So, I've finally made it to the most notorious album released by Judas Priest. The album that is deemed their worst release by many, with almost everyone calling it just as embarrassing as Black Sabbath's Forbidden, Iron Maiden's Virtual XI, and even Metallica's St. Anger. And the verdict is... this is just as bad as everyone says it is.

I really wasn't expecting much from this album, and Priest still somehow managed to underwhelm me. Nostradamus is supposed to be a grand, ambitious rock opera ... read more

Lil B manages to make an eleven minute EP feel like an eternity. This is easily the worst work that I’ve heard from the Based God yet, with by far the worst performance from him and the worst production, and it certainly was not pleasant. I really hope this is the worst his discography gets.

The collaboration that no one asked for, nobody wanted, and I’m sure most people would prefer to never go near, but it’s surprisingly better than I expected. Granted, that’s not saying too much as I still don’t care about it, but it isn’t anywhere near as unbearable as I initially thought it would be. There are quite a few truly terrible songs on here, but a handful of tolerable ones which evens everything out.

Semi-hot take, I guess? I just don’t like this album. I mean, it isn’t bad per se, and it’s certainly creative. It isn’t unlistenable, nor is it inherently bad. It’s just that it’s so damn inconsistent, uninteresting, and a large majority of tracks are just unpleasant to listen to. I like some songs, but there are much more that I would prefer not to listen to again.

What is there to say about I’m Gay that hasn’t already been said? At this point, it’s safe to say that it’s a modern hip-hop classic. With great production, a really good performance from the Based God, and an overall upbeat theme and sound, it’s certainly the Lil B album that I’m most likely to return to more and more once my binge through his discography is done.

Based Jam is pretty damn mixed in its quality. There are some really fun tracks, but some unbelievably bad tracks. As a whole, it is a pretty fun album, and it certainly isn’t as bad as I expect some Lil B albums to be, but it’s a disappointment after hearing a few albums from him that really impressed me.

Going into this mixtape after hearing Black Ken and seeing the length, I assumed that I would end up getting another stupidly bloated record. Thankfully and surprisingly, despite this album going up to the two hour mark, Lil B created a manageable, fun, and frankly brilliant album with God’s Father. Okay, maybe “brilliant” isn’t the best word to describe a Lil B mixtape, but I seriously enjoyed this album way more than I thought I would enjoy any Lil B albums. While I ... read more

Time for another stupidly long discography binge! This time, it's the BasedGod himself, Lil B.

So, my first experience with Lil B was certainly... an experience. Black Ken has really good production, and Lil B has a good flow all throughout, but, with a run time of almost 100 minutes, it's far too long. Like, half the track listing could have been removed and it would have been a much better listening experience. But saying that, I definitely did enjoy the majority of this record. Say what you ... read more

Damn, what a fucking ride that was! That was seriously one of the most impressive pieces of music I've heard coming from a fellow AOTY user. I'm a huge sucker for anything with a dark atmosphere, and this EP successfully created just that so well that it genuinely sounds like something that could fit in a soundtrack for a mind-fuck horror movie. This reminds me a lot of my favourite ambient artist, Set Fire To Flames (which I saw was one of the inspirations) if they made a hip-hop inspired ... read more

After a short-lived dive into new wave, Reed returns to his rock roots, making an accessible concept record on his home-city, New York.

New York has gained lots of recognition as being one of Lou Reed's finest efforts, showing him climbing back out of the insultingly simple records he made in the mid-eighties and managing to push his way back into the charts. With a straightforward albeit charming rock 'n roll sound and some of Reed's best writing in his career, Lou proves to everyone that he ... read more

Possessed's last studio release in thirty-something years ultimately ends up being their best, with the most consistent track listing, most well-performed vocals, and consistently jaw-dropping instrumentals in their whole career.

