I guess the only thing I really have to say about this album is, if Da Vinci had rough sketched the Mona Lisa on a napkin and not actually painted it, no matter how "interesting" or "artistic" it was, it would not be on display in the Louvre and nobody would be talking about it today. To review this on even footing with other albums which are complete and polished would require my imagination to put in quite a bit of work, something it's not particularly accustomed to. ... read more

At nearly 82 minutes across 10 tracks, each song is an epic of it's own accord, packed with more highs, lows, twists and turns than many bands can pack into an entire album. This would be an incredible album even if you didn't take into consideration that the band are all well into their 60s.

I would admit that my music-listening preferences tends to put a lot of emphasis on vocals. You can tell at times that Bruce Dickinson isn't as young as he once was, but what he lacks in power or stamina ... read more

I think I tend to prefer A Perfect Circle to TOOL in many cases, there's something to be said about less complex music which doesn't obsess over every detail. I think the somewhat less complicated music allows the vocals to shine that much more, and the vocals here are nothing short of superb. Keenan's songwriting and performance here is as good as I think it has ever been on any of his work, and I think if we're being honest, the music is pretty damn good too.

The only knock I would have on ... read more

Musically, it's clear to see Islander was heavily influenced by the Deftones, vocally there are similarities to P.O.D. and Rage Against the Machine which are hard to miss.

This album has a sound I'd call aggressive, I'm not sure it would suit everybody, but for my taste there's a solid formula here that yields songs that are interesting and engaging, everything fits together in a very satisfying way.

I feel like in contrast to many concept albums, The Wall is more than music that happens to tell a story, it's a story first and foremost, in the form of music. You often hear that writers should "write what they know", and I think it's clear this was a very personal project for Roger Waters, it's about a protagonist who lost his father at a young age, struggled to really become themselves in a society that perhaps frowned upon individualism, before rising to fame and finding it ... read more

From the perspective of the instruments, it was a solid effort, not necessarily treading uncharted waters, but a well-executed album that hit all the marks of what a melodeath album should be.

The vocals on this album left me wanting for something. I know most people don't go listening to melodic death metal for the vocal performances, but when I think about the melodeath albums I really like, I think they tend to be from bands who's vocals, even if they're not great, are varied enough to make ... read more