85 > 95

Temperature dropped - I wore a jumper - this autumnal album clicked

Completely perfect aesthetic, fully realised and beautiful. One of those crazy albums that commits fully to a sound that you've been dying to hear, only getting in snippets from other artists (cowards)

For every cool idea they have, they have another 30 seconds later that takes me out of the experience.
Summed up in Gethsemane - sick midwest-emo section, followed up by yet another trap beat section??

Also, lyrically their weakest album yet. Put the thesaurus down.

Everyone else needs to learn to have fun.

Lyrically great, and the mix of musical styles fits the themes of the song perfectly (living the dream, but it coming with the distressing consequences of being famous = the mix of light and fun beats overlaid with crushing metal instrumentation and screams at the end). Sounds great as well.

Yeah, just great. Less flashy than emergence, but muuuuuch more cohesive and doesn't feel at all like doing prog for progs sake

we're so back

Just so much fun

The first half is more 'safe', and suffers a little as a result. Still catchy and has it's moments.

The second half - just a band at their creative peak. Especially the highlight of the album, 20 Dollar Nose Bleed - the composition is so cool, and I have no idea why this album is not talked about with the same love as their previous efforts

Architects take a break from their slow progression into somewhat generic radio-metal, to remind us they're actually very good at producing interesting riffs, soaring choruses and crushing breakdowns. Unfortunatelty, this musical return to form is mostly designated to serve as a backdrop to bitching and moaning about being cancelled for liking transphobic tweets a couple of years ago. In times like this I think of the famous quote: '"im not owned! im not owned!!", i ... read more

Music like this, a warm day, a cold beer, burgers on the barbecue - that's genuinely what life is all about, man.

Edit - 80 > 90
Way too harsh with the score. Beginning and end of the album is perfect.

The beginning and end are phenomenal - powerful, emotional, driven. There's a four song run in the middle of the album (Let Go to Dance With Your Ghost) that tonally doesn't fit with the rest of it. These more upbeat tracks, especially Summer Clothes, would have been more at home on their previous two records. They're still fun and likable, though.

Overall, Kept Me Alive, Mum II, and Not ... read more

Diametrically opposed to their newest material - feels like they actually enjoy being a band and are having a great time in the studio. Full of heart, hooky choruses, crushing breakdowns, and a surprising amount of musical variety.

Well crafted nothingness

WHERES THE SOUUUUL?

Excited to hear Bad Omens' version of this in 3 years time

Okay songs - but the album is worse than the sum of its parts imo. Thousand Suns felt so purposeful and driven. This didn't.

Okay yeah this fucks.
Timeless, exhilarating production. It's incredible that this is 14 years old and I've never heard anything else like it. A confidence and polish that can only come from an album with a message, each track, beat and note reek of purpose.

Always associated LP with good, but not exceptional nu-metal. This is their talent unleashed from that prison of genre and 'hit friendly' singles, with the album being crafted much more like one song with many stages ... read more

Folie a Deux with a concussion

Overall a lighter sound for The Used than their self-titled debut, and I'd say a less essential listen as well. Highlights of Sound Effects, Take it Away, and I'm a Fake are a little too rare in this album, with several of the songs between feeling like variations of each other.

I appreciate the evolution of the sound (which is really modern, for 2004), but I think it developed in an overall less interesting way than I'd liked (and that I remembered when I listened to it as a teenager).

Ever need depressed in a way that's full of childlike wonder and whimsy?

This album is a joy to listen to - devoid of fat and excesses, just catchy chorus after catchy chorus. Sonically and lyrically feels like a the first warm spring day after a harsh winter.

Neck Deep are truly back to their best <3

The Paddington Frisk - 83
Radiate - 79
Rat Race - 88

Oh my mind - 94
Don't wanna - 98
Islands - 91
Follow You - 99
Familliar - 96
Us - 95
Take My Head - 99

My album of the year for 2022 🩵