Rexorcist's Forum Replies

Interesting you say that it's not for the casuals.  It was one of the ones than helped me get into grindcore, one of my very first, though not before Pig Destroyer, and around the same time I checked out some comeback-era Napalm Death, notably The Code Is Red and Enemy of the Music Business, and some Nasum.

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

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.

They always felt more like off-brand ACDC to me.

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

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.

Noice.

Thanks a bunch for adding that live album!

Damn, I already rated most of these.  The only ones I haven't rated are the ones I haven't heard yet.

Cecil Taylor - The Cecil Taylor Unit (1978)

Genres: Free Jazz

Next up on my free jazz binge is the self-titled The Cecil Taylor Unit, an hour of more classical-infused surrealism hand delivered on a gold platter with a side plate of sample cheeses and wine.  This album was the first of Cecil's attempts at bringing classicism to free jazz, and the most obvious effort in that vein.  But this kind of sophistication isn't built on Mozart melodies and Beethoven drama.  This is free jazz, and Cecil's band sets everything on FIRE.

Idut, track 1, is basically a shark's feeding frenzy of cheese and wine, proud and bombastic to whatever extreme they can achieve without breaking the surrealism.  Track 2, Serdab, starts out much more quietly, but soon uses erratic violins and piano to create some very chilling atmospheres.  But in these chills also comes a sense of wonder, one that looses none of the bombast of the previous track but rather sacrifices the loud tone for something more mellow.  Even when the brass comes in, the build up tricks you out and loosens four minutes in.  It goes into several places, recycling old sounds with new combinations, until we get to a gorgeous yet bizarre piano solo by Cecil himself.  I'd say that this track was miles ahead of the Idut (no Miles David biopic ref intended).  Now track 3 is the one that worried me.  Holiday En Masque is a whopping 30 minutes long, so I was quite concerned with possible meandering.  But the surprise is: it didn't meander as much as I thought, not until the last ten minutes or so.  This was easily the most interesting of the three tracks.  This was everywhere around whatever music spectrum the band could provide, and every step forward into another territory was built entyirely on natural progression and pacing.  Maybe they stayed in a couple locations for just a little longer than necessary, but overall it was mysterious in all of its fury.  It's probably even the best Cecil track I've heard so far.

SO even though the first track managed to be fun and interesting, each track upped the antes and delivered even more goods each time.  This was exactly the kind of chaos one wants to experience with free jazz.  Currently, this is the best Cecil Taylor album I've heard.

96

BTS - Wake Up (2014)

Genres: K-Pop, Pop Rap, Boy Band

I'm tired of avoiding this band and not knowing what the hype is.  These guys are apparently big record-breakers, which isn't surprising considering that this is the first choice for a K-pop band that Americans will literally watch concert films for.  Not a K-pop guy myself, usually just using the bands of said scene for chart filler, but whatever.  Anyway, I went into this expecting more k-pop crap, especially since its genre tagging n RYM included "boy band" as a genre choice and not just a piece of a scene.  So if RYM's acknowledging that, then that likely means this specific album took writing cues from 90's pop bands like Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.  Initially, a bad sign.  But nope.  This one actually makes a strict point of slapping.  Hard.  Whatever tropes exist in this album are heavily backed up by the band's energy and some surprisingly tight instrumentation for a bunch of boy band songs.  It suffered from a soggy middle syndomer, but I would even go as far as to say that this album shows more class than any Backstreet album.  The first half is the superior half, but there's still fun to be had in the second.  Anyway, even a non-K-pop fan can see that this delivers a good deal of goods, more so than a lot of average pop, and personality and independence drive it the whole way through.

75

If you just wanna chill with that metal, that's cool.  Sometimes you just need to chill after a busy day, and if it's good for you then that's the only thing that matters.

Ben, can you please add Elder's Live at BBC Maida Vale Studios?  Potentially under stoner metal?  It has three songs, two of which are from their stoner metal albums Lore and Reflections, and one of the more metal-oriented tracks from Innate Passage.  It just made my top 100 metal albums.

Dear GOD the last reply to this was in 2023! 

That's because I started a generic Rock thread since then & have been posting all rock-related posts there.

https://metal.academy/forum/25/thread/2568

I know about that thread, but still, I figured Elder belonged elsewhere.

Dear GOD the last reply to this was in 2023!  Time to change that.

