Møl has never been the most innovative blackgaze band, often simplifying the genre into something relatively digestible. Dreamcrush leans much heavier into the accessibility of the album at a fault. It's packed with dropout clean verses which makes the catchy screaming choruses they are good at feel weak. Before, they were a catchy respite from the aggressiveness of blackgaze, now they are a continuation of a derivative, boring sound.

This album has some great moments, ... read more

In hindsight after Vanisher has been out for some time: IDMTHY has always been a near perfect album, just failing to round it out in the end with cassini's division which just doesn't belong on this album.
Quadeca struck gold here by creating his own style of overly lush art pop that he wasn't able to replicate on vanisher. The combination of actual and digital instrumentation is done so fluently that you hardly notice it. The combination of experimental and catchy is done to a ... read more

It's no Wildlife, but it'll do.

This is a great return to form for La Dispute with vivid lyricism guiding listeners through unique stories. I've never been one to let lyrics affect my rating, but the vocalist/lyricist does a fantastic job of describing scenes. He also chooses unique topics to yell about, just adding to the lyrical flair. This is one of few albums where I find myself distracted with the story instead of the music.

Speaking of the music, this leans a little more ... read more

The combination of extreme genres here (blackgaze, screamo, emoviolence, metalcore, post-metal?) is integrated so well that you can feel the authenticity of the band's expression. Up until the final few songs we are given a cohesive experience with fantastic transitions (both between and within songs) with surprising variety given the album's seemingly one note sound. My biggest compliment to this album is the way songs move from part to part, especially the crescendos. Crushing bass ... read more

True to the name this is an angry, even evil, sounding album. The three longer tracks are packed with tense build-ups and crushing crescendos. I think this is where the album truly shines, incredibly noisy drops with every member seemingly trying to break their instrument playing it as hard as they can. This is reeled in with groovy bass and drums to keep the chaos somewhat understandable. Individually, every part excels. Some of the transitions struggle, especially from build to crescendo, but ... read more

Slowcore but add.... dog whistle? There's a decent album somewhere under the shrill screeching.

An absolutely crushing screamo album. The instrumentation is loud, overwhelming, and relentless (in the best way). This combination with the more "screamy" vocals almost makes it seems as if the listener is drowning beneath the instruments with the vocalist (the ending of Ardent is a fantastic example of this).

The tones are clean and modern, and the noisy synths that accompany really make this stand out as an impressively produced album. This is more evident when the guitarists ... read more

A minimalistic ambient album that keeps it engaging with ever-changing structure that flows from section to section with ease. Sprinkles of acoustic guitar, glitch elements, and violin bring more prominent sound to latch on to while the underlying ambience flows nicely. The glitch elements are a bit jarring, though I grew to like them on repeated listens. While this album may not have pushed many boundaries, it is a solid representation of whay good ambient music can be.

Didn't know what to expect from this, but came iut with a soft yet dense album that's just fun to listen to. Fantastically catchy choruses and varied instrumentation without being overbearingly formulaic. The light and layered production offers a unique and comforting experience. After spinning this a few times, still one of my favorites of 2024.

Woah holy shit!

I honestly went into this without many expectations, but I am super surprised at how amazingly unique this is 20 years later. It's truly heavy, sometimes emotional, sometimes silly and really an experience of an album.

It's like if a disney villain made breakcore. The classical stuff does not blend at all and makes it sound goofy.

Album name is accurate.

Absolutely fantastic mix of Boundaries old "hardcore" metalcore style and that classic metalcore sound. Sometimes, when they try mixing the sounds it does not work (see Easily Erased for example). The implementation of cleans is often unnecessary and poorly done (as in Easily Erased) but nice when layered in, or done with the Markus Vik feature.
Instrumentation is fantastic, nostalgic yet unique. The heaviness is apparent and I will be left with a permanent stank face after this one. ... read more

If Counterparts didn't know how to write interesting music. This is as bland and simple as metalcore gets.

Cool as a one time listen for a concept album, but really boring and a bit of a chore to get through despite an average runtime. I can't see myself revisiting, I guess the lyrical themes are interesting? A bit blunt, and there isn't much else to it. Concept is interesting, still

Boring at best and annoying at worst. Vocals are simply terrible, instrumentals are lackluster.... and nothing else is offered. Basic boring structures accompanied by music to sleep to.

Fairly generic and roughly mixed deathcore with odd moments of heavy metal and thrash. Throw in some awkward choruses too.

Horribly forced and poorly executed post hardcore. Lazy choruses and songwriting. Only positive is the vocalist expanding his range from previous records.

Heavy, but often lacking climaxes. Many songs just sound like 7 minutes of buildup for nothing. That said when the songs work they are fantastic.