Merry Christmas everyone! Before we get into the first half of my albums list, I want to wish everyone a delightful and enjoyable fest whether it be with their families or alone, and whether you're spending it today (on Eve) or on the 25th. Peace and love to the world!
Albums #20-11
20. Stillwell - Dirtbag *+
I won't go as far as some Korn fans have went and say that this sucks all the way. Dirtbag is by no means a good album though. What surprises me is that Wuv from P.O.D. thought this was worthy of his drumming. No offence to Fieldy, but his guitar style isn't particularly original or impressive. That's not to say he cannot play, but his riffs aren't memorable, and his songwriting needs work to, well, work, IMHO. Q-Unique doesn't irritate me, but he does not excite me either. The lyrics lack substance, which normally isn't that big of a deal for me, but when the music is as undetermined as this, you kind of wish that at least the message had something to offer. But no. Feel free to check this out if you're a fan of the bands the members of Stillwell originally come from, but other than that, I can't really recommend this album to folk of any kind.
19. Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu **
While I'm not a hater like everyone else seems to be and really wanted to give this double album a proper chance, I can't say that I'd enjoy the whole all that much. Some cuts on here are really catchy and even adventurous, not just ideas that require developing. While not necessarily a new element for Metallica or for any band, ringing notes within chords are well executed at certain parts, in particular. The vocals, to me, aren't all that disturbing, although they are often unfitting and the lyrics seem hideous for a large portion of the time. Of course this is in connection to the story behind the album and poetry is subjective, but still - some of the delivery really leaves me thinking whether this is a serious effort or not. I think the main issue with this record is that it sounds like a big jam session Lou Reed and Metallica both were involved in at once. The songs are just as monotonous as those sessions with a band when you come up with a good riff or pattern and start developing it, repeating it again and again while it seeks for its shape. The lyrics and vocals sound just like improvisational experiments with the thought "I wonder whether these words would fit here or not" surrounding the minds of Reed and occasionally James Hetfield. There's no problem with minimalism and repetitiveness, but when the songs drag on and on without reaching a crescendo or anything even close to sensible dynamics, you really can't praise this album for being succesful artistically. There are definitely interesting parts, riffs, soundscapes, even lines (all of this is apparent on Cheat On Me especially, which would sound awesome at least in the beginning if it didn't sound like half of the band was testing their equipment in the background with beautiful strings and synth on top), but that's never good enough in the midst of mediocre, in some cases clearly below mediocre compositions. Whatever things that sound fascinating are practically overshadowed by the nonsense that follows them. Conclusion: I'm sure this collaboration was fun for the ones who took part on it, but it's barely any fun for me.
18. Kotiteollisuus - Kotiteollisuus **+
It doesn't come as a surprise that this album is this low in the ranking - every album entity after Helvetistä Itään has been bland for this band, and though the first two songs actually raise a lot of hope for better this time, almost all the other songs are cliché in structure and riffage. Some softer numbers could be called experimental, but only for this band. Truth be told, Itken Seinään Päin almost made me lift up the score, but sorry guys, a 2+ out of 5 is the highest I can give to your "Finnrock" style. If you went back to making angsty and raw metal á lá Eevan Perintö, you'd definitely be at the other end of this list. The other option would be to actually put all your effort into experimenting new things, which this as a whole is not.
17. Blink-182 - Neighborhoods **+
This one was a pleasant experience, at least moreso than the score suggests. I had never listened to a full album by Blink before, and barely knew what to expect. Turns out there were a few very nice hooks and songs that I wanted to go back to. I guess pop punk just isn't my thing most of the time, and around a half of this album didn't do anything special for me. Still worth the listen. If it wasn't for autotune, Neighborhoods would get an average score for sure.
