Probably the best Avatar record to be released. Not only do Avatar take on giant album stretching concepts with ease, but they also have the songwriting, emotion and instrumentation to back up that concept. It's brutal, fun, touching, interesting and entertaining as hell. It's everything Avatar should be.

Favorite Jams: Pray the Sun Away, For the Swarm, House of Eternal Hunt

Lest Favorite: When the Snow Lies Red

Uuuuuuggggghh. It's just another sloggy, boring, by the numbers, """"shocking"""" record by someone who used to be great at creating dark, dingy and meaningful music. Marilyn Mason seems more then contempt in being what everyone thinks he is: shocking for the sake of shocking. Which is a real shame, because when you go through the mans discography, there are more then a few moments of genuine talent and intellect. But here, it's just a collection of cool ... read more

Eh? It's not horrible, but what annoys me about this record is it's inability to add any new dimensions to Manson's sound. It's just the same "shock rock" trick that Manson himself tried to escape in his last record, Holy Wood. But, instead of making another genre pushing and exciting record, Marilyn Manson just goes for the easy option and makes socking imagery with no real purpose or reason other then for 40 year old mothers to go "He said WHAT?!?!?". In his conquest to ... read more

This is Manson at his most biting, at his most snarling, at his most poignant, his most interesting and his most, for lack of a better term, shocking. All the negativity that he got during this time really reflects through the music, as the wacked out concept and story gets darker and darker as the record goes along. It's a pretty haunting listen, and one that, genuinly, can be quite excellent.

Favorite Jams: The Fight Song, Burning Flag, The Nobodies

Lest Favorite: Godeatgod

Ugh. While it does house some pretty OK remix's and some quite nice covers of I Put A Spell on You and Sweet Dreams, it does also house filler, stupidity and other kinda boring "shocking" tracks that make you question if Marilyn Manson really is as huge and menacing as he seems, or if he's just an edgy teenager in his room writing out the n-word in his Hot Topic-bought diary.

Favorite Jams: I Put a Spell On You, Everlasting Cocksucker, Dance Of The Dope Hats

Lest Favorites: ... read more

An angry, brutal, messed up, wacked out, bonkers, off the wall, and genuinely insane dissection of American life, from what would be one of the more controversial men in shock-rock. Marilyn's shrieks and his band's heavy, thundering riffs are aided by the creeping and wacked out production by Trent Reznor, giving us one hell of a debut. However, at times the writing can go from threatening and insane to corny and played out.

Favorite Jams: Dope Hat, Get Your Gunn, Misery Machine

Lest ... read more

If Ascension was the blissful pop ballad filled brother to this record, then this is the angry, brooding, hateful and rage-filled other half, and my god is it fantastic. If your in the know with Coheed and Cambria, then you'll love this record, however if your new to the band, then this aint the place to start. It's exciting, fun and damned entertaining, with gloriously distorted riffs and some of Claudio Sanchez best vocal work. Strap yourself in and take a journey into the heart of the ... read more

While the record is relatively short compared to the hour long epics Coheed are used to, this record offers a solid first half in a extremely strong and grand scale story. It's got the pop ballads, the prog-metal bangers and the heavy, heavy guitars we are all used to from Coheed and Cambria. While there is not a lot to chew on, what steak is here is strong and impactful, and makes the second filling even tastier.

Favorite Jams: Holy Wood The Cracked, Domino the Destitute, Vic The ... read more

Eh. It's fine. There are some new ideas being sprinkled through-out, such as the glitched out production from Articus Ross, and the more seemingly electronic elements inside some tracks. And there are moments of brilliance and astounding scope like with previous albums, but the records tone and flow is sloppy and boring to say the lest. Plus the story this time round is far less engaging then the Apollo records, so overall it's just kind of milk-toast Coheed and Cambria. There's a lot of filler ... read more

While not the grandest and biggest record Coheed and Cambria have done, it's the groups most accessible record to date, even with the bonkers storyline in the midst, with soaring vocals, excellent rhythm work and guitars that would make even the most hardened of guitarists scratch their heads, all tightly compacted into the best pop-punk-prog-package this side of Apollo. Even if the lyrics can get kinda "head up ass" at times in terms of story, the music is so fun and energetic that ... read more

Crazy. Off the wall. Bonkers. Beautiful. Intense. Beautiful. Loud. Abrassive. Hard Hitting. Dangerous. Filthy. Clean. Jazzy. Lengthy. That's a few words to summarize Swan's magnum opus. Another word to describe it is fantastic. I've never heard a 2 hour record that completely justifies it's length by how good the music on display is. Believe the hype boys.

