Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair was downright harrowing. The album had blurred together and felt fairly relaxed up to that point, but right when that song started I was like "oh, shit's fucked." Disjointed instrumentation and despairing, increasingly unhinged vocals build up to one of the most terrifying experiences I've had listening to an album in recent memory. Insane this came out in 1966.

Unironically great. It feels like a lost post-punk record from the early 1980s from a band that was in a bad place, like Pornography-era The Cure. Dark, ominous, post-apocalyptic, the first two songs in particular are phenomenal. "You Keep Me Hanging On" also hits different: the first time I listened to this album, I had some sort of transcendental moment when Alvin opened with that "SET ME FREE". The anger and despair in his voice was too much. Then I died inside because ... read more

Like the last album, it took a bit to grow on me, which surprised me since I'm going into this already loving 1000 gecs. Here's my take on each song roughly in order of my favorites:

1: Billy Knows Jamie --- Instant favorite on first listen, it goes hard and is a hilarious nu-metal parody.
2: One Million Dollars --- Second favorite on first listen, this song has a "going mad with money" vibe and though I initially felt it was short, if it was any longer I think it would overstay its ... read more

This album is incredible. I listened to it on a whim without even knowing the genre, and as my first real foray into deathcore, this has set an insurmountable bar. I especially love the vocals and how diverse they are throughout the record; screams, growls, melodic singing, spoken word, this dude can do all. I was already a huge fan of concept albums so this was bound to be up my alley, but this is like a deathcore opera the way it plays out. When the first song dropped I was blown away, ... read more

black midi's new record Cavalcade ranges from freaky to lavish and everything in between. I see where the avant-prog tags are coming from because this album took the insanity of Schlagenheim and infused it with extravagant free-form jazz. The end result is so unexpectedly beautiful - like, why is "Diamond Stuff" one of my new favorite black midi songs? It doesn't even sound like a black midi song! Not that their sound is unrecognizable now, but rather that it has expanded. I'm excited ... read more

This album is a total genre-definer and pretty much peak pop punk. The theatricality, hooks, and anthems are off the charts, I love the vocals, and every song is distinct and fleshed out. "Woe" sounds straight out of a Broadway musical while "An Orgy of Critics" is complete chaos and the ending of the opener "Belt" might be the most anthemic shit I've ever heard. Amazing album.

Random Thought: I bet the lead singer of Set It Off was majorly influenced by this ... read more

I listened to this album a few years ago after hearing the song Rats and enjoying it enough to check out Ghost's discography. At the time, my understanding and appreciation of music was a bit more limited and this album struck me as several good-not-great metal songs. I definitely liked them, but never saw myself coming back.

It's now 2021, and I came back. I heard Cirice again and was thoroughly impressed, enough to return to Meliora. On the subsequent listens, I've come to love this album, ... read more

Listening to Great Albums #22

We're back with a pretty well-received album, and I can see why that is. I'm reminded of Rubber Soul for the right reason - it's mostly good music. This also feels a lot more varied than that record, from the theatrical "Eleanor Rigby" to the desert-like soundscape of "Love You To" to the more traditional rock songs like "Taxman" and "Doctor Robert". My main gripe is that some songs end too soon which I really didn't feel ... read more

New Avenade record! Like the last album, these songs sound like hellfire, but I think this may be better. The production has stepped up, though the guitars still sometimes feel like they overpower the vocals. Speaking of, the vocals have leveled up as well, I think our boy's upper register sounds a lot stronger on this record. Arrangement-wise, this album is heavier and more diverse than It's a Whimsical Afterlife which I'm all for. I'm just really impressed.

Some random thoughts about some ... read more

Linkin Park but it was produced by 100 gecs? You know I'm here for it.

I remember listening to a little of amo and not liking it, but I love Sempiternal and this album feels like a combination of the two. It's amo's poppy sound and Sempiternal's heaviness but even more off-the-wall with the glitchiness and screaming, and it's just... good. I don't have any complaints.

Favorite Tracks: "Dear Diary", "Parasite Eve", "Teardrops", "Obey", "1X1", ... read more

Listening to Great Albums #20

Way to jumpscare me when "I'm Waiting for the Day" started. I'm drifting off to sleep and then BANG.

