Music Reviews

So here it is, after a tremendous ammount of waiting we finally arrive at the new Twenty One Pilots a highly anticipated follow-up to their critically aclaimed magnum opus „Trench“ – on Trench the group proved that they were more then your average pop music duo, experimenting with variety of sounds and styles, with very statisfying results, yet they still managed to keep their signature sound through all of it. Now here we are, Scaled and Icy, it’s fresh, exciting and most important of all, super disapointing – here is why.

So breaking this track by track we have quite a lot to unpack here and let me tell you, this thing is like the definition of a mixbag – the record starts with the low-key charming Beatles inspired ballad „Good Day“ which is an okay mood-setter. Off the back it’s very piano-driven, very tame with some occasionally cheezy but otherwise introspective lyrics talking about a hypothethical scenario, where Tyler looses everything in his life, from his wife and children to his music career, just all gone – the cheery sound compliments the depressing lyric quite well actually. The follow-up „Choker“ aslo the second single released prior to this thing is the first red flag that got me a bit worried going into this album – the souund clearly takes inspiration from their Vessel roots, the synths are kind of cute and the weirly mixed drums actually grew on me a bit, but I just can’t get past the chorus on this thing and ESPECIALLY the final rap verse at the last leg, that really makes me physically cringe, it really gets on my nerves. Now the first single „Shy Away“ is actually one of the best if not THE best song on the album – the clever synth-driven beat with the sharp drumming and the kind of 80’s inspired sound really works in the song’s favour. Now so far the album is okay, but just suffers from one critical flaw, which is how poppy it sounds – this album just takes NO risks whatsoever and rather then an evolution from Trench it feels like some cheap radio-friendly knockoff of that album. This also carries to the next song „The Outside“, which I found insultingly boring at first, but if I’m being completely honest, it grew on me a little – the rapping here is also substantionally better compared to like let’s say Choker – it’s justt kind of a funky vibe. Which is also something that can be said about the next song „Saturday“, the instrumentation is really what saves this one, beacuse the chorus is legitemately horrible. I also really like the pre-chorus on this one, it sounds really nice to the ears. It’s not bad, but neither is ait all that good, it’s just kind of there, whatever. „Never Take It“ is like Choker part two, with the weird mixing and more sellout sounds, like the handclaps. There are SOME cool ides but just burried under this awful mix and commercial sound that just starts to get a bit tiring by this point in the album. „Malberry street“ is one of those songs that you just completely forget every note from once the song ends, I can’t recall anything from this, all I know is that it sounds exactly like it’s title – make of that whatever you want. „Formidable“ more like FORGETABLE amirite? No but to be honest, this song is one of the more better sounding of this whole thing, it’s just kind of a charming guitar ballad with a nice laid-back summer vibe and some actually pretty cool guitar passages, but as everything so far in the second half of this album, it just gets stale after a while. „Bounce Man“ is literally so horrible I can’t even begin to tell you why – first of all the awful ukulele intro gives me severe PTSD and it somehow actually gets worse from there – the song is just a fricking mess, that’s what it is. This is three minuts of my time I’m never getting back, oh my lord… Anyways the band kinda saved the best for last with the both barely tolerable „No Chances“ and „Redecorate“ which the former of the two makes me so damn mad, because there is just so much potential to this song and yet it wastes almost every single bit of it – it’s just all over the place, when it should have been the biggest banger in the world. The closer is the more statisfying of the two with some legitemately beautiful guitar plucks that almost make up for some of the weirdly mixed backing vocals – I gotta say though, this song really is a grower and quite a nice finnish to this album.

This thing really is a front-loaded snooze fest with some cool ideas saved for last, but that doesn’t excuse the painfully average part in the middle. Also the mixing throughout the whole album is just so… Cheap and skeletal, I just don’t get it, what happened Tyler? It’s still istenable though, I’m not mad at this, just very disapointed.

Light 5/10

So, I never really got the hype around Porter Robinson – funny enough, I was actually introduced to him through his not as critically aclaimed EP „Spitfire“ which I was very conflicted on – there were few key tracks I reall dug, but besides that there wasn’t much of anything that really stood out to me. His first full length LP „Worlds“ is a different story though – it was a much more cohesive and enjoyable record overall, but still, even there, something just wasn’t clicking – I absolutely adore some of the cuts of of there, but the whole project didn’t do it for me nearly as much as it di for others. Now here we are, in the present day, with Robinson’s second full length LP „Nurture“ and this may be my low expectations going into this, but Jesus, this is the most cohesive, mature and fully-realised Robinson has EVER sounded on a full-length project.