Elder - Innate Passage (2022)

Genres: Stoner Rock, Heavy Psych, Prog Rock

It's about time I finished up those other Elder albums of recent times.  We've got a new album out this week and I wanna see how it does against the other more progressive outtings.  They're a band I always liked, and one I tend to look forward to, but I missed the last album and forgot about it.  This is that last album.  I was expecting good things at bare minimum, and amazing things in pure fantasy considering it's supposed to have more range.  But while the reviews are great, they're kind low in comparison to the classics.  So, what did I end up getting?

Catastasis was just the surreal post-rockist intro I needed to get the back of my mind kicking and screaming for more.  With this one, the band exhibited a constant sense of wonder while displaying some pride at their abilities to drive through every surreality a melodic prog psych song would allow.  But pride would take the foreground with their next epic and only single for the album: Endless Return.  Designated as a metal track around the internet, it brings back the sound of Lore but with more energy and fun, as if all we need to do now is jam.  Coalescense gives us some of that with a noisier touch, but also gives us time to relax with some coffee and listen to a freaking violin.  Due to the careful multilayering, one's able to hear every little intricacy, and be even more surprised when something unpredictable comes along.  And our singer's voice matches up well with this higher tone and extra layers.  And when it gets noisy, it's less like a mistake and more like the album is making a game out of finding things in the rainstorm, or a sandstorm, or both at once.

Next comes Merged in Dreams - Ne Plus Ultra.  "Is it two songs rolled in one?  It IS 14 minutes."  That's what I thought at first, and was both excited and cautiously optimistic about it.  I really loved how chill and long the intro was, nearing two minutes of sci-fi sounds and mellow guitars before jumping right into the most metallic riffs Elder had done in years, and I'm talking crazy riffage here.  Honestly, this track shows masterful handling of both careful building between chill and metallic as well as abrupt 180's.  And the switch from heard-hitting prog rock to quiet prog electronic backdrops 10 minutes in feels nothing short of appropriate for an outro to such exhuberant and maybe even exhausting activity.  Forget the previous cup of coffee.  Here's the goddamn jacuzzi for a couple minutes.  Now back to the metallic guitars to end it all. :P.  And finally, the album ends with The Purpose, transitioning from the previous track.  This finally takes many elements of the last track with more balance, less abrupt shifting, a slower pace and a more contemplative tone.  This goes on through the whole, reviving the post-rock behavior of the opener, which I was hoping would return.  And in the end, the shortest track became a grand finale where the band lost none of their flow, luster, etc.

This album boasts a number of new strengths for the band.  Firstly, they're willing to explore the maximum potential of any one sound they tackle, and how far they can venture for some time before coming back.  This is way more impressive that those only seconds-long occasional ventured into other areas that bands like Blood Incantation do to spice songs up, which worked for most on Absolute Everywhere but needed expansion for me personally.  But the best thing about the album is that it's always active.  Much like in my recent review for the new Boards of Canada, this album is just like Inferno in multiple ways: it's always finding something to do, everything flows beautifully, the dynamics are perfectly done and it sucks you into various worlds.

And now for another of my gleefully but casually unconventional opinions: this is both my personal favorite Elder album and my personal choice for their best.  I would honestly say that this level of creativity is as perfectly balanced and produced as many other like albums in that vein such as Worry by Jeff Rosenstock, Are Yoiu Shpongled and other albums that revolutionized various genres.  And while the extra lack of metal and change in sound may seem alienating to some more hardcore Elder fans, I personally consider this an amazing new take on the genres they've worked towards and pioneered.  I mean, I defend Fear Inoculum since Tool's been going from an alt-metal band to a prog rock band with each album.  This is my new #1 for stoner rock and heavy psych, as well as a new top 100 of all time entry and my new #2 for 2022, behind Ants From Up There by Black Country New Road and overtaking Miracles in Transit by Naked Flames.

100

I'm a big fan of Elder & of the "Lore" album which is my second favourite of the four Elder records I've heard behind "Reflections of a Floating World". I don't think any of the three full-length albums I've experienced from them are metal though. The "Spires Burn/Release" E.P. is probably the only one of the four releases that I'd suggest is metal enough to qualify & it's still kinda 50/50. They're a great stoner rock band though & I'm glad you're enjoying them Rex.

They've certainly proven themselves to be consistent.  I'm on Innate Passage right now and the opener is flat-out one of the best stoner rock songs I've ever heard.  This one ain't metal, tho.

Elder - Lore (2015)

Genres: Stoner Rock, Stoner Metal, Heavy Psych, Prog Metal

I know it's non-metal on MA, but it's metal enough for me.  I feel no need to start a hall, though.

