rambles-reviews

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Set It Off - Elsehwere Released: March 11, 2022

Elsewhere is the fifth studio album by pop band Set It Off, and is probably the most interesting one to date. The overall theme of the album seems to follow an idea of outlandishness, and the musical journey it takes to get to this point is incredibly fun and enjoyable.

Far and above all else to mention, this album is damn catchy. It’s fun and upbeat, even if the subject matter of each song doesn’t quite follow its instrumentation to a T. From what I have heard out of 2022 so far, this is easily my favorite album yet. It’s something to get you in a brighter mood, it’s something to dance to, it’s something to have fun to.

The tracklist is immaculate, with not a single track feeling out-of-place or unwelcome. Each and every one feels necessary to the album’s overarching goals, and don’t stay a second over time. At 16 total tracks, normally one may start to think that the list feels bloated or that some tracks just aren’t as good as others, but that isn’t the case here.

The standout tracks are definitely Projector, Why Do I, Dangerous, and Catch a Break. However, even outside of those, pretty much every song on this album is worth listening to. Projector was what really introduced the full style of the album initially. Skeleton is the intro track, however Projector is truly where things begin. Why Do I is easily the single catchiest and most danceable track on the whole album. There’s truly nothing better than it, and I personally enjoy this one beyond what words can say. Dangerous is another catchy and danceable track, and I enjoy it a lot. Catch a Break is a little bit slower than the rest, but it’s super memorable even still.

I have absolutely no bad tracks to point out. Maybe at most I could say that Peekaboo just feels the tiniest bit out of place with the rest of the tracks, but that’s only partially true and realistically it isn’t that far removed to make it worth mentioning. Though I suppose I technically just did anyways, but my point stands.

As a final rating, I give Elsewhere a 5/5.

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As It Is - I Went to Hell and Back Released: February 4, 2022

I Went to Hell and Back is the fourth studio album by As It Is, discounting the reimagined version of their third album The Great Depression. With such an interesting era preceding the release of this album, there was a lot riding on the release of this album.

The sound can only be properly described as a mixture of modern bedroom pop, emo, and pop punk. It’s a very difficult album to describe, as much similar to Bring Me The Horizon’s amo, it is very all-over-the-place and changes things up often. This is both to the benefit and to the detriment of this album, as some of the songs are great, while others are very hard to connect to.

In many ways this album harkens back to their very first album Never Happy, Ever After. Most often, though, this is to the detriment as it feels like a lot of retreading ground. Songs like I Die 1000x and I Can’t Feel a Thing feel as though they were ripped straight from that era, and no modern touches or stylings were added to enhance the sound.

The stand-out tracks are really IDGAF, I Miss 2003, and I Hate Me Too. IDGAF is the intro track, and it holds familiar territory while entering some new ground, though not much. It’s a nice way to ease into an album that may hold newer surprises inside, however that isn’t used to great effect on the project as a whole. I Miss 2003 reminisces on years of youthful bliss, and works well with its stylings in calling back to older eras of music both with its own instrumentation and its direct references via the lyrics. If this were integrated more as a theme throughout the album, it would’ve been much more appreciated. I Hate Me Too is worth mentioning purely because of how nice and catchy it is. Nothing more than that, really.

In Threes is an interesting track as well, though not among the best. It features Set It Off and JordyPurp, the latter of which would have been a great fit for collaboration during past album eras such as The Great Depression and okay. The track itself isn’t much to write home about, but the feature of Set It Off was worth mentioning in my eyes, as I feel as though these two bands could create something very interesting together if they ever chose to work together again.

It’s hard to call out specific poor tracks worth mentioning, as so very few are memorable. The ones mentioned up to this point are probably the most memorable on the album, the rest fading as an obscure blur. IDC, I Can’t Take It goes back and forth for me on whether it’s good or not, as it can be fun to sing along to, but it’s also incredibly repetitive that it’s hard to listen to more than once. I’d Rather Die can be fun, but the vocal cutting can also get quite annoying.

Overall I Went to Hell and Back is quite a big disappointment following The Great Depression. With an era of such intrigue preceding it, I was left a slight bit underwhelmed by the followup failing to push the band’s sound forward anymore. And with no real lyrical theme of nostalgia to back it up outside of one track, it falters in many ways. Though the album isn’t inherently bad, it just doesn’t stand out much.

As a final rating, I give I Went to Hell and Back a 2.5/5.