Now let’s break this track by track, there is really a lot to unpack here. For starters the opener „Lifelike“ doesn’t even feel like a Porter Robinson, more like some sort of critically aclaimed post-rock outfit, really a beautiful collage of sounds and strings. The way it tranisitions into „Look a the Sky is also just mind-blowing, almost as much as the song itself, beacuse this is easily some of the best synthpop I have heard in a very long time – one of my favorite songs of the year by a long shot. „Get You Wish“ follows on the same formula as the last song with more piano-driven beat, it feels much more natural (or should I say nurtural? Okay, I’ll see myself out now…), which is a very weird thing to say about Porter Robinon’s music, considering how electronic and robotic it usually sounds – this album is really just a hybrid of these two sides and it just clashes together in this beautiful mix of sounds and colours. The song „Wind Tempos“ takes a much more ambient approach with it’s sound, sort of like a really long-winded (get it) interlude, that transitions smoothly into „Musician“, a song with a much more Porter Robinsons sound then what we have been shown so far, but still with a few minor twists on it – it’s really glitchy, glossy and light-hearted, like a heartfelt hug from a robot. The song „do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do“ starts of as a more mellow, more guitar-driven tracks, that quickly reveals it’s true collors with once again more glitchy production, insane walls of keys and whatever else is burried in the mix and it all just manages to work somehow. The highlight of the song „Mother“ really is the subject matter and the lyrics, more then the sound of the song itself – Porter here expresses his love for not only his mother, but for both of his parents, it’s really the emotional highlight of the album. Now the song, if you can even call it that, „dullscytche“, is a really all over the place instrumental, that only finds it’s path towards the end of the song, it’s and intresting blend of sounds – the first half almost sounds like a leftover out of an „Igorrr“ project, for some reason. The song this interlude of sorts tranistions into „Sweet Time“ is a really heartfelt ballad, that just makes my eyes wet everytime it comes on, the lyrics and the way they are delivered are really what sells me on this one – it doesn’t have to be crazy experimental for it to hit hard. Now around this point in the album I sometimes get the feeling the songs are just sort of repeating themselves – „Mirror“ is structually and also sound-wise basically an almost identical copy of Get Your Wish. That doesn’t make it a bad song, but it just doesn’t bring anything new to the table. The song „Something Comforting“ really lives up to it’s name, it’s probably also one of the most epic songs on here, it’s really an ear-hug, a really anthemic one at that. The way the drop just kicks in is out of this world (which is fitting, because it also sounds like something straight out of Robinson’s last album Worlds). The follow-up „Blossom“ is possibly the most nature-sounding song on this whole album, just a nice little guitar ballad, that serves as a nice breath of fresh air before the final leg of the album, not much else to say about it. Now the song „Unfold“ picks the intensity up again to the maximum with a much more anthemic sound. The drums sound really crisp and the bridge is something straight out of a Kanye album, before the final explosion that just blows most of the drops on „Worlds“ out of water. The closer „Trying to Feel Alive“ really sums up the whole feel this album is going for – just trying to feel anything in the emptiness that surrounds us in these difficult times, it screams like a sign of hope, that there are better times ahead of us.

So from the reception this has been getting so far, I feel like people are just not listening to this the right way – instead of focusing on individual tracks, try to listen to this as one whole cohesive expirience, then it all just comes full circle and suddenly makes sense, even if the sound is not necessarily for you, please at least give it a shot, it’s a really comforting and anthemic album that just fills me up with hope everytime I listen to it.

Light 8/10

The best boyband since One Direction is back, better then ever – if you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, BROCKHAMPTON is an universally aclaimed hip hop collective from Texas that has made their fame of off the currently-sitting-at-legendary-status „SATURATION mixtapes“. Ever since the unfortunate departure of the past member of the band Ameer Vann BROCKHAMPTON were trying their best to find their voice again, with the harsh and abrasive sounds of „iridescence“ or with the more intimate and delicate sounds of „GINGER“. Both these records showcased a very different approach for BROCKHAMPTON and now after a 2 year hiatus, I can safely say that they menaged to strike the perfect balance between these two.

