget OM | 4.5 |
| TR/ST TRST | 3.5 |
| Lisa Hannigan Sea Sew | 4.0 |
| TV on the Radio Young Liars | 4.0 |
| Mercyful Fate Melissa | 3.5 |
| The Jesus and Mary Chain Psychocandy | 3.5 |
| Mark Hollis Mark Hollis | 4.0 |
| Talk Talk Spirit of Eden | 4.5 |
| Comus First Utterance | 5.0 |
| Nails Unsilent Death | 4.0 |
| Cerce Cerce | 4.0 |
| Cerce Tour Sampler CD-R | 4.0 |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced | 4.0 |
| CHVRCHES Recover | 3.0 |
| Mercyful Fate Don't Break the Oath | 4.5 |
| The Mothers of Invention Freak Out! | 4.5 |
| Coldworld Melancholie² | 4.0 |
| Boris Boris At Last -Feedbacker- | 4.5 |
| Emperor In the Nightside Eclipse | 4.0 |
| Burzum Hvis Lyset Tar Oss | 4.0 |
| Peste Noire La Sanie des Siècles | 4.5 |
| Alcest Écailles De Lune | 4.5 |
| The Doors The Doors | 4.5 |
| The Offspring Smash | 3.5 |
| The Offspring Americana | 3.5 |
| Bosnian Rainbows Bosnian Rainbows | 3.0 |
| Black Sabbath Paranoid | 4.5 |
| Frank Zappa Hot Rats | 5.0 |
| John Frusciante Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt | 4.5 |
| Burzum Filosofem | 4.0 |
| Circle Takes the Square As the Roots Undo | 4.5 |
| John Frusciante PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone | 3.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication | 3.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik | 3.5 |
| Fire! Orchestra Exit! | 4.0 |
| The National High Violet | 4.0 |
| Kyuss Welcome to Sky Valley | 4.0 |
| Deafheaven Sunbather | 5.0 |
| Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City | 4.5 |
| Deafheaven Roads to Judah | 4.0 |
| Talk Talk Laughing Stock | 5.0 |
| Milo Things That Happen At Day | 4.0 |
| Milo I Wish My Brother Rob Was Here | 4.0 |
| Brand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me | 5.0 |
| Yes Close to the Edge | 5.0 |
| AJJ People Who Can Eat People are the Luckiest People | 4.5 |
| Panda Bear Person Pitch | 4.5 |
| Rush Moving Pictures | 4.0 |
| The Dismemberment Plan Emergency & I | 4.5 |
| Animal Collective Feels | 4.0 |
| Animal Collective Centipede Hz | 3.5 |
| Funkadelic Maggot Brain | 4.5 |
| Frank Ocean channel ORANGE | 4.0 |
| Death Grips No Love Deep Web | 4.5 |
| Tame Impala Lonerism | 3.5 |
| Tame Impala Innerspeaker | 3.5 |
| Can Tago Mago | 4.5 |
| alt-J An Awesome Wave | 4.0 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! | 4.0 |
| Jonny Greenwood There Will Be Blood OST | 4.5 |
| The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground & Nico | 5.0 |
| James Blake James Blake | 4.0 |
| Fiona Apple The Idler Wheel... | 4.5 |
| Torche Harmonicraft | 4.0 |
| Flying Lotus Cosmogramma | 4.0 |
| Killer Mike R.A.P. Music | 4.0 |
| Four Tet Rounds | 4.5 |
| My Bloody Valentine Loveless | 5.0 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV | 5.0 |
| Portishead Dummy | 4.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral | 5.0 |
| St. Vincent Strange Mercy | 3.5 |
| Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy | 4.5 |
| Arcade Fire Funeral | 4.0 |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium | 4.5 |
| The Mars Volta Frances the Mute | 5.0 |
| Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea | 5.0 |
| King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King | 5.0 |
| tUnE-yArDs w h o k i l l | 3.5 |
| Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds | 2.0 |
| Modest Mouse The Lonesome Crowded West | 5.0 |
| Animal Collective Strawberry Jam | 4.5 |
| Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion | 4.0 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven | 4.5 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor F♯ A♯ ∞ | 4.5 |
| Joanna Newsom Ys | 5.0 |
| Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot | 4.5 |
| Slint Spiderland | 5.0 |
| Weezer Weezer | 4.5 |
| Weezer Pinkerton | 4.0 |
| Radiohead The Bends | 3.5 |
| Radiohead OK Computer | 4.5 |
| Radiohead Kid A | 5.0 |
| Radiohead Amnesiac | 5.0 |
| Radiohead Hail to the Thief | 4.0 |
| Radiohead In Rainbows | 4.5 |
| Radiohead The King of Limbs | 3.5 |
| Death Grips Exmilitary | 5.0 |
| Death Grips The Money Store | 5.0 |