16. Times Of Grace - The Hymn Of A Broken Man **½
I did not expect much from this album, and that turned out to be just the perfect stand to take. Some parts are quite enjoyable and headbangable, but mostly Jesse Leach and Adam Dutkiewicz manage to deliver nothing but generic metalcore, the same Killswitch Engage has been delivering ever since Dutkiewicz switched his primary instrument from drums to guitar. After several listens I found myself not too bummed about this album - it lacks glue since the songs can be quite badly structured to my ears, and innovation is barely there, but I can't say I'd be disappointed or anything. At the least, The Hymn of a Broken Man beats the hell out of KSE's second self-titled album... *sigh*
15. Limp Bizkit - Gold Cobra [Deluxe Edition] **½
This album I might have listened to a lot, but trust me, it does not deserve to be any higher than it is on this list. Although I can still listen to Limp Bizkit every now and then and enjoy it, their music barely offers anything major for me anymore. Everyone knows their lyrics and attitude, and though a lot of people hate it, I've never been turned off by it. The problem is that I was never really a fan of it, either. There's undeniable groove on this album, and Wes combines some insanely catchy, fun-to-play-and-fun-to-listen-to type of riffs, but regardless of my many listens I can only look at this album as a party record, in some ways similar to Korn's release The Path of Totality. And those albums will never be highlights in my collection, as anyone who truly knows me would tell you. Back Porch is a killer song, nevertheless.
14. Vildhjarta - Måsstaden **½
Måsstaden is a chaotic village, and this is some of the most chaotic music to exist. But it's also djent, and extremely gruelling. After a sweet beginning it was as if an avalanche came, reigned over me and buried me completely, and whenever I tried to take a peek over the snow, more of it came along to numb me. I can't tell the difference between individual songs because the way they end and begin is just like transitioning from one ripping guitar scene with screaming and thunderous drumming to the next one. There are clean parts, but way too often the other instruments and the vocals pause for the duration of them. If there were more clean guitar parts with the other instruments playing, more clean vocals and exaggerated dynamics in general, like in the song Traces, this album might of worked. In small doses it's still enjoyable, even highly inspirational, but when I listen to it from front to back, I'm negatively overwhelmed. Maybe some day when my mind is in a chaos I'll find this better...
13. RED - Until We Have Faces **½
RED doesn't seem to develop at all apart from tuning down their guitars. They still have a headcrushing tone to their distorted weapons and do emit impressive riffs at times, not to mention the choruses in their songs are huge. This also makes them incredibly predictable and after two albums of the same formula already, rather uninnovative. The third time around there's also an increased number of ballads, and most of them aren't nearly as good as the band's previous efforts in the same field. What always made RED stood out from the crowd were their dramatic and pretty use of strings, and now even that's, while not totally gone, at least diminishing. Whenever the music isn't predictable, it's messy, aimless and sounds unfinished. While Innocence & Instinct was a fairly good album in my opinion, this as a whole is only a little bit above decent, despite the heavier tracks growing on me quite a bit. I can rock out to this, sure, but I'll rather go back to hearing Take It All Away... A masterpiece of a song I'm afraid they'll never top.
12. Animals As Leaders - Weightless ***
While I did enjoy many things on this album, it didn't change the way I feel about highly technical music. Many times things get really show-off when something more minimal could've done the trick a hundred times better in the context of the composition. This applies particularly for the clean tapping and slapping parts that I'm not necessarily too fancy on stylistically. The production on the low guitars isn't quite as deep as I'd hoped it to be, either, and this truly is a stream of consciousness, with creative ups and downs. No one can argue that Tosin Abasi is a very skilled guitar player, but his skills as a songwriter can and should be questioned, as well as whether this album is a masterpiece or not. For me it's entertaining, but I fail to reach a 'weightless' state while listening to it. There's variety and progress to be found within every individual song for sure with electronics, djent-esque riffing, melodic solos and calmer parts following each other nicely, but the songs tend to take a similar type of route structure-wise. Usually it's a good thing if a band is recognizable for its sound, but here it's just a little too much the same and everything begins to sound bland. Or maybe it's just too complex for me to comprehend. Go figure. I give this album a three, without including any points for the talent showcased. The songwriting, to me, was only occasionally purpose-serving and not particularly innovative.
