Music Reviews

After half a year of hyping thist thing up, it has finally arrived, Architect’s ninth studio album and it’s their longest one yet, ranging over 58 minutes in length, which honestly is also the biggest flaw I found with this album – there is just sooo much filler on this thing, like 3-4 songs could’ve been easily cut and nothing would change. Also the sounds on this one are the most industrial and electronic Architect’s has ever presented, you could call it even „experimental“ in some regards.

One example could be the song „Flight Without Feathers“ which is purely an ambient electronic song with some very distant guitars and sharp electronic drums, it’s kind of an aesthetic mess, though not entirely in a bad way – it also serves as a nice bridge between the two halfs of this record. The follow up song „Little Wonder“ immidiately continues going in this more electronic direction taking a more synthwave approach. The next song „Animals“ is also the first song released prior to the release of this album and the overall reception of it is pretty mixed – the song is obviously much more poppy then basically anything the band has done before, but it’s still clearly Architects – I kind of over time warmed myself to liking the song more then I innitially did, still not one of the best on the album though. The song „Libertine“ is your typical Architects song, with the twist being on the bridge, where the band attempts to create a more spaced out electronic sound with some weird pieces of percussion in the mix, it’s just a weird mixture. The next song „Golliah“ immidiately picks things up thoug, with it’s immidiate fast-paced guitars, punchy drums and guest vocals from Simon Neil, it just works overall. The song, again, tries to make a semi-experimental bridge exiting the first third, but this time there is a dirty bass added in and it actually kind of works. The breakdown is predictable but still one of the better ones on the album, it does it’s job fairly enough. Also the second bridge on this song actually kind of works too, it uses some bright keys that really give the track a new life – overall just hands down one of the best songs on the album. The song „Demi God“ follows the more electronic approach to things, but it actually semi-works here? I still am kind of conflicted on this song, it’s nothing ground-breaking, but it is one of the more adventerous songs on the album – doesn’t mean it’s one of the better ones though. The song „Meteor“ is just another boring cut on this thing, literally nothing about it stands out and the hook isn’t catchu enough to carry the rest of the song – could have been easily cut from the final mix. Now Architects are usually pretty good at closing things off in a unique stand-out way from the rest of the album – there is a different spin on it this time around, because the band decides to go full accoustic and orchestral with the closer „Dying is Absolutely Safe“ and it’s not bad, though not great – it drags on for way too long and it kind of goes nowhere – also the guitar is like ten times louder then anything else in the mix. Now, I do haven’t talked about the first half yet have I? Well yes, but that is because I don’t feel like there is much to say – if you know the Architects formula by now then you know how the first half sounds. Granted, the hooks are more catchy and the production more off-the-chains, but it’s kind of evened-out by some weird bridges, generic break-downs and cheezy song-writing. Now I still may be over-dramatizing this, I still very much enjoy the first half – the songs „Giving Blood“ and „An Ordinary Extinction“ are definetly one of my favorites here, both feature a more electronic approach to things, again, and actuallu for once succeed in doing so – also both singles released from this half „Black Lungs“ and „Dead Butterflies“ absolutely slap and nobody is going to convince me otherwise (Dead Butterflies actually being one of my favorites Architects songs by the time I’m writing this).

So yeah, there is some good to be found in this record, but it’s burried by many weird production choices, questionable song choices and occasionally some tideous lyrics. But still, this is a somewhat solid project from Architects and much better then I anticipated from the reception it has been getting so far – maybe it’s just because I’m a sucker for overproduced orchestral metalcore, but I still think this album is worth checking out if you are an Architects fan, just don’t go into it with much of a high expectation.

Strong 6/10

The up and coming UK artist slowthai showed a lot of promise with his 2019 album „Nothing Great About Brittain“, where he showed a nice contrast between absolute bangers and the more introspective cuts – though here on this new album he decided to split the two into two seperate CDs. How did it work out?

