Music Reviews

Ok, so real quick my basic overview of the band’s catalog up to this point: I found their deathcore roots to be really amateurish and too melodramatic, their more metalcore side is where they peaked in my opinion, with record like There is a Hell,… and Sempiternal. The experimentation with other genres on That’s the Spirit mostly payed off for the band, with the record’s more alt-rock oriented sound and catchy explosive choruses. They would continue with the experimentation on their next studio effort Amo, where they prooved that they were more then just another face in the crowd and that hey could pull of mulitple genres and aren’t afraid to go out of their comfort zone. Which bring here, to Post Horror: Survival Horror and I gotta say, this thing is amazing.

From the very start, you can tell that the band is dedicated to combine everything they’ve learned up to this point, to create one rather short, but cohesive expirience with this 9-track EP. Not a single song on here flops, everything is a hit, each track in different regards. The opener sets the tone – „Dear Diary“ is an agressive metalcore-fused rager, with the lyrics being a meditation on the current chaotic state the world is in right now. The guitars riffs are heavy, the screaming feels raw, yet fitting and the additional production choices from none other then the music god himself Mick Gordon only add to the intensity of the track. Also the breakdown is really tasteful and refreshing, all of the breakdwons on this album are honestly. After that we get a series of singles released prior to the albums release, all of which bring different things to the table: „Parasite Eve“ is a more heavily structured, long-winded look at things, with some really epic glitchy production and an absolutely orgasmic Mick Gordon breakdwon, that had to be brought up right from the pits of hell. „Teardrops“ is a Linkin Park worshipper, with some surprisingly moving lyrics – they didn’t come off as corny at all, rather they complimented the atmosphere of the track really darn well. Oli sounds genuinely defeated on this one and the chorus just absolutely slaps – it’s one of the many grand explosive choruses on here. And finally the song „Obey“ is a punk-aesthetic nu-metal banger with some insane synths and booming guitars – also the Youngblood feature was a surprisingly wise choice, probably the best he has sounded since – well, ever. Again, the chorus just absolutely rocks and the breakdwon on this one is probably the most passionate out of those three – like seriously, if Parasite Eve’s breakdwon sounded like the pits of hell, then this one are the demons coming out of there. After those three gems we get a much needed break with the interlude „Itch For The Cure“, which serves as a preparation for what is to come next. And what actually comes next is my favorite song on here „Kingslayer“ – not only because of the insane energy that is radiating of of this thing, but also because of the unexpected, but welcomed feature from BABYMETAL and again some amazing production from our lord and savior Mick Gordon – like if this combination doesn’t tell you it’s gonna be a banger, then I don’t know what does. The song is from start to finnish just packed with energy, with those fast paced guitars, epic synth leads and agressive vocals from Oliver Sykes – this is easily the most brutal he has sounded since the release of Sempiternal. The BABYMETAL feature, as mentioned before, somehow fits super well in this and offers a nice change of pace to the track – they also absolutely nail the chorus on here. Overall it’s just a fun and exciting track, and at the end of the day what else do you need? Oh, another Linkin Park worship? Well Bring Me the heavies got you covered with the song „1×1“, which may be the on-first-listen least intresting song on here, and admiteddly isn’t as exciting as per say Teardrops, but it’s still a nice nu-metalish alt-rock tune with a melodically pleasing chorus and some nice electronic effects worked in. Then there is the song „Ludens“, which sounds like something from the bands That’s the Spirit, but with a more glitchy and electronic production this time around. This is basically as experimental as it gets for the band, and even though some of the transitions between the song’s passages may feel a littler rushed nad akward, overall I found it to be a pretty cohesive listen, especially by the end of it, when it all just makes sense in the end. For the closer the band decided to go with a hell of a slow-burner of a ballad with the song „One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death“ (yes, that’s how the song is actually titled), which features the amazing Amy Lee from the band „Evanescence“ on the vocals. Her voice I’d say blends pretty nicely with the song’s more low-key and slow-paced easthetic – it’s haunting yet beautiful. The hauntingness, aswell as the tention, continues to grow throughout the whole track, finally reaching it’s emotional climax towards the end, with Oliver’s quiet screamed vocals, that are slowly turning up in volume, until the song suddenly stops – a really cool detail and a great way of ending the album off.