11. Korn - The Path Of Totality [Deluxe] ***+
Although this grew on me a bit and upgraded from being a disappointment to being decent, I have quite a love and hate relationship with some of the songs on here. Most of the material on this album just falls flat, lacking depth and sense of path (see what I did there, ha). The question that's aroused is whether the result is to be blamed on the producers or the band. My guess would be that it's a bit of both, although Jonathan is quite obviously the only Korn member who's contributed as much to this album as for all the others (if not more), almost making it sound like his solo project especially after a few detailed interviews. In defense to the band, it does seem to matter which dubstep guy is producing them at least - Noisia is responsible for more bad than good judging by where he has received his credits, while all three songs with Skrillex are more hits than misses. This also brings a sad point. Two of the three best songs are ones that I heard prior to the rest of the album - which are obviously the singles Get Up and Narcissistic Cannibal, produced by Skrillex. That's what truly makes any album a disappointment - hearing fantastic things about it beforehand that up the hype, in this case songs that proved to be annoyingly perfect choices to promote the record, and then discovering that the album is just a mortal and easy-to-forget piece of the puzzle. Every song on The Path of Totality does have something that could at least potentially become insanely fantastic if tweaked and placed a little more correctly, proving that the concept of this collaboration is in fact inspiring and innovative on some level. The problem is that none of the songs, including my favorites, have the ability to literally grab me from the balls or kick my guts. Correct me if I'm wrong, but blowing one's head off is the only goal a dubstep-meets-nu-metal project should have, right? Nevertheless, I don't find this as difficult to get into as See You On The Other Side is these days or Remember Who You Are has always been, and the experimentation, regardless of the band maybe hailing it as slightly more fresh than it actually is, makes up for some of the flaws. It does not, however, make up for the fact that this is not a very cohesive record.There's very little humanity to be found in this artificial wall of electronic wobble, drumming and instrumentation, and if anything, the whole leaves me feeling confused. Particularly while comparing it with the album of the year.
...And that leads you to the overwhelming question - which is it? What is the album of the year for The Breath of Darkness? Top 10 coming at your face in exactly 12 hours!
Albums #20-11
20. Stillwell - Dirtbag *+
I won't go as far as some Korn fans have went and say that this sucks all the way. Dirtbag is by no means a good album though. What surprises me is that Wuv from P.O.D. thought this was worthy of his drumming. No offence to Fieldy, but his guitar style isn't particularly original or impressive. That's not to say he cannot play, but his riffs aren't memorable, and his songwriting needs work to, well, work, IMHO. Q-Unique doesn't irritate me, but he does not excite me either. The lyrics lack substance, which normally isn't that big of a deal for me, but when the music is as undetermined as this, you kind of wish that at least the message had something to offer. But no. Feel free to check this out if you're a fan of the bands the members of Stillwell originally come from, but other than that, I can't really recommend this album to folk of any kind.
19. Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu **
While I'm not a hater like everyone else seems to be and really wanted to give this double album a proper chance, I can't say that I'd enjoy the whole all that much. Some cuts on here are really catchy and even adventurous, not just ideas that require developing. While not necessarily a new element for Metallica or for any band, ringing notes within chords are well executed at certain parts, in particular. The vocals, to me, aren't all that disturbing, although they are often unfitting and the lyrics seem hideous for a large portion of the time. Of course this is in connection to the story behind the album and poetry is subjective, but still - some of the delivery really leaves me thinking whether this is a serious effort or not. I think the main issue with this record is that it sounds like a big jam session Lou Reed and Metallica both were involved in at once. The songs are just as monotonous as those sessions with a band when you come up with a good riff or pattern and start developing it, repeating it again and again while it seeks for its shape. The lyrics and vocals sound just like improvisational experiments with the thought "I wonder whether these words would fit here or not" surrounding the minds of Reed and occasionally James Hetfield. There's no problem with minimalism and repetitiveness, but when the songs drag on and on without reaching a crescendo or anything even close to sensible dynamics, you really can't praise this album for being succesful artistically. There are definitely interesting parts, riffs, soundscapes, even lines (all of this is apparent on Cheat On Me especially, which would sound awesome at least in the beginning if it didn't sound like half of the band was testing their equipment in the background with beautiful strings and synth on top), but that's never good enough in the midst of mediocre, in some cases clearly below mediocre compositions. Whatever things that sound fascinating are practically overshadowed by the nonsense that follows them. Conclusion: I'm sure this collaboration was fun for the ones who took part on it, but it's barely any fun for me.
