I'm genuinely confused by the Metal Hammer review. This is the same Lacuna Coil that I remember from the early 2000s. Evanescence stole the spotlight for female-fronted metal in the early 2000s, But I always felt that Comalies should have received more acclaim. It was a new and exciting sound in 2002. In 2025, not so much. This sounds like it could neve been made by 1000 other generic metal bands.
Just average, which is OK but not going to stick in my rotation.
Uhh....hmm. Not sure I've ever heard anything like this. I guess I can relate it a bit to Primus, and P Funk, and Morgan Page, and Electric Callboy, and B-52s, and back to Primus and...WTF!!! This is definitely going to be recommended to a lot of people in my circles.
My Hat is def my favorite cut.
Johhnyswim is a decent little romp into mostly acoustic folk and soul with a little pop influence. Think acoustic duo at the local coffee shop.
I must say, I am a bigger fan of the uptempo songs. Dopamine and I'm Alright are standouts. Dopamine is the shit. Right on my playlist, no hesitation. Psilocybin has a nice piano hook that keeps the tempo of the song churning a bit more than the slower tempo songs. The slower songs (e.g. Alchemy, Monte Carlo, She Checks the Weather) don't do ... read more
Quick notes: Decent first listen but it's a bit monotonous and as such is relegated to background music. Think I liked Rebirth, which stood out the most to me as the best track fusing the folk and black metal soundscape.
Gotta admit, I'm falling pretty hard for Glutton for Punishment.
I arrived here completely blind and I've come back at least three or four times over the past day to re-listen. I am trying to see beyond the ear candy so hopefully I don't have to later adjust an embarrassingly high initial score down (which I tend to do). The vocals are catchy af though. Sounds like goth Gwen Stefani (especially on Mad Catch) and some St. Vincent mixed in which fits so well with the dark ... read more
As goes Mike Portnoy, so goes Dream Theater.
Damn. This is the best Dream Theater has sounded since Octavarium. Portnoy and Petrucci bring the metal machine to Dream Theater that has been absent for the better part of a decade. As with all Dream Theater albums, this is a mandatory mutliple listening to catch everything. The theming of parasomnia is interesting and on surface level appears to be thoroughly accomplished.
Dead Asleep is an early favorite track, the story-telling is reminiscent ... read more
Came for manic 🦑 , left with Xanax 🦑 .
Cowards was a near compete miss for me. I mean, it's still squid so still a group of highly competent musicians but the edge is completely gone on this album. Tracks are long, brooding, slow tempo efforts and do not develop into the unpredictable ball of energy that defined Squid's first two albums.
Without the manic energy Squid doesn't stand out from the pack. Average at best, nothing playlist worthy. Think I'll just return to ... read more
Beautiful. Uplifting. Simple but the production has a few layers to it that rewards a close listen. I love the variety of backing vocals and violin/piano on each track.
This is the album we needed in January 2025.
L.S. Dunes comes correct with a sneaky good sophomore album.
Every song on Violet is solid, and the first six or so are solid bangers. Echoes of Sunny Day Real Estate, especially on the first two songs. But instead of shoegaze distortion the sound here is as crispy as a $20 wedge salad. Totally agree that this is magnitudes better than their debut. I chalked this supergroup up to being overrated after their 2022 debut but I was wrong, this album is the shit.
I've always thought that ... read more
Hurry Up Tomorrow has more bloat than Abel's face on Save Your Tears but is a cohesive listen front to back.
First listen: These notes are unedited but wanted to get some thoughts down. Damn. These transitions are smooth as glass...near perfect between every song. I don't know how this album will hold up over time because of the length but the transitions help keep the album flowing and as a result it feels shorter than it really is (which is a good thing to be sure). Wake Me Up, ... read more
The High Road is an accumulation of songs arranged haphazardly to create a mind-numbing LP.
Kane Brown is a chameleon artist. I can't get a good sense of what he actually intends to sound like because he borrows or emulates so many different artists' styles. Lots of guest artists but these only serve to break up any dynamic the album tries to establish because he parrots the style of every cameo. When he doesn't have a guest appearance most tracks are boring with simple fake ... read more
Twigs burns bright for the first half but can't sustain the heat for the whole 42 minute run time.
First half is intense, song after song feels like something special - dark trance with Twigs' floaty vocals. Wonderful combination. Perfect Stranger is the highlight for me, followed closely by Drums of Death which is the most unique song on the album. Room of Fools has a sick intro which follows nicely from Drums of Death. First five songs are 100/100.
What follows in the second ... read more
First impression is a positive one, CKRAFT are innovating the metal scene for sure.
I love this jazz/metal fusion album by CKRAFT. Most of these fusion artists let me down because the "fusion" consists of just alternating between jazz (or classical or folk) passages and metal, but no real fusion on either end. Instead of this dichotomy, CKRAFT actual harmonizes the jazz elements and metal elements into a cohesive package. I really appreciate the unique time signatures and additions ... read more
Gonna keep this short, I'm not a long-time Mac Miller fan and would see inappropriate to review this critically based upon fundamentals alone given the unique story of this posthumous release. In short, Balloonerism is a gem of a release and presents a harrowing look into the soul-crushing life of someone struggling with addiction, while also offering some solace in Mac Miller's genius poetic ability. The jazz beats and instrumentals complement the lyrical content with near ... read more
Is this for real or is this AI Busta Rhymes? There's something up with this that is beyond bad...something smells of rot on this one. Vocals don't flow at all like Busta usually does and why does everything sound so gravely? Like did Busta have a cold or something and just decided, fuck it, gotta lay down the tracks today even with the plague...Or maybe he blew his voice box on those stupid Walmart commercials...I dont' know, but I'm out on this one.
