Powerful. That's the only word needed.

The black album is really the only one of its kind. Never will you see a band that just made an entire album dedicated to anti-authoritarian themes and incredibly complex musicianship immediately redefine their whole sound into steady yet heavy metal anthems that tastefully balance thrash with some more classic rock elements with a separation of only a few years. Sure, it might be staunchly more radio-friendly than albums past, but I think that the 4-piece really found their stride here in ... read more

I Prevail's first album post the departure of Brian is the first album I've ever heard that becomes substantially better when you listen to the big hits and turn your brain off for the filler tracks. For an album literally entitled Violent Nature, it seems like for more than half of this incredibly short 32 minute album, the band is anything but. Songs like NWO and especially the absolutely amazing title track bring out the very best of the band, but Annihilate Me and others just feel ... read more

It's better to just listen to it yourself.

This soundtrack should serve as perfect proof that simply just throwing in pop talent into a stew and expecting a good result to come out of it simply doesn't work. Barring the amazing work of Don Toliver to create a main theme that seems to perfectly hit every time it appears in the movie, the rest of the songs just seem like bland promotional material so that celebrities have to show up to the actual races and garner more attention.

I'm not even going to bother writing an actual review. The lyrics "Boba tea (Gnarly)\Tesla (Gnarly)\Fried chicken (Gnarly)\Partyin' in the Hollywood Hills (Uh)\This song (Gnarly)\Oh my god, that new beat (Gnarly; fucking gnarly)\Oh my god, is this real? (Gnarly)" should just sum it up for me.

There are certain things in life that you can just guarantee. Taxes, death, illness, the Patriots going to the Super Bowl, so on. Among that list has always been Sonic soundtracks being absolutely amazing, and Frontiers is no exception. Each and every single song is tailor-made to perfectly suit the gameplay experience, whether it be the tranquil yet sublimely tense island themes, the dramatic cutscene ballads, the catchy cyberspace tunes, or the jaw-droppingly perfect and heavy boss themes. ... read more

Volume 3 is where the Iowans lay off the aggression slightly and focus more on their musicianship, which ultimately really boosts the quality of the songs present. As a whole, each song feels incredibly satisfying to listen to, and blend into each other incredibly well. Consistency is really the name of the game here. The problem mainly lies in that the consistency is never really broken; there isn't a song off this album I can point to and confidently say is one of their best. Despite ... read more

The final album of Slipknot under Roadrunner records mainly just seems to be that, an album produced relatively quickly in order to get out of a record deal. While there are some notable highs in the classic-sounding Dying Song as well as the hauntingly relevant Chapeltown Rag, most of the rest of the album ends up straying away from the sound of Slipknot and instead into something that seems more Stone Sour-esque. It's evident that the level of attention and care given in its predecessor ... read more

If I no longer had 2 bandmates that played a very essential role into the songwriting of my band, I would personally quit making music, so it's understandable that Slipknot took a bit of a tumble here. Regardless, each song off this album ultimately just ends up feeling bland, barring a few exceptions. It's nice to look back at this album with the context of what happened on the next, but on its own, The Gray Chapter only leaves with some nice ideas executed in a way that feels like a ... read more

Iowa needs no introduction. If you've even vaguely heard of Slipknot, you're more than likely aware of the occult following this album receives for its incredible aggression due to its production circumstances. For me, there's just one problem; it feels like an outlier. Whereas the self titled album contained much of the same DNA as this album, the aggression feels much more directed and focused into creating a coherent yet powerful album. With Iowa, I found myself really just ... read more

Slipknot's 4th and final album with all original band members departs starkly from its predecessor and especially the 9-piece's first 2 works, but still delivers an end product that feels interesting. In particular, the first 5 as well as final 2 tracks are all of the quality you expect from now industry titans, with Gematria and Psychosocial encapsulating the incredibly anti-authoritarian and almost punk stance the band is looking for, but the middle tracks all bring down the overall ... read more

If you've ever seen an elementary school music performance, there's a really unique feeling that comes along with the inevitable torture to your ears. You can really just tell that the kids are giving their all, even if the final product is only ever really good for embarrassing them 10 years later. Internet Girl, and to an extent, Katseye's entire catalogue evokes a similar feeling. You can tell that the 6-piece (and the people in the studio who actually write their songs) ... read more

Taylor Swift's 13th album and 6th annual release is almost undeserving of the title of music. There is not a single song that isn't completely marred by embarrassing lyricism especially unfit for a self-proclaimed tortured poet, bland songwriting, blatant egocentrism, or some incoherent mix of the three. I'm actually mad that I cannot give songs negative ratings since confused piles of slop like the incredibly out of touch Eldest Daughter, the vaguely Nazi rhetoric-esque Wi$h ... read more

Linkin Park's return after a 7 year hiatus is the foundation for something great, whilst still delivering on all fronts. While still skewing away from their more heavy works a la Hybrid Theory and Minutes to Midnight, the band still continues to weave the fine lines between grungy emo (Overflow), alternative (Cut the Bridge), and their nu metal roots (Heavy Is the Crown), all while maintaining a consistent sound profile that makes the album feel fresh and innovative the whole way through. ... read more

Megadeth's swan song is impressive on a technical standpoint for all guitar enthusiasts, but musically fails to deliver the punchy and powerful finale the band maybe deserved. While starting strong with the debut single "Tipping Point", from then on each song ends up becoming a monotonous mess, with each song sounding almost exactly the same. Contributing to this problem absolutely is the now 65 year old Dave Mustaine, whose vocals just sound tired from a 40 year career. While ... read more

Imagine a freight train is currently hurtling towards you with 15 tons of dynamite about to explode strapped onto the front car while your surroundings start burning hotter than the heat of a hundred suns. That's about a fraction of the intensity this album will blast your ears with. Each song, from Barcode to Scissors, is a complete burst of aggression from a seldom-seen 9-piece band from the middle of nowhere, ready to show you why they're mad at you, everyone you know, and the ... read more

Metallica's 11th studio album continues much of its predecessor's legacy in both production and sound and expands into a much larger scope, but in some ways, the now 60 year old band flew too high to the sun. Each song has the distinct Metallica punchiness that was somewhat lost after 1991's Black Album, however they still lack the thrash element of which the band's sound was founded and primarily based on. While it's nice to hear a lot of good quality Metallica, the ... read more

The finest 14-track selection you will hear from the Iowans. From "Insert Coin" to "Solway Firth" each track is given a level of care and craftsmanship very rarely seen in the Nu Metal genre, much less from Slipknot's earlier catalogue, but benefit greatly from it. Each track, especially in comparison with 2015's The Grey Chapter, has much more substantial and beefy tracks that run longer, at the price of a shorter track list, resulting in a 64 minute runtime that ... read more