Look, I was pretty hyped for this thing, especially considering how much I LOVED every single one of the teaser tracks, but what we got is so much more then I could ever expect – it’s the definitive Bring Me The Horizon expirience. Yes, there are some flaws here and there, and the runtime of the album could use a little bit more tracks, so it feels little more cohesive, but at this point, I’m really just nitpciking. This was a really solid listen and I can’t wait to see, what the band continues to do next.

strong 8/10

6ix9ine stands out as one of the most provocative and hated controversial figures out there right now, but you gotta give it to the guy. he can make some kick-ass songs. The first single of of this thing „Gooba“ is what got me initially intrested in checking this whole project out, if it can live up to the energy that that track gave off. The following singles „Trollz“ featuring none other then Nicky Minaj and „Punani“ featuring autotune were both solid songs with „Trollz“ being kinda a guilty pleasure for me – so with that being said, I went into this thing expecting nothing bangers. So is that actually what we got?

The answer is simple – no, not even close. What we got INSTEAD is a bunch of unfinnished forgatble songs, if you can call them that. I genuinely can’t recall a single other track on here. Well, maybe besides the opener „Locked Up Pt. 2“, which is probably the most ambitious cut on here – the production is direct and it serves as an alright introduction to the album. But beyond that? Except the mentioned singles, there is literally nothing of substance here. To take it track by track, the second track „TUTU“ has that generic tropical vibe to it, with some really awful braggadocious lyrics and forgetabble autotune passages – no reason to come back to this song ever again. The song „Wait“ pisses me off, because the beat had so much potential, but is utterly ruined by 6ix9ine’s sloppy vocals that don’t compliment the gentle accoustic instrumentation at all. The production is essentially the only selling point here, but again nothing else of a substance to be found. „Charlie“ tries to go really hard with those typical 6ix9ine’s screamed vocals, but the produciton is so bland and forgetabble, that by the end of it, I genuinely couldn’t recall how the song actually sounded. Though by far the worst offender on this thing has to be „NINI“ with the featured Leftside on the vocals, which follows the same formula and production choices as songs like „BEBE“ from the 6ix9ine’s previous studio effort – that is essentially just a latin American beat with a modern trap twist to it, that sounds like if torture was a sound. Luckily the song is just around 2 minutes long, even though it feels like 5 minutes. Similar waste of time and space is the song „YAYA“, which for a change features 6ix9ine on the vocals, which really isn’t a saving point – also the beat is just horrendous, I can’t stand it. Then we get some more forgetable tracks such as „LEAH“, „GATA“ and „GTL“, all of which I can’t recall a single note or vocal passage from – there is literally no reason for these songs to exist. The last song „AVA“ tries to go for a rather emotional climax, but it completely and I mean COMPLETELY rips off Travis Scott’s „Yosemite“ – from the sound, to the structure, to the production – everything about this song screams Travi Scott. Except maybe 6ix9ine himself, which just screams awful.

This really is what it means to fall off – because belive it or not, I did quite enjoy some of the moments from the guy’s first studio album „Dummy Boy“, especially in the latter half – the production on that thing was out of this world compared to this. And the quality gap between that album and this one right here is really kinda unreal. Not only in production, but also in 6ix9ine’s flows, his delivery – basically everything, the only exceptions to this being the singles. Si in conclussion, this was just not that great and more than that just boring – can we just end the 6ix9ine trend now?

