———OVERALL———
Opal (7.3/10): Opal is a collection of consistently good songs, and while they don’t blow me away, they’re nevertheless enjoyable to listen to. Snavs mostly sticks to the book for this album, for better or for worse.

———INDIVIDUAL SONGS———

Radiant (7/10): A solid trap song to open the album and the little melody that plays on the bells during the intro and in between the drops sets the mood ... read more

A beautiful album from Fractal featuring an excellent dichotomy between the more energetic first half and the chiller and more introspective second half, which showcases Fractal's versatility in the best way possible.

Maybe it was a bit overhyped, sure, but Simulation at its core is ultimately not that bad of an album, just a bit stale in comparison to some of his other works.

A solid song from Bandlez with a very unique theme, Straya is one of Bandlez's most popular songs, and it's not hard to see why.

A bit of a controversial song in the Monstercat community, however I think this one is pretty cool. It might not have a ton of substance or energy, but Bensley managed to create a gritty and minimalistic song that I think is neat in its own right.

A decent double-sided release from Tails. No Sleep is ok I guess, and Hyperventilate is a neat little atmospheric trap song, but there's not much of substance in either of them.

I love the title track off of this EP, don't get me wrong. But I like basically nothing else. It's pretty tame for Tails' standards, and it seems like he was going in a more chill direction with this EP but wasn't able to make enough happen in the songs to keep my interest. Wanderer is my 2nd favorite but even then, it sounds so...restrained. Which I guess is a pretty good summary of this EP.

While a lot of people will probably meme on this song, I think it's a timeless earworm and proves that Noisestorm has a lot of potential.

Conro's vocals aren't up to his usual standard here, but the nice guitar in the drops makes up for it

With some inventive and funky production featuring Conro's signature vocals, the only thing holding this one back is its repetitiveness.

Honestly, there aren't any bad songs here. Songs like Trippin' and Kick It will always be earworms, and Conro's funky house production is at its best here.

Great house production as always from Conro, but maybe not the best lyrics. Still, Conro manages to make this one work.

I heard someone say "This is a concept album that forgot to be a concept album" once and I cannot agree more. The intro sets up a story, and the rest of the album just...doesn't do anything with it? Not to mention that the songs here are just not very good and sort of seem thrown together. Of the new songs, I actually did slightly enjoy Carousel, but that was basically it. All I Need is still ok, and so are Valhalla and After Midnight.

There's a neat little contrast here between the heavier song "Manifest" and the lighter song "Together," but it's still pretty formulaic from the Nerds. More Plastic definitely add some unique touches not otherwise found in other PBN songs to make this double-sided release a bit more memorable, and the vocal samples are very memorable in Manifest.

Honestly not a horrible EP from the Nerds, but definitely not up to their old standards.

What a mess this is, I only moderately like 2/3 of the songs out of 21.

Stonebank's Monument EP suffers from the same problems a lot of older Stonebank songs did, a lack of energy and ideas. Songs like "Ready" and "Another Day" just sound so bland to me, and most of the songs on this EP really pale in comparison to songs in his more modern discography. Except Chokehold, that still goes hard, all these years later.

Perhaps not the best or most inventive EP from Kaskade, but there are definitely some songs here worth checking out.

I'm not sure which to be more impressed by, Kiesza's technique, range, and unique voice, or how the backing production absolutely elevates this song to another level with it's addictive synths and basswork.

Do I really need to say anything here that hasn't already been said before?