My 2026 Exploration

I've been working hard on 2026 recently, and have been checking out at least one 2026 album a day, but often I have to go through some other albums by said artist before I do so, that way I can properly gauge the albums and the artist's growth.  So it's been a crazy adventure just to get a proper 2026 chart going, especially since a good chunk of the most well-recieved albums on the website are metal and I've been trying to branch out into a number of musical territories beyond just metal.  So this is gonna be the place where I post commentary and reviews on whatever 2026 album I'm checking out.

Here are my current top 

1. Boards of Canada - Inferno (IDM, Downtempo): 100

2. Gorillaz - The Mountain (Art Pop, Electropop, Neo-Psych): 97

3. Heavensouls - Westside Trapped (Jazz-Funk): 96

4. Pat Metheny - Side-Eye III+ (Jazz Fusion): 96

5. Hemlocke Springs - The Apple Tree Under the Sea (Synthpop, Dance-Pop): 96

6. Panopticon - Det hjemsøkte hjertet (Atmo-Black Metal, Post-Metal): 94

7. Jane Remover (Leroy) - Status Update Music (Dariacore, Hard Dance): 94

8. Jill Scott - To Whom This May Concern (Neo-Soul): 93

9. Hallas - Panorama (Prog Rock, Hard Rock): 92.5

10. Neurosis - An Undying Love for a Burning World (Sludge Metal, Atmo-Sludge Metal, Post-Metal): 92.5

11. friends& - Folx (Glitch Pop, Neo-Psych, Folktronica): 92.5

12. Converge - Love Is Not Enough (Metalcore): 92

13. Underscores - U (Electropop, EDM)L 92

14. Genesis Owusu - Redstar Wu & the Worldwide Scourge (Political Hip Hop, Neo-Soul, Rock): 92

15. Naked Flames - First Name Naked Second Name Flames (Outside House, Downtempo, Ambient Dub / Ambient Chillout): 91

16. Death's Dynamic Shround and Galen Tipton - Mobile Suit Gym Rat (EDM, Post-Club): 90.5

17. Immolation - Descent (Death Metal): 90

18. Damián Antón Ojeda (Letterstoyou) - ...Maybe Someday Became Today (Screamo): 90

19. By Storm: My Ghosts Go Ghost (Exp. Hip Hop, Electronic): 89

20. Inundaremos - Tanquemante (Chamber Pop, Indie Rock, Indie Folk): 88.5

21. Bruno Pernadas - unlikely, maybe (Jazz Fusion, Art Pop, Neo-Psych, Prog Pop): 87.5

22. CAVS - Sojourn (Jazz-Funk, Jazz Fusion): 87

23. Damián Antón Ojeda (Letterstoyou) - Moonlight (Emoviolence): 87

24. J McClendon (You Are an Angel) - It's Fine to Dream (Indie Rock, Emo-Pop (Alt-Rock, Pop Punk)): 86

25. Lip Critic - Theft World (Synth Punk, Digital Hardcore EDM, Industrial): 86

26. Slayyyter - Wor$t Girl in America (Electropop, Electroclash, Electro House): 86

27. The Lemon Twigs - Look for Your Mind! (Power Pop, Pop Rock, Psych Pop): 86

28. Nando Garcia - Lover Man (Indie Folk): 84

29. The Sidepieces - Darklight (Exp. Hip Hop, Southern Hip Hop, Glitch Hop, Epic Collage): 83.5

30. Sturgill Simpson (Johnny Blue Skies) - Mutiny After Midnight (Country Rock, Funk Rock): 83

First review:

Mild Sorrow Integrated (sueter7) - Todo salió bien en la sencilla Villa Quién

Genres: Indietronica, Indie Rock

Already familiar with the MSI works, I was a bit surprised to look this artist up on the RYM charts and find a new alias for a beloved new album.  It's already building up some love online.  I would've checked out the earlier seuter7 EP titled Diario, but since this is one of those "multiple alias" artists, I didn't really feel like that one EP would really prepare me for a whole new layer to explore, since this is the artist's first studio album under that name.  This album seems to musically be about bringing you through a journey into the complex yet simple and catchy world of modern indie's wonders, kind of like a tour.  The bulk of this is made up of the peppier side of indie, the kind of cutesiness you may expect to find in the power pop days of New Pornographers, but with some of that clever sophistication of those artsy Windmill Scene bands.  Throughout all the whimsy is a surprisingly progressive collection of layers that maintain simplicity alone while all going perfectly well together.  As a result of this, leading melodies and riffs may not be the most inventive, but there's plenty of creativity to go around, and a lot gets done even though they remain largely within indie constructs.  De Chungking a Mendoza and Miedos de Transporte are two of the best examples of how all these layers compliment each other.  In fact, I was having so much fun with this album that when I checked to see how long I got in the 9-minute closer, Todo Salio Bien, I was a full four minutes in but I thought it was only two and a half.  Yeahm, this refreshingly "springtime in the city" album was that breezy, and it really wasn't when the laws of nature are concerned.  Easily an album I would return to if I'm ever in an indietronica mood.