While the comparisons are still there, The Eyes Of Horror show Possessed moving away from their obsession with sounding like Slayer and actually start to become their own thing. While some may argue that they already found their own sound in their previous albums, I ... read more

Rob Halford returns to Judas Priest, showing everyone that he has just as much of a punch as he used to, but lacks the creativity to make a truly memorable album.

So, the true Judas Priest is back. The one with the classic lineup of Halford, Downing, Tipton, and Hill, plus the amazing drummer, Scott Travis, who didn't join until 1990's Painkiller, but with all these talented members, they just lack everything that made them so good in the '70s, '80s, and that first '90s album. I'll get one ... read more

Budget Slayer Part II: Uninspired

There are two kinds of people; those who love Beyond The Gates and see it as a worthy successor which is easily on par with the genre-defining Seven Churches, and those who see it as a directionless band lose themselves even further. Unfortunately, I fall into the latter, because Beyond The Gates is a really difficult record for me to get into.

Honestly, it's perfectly understandable why this album is how it is. Seven Churches was a messy album, performed by ... read more

The Band really brought the best out of Dylan, huh?

The Basement Tapes compiles a handful of the tracks recorded in mid 1967 while Dylan was still recovering from his motorcycle accident, where Bob Dylan and The Band recorded over a hundred different tracks. But this small compilation of tracks results in a 76 minute double album filled with some of the best songs in either discographies. I would even go as far as to say that this is one of the best albums in Bob Dylan's entire catalog.

One ... read more

Pike #276

The bucket-wearing maniac has returned, and I am terrified for what the rest of the year holds.

His first proper album release since 2018's Bucketheadland 5-13 10-31 is certainly a welcome addition, albeit not as exciting a release as it could have been. It's another one of those mellow albums that usually don't do much for me, and for the most part Healing Inside Outside Every Side is the same as all the rest of the Colma clones. It's repetitive and uncreative and sounds just like ... read more

It’s getting more and more difficult to get excited for any upcoming Gorillaz songs, it seems, as Aries is yet another track that doesn’t do anything for me. I understand why people like this track, with it being very heavily focused on 2d’s vocals, but this song, to me, is just boring. There’s no progression whatsoever, and no matter how much I listen to it, with or without the skits, with or without the video, it just doesn’t excite me. It doesn’t give me ... read more

Episode 2 of this series really frustrates me. Seeing how much everyone seems to adore this song, comparing it to Plastic Beach, I feel like I’m the only Gorillaz fan who just doesn’t find much enjoyment in Desole.

I should begin with positives, them being that the production is certainly top-tier, maybe even better than Momentary Bliss. The sound is definitely a callback to the Plastic Beach era, and although I wouldn’t say it’s too successful, it’s certainly ... read more

Lou Reed continues to destroy his career by throwing himself even deeper into the new wave scene, bringing in drum machines and writing some of the most half-assed lyrics in his entire career.

If you were to ask any classic rock fan about this album, they'd likely tell you that this is one of the worst 'classic-rock-artist-goes-new-wave' albums ever, down there with Iggy Pop's and David Bowie's '80s stuff. Luckily for Lou here, I don't think he fell quite as hard as Bowie, but let's be real ... read more

Boring. Predictable. Just seventy minutes of yawning. As much as I try to really get into the stuff Owens did with Priest, it's just impossible for me to take an album like Demolition seriously. It may sound really heavy and brutal, and Demolition in general shows Ripper's vocals actually improving quite a bit from Jugulator, with him finally singing more like himself and less like a wannabe Rob Halford, but the songs presented here are just nothing. The instrumentalists are just imitating ... read more

No, Lou! When everyone praised Legendary Hearts and said they loved it, they didn't mean they wanted you to go full new wave. NEVER go full new wave!

Unfortunately, just like most other admirable classic rock artist, the '80s got to Mr. Reed, compelling him to make an unwanted new wave album. Honestly, you'd have a hard time finding someone who thinks that this is Lou at his best, but you'd also have just as hard a time trying to find someone saying that this is Lou at his worst. This album is ... read more