Favorite Jams: Pretty Much Everything

Lest Favorite: Uh....Kirsten Supine? But even then that's a gorgeous track.

As if you thought Deafheaven of all people weren't going to shake up their sound and greatly improve on an already polished golden bar, they do. And they do so fabulously, with their more conventional and straightforward approach here seem much more off the wall and experimental when you realize it's coming from Deafheaven of all people.

Favorite Jams: Honeycomb, You Without End, Canary Yellow

Lest Favorite: Near

While some may say that Deafheaven tred on the same ground that Sunbather did, not only does Deafheaven refine and exceed in the seed of sound that they planted in their previous records, but it also matures the sound, aging the music like fine wine. It's a record that's classical, brutal, sad, happy and various other emotions. It's a new era: The era of Deafheaven.

Favorite Jams: Brought To The Water, Luna, Baby Blue

Lest Favorite: Come Back

Deafheaven, on their first record, perfectly establish and craft their sound to being completely off the wall and experimental (at lest for metal). A much more moody, atmospheric, slow building record, but a record that doesn't forget about the payoff. At only 4 tracks, this band both bends and breaks metal conventions and produces something uniquely theirs, which makes some of the most dynamic metal releases this decade.

Favorite Jams: Violet, Unrequited, Tunnel Of Trees

Lest Favorite: ... read more

What do you get when you combine the beauty and atmospheric grace of lo-fi shoe-gaze with the brutality and harshness of black metal? You, surprisingly, get Deafheaven, whose poetic and heart-wrenching compositions will drive steaks into the hearts of even the most hardened metal-heads. It's a gorgeous, well crafted and moody as hell modern-day game changer in the metal scene, and a welcome one at that.

Favorite Jams: Sunbather, Dream House, Vertigo

Lest Favorite: Please Remember

Oh boy! A collection of my lest favorite things! The overblown and extremely hard to follow story-line of Coheed and Cambria combined with the awkward combination of electronica and folk that doesn't mesh at all! Granted this record has some qualites, such as Claudio Sanchez's voice and guitar playing is very nice on the ears. However, every-time the electronica elements rear it's ugly head, it just reminds me that I could be listening to a Coheed record. Claudio can do a lot, but electronic ... read more

Not only is it Coheed And Cambria at their most grandiose, harnessing the powers of fiction to fully create a world dense and deep while still managing to be personal and meaningful (no thanks to the innovative 4th wall breaking in the lyrics, with the giant Armory War plot being put on the side while we focus on the fictional writer of the "series"), it's also Coheed at their most accessible, with their pop-prog concept skills shining lighter then the sun. The sounds on this record ... read more

This album, in every shape and form, is an improvement on the bands debut record. Melody's and sounds seem to be a lot more unique and interesting here, with the more lengthy track listing and more prog-fused sound work a lot better here. And even the lyrics, while still balls deep into the sci-fi world of The Armory Wars, have greatly improved, with some songs seeming to be slightly more comprehensible and fun to follow rather then the whiplash of information that was their last record. (This ... read more

Am I missing something? Everyone and their mother seems to adore this record, but it just sounds pretty OK to me. And it's not god awful: The instrumentation is pleasing, with this math-rocky delivery that reminds me of a neutered At The Drive In, and Claudio Sanchez's squeaky vocals are really nice on the ears. However, what he's saying goes completely over my head. Of coarse I know that the bands lyrics are based off a comic series by the lead singer, and so grand sci-fi spectacles are to be ... read more

Primed with energy and brutal thumps that only the late 90s could muster, Daft Punk's debut electronic record is a pretty standard and fun dance record with some really fun and bouncy tracks sprinkled throughout.

Favorite Jams: Around The World, Rollin' & Scratchin', Da Funk

Lest Favorite: Funk Ad