Elder's next on my 2026 goals, so I figured I might as well get through any Elder albums I haven't gotten through yet.  I don't really have much to say about this except that this album is perfect for the Monster Magnet fans if you like your stoner and psych drawn out.  The album's songwriting is straightforward, never outgoing with wild solos and sticking to the melodic variety and essence.  But since Elder is habitually monolithic, this means we're in for a series of epics.  Now for some, typically myself, this may be a problem if they don't expand enough.  But it tweaks around with post-metal ambience and gritty sludge, occasionally going vocal.  Because of both the melodies and the lyrics, the album maintains that surreal wonder that any good psych album needs, and the lyrical style makes up for the otherwise decent vocals.  Totally not standing out at all.  While the album FEELS the same throughout most of its runtime, and many of the tricks they pull have been done before by other artists, they still manage a good number of tricks and directions.  And thanks to a careful collective of genres that work very well together (maybe too well), the album checks a lot of boxes for rock fans.  And the best thing about the album is how hard-hitting they are.  If this is a rock album instead of metal, it's really no surprise while some people think of it as metal.  We're not dealing with a simple-minded mislabelling akin to AC/DC here.  They push the buttons of are-hitting with much of what they're doing.  So while the compositions aren't the most brilliant, it's difficult not to get behind them and feel like your space trucking through the galaxy with an uzi on your hip, even when the album's sound gets more contemplative.

Well, I liked this one.  It got a little more surprising as it went along, the stoner vibes were quite enjoyable, and it bore great stoner metal energy even when it wasn't being a metal album.  Glad I finally got around to this.

89

Album released today... excitement levels beyond imaginable... pressing play... it can't possibly live up to my expectations can it?

If it doesn't, I sure as hell wouldn't know why.

Boards of Canada - Inferno (2026)

Genres: IDM, Downtempo

Boards of Canada, a band who's proven themselves to be masters of electronica, truly stunned me with my first venture into their catalog: Music has the Right to Children. I have difficulty deciding which is better: that or Geodaddi. It's one of those few instances where I really have trouble with it, like online communities of the early days had difficulty deciding the best Beatles album before the consensus turned to Abbey Road (long live Sgt. Pepper's). Now am I a huge fan of them? Believe it or not, no. My praise for the band is mostly limited to acknowledgment, awareness and agreement of why they're so beloved rather than being featured in any list of songs or albums I play on a regular basis. So if they hadn't released an album that everyone absolutely adored, I may not have checked out this album at all. And if I did, it might've been a while before I got around to it.

Now since I've been trying to balance my good ratings with my bad ones, I got around to this after exploring some Harry Styles and Drake for the first time. I was largely expecting more of an exercise in atmosphere than anything, but it ended up being extremely groove oriented. Tracks will typically be perfectly balanced between catchy and intriguing. While there are atmospheric tendencies, and a little reverb for the instrumentation, the album certainly never floods you with it. The lead focus seems to be the glory of electronic, probably even of the 80's variety. The style of synths they use sometimes feels like it belongs in the same catalog as the Blade Runner soundtrack, and other times they use percussions I think I might find in Aboriginal ceremonies. Some tracks take a more atmospheric edge, like Age of Capricorn, but instead of drowning things out with ambience, the volume of the ambience takes a back step, largely centering around one layer backing up the instrumentation. Sometimes, percussion is a third of the game, if not half. I admit, I wouldn't have predicted this clearer, more concise style from them after thing long, not with such RYM tags like Ambient, Hauntology, Neo-Psychedelia, Progressive Electronic, Synthwave, which was copy/pasted directly from the album's RYM page.

One of these many layers is the heavy usage of vocal samples. It's one thing to use them as an "instrument" of sorts, but they cleverly use the variety of samples in the manner of Buckethead's guitar, displaying trick after trick to get the mind kicking while the head is bobbing. The exact nature of each message, thanks to the large number of samples, can often be difficult to truly determine, so is there a deep symbolism to most of not all of these songs, or do they simply add visuals in the mind? Either way, the mystique totally checks out. But the real testament to the art here is the necessity to switch its focus without breaking the essence. Intrigue, catchiness and atmosphere take turns with leading focus on a regular basis. Sometimes, they're tribal and melodic, but other times, they can be overlapping and intriguing, and other times they can be creepy as hell.