The album kicks off with the raging banger that is „BUZZCUTTER“ featuring the man himself Danny Brown, which honestly speaks for itself – the song just speaks for itself. The follow-up „CHAIN ON“ is a song we did get a slight taste of previously, but now in the context of the album, it sounds much more complete – the sound is heavy, JPEGMAFIA does his thing and even though the beat might get a little tiring after three minutes of just that, I think what really sells this track is the performances – everyone on here just absolutely kills their part. Now the track „COUNT ON ME“ is probably my least favorite cut here – doesn’t mean it’s bad or anything, it’s just that comparing this to the rest of the album, it has the weakest performance out of any song on here – the whistle driven beat sounds intresting at first, but I just feel like they don’t do much with it, after a while it just kind of gets in the background – the vocal melodies are a nice touch, though really nothing extraordinary, just an okay tune. Now from here thing get a little bit more… All over the place. The next song „BANKROLL“ is another banger featuring ASAP Rocky and ASAP Ferg, whose both contribrutions to the song are undeniable – the beat is very mellow whichin a weird way compliments the more agressive delivery on this song. Now „THE LIGHT“ is easily the biggest emotional gutpunch out of anything here – for once the instrumentation itself is just heavy, dark, guittar-driven and it just absolutely slaps, the beat is just nasty – but thst itself doesn’t make this song good, what really sells this one are the lyrics and they are… Off the chains if you will. Joba talks about his expirience with his father’s suicide in a really open and brutal way, it’s really just too much. The song „WINDOWS“ being the longest song on here in 6 minutes actually managed to keep my attention throughout the whole thing (mainly because it’s placed right after THE LIGHT, but that’s besides the point) and once again, it’s a killer track – from here on though, the song start to branch out into more experimental territory. The song „TAKE YOU ON“ is just this earhug of a song, just 4 minutes of pure musical bliss – it’s really sweet, it’s dancable, it’s groovy and it has Charlie Wilson on it, really the whole package. „OLD NEWS“ follows a similar formula, except this time it goes into more hip/hop driven direction, not much to say about this one to be honest, it works just fine. „WHAT’S THE OCCSASION?“ however is a grand rock-driven tune with just and amazing last chorus where all the instruments just go absolutely nuts, it’s super catchy, super anthemic, one could even say larger than life, definetly one of my favorites here. „WHEN I BALL“ comes again with this more hip-hop sound majority of this album is going for, but this time it’s more light-hearted – there are string that go throughout the whole song, little piano passages that add a nice flavour to the track, it’s just really easy-going, down to earth and fun to listen. Now the next track „DON’T SHOOT UP THE PARTY“ is only one of those things and that is fun as hell to listen to – this song is an absolute banger, not only on this album, but one of the best ones the group has ever put together. Everything about this song just works, from the slow yet intense build up to the explosion into that west-coast beat that just absolutely slays to the dark yet again dancable bridge towards the end of the track – everyone here does their thing and they even get space for the instrumentation itself to shine, it just through and through works. Now the ending of this album is rather depressing, you have the minimal yet absolutely gorgeous interlude „DEAR LORD“ where all the band members just pray for Joba’s father it’s a really powerfull moment which lead beautifully into the last and final track „THE LIGHT PT. II“ and to be honest, the title kind of says it all – this is Joba saying goodbye to his father in the most heart-wrenching yet powerful way possible, I couldn’t imagine a world where this isn’t the closing track. The instrumenation surrounding it also is just so somber, so vivid, so just gentle and sweet, it’s enough to make full grown man cry.

So yeah, this has been the latest installment in BROCKHAMPTON’s discogrpahy, pretty neat one at that. Honestly I think this is the group just perfecting the blend of different sound they were attempting for the past few years and if there is one word I would describe this album with, it’s maturity, they’ve really come a long way and I can’t wait to see where they go next.

Strong 8/10

First of all, that was one hell of a title to write down, but I can gladly report that the music really fricking showed up for it. The legendary post-rock outfit are back better then ever and after a 4 year hiatus decides to drop a new full length LP with a brand new set of skull-crushing music and trust me when I say, that I’ll gladly have my skull crushed if this is what it would sounds like.

