“You’ve got it, and then you don’t” - Sickboy, Trainspotting.

Talk of absolutely shattering my optimism for the new year. “Every Loser” is the most abysmal Post-Punk record I’ve heard in a while. What’s most baffling is the fact this album feels like an amateur musician’s first attempt at the genre, despite the fact Iggy Pop is quite literally one of the founding fathers of Punk music. On his nineteenth studio album, the vocal performances ... read more

The Epitome of Abstract Art

(Before beginning: In the linked reviews, I talk about the fundamental elements that make Radiohead’s music so enduring, why its brilliant, the fundamentals of the music etc., which I feel will adequately convey information that I didn’t focus on in this review, I invite you to read them).

Ok Computer Review: https://www.albumoftheyear.org/user/claydjs03/album/362-ok-computer/
In Rainbows Review: ... read more

Oh my words can do this justice alright.

An artist who can inspire a fanbase to unite and celebrate the release of their art is something that demands recognition, regardless of your interpretation of
the musicians subjective quality. To possess the capacity to stir passion and inspire an audience to rendezvous so rambunctiously across the innumerable virtual spaces of the internet in celebration is a signifier of artistic competence. Conversely, the most scathing musical slander is ... read more

156 Minutes of synaesthetic splendour.

I remember it fondly, the frigid Thursday night I was cradled in my bed sheets and hoarding their every ounce of warmth. I was ill; it was that needle sting at the back of your throat, the slithering sickness somewhere within your weakened neck that occasionally made you wretch. The night before I was the jubilant young lad, wolfing down shots of vodka far beyond the chimes of midnight, now I was a decrepit shell of a man. My body was in a state of ... read more

Music’s Deepest Exploration of Love.

The wistful lake slumbered agleam with glitter, clairvoyant constellations that patterned the lithely surface. As winter drew near, a delicate breeze parasolled from the whispering night sky, gently wavering like a reverie before deeply penetrating the icy waters. Above, snowflakes swayed like phantom wisps, dissolving onto the souls levitating from the ripples. The ethereal plain, a place knowable to all but unknown by most. Every day the swans ... read more

Thursday Quickie: Blood Incantation - Timewave Zero

Blood Incantation have been one of the most essential Death Metal Bands in recent years. The fiery Starspawn and Dusty, Avant Garde, conceptual Hidden History of the Human Race illustrated that there was still a place for Technical Death Metal that could explore fascinating soundscapes. Their intergalactic, alienating brand of death metal caused Hidden History of the Human Race to become an acclaimed hit amongst critics and Death Metal fans ... read more

Thursday Quickie: Nilufer Yanya - Painless

Hello AOTY, since I’ve developed quite a following over the past few weeks I’ve been attempting to pump out quality reviews at a substantial rate. However, I’ve been dissatisfied with my output as of late, particularly with regard to newer album releases. Consequently, I’ve considered a solution: Thursday Quickies (yes I see the innuendo, it’s intentional ;)). Essentially, before new music Friday, I will drop a ... read more

Virginity strikes once again

Most albums get worse with age. The passage of time ultimately erodes all in its path, from derelict cityscapes to art itself; the vibrancy of the production absconds the music itself, the boundaries pushed on such a record become trivial in modern contexts; the simplicity of the instrumentation is underscored by the mounting complexity of the modern song, and the lyrics often become a victim of their time period, thus failing to hold up to the societal progression ... read more

Vein’s Sophomore record “This World is Going to Ruin You” is a blood-smeared Obelisk, prevailing over the mass of meagre metal offerings that have been dragging the genre down for years.

Metalcore is a particular fusion of Metal and Punk that has been stagnating for many years; what was once exhilarating, infectiously intense and repentlessly savage became ground into flavourless ash that only produced the softest of crunches in the greater metal scene. Borrowing from the ... read more

The closest contemporary folk has come to its traditional form

Pink is a colour fusing the primary colour red with the purity of the colour white, the avid flushes of crimson with the petals of a pale bloom. Consequently, pink is a warm colour ardent with passion yet marked with innocence and jovial goodness, rage distilled with morality and purpose…

…Meanwhile, the moon carries the symbol of inevitability; a moon, every twenty four hours, appears without fail. It’s the ... read more

A underrated ambient-house expedition through New Age, Gregorian Chant and regional music.