90, now my #18, between Immolation and Letterstoyou.

Static Dress - Injury Episode

Genres: Mall Screamo, Post-Hardcore

I'm totally new to "mall screamo," but it's basically just alternative screamo from what people are saying.  I went through their debut EP and first studio album first, loving how wild and nasty the EP was, and enjoying the debut album while acknowledging that some of the wild nature had been waned for a more typical sound.  Did this sophomore album being that back?  Only a little.  This album, like the others, shows that the band knows how to bring some brutality to the overused combination of emo and alt-rock and does so in a number of fiun and interesting ways.  The songwriting structures show nothing outreaching, but the energy pumps up each track, as well as some great if not sometimes wonderful usage of effects and riffs.  So, I'd say this third effort was better than the debut album, but not as good as the debut EP.

91, now my #16, between Naked Flames and Galen Tipton.

Today, after having gone over the Drake mixtapes and albums from start to finish over the course of more than a week (and in parts because there was only so much of later Drake I could digest at once), I'm going over the recent Drake trilogy, so I'll keep the reviews short.

1. Iceman

Genres: Pop Rap, Trap Rap

Seeing the time listed a 68 minutes, my initial thought was, "Is the only saving grace the fact that it's not 80 minutes?"  Seriously.  This guy writes way too many shit songs and not enough good ones, an unfortunate staple, maybe since before Scorpion.  But I wasn't entirely right about the saving grace bit.  Truth is, many of these songs had a little bit of personality.  The album in general wasn't "too quiet" like many of his albums since Views.  This might be made of softer soul-infused rap like usual, but even soft music has a pulse, and this album builds itself on pulses.  The instrumentation is really the saving grace, being miles ahead of many albums since, well, Views.  Of course, otherwise, it's still pretty typical Drake.  On top of that, it snot like Drake didn't already use many of these ideas before.  For the most part, if this came out in 2012, it would sound exactly the same.  So while this album is easy to tolerate, it shows no growth on Drake's part.

33

2. Habibti

Genres: Alt-R&B

Speaking of no pulse, OH MY FUCK.  Children's lullabies are more enjoyable than this lifeless collective of pseudo-ambient drivel posing as emotionally-driven art trying to understand the sadness of the hip hop audience while making it clear that everyone involved is bored to absolute tears.  There are only two half-decent songs on the album, and everything else sounds EXACTLY THE SAME, even 75% like the only two decent songs but without any redeeming qualities.  No attempt at melody, no hip hop spirit of the classic Drake kind and absolutely nothing to get you going.  It's the type of album going for emotion and carrying none of it.  Makes me think, "are you so depressed that you're not even trying anymore?"  Read my lips: TAX WRITE-OFF.  He didn't even try to do anything right on this.  He's worse about selling out than U2, and this lifeless zombie too tired to eat brains deserves to slink back into the grave, because even sad people have their coffee in the morning.  I never thought my least favorite Drake album would be one of his shorter ones, but he managed it... he managed it.

12

3. Maid of Honour

Genres: Pop Rap, Dance-Pop

Dance-Pop?  Does that mean this album has personality?  Well, the opener Hoe Phase certainly gave off that impression with its density.  Even halfway through the opener, it was Drake's most energetic release. :P  For the first few tracks, it seemed at least a little inventive, but a few tracks really didn't hit the mark.  One track even started out as lifeles as anything from Habibti before picking up and gaining two pulses halfway through.  But since Drake's never done a dance-pop album before, and he made at least a few good decisions on this one, I'd say this was a very good change in pace.  Unfortunately, some of his other songwriting tropes get in the way, sometimes way way too much.  But more experimentation over a shorter runtime helped a lot.

38

Kim Petras - Detour

Genres: Electropop, EDM

Kim Petras has been extremely up and down for me.  I like her more creative and/or unique efforts well enough, but hate the Slut Pop albums.  Those were mentally painful.  But slowly, she was improving her game until she released an extended play, Pretour, and a studio album that really focused on trying to break new ground.  Now, the ironic thing is, I don't think of any of these songs as unique.  But this album has an unpredictable side which is empowered by how short each track is, giving you a good number of fun twists while constantly maintaining Petras' signature attitude.  And lo and behold, the lyrics aren't as horny as her usual output.  This was much more tame in that way.  So while the album wasn't innovative, it was a very creative effort and easily Kinm's best outing yet.  Detour represents some real growth for Kim, and it actually makes me interested in what she'll do next.

76.5

Navy Blue - Sir Render

Genres: Abstract Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop, Drumless

If you want a more atmospheric hip hop album, you may wanna check out Navy Blue.  This new album of his is yet another example of how this soft voice drives the drumless and ambient textures.  In fact, this might be his best example of that.  Honestly, I'm not sure a hip hop album has ever relaxed me this much.  As well, there's yet another consistent set of contemplative bars that put some wonderful images in your head.  This album also offers something very unique to this catalog, and something you rarely hear in albums: narrations and audio clips of the late James Earl Jones.  That adds an extra layer of cool.  But there's a big problem with this album that's present in a number of Navy Blue releases: this songs aren't progressing.  Their beats don't evolve for the most part, most meaning 90% bare minimum.  So there's no sense of build up or shifting, and less surprises.  You'd think Navy Blue would've learned to do that by now, but he hasn't, so a few points are definitely being deducted.  Still, I really recommend this album for those who want something chill, but not instrumental.

