Nowadays it may seem like a stepping stone for the sounds the band makes later in their career, but White Pony still stands as one of a kind.

Deftones at this point in time had mastered their own flavor of nu metal, and the only way they could go up from here is to evolve. And evolve they did because this is no longer the simple "summer and horny vibes" metal sound that they had before but a completely different beast altogether. A few songs play off of their heavy sound, but throw ... read more

This mashup is like steroids for my autism.

Now this is more like it!

Around the Fur is Deftones' sophomore release and it is the one that began to make them a household name. Like its predecessor, it is raw while balancing a sensual vibe to it but it fixes most of the issues from that album. All of the tracks are not only more fleshed out but there is also a slight more variety in the sound palette. A couple of the band's biggest hits can be found on here (My Own Summer and Be Quiet and Drive) but just about every song is ... read more

Imagine Dragons but metal.

Sleep Token is arguably the most polarizing metal act of the last few years, with everybody either really loving them or really hating them. From what I remember, they gained quite a bit of traction on Tik Tok through their single The Summoning shortly before the release of this album. The band stood out amongst the crowd for their daring fusion between a metal and pop-like sound. Personally, this does not work for a lot more reasons than I would come to expect at ... read more

I have considered this to be Deftones' worst record for the longest time, but I think I am finally starting to come around on it.

During the time that Adrenaline came out, it was considered to be one of the first nu metal records even if it did not fit the bill for it entirely. To make up for its lack of range and somewhat poor aging, this debut contains rawness and the band's easy-going vibe that they would continue to have throughout their whole career. Chino's vocals and Chi ... read more

Even after all this time, I still have yet to see the Barbie movie, so I thought it would be funny if I listened to the soundtrack without context.

Barbie The Album features various amounts of current artists to try their hand at the whole Barbie thing along with Ryan Gosling. Even with not seeing or knowing what happens in the movie, I can vaguely guess that these tracks appear in chronological order as I can see parts where the tone of the album shifts in places. Aside, from that, the ... read more

I'm a little late to this, but let's jump into it.

Beyond a couple of her most popular hits from around a decade, I have not listened to anything from Charli xcx, and when I heard that this album took the music community by storm I was quite intrigued. When I heard in particular that this album is potentially shaking up the pop scene with unique ideas and vulnerability, I had no idea what to expect. Even when I held high expectations of at least something good, I was still not ready ... read more

Dayum! This shit groovy!

With Daft Punk's (sadly) last album, they created an amazing modern-disco album with Random Access Memories. In my opinion, this is where they both shine as both musicians and producers, especially with the features they have taken on the lead vocals. Where this album might lack in range makes up for being extremely easy to listen to and having this almost nostalgic summer feeling to it. With the duo's more mainstream material, there was always this charm ... read more

Yeah, I don't get the hate with this album.

With Human After All, Daft Punk instead of doing what worked before gave this record a more abrasive and industrial sound to it. Now, is this album as good as Discovery? No, not even close, but having this not sound anything like what came before it is not a point to make against it. In my opinion, what we get here is not perfect but it contains some of the duo's most fun moments in their whole discography. Every song on here feels ... read more

I don't know if I'm actually going insane, or if it only occurred to me on my most recent listen that this might be a flawless album.

After playing around with sounds in their debut, Daft Punk came out with something that has a more synth-disco feel to it in Discovery. Another difference between Homework and here is that the former was a groovy and energetic album that set out to be nothing but just that while this record contains songs that follow a wide spectrum of emotions. You ... read more

A little rough around the edges, but not a bad start for the soon-to-be iconic duo.

Homework being Daft Punk's introduction into the world shows us that they can make some fine-sounding electronic funky beats. Even then, their sound had a uniquely charming identity to it and showed us they were able to make some decent earworms with tracks such as Da Funk and Around the World. The biggest weakness here I feel is that this release could have benefitted from a little trimming as I think ... read more

For me, and for most people I think, Linkin Park's biggest strength is one simple thing: their hits. I was a bit nervous when the band announced they were releasing something nearly seven years after Chester's passing, but considering that it was a compilation album I think we got the best scenario we could possibly get. And since this is a compilation album there is only one thing that matters and that is if the songs are good. As a fan myself, they are not just good. They are GREAT. ... read more

For being a band that is extremely mainstream friendly, Linkin Park took a surprising amount of risks when you look back into their career. Making a pop album around the mid-2010s pop sound is not too out of character for them, but this was a huge step in the wrong direction.

I have managed to get this far reviewing Linkin Park without mentioning the huge elephant in the room. It is news to literally no one, but the lead vocalist passed away tragically in 2017 due to suicide, and it is for ... read more

PSA: Do NOT listen to this album while you are hungry! 0/10 experience

In my experience listening to MF DOOM and getting into his music, I have come to a consensus that the guy is a huge nerd. Aside from his standout vocal delivery, the thing that makes Doom DOOM is his supervillain persona based on the comic book villain Doctor Doom. Paired with the television samples he throws into his songs, the entire act just comes off as entertaining and makes him seem very likable to me. In the case of ... read more

Something something the underrated one.

The Hunting Party is often cited as a return of form for Linkin Park, but I do not necessarily think that is the case. Yes, the go back into a rock direction with their sound, but it is quite different from what we got from their earliest albums. Hybrid Theory and Meteora are nu metal with their instrumentals such as the turntables being thrown in there, and in song structure while Hunting Party is more akin alternative metal at that where it uses ... read more

Listening to a Nails album is like eating a bowl of nails for breakfast. You can either have it with or without milk, which will not make a big difference, but will be just enough to tell that there is a different flavor to it.

You Will Never Be One of Us contains the same thing Nails usually does, but this album separates itself by having catchier tracks on here than previous releases. I find myself bopping my head along to the tracks while still be steamrolled by the ferocity of the harsh ... read more

I have grown a bit of a soft spot for this album, but it is still extremely flawed.

After what was considered a bomb at the time, Linkin Park went back into a more radio-friendly direction. What is different this time is they go in a primarily electronic-driven direction in their sound. The band did play around a bit with electronic sounds in A Thousand Sounds in some tracks, this whole album is dominated by this sound and whether or not you will like it depends on how open to this sound you ... read more

Concept albums are not too uncommon, even when this was released, but the fact that Linkin Park of all bands came out with one is CRAZY.

Right up until this point, Linkin Park was only really known for one that and that was creating radio-friendly hard-rock songs about being down in your feels. Not that it was a bad thing at all because they were quite good at doing what they did. Of course, you could only go so far doing nearly the same thing over and over again, so the band responded to this ... read more

Yep, it's Nails alright.

In spirit of the album itself, I will keep this review short. Abandon All Life does most of the same things that the previous record did, but drawn out a little longer. It is brutal like before, it is extremely fast-paced, and it even has a long and harsh atmospheric closing track. I suppose if there was a slight difference between this and Unsilent Death, the whole album has slightly more atmosphere. While I do not think it is as great as the former, it is still ... read more

Edit: 70 > 68

Alright, I can see what they were going for.

For Linkin Park's third release, they went with a more streamlined pop rock approach on here. You would think at this point that they have sold themselves out, but there is still plenty of substance on here. Even today, the production holds up, the band continues to deliver memorable hits, and they stay true to themselves at their core. The album did lose some of its momentum for me in the latter half, but I do not think it ... read more