Recommend me some 2022 albums +1000th album halp

[contrapatior]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

review my new ro track, the forest

[rayword45]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

Day 374: Dusk by Andrew Hill

I feel like I was expecting more from this album, a little more weirdness. Eh, whatever. It's decent poker music. I lost $5.

Best Track: Ball Square
Rating: 7/10

[rayword45]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

Day 375: Totems Flare by Clark (Album Choice: Crazyjayde)

Pretty nice album. Seems to jump around structures and moods within songs a lot, but the whole thing stays pretty acid. For something that should be pretty samey, a little more than half of these songs I can seriously jam to (Look Into The Heart Now, Future Daniel, Suns Of Temper) and then the rest just has no effect on me. Also, the Japanese bonus track is boring as fuck.

Definitely gonna return to this one. Watch me never do it.

Best Track: Suns Of Temper
Rating: 7/10

[rayword45]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

Day 376: Musick To Play In The Dark by Coil (Album Choice: Lambdadelta)

These vocals fucking suck. I get the whole "spoken word so monotone it's creepy" thing they're trying to do for the sake of atmosphere, but it just doesn't work at all for me. I like my dark ambient minimalistic. And this album is pretty minimalistic (outside of the lame pretentious poetry) but man I just don't know, something about this isn't doing it for me. The arrangements are nigh indistinguishable for the most part, and they fail to evoke any real emotional response for the most part. This isn't somber, this isn't menacing, this will never give me goosebumps nor will it ever paint actual imagery in my head like good ambient does. This is just bland.

Can't wait for the new Gas album to come out. Which reminds me, recommend some good 2017 shit. Or some terrible 2017 shirt.

Best Track: Strange Birds
Rating: 3.5/10

[rayword45]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

Day 376: Musick To Play In The Dark by Coil (Album Choice: Lambdadelta)

These vocals fucking suck. I get the whole "spoken word so monotone it's creepy" thing they're trying to do for the sake of atmosphere, but it just doesn't work at all for me. I like my dark ambient minimalistic. And this album is pretty minimalistic (outside of the lame pretentious poetry) but man I just don't know, something about this isn't doing it for me. The arrangements are nigh indistinguishable for the most part, and they fail to evoke any real emotional response for the most part. This isn't somber, this isn't menacing, this will never give me goosebumps nor will it ever paint actual imagery in my head like good ambient does. This is just bland.

Can't wait for the new Gas album to come out. Which reminds me, recommend some good 2017 shit. Or some terrible 2017 shirt.

Best Track: Strange Birds
Rating: 3.5/10

[ilikexd]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

Day 376: Musick To Play In The Dark by Coil (Album Choice: Lambdadelta)

These vocals fucking suck. I get the whole "spoken word so monotone it's creepy" thing they're trying to do for the sake of atmosphere, but it just doesn't work at all for me. I like my dark ambient minimalistic. And this album is pretty minimalistic (outside of the lame pretentious poetry) but man I just don't know, something about this isn't doing it for me. The arrangements are nigh indistinguishable for the most part, and they fail to evoke any real emotional response for the most part. This isn't somber, this isn't menacing, this will never give me goosebumps nor will it ever paint actual imagery in my head like good ambient does. This is just bland.

Can't wait for the new Gas album to come out. Which reminds me, recommend some good 2017 shit. Or some terrible 2017 shirt.

Best Track: Strange Birds
Rating: 3.5/10

oh man, surprised you dislike this so much

you better have listened to it on a very mellow night

[rayword45]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

Day 377: metacontinues by Frums (Album Choice: Surt)

Stuck in a carpool to my hometown so I can go yell at politicians to stop taking oil money. They're probably not gonna listen, the greedy old fucks. Activism is depressing.

Why isn't this on RYM? Also why am I still titling these "Day (Review #)"? That's just stupid.

The Divine Comedy is an example of a great, visual-inducing track marred by garbage distorted vocal samples. What a fucking waste, that was totally unnecessary. The rest of this album is similar except the songs DON'T have obnoxious garbled nonsense on top. Well, some have a little, very little, but not enough to be annoying. 4 out of 5 tracks here are gorgeously airy tunes with enough variations to the formula to keep it interesting. This is definitely a keeper.

Best Track: Infinityyyy
Rating: 8/10

[rayword45]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

Day 378: The Dream Is Over by PUP (Album Choice: noname219)

I'm not really in the mood for punk, and this sounds like punk based off the first minute. Keep that in mind for my score, adjust to you liking, who gives a shit?