25 for tracks 4 and 5, ... read more
Humanhood feels a little bit Natalie Merchant, little bit Caroline Polachek, with some Big Thief mixed in. Starts strong but feels kind of samey after the first 6 tracks. Musically the best I can explain the first half of the album is almost like the folk version of Phil Spector's wall of sound. But in the back half the wall of folksy woodwinds and piano sort peters out and we are left with some veeeery slow cuts that don't have much depth - at least not the music. It's a little ... read more
THRRRRRRRRRASHY THRRRRRRRRASHY THRASH THRASH THRASH. THRRRRRRRRRASHY THRRRRRRRRASHY THRASH THRASH THRASH.
Does it innovate? Not really. Is it awesome, better fucking believe it.
Edit: A Fell Omen is pretty epic and brings this up to the great territory for thrash albums.
The mix kills this. Why so flat and muted? Way to push the boundaries of dissonant death metal and make challenging music but then totally shit the bed and produce the album so muted it sounds pumped through a $10 bluetooth speaker.
Vocals are another dumpster fire. I would rather just listen to the music and cut the vocals...need a filter on streaming for muting vocals, now that would be awesome!
Beyond the production and vocals, there are actually some great parts in here. Form a music ... read more
Dia by Ela Minus was kind of fun album but I didn't find much to hook me in. I liked QQQQ and Upwards, they are probably the best cuts on the album with an engaging beat and techno-industrial sound.
At its best Dia sounds like Aurora if she was produced by Depeche Mode, but at its worst it's a generic mish mash of ideas that don't reach cohesion.
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Recent Review Comments
On Systematic - Somewhere in Between
"@llamaqwerty feel like it's pretty generic metal. Weak nu metal i guess. I saw these guys open for good bands a bunch back in the day and they never impressed me all that much, so went with the most generic typology i could think of at the time i reviewed it."
On By Storm - My Ghosts Go Ghost
"@OnsPascal Everyone digests music differently. Like I said, I respect the artistic merit here, just not for me, probably for the exact reason that you provide here. Doesn't mean I shouldn't share my thoughts."
On HomeSession3's review of Soen - Reliance
"@HomeSession3 nice review. Agree on a lot of points, and I like the straightforward alt-metal sound, but found it a bit conservative given their talent. I wish they would lean just a bit more into their prog roots and juice the instrumentals a bit."
On Systematic - Somewhere in Between
"@Kendrickgoatedg they were contemporaries... but yeah, pretty close in sound. I think they were trying to hit a nu metal version of soundgarden. Maybe a bit better musically but a bit generic."
On Hayley Williams - EGO
"@Killuah K Stan"
On DJ-SLIM's review of Norman North - Over the Influence
"LOL I almost added this last Friday but felt the same way."
On Bugeater_'s review of Squid - Cowards
"Agree 💯. The Narrator is still stuck in my head, nothing from this album is anywhere near as innovative and has the ear candy that the first album had."
On Orgone - Pleroma
"@Pangota72 💯 more people need to appreciate this masterpiece. 6 months in and it only keeps growing on me."
On Ethel Cain - Perverts
"Makes more sense re Dr. Luke. That dude ruins everything."
On Andwella - World's End
"@parannemi Thanks! It's airways fun stumbling on an old hidden gem like this album. I felt like it needed someone to pay homage."
On Alkymist - UnnDerr
"@chemjay300 even their tiny cookies are awesome."
On NTTR's review of VOLA - Friend of a Phantom
"You were spot on with the similar bands! Maybe a little Soen in there as well."
On Godspeed You! Black Emperor - "NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD"
"@Zackhy the last three minutes were awesome! I get that layering sounds too create the end stage of each song is a process and I respect that. I'm sure that my opinion would change drastically after seeing them live."
On 40 Watt Sun - Little Weight
"@Doofy Fair point. I will leave this one in the rotation for a bit to see if it grows on me."
On Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Wild God
"@leoxmi You're right, I should. My favorite Nick Cave song is the Passenger off the Batman Forever soundtrack...I'll check out some of the early/mid-90s albums."
On Orville Peck - Stampede
"@dasturbo totally agree. With the right manager he could end up a legend in alt country. Just needs to steer clear of all the pop country industry nonsense."
On The Marías - Submarine
"🤷♂️ I didn't expect to be a citric but I'm not feeling this one."
On Maggie Lindemann - HEADSPLIT
"Cool. I'm going to have to check out the first two albums. Thanks!"
On DiceBloke's review of (Hed) P.E. - DETOX
"the self-titled album is much better. The lyrics are still a liability but the music has a lot more originality and funk to it. There were some good musicians in the original line-up, but they're all gone by now. It is tough to put the self-titled album in any one genre, but this album is kind of a one-trick pony."
On DiceBloke's review of (Hed) P.E. - DETOX
"Lyrics have been a problem with this band for its whole existence."
On Inherus - Beholden
"I have to be honest with you, XsVrits...I don't know what you're trying to convey with your statement here."
On The Lemon Twigs - Everything Harmony
"Yeah, maybe t's not so much the harmonies as it is the actual lead vocals remind me of a mix of weird Al and Tiny Tim. The harmonies are actually decent, but that only exacerbates the weak lead vocals. Maybe that's my issue with it. I don't know, every time I turn this on to try to analyze it I just get a visceral reaction to something in the vocals."
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