AJ Ramirez

Chimes comes off feeling like a holding pattern, and hopefully that doesn’t remain the case for too long — Butter was a stellar album, and a proper follow-up that aims to attain similar glories is long overdue.

Even if there are only ten tracks to feast upon, it’s clear that Suede is back in force, and Brett and the boys sound cooler than ever.

Synthetica preps Metric to hit the masses head-on, and while the presentation is up to snuff, it’s hard to get all that excited about the individual tracks.

Only in Dreams is emblematic of an entire strain of prosaic, backward-looking indie rock that’s given too much leniency contrary to what it actually has to offer.

The overall sound is slightly louder, slightly sharper, but unless you’re a devoted audiophile you’re fine sticking with your original CD pressings of these records.

This reissue is underwhelming, seemingly more concerned with enticing Nirvana completists to purchase it for the live material than in illuminating why Nirvana’s first album was an important step in a career that has helped define rock music for the last two decades.

Siamese Dream isn’t some mere collection of songs—it’s an immersive aural landscape that draws people in, takes them on a grand journey through Pumpkinland, and leaves them back home 70 minutes later, ready to be lulled to sleep by the pillow-soft “Luna”.

As laudably impressive it is as a freshman undertaking, Gish also has its hands overfilled.