Oh my god YES. This is the third and last entry in what I would call the "MIDI" era of Susumu Hirasawa, and wow did he really get the sound right with this one. There's an extremely good balance between playfulness, beauty and the strangeness of Hirasawa's style. It all comes together in an extremely consistent album.

I swear, the more I listen to this man, the more I feel like his brain is wired differently compared to basically any other artist I've heard. ... read more

I do have to admit that it feels like Hirasawa is still being held back a bit in his early works. At the same time however, this is just some of the most unique music I've ever heard. It's so crazy how he uses these almost MIDI sounding instruments along with heavy beats and angelic singing to create something that just clashes so hard against itself it just somehow works.

The first two tracks do unfortunately overshadow the rest of the album for me though. The rest is luckily still ... read more

I have been extremely excited to start diving into Susumu Hirasawa, and I must say his debut does not disappoint! It can be a little bit awkward and of course the style is a little underdeveloped but god there are some bangers on here still!

You can already tell just how eclectic and unique his style is, especially in the first few tracks. The way he's able to use instrumentation that feels more "silly" and turn it into something truly beautiful is something I very much admire. ... read more

It's absolutely crazy how much you can see Beat Happening's evolution from start to finish. Starting out with very unpolished and sometimes even harsh sounds and slowly evolving into a much more grounded and ethereal style. Apart from the self-titled debut which will always be a lightning in a bottle and one of my favorite albums of all time, every album in their discography is pretty much just as amazing as the last, while still feeling very distinct and recognisable.

You Turn Me On ... read more

This is one of those instances where an album I listen to is basically my introduction to a new genre. This is basically my introduction to Wonky and the overall more experimental and abrasive subgenres of EDM.

To get the obvious out of the way, the production on this record is absolutely amazing, it really makes me appreciate the effort that must go behind it. It also just sounds like absolute earcandy of course. I must say though that I vastly preferred the more experimental songs on this ... read more

I'm not even sure why I decided to check out this EP, I thought there could be some hidden gems in the mere 4 songs present, and I guess I was somewhat right. It honestly just kind of feels like the Beat Happening crew hanging out with some others and making some songs in one session. They're both pretty creative and I love the lo-fi aspect of it, but in the end I will probably forget I listened to this in a few weeks.

Fav tracks: Polly Pereguin

Wow, I really wasn't expecting this to basically be my favorite Beat Happening album outside of the godlike self-titled debut. Although it doesn't exactly blow it's competition out of the water, it just happens to be the one I adore the most.

It's interesting to see them evolve from the more abrasive sound from Jamboree and make something that's a lot more soft and, well, dreamy. I think this is one of those albums you just need to hear while in the back of a car going ... read more

It's really interesting to see Mastodon go down a more sincere and dark tone, even making it into a double album with longer, more extensive tracks. I have to admit though, it's definitely too long for its own good. As much as I appreciate this new development in their style and how there's even a good amount of amazing songs on this album, there's also a lot of parts where I just felt a bit bored because of how drawn out it can be.

The final three tracks are absolutely the ... read more

Another amazing entry in the Beat Happening discography, and honestly this is a pretty abrasive record compared to other stuff I've heard from them. There's a ton of distortion and I even feel like the vocals take a little bit more of an edgy approach. They pretty much still keep their style for the rest.

And I love that style, I love the short but beautiful hooks they always provide along with punchy beats and vocal performances that are never not fun. I do wish they could make ... read more

I must start off this review by saying this albums aesthetic is absolutely amazing. It's already a great idea to zoom in on gambling as an overall concept for an album but I feel like there's so much more to it than just that. There's a whole other orchestral, medieval sounding style to this album that really pulled me in and made me feel like I was watching a musical. It's a very dramatic yet restrained album.

I was into pretty much every track, some a bit more than ... read more

A fairly interesting EP by Mastodon, basically showing they're interested going for a more serious and dramatic sound, especially since they take that sound a lot further in the album after this: Hushed and Grim

I definitely consider this just an experiment by the band, it's probably the least metal sounding record they've made. At the same time I can't help but find it pretty uninteresting. It just feels like they wanted to take a shot at a new style to see if they liked ... read more

Another album I don't have too much to say about, I think it was a pretty fun experience and definitely had a lot more character compared to the previous Mastodon album. At the same time this is the corniest Mastodon record I've heard so far, but it's weirdly enough in a way where it really doesn't bother me.

Show Yourself feels like some mainstream commercialised song you'd hear on the radio and yet still it's probably my favorite song on the album. So obviously ... read more

It's pretty hard to say a lot about this one. I'm definitely not dissappointed, most bands decline into mediocrity or a constant stream of "good" after being at their peak for a while. I'm still glad Mastodon keeps some of their character, I even found the second half of this album to be quite enjoyable, but for a lot of the rest I was just kind of bored.

Then there's also that extremely odd choice at the end of Aunt Lisa, where out of nowhere a group of girls ... read more

This is my first time listening to an album from the broken transmission genre, which is why I'm a bit weary calling this one of the most unique albums I've ever listened to, considering there could be many more like it in this genre. It's definitely not the kind of project you listen to to really enjoy yourself or just to put something fun on.

It just feels so extremely distorted and unnerving in a way that's really simple and quiet but effective for sure. I can ... read more

This album is basically just a white bread sandwich. It's tasty, you'd def love to keep it a regular meal but you just can't help but feel unfufilled everytime you have it. That's what this album is to me. There's genuinely a lot to be enjoyed, there's still a lot of Mastodon's character and emotion present, but it just feels pretty streamlined and less stylised than pretty much all of the previous album.

It's still very much a solid record though, and ... read more

==CHAPTER ONE: INTRO==

I first discovered this album existed in January of this year. It seemed so absurd, the amount of content covering so many different genres, all as one big shitpost about Ed Edd n Eddy. That's what it seemed like: a shitpost. I digged into the album a bit and read comments too, and found out that the song "I Fucking Hate My Friends, They Will Never Understand My Love for the Edds" was clearly the most beloved. It was really cool, a shitpost that could have ... read more

This definitely feels like it would be a magnum opus. The songs are quite long and stand out more, there's a lot of polish and it's extremely thematic and pretty. I feel like Mastodon has been leaning into this more with every consecutive album, and this is definitely where that peaked.

I did prefer the more energetic and intense tracks of previous album, especially combined with melodic beauty. I could feel myself very much appreciate what was being done in this record, but sadly I ... read more

Another fantastic album by Mastadon, even slightly outweighing Leviathan in my eyes.

Admittedly some of the concepts actually feel a little over the top for me, including a lot of edgy fantasy elements, but that honestly doesn't detract anything from the album. It's just extremely fun and surpsisingly artsy, especially with songs like This Mortal Soil and especially Pendulous Skin.

I do kind of wish I could get into these albums on a deeper level though, they're amazing to just ... read more

Now this is the kind of stuff I was looking for when diving into this band's discography!

There is a lot of intensity again, the guitars are big, the drumming is fast, but at the same time it's still very controlled and melodic. On top of that, Leviathan is also extremely consistent.

It's rare to see an album not have a single track I wouldn't call great, and if you combine this with a great overarching concept - the Moby Dick story - you get an album that feels full. ... read more

This feels absolutely crazy of me to say but I think I actually slightly prefer Lifesblood over this album. While Remission is obviously a much more full and cohesive project, there were just quite a few songs I wasn't fully into. I also just didn't feel the intensity that I loved Lifesblood for quite as much.

This album is still very much solid though, and I would say I only slightly prefer Lifesblood over this. There's still a lot to enjoy here and I would say I really like ... read more