Fuck you to the guy who compared this to Nails. I'm so mad I didn't make that comparison first.

This thing is fucking brutal, dude. It's been a minute since I've listened to a hardcore project that leans more towards Grindcore than Beatdown, but HCPM is the real deal. I'm also fascinated by how this project is so varied. Through just 17 minutes, Killing Pace weaves a multitude of different riffs, breakdowns, etc. Also, getting all these names is so cool. Division of ... read more

Wow, BC,NR really did impact how all Indie music will sound from now on, didn't they...

I really enjoyed my time with this record. I thought that their debut was a really good exercise in contemporary indie, but with Something Worth Waiting For, Friko appears as much more intentional. The varied and fleshed-out ideas present here are the signs that a band has its songwriting on lock. From Noise Rock on Guess to Baroque Pop on Certainty, Friko kinda does it all. My favorite song here is ... read more

I think some bands just work better with EPs than LPs.

After checking out With Thorns of Glass and Petals of Grief, I thought this was gonna be one of my new favorite bands, it was that good. But what we get from These Graven Halls is a band that I don't think had enough vaired material to make the debut LP that I know they could've made. Also yeah I totally understand having fun on a record, but NGV is just so unecessary. I do like Balmora's longers songs (Timor Mortis is my ... read more

We gotta stop Australians, why are they allowed to make so much good music? It's ridiculous.

I loved STRUGGLER when I first heard it back in 2023, and I'm so happy this record sounds nothing like it. What I mean by that is Genesis Owusu proves with this record that he can succeed in any sound he tries. The danciness is here, but he also raps his ass off. Plus, the combination of Neo-Soul with the rest of the sonic elements of this record makes every song varied, fresh, and memorable. ... read more

Swedes, am I right? Am I? I really don't know anymore...

We got some more melodic metalcore from the land of IKEA (ok, that's the last time I'll bring that up), and it's not bad for a first outing. The songwriting is there, but the mix and the performances need some work. Also, this isn't me bashing the lead singer, btw, I just wish she went even harder. But the riffs are solid enough, so I really can't complain.

Guys, he called it experimental rap because he's experimenting with being a worse artist.

This is by far the most self-indulgent project JPEGMAFIA has dropped yet, and also the worst. I've never had a problem with Peggy's style of production, the abrasiveness, the interesting mixing decision, the sampling; it's a reason why I appreciate him as an artist so much. But here, those positives feel weaponized against the listener. The long moments at the end of nearly all songs ... read more

Drizzy... not like this... not like us? Hmm....

Yeah, this fucking sucks. Every idea completely fails to become cohesive; nothing feels like it was thought out for more than 10 seconds. It's almost as if dropping 3 FUCKING ALBUMS IN ONE DAY isn't a good idea. Cheetah Print sucks, but at least it is memorable. And man, can Drake stop accent hopping? No one likes it; all enjoyment is ironic, and it is never cool or interesting. This album is also abrasive, but not in any good way, like ... read more

I can't tell if this is supposed to be sexy, contemplative, or melancholic. The reason I can't tell is because it's none of those things. It's embarrassing and boring.

This album tricks you into thinking it's going to be "Drake with the melodies," when instead it's Drake drowned in auto-tune, saying some stupid shit. Often, when discussing music, a metric I find people don't use enough is whether an album is effective at what it sets out to do. ... read more

I think the overall strategy of this release was to drop 2 terrible albums to make this mid one sound better by comparison.

I don't like Drake, just want to start by saying this. He is a bad rapper, so when he drops this much fucking music at once, I'm not going to be very favorable. That being said, ICEMAN is a bloated album that is saved from being terrible by interesting production choices. He's still dredging up the pain of the beating he took back in 2024, but he ... read more

NOOO CROWQUILL DON'T ERASE THEM WE HAVE TO SEE WHO WENT TO THE ISLAND!!!

I checked out their debut EP before I checked this out and of the two I prefer the self-titled, but this is still an excellent fair. I kind of like the more powerviolencey passages that exist both on this ep and their last one. I really like Everywhere and I think it demonstrates the subtle evolution the best. I still feel like they haven't exactly figured out their sound as they still are a bit genre-fluid, but ... read more

Not gonna say any joke that may refer to the title of this album. Just not gonna do it.