I often think about whether there is an aspect of the human condition that is entirely incorporeal, a bodiless component that resides in the most abyssal part of oneself. In other words, is the existence of a human soul an outdated rhetoric that lacks consilience with our modern belief system? It’s an arduous concept to ponder. After all, if such a formless phenomenon was in actuality drifting ... read more

Have you ever wondered what pure, fettering self loathing sounds like? What hellish, internal mental turmoil would appear as if it manifested into audial form? How scattered, disconnected noise-scapes could coalesce into something mindbogglingly disturbing, yet maintain cohesion all the same? And most importantly, what degree of Psychological trauma it would take to conceive something of such a magnitude? Since music is the raw bubbling of human emotion in sound form, it is unsurprising that ... read more

A long summer daydream

Before starting this review, I’d like to thank everybody for helping me surpass 300 Followers! Considering only a couple of months ago the most I’d get from a review is three likes, this is absolute madness! I also want an extend warm regards to everybody in the AOTY Discord and AOTY Community server for both welcoming me with overwhelming positivity, it’s been the sweetest welcome I’ve ever received in any corner of the internet!

There are ... read more

Modern indie at its most flavourful

EDIT: After subsequent listens, I’m changing the score from an 87 to a 90. Every song I initially loved in my original review are honestly becoming 10/10 tracks, and the songs that I initially found to be drab, such as Certainty and Sparrow, have grown into some of the catchiest, most emotive cuts on the record. Additionally, songs I didn’t give a verbal shout out to initially e.g. Blue Lightening have all started to shine in their own way. ... read more

The sound of emotional drainage.

Real artistic brilliance is quiet. It isn’t loud and performative, it’s subtle and genuine, understated and yet profoundly impactful. If a piece of art is truly evocative, it doesn’t need to bluster with false bravado, nor proclaim itself as the defining example of any strata of medium. This is because, at least in an ideal world, real artistic merit and the integrity synonymous with it speaks to people on a subconscious level. In the eyes of ... read more

I decided to reupload this: my first review I ever wrote for this site. I wanted to rewrite the whole review, but I really couldn’t think of a better way of putting it than what I’d initially said, especially since many music fans on Aoty, RYM and YouTube have already dissected this album completely. So without further ado, here it is: My first Aoty review:

You know what TPAB is.
You know how important it is to the world of music, how every music fan and critic simultaneously ... read more

If I were to epitomise KoRn with a single word, that word would be incessant.

KoRn is a band whose influence is something that the vast majority of metal fans choose to be blissfully ignorant of, which is a disservice. After all, it’s thanks to KoRn’s debut self titled in album in 1994 that the infamous subgenre of Nu Metal blossomed with it’s rancid, cardinal petals, shredding through the metal scene with it’s brutal and bastinade rhythms, bludgeoning drum work, and ... read more

We really need Slipknot to write a metal distrack on MGK so we can evict him from rock music.

I’m usually quite the wordsmith with my reviews, but I’m going to keep this brief.

Once again, MGK proves to us that he’s a disingenuous, inauthentic and thunderously arrogant little man, without a mere ounce of talent. The lyrics here feel like one of those “I need an emo girl to peg my tight asshole 😩” type of memes you see on Reddit, and on top of all this, the ... read more

Modern Melancholia

I’m going to keep this review short, since my man @TomBejoy broke down the tracklisting perfectly and has a much more potent connection with Yeule’s music than I. Anyway, here is my review:

In your postmeridian years, You begin to stray off path and into the herbaceous layer of woodland, bewitched by a crestfallen reverie that beckons you deeper like a forest wisp. Pulling you further into morass and moor, this forbidden feeling continues to ensnare you with ... read more

EDIT (2) HOLY FUCK OVER 70 LIKES?? THIS IS MY MOST LIKED REVIEW, AND ONE OF MY PERSONAL FAVOURITES, THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!

*Lifts teacup and extends pinky* twas rather splendid, Henry. Splendid indeed.

EDIT (1) Through reading the various criticisms levelled at the writing of this album pertaining to the “melodramatic” lyrics, I came to the realisation that I didn’t really dig all that deeply into the lyrical themes of this record. Simply put, Chaos Space Marine ... read more