And throughout the whole of the album, I feel like I'm being taken on a journey not just through time and space, but through the complexities and inner workings of the human mind as well as through a couple of mythologies on the side. This album is one of the most focused I've ever heard, and at the same time it's everywhere. And because it makes a point of balancing clarity and density, a lot can happen while allowing the music to flow perfectly rather than quickly, allowing you to spend as much time as you need and no more in any one spot before moving to the next. With only a couple weaker moments like the second act of All Reasons Depart, it's difficult to hold that against the album because the album succeeds with so much. Besides, it could be seen as a quiet before the storm continues when you think about it. I guess this stands as further evidence that IDM is a leading force in electronica and may stay that way for a very long time, and the same is very true for Boards of Canada.

I think I just found a serious contender for AOTY.

100/100

Cecil Taylor - Conquistador (1968)

Genres: Free Jazz

While getting through the works of Ahmed's catalog for the purpose of improving my knowledge in free jazz as well as adding to my 2025 and 2026 charts, I found that I was very close to putting together a proper top 100 avant-garde jazz list.  I've got about 90 rated 80/100 or higher, so I decided to focus on some more free jazz since that seems to be a weak spot for me, even though I heard some of the rawest classics.  I started with an album I was surprised to find I hadn't catalogued yet: Spiritual Unity by Albert Ayler, a pivotal album in free jazz's development.  They say it takes multiple tries to "get."  I hope so, because with the free jazz I've heard and liked, I didn't quite get this one.  I remember when I first heard Ascension Edition I by Coltrane, and I thought I got it, having liked it a lot, but a second time taught me I didn't really "get" it; spin 2 showed me a whole new side of it, but maybe that's also the problem: in comparison to Ascension, Spiritual Unity feels primitive, and I liked other Ayler recordings I heard beforehand.

So since that wouldn't make my top 100, I decided to go for the next album I hadn't heard by an act I was familiar with: Cecil Taylor, namely the album Conquistador.  Apparently, it's considered one of his giants.  Interesting, since I've heard some Cecil but never really gave much thought to which was considered his #1 around the internet.  All I know is, I like Cecil, both the more straightforward avant-garde side and the free jazz side.  So this time around, I quite liked the free jazz, as I predicted.  With the way that he keeps progressing the band into odd new territories with an almost religious kind of devotion to weirdness and mood, the first track alone felt much faster than the 18 minute runtime because it was just that fun.  But while it was weird, it wasn't "out of reach."  It certainly wasn't "accessible," but the band clearly wasn't being weird for weirdness's sake, and it certainly wasn't underdeveloped.  This recording maintained a collective of various moods that all showed you just what weirdness can do for the back of your mind.  There wasn't a single moment that wasn't even A LITTLE intriguing and enjoyable because of it.  I could trust that the brass was gopnna keep pulling stunts that felt like they were bnits of soundtracks to weird art films from Europe, but I was more interested in what Cecil was doing with the piano, and how his unpredictability and masterful technique would back up the brass or vise-versa.

Maybe some instances are a bit long, and maybe it didn't elicit the strongest emotional responses, but it cure as hell got me mind going, which is exactly what you want from a genre built for the streaming community, critical autodidacts and experimental enthusiasts.  It's not weird to be weird, it's weird for the sake of JAZZ.  I'd say this is his second best of his free jazz outings, behind One Too Many Salty Swift.

86

Not in the mood to write a full review, but this new Panopticon just might be my favorite of theirs.  It's more unpreictable, but totally moody and mystifying.

JPEGMAFIA - Experimental Rap (2026)

Genres: Hardcore Hip Hop

This one goes for some extra-edgy influences I never expected from him: brostep, industrial metal, 2000's stuff.  Gonna repeat what I said on Movieforums: The fans are hating on it since it's such a farcry, but I don't really hate it. The production is quite skillful, the samples work, the attitude is effective. The vocals take a big backstep, but it's not bad. Of course, I consider JPEGMAFIA a hip hop giant just as the rest of the world does, but this is more in acknowledgement of his talent rather than a deep emotional devotion, and I promote the idea of expanding horizons anyway. If JPEGMAFIA hasn't earned that yet, who has?  I wouldn't mind more albums that sound like this, if he does more with his vocals.

73/100

Even though I typically try to avoid putting too much metal in my yearly charts, Defeated Sanity is one of those bands I'll happily break the rule for.  They've got some of the most ferocious and creative brutal death outings in recent years.  Honestly, my second spin of The Sanguinary Impetus put me in such an aural state.  Repugnance, IMO, is their second best, easy 9/10.

I've also been thinking that I should check out more electro-industrial as I generally enjoy that combination given my history with electronic music.

