SANDBLASTING MY EARDRUMS

Also this lowkey looks like an imagine dragons cover. I would have also voiced the concern of this being AI, but honestly even AI would have mixed this better.

What a journey it has been with ppc and my enjoyment of them. Loved their first 2 records and after that they decided to make purposeless Hippie punk, with no direction or meaning in sight.
Okay maybe thats a bit harsh on them, but I was very disappointed, that probably led to emotions being a bit overblown. UNTIL I saw that this project of them had quite the upgrade to their previous user scores and I started to rediscover what made them so intriguing to me in the first place. All around ... read more

I can see how one might find a disliking to the mixing of this, but I find it extremely refreshing. Maybe it is just because of the current overflow of albums in metal, that have a bigger than life approach to their sound. However there should also be credit given, that there is a clear vision and it is stripped down to only what is essential. But where it counts it becomes surprisingly layered. In that approach it kinda reminded of King Gizzards metal adjacent projects.

The first three tracks ... read more

Baby Keem is at his best when he doesn't try way too hard to impersonate Kendrick.
My fav tracks on here are the ones where he raps less and leans more into his head voice, like Birds & the Bees and $ex Appeal.
Also on one hand this album feels very introspective, which I appreciate, but on the other hand once you dig a bit deeper his lyrical content really doesn't hold up and the whole thing feels disconnected.

Instrumentally I like some of the synthy bass and percussion sample ... read more

Sounds like they didn't sharpen the scythe enough, because this is kinda dull.

Just sounds like a less energy effort of Denzel's last album, especially the second half introduces some Pop / cloud rap aesthetics, that don't really gel with the overall vibe. I feel like the bars they are dropping over that are still demanding for some more direct, aggressive beats. E.g. You Ain't gotta lie, really don't know what that song is trying to achieve.

Climbed the mountain to expand my horizon. Ironically though the peak I reached wasn't that high.

Gorillaz dabble around in a wild potpourri of eastern sounds. There are some standout collaborations that shine by their own merit, but it's rarely the whole composition that excels. In a whole it lacks focus at times, but still remains refreshing throughout.

Besides the fact that this track constantly pranks me by abusing my phone ring sound, its pretty good.

I'll give credit where its due, this was better than I expected. The second half was decent. However the vocals are often wrapped into this veil of compression making them indiscernible sometimes, both cleans and screams. And honestly we should leave the Thall stuff to Vildhjarta.

Gets under the skin.

Had this in my back catalogue of 2025 albums I wanted to rate for the longest time. Great, direct, unapolegetic and most importantly explosive Hip hop punk mixture. No skips honestly and the features are also fantastic. One of my favourites of the year in retrospect, just doesn't really possess that much virtuosity, I guess, but it really doesn't have to.

Lots of fun to be had with this one.

Can we have Emperor / Dimmu Borgir?
We have Emperor / Dimmu Borgir at home:

I love to see that there apparently still is interest in this type of genre, but frankly this just sounds like a modern copy without grasping what truly made it special. There are some surprisingly punchy moments, courtesy of modern production. Besides that the old stuff is, in my humble opinion, virtually superior in every regard. Adding some zoomer tiktok guitarist solo noodling doesn't help it either.

I believe it was Jacob Bannon, who said in an interview that "Love is not enough" "ramps up" during the runtime of the record. Now that Statement honestly messed with my first listening experience tremendously, leaving me kind of disappointed. In hindsight I think he meant more so the personal topics and lyrical content than the intensity of the whole thing.
But with that expectation corrected, I sat down and it reeled me back into its fangs.

Converge certainly go for more ... read more

Big fan when a cover can encapsulate an albums sound. Sadly thats the case here, as it's all the same grey with nothing standing out.
I have a lot of praise, they did nail the overall sound design, all instruments can be heard as clear as day. I also very much appreciate the choice to go for these more soulful dirty bass Tones, instead of the cold and bleak djent bends. Don't really mind the guy's voice either, he is able to not have his emotions break into melodrama, even when ... read more

There are some problems I have with this track, feels like an overall step backwards from their last LP, at least in regards to impact and songwriting...
but really I don't give a f***, because I'm SO here for this crossover and Denzel absolutely delivers.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think there has been any rapper of Denzel's size that has ever wrapped on extreme music such as this. Holy smoke his attitude and overconfident nature X Knocked Loose is a match ... read more

Honestly better than what I expected after the singles. But still a new low for Poppy.

If someone had described the sound of this album to me, before listening to it, I would have never listened to it in the first place. I would have said sounds like a recipe for disaster. But here we are, a point in time where I can confidently say this is one of my favorite albums of the 90s.

Guitars are simple but the ambient slides, powerchords or chugging with a very distinctive sludgy but also eerie texture are plenty to create a solid backbone. Peter Steele's voice is something to ... read more

They're allowed a miss here and there

We are so back. Converge return to a "axe to fall" kind of sound. Small nitpick is that I'm kinda missing a bit of intensity from Jacob's usual high energy performances, but my god the guitarwork and production was stellar, Kurt cooked so hard.

This thing is kinda umatched this year as far as ferocity goes. Just a nice pallet cleanser, as they manage to make things ridiculously heavy sounding without the use of djent or core stereotypes. Just raw speed and seriously sweaty playing to catapult the listener onto plains of unreached Potential.