Taking a break from metal to listen to a few of Jamiroquai's albums!

The final acid jazz album from Jamiroquai comes in as an interesting installment, as the band trends towards a more disco sound. The change is not great, but also not horrible either, with Jay's vocals still being great. I enjoyed this record, but it definitely lacks that smooth sultry sound that their three previous albums had.

Riffs went so hard I changed my AOTY color!

The riffs on this were as I said, bonkers and powerful. Definitely an underrated album with some really great guitar work. (sorry for the shitty review, it's getting late)

I was lowkey surprised that Motörhead even had a must hear, but this is definitely worthy of that, because this is pretty good!

The riffs are pretty good, albeit not the most memorable or impactful. They're not super aggressive, but they sure are damn energetic. The vocal are not for me but they fit the heavy/speed metal sound. Overall, not a bad album, but the hits are hits is all I'll say.

One of the greatest metal albums of all time, and not because Fantano said so, but genuinely just a phenomenally written, produced, and performed album.

California's System of a Down takes core elements of metal and blends it with Armenian and Greek music. It's a political masterpiece that discusses things such as police brutality and mass incarceration (and many many more topics). Serj Tankian's vocals are shouty, angry and raw, but keeps it melodic. Overall, ... read more

This is the saddest album ever made.

This album was written by Phil Elverum, better known as Mount Eerie following the tragic passing of his wife Geneviève Castrée. She passed away in July of 2016 and this album released on March of 2017, and you can hear the heavy pain and dread behind each lyric. Phil uses the recording of the album as a spiritual connection, recording it in the room where Geneviève died and using her instruments.

"Real Death" opens the album ... read more

Finally checking out Mastodon thanks to my buddy @eyesack22!

Taking the classic tale of "Moby-Dick" by Herman Melville and turning it into a progressive, technical sludge metal concept album is not only badass, but insanely impressive and bold. However, Mastodon knocks it out of the park with their second album, "Leviathan". It's heavy, energetic and lyrically thematic. Great stuff here and 100% will be checking out their other albums.

Talk about an album that just gets better and better as it goes on...

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's second metal album is one of wonders, as Stu Mackenzie's vocals work fairly well for that metal edge, and the riffs just go insane.

Rob Halford's vocals in "Painkiller" are just amazing, being crisp and coherent throughout the record. However where I think this stands out the most is the drumming. It's intense, aggressive, and just fucking fast as hell. Pretty great stuff here and the cover art is fire as fuck. Also I find it really fitting that Judas Priest's best album is the only one with a motorcycle.

Let it out!

My metal deep dive has been so enjoyable so far and Dio's debut album just confirms that. Just some classic, anthemic heavy metal right here. The vocals are clean and full of raw power. Just a nice metal record with some bangin' cover art.

Dramatic!

Emperor's debut album is an epic symphonic black metal record that has one of the sickest covers of all time. The intensity does not let up and it's just dramatic and slams you with sound every second of every minute. Seriously this shit slaps.

Starting my metal deep dive with a classic...

You know when a metal album has hand drawn cover art, it's usually gonna be some good shit. "Storm of the Light's Bane" is the second album by Swedish melodic black metal band Dissection. This shit goes hard as fuck and it's constantly full of energy. Super consistent and powerful music here.

Anger.

It’s one of the most powerful emotions in music. It gets your heart racing and pushes an artist to new heights–lyrically, vocally, and production wise. However, there are only a few albums that genuinely show the raw angry emotions of a breakup. The sadness, the guilt, the swearing, and the fear behind the actions one has created or will witness are rarely presented well. Despite this, Fiona Apple puts these emotions together perfectly in her second studio album, “When ... read more

British Viagra Boys?

"Joy as an Act of Resistance." is a great political post-hardcore album with some of the best lyrics from the genre. They're super fun, and almost angry. Great stuff and a worthwhile listen even though it definitely falls off near the end.

What made metalcore popular? Well, it can be traced back to Converge's 2001 album, "Jane Doe". This album is just amazing, front to back it has basically no skips. What I love about this album is the production and how intense the instrumentals are. It doesn't let up at any point. Apparently the band recorded their slower songs in a different studio that was larger (and vice versa, faster songs in a smaller studio) to enhance the atmosphere of each track which is just an ... read more

Black Flag's debut album is an aggressive, rebellious project that's just decent but the noise rock aspects add a layer of depth to an otherwise okay hardcore punk record. The vocals to me at least are too abrasive but are nice in some areas.

So Lil Shine is going to jail but just before he does, he drops one of the best plugg albums of all time. What an aura move right there. Production on this project is out of this world good. It's constantly on top with energy and his vocals are low-key good too. Overall, with Lil Shine's final album (probably), we'll see how the genre of pluggnb stands.

You know when you get second hand embarrassment from listening to music, you've fucked up beyond belief.

I cannot understand or fathom who could ever get into this unless you glaze the FUCK out of Drake. Even the people that I know who do like his music don't get this. The rapping is weak and the lyrics are nonsense. Seriously was he TRYING to nuke his career? The only salvageable part of this album is the production. Gives me some fun, nighttime party vibes of the mid 2010s. Other ... read more

Finally tapping into Jeff Rosenstock, and this seems to be the best place to start. The pop punk sounds are SO CLEAN here, and the energy behind each track is unbelievable. Vocally I think this is some of the best I've heard from pop punk in a while. He's desperate and almost straining his vocals to get his point across. Really shows the anxious nature of this record. I also LOVE how the tracks flow into each other, it feels like one giant jam session that you're ... read more

Seriously this is just horrible. Why did Drake think he could make another hip house album after "Honestly Nevermind" is insane. It's just slop, I don't know how Drake sat down in the studio and made this shit, but it just truly shows that Drake has fallen off hard.

I still can’t believe Drake dropped not one, not two, but three fucking albums. Anyways, “ICEMAN” by Drake is his first return to solo music since his 2023 project, “For All the Dogs”. Drake brings it somewhat back to his pop rap sound of “Take Care” and despite me not loving that album at all, I enjoyed this most of the time. There were some tracks that genuinely got me moving, mostly “National Treasure” and “Make Them Cry”. ... read more