It's a bit predictable but still a great lead single, hopefully this reignites their popularity as I feel like they fell out of relevance a bit after DCC.
Excellent song that I discovered from WWE TLC 2011 (which is surprising as Kasabian aren't well-known in the US), and holds up all these years later. Pistols at Dawn is one of their best B-sides too.
Mansun - a band that might have seen more success if they hadn't emerged at around the same time as Marilyn Manson, or the infighting among band members, especially with frontman Paul Draper being reportedly hard to work with and just a bit of a douche in general - further exemplified by his stalking charges. Anyhow, they haven't been on my radar for that long, though in the past couple of years I had fallen hard for Wide Open Space - the band's only single that is still ... read more
I mean it's not that much worse than Hard To Explain where he sounds like he's singing into a Bargain Bin mic, but still pretty poor stuff.
Cast - a C-list Britpop band that briefly returned to the limelight when it was announced they were supporting Oasis on their extremely overhyped reunion tour. I discovered them a few years back after finding out they had the song 'Fine Time' which I've enjoyed for a while, and found out frontman John Power was the bassist of the La's. I first heard the album last summer when it was played on my alt station in full, with John giving track-by-track commentary, and I enjoyed ... read more
Another swing and a miss. Considering Serge mentioned this was 'guitar-based', I expected a lot more. There's some good stuff musically, such as the distorted keys and some New Order-esque bass, but Serge's vocals are pretty bad, poorly produced and the lyrics are pretty shit. Also it's way too short, seems like they're sticking with the TikTok-esque song lengths. It's not terrible but it says a LOT that the Calvin Harris collab is by far Kasabian's (or ... read more
It's been said already, but we waited 10 years for a solo Bruno Mars record (and 5 when factoring in Silk Sonic) for just a pretty uninspired retread of stuff he's done before? While I liked the Silk Sonic album, it did feel like it was trying too hard to be seductive at times, but The Romantic amplifies that (God was showing off when he made you? Really?)
I did like the lead single I Just Might; while a lot of people think it's weak, it's a masterpiece compared to the ... read more
I mean, it's better than the second single from the previous album, but that's not saying a lot. The organ intro is incredibly promising but that promise is squandered in this three-part song - and I love a build, but the three sections don't flow together very well, awkwardly transitioning from an organ to a synthwave beat and the climax is pretty unsatisfying, too short and the production is pretty bad. I'm also not keen on Matt's vocalisations at some points. Also ... read more
Not even the fact this is about an android prostitute takes away from how amazing this song is, that synth riff during the spoken word section is hypnotic, and the spoken word actually works for me despite generally disliking that kind of thing.
I guess I should complete the Inhaler trilogy at some point, so here goes. My first taste of the Dubliners' sophomore album is the fantastic second single Love Will Get You There which is my favourite Inhaler song - the guitars and synths blend wonderfully in this euphoric-sounding track, with Elijah Hewson's passionate delivery. I wasn't particularly into the lead single These Are The Days at first, but it's a grower.
The opening song just To Keep You Satisfied isn't ... read more
No idea why Dave thought the excessive distortion on his voice would be a good idea considering he did the same shit on the only bad song on Wasting Light, but alongside the obnoxious production and pretty bad lyrics, it's a no from me. Shame (shame) as I thought Asking For a Friend was solid.
A collab I didn't see coming, but as a renowned Kasabian glazer who was pretty into Calvin Harris during my EDM phase, this piqued my interest, and it's... surprisingly good? Serge's tuned vocals actually work quite well on a track, and the production isn't exactly original, but it's a decent deep house track. It's no I'm Not Alone, but I'm into it.
Instrumentally it's a decent blend of different eras of the band, unfortunately the vocals ruin it for me, especially in the chorus, which is one of the reasons why I dislike their post-AM stuff. Still though, it's not awful, and at least there's a hook.
The fact that Doves' B-side compilation album is this good just shows how brilliant they were in this era (and still are now, but especially early on). Darker is unbelievably good; the musicianship of the trio is showcased, with Jez Williams leaving a lot of space but when he does come in it's simply beautiful, and Jimi Goodwin's distorted bass is pretty unusual for the band and probably led to this being left off Lost Souls, but it creates a brooding, and well, dark atmospehre, ... read more
I finally got around to this... although I've only heard one other Pulp album to date (the excellent Different Class), I consider them the best out of the Big Four of Britpop, and was pretty surprised they when they announced a new album.
The lead single Spike Island was pretty solid, and as cheesy as the gospelly backing vocals are on Got To Have Love, I think it's the best song on the album, and the long build-up in the bridge is very effective. There's some solid deep cuts ... read more
EP reviews, eh?