18. Kotiteollisuus - Kotiteollisuus **+
It doesn't come as a surprise that this album is this low in the ranking - every album entity after Helvetistä Itään has been bland for this band, and though the first two songs actually raise a lot of hope for better this time, almost all the other songs are cliché in structure and riffage. Some softer numbers could be called experimental, but only for this band. Truth be told, Itken Seinään Päin almost made me lift up the score, but sorry guys, a 2+ out of 5 is the highest I can give to your "Finnrock" style. If you went back to making angsty and raw metal á lá Eevan Perintö, you'd definitely be at the other end of this list. The other option would be to actually put all your effort into experimenting new things, which this as a whole is not.
17. Blink-182 - Neighborhoods **+
This one was a pleasant experience, at least moreso than the score suggests. I had never listened to a full album by Blink before, and barely knew what to expect. Turns out there were a few very nice hooks and songs that I wanted to go back to. I guess pop punk just isn't my thing most of the time, and around a half of this album didn't do anything special for me. Still worth the listen. If it wasn't for autotune, Neighborhoods would get an average score for sure.
16. Times Of Grace - The Hymn Of A Broken Man **½
I did not expect much from this album, and that turned out to be just the perfect stand to take. Some parts are quite enjoyable and headbangable, but mostly Jesse Leach and Adam Dutkiewicz manage to deliver nothing but generic metalcore, the same Killswitch Engage has been delivering ever since Dutkiewicz switched his primary instrument from drums to guitar. After several listens I found myself not too bummed about this album - it lacks glue since the songs can be quite badly structured to my ears, and innovation is barely there, but I can't say I'd be disappointed or anything. At the least, The Hymn of a Broken Man beats the hell out of KSE's second self-titled album... *sigh*
15. Limp Bizkit - Gold Cobra [Deluxe Edition] **½
This album I might have listened to a lot, but trust me, it does not deserve to be any higher than it is on this list. Although I can still listen to Limp Bizkit every now and then and enjoy it, their music barely offers anything major for me anymore. Everyone knows their lyrics and attitude, and though a lot of people hate it, I've never been turned off by it. The problem is that I was never really a fan of it, either. There's undeniable groove on this album, and Wes combines some insanely catchy, fun-to-play-and-fun-to-listen-to type of riffs, but regardless of my many listens I can only look at this album as a party record, in some ways similar to Korn's release The Path of Totality. And those albums will never be highlights in my collection, as anyone who truly knows me would tell you. Back Porch is a killer song, nevertheless.
14. Vildhjarta - Måsstaden **½
Måsstaden is a chaotic village, and this is some of the most chaotic music to exist. But it's also djent, and extremely gruelling. After a sweet beginning it was as if an avalanche came, reigned over me and buried me completely, and whenever I tried to take a peek over the snow, more of it came along to numb me. I can't tell the difference between individual songs because the way they end and begin is just like transitioning from one ripping guitar scene with screaming and thunderous drumming to the next one. There are clean parts, but way too often the other instruments and the vocals pause for the duration of them. If there were more clean guitar parts with the other instruments playing, more clean vocals and exaggerated dynamics in general, like in the song Traces, this album might of worked. In small doses it's still enjoyable, even highly inspirational, but when I listen to it from front to back, I'm negatively overwhelmed. Maybe some day when my mind is in a chaos I'll find this better...