decent 2/10

Gorillaz will forever have a special place in my heart, even though their, up to this point nearly flawless, discography was kind of dumbed down by the virtual band’s last two LPs „Humanz“ and „The Now Now“, both of which have their own problems – Humanz was blouted with features, safe production choices and really uncohesive structure, while The Now Now was in my opinion just really boring and only had a few stand-out tracks – it more felt like Damon Albarn, the mastermind behind Gorillaz, was just trying to cover up for the mixed reception of Humanz with an even more mixed release. But here we are now, Song Machine is finally out, so let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Right of the back the album kicks off with the keys-heavy „Strange Timez“, which is just a great opener – it sets the dark, but still that remarkable Gorillaz sound, with those haunting piano melodies and wirling keys, while Robert Smith give us a pationate vocal performance, with some fitting lyrics, that compliment the sound pretty well. Then it explodes into these walls of sytnhs towards the end of the track, with 2D and Robert Smith singing the chorus – by the end of it, it just comes full circle and feels like a complete song, but more importantly a grand opener. The following track „The Valley Of Pagans“ is just a good time, with the track’s up-beat sound and fast tempo – also the featured artist Beck really kills his performance here. I also can’t stress enough how insanely detailed the sound of not only this song, but the whole album is – the layers of pianos, guitars and sharp drums just sound so refreshing and sweet to the ears. What also sounds sweet to the ears is the follow-up track „The Lost Chord“ with it’s spacy and mysthy production and the absolutelly GORGEOUS ascending vocals on the chorus. It’s a nice more slow-paced moment on the album and it somehow still keeps the momentum going. The next song „Pac-Man“ is easily the most catchiest tune here – the chorus on this thing is absolutely phenomenal and could go toe-to-toe with something of of the band’s „Plastic Beach“. The ScHoolboy Q feature was also a nice touch, with the second half of the track changing from the electronic crispy beat, to a more natural and free production, where ScHoolboy really shines and takes on a more introspective last verse. The next song „Chalk Tablet Towers“ is probably one of the weaker ones here, especially momentum-wise, where the song is basically just a filler. Though it features some really good production and vocal melodies, but you could say that for the whole album really. Though the next song „The Pink Phantom“ picks things up again, with that absolutely stunning Elton John feature, low-key production and some really impresive vocal layering in the later half. 6LACK is also on here, but he is just kinda there, even though he compliments Elton surprisingly well. The song „Aries“ was probably one of my favorites released prior to the album’s release – the gentle guitar plugs, the synth-based summer-oriented beat and 2Ds passionate vocals make up for one of the best songs in the band’s catalog. „Friday the 13th“ is an intresting one, because originally, I didn’t really care about this one, but damn if this isn’t a huge grower – this song is the definition of „the more you listen to it, the better it gets“, because it really grows on you substantially with each listen – the summery production with the off-beat Octavian feature combine into a pretty laid-back expirience with a nice piano beat-switch in the second half. The song I was most worried about, when I first heard it though was probably „Dead Butterflies“ – right off the back the more trap-inspired beat made me kinda worried at first, but once those pianos come in and 2D starts singing, then I instantly knew this was going to be one of my favorite here – and I was right. This is the most passionate 2D’s vocals sounded since the Plastic Beach era – like seriously, those vocal melodies and the overall performance are just stunning. It also smoothly transitions into the next track „Désolé“, which is a French ballad, with some of the best and most gorgeous produciton I’ve heard this year – the sharp drums with the gentle guitar melodies make for a haunting, yet somehow soothing atmosphere. And don’t even get me started on the feature – Fatoumata Diawara absolutely kills her vocal performance here, easily one of the best features of the whole album (which is saying a LOT). The closer is the one song, that started it all – the first single released before the album itself „Momentary Bliss“, which if that isn’t a statysfying finnish, then I don’t know what is. It is perhaps the most raw-sounding song of the whole album, which compliments slowthai’s rather agressive style really well. The booming guitars and agressive keys just make for a banger of a tune, that is a worthy closer, for such an amazing album.