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My Chemical Romance - Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys Released: November 22, 2010

Danger Days is the fourth and what was originally thought of as the final album by My Chemical Romance. The band would break up in March of 2013 for a hiatus that lasted until 2019. Their presence since then has unfortunately yet to grace us any new music, however the four albums we got during their initial run were all quite fantastic.

Danger Days follows a fictional universe created and portrayed by Gerard Way, and has a comic book series titled under its subtitle, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. The album takes place in a dystopian future and follows the Killjoys through the first battle waged against Better Living Industries, as they fight against the idea of stripping away individuality from citizens. The album does a great job at portraying its outdoor, desert setting through the feel of the music. Throughout the entire album you will find bombastic hit after bombastic hit.

Just about every song on Danger Days is a track worth listening to. The intro and interludes provide more concrete context as to where you are in the story of the Killjoys, whereas other songs in between serve as more abstractions of these ideas, and stand on their own outside of the context of the story that they tell.

The album does a great job at telling a story musically as well, outside of the lyrics. As things progress, the sound itself also moves to match. The album starts off explosive with Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na), and quickly goes into uplifting, somewhat slower, but still energetic tracks like Bulletproof Heart and Sing.

In terms of stand-out tracks, Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na); The Only Hope For Me Is You; Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back; Destroya; The Kids From Yesterday; and Vampire Money. However even the tracks I didn’t mention are all utterly fantastic.

My Chemical Romance always had a way of reeling people into their music with the energy and quality in my eyes, and this album is no different. If you somehow managed to overlook this one, I can highly recommend it.

As a final rating, I give Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys a 4.5/5

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State Champs - Apparently I’m Nothing Released: April 27, 2011

Apparently I’m Nothing is the first album released by pop punk band State Champs. Sites list it as an EP, but the tracklist is long enough for me to personally consider it an album. The album is a testament to what people having fun making music together can sound like. The production quality isn’t the best, but it’s enough to be pretty listenable. The songwriting is fun, energetic, and well-made. With being their first album and being self-released, you maybe wouldn’t expect something of this caliber.

The album has a short but sweet runtime of 28 minutes across 9 tracks. That perhaps isn’t a lot in most people’s eyes, and in the case of enjoyment it seems to go by faster than that. But I think it’s plenty for what it is, and serves its purpose well.

The album opens up with How It Used To Be which states the name of the album within the opening alone. The song is an energetic breakaway from someone toxic, and it soars throughout its runtime. That stands to be a constant theme throughout the album, making it clear that there may have been quite a lot going on during the writing and production. Hot and Bothered and I Would Try are almost seemingly just extensions of How It Used To Be, however that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They’re still great tracks in their own right.

If It Helps You Focus takes a bit of a break from that, opting for a lighter topic in finding a relationship with someone you just can’t shake. Even through the tough times and all the mistakes, you still think about them. The Record briefly returns to the format of breaking away from someone toxic, and then Shades of Gray rings in with the best form of breaking away from someone on the album. Now it perhaps isn’t necessarily someone toxic in this life, but mostly just finding your own independence and being your own person. Not letting others who have no control be the ones to control you.

The unfortunate truth is that toward the end, it starts to fall into its own rhythms by this point. Though the instrumentation remains amazing, the lyricism overall perhaps could’ve used some work as the same topics come up over and over again on Rooftops and Small Talk, with similar approaches to songs that came before them. Stick Around is perhaps the most stand-out track on the album, as it deviates most from the past, asking someone to stick around because you can’t live life without them. It’s also an acoustic track unlike the rest of the album, and is a very nice change of pace right at the end.

One prop I can give to this album is that it sticks with a theme of independence and breaking away, almost rebelliously in a way. Perhaps it repeats itself a lot, but the instrumentation is solid and the production is good enough for where State Champs was at in their career.

As a final rating, I give Apparently I’m Nothing a 4/5.

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Starset - Divisions Released: September 13, 2019

Divisions is the third studio album by cinematic rock band Starset, and follows a very different and jarring tone in comparison to their previous two releases. The tone is a lot heavier, a lot more synth-focused, and arguably a lot more generic in terms of its execution. The band’s portrayal of the fictional future has gone to the stale and tired dystopian look, rather than a more outwardly adventurous type of feeling.

