Music Reviews

After the mixbag that was 2015s „Starboy“, The Weeknd realy needed a new direction to go to. And I don’t think that anyone expected the direction to be 80s inspired R&B dream pop. Though this album still has that signature The Weeknd sound, with its overuse of hi-hats, structured trap beats and obviously the godly voice that The Weeknd offers. The album sounds nostalgic yet somehow futuristic – this new approach resulted into The Weeknd’s most conceptually realised album yet, with its simple yet powerful songwriting and broken aesthetic through out the whole album, with few exceptions here and there.

One of the exceptions is definetly the first single „Heartless“, which is easily the biggest banger of this whole thing. But even though this song just slaps, it still has that significant dark undertone, that’s present through out this whole project. The opener „Alone Again“ on the other hand is a slow-paced low-key track, with some really captivating production – and then when the actual instrumentation kicks in? Oh boy, you know you’re in for something special. The song „Hardest To Love“ features some of the most beautiful vocal melodies I’ve heard all year and it really shows how much has Abel grew as vocalist over the years. „Snowchild“ is this gentle and sweet track with moody synths and raging hi-hats, that has some big potential, but is kind off ruined by the second verse of the song – it just felt really out of place and disengenious. „Escape From LA“ is another miss for me – while the song’s introspective lyricism might be enough for someone to keep their attention through out the whole thing, I just find the instrumentation surrounding it to be really weak and forgetable, that I really just can’t pay attention to the message of the song. But it’s truly only hits from here – „Faith“ is a beautiful and heartbreaking gem in the track list, that always manages to make me teary-eyed, „Blinding Lights“ is an absolute 80s inspired masterpiece with melodies that will be stuck in your head for days to come (same goes for „In Your Eyes“, but with a more thick instrumentation this time around) and „Save Your Tears“, even though it sounds like a more well-produced rip-off of Post Malone’s „Circles“, still has that emotional power to it, that you just can’t deny. The only weak track in this half of the album is the interlude „Repeat After Me“, which is, in two words, just forgetable. But then we get the absolute best song on the album, the title track „After Hours“. This 6-minute behemoth of a song is really something else – from the atmospheric and genuenly haunting intro, to when the drop finally kicks in and you just feel like you entered a different dimension. The keys and bass in this are absolutely out of this world, the singing feels tortured, yet gorgeous and the lyrics really tie this whole album together. Then plays the last song „Until I Bleed Out“, AKA the last cry for help – truly a teriffying, yet somehow fitting way to close off the album.

Abel has once again proved, that he isn’t just another cash-grabbing face in the never-ending pop crowd – he proved that he cares about the art that he makes and that he can manage to make a conceptual maserpiece, such as this one, while experimenting with other styles and genres. This really was a ride, from start to finnish, even though I didn’t feel like every song hit the nail on the head, it still was a fulfilling listen through out and in the end felt like a complete and statysifing expirience.

Decent 8/10

After their last studio album „Comedown Machine“ in 2013, the band decided to take a much needed break – they’ve been releasing albums basically every 2 years for the last decade. But now they came back, better then before and I’d just like to say, that this is easily their best album since their debut „Is This It“ in 2000.

The sounds on this new projects over here feel nostalgic yet brand new and fresh. For example the song „Eternal Summer“ is one of the most beautiful sounding songs I’ve heard all year. The whole thing kicks off with the song „Adults Are Talking“, which is this care-free vibe of a song, that perfectly sets the mood for the whole album. Julian Casablancas, as always, absolutely kills it on the vocals, not only on this song, but through out this whole project. The follow up song „Selfless“ sounds somehow even better then the previous song, with its luscious keys and sharp drums – and when the guitar kicks in, you just feel like you transcended.“Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus“ starts off with those cheap sounding synnths, which made me a little worried at first, but then the whole instrumentation kicks in and all the worrying sudenly goes away. „Bad Decision“ is probably the most forgetable song on here, I genuenly can’t recall how it sounds without playing it first – how was it a single instead of something like Eternal Summer, I will never get. The actual first single was „At The Door“, which is a heavily synth/based ballad with little to no drums or any instrumentation what’s so ever – the real selling point here are Casablancas vocals, but you could basically say that for any track on this album. On the other hand „Why Are Sundays So Depressing“ sounds exactly how the title sudgests – depressing, but also somehow still care-free. „Not The Same Anymore“ is a more slow paced track with a somehow haunting twist on it. One of my favorites songs on the album though has to be the closer „Ode To The Mets“ – it starts off similary as Brooklyn Bridge, but somehow even more cheap sounding – but then those walls of beautiful guitars slowly start fading in and you just know that you’re in for something. The melodies on this track are absolutely gorgeous and honestly out of this world.

And that’s it, that’s all there is to this album – 9 ok to amazing tracks, and it’s more then enough. Honestly the 7 year wait has really shown on this one – the sound of this thing feels really mature and the tracks are overall well put together. The long break has really paid off for The Strokes and we can only wait to see, where they go from here.

Strong 8/10

George Miller, famous internet YouTube star turned proffesional artist, AKA Joji, was someone I never expected to like, After the colosall failure that was in my eyes Joji’s debut EP „In Tongues“, I pretty much wrote him off as another face in the ever expanding sad boy trap genre. But Joji came back swinging – with his 2018 single „Slow Dancing In The Dark“ he proved that he had potential – great potential in fact. The follow up album „Ballads 1“ didn’t necesarry meet the expectations that Slow Dancing set the bar for, but it still was a reasonable effort from Joji – more then In Tongues anyways. But now we’re here, on Joji’s second studio album „Nectar“.

