Cavalcade

10 seconds in, and I’m being bombarded with a whole bunch of noise, but it’s to be expected from black midi. I love that, in some of the songs, there’s this slow progression of noise that builds up throughout and explodes at you with a wide variety of instruments for half a minute. That’s a major reason why John L and Chondromalacia Patella are some of my favorites from this album, and I’m slightly disappointed that the rest of the album doesn’t carry that same energy. Slow and Dethroned were nice in their own ways, but I wish other songs like Hogwash and Balderdash contained that same buildup others had. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy the instrumentals, like the aforementioned song, but it doesn’t develop that sound more intensely, and when it does, it’s usually a discreet change. This goes for most of the songs on here, too. It’s still a good album, but I could see it above Hellfire if some of these songs were approached differently.

John L - 90/100
Marlene Dietrich - 84/100
Chondromalacia Patella - 93/100
Slow - 91/100
Diamond Stuff - 81/100
Dethroned - 88/100
Hogwash and Balderdash - 84/100
Ascending Forth - 87/100

Average: 87.25/100 -> 87/100
Final score: 87/100