The album follows a more strict to-the-point structure compared to the somewhat more drawn out, longer, more drawn-out cuts on Vessels. This does not aid the album’s listenability, and in fact it feels like a lot of the original personality of Starset was lost. On their previous two outings, they felt adventurous, ambitious in places. Determined to explore the world of science fiction and the world of the cosmos. A future not totally dissimilar from our present, just with the addition of space travel as a viable methodology.

It doesn’t help that most songs on Divisions follow the same lyrical format that Starset has had for two albums now. Nothing has changed in terms of the writing style, and it feels like they’re trying to fuse generic futuristic rock, stale dystopian science fiction novels, and the lyrical style used in their more cinematic albums. It just doesn’t work.

The tracks themselves are not bad music by any means. They’re serviceable at least, though not exactly ambitious with a new writing style or adventurous with subject matter. Solstice is probably the best track on the album, and it’s arguably still not exactly a stand-out due to how repetitive it can be. Other Worlds Than These could also be considered one of the better tracks on the album, but the song doesn’t feel like it wants to follow its own setups.

Tracks like Echo, Perfect Machine, and Waking Up exemplify everything that this album gets wrong. Their lyrics don’t feel like they’re going anywhere, and are just copying ideas from Transmissions and Vessels without giving it any sort of spin lyrically. Accompanied by the dystopian and boxed-in feelings of the more locked instrumentals, it’s hard to really call the album as a whole anything but bland and boring.

Despite all of this, I am still a bit optimistic for their fourth album release, despite recent singles not having given any hope that they’re going to chase a better sound.

As a final rating, I give Divisions by Starset a 2/5.

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Starbomb - Player Select Released: December 16, 2014

Player Select is the second studio album by video game comedy trio Starbomb. This album is in many ways a direct follow up to their self-titled album released one year prior. Overall the comedy is not as consistent as their initial outing, but it’s still an overall enjoyable romp.

One issue that points itself almost immediately on the second track Robots in Need of Disguise deals with the Transformers series, which isn't strictly a video game franchise. This isn’t in itself an issue, it’s just evidence that any sort of creative box to think outside of has begun to decay as they play loose with the idea of what it means to be a video game franchise.

On top of that, two interlude tracks Toad Joins the Band and Atari Mystery Hour stand to pad the tracklist compared to the last album. Between these three tracks, this is the first evidence of the creativity and ideas falling apart.

Regardless, what lies between is still pretty enjoyable and the comedy is decently consistent with the previous release outside of that. Smash! is an incredibly enjoyable parody of the Super Smash Bros. series of games, and stands to play with the idea of the characters’ crossover personalities clashing with the idea of a fighting game. The Hero of Rhyme goes well as a follow-up to It’s Dangerous to Go Alone, following the same iteration of Link on a slightly more egotistical downfall type of adventure.

Another worthwhile track, Glass Joe’s Title Fight makes light of the idea of how tropey the idea of an easy first fight ends up being in the context of games. Making jokes at the expense of the design by implying that the first fighter does not train well beforehand. Inky’s Lament plays on an abstract idea of a joke, and almost parodies other genres of music while also pulling in characters from Pac-Man. It is a particularly clever track in that way, and it brought a smile to my face.

Outside of the aforementioned tracks, every major track on the album is enjoyable to its own extent. The ones I pointed out were just the ones I found particularly fun or clever, and thought they’d be worth a mention.

Overall, the writing on Player Select is consistent and sometimes even more clever than the self-titled debut, and it’s worth giving it a look.

As a final rating, I give Player Select a 3.5/5.

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Waterparks - Greatest Hits Released: May 21, 2021

Greatest Hits is the fourth studio album by pop band Waterparks. Waterparks aren’t your traditional pop band in the Imagine Dragons style, they actually actively attempt to fuse some rock and band elements into their style. Or so I thought until this release.

Greatest Hits sits in an odd middle ground between a solo project by Awsten Knight and an actual band project by Waterparks. It has band-feeling tracks such as Fuzzy and American Graffiti but other tracks such as Lowkey As Hell and The Secret Life of Me really do not feel like they belong on the tracklist. Among this weird amalgamation, there’s something to enjoy out of both sides.

From the solo-ish songs of the album, I personally particularly enjoy Snow Globe, Fruit Roll Ups, and Crying Over It All. These tracks are perhaps the ones that depart most from repeating FANDOM’s tone and structure, and are definitely the most enjoyable out of them all. Crying Over It All specifically would’ve been a great point to end the album, as Ice Bath and See You In The Future feel like particularly unnecessary songs. There are more tracks that should’ve been cut for consistency’s sake such as Lowkey As Hell and The Secret Life of Me, so the tracklist overall feels a little bit bloated.

