Pteracross

The last ride for Ryan Star, which is a real bummer if you ask me. His debut album was poppy and fluffy but what made that record work is what Ryan leans into here. The production is more grand, the songs take some different directions, it just feels like a more confident artist is behind this project. Not every song is a banger but the special ones are *really* special.

✔️✔️ Spaceman Fugitive
✔️ Bullet

Hard to grade this one objectively, knowing what future this band has in front of them and knowing how contemptable they are by a lot of folks, but honestly it's pretty fine. It's not great indie music obviously but it serves as a nice bridge between pop and indie, something that could get people into a genre they didn't know they liked. As a potential gateway drug, you can do much worse.

✔️ Radioactive

A perfectly pleasant slice of inspiring pop rock, elevated throughout by songs with a little more theater to their production. It's not the highest of high arts, but there was certainly an effort here to make each track have a bespoke atmosphere, making this a breezy and satisfying listen.

✔️✔️ Right Now
✔️ Start a Fire

Feels like *the* definitive Disturbed album in terms of getting their sound right where they want it before they can beat it into the ground for the next twenty years. At least it's still fresh enough here, building on the more melodic sophomore effort to create a real booming mix of big hooks with aggressive riffing. The nu-metal twang is gone, replaced with just firm entry-level metal as was becoming more the style at the time, but also means this thing is wearing out its welcome halfway ... read more