girl with fish was such an unpredictable clash of sounds that blew me away on first listen and keeps me coming back thanks to it's great hooks and short, colourful songs.

bitknot is a simpler album. about half the songs are clean cut slack rock tracks that are pleasant but not super memorable. only a few songs adopt the same chaotic structures as tonal shifts that the band's best songs like pocket or this is real do. by no means is this album bad though. I love the noise rock vibes ... read more

Kim Petras becomes the newest pop artist to jump on the post-hyperpop craze developed by 100 gecs (among other) and mainstreamed by Charli XCX. It's clear she's still finding her footing, with Detour being a chaotic tracklist that jumps between aggressive electronic barn burners and subtler Sabrina-coded pop numbers. But behind the album's awkward flow and obvious references, I still think Kim is beginning to find her own voice in her music, with cuts like Polo and 101 seeing her ... read more

A crushing whirlwind of electronic, industrial, rap and punk that would make MC Ride flinch.

Favourites: Two Lucks, Jackpot, Debt Forest, Talon, Charity Dinner, Drumming With Izzy, Yard Sale (230 Take), 200 Bottles on Eviction
Least Favourite: N/A

Why are the scores so low for this album it's so fucking good?! It's got just as much heart as the Kick Inside but arguably more impressive and ambitious vocals from Bush, and the piano/art rock production is an exciting change of pace that shows she can make upbeat music just as well. Sure there are a few songs that feel a little undercooked and occasionally Kate's wackiness gets tge better of her, but I still think Lionheart is a necessary listen for any fans of art pop, Kate ... read more

Equal parts dancy disco and pop, Madonna's debut immediately proved that she could be a stand out artists and a universal crowd pleaser. This album is spectacularly produced, with synths and beats that sound gorgeous and have aged impeccably. And then there's Madonna's flirty, confident lyrics and vocals that are rife with youth and an urge to get up and dance. It's no surprise she completely changed the nature of pop music and music stardom after this album.

Favourites: ... read more

A big step up from their previous work: the mayhem created through guitars and drums is thicker but more distinct, multiplying how crushing it feels to subject my ears to these songs. There are some great hooks and rhythm changes throughout that keep most songs pretty engaging. I still think there was a ways to go on some cuts, especially the shortest ones which kind of come and go without leaving much of an impression. The closer is an interesting decision too - it's a 7 minute sludgy ... read more

Black Cascade continues the stellar production and darkness from the band's sophomore, but this time with a lot less experimentation. Most tracks are pretty clean cut atmospheric black metal with maybe a 60 second quiet patch in the middle to break up the gargantuan song lengths but little else to them. Blast Beats and a riffs patterns are repeated ad nauseum, decreasing the impact of most of this album. Really the only song that keeps my attention most of the way through is Ex Cathedra. ... read more

One of the best grind albums ever made - Brutal Truth combine the manic frenzy of British grindcore with the gory onslaught of American death metal better than most bands have ever been able to, despite this being their debut. Also, repsect for writing Anti-Homophobe.

Favourites: Birth of Ignorance, Ill-Neglect, Denial of Existence, Regression/Progression, Time, H.O.P.E., Anti-Homophobe
Least Favourite: Unust Compromise (only due to the 5 minutes of silence)

Cowboy Carter functions well as a second act to Renaissance: it's equally as ambitious, stylised and sophisticated but with a stronger dose of politics and personal confessions. For me the track list has a few more weak points than Bey's last two albums - a lot of the songs that stay very close to country conventions tend to get a bit unmemorable - but as a macro-picture this album is such a bold and well-organized switch up for Beyonce, something that was made pretty clear by the ... read more

While it's not as conceptual or succinct as Lemonade, Renaissance is still a wide-reaching explosion of love for house, dance and pop music from across the decades that has way more hits than misses. It's without a doubt Bey's most cunt era so far.