This album is p s y c h e d e l i c. I knew "God Only Knows" going in and recognized "Wouldn't It Be Nice" upon hearing it, but I didn't really expect this level of psychedelia. Several songs wouldn't quickly grab me but would win me over as they progressed. The vocals are the highlight of the record for me, the layered harmonies and ... read more

Linkin Park at home, but I like it?

I suspect the emcee may in fact be Mike Shinoda. If you haven't listened to Dangerkids, then listen to a song now and tell me those aren't his voice, delivery, flow, lyrics, and rhymes. Outside of that, the LP resemblance falls off as the band is more inclined towards metalcore with occasional electronics. Yeah, the songs have pretty standard structures and I can see the lyrics being melodramatic cringe, but for some reason I enjoy this. The four songs I ... read more

Listening to Great Albums #19

The first of several Beatles albums on my list and I'm a little surprised I don't recognize any songs on it. Songs like "Norwegian Wood" and "Michelle" are folky, but the classic rock sound is definitely prevalent here. The average track length is 2:30 and only one breaks 3 minutes in this 35-minute album, but a lot of songs actually feel pretty complete. In fact, this is just good music. Every song is enjoyable. My nitpicking gripe is that ... read more

EDIT: With more listens, I've grown to like this album more than the last. Though I don't love every song on Visions (I'm mainly looking at "She Bad") as I do on TEAATB, the overall sound is heavier and scarier. I want to shout-out "Something Underneath" and "Make Them Dead" for growing on me considerably and blowing me away with the sound design.

So my first impression was that this was basically There Existed an Addiction to Blood 2.0 which wasn't necessarily a ... read more

EDIT: It keeps getting better! Original rating was 84.

I was hyped for more Dorian Electra, the only single I had heard from this was "Edgelord". This album is stunningly short and is pretty much just back-to-back 100-gecs-esque bangers. It's much noisier and freakier than Flamboyant. I will say some songs are just too short or end abruptly - "M'Lady" would be godly if it was longer and I didn't even have time to care about "Gentleman" before it was over - but I ... read more

Listening to Great Albums #18

We briefly return to jazz before finally (for the most part) escaping it. Not that I don't like it - I've definitely come around on jazz since I started this journey - I'm just hyped to listen to some different genres for a change.

This one is different in that it's vocal jazz. The only other vocal jazz record I heard was the first album in this series, Frank Sinatra's "In The Wee Small Hours", which I thought was alright but suffered from most songs ... read more

Listening to Great Albums #17

And another Bob Dylan record! I didn't know if it was just me, but this sounded more lush than Dylan's previous albums I listened to. Of course I've heard "Like a Rolling Stone" before, but I didn't remember it sounding so FULL. The next two tracks convinced me that the production and arrangements had indeed stepped up. The last half of the album drags a little IMO, but the first half is so strong it makes up for it. Shout out to "Ballad of a Thin ... read more

Listening to Great Albums #16

This record has more of a country vibe than The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, but is otherwise pretty similar. I do actually really like the country tracks like "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and "Maggie's Farm" which is unlike me. A lot of songs have non-endings where they just fade out which I don't love, but I enjoy this album overall.

Random note: I'm kind of blown away by how much "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon ... read more

Listening to Great Albums #15

And finally we've come to John Coltrane's big album. In my review of Duke Ellington & John Coltrane, I mentioned that my then-ranking of the big 3 in jazz was Charles Mingus > Miles Davis > John Coltrane. Mingus is clearly my favorite and while I wasn't totally wowed by Kind of Blue, I loved Davis's Sketches of Spain. Coltrane has yet to have a record floor me, and this is his last chance because after this album, we're pretty much done with ... read more

I felt the urge to gush about Spiderland, so that's what I'm going to do.

This album is phenomenal as an uninterrupted listen. The long pause before Don infamously steps outside is an obvious highlight, but I especially love how the latter half of the album flows. After the big climax, Washer ends with an extended instrumental outro which is pretty relaxing before going into For Dinner which is occasionally tense but still very low-key. Then the closer hits with these punchy drums and a ... read more