Now one thing you have to understand about Godspeed You! is that they make albums as one monumental larger-then-life expirience of a track, usually diving the tracklisting into four major segments. Now this album gives a little spin on this with the tracklisting still having four segments, but the first and the third one having the majority of the songs on here and the second and the final one being just singular songs, so expect me not to go that much in depth on those. But anyway, let’s start with the first bunch of tracks, shall we? If the first segment manages to prove something to me, it’s that they still fricking got it – I’ve been pretty mixed on the last few efforts in the band’s catalog, so hearing something like this again really reminded me why I love the band’s music so much in the first place. Essenitally the first segment consist of four major tracks each leading into the other and building on intensity until the inevitable explosion in the final leg – the musical pallete is as tasteful as ever, the instrumentals sound fresh, they sound dirty yet heavenly, they build like a giant wall of noise ready to swallow you and after the they fade in the second to last track, the last track is there to comfort you with there being no instruments, just the sounds of the birds singing, before the second segment kicks in. Now the second segment is purely just one song that focuses on more the atmospheric side of things, after the pure musical equivalent of torture that is the first segment. But even though it’s not as grand nor as explosive as the first segment, it still remains one of my favorite segments here. The distant marching drums with the dusty and atmospheric strings just add so much to the track, it really prepares you for what’s to come next. The third segment is something else, that really is the full package you came to love from the band over the years, the two songs alone are enough to make a full-grown man cry, truly the definition of hope. I was genuinely holding tears back by the end of it, the unease and despair that follows you throughout the first song that evolves into this beam of hope is just magical. It uses already familiar sounds and instruments to create something beautiful and at the end of the day that’s what I love the most about the band’s music – turning despair into hope and this segment is the embodiment of that. The final segment or song, however you wanna look at it, serves as a nice conclusion to the album, being a slow-burn fade out with noisy instrumentation wrapped in an orchestral accompaniment. After a few minutes of that the song, again, end on a hopeful orchestral note and the album ends.

Sometimes, an album just doesn’t need words to portray a feeling or even many complex emotions – sometimes the instrumentation speaks louder then words and this is definetly one of those instances. Because of that there really isn’t a way for me to explain with words the true musicalship this album achieves, so you’ll just have to take my word for it, this album really is larger then life, definetly one of the band’s greater accomplishments.

Strong 8/10

So I’m gonna keep this sweet and short, sort of like the EP itself. This little project from the phenomenon known as ECCO2K is definetly his most abstract and adventurous yet. Instead of his usual ambient production, ECCO2K uses more abrasive approach to things here with the usage of electric guitars, walls of insane synths and sounds and even dabbles into noise music on the last track here. It’s a really weird yet captivating mixture of sounds that definetly showcases ECCO2K’s, in my opinion, not fully realised potential.

The EP consists of 5 tracks, one weirder and more abstract then the other – first we have the opener PXE which is barely a song, just a mixture of random sounds and sound effects, a somewhat haunting mixture in that. The follow-up „In The Flesh“ is the most truly ECCO2K song on here, but even that uses some really tasteful electric guitars and a really creative 8-bit beat, when it all clashes together in the last leg of the track, it really comes full circle. The song „Jalouse“ goes further down the rabbit hole with more accoustic approach to things with noise freak outs placed throughout the track. „NO***’s Song“ is indeed a song, or at least I think it is – by this point in the album I forgot what actual music sounds like. Still, the song showcases more of the same insanity the first track presented with more rhyme and reason to it this time around. The closer „Big Air“, which is also the longest song on here (that doesn’t say much, considering it’s still just 3 minutes long) is a harsh noisy ballad with some really smooth almost magical electronic keys in the background – it helps to distract you from the fact that the rest of the instrumentation sounds like a tortured vaccum cleaner. Still probably my favorite song on here, if you can even call it that.

So uh, I have no idea what have I just listened to and neither do you, so don’t even pretend like you do. Still I found this to be a very exciting and for lack of a better word intresting project, definetly check it out if you haven’t already, I’m really hyped up to see this new sound fully realised on a new project from ECCO2K.