Well I guess it’s safe to say by now that slowthai basically never misses with his album releases, or at least rarely – TYRON is again your whole slowthai package, though the two CD format makes for a few intresting changes. Firstly right of the back it’s pretty safe to say that the second half significantly out-shines the first one, to the point where it can be sort of distracting – the first half is by no means bad, but the somewhat decent collection of trap bangers just doesn’t live up to the introspective side of things on the second disk – even the production takes a major step-up. There are of course high-lights on both sides, such as „CANCELLED“ on the first one with it’s string arranged psychedelic production, weird yet captivating swith ups and the guest star of the show Skepta, who absolutely murders his verse, to the point where slothai’s verse doesn’t hit as hard as it could’ve and „nhs“ on the other half of this album, with it’s weird high-pitched chorus, very sad and moody piano chords accompanied by a trap beat and slowthai’s introspective lyricism, taking a deep look at our current state of society. But the real highlights are really mostly scattered throughout the second disk, exceptions on the first one being „MAZZA“, though mostly for ASAP Rocky’s appearance on the track and „PLAY WITH FIRE“, whitch is the closing track of of the first half and the dark switch up by the end of the song really sets the mood for the second disk – the rest of the first disk are all basically perfectly acceptable trap bangers with a cool bar here and there or a more psychadelic beat, but that’s about it. The first song „i tried“ of the second disk immidiately picks things up though and you can just hear the quality gap between the two sides instantly – it is also I believe the only song on the album to use real drums throughout it’s whole runtime and the funky guitar in the background combined with the whole aesthethic of the track is a nice touch. Then there is the mezmerizing „focus“, which has this amazing female vocal line incorporated in the beat, it really ads so much flavour to the song. The following „terms“ is a 3 minute collaboration track with Dominic Fike and Denzel Curry and yeah, it’s basically as good as that collaboration could’v been – the beat is very soothing but nothing out of the ordinary, but the guest verses and the sung hook on this one are really what sells it. The accoustic ballad „push“ is actually one of my favorites here, I love how this track uses space with spacy and faint vocals in the background aswell as some kind of post-rockish guitars at places, it’s just really well orcheastrated, even though the beat is kind of bland – also the female singer fits this song so well, it’s insane. The second to last song „feel away“ is another collaboration track though this one’s more somber and melodic, with some great production value and appearances from James Blake and Mount Kimbie, that only add to the track’s lush production. The closer „adhd“ is a rather depressing ending, reminds me off something that could’ve easily landed on the „Some Rap Songs“ album by Earl Sweatshirt – slowthai talks about his depressive state on this one, really going all out in the second half, bordering with emo rap, though in a good way – it’s a reall powerful and emotional send off to this album.

So there you have it, the brand new album from one of the most promising voice in modern music and it’s pretty good, not gonna lie, thought this was a pretty enjoyable listen through and through, even through the pretty obious quality gap on the two discs, I still found some enjoyment from both of them – but if anything, this is another win for slowthai, really pushing the boundaries of what he is capable of, even though it in my opinnion doesn’t quite live up to his previous studio effort.

Light 8/10

I’m gonna be honest here for a second, I was kind of a sucker for Hayley’s last project „Pedals For Armor“, where she experimented with more electronic and funk elements and it overall made for a pretty messy yet enjoable collection of songs – but with this new record over here, I had kind of a hard time getting into it, beacuse of the different sound palate this album is obviously going for – I gave it like listens but nothing ws clicking with me – one time I even fell asleep by like the third song and woke by the end of the album. But yesterday I gave it a patient, uninterupted listen and it finally clicked – this album has actually much more going for it, the it may sound, it’s just not as immidiate as Petals was.

Right of the back, the mood is set with the opener „First Thing To Go“, which is a somber song with some gentle guitar plucks and a piano lead that works its way in in the second half – it’s a really nice way to show off the sound this album is going for. The second track „My Libm“ showcases more of the same, with a more psychedelic chorus and actual drums, which are a rarity on this album, most of the song being just soulely accoustic ballads. Though „Asystole“ is another song to break the formula with more detailed and textured instrumental and beautiful melodies – i adds more variety in the tracklisting. Now from this point on, the tracklist gets a little stale after a while – as I said, this album doesn’t have much else going for it than the gentle plucking at you heart strings accoustic ballads, so it gets kind of unintresting after a while. Some exceptions to this include „KYRH“ standing for „Keep You Right Here“, which switches things up, but not by much, instead of a regular accoustic guitar ballad you get a piano-centred ballad – execution is different, but the outcome is the same. Now I’m not saying any of these songs are not made from a genuine place of love and have no artistic depth to them, they certainly have, but it’s all very personal, as Hayley sings about her past relationship expiriences and I personally just don’t relate to much of anything here. Also the tracklisting uses a fair ammount of ambience to fill in the void that surrouds many of the songs here and it works fairly well, great examples being „Good Grief“ and „HYD“. I also thought the song „Over Those Hills“ deserves a mention as it is one of the most, if not the most, instrumentaly rich song here – it starts off basically like any other song here, but slowly builds tention throughout until finally exploding in the final third – the sharp drums and electric guitar are a breath of fresh air. The second to last track „Descansos“ is purely an instrumental ambient piece, with Hayley’s distant background vocals giving the track a really chilling atmosphere. Now I guess the closer „Just a Lover“ does tie things up together pretty well lyrically and even instrumentally as the track offers more much needed instrument variety again. Overall nothing groundbreaking but a great closer nonethenless.

