A bit of a rewind here, but we stay true-to-form. Get you some!
Zack’s Top 3 Albums of the Month:
3. Chris Stapleton – Starting Over 2. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – K.G. 1. Aesop Rock – Spirit World Field Guide
Jeremy’s Top 3 Albums of the Month:
3. Yukon Blonde – Vindicator 2. Aesop Rock – Spirit World Field Guide (not a typo) 1. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – K.G. (also not a typo, Jeremy and Zack are the Borg)
Dan’s Top 3 Hit Songs of the Month:
3. Billie Eilish – Therefore I Am 2. Harry Styles – Golden 1. Chris Stapleton – Starting Over
Soilwork – A Whisp of the Atlantic (Nuclear Blast)
While Sweden has an incredibly active metal scene, Soilwork stands out (at least to me) because of their unique take on melody. They typically have just as much in common with American groove metal, like Pantera, as they do with Scandinavian death metal.
Metalcore synth elements are more prevalent on this EP, as well as deep thought and reflective moments, brought out by piano interludes. There is even a trumpet solo at the 8 minute(ish) mark of the title track, as well as the outro starting at the 15 minute mark.
Oh, right! I forgot to mention that the opening song and album namesake, “A Whisp of the Atlantic”, is a 16 minute opus that fully encapsulates what this band is capable of. Almost an homage to Dream Theater, it moves through a range of emotions and styles. It tells a story of ending the “lies of sanity” to “feel eternity’s breath” and leave the world behind. Soaring, operatic vocals punctuated with guttural growls dominate the track and usher in musical shifts from death metal to metalcore, but all with a progressive metal flare.
The rest of the EP follows closely the example set at the start, but dotted with the elements that were used to seeing from Soilwork. “Feverish” in particular represents the best of what they offer here, packaged in a bite-sized 6 minutes and filled with blast beats, catchy chorus melodies, and progressive guitar work. “Desperado” is equally satisfying, and is the only track that doesn’t end with a pensive instrumental outro. The closing track, “Death Diviner”, has my favorite guitar riff on the release, repeated throughout its verses.
I found this album to be their most impressive and listenable recording since Figure Number Five in 2002.
Well this was a much calmer month, thankfully. It feels like the pop charts slowed down a bit for the holidays. Just a quick note for this list next month: the only Christmas songs that will hit this list next month will be brand new ones. So I’m not reviewing All I Want For Christmas Is You. Unless we do some list or pod about Christmas songs. Then all bets are off. Whelp, here we go, crap first then scroll down for the good stuff.
13 – Morgan Wallen – More Than My Hometown There’s an example of country done right towards the top of the list. This is country done… well, I’d say wrong but this is just what the genre is now. The production’s the easy part. It’s a cookie cutter country track. There’s a steel guitar in there, there’s a Telecaster set to maximum twang and an even, if not boring drum track. Now let’s get to the worst part: lyrics. I can’t roll my eyes harder at the thesis of this song: oh, I love you more than all of these great big things in this great big world, but I can’t love you more than this one stoplight holler in the backwoods of bumfuck, wherever. So enjoy life, girl, where people drive electric cars and fancy apps deliver you food and you don’t have to walk to the back of the property to take a shit. Songs like this are the reason the genre has picked up the reputation it has over the last two decades.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: We only got quickies for you this week, due to dat bird with the fixins… you know the one. Regular biweekly reviews pick up again on December 4!)
Dark Psychosis – The Edge of Nowhere (Moribund)
Psychedelic black metal from Lansing, Michigan. This is a one man operation, and sounds like it.
Honestly, aside from some creepy-cool ambient effects, there’s not a lot to grab hold of. I am in favor of lo-fi recordings and underproduction in general, but this album treads that murky area in between. He tried really hard to have quality sound production, but has no idea how to put it all together. The result is sterile feeling and awkward, which might work for garage-indie, but black metal needs to feel visceral or it doesn’t work.