Me as well, including EMB / industrial dance.  I'm thinking about continuing with Hirasawa's Kaku P-Model series.  I like the overall aesthetic, but you know me: it's gotta be inventive.  And hearing these electronic albums write eight songs that sound the same, tempo, vibe and everything, gets on my nerves.  Thankfully, Implode by Front Line Assembly was able to avoid a good deal of that, and stands as my current #1.  But checking my charts, I only have 10 EI albums ranked 8/10 or higher, so I've been slacking on it.  After catching up on the year's releases and exploring Jane Remover, I'll probably head to that.

"The Time Before Time"

The great spirit descended from the Heavens, carrying we, the ones called the Matoran to this island paradise.  We were separate and without purpose, so the great spirit illuminated is with the three virtues: Unity, Duty and Destiny.  We embraced these gifts, and in our gratitude, we named our island home Mata Nui after the great spirit himself.

I kinda had to.

Sorry, Rex, I have no idea what this means.

I was gambling on it, anyway.  Bionicle, old franchise my brothers and I were into as kids.  Saw the movie enough times to have that opening embedded in my head.  Bionicle stories always started with, "In the time before time."

"The Time Before Time"

The great spirit descended from the Heavens, carrying we, the ones called the Matoran to this island paradise.  We were separate and without purpose, so the great spirit illuminated is with the three virtues: Unity, Duty and Destiny.  We embraced these gifts, and in our gratitude, we named our island home Mata Nui after the great spirit himself.

I kinda had to.

This was my #1 black metal album at one point and I still my favorite Blut work.  It really cemented the experimental side without feeling overdone the ay Aladdin Sane did for Bowie.

I'm intrigued by what shoegaze is all about too. It would really help me to understand the blackgaze movement better, particularly being able to recognize typically non-metal influences that came into the sound.

Well, I'm no expert, so I don't know exactly what I CAN recommend to kickstart your journey.  I suppose albums with a steer towards dream pop, such as Souvlaki by Slowdive, would be your best best.  I will say this, though: when I first heard the chosen king of Shoegazeland: Loveless by MBV, I didn't get it.  Left it alone for a couple months, played it again, wasn't sure of my convictions, then listened to their self-titled, and then back to Loveless, and I got it, like that Danny DeVito meme.  But I don't wanna wait a couple months anymore or make you do that.  But if I had to pick the more accessible act of the raw classics, I might say Slowdive or Ride.

I have found myself increasingly interested in hardcore since picking up the new Terror record in the past week or so and I have also seen my interest in metalcore developing over the last 12 months or so.  Both have been of interest historically but I have never really bothered to embed my interest in them.  I am watching documentaries/interviews, listening to podcasts, as well as listening to records of course.  Could all change next week though as I do lack discipline with music exploration and tend to veer off.  I am a very disciplined person in life in terms of eating a strict diet and following a stringent fitness routine.  If I could transpose that discipline into my music exploration habits, I would be a lot better versed in music in general. 

For me it's the exact opposite: I've listened to more punk than any human should, but I never get myself to exercise.  If you need some hardcore recs, I guess I've got a few, depending on which hardcore you're looking for.

After a very eventful day, zoo trip, Ihop, surprise goat births at home, I'm just gonna relax with some 2026 albums.  Today I heard he new American Football, which is good, definitely better than LP2, but not amazing save some more creative choices in the second half.  Having said that, Desdemona is a work of post-rock genius.  8/10.  Second is the new Kacey Musgraves, Middle of Nowhere.  God, can she get anymore basic?  The only thing worthwhile about this standard country album is the lyrics.  5.5/10.

I don't listen to BoC music on a regular basis, but they do gorgeous, just gorgeous music nonetheless.

Awww yeah.  Underworld is some peak techno.  The only thing these geniuses ever did better than Dubno is their live album, Everything Everything.

Not an Iron Savior guy, but I definitely recommend Unification.

Speaking as someone who wasn't there at the time, the term was a thing for a while based on things older people said. Remember, Metallica had a demo (bootleg?) named Power Metal and Pantera had an album of the same name. People in the '80s were not using the same terms we were today. In the booklet for the expanded edition of Keepers, Kai refers to the albums as thrash.

I'd throw in Iron Savior's debut and Unification. Personal bias, but I always felt like the whole "let's put a song from my new band on an album from my current band" worked very well in that case, since it was an expansion of the themes of Somewhere Out in Space. If we're really stretching things to the early '00s, you can throw in Dark Moor with Eliza Martin in as well. I also feel like Mago de Oz should probably be a part of the conversation considering it's allegedly massive in Spanish speaking communities, but I don't have enough experience with them to say where they stopped being a weird rock band and turned into somewhat more metal experience.