Before I start to talk smack about Joji like I usually end up doing, I would like to just say, that this is EASILY Joji’s most profound, well-produced and admirable record to date. The singles tha dropped before the album’s release all showed that Joji is taking this whole music career thing really seriously and that he is taking the steps to become a better not only vocalist, but artist overall. „Sanctuary“ is a synth-driven 80s inspired ballad with some really sweet vocal harmonies and melodies. „Gimmie Love“ is your classic lo-fi Joji sad-boyish song with an accoustic twist in the second half, while „Daylight“ is a little pop tune with some amazing production choices from none other then „Diplo“. And don’t even get me started on „Run“ – that’s, in mz opinnion, easily Joji’s best song, period. But this is also the biggest sin that this album commits – releasing all the absolute best songs as singles before the albums’s release. Not gonna lie, I had some prettz big expectations for this album when it came out – but what we got wasn’t anything like what the singles promised. Instead, it’s an 18-track long lofi hip-hop album, when it could’ve been just 12-tracks long. Also when I say lofi hip-hop album, I REALLY mean that – at least half of the songs on here follow the absolute same formula and sound. And to be honest, it gets really tiring – like what do songs like „Nitrous“ or „High Hopes“ truly and honestly bring to the track list?

That being said, there are still some highlights in the tracklisting here and there: the opening track „Ew“ is a moody and powerful opener which sets the tone for the whole album really well. The following track „MODUS“ is the start of the lo-fi hip hop tracks trend on this album, though this one actually has some nice melodies and especially instrumentation. The same goes for the songs „Afterthought“ and „Mr. Hollywood“, which both again feed into the same formula as MODUS but actually have some substance – especially Mr. Hollywood, that song is just gorgeous. „Tick Tock“ is another intresting one – it starts with this corny low-pitched rapping that is luckily quickly over and this nice accoustic beat comes in, while Joji is giving us those nice vocal harmonies. Then there is the surprisingly crushing „Like You Do“, which is this piano ballad about one’s persons love being more then the love of all the others – „no one loves me like you do“. It’s definetly a beautiful moment in the album, but the album could really use some variety – the closest thing to that we get on „Pretty Boy“, which is easily the catchiest song on the whole album – the beat’s pretty simple, but it works in the song’s favour. Also Lil Yachty’s verse is surprisingly awesome, the two of them with Joji have some really nice chemistry. Finally the song „Your Man“, that closes the album off is a trendy EDM banger, which is a overall a nice send off to the whole thing.

Now there are a LOT of things I didn’t like about this album – some of the songs, like „Reanimator“, should’ve really just been longer and some other songs like „Upgrade“ should’ve been just cut completely. But while there is a lot to not like about this album, there is still a lot to enjoy here. And I can only commend Joji for trying new things and experimenting with his voice and his music aswell. As I said, I still think that this is Joji’s best realease yet and I can’t wait to see where he takes this next.

light 7/10

After a 5 year hiatus, Nightwish decided to come back with one of their most conceptually pleasing and realised albums yet. The album is a two sided masterclass at creating grand and heavy symphonic metal bangers with low-key and long-winded orchestral slow burners. The first disk starts with the epic „Music“, which is easily the best track of the first half of the album – the slow orchestral build up, the jungle-type send off and the classic power metal Nightwish finnish makes for a perfect opener and how was it not a single will forever remain a mistery to all of us. Then there is the actual first single „Noise“, which really is just a noise compared to the last track – if there is something clear with this track though, it’s that the chorus won’t leve your head for days, I can guarantee you that. The vocaly pleasing „Shoemaker“, and the acoustic slowdown „Harvest“, are also both nice touches, with „Harvest“ exploding into some nice power metal madness in the second half of the song. The actual slowdown of the first disk is the song „Endlesness“, which can admitedly get a little boring, but it serves its purpose as a closer and as a transition to the second disk. Though what’s definetly NOT boring, is the song „Tribal“, which always gets my blood pumping every time I listen to it. Then there is the song „Procession“, with its smooth and magical keys and its luscious yet heavy instrumentation – it’s a really strong and powerful moment on the album.

The album quickly changes pace after the first disk though – the second disk uses little to no elements of the classic symphonic metal Nightwish sound – instead it goes for this orchestral formula, which surprisingly works really well. The second half works as a cool down, after the epic ride that was the first disk – at least that’s how I interpret it. There is also basicallIy no singing on this half, which is a little disapointing, considering how much of an amazing vocalist Floor Jansen is. This half, more then anything, works as a whole expirience, and that’s why I have a hard time picking a favorite song, because they all blend into a one grand and exciting expirience. Truly and honestly my biggest complain is, that it can get real tiring real quick – if you don’t manage to get lost in the sound since the first song, you’re gonna have a hard time keeping attention to those spacy orchestral instrumentals sometimes. Though I’d like to give credit to the last song of the album „Ad Astra“, which is this beautiful 4 and a half minute beast of a song, that closes this album perfectly.

So, overall, is this album perfect? No, it definetly has its flaws, especially in the whole 80 minutes of its runtime, it can get a little tiring on a few songs here and there. Is it their best album yet? No, not even close – that position, in MY opinion, still bellongs to their previous album „Endless Forms The Most Beautiful“, but you can still hear a few improvments on this new project over here, since that album came out. Overall I’d say it is an appriciable effort from the band, with some really great highlights and for me, the 5 year long wait has really paid off.

strong 7/10