McViq

Even with my issues with modern Green Day, this album still rocks 30+ years later.

Growing up on lots of alternative rock/pop punk, this obviously had to make my rotation at some point. And once I got to high school, it was the time I truly got into Green Day. Four of the bands most iconic tracks come from this album, some of the most iconic pop punk songs of all time (Welcome to Paradise, When I Come Around, Longview, Basket Case). But from front to back, there's not really a single weak ... read more

If you're looking for an album and a new NY based "boyband" to fawn over, WHATMORE is completely fine. In fact, it's great in certain moments. However, this is where having your influences on your sleeve really impacts the overall product. It's inevitable that these guys would be compared to late 2010s "boyband" BROCKHAMPTON, from the promotion to this album to the group aesthetic, it's hard not to compare the two. The issue with having a rap group like ... read more

A reasonable step down from "Dead Silence", "Afraid of Heights" is the weakest album Billy Talent has ever done. While it starts off solid enough from tracks 1-5 (yes, Louder than the DJ is fine fight me, it's still more interesting than anything in the 2nd half of the album), tracks 6-11 suffer from a serious case of unoriginality, messy song structures, and feels all around less memorable than the first five tracks. Which is unfortunate, because usually even in the ... read more

While the weakest of the original trilogy, "Billy Talent III" is still one of the best Billy Talent albums to this day. On the surface, the production might seem a little lacking, but I truly think this was the turning point in terms of the band maturing from their earlier emo-pop/punk rock roots. On songs like "White Sparrows", "Saint Veronika", and "Rusted From the Rain", we get a much more somber sound, with an improvement on the lyrical front across ... read more