Light 7/10

So yeah, the white cornball eminem clone NF is back with a brand new… Mixtape? I honestly have no clue why this is branded as a mixtape, considering it has the length of most full length LPs, but whatever. The only important question is, is the music here good? And well, that question has many answers.

For once the opener „CLOUDS“ (yes, this is one of the albums where every letter of every song is capital) is actually one of NF’s more fulfilling songs. The typical orchestral instrumentation really works here, complimenting the occasional cringy but still somewhat introspective lyrics. The follow-up „THAT’S A JOKE“ drops the bar a bit, with the really akward sound effects and fast rapping segment in the middle – I mean that at least sounds somewhat cool, but do you really expect me to pay attention to what he’s saying in the middle of that? NF is one of those „real rappers“ that just for the love of god can’t balance fast rapping with substance and it shows. Still, the song isn’t awful or anything, mostly just gets burried by the other like 4 songs that sound the EXACT same here, no big deal. One thing I’ll give NF on this album, he sounds really confident with his delivery – that makes some of the more unaberable lines, well, more berable. „JUST LIKE YOU“ has this really weird inflection on NF’s voice, sounds like a cheap Tyler Joseph rip-off and I’m also not really that crazy about the piano instrumentation on this one. NF also gets just absolutely burried, when the actual instrumentation kicks in. But once again, it’s not terrible, just a low point for me personally. „STORY“ is actually a nice change of pace and also probably the best song on this thing, kind of by a landslide. Like everything after this song just feels so stale compared to this – this is really peak NF. The story he portrays in this one is really captivating and the additional sound effects really make you feel like you are right there with him – it’s kind of insane. „PRIDEFUL“ is just your typical trap beat, with some pianos and orchestral instrumentation to smoothen things up. The instrumental is actually quite delicate, but NF attempts to go full Drake here and it, uh, sort of falls flat on it’s face. Still this is one of the more down-to-earth songs here and I appriciate that if nothing else. The second single released prior to this album „LOST“ with Hopsin out of all people is actually pretty good and not beacause of NF, but Hopsin really carries this track, like REALLY. Just an enjoyable song overall, if you can get past how melodramatic it all sounds. „LAYERS“ is also a low point for me – NF sounds really hungry here, but unfortunately that’s to his disantavantage on this one. The only thing saving this one is genuinely the beat switch transitioning in the second half, but there still isn’t anything ground-breaking about it, it’s just sort of okay. „DRIFITING“ is the emotional anthem of this album – NF again tries to go more melodical here and it actually kind of pans out for him. Once you get past the corniness of it all, it’s not even half as bad as it could be, especially the short freak out by the end of the song, it really comes full circle. One thing I’ll give NF credit for is that he really cares about these songs – even though it’s just a mixtape, it’s a mixtape of high quality, at least prouction-wise. „TRUST“ featuring Tech N9ne just exists. It’s not terrible, but just waay too melodramatical for me, especially by this point in the album, it’s just too much. The closer „PAID MY DUES“ also currently probably the biggest song on this album is alright – could’ve been better, but definetly could’ve been much worse. The flavoured trap beat actually reallz works in this context and the instrumentation surrounding it compliments it quite well. There is also the weird CLOUDS edit as the actual closer to this thing, which is literally the same song, just shorten up a bit, so me talking about it would be just repeating myself.

I haven’t been this split on an album in a while, I’ll tell you that much – the good songs here are usually really good, but the others are just sort of there to fill out space. The whole thing is just packed with high-class intricate production, that NF usually undersells. Still this is probably one of NF’s better releases, the highlights on this one are really high.

Strong 5/10

Alright, let’s make one thing clear first – this is definetly an improvement from last year’s „changes“, not a major one, but an improvement nonetheneless. Now that being said this thing is still bloated as hell – the songs that are legitemately good can be counted on the fingers of one hand and the rest is either filler non-songs or unexcusable utter garbage. Also we really live in a universe where a song „MLK interlude“ by JUSTIN FRICKING BIEBER is a real thing, so that’s fun.