On the other side of things there are the songs that feel like actual band efforts such as Fuzzy, Numb, American Graffiti, and You’d Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out to Get You). These four songs fit an overall more consistent tone with each other, and you can even pull some other ones in such as Just Kidding.

The tracklist overall feels so out-of-whack and inconsistent with itself that it’s hard to get an overall feel of the album as a whole. It reads as the band not quite knowing what they want to do, and sounds almost as if Awsten is trying to test the waters of going solo. After a weird but somewhat alright departure with FANDOM, I thought that we might get somewhat more of a return to form, or maybe something more fully experimental However this feels discombobulated, uncertain, and disconnected.

I hope in future releases that the band can kind of understand more where they want to go as a whole, and what that will entail. As it stands though, Greatest Hits is particularly weird and difficult to follow, with some decent moments between the chaos.

As a final rating, I give Greatest Hits by Waterparks a 2/5.

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Starset - Vessels Released: January 20, 2017

Vessels is the second studio album released by Starset, and follows very closely the style of their previous outing Transmissions. However one thing that Vessels does a bit differently is it understands better the scale it needs to be on. It plays a lot more with imagery overall and tells something of a more cohesive story, as well as upping the ante on what Transmissions did.

This album doesn’t feel like a weird mix of Downplay demos and new songs, instead this feels like a true cinematic rock opera written from scratch. The story and tone feels overall a lot more consistent. Though again, Starset is not known for the most original or clever lyrics, the tone overall feels like it’s taking itself seriously in the right way. Transmissions almost felt cheesy in the way it presented itself, but Vessels feels like they’re at a greater balance of cheesy and serious moments.

In ways the overall tone and aesthetic could be considered reminiscent of the Star Wars prequel trilogy of movies. It has its cheesy moments, but it does its best to tell what it can of a pretty good story.

Stand-out tracks on this album include Frequency, a foray into a slightly heavier tone for Starset; Last To Fall, a bombastic deeper cut that is a mixture between what Transmissions started and Vessels’ original ideas; Unbecoming, Monster, and Telepathic, three songs that go fantastically together one after another; and the closing track Everglow which summates the album’s unique identity into an eight-minute finale.

That isn’t to say that any song on the album feels out of place or doesn’t have its purpose. Vessels is very devoid of filler. Every song feels like it belongs and adds to the overall image that the band is trying to portray. The overall length of the album at just over an hour still feels very coherent and consistent opening to closing.

Though perhaps it doesn’t stand out among some of rock opera’s best such as The Black Parade and American Idiot, Vessels still has its own fun and unique identity and aesthetic, and really stands above the rest.

As a final rating, I give Vessels a 4.5/5.

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Real Friends - Torn in Two Released: September 17, 2021

Torn in Two is the fifth studio album by pop punk band Real Friends, and their first release following the departure of frontman Dan Lambton. Filling in for Lambton is Cody Muraro. On this release, the band has gone for something a bit unique in that half the album is completely original material, and the other half is a sort of reimagined-style for the preceding listen. It creates an interesting ‘alternate reality’ effect, and I would actually like to go over every track individually.

The overall album feel indeed consists of a ‘torn in two’ type of feeling, two parts of the same whole. It’s written to portray its title and concept very well, and I can appreciate that. The first half is a typical pop punk style for the band, whereas the second half follows a little bit more electronically enhanced pop. It’s an interesting effect and concept to explore, and I hope another band takes it on in a bigger scope in the future.

Remedy for Reality is the first track that opens it up, and it captures you in with an explosive and catchy chorus. It’s a relatively short track, not one to overstay its welcome. The reimagined version slows things down a bit and takes a more careful approach, though I feel as though it’s in its detriment. Of the two I would definitely pick the one that opens the album as a whole rather than opening the reimagined half of it.

Nervous Wreck deals with feelings of loneliness wanting to be thrown away, but being something that can’t be tossed aside. It is catchy, though I will say the reimagined side feels a bit better in portraying the overall feel with instrumental. It’s once again a bit slower, but it feels a lot more calm and collected, being able to properly show its thoughts and feelings. The original version feels a bit more in line with the opener, but it loses some of the emotional weight in comparison to the reimagining.