This is a genre I know very little about, Andi, but I have always thought that bands like Nightwish and Sonata Arctica were symphonic metal rather than power metal, or are the two terms synonymous with each other and interchangeable? Other than that I can't really contribute much to this discussion, sorry. For context, though, I did buy "Keeper of the Seven Keys" when it came out and never heard the expression power metal applied to it at the time (or to anything, to be honest).

I haven't listened to Wishmaster enough to comment there, but early Nightwish was absolutely power metal. Very heavy keyboard emphasis, but still power metal. Sonata Arctica is basically the definition of the overly melodic PM that people outside of the genre hate, not even sure they count as symphonic.

Melodic power metal is the key term to describe them.  They dabbled in the influences of symphonic, prog and neoclassical, but never steered to far into one.

Ecchymosis - Thanatocorporeal Sculptures of Cryogenic Excruciation (2026)

Genre: Slam Death

So... new Ecchymosis.  Honestly had no idea.  Seeing this on the RYM charts on my phone was a bit of a surprise.  To be perfectly honest, slam is really something I only explored out of curiosity but not out of any love for it.  There are so many bands in this vein that have absolutely no interest in creativity.  Even Devourment is much like Lynne Ramsay in the sense that they only produced one thing I love and the rest is either meh or decent.  In the case of Ecchymosis, a 65 and a 61 are all they managed on their first two albums.  So if the slam fans are gonna unite and put this in the RYM top ten of 2026 this late in said year, then it better be good.  But I need real creativity, like the early death of Big Chocolate a.k.a. Disfiguring the Goddess.  But I doubted I'd get that.

It's quite the case.  The first track makes a case of shoving the snares in our faces with crystal clear production.  And it's a cool sound at first, but it loses its charm all too quickly by becoming the focal point of the album.  Honestly, does this guy even know what a SECOND piece of a drum kit looks like?  Can I just bang my pots and pans like four year old DW cheering about the circus being in town?  I get more musical creativity out of brushing my teeth.  I can't even hear the guitar riffs at all because they're too noisy to do anything, much like the overly fuzzy camera on the only porn film I've ever watched, and the drumming drowns out what could be made out anyway.  The first real solo happens 10 minutes into this 28-minute album, so I just spend a good third listening to a laundry machine washing clothes and banging a cowbell on the walls at rapid speeds as it spins the clothes around.  Thankfully, track 4 makes use of a breakdown, which lasts 30 seconds (long as hell for this type of album).  And the vast majority of creative decisions last like two seconds, and are scarse among the album.

God.  Just... God.  This is the type of album that really challenges my moral conviction not to say "objectively" this.  It's really testing me not to say it's "objectively overrated," especially on a metal forum.  This is currently the number 3 metal album of 2026?  Not likely.  I really hope it doesn't stay.  It has NONE of the spark I got from Dripping, DTG, Katalepsy or Devourment's rerecording of Butcher the Weak.  Not only did Ecchymosis fail to convince me for the third time that the slam genre is for real artists instead of just dumb metal heads who wanna hear speed and growling, but their currently highest-charting album on my go-to music recommendations site is easily their worst to me.  What a slog, hiding behind a clear sound to justify the band's inability to operate on proper musical channels during recording.  Wrong guitar sound, bad focus, same song over and over again for a drawn-out 27 minutes.

28/100

Don't forget Imaginations from the Other Side in 1995.  96 isn't the best cutoff.  Blind Guardian's decision to steer into symphonics helped redefine power metal, that and the rise of symphonic metal band Therion who made the switch from death.  But the idea of symphonic power as fully cemented by Rhapsody with their debut and continued for many albums afterwards.  "Emerald Sword" is basically the song that half the power metal bands these days try to rewrite, tempo and all.  But the other side of power metal, the raw edge, is thanks to bands such as Gamma Ray, Rage and Running Wild.  If you want 1996, then you definitely want Grave Digger's Tunes of War, self-titled and Excalibur.  Also include Angra's Holy Lan and Temple of Shadows for the symphonic stuff.

Note: Therion and Grave Digger prove that the genres are NOT interchangeable, but a plethora of bans proves the two work together.

This is one I had in my top 100 years ago.  My family is a bunch of big Clapton fans.

Nevermind, they just came back...

Whadaya know?  Firefox instantly installed some updates this morning and now it's fixed.

I've tried viewing that page in three different browsers and all seems good. Perhaps update the browser version? I had a similar experience in Chrome a while back and an update fixed it.