So, taking this track by track would be a suicide mission considering I only remember like three or four songs MAX, so I’ll just name the songs that stood out to me in some way, wether good or bad. The first third of this album is just an absolute snooze fest and the only songs that I truly can recall are „Deserve You“ which is legitamtely a great pop anthem and obviously „Holy“ with Chance, the Rapper, whose appearance is somehow even less underwhelming then Justin’s – the song overall is just so hollow and devoid of any emotion, it’s insane. The rest of the songs are just sort of there, they exist for the sake of album filler. The production is in fact so just boring and plain, it’s borderline not even there. After the completely unnecessary MLK interlude I have already mentioned, the tracklisting starts to gain a little bit more life, but it’s barely noticable. „Die For You“ is your typical Justin Bieber love anthem as is basically the rest of this album, but this one at least has some kind of redeemable production? I don’t really know, by this point in the album, I’m really just starting to lose focus, it’s so bland it’s actually physically hurting. The bass on „Hold On“ is actually pretty cool, but has just no balls whatsoever as does the rest of the instrumentation. The album’s lyrics also suffer from something I call „The Big Day“ effect, meaning the majority of them being literally just about how much Justin loves his wife, which gets kind of tiring after the tenth song you hear about the EXACT SAME THING. They just all start to blend together into one giant radio-friendly hollow mixbag of nothingness, it’s like it was designed to be background music. „Peaches“ is a nice change of pace, the guitar work is really gorgeous and gentle and the drums add so much life to the mix, it’s just really nice to the ears. By this point I’m really strugling not just to find anything to critique, but just anything to talk about in general, beacuse this album is just so devoid of anything substantive – the most I can give it is that it’s just decent background music, with the occasional pop banger here and there. The instrumentation throughout most of the album is also very nice and lively, but again, nothing never done before or sophysticated. Also I have a soft spot for the songs „Loved By You“ and the single „Anyone“, both towards the end of the album – but it just doesn’t excuse the lack of anything in the middle of the album. This album just lacks any punch whatsoever.

There is literally just nothing else I can tell you about this project, there is just no meat on these songs. But unlike changes, it’s at least listenable this time around.

Light 4/10

So I have an extremely brave confession to make – AJR, their music, everything about them? I can’t stand them, not even one bit. So saying I was excited for this would be a flat out lie, but I was at least intrested to see where AJR would take their sound next – from the few singles dropped before the album, you could already hear a few improvements, so maybe AJR would stop absolutely sucking ass and start to make listenable music, right?