Teeth is a song that’s pretty good on both ends of the album. It’s hard to find fault with this one, being catchy and well-written, but also having an almost staccato effect with the vocals. The feeling is relatable, and both the standard and full band versions are very well-done. It’s hard to pick a favorite out of these two.

Spinning is probably one of the weakest tracks on both fronts of the album, but that does not mean it’s bad. It’s not nearly as memorable as Nervous Wreck or Teeth before it, but it has its own charm. Though, my opinions are not very strong on either front for the standard or the reimagined. If I had to choose, it would likely be the standard version.

Storyteller is the closer track that just hits the ground running away with the new sound. It incorporates slow elements in the beginning, but speeds up and becomes very aggressive during the chorus. It’s a very interesting song and I like it a lot. I would have to say that the standard version of this one is also preferable, as it just feels more raw.

Overall I thought I wouldn’t have enjoyed Real Friends’ outings without Dan Lambton, as I feel like his rough voice was very unique to the band and added to their overall style. Though I am not as keen on Muraro as Lambton, I still found myself overall enjoying this release.

As a final rating I give Torn in Two a 3.5/5.

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Starbomb - Starbomb Released: December 17, 2013

Starbomb’s self-titled album is their first exploit into video-game-parody music. The band consists of Daniel “Danny Sexbang” Avidan, Arin “Egoraptor” Hanson - both of Game Grumps fame - and Brian “Ninja Brian” Wecht from Danny’s other band Ninja Sex Party. Their aim is to explore popular video games (typically titles that fall under the company Nintendo) in such a way that is absurdist and comedic, while still being at least somewhat enjoyable to listen to. And this first album was such a strong start to their career.

Though these songs are often better when given the addition of the music videos, they’re not necessary to entirely enjoy some of the absurdist and childish humor that comes out in the form of innuendos, cartoonish violence, and even taking a shot to laugh at and parody misogynists. The songs Luigi’s Ballad and Regretroid are examples of the latter.

The jokes can sometimes unfortunately be a bit one-note, as with Mega Marital Problems and Kirby’s Adventure in Reamland, as the songs feel very repetitive in what they’re trying to communicate as a joke. However, at least when it comes to understanding the humor of the group in context, this isn’t exactly too much of a surprise. At the very least the songs don’t last too long so it’s a lot easier to swallow.

The music itself is very electronic and poppy, and can serve as a pretty fun background to the jokes themselves. On their own the instrumentals are very fun to listen to as well, and I recommend that if the lyrical content is a bit too crude or unfunny, the instrumental tracks are always a treat.

The album is very short - clocking in at less than thirty minutes - but it serves in the album’s favor as to not overstay its welcome. The jokes only really work in short bursts rather than in a long-form album in perpetuity.

As a final rating I give Starbomb a 4/5.

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Starset - Transmissions Released: July 8, 2014

Transmissions is the first album of cinematic/space rock band Starset. The band formed out of Downplay, a previous band the lead singer had been a part of, and this album even uses some demos from the era of Downplay.

It is no secret to anyone that Starset’s songs are lyrically cheesy and a bit played-out in subject matter by now, but the spin isn’t exactly any sort of deeper meaning to the lyrics. The intention is to create a story with the scale and aesthetic of futurism and space travel on this first album, and it just about nails it.

Airy synths and orchestral elements accompany the typical rock instruments of guitar and drums. While nothing is particularly heavy, they use the instruments in enough of an interesting way to show a humanistic element of creating music while still sounding synthetic in parts. It creates an interesting fusion between the human elements of music and the synthetic sounds of futuristic technology.

Transmissions in particular feels somewhat aimless in its story, with almost no real intentions of where it wants to go. The intro track First Light intends to explain what they were going for, stating the the album is inspired by a message received from the future of humanity’s downfall, however it is not self-contained enough to properly explain how it is inspired from that. However, the attempt is recognized and appreciated.

The soundscape created within the album is a little underwhelming at first, but it shows the interesting potential that Starset has moving into the future. What they could do with their ideas and sounds could easily turn into something a lot more remarkable and a lot more memorable, it just needs some tweaking and some more solid ideas in order to reach its full potential.