Anyways, Isaiah Rashad is back! It's been 5 years since his last project, and it sure has been fucking awful. I would say Isaiah Rashad sounds very "sleepy" on this record, which isn't a bad thing at all. It fits the atmosphere of the record very well. But it does make the music we do get feel a bit more passive than I would have liked. But the writing is still excellent, the production ... read more

God, Will Putney is really the goat when you think about it.

We got some Deathcore I actually like! It's much more of a hardcore record, but still, it counts! The production on this is really the standout. Brutality is a hard thing to make sound good, but this project sounds really fucking good. The songwriting is also very strong, the riffs hit hard, and callouts are things that are kind of hard to make not cringe, but Bodysnatcher actually makes them work. Definitely my favorite ... read more

These breakdowns feel contractually obligated.

I know that Bilmuri has never taken itself seriously, but could they at least have tried to have an identity? Is Morgan Wallen + A Day To Remember really going to attract anyone but the lowest common denominator of white people? And I'll say it, Someday Came Suddenly by Attack Attack is not a good album, but I have way more fun with that and enjoy listening to it than anything I've heard from Bilmuri. Is that because Bilmuri feels like ... read more

Oh god, Mike Kinsella is getting introspective everyone hit the deck!!!

American Football are back babyeee and with a vengeance. That vengeance being a melancholic look back at their lives, their mistakes, and where they ended up. Mike Kinsella's lyrics feel almost child-like at points, but it works because of how raw the emotions are. They aren't played up for the record; it's brutally honest. The song No Soul to Save is a perfect example of how this works. Also Bad Moons is ... read more

Is anyone truly surprised?

Foo Fighters bring us a healthy plate of nothing with some of the most tired songwriting I have heard from a veteran band in quite a while. It really says something when Alter Bridge has more refreshing music than a Dave Grohl project. Geniunely nothing about this record sticks out; it also just doesn't sound good at all. The mixing is very distorted but not in an abrasive way, just an annoying way. Really don't have much to say, just a nothingburger of an ... read more

"Oh, wow, the drone metal wasn't engaging enough for you? Would you've preferred 5 copy-paste breakdowns, you low-life?"

Ok, that may be a bit harsh. I think this project is very passable as a part of Sunn O)))'s discography, I just feel it is missing a bit of cohesiveness and comprehensible atmosphere that exists on other projects (Monoliths and Dimentions being my personal favorite), but still, not bad. Not related to the review, but the video of the guy stage diving ... read more

The Coming Strife? More like I'll keep COMING back to this STRIFE... THE!

So far, this is my EP of the year. This is such a fantastic melodic metalcore record; it gets everything right. The breakdowns are heavy, the lyrics are tragic, and there is such a good blend of melody and groove; it's all here. If I can say anything negative, it is that sometimes the passages get a bit same-y, but again, I think come time for their first full-length LP, they will have perfected their sound. ... read more

This goes hard; that is an undeniable fact. Also, a feature from Whispers is pretty damn cool. Other than that, the songwriting is a little underwhelming. Obviously, I'm not gonna talk about the production, it's a fucking demo, but it's actually not bad for what it's worth. I've enjoyed other tapes a bit more so far this year, but that doesn't mean this one isn't worth checking out.

Finally, I can be a real music journalist: My New Band Believe's debut record lives in a space of baroque melancholy. Ok, how was that, everybody?

In all seriousness, ex-black midi bassist Cameron Picton saw that people still gave a shit about the members of black midi and wanted a piece of the Greep Pie. What we get is a nice selection of chamber folk that fits perfectly into the so-called windmill scene. I enjoy how the lyrics are often much darker than the compositions suggest. Target ... read more

Fuck those guys playing chess at the MIKE concert, if you know you know.

This is the direction both of these guys have been going in a while, so this record really isn't a surprise to me. It doesn't have that IT that makes either a MIKE or an Earl album a stone cold classic, but the passages on this record promote a more ambient sound that I do kinda like. I definitely prefer the MIKE side of this project, as I think his voice and flow are more conducive to the spacy trap production. ... read more