This album is just like its cover art: it's so bad it's somehow unintentionally disturbing.

KISS decide that enough is enough, so they go back to their roots, putting the make-up back on and bringing back the whole gang. Yep, this is the first time since 1979's Dynasty that all four members make an appearance on the same album, even if Peter Criss and Ace Frehley only show up a small handful of times.

Psycho Circus really should have been better. I mean, although KISS were never a good band, ... read more

Looking at a lot of the scores both here and on RYM, I'm left wondering, what the hell were you people expecting? Like, I usually hate Christmas music as much as the next guy, and it was clear from the get-go that this was going to be yet another Christmas album made for no good reason. And that's exactly what it is. You get exactly what you came for.

So what sets this aside from other Christmas albums in my eyes? What is it that makes this one of the best Christmas albums ever made (which ... read more

A pretty cool EP. It's stuck in an awkward position, with it coming after their first major accomplishment, Forever, and before one of their biggest successes, Underneath, causing this small, condensed, ten-minute-long record to not get the attention it deserves. Nor does it really get the time it needs to truly stick out in their discography.

Honestly, this three track album doesn't have enough of note to make it one of Code Orange's best works. While I do like this album quite a bit, the ... read more

1992. KISS were fucking terrified. Not only had their previous two records sell way below expectations, with fans not taking any of their bullshit anymore and radio audiences not giving a shit about a group of has-beens, but the previous year something big happened. Some depressed dude wrote one of the easiest riffs in all of rock, which just so happened to be one of the most fun, catchy, and memorable as well, making the entire world stop and focus all their attention on this cool new genre ... read more

Black metal artists incorporating elements of ambient into their works isn't uncommon. Most good black metal outfits do this on most of their releases in order to create an effective atmosphere and not just sound like the usual raw heaviness for the sake of raw heaviness that a ton of other black metal artists cling to. However, something you don't see everyday is a black metal artist ditching the distorted, down-tuned instruments and making a straight-up ambient album.

Something that I feel ... read more

The most inessential Bob Dylan album since 1993's World Gone Wrong.

Together Through Life is a huge step back from the previous few records, but it wasn't a surprising decline in the slightest. Since his main comeback in 1997's Time Out Of Mind, he's been on a steady slope downward, releasing something a little less impactful and loveable each time, though none of them quite as dull as this one. Together Through Life certainly isn't a bad record, and at this point in his career it's nothing ... read more

Code Orange quote-unquote "selling-out" by joining a much more popular label proves to be the best thing they could have done. After making a couple of LPs that ultimately paled in comparison to their early EPs which were rough to begin with, they finally find the sound that best suited them.

An in-your-face, aggressive example of sheer brutality done right. Forever is exactly what I Am King wanted to be. It's what Love Is Love // Return To Dust should have been. It's what Embrace Me ... read more

Gene, please refrain from ever referencing David Bowie again.

Wow, what a fucking lame ass album this is! I honestly thought that their '80s shittery would peak with Crazy Nights solely due to that one being the more famous disasterpiece, but clearly they Paul and Gene decided that they should top themselves yet again and made Hot In The Shade, perhaps their least respectable album ever, and that's saying something.

It's really difficult to say anything about this album, because it's such a ... read more

Modern Times may be a small disappointment after two really good albums, but it shows something that has sorely been missing from Dylan's output in decades. It shows consistency. It feels like it's gone back to the time when even his weakest outings were albums that you could easily fall in love with. Modern Times may be the weakest, least interesting and least enjoyable album of the past few years, but it's still well above the bar.

Modern Times in general was doomed to be a pretty divisive ... read more

Synths? An obnoxious and uncharacteristically poppy sound? Yep, sounds like the '80s hit KISS hard.

If you thought that KISS cashing in on the '80s pop scene in Unmasked and the hair metal scene in Lick It Up, Animalize, and Asylum was bad, then you'd better prepare yourselves or Crazy Nights, the album in which KISS go all out, making pop songs with a really awkward rock tinge added in that doesn't work at all.