It’s quite hard to point to any real specific tracks that stand out among the album. The most I could do is point to the songs that people likely already know, such as My Demons. There’s not a whole lot to talk about as the overall aim of the album is a bit muddled in its own sound design. However that isn’t to say that overall it isn’t enjoyable, it’s just difficult to find anything that stands out particularly well. Definitely a lot more middle-of-the-road for the moment, but showing great potential in their future.

As a final rating I give Transmissions a 3/5.

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Emarosa - This Is Your Way Out (EP) Released: May 1, 2007

This Is Your Way Out was the very first release by previously post-hardcore band Emarosa, and is by far the most raw of the band’s releases. It’s the one release that truly feels post-hardcore. Chris Roetter’s vocal performance on the EP and the beginnings of the band as a whole in the studio scene are completely unfiltered. Chilling lyrical moments, piercing synths, heavy guitars, and cathartic screams and growls permeate the release as a whole.

There is nothing quite like this in Emarosa’s discography. Through constantly-changing members, consistent genre swapping, and other minor adjustments to the band, nothing quite stands the tests of Emarosa’s original style like this one. This original release is probably one of their best, as it was the only one retaining any of the early members and original style that the band had.

The songs are explosive and emotional, angry and hypnotic. It creates an almost dystopian world with musical imagery, and stands out as something truly unique. The intro track He Is Ocean requires no vocal assistance to show you the sort of ride that you’re about to go on, opening up with synths and bass and exploding with energy thirty seconds into the track. The guitar work is utterly immaculate and has been unmatched from the band since. The unique touch that this instrumentation adds makes this release stand out among the rest.

I Am Waves explodes with an almost iconic drum sequence and unforgettable synth line. The energy felt from this point forth can only be described as catharsis to amend anguish, even through Roetter’s vocals being occasionally drowned out by overpowering instrumentals. The emotions can be felt even so many years after release.

Armageddon continues the energy, bringing the EP almost to straight-up metal. A sliding synth serves as an anchor point to bring us back to the record’s forefront after such a beginning to the track. The growls get so low and so intense on this track, and it’s something that will more than likely never be heard from the band again.

This theme of explosive energy combined with airy and sliding synths continues through the rest of the EP, with Utah bringing a backseat to the heaviness, and Breather serving as an almost calming interlude that creeps into the next track that brings us right back to where we were, Casablanca. This track in particular always stuck out, with the amount of lost hope portrayed from the delivery of the lyrics and the layered screams. It truly portrays the emotional climax of the story being told.

And through all of this, the final track Epoch Coda wraps it all up through a five-and-a-half minute finale. It cements the stream-of-consciousness-style writing felt throughout the record and ends it on an almost calming note as the drums stop and the heavy guitars fade away into silence.

This EP could’ve been the start of an unrivaled career in the metalcore and post-hardcore scenes. The heaviness and raw emotion are unlike anything I’ve ever heard in music before, and the chemistry between all of the members can be heard through every note. It all seems so calculated and controlled, yet also just like friends playing together and making music. This record made Emarosa something truly to pay attention to, and could’ve very easily cemented them into a captivating career.

As a final rating, I give This Is Your Way Out (EP) a 4.5/5.

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Get Scared - The Dead Days Released: April 19, 2019

The Dead Days is the fourth and final studio album release from Get Scared. As a swan song to the band followed with turmoil-fueled breakup, the album is perhaps one of the biggest collaborative efforts between the quintet.

The vocals feature not only frontrunner Nicholas Matthews, but also lead guitarist Johnny Braddock. And I must say, this additional voice does not actually do well to help the album along. Though it makes it unique from the previous record Demons, Braddock’s screams don’t feel nearly as cathartic and aggressive as Matthews’. It truly loses some of the aggression heard on their previous outing in comparison.

That being said, the songwriting I feel is a lot more airtight than Demons, and can serve as both something to get emotionally invested into, as well as something to call reasonably catchy. From Bad Things all the way down to Goodbye Soul, the tracklist is very easy to jive with and get along to. It’s a lot easier to find songs that are extremely memorable, and it feels as though it’s a fusion between the styles of Demons and Everyone’s Out To Get Me.

To talk of specific songs that I enjoyed, it’s very difficult. Almost every song on the album stands on its own while also making itself a part of the whole. But if I had to point to some specific favorites; Bad Things is one hell of an opener and extremely fun and cathartic. Enough Is Enough is extremely catchy and relatable. The Dead Days is a great title track as it does well to summarize the album’s overall feel and trajectory. Time Keeps Running is so good it almost would’ve been better to end it on that instead of Goodbye Soul.

