Viagra Boys – Cave World
What an absurdly fun album. Every single song (besides a few minor duds such as „Big Boy“ which I’ll be the first to admit does kind of overstay it’s welcome) hits hard in it’s own unique way but it all manages to stay consistent and cohesive. This album seriously has one of the most colorful sound pallets of any album I’ve heard this year, it’s like you can see the sounds this thing is throwing at you. Also honestly, find me an album from this year which sounds more exactly like it’s album cover.
Light 9/10
black midi – Hellfire
Oh yeah this is a big one alright. Truly and honestly this has to be one of the most insane musical experiences I’ve had this year. I don’t know if this is a hot take or nah but this just may be my favorite album of theirs – I just feel like it’s their most realized album to date and it packs one hell (pun intended) of a punch. Go listen to „Sugar/Tzu“ to see what I mean.
Decent 9/10
Post Malone – Twelve Carat Toothcare
*sigh* now that we got the good albums out of the way… Posty PLEASE tell me what the hell happened here. Like seriously, I feel like I’m in the minority when I say I loved the frick out of Beerbongs & Bentleys, but even the people who weren’t crazy about that album have to agree that this is still a significant drop in quality. Like man, there isn’t A SINGLE SONG on the same level as ANYTHING of of that album, it’s just a miss after miss after miss. Oh what’s that, a song sounds actually promising? Nevermind the lyrics are trash. What’s this, the melody on this one kind of sticks? Yeah too bad the verses are insufferable. It’s just a big giant huge big mess and I seriously will probably never return to any of these songs.
Strong 2/10
Drake – Honestly, Nevermind
*insert obvious joke here*
Light 3/10 (i guess, I seriously don’t remember a thing from this)
Muse – Will Of The People
Sheesh, really continuing the streak of bad albums here huh… I mean I’ll say one thing this definitely seems like an improvement over Simulation Theory however that means absolutely nothing since it’s still the same garbage Muse has been feeding us for over more than a decade now and I’m seriously starting to get sick of it. I mean I just today listened to Origin Of Symetry just for a comparison point and what a fell from grace this band experienced, because you know what that album isn’t? Absolutely pretentious car commercial music that’s what. That being said there are some highlights such as „Kill Or Be Killed“ or the kind of guilty pleasure „Verona“ but besides that… Look I’m just tired of ranting about this, let’s move on.
Decent 3/10
Beyoncé – RENAISSANCE
Drake should fricking take notes, all I’m gonna say.
Strong 7/10
JID – The Forever Story
I… am kind of speechless? Like HOLY- this is the rap aoty and if you disagree your opinion is objectively wrong (/jk). But maaan does JID bring his absolute A-game here, I was in complete shock the whole album, because he just keeps setting the bar higher and higher and always keeps surpassing it, it’s honestly brilliant. My only complaint is the pacing gets a little too slow for my liking in the middle but that’s honestly more of a nitpick than anything.
Decent 9/10
Machine Head – ØF KINGDOM AND CRØWN
Funnily enough this is my father’s favorite childhood band and I gotta say, dad’s got some taste alright. If you’re looking for some good metal music this year then look no further than here.
Strong 7/10
Panic! at the Disco – Viva Las Vengeance
This feels like Brendon trying to appeal to his original audience with this Vices and Virtues-esk sound and it failing to appeal to not only them but literally everyone. It’s like copy and paste of the title track 12 different times each time in a new awful way. That is also the only track from this album that I genuinely remember.
Decent 2/10