The harmonies in DVP are great. The skronky riffs in Doubt are great. The feedback, solo and shifting dynamics in The Coast are all great. The anger, aggression and drumming in Old Wounds are great in equal parts. The infectious poppiness of My Life Is Over And I Couldn't Be Happier is great. The multiple solos within Familiar Patterns are great. The emotional conclusiveness of Pine Point is great. The fact that this album runs a tight yet fulfilling 30 minutes is great. There's a lot of greatness here. Insert Donald Trump joke here.

My only gripe is that the vocalist never really rises above "adequate" and oftentimes he falls into the trap of "totally obnoxious post-emocore whiny bullshit". Other than that, yet another keeper. Two in an hour!

I still need 2017 recommendations guys.

Best Track: Familiar Patterns
Rating: 8/10

[rayword45]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

Day 379: Redeemer: Underground Edition by Machinae Supremacy (Album Choice: Tokzic)

These guys made some songs that made it into ITG that I never played (and I actually play officials whenever I play because I suck, relatively speaking). Well, I did enjoy Megascorcher, that was actually a ton of fun, but it's not an official so whatever. These guys make chiptune power metal, or something like that. Let's go.

I just realized that I've never heard the vocalist in this band in my lifetime. I've been playing ITG for over a decade now and... THIS DUDE SUCKS. I don't like Power Metal-style vocals most of the time, but I would've accepted that for the sole reason of being appropriate. Whatever this guy is doing is completely inappropriate for the instrumentation unless they were going for some incompetent-nerd-tries-to-shout aesthetic or something. Sometimes the instrumentation overpowers the crappy nasal crooning, like the wonderful guitar work in Ronin or the chiptunes in Seventeen, and sometimes the vocals are at least bearable, like in... Well, the closest example would be Reanimator (March of the Dead III). But overall, this guy's singing just ruins the majority of this album. Isn't this band supposed to be instrumental metal anyways? Jesus shit.

Also, I know metal albums have a tendency to be overlong, but in this case, it's especially annoying that this runs 62 minutes because I have to listen to this vocalist for 62 minutes. Call me a hypocrite since I can't sing, I like plenty of bands with objectively untalented singers (The Mountain Goats is the most obvious one) and I always say vocals are the least important aspect of a song to me, but this is just too damn annoying. It's sad because I have very few other gripes. If there's an instrumental version of this album I might listen to it and actually enjoy it. In fact I think I'd enjoy it quite a bit, though maybe not for 62 minutes.

More 2017 albums guys. More. More.

Best Track: Reanimator (March of the Dead III)
Rating: 4/10

[rayword45]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

Day 380: Melting Sun by Lantlos (Album Choice: Dvaerak7Korgo)

I'm currently using some shitty ass earbuds. Fuck Monster for taking forever for their stupid-ass "repairs" (they're just shipping me a new pair ffs) and for making me pay for shipping and handling. All companies should be like Nintendo when it comes to warranties. Also I realize Monster N-Tunes aren't exactly audiophile headphones but I would never call myself one anyways since I listen to a hell of a lot of 128kbps MP3s. Plus, I got them for my birthday back in 2015 and until Kohls changed their policy I was able to trade them in for a new pair every 2 months. Next time I buy a pair I'm buying them at Best Buy with the warranty.

Anyways, this is a very relaxing album that just breezes by really fast. Gorgeous textures and soothing vocals, though I'm not very impressed with the song structures. Not really the point though, I can see myself coming back to this. Not sure how this is remotely related to black metal, and it's a lot less lush than most shoegaze. Also, I don't know why they feel the need to repeat the album title in every track title.

Best Track: Melting Sun II: Cherry Quartz
Rating: 6.5/10

[Wayward Vagabond]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

You should check out death peak by clark

[rayword45]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

Day 381: Cool Cat by Chet Baker (Album Choice: Phillip S.)

I just discovered where the Harvey Birdman theme song comes from and it put me in the mood to seek out some jazz. Expect a review of some Reg Tilsley at some point in the future, but don't expect it to be any good. Or expect this to be any good, I don't know shit about jazz.

This is a pretty album, and I'm gonna return to it because it made me unusually productive. I'm not too keen on the vocal tracks here, but the first two tracks are divine. Not to say that the singing is objectively bad in any way, but I prefer the atmosphere given off by instruments alone for this collection.

Best Track: Round Midnight
Rating: 7/10

[MyNameIsNothing]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

world eater by blanck mass is aoty 2017 so far
also worth checking out:::
sorority noise - you're not as ___ as you think
clap! clap! - a thousand skies
kid koala - music to draw to: sattelite

[rayword45]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

Day 382: Narkopop by Gas

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE IT'S HERE IT'S HERE!