Sean. Buddy. Stop going by Xaphan because no one is actually going to call you that and stick to working with Cavalcade. Their input would most likely have helped this record quite a bit.
The best track on the album is the Digital Only cut, “Drink Fight and Fuck”. What makes it good is the raw, live feel to it. No production whatsoever. Sounds like shit and is better for it.
Start with: “Born to Lose”, “Dark Call…”, “Drink Fight and Fuck”
It’s a little “on the nose” that a Canadian indie-pop outfit would go by the same name as a Territory of the Great White North, but I can’t really fault them for the homage to home turf. And at least one of them is actually mostly blonde. So there’s that.
This is their 7th studio album under the name Yukon Blonde (they actually had 2 EPs as Alphababy beforehand…what do you think of the name change?), and I have to say, they absolutely nailed it. I can find no fault in anything on the record. Vindicator focuses a lot of attention on being smooth as melty ice cream and as funky as the weekly sock laundry.
Wait…I mean…You know what I’m saying?
There is a flare for creativity that doesn’t often get heard outside of a Beck album. Take “You Were Mine”, for example. It starts out sounding like a Michael Jackson tune, played through a box fan, then breaks down as a slow jam love-child of George Clinton and Teddy Pendergrass, before going full-on funkadelic. And that only covers 5 minutes of the release.
Wonky, warped synth sounds are the dominant trait of the album, perfectly orchestrated atop beautiful R&B vocals. This is all backed by a rhythm section that should be heralded: bass for days and some of the tightest drumming in pop music.
The stand-out tracks on Vindicator are the aforementioned “You Are Mine” as well as a few mid-album cuts. “Good Times” is a sad, wallflower anthem set to a slow club beat, and “Fuck It” is a Flaming Lips-esque jam about doing your own thing.
Let me start with a few questions. Do you enjoy guitar-heavy blues music? Do you enjoy radio-ready rock music? Do you enjoy grungy, southern-tinged vocals with an ear for a catchy melody?
The four members of Black Stone Cherry sure do. As the world was pushing toward total lockdown, they were isolated in a Kentucky woods, finishing their 7th studio album. And let me tell you, they did everything I asked about above…
… in the shittiest way possible.
The guitar work is bluesy in the same way that pressboard is wood. His voice is great, and sufficiently throaty, but the lyrics are about as poignant as you’d expect from someone who looks like they worship Fall Out Boy and drink nothing but Genesee.
No joke at all though, I absolutely love these guys. Their songs are loud, catchy, quasi-nonsensical, and harmless. They sort of equate to AC/DC in the ‘70s, showing a talent that garage acts would kill for, but giving no kind of a shit about it.
This is not art.
This is not poetry.
It’s rock ‘n roll at its basest level, puerile and fun.
Okay, so “If My Heart Had Wings” is a particularly egregious country/rock hybrid, a la “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing”, and actually contains the words, “If my heart had lips, it’d tell you all the things I miss.” Ugh. But “Again” is a riff-heavy banger about not giving up. At least, that’s my interpretation. The lyrics leave a lot between the lines. And “Ride” could have been a Deep Purple track left on the cutting room floor.
The biggest surprise is the subdued cover of “Don’t Bring Me Down,” displaying the band’s ability to show respect for the classics. A trait not represented on their laughably terrible series of blues cover releases.
To recap: This record jams, and as long as you’re not searching for enlightenment, you’ll be happy you gave it a spin.
Man, the top 40 was weird this month. Songs popped up then plummeted. 21 Savage’s entire album charted one week, then all but disappeared as everyone moved on to something else. Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” recharted 40 years after being released thanks to a TikTok video. (I didn’t include it in this month’s rankings but that song’s a solid 87-90. I really like the whole Rumours in general.) Oh, and country actually had a taste of pop success this month, so all around a busy month on the charts. What that does mean is we got a lot of tracks to sift through, so hold on to your butts. (throws the main breaker). Note: There’s a ton here so a lower ranking doesn’t necessarily mean a song’s bad. In fact, if you want to get right past the bad and meh, jump down to like #20.