85, My new #31, between Lemon Twigs and Nando Garcia.

Converge - Hum of Hurt

Genres: Metalcore, Post-Hardcore

Okay, what the hell is Converge doing with two albums this year?  And no, that's not a negative question.  I did NOT see the world's best and most consistent metalcore band releasing two albums this year.  And do I have any reason to assume it'll stink?  Hell, no.  And there's a big surprise with this one: it's slower, more focused on building metallic atmospheres and giving into the sludgy components rather than belting out the speed like on Jane Doe.  But the tone and their raw power have lost no potency.  Even on the speedier songs, like he title track and It Only Gets Worse, one must remember these guys were a leading player in mathcore, which means the slower pace seems less like mathcore and more like prog metal.  Along with the post-hardcore guitar tone, this album comes off as quite unique to the catalog despite the fact that the general Converge persona is once again whacking you with a giant studded frying pan.  And they still take their time to be just as artistic as they are chaotic.  Just look at I Won't Let You Go and its percussions.  Hell, Koller really gets to shine here.  That Neueoaia-atyle drumming on Dream Debris is just the coolest thing.  The vocals, however, do lose a LITTLE of their power, but that seems like an appropriate and deliberate choice since we're only talking about a couple months between albums here, and considering the post-hardcore tone, I think it's a great fit.  I would go as far as to day this was SLIGHTLY better than Love Is Not Enough because it successfully gives us a new direction for the band that's beautifully made and easy to get behind.

93, my new #9 between Jill Scott and Hallas.

Chalk Hands - The Line That Shapes the Coast of Us

Genres: Screamo

I was hoping for some very strong things for this band given the popularity and ratings.  However, the debut album did me no favors, acting exactly like any typical screamo album that came from the 90's.  To my relief, this album took a few extra directions to try and keep things new and going.  While the general sound of the band is still no different than thousands of imitators of the classic era, the violins are heavier and get more focus, the proggier construction gets some time to shine, and there seems to be a bit more anger and sadness overall.  The lyrics didn't do much for me, but it was an easy album to feel.  So, in short, I would call this the "high end of generic."

75

Oh Sees - Off Course

Genres: Psych Rock, Krautrock

But seriously, why did the opener take seven minutes to get to another interesting part?  Really, bad way to make an intro guys.  Still, it was a fun intro, and it set the standard for the rest of the album quite well.  But even though the intro was overlong, track 2 did SO much better at maintaining weirdness and mutation across the whole epic.  This is what Krautrock needs to be right here.  Easily my favorite Oh Sees track in my minimal experience.  It was like a funk rock band opened a wormhole of sound by reciting some ancient chant with wind chimes.  It's shit like this that made me a fan of experimental rock.  Thanks, Zappa!  Track three goes for mutation and repetition at the same time, but with more noise.  There's even an occasional electronic loud beep like a car honk pretending to be a metronome, and this might be a little grating if the listener thinks it goes on too long.  Otherwise, there are variations of this type of composition throughout that are much less annoying and more like catchy kiddy jingles than anything.  I really don't think this phenomenon should've lasted six minutes. Afterwards is a three-minute track that returns to the adding extra layers to make the repetition more surreal overtime, this time with extra vocal layers.  Although, it sounded like the speaker was just drawing out words for dorkiness's sake, and it kind of took away from the experience.  So this might be the worst track on the album.  All that was left was the five-minute finale.  it tells a humorous story and goes for more weird psychy krautrock, but doesn't do anything unique.  So overall, I'd say the album kinda lost its pace in the second half and devolved to a pretty good album when the first half made it look like it would be a great one.

79.5

Clau Aniz - Macula

Genres: Post-Rock, Art Rock, Electronic

This is her second album, released after her 2018 debut.  A bit too long to wait, but worth it.  Within that time frame, this girl taught herself a lot about how to use clever instrumentation to carry the one thing that made her debut so great: carrying mellow and powerful emotions.  This time, the mix of electronic and slower rock not only recalls the leading strength of the debut, but turns it into a surreal experience with some notable comparisons to bands like Portishead, especially where Third is concerned, and little bits of some classic 70's prog and krautrock ranging from Jethro Tull to Popol Vuh.  But never once does the album lose the identity of the artist.  This is especially true on Minha casa ardendo em mim track 6, which gradually gets more gorgeous and clever as it goes along.  This is a mixed bag of collective low emotions and instrumental pride, and will be eagerly awaiting the third album and begging the universe that it doesn't take another eight years.  Putting it slightly under Ed O'Brien's Blue Morpho for being slightly, slightly less consistent in its flow.

93.5