The former outcast of the family, retroactively treated as if it were always fully beloved. How poetic, not unlike a child's first loss of innocence, later remembered as a laughable memory. Like a light dusting of rain before a drought, not fully recognized as life-bearing until the last crop on the farm already died.

After five years, new crops finally sprouted from the barren soil, much to the joy of the land tenders, but not coming from the same dusting of rain, and not tasting the ... read more

Fall Out Boy suddenly develops the urge to worship the city of Chicago, Illinois, and strangely manages to outperform their actual album released in the same year in doing so. Sure, they stooped to a pretty low level in general to make a three-song afterthought draw sighs of relief from an exasperated fan base simultaneously enraged with the disasterous MANIA (which was partially reactionary, but still by far the least characteristic FOB album), but this was probably the only reason Fall Out ... read more

Just enough of a highlight reel to justify the eventual runtime, with each song sounding just distinct enough from any other on the album to avoid the curse of becoming an afterthought after a first listen. (As for lyrics, it seems that the success of Stick Season didn't help his mental health all that much. How sad)

This album sounds like a wistful look back at a COVID era in full swing when each song was written, mixed in with aging Kearney's own train of thought. Pontiac might be the best semi-mainstream pop song of the early 2020s in terms of songwriting (and it perfectly captures the era's sheer hopelessness). Notably more secular than his earlier work; whether that's a plus, a minus, or a moot point is up to you.

Enjoyable, but lacking a bit of the jam-band-esque creativity that O.A.R. used to climb to stardom in the first place. With that said, it certainly was well-made. In my opinion, "The Architect" remains one of their best post-2005 songs (even despite its complete irrelevance), and "I will Find You" is a cinematic closer, but the rest of the album doesn't quite stick the same way. This album revolutionized nothing (that was never its intention), but passed the bar exam ... read more

All things considered, it's a fun listen, though nothing on the album will quite have the same "you-have-to-listen-to-it-live" appeal that their classics will carry. For a band that took the mainstream path fifteen years prior, that's probably a best-case scenario.

A one-album peak for the boys: the single studio effort in their lengthy discography that felt both well-produced and genuinely well-made. Also, by far the coolest album art they've ever conjured up.

One of the first albums to go viral thanks to the internet (through forums and online album sales), which alone is worthy of some kind of positive recognition. Even without that side note, Risen is entirely worthy of its status as the the first semi-mainstream O.A.R. disc. Much cleaner in terms of production than their first two albums, though notably similar to the jam-band feel that made the live performances of their oldies such pull factors. Every single track holds its own, and about half ... read more

Anything that can be said about their debut can be said about "Soul's Aflame", an album with a title that sounds straight out of a millennial burger joint established in 2013. An iconic track list for hardcore fans, and certainly creative enough to earn some stripes, but just not quite there on the production level. The kind of album unfortunately immune to nostalgia, given most of O.A.R.'s listeners first heard these tracks live or on a live album.

The platonic ideal of an album most enjoyable when listened to live. Simultaneously, O.A.R. released their most amateurish effort fresh off their Rockville, MD basement while loading it with their most iconic songs. Listening to this album with the context of hearing "Black Rock" or "That Was a Crazy Game of Poker" live feels like listening to lost media of a band's first-ever demos, free from any production or polish, not a standalone album. If you're only ... read more

Mat Kearney has always seemed to balance a grateful passion for his life as a musician with a fairly mainstream sound, without one overpowering the other. If anything, he's a bit too consistent, with the only true break in his musical form coming in the gradual shedding of his rap verses. Thus, his self-titled album is predictable in form, but welcome in the attention-grabbing media landscape of the mid-2020s. This is an album entirely meant to pander to his also-aging fan base, but one ... read more