31. Justin Bieber and benny blanco – Lonely Another “woah is me, fame is so hard” anthem from the Biebs. I thought “I’ll Show You” was bad enough. I usually find strength in tracks where artists express their struggles with mental health. It can help those who are struggling to find something in pop culture that they can relate to, knowing that they are not alone in the struggle. But fuck is this just whiney. It sounds more like the slurred wailing of the drunk cryer in the group. It’s hard to feel anything for you when your expressions of self-loathing come off as nothing more than a cry for attention instead of help. There is a difference. The minor keyed Fender Rhoads backing track just amplifies this feeling that the emotions are disingenuous. I’m not saying the kid doesn’t have mental health issues and I wouldn’t dream of berating him if that were the case, but there’s nothing on this track that feels like a genuine examination of his heart. And seriously, what the fuck is that warble on the hook?
Mr. Bungle – The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo (Ipecac)
It’s easy to forget an origin story. Especially when the results of a journey are so iconic. Mr. Bungle is often remembered as the experimental, genre-bending side project of Faith No More frontman, Mike Patton. Well, he got that spot (replacing Chuck Mosley), on the strength of a Mr. Bungle demo tape.
In hindsight, this is a strange move, as nothing on this demo screams Faith No More. What it does scream is “Speak Spanish or die” (“Hypocrites”) and “Anarchy up your anus / Anarchy up your butt / Butt” (“Anarchy Up Your Anus”). These are precisely the lyrics you would expect from the minds that brought you “Squeeze Me Macaroni” and “My Ass Is On Fire”, and are even belted in the ‘80s caffeine-fueled aggression of a youthful Mike Patton. Which is most impressive on “Methematics”.
Musically, the band is often described as starting out as a death metal act before experimenting with fusion, funk, jazz, and anything else they felt would “fit” into a song. As this is my first glimpse into the stuff that happened before their self-titled debut, I had always taken that as truth. The reality is a chaotic combination of thrash, punk, and hardcore metal styles, but primed with a level of IDGAF-ery that borders on riotous nihilism.
The technical skill of the players is obvious and remarkable, but is intentionally suppressed in favor of slapshod moments of effective juxtaposition. Some guitar solos on Easter Bunny are insane shreds (“Spreading the Thighs of Death”) and others are odd-timed, odd-tuned wrecking balls (“Glutton For Punishment”). The drums are consistently rampaging throughout the 56 minutes of the record.
Ok, this demo release took me by surprise. But I am 100% here for it. Is there such a thing as “pre-nostalgia”?
Wrapping your head around Nothing But Thieves might be a tricky thing to accomplish, but trust me, the payoff is worth it. They have a knack for making something strange sound perfectly, reasonable pop-ready.
Gritty guitars riff in syncopation with a steadily pounding beat, while keys fill in the gaps. There aren’t many gaps, so the keys are pretty subtle.
Vocally, this is a different animal altogether. Conor’s voice is smoother than Adam Levine’s (when he wants it to be), as playful as Brendon Urie’s, and just plain better than Brandon Flowers. Though favorable comparisons can be made to all three.
Moral Panic is the 3rd studio album from the British quintet, and the first to capture my attention. I will revisit earlier work to see if it was just me, but this one feels different. This is particularly true of the jarring album opener, “Unperson”, and the mid-record wake-up call, “Phobia”, which shift gears multiple times creating a frenetic, almost manic headspace. The guitar-heavy “This Feels Like the End” provides an uplifting look at the end-times, and just jams.
Sure, there are some less impressive attempts to be a “relevant” pop group. “Real Love Song”, “Free If We Want It”, and the title track fall most obviously into that category. Those songs aren’t terrible, though. Actually, they are probably more accessible to a casual listener, but seem a little dry in comparison to the other songs’ level of creativity.
And elitism is still sexy, so I’ll take the others first.
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