13. RED - Until We Have Faces **½
RED doesn't seem to develop at all apart from tuning down their guitars. They still have a headcrushing tone to their distorted weapons and do emit impressive riffs at times, not to mention the choruses in their songs are huge. This also makes them incredibly predictable and after two albums of the same formula already, rather uninnovative. The third time around there's also an increased number of ballads, and most of them aren't nearly as good as the band's previous efforts in the same field. What always made RED stood out from the crowd were their dramatic and pretty use of strings, and now even that's, while not totally gone, at least diminishing. Whenever the music isn't predictable, it's messy, aimless and sounds unfinished. While Innocence & Instinct was a fairly good album in my opinion, this as a whole is only a little bit above decent, despite the heavier tracks growing on me quite a bit. I can rock out to this, sure, but I'll rather go back to hearing Take It All Away... A masterpiece of a song I'm afraid they'll never top.
12. Animals As Leaders - Weightless ***
While I did enjoy many things on this album, it didn't change the way I feel about highly technical music. Many times things get really show-off when something more minimal could've done the trick a hundred times better in the context of the composition. This applies particularly for the clean tapping and slapping parts that I'm not necessarily too fancy on stylistically. The production on the low guitars isn't quite as deep as I'd hoped it to be, either, and this truly is a stream of consciousness, with creative ups and downs. No one can argue that Tosin Abasi is a very skilled guitar player, but his skills as a songwriter can and should be questioned, as well as whether this album is a masterpiece or not. For me it's entertaining, but I fail to reach a 'weightless' state while listening to it. There's variety and progress to be found within every individual song for sure with electronics, djent-esque riffing, melodic solos and calmer parts following each other nicely, but the songs tend to take a similar type of route structure-wise. Usually it's a good thing if a band is recognizable for its sound, but here it's just a little too much the same and everything begins to sound bland. Or maybe it's just too complex for me to comprehend. Go figure. I give this album a three, without including any points for the talent showcased. The songwriting, to me, was only occasionally purpose-serving and not particularly innovative.
11. Korn - The Path Of Totality [Deluxe] ***+
Although this grew on me a bit and upgraded from being a disappointment to being decent, I have quite a love and hate relationship with some of the songs on here. Most of the material on this album just falls flat, lacking depth and sense of path (see what I did there, ha). The question that's aroused is whether the result is to be blamed on the producers or the band. My guess would be that it's a bit of both, although Jonathan is quite obviously the only Korn member who's contributed as much to this album as for all the others (if not more), almost making it sound like his solo project especially after a few detailed interviews. In defense to the band, it does seem to matter which dubstep guy is producing them at least - Noisia is responsible for more bad than good judging by where he has received his credits, while all three songs with Skrillex are more hits than misses. This also brings a sad point. Two of the three best songs are ones that I heard prior to the rest of the album - which are obviously the singles Get Up and Narcissistic Cannibal, produced by Skrillex. That's what truly makes any album a disappointment - hearing fantastic things about it beforehand that up the hype, in this case songs that proved to be annoyingly perfect choices to promote the record, and then discovering that the album is just a mortal and easy-to-forget piece of the puzzle. Every song on The Path of Totality does have something that could at least potentially become insanely fantastic if tweaked and placed a little more correctly, proving that the concept of this collaboration is in fact inspiring and innovative on some level. The problem is that none of the songs, including my favorites, have the ability to literally grab me from the balls or kick my guts. Correct me if I'm wrong, but blowing one's head off is the only goal a dubstep-meets-nu-metal project should have, right? Nevertheless, I don't find this as difficult to get into as See You On The Other Side is these days or Remember Who You Are has always been, and the experimentation, regardless of the band maybe hailing it as slightly more fresh than it actually is, makes up for some of the flaws. It does not, however, make up for the fact that this is not a very cohesive record.There's very little humanity to be found in this artificial wall of electronic wobble, drumming and instrumentation, and if anything, the whole leaves me feeling confused. Particularly while comparing it with the album of the year.
...And that leads you to the overwhelming question - which is it? What is the album of the year for The Breath of Darkness? Top 10 coming at your face in exactly 12 hours!
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