Did you also try Firefox?  I'm logged into most of my stuff on Letterboxd.  Seems fine on Edge, though.

Well, this one's a lot rougher, twistier and oldschool than I originally assumed.  Certainly maintains both the raw power and even messiness of earlier black metal.  Best effort they've had in ages.

Hellerp. ;)

Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle (2009)

Genres: Americana, Alt-Country, Chamber Folk, Country Folk, Singer/Songwriter

Bill Callahan is a name that's well-regarded in the Americana scene, but I rarely ever go on full-on Americana binges.  They come out of the blue, mostly out of necessity to explore a scene, and usually I only get through a couple albums by an artist rather than a deep exploration, Callahan included.  But due to his new album being well-received, and my disappointment with MEC's Sojourner, I decided I'd finally just get the guy's opus out of the blue.

Now my original intent was to check out a few of his other works before heading to the opus, but the other two works, while good, didn't grab me by the heart, so I disregarded him in place of other Americana artists.  But I'm glad I up and chose to listen to this after the two-hour repetitive MEC album posing as a box set.  See, most Americana albums... I tend not to be impressed with because there's a very common habit of Americana fans slapping multiple genre tags on an album where each genre is largely built for slow guitar and drum songs, and the emotional range is limited to sad or calming songs.  This isn't creativity to me.

But with this album, it's different.  You may find that the genre tags for this album are largely the same, but replacing post-rock with chamber folk.  And this combination is balanced and unpredictable at the same time, adding various kinds of repeating instrumentations that one can't guess at all, much like a clever EDM album.  This greatly helps with the autumn vibe expressed on the album cover.  This can easily save many of the songs that drag on a minute or two longer than they otherwise need to.  In fact, a part of me even fell in love with the seventh track, All Thoughts Are Prey to Some Beast.  Easily an Americana favorite of mine.  On this subject of the creativity, most of the repetition and drawn out behavior take place in the first half, but is not enough to drag the whole album down.  It's largely absent in the second half, with the exception of the nine minute epic, Faith / Void, which, with its chorus, justifies the 50-something appearances of "what if" in the titular Creed song.  The instrumentation still finds room for raw autumn beauty.

Now the internet is under the impression that this is Callahan's opus.  I'm not QUITE sure I'd call it that, but it's close.  I slightly prefered Dream River for its combination of prog folk and psych folk elements.  Still, this is a very clever album that stays enjoyable while being slower than necessary.  It's a good atmospheric folk piece that I recommend hearing at least once.

84

Magnolia Electric Co. - Sojourner (2007)

Genres: Alt-Country, America, Singer/Songwriter, Country Folk

I actually consider Jason Molina, RIP, one of the greatest of our age.  Several five stars as Songs: Ohia and a few key greats with his band pretty much cemented that.  The dude is good with playing with genre, so a wind-range of genre tags on any website you go to should indicate that Sojourner might be a favorite of mine.  A two-hour country album is a risk, but if Billy Strings proved anything with Home, it was possible.

Having said that, why is it that this album ragged with alt-country, folk rock, country rock, post-rock and slowcore sounds albums completely the same throughout all two hours?  I'll tell you why: because every song is being the same slow calming song played with essentially the same instruments.  This two-hour package posing as "multiple albums" shows minimal creativity and melody from start to finish, relying on a dark and empty atmosphere, a voice like a more masculine Neil Young, and clever lyrics throughout to justify this.  Now these are all proper strengths, yes, but not enough to drive two hours.  What's the point of a box set of albums when they all sound the same anyway, and when we've got plenty of two-hour albums in this day and age?  This ended up kinda boring me after a while, even though it started out well.

68/100

I just got word that Phil Campbell, guitarist of Motorhead from '84 to '15, died yesterday.  RIP.

Heavensouls - Debut

Genres: Electronic, Experimental

What with heavensouls releasing a new jazz-funk album of all things, and considering its grand reception so far, I figured it was time to see just how eclectic this half of Sidepieces was.  This is one of those kinds of albums that makes a point of showcasing creativity in almost pronographic display, yet it also becomes a very clever mixed back.