So yeah, there just isn’t much to be said about this project really – it obviously comes from a very personal place and I can appriciate that, but I just don’t stay invested in this feeling all the way through and the album is kind of all over the place – still a nice little release from Hayley, definetly an easier and more easy-going listen then her debut LP, but not much more enjoyable.

Decent 6/10

After a long wait, the debut album from the UK collective Black Country, New Road finally arrived and I gotta say, it’s everything any of us could’ve wanted from it – like serioulsy, who debuts like that?? Anyways this album is only 6 songs long, all of them ranging from 4 to 10 minutes in length, this makes for a pretty cohesive listen.

The record opens up with „Instrumental“ which to everyone’s surprise is an instrumental piece and also the only song on the album without any words sung – it’s a weird yet fitting choice for the opener to this album. The keys are instantly catchy and the groove pretty much irresistible, with some booming haunting melodies and grandious horns in the second half of the track, where the instrumentation just builds until it explodes like an atomic bomb – it serves well as a preparation to what’s ahead of you. The record only gets better from here with songs like „Athens, France“, which is where we are introduced to our protagonist and the song really mathces the tone with that, there is a sense of mystery and temptation, as the track is also not as immidate as the previous one – it takes time with it’s pacing and it moves rather slowly – the pay off in this one is more emotional then anything, the later half is really what sells it. Then we get the very story-driven „Science Fair“, which picks the pace up instantly with again, slowly but surely building instrumentation and exploding like halfway through with some insane horns added in adding a layer of insanity – it’s a really powerful moment in the tracklist, much like every other track. The 10-minute long „Sunglasses“ was one of the teaser tracks released before the album’s release, but that single version was completely scrapped and re-done from the ground – some may prefere the original one, and I completely get why, but this one really fits the tone of the album better, really being the centrepiece of this whole thing. The phases this song goes through are absolutely nuts, from the more melancholic and melodic start to the sheer insanity that is the second part – the horns, the guitars, the drums, everything just blends so well into this magnififcent larger-then-life expirience. Then comes the much neede slow down with the song „Track-X“, which is one of the more lo-fo tracks on the album, also serving as one of the albums most beautiful moments – the strings are what really sells this one, as well as the vocal harmonizing, but it’s really the whole package to be honest. And then we get the closer, the literal „Opus“, which is as good as an ending for this thing could’ve turned out. This is essentially the best parts of this album compressed into one song with the addition of even more horns, even more beautiful melodies and possibly the biggest climax of them all.

So yeah, there could definetly be found more to be said about this beautiful piece of work, but honestly no words can really describe the feeling I get when listening to this – just do yourself a favor and listen to this thing, you defintely won’t regret it. SO FAR my aoty.

Decent 9/10

Now here it is, brand new year and a brand new album from the infamous band Weezer, which I have very… Mixed feeling about, or at least I had before going into this album. Essentially at first I just found the band to be generic uninspired run of the mill rock music, for people who have never in their live even talked to a girl. But I think I finally got Weezer’s appeal with this album and it even allowed me to look back on some of their older material and appricate the band’s sound a little bit more. But the ultimate question we’re all asking, is this new album over here any good?

And right off the back I have a simple answer to that question – yes, that is very much the case here. It isn’t anything ground-breaking or never done before, but it is just a damn solid rock album with a giant orchestral twist through the whole album this time around. This causes the sound of this thing to be incredibly easy-going, larger then life and most of all human, as the title souggets. It also makes for some of the most beautiful and gut-punching moments in the band’s entire catalog, like the song „Mirror Image“, which could be essentialy discredited as an interlude, but the giant walls of strings and the heart- wrenching lyrics legitemately are enough to make me cry – my only complaint about this track is, that I just wished it was longer honestly. Then we also have the single released prior to the album „All My Favorite Songs“, which was the first indicator of the sound the band would be taking with this new project and it was honestly a perfect choice for the first single – the instant catchiness and easy-goingness contrast really well with River’s passionate vocals and it just makes for a fitting opener. Then we get the song „Aloo Gobi“, which runs pretty similarly to the last track with more emphasis on the strings this time. The chorus is also very passionately sung and the „You are not alone“ bridge really makes the song feel like an completely expirience of a song by the end of it. Some other stand-out track include the beautiful „Numbers“ with some insanely beautiful vocal lines from River on the chorus, honestly a contender for one of my favorites on here. The mysterious „Playing My Piano“ is surprisingly enough centred around a piano line that hits around the chorus, which really gives the song a sense of mystery and wonder, it’s a really nice touch, even though the lyrics on this one aren’t as mind-blowing on the first verse. „Screens“ is another quick one, that has more guitar incorporation in it and it honestly just feels kind of repetetive by this point in the album, not a bad track, though there isn’t much else to be said about it. The following „Bird With a Broken Wing“ fortunately picks things up a bit and is actually one of the emotional high-points on this album, realy just a goergous track through and through. „Here Comes The Rain“, as the title suggests, is an obvious The Beattles tribute and a very well done one at that – it also serves as a very much needed positive break point on the album, considering much of the album is otherwise kind of moody and dreamy. The track has this very sunshine-like energy to it with these instant catchy piano chords, that then smoothly lead into the orchestral instrumentation that finnishes the track off. The closer „La Brea Tar Pits“ is like a more grand version of Aloo Gobi, not only with the weird name incorporation again, but with the overall tone of the song, they really feel like two parts of the same song and it manages to close of the album fairly well.