Honestly, at this point I'm CONVINCED that Paul knew what he was doing. While ... read more

I'm gonna be honest, I gave this a very half-assed listen. And who could blame me? Listening to '80s KISS is one of the worst methods of torture there is, so of course the only way I'm going to subject myself to it is if I don't give it my full attention. And honestly, I ended up enjoying it slightly more than I originally expected, with me being able to pick up on the positives more than you would think. Still an awful album, though.

After an album as bad as Animalize, only KISS would be able ... read more

Somehow Dylan managed to leave me both satisfied and disappointed with a single album.

Love And Theft is often seen as the album where Dylan proved that Time Out Of Mind wasn't just another rare good album in a time where he was just pumping out whatever he possibly could. Where previous "comebacks", such as Infidels and Oh Mercy, would be followed-up by something even more infuriating than what came before, Dylan proved that he could live up to what he had made by making Love And ... read more

The first album they made after kicking the "Kids" out of their name, you may think that I Am King would mark a change in direction for the band, but disappointingly it's quite the opposite. Code Orange seem to stick with what they know best: loud aggression for the sake of loud aggression.

Honestly, after hearing all of their output from when they were still called 'Code Orange Kids', I find this specific sound quite tiring. It doesn't have the atmosphere that later projects have ... read more

KISS decide they don't want to just be the lead inspirers of hair metal, and go all-out, copying all the cliches that Mötley Crüe, Twisted Sister, and every other successful hair metal band you can think of that came before this album set in stone with their albums. The result is the first time in which KISS's glam output lacks any sort of enjoyability whatsoever.

The mid-to-late '80s in general was a really rough time for the band. After losing all relevancy when they changed their ... read more

Paysage d'Hiver's second demo, Schattengang, marks the point where Tobias went from releasing some fairly underwhelming atmospheric black metal to becoming one of the most exciting artists in the entire genre.

Schattengang really surprised me. I honestly wasn't expecting to be truly blown away by Wintherr's 1998 material, and if anything I was expecting to hear more albums that show potential but don't live up to the eventual masterpieces that everyone now knows him by. But all it took him was ... read more

Who would have guessed that if Lil Darkie held back on the chaos that his fanbase would turn on him?

The only reason I listened to this was because I'm really interested in seeing him improve. THIS DOES NOT EXIST, as much as I didn't like it, did have a few moments that showed promise, like if he actually spent the time actually coming up with original ideas and not just spewing edgy shit for the sake of it then he might actually become the rapper so many claim he is. And in YIN's defense, it ... read more

KISS finally wipe off the make-up, losing the only thing they had going for them.

So, surprisingly, I somehow somewhat enjoyed this? I mean, I don't like this much at all, but I hated this a LOT less than I thought I would, and I actually got more enjoyment out of this than I did Destroyer.

Lick It Up is - in case you haven't noticed the horrendous cover art - the album in which KISS gave up the make-up and actually performed as themselves. In the long run, this would end up hurting them, ... read more

Bob Dylan makes arguably the biggest comeback in all of classic rock. After over a decade of consistently releasing nothing but his weakest material, he finally makes something that everyone loves. Time Out Of Mind marks the point where Dylan gets back to releasing mostly great albums, and even if you aren't taking into account the many failures along the way it's still a great album that holds its own really well and even rivals some of his main classics.

Time Out Of Mind shows what happens ... read more

After losing a ton of their fanbase by continually straying further and further from their original sound over their last three records, and getting so bad that even their long-term guitarist and only decent musician of the group, Ace, decided to leave, Paul and Gene finally decide to give the fans what they wanted: some halfway decent hard rock.

Creatures Of The Night is one of their more... tolerated outings. It isn't exactly beloved by critics, and by this point in their discography most ... read more

No, I am not exaggerating the score one bit. I seriously do think that this is one of the worst albums ever made, and I regret giving it my time at all. This shit was so painful to sit through.

This is why we shouldn't expect a band like KISS to experiment. Let them stick to their generic upbeat rock 'n roll, let them stick to their bubblegum pop fused with rock, we don't need a failed concept album like The Elder. The only thing this album has going for it is its over-the-top theatrical sound ... read more