Favourites: COZY, ALIEN SUPERSTAR, CUFF IT, ENERGY, BREAK MY SOUL, PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA, VIRGO'S GROOVE, MOVE, HEATED, THIQUE, ALL UP IN YOUR MIND, PURE/HONEY, SUMMER RENAISSANCE
Least Favourite: CHURCH GIRL

IWDF is a contender for most violent sounding album I've ever heard. The manic vocals, the deep fried base, the super dry and relentless drums: it's the musical equivalent of being beaten up by 50 men who all have brass knuckles on. At points I think it gets a little indulgent in the post-rock sections leading to some songs overstaying their welcome, but when it hits it fucking HITS.

Favourites: The Sin in Grey, At 3 A.M., Burial Suit, Progress of Elimination, Endings
Least ... read more

One of the most impactful and emotionally charged concept albums ever made

Favourites: Pray You Catch Me, Hold Up, Don't Hurt Yourself, Sorry, 6 Inch, Daddy Lessons, Sandcastles, Freedom, All Night
Least Favourite: Formation

Lana's follow up to NFR, the most critically worshipped album of her career thus far (and one of my fave albums OAT), sees her continuing her preference of organic instruments than synthetic pop productions, a choice I am totally on board with. However, when compared to it's predecessor, Chemtrails isn't really as colourful or poetic, instead opting for simplicity as it's core ingredient. This fosters some gorgeous folk ballads and a few soft rock jam sessions that pop off, ... read more

the new tracks on bloodluxe are definitiely an improvement from the original mixtape, mostly because they lean further into the intricacies of digicore and EDM, with punchier beats and more chaotic tonal switch ups. Slayr's vocals are lot stronger here as well, they don't fall into the annoying rage pitfalls that so many songs on half blood do. At the same time, I still think there's a lack of oomph to a handful of tracks on the back end of this project that weighs down it's ... read more

Following on from the masterpiece that is Heartwork, Carcass doubled down on melodic death metal and melded it with a bunch of ideas from hard rock and classic heavy metal, resulting in one the first Death 'n' Roll albums, Swansong.

Production wise, i think this album is almost perfect. The guitar tones have never been larger, the vocals are mixed a lot better than some of their albums, and the drums - especially the cymbals and hi-hats - well they fucking eat. The band have a lot ... read more

This album has like four great songs that fuck with genres in way I've never heard before, then it has like five bog standard rage tracks, then it has three songs that are kinda unbearable to listen to because of the vocals

Favourites: Love Blur, Sloppy Joe, Never Go Down, The Sky
Least Favourites: Demigod, Wipe Yo Nose, Phone

The queen of disco revival is back and she's as effervescent as ever. This is gonna be on repeat all summer.

Favourites: I Could Get Used To This, Superbloom, Automatic, Sauna, Mr Valentine, Love You For, Don't You Know Woo I Am, No Consequences, Mon Amour
Least Favourite: 16 Summers

Full of Hell's latest album once against demonstrates two truths about the band. The first is that they know how to good sounding grind: Walker's got some of the best vocals in the current scene, the guitarists are gods at making disgusting but audible riffs, and the production on the shorter songs are great at being claustrophobic and soulcrushing in the way grindcore should be. the second truth is the band has no idea how to make any other kind of music. The sludge metal cuts like ... read more

I think Portrayal of Guilt have all the ingredient ready to make a brilliant album. Matt King's vocals are sick, the guitars and drums have a disgusting heaviness and the band has found a way to mix crusty, sludgy hardcore riffs with black metal harshness and industrial atmosphere to create a fairly distinct sound. But something is severely missing. Maybe it's how many metal cliches their music sits on, or maybe they're trying to shove too many different references together, ... read more

When I hear Glory Black as a single I got insanely hyped for this album release. The guitars tones were great and had a horrifying but gorgeous melody, and the keys in the middle were stunning. I think it's their best song since the release of Monoliths and Dimensions (17 years ago). Then I listened to the whole album upon it's release and was disappointed to find it was about as straightforward as Sunn O))) can get. The guitar tones are great throughout (because when aren't ... read more