These dudes went from walking to flying between second stage turbine blade and IKSSE3. This album is face-meltingly awesome. The improvement in muscial and lyrical arrangement/composition, and better production quality produces a super punchy album with a metric shit ton of amazing hooks that are all mandatory to sing at the top of your voice when in car alone (I have compassion for my fellow passengers and belt them out at a slightly lower volume when company is riding along).

IKSSE3 starts ... read more

I really want to like this album more and rank it higher but, objectively, there are a ton of flaws in this album that preclude a higher ranking. It's all good, everyone has to start somewhere and even with its flaws this is still an average album. I love Coheed but I am not a lyrics guy...I have no fucking clue what the story is all about, and yet I will throw on a Coheed album at least once per month. So there's the caveat...perhaps this album is important for canon and as such the flaws in ... read more

I generally go to bat for Pushmonkey as an underrated gem of the 1990's and really 2000s alternative/metal scene. I love the funk metal sound of Maize and the slower, more poppy, but still unique sound of their eponymous mainstram debut. El Bitche almost killed my love for Pushmonkey though. Good god. If there ever is an album that points to a lack of artistic direction in a band, it's this one. First two tracks sound like a rip off of Korn... which has never been in the sonic atmosphere of ... read more

Systematic was a short-lived early 2000s band signed by Lars Ulrich. Somewhere in Between, the band's major-label debut, was one of two albums released before the band called it quits. This album is essentially a paint by numbers approach to radio-friendly heavy metal. Quentessential butt rock. Somehow though it feels more authentic compared to other bands in this typology i.e. five finger death punch, theory of a dead man. There's not a ton to unpack here, below average heavy metal made for ... read more

Some of these tracks sound just like Owl City sped up to 2x speed (Starfucker, Funeral Grey, A Night Out on Earth). Then we have just the cutest poppiest punk sound, emphasis on the pop, which still sounds like Owl City with just a bit more substance (Brainwashed, Self-Sabotage, Closer). Then we have the "I'm going to show all those linkin park fans what's up" songs (Real Super Dark, Ritual).

This album reads to me like a 50 year old music executive's version of what edgy music ... read more

I'm not a lyrics person, at least on a first listen. To that end, I think a lot of these quiet mumbly vocal indie acoustic guitar albums are lost on me. I can't extract much from such sparse musical composition.

That said, the first track on this album, In Lightning, is AWESOME. I was so pumped, thought this was going to be a really unique album...only to be disappointed by two completely generic follow-up songs. Snoozefest. Then a bit more originality on track 4, Hiding Out in the Open. Some ... read more

Metallica - 72 seasons is...an album of metal(ish) music. Yeah, that statement is sort of nonspecific, but so is this album. At 77 minutes in length, this album is a mix of ups and downs, but mostly sticks to the safe pathway. It's a decent album, but there's no new ground here, it is a conglomeration of sounds from previous albums that takes entirely too damn long to play out. The only thing Metallica has done here against the grain is release an album with a runtime that would have been long ... read more

This album is real fun. originally bought in around 2005 and just recently threw it on again and unlike some of the previous reviewers, I think Nappy Roots have actually grown on me in the time since I previously gave the album a spin. I don't know, I find it to be like Goodie Mob mixed with Outkast and given some adderall to speed things up a bit. The songs are tight and energetic for the most part.

The big drawback of this album is its length. It is so. fucking. long. 77 minutes, come on ... read more

Fun album. A little hokey in parts, but comes with the territory of listening to a Rehab album. Really, really strong first half of the album, from #1 through Welcome Home. Ole Friends and Some People are a step down in quality, but the album really picks up again with Everybody-Everywhere, which has a unique sound to it compared to the rest of Rehab's discography. There is some very apparent growth/maturity on this album. It might be a little less red dixie cup drinkin' fun album but trades ... read more

There's something captivating about Mike Posner's songwriting, especially on this album. Operation: Wake Up, at 36 minutes, is an enjoyable mix between an audiobook and LP. There's no one single here that would stand on its own, save maybe Weaponry with Jessie J. However, taken together the sum of the parts far exceeds the quality on any given track. I don't much like Posner's intro instructions/requests but in this case it is probably for the best. This isn't background music, it requires ... read more

Good throwback feel to it. The first two tracks are real good and bring a bit of a modern sound to the old school metal formula. Beyond the Grave loses a bit of the fire of the first three tracks, but the latter half of the track picks up some. I don't think these guys have mastered the slow, brooding sound quite yet. Rebirth kicks it back into gear but here is where I start running into some of the issues I have with revival bands like this. Rebirth is almost like a cover of some generic ... read more

What happens when Eminem isn't full of angst and feeling like he is being slighted? This...this is what happens. Pure mediocrity.

It was bad when it was released, and has only gotten worse from there. The 5 points are solely for George Clinton. The rest of the album can go jump off a tall building.

I really dislike Adam Duritz's vocal style. It's a non starter for me. And the music? Meeeeeeeh. I saw counting crows live once. Walked out halfway through their set.

I can't deal with his voice, sounds like a spoiled 5 year old throwing a tantrum in a store because his mother wouldn't buy him a blow pop. It's ok, Adam, you can buy your own lollipops now. No need to whine any more.

This album is a complete waste of time. A shitty boy band mixed with terrible country rock. Next to bro country, this is the absolute sewer of country music.

Sounds like a mix between Staind and Bush. It's a decent, right around average album for its time. Where Did You Go, Blue Green Day fit in the Staind realm whereas wanna be martyr and stain sound more like B sides from a Bush album. If you like that kind of stuff this album is worth checking out, but definitely not missing much if you skip past it.

This album does nothing to enhance any of the original Dio/Rainbow/Black Sabbath songs. For me, this was one of those cover albums in which I question why I am not just listening to the original artist.

I love all of Dio's work, but I'm not feeling these covers, unfortunately.

Vanilla album. It's like the hospital food of pop music. No spice. I liked the first 6 songs on first listen but the back half of the album really drags the whole thing down. Most songs start to blend into each other like music playing in the grocery store. Nothing stands out, it's just...there.

No major missteps but no innovation either. I don't know, I guess it's good for background music. It's too long for what it is... I probably won't be returning for more listens. It certainly is not ... read more

This is the Infinite Jest of metal albums.

Day 1: hits the end of Haelegen II - "welp, looks like I'm not making it back to the ranch tonight, better find a place to set up camp and try to finish again tomorrow."

Day 2: Made it to the base of 93696. Tough to see through the thick haze, not sure if it's the emissions from the continuous praise for this album or gasses from the bloated corpses of those who failed trying to finish this album. Must keep pressing on.

Day 3: Angel of ... read more

Rebecca Black does generic hyperpop. Quick, everyone act like this isn't a dumpster fire.