Nothing But Thieves have four very solid albums, so I thought I'd review their first major EP. WDYTWYMMTW (yeesh, that doesn't work) starts with Forever & Ever More, which is an absolutely fantastic track, boasting a swing time, a brilliant drum track from James Price and Conor Mason's immaculate, desperate vocal delivery, and a bridge that can rival their greatest song, Amsterdam. Admittedly I didn't know it was about vampires for the longest time and ... read more
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Recent Review Comments
On Plusflower's review of Mansun - Attack of the Grey Lantern
"Great review. I believe Disgusting is considered just 4/4, but in swing time"
On Kasabian - GREAT PRETENDER
"@ALYGATYR real talk, I'm one of the few defenders of AE, it's not an amazing album but it's way better than people give it credit for, and as someone who likes Serge's S.L.P album, i liked the direction he was going for there, but it seemed like the songs didn't do well so he started steering the band towards some pretty basic shit, and I'm wondering who's the target audience, as they're not bringing in any new fans, and the longtime fans ain't eating it up"
On Beterin's review of James Arthur - Say You Won't Let Go
"That second verse is so cheesy it takes it from boring to cringe, also I've never rated him as a vocalist"
On koxtil's review of Pitbull & Ne-Yo - Time of Our Lives
"I remember a version which replaced 'worked my ass off' with 'worked my tail off', and the 'tail' was so poorly punched in."
On LandoBass's review of Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
"Writing this and going to bat for SCIENCE is insane"
On irankstuff's review of Foo Fighters - But Here We Are
"Critics glazed the shit out of this album bc sympathy vote, it's not that surprising"
On thegreenfairy24's review of Kasabian - Hippie Sunshine
"Biggest issue for me is I find the distortion on Serge's voice to be really obnoxious, but as well as that I think the chorus is pretty weak, though the bridge is pretty good and reminds me of Keane.
You have a good point though, I get the impression they were trying to do something different with AE so it wasn't just 'Kasabian with a new full-time singer' but that didn't do well and wasn't well-liked so reverted to pretty lazy club rock, it feels like Sergeh as checked out at this point. I honestly wish they kept with the AE sound as I think TUE and Sctiptvre are fantastic."
On HumanReviews's review of Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
"@Rodenmar at least he doesn't go on a hissy fit like Brad Taste did and hate the whole album because of it... and that was before he went insane"
On Ramulksito's review of sombr - undressed
"At least his voice doesn't ruin the music unlike Mica Tottenham"
On Big Baller B - genre : bradboy
"And of course this became my most-liked review"
On virt's review of Doves - Constellations for the Lonely
"FYI all 3 of the members of Doves sing - drummer Andy Williams sings on Last Year's Man and parts of Cold Dreaming alongside his brother, guitarist Jez Williams (presumably the 'higher-pitched one'). Bassist Jimi Goodwin is the main vocalist and he was pretty solid before the band's hiatus from 2010-2020 and sounded good on their 2020 comeback album, but yeah, I admit his voice has definitely declined on this album."
On fUSTERcLUCK's review of Biffy Clyro - A Little Love
"I don't see how 6/4 time and open chords are an issue when A Hunger in Your Haunt has both of those (well some kind of triple meter) and that's one of their best songs ever"
On Green Day - Bobby Sox
"@livinginjeopard nope, it's just a shit song. I had absolutely no problems with Billie singing about bisexuality on Coming Clean, because that song is superior in every way."
On ARTVScores's review of Mumford & Sons - Babel
"This is a super old review right? I'm pretty sure Jon hates M&S nowadays"
On Acquiescence's review of Doves - Constellations for the Lonely
"Usually I prefer catchiness over atmosphere, but since Rise and Darker are two of my favourite Doves songs, it adds up to why I like this album. I did really like Southern Bell though, which was somewhat of a surprise"
On brook1404's review of Sam Fender - People Watching
""sounds like a deaf person who can't hear themselves" that's just the Geordie accent in general lol"
On Scientificman's review of Manic Street Preachers - Critical Thinking
"James actually wrote the lyrics to Brushstrokes; I believe he also did on Being Baptised and Out of Time Revival."
On Manic Street Preachers - Hiding In Plain Sight
"I actually forgot"
On EmpRambunctious's review of Benson Boone - Beautiful Things
"That is not falsetto lol, that's his chest voice"
On Biffy Clyro - Ellipsis
"@BeterinBB real Biffy fans would give it a 57"
On Detritus's review of Imagine Dragons - Smoke + Mirrors
"Trouble is a favourite and least favourite?"
On EEF's review of Linkin Park - Heavy Is the Crown
"@zzsk fr and the same people SWEAR that Panic and FOB are nothing alike lmao"
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