For example, track 1, 4.99 a Pound, was way too short, needing expansion for such a good direction.  The second track was too long, but had a brilliant mix of radio bumpers, hip hop, Merzbow noise and raw chaos.  I love it when electronic albums go all over the place.  Track 3, named 0, gives us some ambience with a slight hint of noise and a careful dose of reverb, the kind of tape music sound that I was introduced to via acts like William Basinski and The Caretaker.  When I heard this track, I realized, I kinda missed that sound, eventually becoming a house track.  As well, it's so fitting to have this kind of track follow up such a whirlwind of sensory overload a la I Talk to the Wind from In the Court of the Crimson King.  Now the middle house section is boring and dull at first, but the last third adds some backdrops which aren't so wild but deliver a proper dosage of character.  At the end of the day, this was a proper EDM song IMO, boasting the careful shifts that were pioneered by early EDMers, notably The Future Sound of London in my head.  Next comes a 2.5 minute track called Fallin Off, which I could only hope isn't too short like the opener.  This one uses extra-dense sampling, atmosphere and two shifts in the middle to deliver a thick and active track which had more than enough to say in two minutes without overwhelming, and yet, left room for a quiet noise outro for the next 30 seconds.  Another proper piece.  The first half ends with Love You Down, which is a nice and soft piece with clear but low female pop vocals, which are nice to hear.  They're justified not only by the unpredictability of the album, but by the ambient instrumentation which goes in hand with the first act of 0.  But, it's a repetitive five minutes, so the general idea was a good one, but the delivery needed work.

The second half begins with the five minute Cold, which makes a point of repeating, glittery instrumentation and piano, like a remix of a Final Fantasy track.  No complaints here.  It's a very nice tune which puts images of ponds and fountains in my head, just the kind of thing that was missing from an album that seems to have everything already.  And yes, the five minutes were repetitive, but more atmospheric and a little more creative than before.  The prettiness and ambience return with stronger force on Manderan.  I was beginning to miss the density, so I'd say that the return of it was pretty well times, especially when you have a good female singer and a deep voiced male duking it out at the same time to the ever-growing ambiance.  It eventually returns practically everything we've heard so far in just a seven-minute runtime, and it even managed to do so on the four minute mark.  It was all a jouryney, a proper journey through music's full capabilities.  After four and a half minutes, we get the nature recordings of bird chirps and some actual jazz in the mix.  In other words, Heavensouls is telling us...

I love jazz so much.

Next comes a cool jazz cover of What a Wonderful World, but recorded to sound like the music and a bunch of people in a building are both talking over the singer, as if this was a simple bootleg recording.  Clever.  Once again, Heavensouls proves that there's even more for this album to do.  The final track, Often, makes a point of sparcity, creating a whole other mood for the album, one full of despondence, concern and empty apocalyptica.  Honestly, from a compositional opinion, this was too sparse to really consider a proper big bang for the album.

This is an album of strong hits and near-misses that makes a point of having everything, and mostly rocks it while occasionally struggling with a consistent tone a la Thembi by Pharaoh Sanders.  Still, the track Mandelan is one of the best experimental tracks I've ever heard.  This was a very bold step for a debut and am now all the more interested in Heavensouls and his past and future ventures.

85/100

This was one of the first albums I checked out many years ago when exploring 1967.  Even now I still consider it one of the most gorgeous pieces of 60's history I've ever heard.  Currently stands as my #296.

This one's about right IMO. Not much I would "disagree" with here.

This is one big week for music: new Gorillaz,  Iron and Wine, Mitski, BIll Callahan, Pat Metheny, and the first Bruno solo project in ten years.  The latter is my second album for the day.  Now on the one hand, rhymes and lyrics can be pretty typical.  On the other hand, as I expected, the love of 70's soul, funk and a little disco is on full display.  I didn't expect the songs with the Santana vibes, though, one of which felt a little like Low Rider.  When you think about it, that combo is totally appropriate for this album considering WAR's genres.  So in short, a few pop shortcomings aside, when it comes to the love of pop R&B's roots, this is the Baggins that showed the most spirit.

78, a slight step above Unorthodox Jukebox.

Thomas Rhett - Life Changes (2014)

Genres: Country Pop

Now I am really NOT into country pop of the modern age.  While I love classic country and SOME modern country, the pop section has largely disappointed me over the years.  However, as generic as Thomas Rhett can sound, on his album Life Changes, there's one thing about this album that I love: this album's all over the genre spectrum and it never loses its personality.  Rhett's sense of pop fun seems to show quite well through country pop, alt-rock, soul, and many things in between.  I guess he followed MJ's Thriller Factor: reach out to as many people as you can.  As such, this even gets some decent marks on RYM for its efforts.  But still, the majority of songs here are still pretty generic, never really shining beyond decency and most times being just OK, sometimes sounding incomplete.  Still, this has more effort than most country pop which I've used for bottom charts, and I'll reward it for that on my end at least.

67/100