Well, that statement holds up to an extent – there is still an enormous ammount of overblown passages, that more often then not, just sound absolutely unexcusable and unlistenable. But this time around it’s actually mixed in with a few listanable passages and even whole songs?? Is this even still AJR we are talking about here? Well yes, they said it couldn’t be done but here we are – OK Orchestra sees AJR make their most consistent bunch of songs so far. Now there are still so manz things about this I can critique, but truly and honestly, my biggest complain this time around is definetly some of the one liners hidden in the lyrics – the politics on this album are sometimes just borderline enough for me to turn off the album (prime example being the song „3 O’Clock Things“). All of that is ballanced though, by the sound being way more richer and sounding like actual piece of music then on their previous efforts. To kind of take it track-by-track, we have the absolute mixbag that is „OK Overture“, which is like the definition of the word mixbag – there are some absolutely great passages on this song, burried beneath some absolute horrible ones, that make up for just one giant mess, that actually kind of works as an opener though. Nothing terrible, but nothing great either – one could say it’s just OK. Then the song „Bummerland“ is uh… Okay?? I guess?? The thing with AJR songs is that one never really knows how to feel about an okay-sounding song from them. Is it great? Hell no, not in you wildest dreams. Is it listenable? Well, yes, and that is kind of an accomplishment in of itself for AJR. Also by this point in the album, you start to take notice of the weird vocoder thing AJR has been experimenting with lately and well it’s not great, but at the same tame, it serves as kind of a breath of fresh air if I’m being honest. Now the song „My Play“ is, at least for me, actually one the songs that are just good. Yes, you heard me right – an AJR song that is legitemately good. There are a few things holding back from being actually just great, like some of the vocal lines and melodies, but the chorus on this song is legitemately one of the most statisfying and explosive things AJR has probably ever done. The follow up „Joe“ is a weird song, it uses beatboxing instead of actual percussion and mainly play-ground-like melodies on piano and sub-bass is also added on the chorus, but that’s pretty much it – it feels kind of rough and empty, though it’s not the worst thing in the world. The song „Adventure Is Out There“ uses some pretty impressive instrumentation at parts actually, especially the background guitar melodies are a nice touch, but overall it’s not the most impressive thing in the world, especially when you take into consideration some of the lyrics literally just being about socks. But at the end of the day, it is one of the more instrumentaly fulfilling songs on here, so I can look past that. What I CAN’T look past, is the absolute abomination of a song that is „BANG!“. The quality drop from the previous to this one is actually quite impressive – this song is just an unexcusable mess. Fortunately the next song „The Trick“ pickes up thing a bit, though not by much. The guitar plucking and orchestral instrumentation are legitemately beautiful, reminds of something Sufjan Stevens would do on „Carrie & Lowell“, which definetly was a huge inspiration for this one, though once again the song is plagued by some AJRisms, that just kill the vibe. The song „Ordinaryish People“ is so forgetable it’s actually painful. There literally isn’t anything I could tell you, I just finnished listening to it and I don’t recall a single passage or a note from this song, except the drum breakdown towards the end of the song, that was actually somewhat cool. „Humpty Dumpty“ is definetly a song, that’s for sure – though not a really good one. The instrumentation has some cool elements here and there, but the chorus instantly reminds me of something of „The Click“ – it’s just stomach-turning and giving me PTSD everytime I listen to it, which is a shame, because with a better chorus, this could’ve been one of the more enjoyable and, more importantly, listenable songs on this album. „World’s Smallest Violin“ just sounds like an accoustic Twenty One Pilots song with some extra trumpets added in – I’m sorry, but it just does. That being said, it’s not as insulting as some other songs here, so props to that. Now, the song „Way Less Sad“ is your typicall AJR formula, but done RIGHT. Once again it isn’t anything ground-breaking and on the surface sounds like something of of „The Click“, but it just for some reason sort of works. Not my favorite here, but at least it’s up there. Now we get to the closer „Christmas In June“ which is an OK (get it) way to close of the album. Definetly sums up the more mature, but still childish sound of this album pretty well. And the chorus is also catchy to an extent, so why the hell not, it’s a good vibe overall.

So I have done, I listened to a full 40+ minute AJR project without wanting to vomit more times then I can count on one hand – this definetly isn’t something I’ll be returning to, but it at least deserves some credit for being the most consistent and listenable thing AJR has done.

Decent 3/10

Alright so I listened to the whole EP about 4 times now (sounds cooler on paper considering the album is three songs and 12 minutes long) and I gotta say, this is EASILY the best thing Drake has been involved in since „If You’re Reading This…“ – like what the heck man, you just can’t drop this out of the blue and expect me not to lose my mind. It’s not even that there is much to talk about, the EP is literally just 3 songs, but all of these songs manage to prove one thing – Drake’s still got it.

Alright so let’s take this track-by-track, shouldn’t be too hard considering the album’s tracklisting, right? The album opens up with the kind of rough but charming „What’s Next“ featuring some heavy synths and what sounds almost like a „Whole Lotta Red“ type beat – Drake rides those typical flavoured trap beats with some cold confident flows and introspective lyricism that follows him throughout the whole EP. Drake also gives a little time to shine to the instrumental at the end, as he does with all the other songs on here – really shows you that he actually cares about what he’s doing here. The second song in the tracklist is the song „Wants adn Needs“ featuring Lil Baby, which sounds like an „Astroworld“ leftover, though in a good way – Lil Baby shows up almost immidiately after Drake’s few introductory lines and absolutely murders the beat, just absolute slaughter – Drake’s delivery is also purposefully a little off-key in again, it somehow manages to work pretty well. The closer „Lemmon Pepper Freestyle“ may actually be my favorite here, soulely beacause of the instrumental, which is actually just pure bliss to my ears and compliments Drake’s delivery insanely well – I’m just blown away by this point in the EP, this is actually just stunning.

Soo… Yeah, Drake’s new „album“, pretty good huh? I mean besides the fact that it’s literally just a collection of 3 songs, all of them bang better then the previous one – it all has a lot of replay value and depth, that even though it’s just 12 minutes long, there is still so much to go through and dig into. Overall just a great project, really giving me hope for the full album that hopefully drops this year.

Decent 8/10

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