I'll probably review the new Kendrick album next but honestly I'm realizing I seem to like each successive album less with him so I'm oddly wary. Fuck you Section.80 may be the least technically impressive album of his but goddamnit he paints a world I, and generations, can relate to with ease and that makes it my personal favorite. Also I'm raising my score of Pop to a 10 because I love tripping.

But yes I've been looking forward to this.

Narkopop 2 goes a bit more over the place than I was expecting. In fact a good chunk of these songs aren't as droney as the ones on Pop, but they're certainly less energetic (and BETTER) than the overall sound of Königsforst. Okay I really don't have much to say, it's not as amazing as Pop but very little is and this is still AMAZEBALLS. Why did I use that word? I make myself cringe.

Hooray for piracy! Go listen to this now, you twit. Stop reading my bullshit.

Best Track: Narkopop 2 or Narkopop 9
Rating: 8.5/10

[rayword45]

Re: 365 Reviews Done

Day 383: Damn by Kendrick Lamar

Welp, I like Section.80 more than I like Good Kid, M.A.A.D City more than I like untitled unmastered more than I like To Pimp A Butterfly so here we go. What? levitate (fuck the real title) is a better banger than anything on TPAB and Section.80 may be his least technically impressive but it beautifully paints a world I (and a generation, because I'm pretentious enough to speak for a generation) can relate to with such ease, moreso than any of his others.

Wait, there's a new Pile album. Sorry, next time guys.

Day 383: A Hairshirt of Purpose by Pile

I fucking love these guys, haven't seen em live in over a year and a half now. They better play some summer shows. Their music, at its best, represents some sort of catharsis for me, and it conjures up images of home. I'm probably biased because Boston but whatever. Songs like Prom Song (the obvious), Don't Touch Anything and Baby Boy really help me get through my pathetically angsty teen emotions whenever some bullshit happens. They're certainly not a perfect band, as they're more of a singles gig for me than an album gig.

Damn, is this a stylistic shift attempt? A subtle one? I mean, there's still that grungy post-hardcore feel to all the tracks here but goddamn the crescendos. Everywhere. Crescendos in Rope's Length, Milkshake, Leaning On A Wheel, Dogs, more but I really don't feel like listing the whole damn tracklist or what seems like it. Are they trying to turn prog or ape Godspeed You! Black Emperor or something? To be frank the difference between this and the last 3 albums is readily apparent, but I'm exaggerating for comic effect. I'm not akin to this style of Rick's songwriting but it's pretty decent, just not quite what I was looking for.

So let's just comment on a handful of tracks because I never listen to this band in a cohesive context anyways. The whiny drawl of Worms is beautiful but doesn't really start the album with an explosion as I'm used to with this band. Much more subdued than any of their other openers (I'm just ignoring everything before Magic Isn't Real because screw that) but easily a standout track immediately. They seemed to have relegated the usual explosion to the second track, Hissing For Peace, but I'm not as enamored. No Bone is another soft acoustic song, pleasant but nothing special. Texas is a great blow of punk energy akin to #1 Hit Single or #2 Hit Single as is Hairshirt. These seem to be more popular among the fanbase so although they're generally not my favorites (not to say I don't like them, they definitely fit an angry niche) I get why they chose the former as the lead single. In fact I'm inclined to call Texas the true album standout, as it starts angry and never relents but only builds up in intensity (man these crescendos sure are something) leaving it a completely fulfilling 2-minute endeavor with no filler nor wasted potential. The aforementioned Dogs seems like it's trying to be one of those 90s-harkening quiet-loud-quiet songs that Pile is best at making, but something is missing. Slippery feels similar, what could be missing?

Oh yeah, the CATHARSIS. These are pretty good rock songs but there's less of the emoting, screams and dynamic contrasts that make up the best Pile songs. Or actually, there might be an equal amount but the song structures are just too different and not arena-rocky enough. I hate to say I wanted more of the same, because a band trying new things while maintaining their unique voice should be applauded, but something is just missing here for me. The raucous punk songs are my favorites for the first time, and those haven't changed much at all.

This seems way more album-formatted than previous Pile works. The lack of centerpieces is interesting. I Don't Want To Do This Anymore is a straight interlude. A bunch of these tracks seem like throwaway interludes.

...Okay I'm full of shit I googled this album to read some reviews and that's what people said. An album-oriented Pile album? Weird. But if you actually cared, rest easy knowing that those reviews do not affect my score at all. Because I've listened to this album 3 times now and I still haven't been able to enjoy it more as a cohesive piece. Maybe at some point it'll click, who knows?

Best Track: Texas
Rating: 6/10