On that note, I do feel as though the ending to the album is a bit lacking. It keeps up the energy, the pace, and the enjoyability throughout the album until the very final track. Goodbye Soul, while a great title for the last song on the band’s last album, does not create a strong and definitive ending for the album or the band’s career. It felt almost empty, as if by that point the energy had been lost. It doesn’t give you the closing remarks you would expect, and it felt almost as if it were added to the tracklist as filler. Time Keeps Running serves as a better and more closed-out ending point, and I really wish it had been the outro track instead.

The production overall on this album is a bit more stripped-back to Demons. Which, though that may seem like a bad thing (pun not intended), actually works in the album’s favor. It serves to make sure that the album feels separated, and it’s easier to get into in comparison to Demons with its unbridled aggression.

As a final rating, I give The Dead Days a 3.5/5.

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Get Scared - Demons Released: October 30, 2015

Demons is the third studio release from horrorcore band Get Scared, and it is still their heaviest release to date. The album has a consistently nihilistic theme throughout it, dealing with abandonment, addiction, and loss of faith through its 41-minute runtime. It welcomes us into the world of Nicholas Matthews’ mind, and just how crazy things got in there.

The album is a grand departure from their previous outing, Everyone’s Out To Get Me, taking a less cinematic/alternative rock approach and more of a straight metalcore route. It isn’t a bad direction from them at all as the production is very beefy and hard-hitting, with Matthews’ screams being some of the most cathartic I’ve ever heard in the world of music. The feelings feel raw, powerful, and real. Conveying emotions seems to be the foremost priority of the album as a whole.

Though you will find songs that get stuck in your head, it would be hard to necessarily call them catchy. The heaviness of the album can be somewhat brutal at times, with tracks such as Addict, and Relax, Relapse being stellar examples of this. The raw anger and power behind those tracks can be felt through rough growls and distorted guitars.

Some tracks take a backseat to the heaviness in favor of portraying some softer emotions that are hard to deal with, such as What If I’m Right dealing with paranoia, and Second Guessing dealing with feelings of fear and being lost.

The tracklist is extremely tightly put-together, and the album feels like it flies by you in almost no time at all. The amount of enjoyment that this album has brought me in the years since its release cannot be understated. The closing track in particular, R.I.P. has always been a favorite of mine. It’s the perfect way to end such a thrilling and enjoyable experience.

My only wish is that this album had something more to hold onto, something more cohesive to follow in terms of a story to tell. It feels most like a cohesive collection of songs that were written for catharsis, rather than giving us a full insight into the story behind each track. Vague feelings can be gathered from each track, but nothing more than that.

As a final rating, I give Demons by Get Scared a 4/5.

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Citizen - Life In Your Glass World Released: March 26, 2021

Life In Your Glass World is the fourth studio album by indie rock band Citizen. It’s a continued departure from their more stream-of-consciousness style found in Youth and Everybody Is Going to Heaven. And in all honesty, I’m divided on it.

The sound is by no means generic, and it’s excellent quality music as always. Songs tend to follow a little bit of a catchier overall formula, but that’s straying away from what I personally enjoyed about the band to begin with. I thought 2017’s As You Please was a neat departure, experimenting with some more wide-standing appeal on some of the tracks, but it felt like more of a one-off.

Songs like Death Dance Approximately, Thin Air, and Fight Beat are all very catchy and enjoyable to listen to. Fight Beat in particular is pretty groovy. But the issue arises with other songs such as Pedestal and Black and Red, that stand out not because they’re particularly interesting - quite the opposite, actually. They’re a bit ill-fitting to the rest of the album’s writing style. The album overall feels very much like it’s losing itself as the band tries to combine the things that kind of worked in previous albums into a weird amalgamation of mush.

Despite being catchy, none of the songs are quite memorable. If I were to attempt to recite some of the lyrics from any of the songs, I would be hard-pressed to tell you. Even just describing them from memory is a bit difficult. While listening to it can be enjoyable at times, it’s not memorable and not something I find myself returning to properly so far after its release.

It’s difficult to quantify any sort of genre, as well. It switches wildly between the indie rock Citizen is somewhat notable for, with the addition of minor synths, to some things that could be categorized almost as singer/songwriter-style vibes. It’s very difficult to quantify a genre, which normally isn’t a bad thing. It would usually mean it’s particularly unique and interesting, but the album just doesn’t stick out.