So yeah, I actually enjoyed a Weezer album in 2021, crazy times we live in, right? No, but now for real, I really see this as an accoplishment in the band’s catalog and the band themselves should also see this as something to be very proud of. I can see how this may come off as sort of boring to some people, as this is the criticism I encountered most of the times doing my research for this album, but to me, that very much isn’t the case – just listen to the music, pay attention to what is being said and let the overall vibe of this album consume you, then you’ll get what I mean.

light 8/10

So here it finally is, the tenth studio album by the American rockers „Foo Fighters“ is finally here and I gotta say, I haven’t been this confused about an album in a while. On one hand, it’s easily their most experimental and groovy record thus far, but then here I am on the other hand wondering, if that is really a good thing.

So yeah, this album is very much a „hit-or-miss“ kind of expirience. The singles released prior to the album’s release all left me with very mixed feelings and after hearing the whole album, that still hasn’t changed much. To kind of take it track-by-track, we have the radio-ready opener „Making A Fire“, which really is more of a spark then a whole fire – the song immidiately screams car comercial music, though not entirely in a bad way, we have seen much more miserable attempts at making such music in recent memory *cough* Green Day *cough*. One saving grace this song has is it’s instant catchiness and also that, that at the end of the day, it still feels remarkably Foo Fighters, no matter how poppy it sounds. The following track „Shame Shame“ was also the first released single for this album and wow, what a weird choice for a first single – it is easily one of the Foo Fighters most disjointed songs to date, with the weird beat incorporating handclaps and other weird percussion elements, the kind of rough around the edges groove and the overly repetetive chorus – it comes of kind of pretentious, even though the strings that are added in on the chorus are quite a nice touch. The following „Cloudspotter“ is easily one of the worst songs here and there are many reasons to that, but in the end it boils down to two things – one being the at places just AWFUL lyrics and the extremely cheezy chorus, that I legitimately can’t handle. „Waiting On A War“ thankfully picks things up a bit, as it is easily my favorite single released prior to this thing, it’s just this nice introspective accoustic ballad with an instrumental build up and freak out at the end – there is just this anthemic atmosphere going through out and it serves as a much needed break in the album. Following that is probably the grooviest song on the album, the title track „Medicine at Midnight“ which is actually also one of my favorites here – it has this nice lushes instrumental with some funky guitars and weird beat switch-ups and these haunting background vocals, it just comes full circle pretty well. The third and final single released from this „No Son Of Mine“ is probably the heaviest of the three and has this arena stadium feel to it, while still not going full Imagine Dragons – it is also one of the more instant songs on the album, but unfortunately it’s charm quickly weares off. The song „Holding Poison“ is probably the most „old-school Foo Fighters“ song on here, with the addition of some nice synths and an epic guitar solo halfway through, it honestly is like the whole package of a song. The album looses it’s track again though on the following „Chasing Birds“, which is another contester for the worst song on this album for me, it just feels pretty bland and uninspired, the subject matter is really portraited in an non-specific way and it’s just all over the place. The closing track „Love Dies Young“ thankfully ends thing on a high-note with some heavy riffs, Dave Grohl’s iconic rasper vocals and an anthemic tone, it serves as a great closer to this album.

So yeah, the new Foo Fighters, it’s uh… Alright, I guess? Look, I’m gonna be completely transparent here, this was kind of a disapointment for me. Foo Fighters is a band I hold very dear to my heart, so there obviously is a bit of bias for me, but through and through, this is just a mediocre effort from the band – there are some highlights, for sure, I can praise this record for having a ton of variety compared to the rest of the band’s catalog, but that being said, it doesn’t make it an overall statisfying listen. Still, if you haven’t listened to it, then please give it a go, your opinnion may very much differ from mine’s and you may find much more enjoyment out of it then I did.

Strong 5/10