This album is what you call learning from your mistakes – it takes everything the last two Gorillaz albums failed at and makes it succeed at every single one of those things. The production is top-notch, the features are amazing and it all comes together by the end – it just felt like a really cohesive compilation of songs. That’s right, I said compilation, because if there is something to be left desired on this album, then it’s the fact that it doesn’t really feel like a Gorillaz studio album and more just like a collection of Gorillaz songs – though great songs at that. But beyond that, there is nothing negative I can really say about this one – it’s just a hit after hit and I’m only curious, where the band take their sound from here.

light 9/10

My introduction to Neil’s music was through the emerse praise his last album „Mouth Dreams“ recieved in the music comunity – I found that album to be really enjoyable and succesfull at colliding all those different songs into each other – the mix on that project was surprisingly rich and cohesive and the whole project was overall just a really fun listen. It’s a shame really that I can’t say the same about this new project over here – don’t get me wrong, there are still a handfull of songs that work quite well – but this album is essentially an album of high and lows, where the lows just can just easily take you out of the whole vibe this album goes for. Maybe it’s partially due to the high expectations I had when going into this, but I just found some of the mashups and experimetns on here kinda bland and unintresting. Also in the later half of the album features these weird transitions, where the song just completely cuts off out of nowhere and the next song just starts playing – I don’t know what Neil was trying to do here, but it just comes off as really akward and unfitting.

To take it track-by-track, the opener „Yahoo“ is actually a really nice kick off to this album – the spacy synth-orianted production works quite well and it sets the mood just right. After the short-winded „Mouth Dream – intro“, that doesn’t really add anything to the expirience, we get the next song „Sponge Rock“, which is just absolutely hillarious – in a good way though. It’s a combination of the Spongebob Squarepants theme song with Queen’s „We Will Rock You“ and even though it’s a little rough around the edges, it just comes off as really funny. The follow up „Just a Baby“ is easily one of my favorites here – it’s a really well constructed ballad featuring the classic 2000s rock tune „The Reason“ by Hoobastank and vocals from the Johny Cash classic „Folsom Prison Blues“ with some additional vocals/instrumentation from Justin Bieber and MGMT. It really plays into the whole aesthetic of this album and comes around full circle by the end. „Superkiller“ is a funky banger with the sample of the 80s classic „Super Freak“ by Rick James, with the additional Can’t touch this vocal lines we all come to know over the years and the absolute bagner of a song that is „Psycho Killer“ by Talking Heads. But from here is where the album starts to get really forgetable – except the intresting sample choice, the next few songs are just not that remarkable. The album looses momentum quick and there are only couple highlights in the later half. There are some cool ideas here and there, like the mix of Foo Fighters and Aerosmith on the song „Aerolong“, or the amayingly-titled „Where is my Mom“, which as the title suggests features „Where is my Mind“ by Pixies and Fountains of Wayne’s „Stacy’s Mom“, but both of those song have a runtime of an interlude and have those exact weird transitions I was talking about before – the ideas are great, but the executions is just not there (which basically sums up the album pretty well). One of the highlights later on though is definetly „1000 Spoons“, which features one of the wildest combinations of songs here: Black Sabath’s „Iron Man“, Alanis Morissette’s „Ironic“ and the Knight Rider theme? As ironic as it sounds, this is actually one of the most well-put-together songs here and offers a really nice and intense change of pace from the other poorly mixed and just downright boring cuts here. The album finnishes of with the super unintresting „Ain’t“, which for some weird reason just feels very weirdly paced and kinda anticlimactic – which is everything that a closer shouldn’t be.

So yeah, this one is kinda middle of the road for me. If I had to give this album something, it’s that it stills is one of the better examples of mash-ups in proffesional music scene – but as I said before, the weird transitions, boring songs, the slow pace of the album and just the execution overall is what brings this album down from me. I still found it to be somewhat of an enjoyable record, but it’s far from the quality of it’s predecessor.

decent 5/10