The album also fails to stick with a consistent theme in my opinion, and I find it difficult to entertain the idea that it does. There’s not a consistent overall theme that’s easy enough to understand just by simply listening to the music, at the very least. Perhaps themes have been revealed in interviews, but the music should tell its story and its theme by itself.

I remain very divided on how to feel about this album, and I’m not quite sure how my opinion will change with time. Maybe if I sit on it more, listen to it more, the album will eventually grow on me. Then again, maybe not.

As a final rating I give Life In Your Glass World a 2.5/5.

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IRIS - Dawn of the Dimetrix Released: August 21, 2021

Dawn of the Dimetrix is the third studio album by solo metal artist IRIS, or Will Ryan, and bridges the gap between the first album Heart of an Artist and the second Goliath’s Throne. It is the final album before a long hiatus from the IRIS name.

The album is hard to define in terms of genre, toying with singer/songwriter and electronic elements in metal. And in many ways, that’s to its strength. It stands out as quite unique in many ways, and cohesively keeps its theming across the 52-minute runtime. Science fiction influences are very heavily featured throughout the album, and the songs follow many different characters through their journeys. But I’m not here to talk about the story as I am not very knowledgeable on it.

The music itself is very interesting and unique. Though it suffers from some production hiccups such as a very subdued drumkit and occasionally tinny guitar tone, it still manages to shine through with its overall thematic elements and just general quality in terms of songwriting. It’s difficult to categorize what exactly makes me love this album so much, but I just find it quite enjoyable.

Some more experimental tracks such as Into the Beyond and Plague see Will going in directions that were previously unknown territory for him. These songs alongside standard outings like Rock Bottom and I’ll Find My Way bridge the gap into this new territory. My only wish was that it did a little bit more.

The song I’m Sorry also falls a little bit more into this experimental category, but the three that do make up those experimental moments don’t cover a majority of the album - only about a fourth of it. So it brings in the very difficult choice of whether the familiarity is comfortable or if it’s missing more of that experimental sound. We’ll just have to wait for future releases in order to judge to see what the right direction might have been.

Other songs such as BioBond and Mothohive give us images into more elements of the story left undiscovered and untold. Elements of the story that are more abstract and intriguing. Creatures and technology unheard of to people in the current age. Speaking of how technology is torturous to someone’s existence, and a creature of great power and scale unheard of in our realm.

The album in many ways keeps its story consistent while trying to dip into some more experimental tracks, making sure that every new turn is fresh and fun to keep the listener interested, something the previous outing Goliath’s Throne needed more of.

As a final rating I give Dawn of the Dimetrix a 4/5.

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Trash Boat - Don't You Feel Amazing? Released: August 13, 2021 Original Writing Date: 9/1/21

Don’t You Feel Amazing? is the third album by punk band Trash Boat, and follows a completely new sound for the group. With more punchy lyrics and the addition of electronics to accompany their standard guitar and drum setup, the album begins to feel a whole lot more complete and unique on its own.

Have people done the same sort of sound before? Of course. Have any of them managed to do it to the same degree Trash Boat exemplifies here on album three? Absolutely not.

Some may see these types of things and compare it to other acts such as Bring Me The Horizon or Architects, but the catch is that none of them have quite done it to the effect that Trash Boat has achieved. On Don’t You Feel Amazing? they have made the more synthetic elements a bit more subtle, and they serve more as something to complete the album’s overall feel rather than a main feature.

As well, the amount of energy and catchiness added to the album creates an overall feeling of the album being almost addictive, which transitions nicely into the overarching theme about drug abuse.

Straight out of the gates, the album’s title track talks about heroin pretty clearly. This sets up the theme in the beginning, though it doesn’t quite resolve properly by the end is my biggest issue. The album does well in making sure that the pace keeps up and that things aren’t droned on for too long. Songs aren’t purely about drugs and their addictiveness as they deal with other topics in life, such as homophobia on He’s So Good and how people step over others for success on Cannibal.

The lyrics are somewhat literal in many regards, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing as they convey their message in a way that isn’t spelling it out for you letter by letter. Though they could be written with a bit more nuance, that isn’t necessarily a totally bad point. Not to mention the somewhat more literal nature of their previous outing Crown Shyness.

As a final rating, I give Don’t You Feel Amazing? a 5/5.