Papa Roach - Who Do You Trust?
This album is really a case of "What were they thinking?". Papa Roach have never been a band for me, but I loathe this album as much as I do because they're disservicing their fans as well. Some tracks feel like Papa Roach and could please fans, like the title track or Renegade Music. Even if these aren't for me, they do have a real energy to them that I can at least appreciate. However, they soon take the Imagine Dragons route of making lazy, stale pop songs like Elevate, Problems, and Come Around that are just so bland. Say what you want about Papa Roach, but I wouldn't necessarily call their music forgettable, but here, they turned that up to 11. I would have a hard time defining these as Papa Roach tracks, and that not in a good way. Bands like A Perfect Circle with Eat the Elephant and Paramore with their self-titled record and After Laughter changed up their sounds beautifully to further explore sonic territory with plenty of great ideas in their heads. However, this Papa Roach record does nothing except exist in a state of disappointment and embarrassment. Skip this with every will in your being. Next.
Grade: D-
Chasms - The Mirage
Ah, now here's something I can speak strongly of, and the best part? You've probably never heard of this album or band before. The only reason I know of this is because it showed up in my recommended on YouTube Music (I've since stopped using it; I'm not paying for "Listening off the app"), and yeah, this is legit. It's a gorgeous, atmospheric mix of dream pop and ethereal music that's so beautifully put together and wonderful to listen to. You're know what you're in for immediantly with the opening cut Shadows, which is easily one of the finest tracks of the year. The vocal melodies, samples, and dream pop guitar all work to create a lush, other worldly atmosphere that strongly carries throughout the rest of the record. The rest can be said for the rest of the album, especially Deep Love Deep Pain and Tears In The Morning Sun, which alone make the album worthwhile. My main problem with the record is the track run times. For the most part, these are songs that are 5 to 7 minutes long, and some of the tracks get super repetitive. It makes the album feel too long going back, but besides that, this album stands as perhaps the most underrated record of the year. It's a terrific example of atmospheric music that drags you in and keeps you in throughout. Absolutely worth the dive. Check it out.
Grade: A-
Grade: A-
Since we've now gone super underground, let's go with something way more recognizable.
Billie Ellish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
If you want something different than what the Hot 100 is typically offering at the moment, you HAVE to hear this record. Eilish (And her brother Finneas on production) has delivered what will probably be the best pop album of the year here. This is an excellent mainstream record, and it surprisingly doesn't feel that way. It feels like something that would get attention, but it would just miss the Hot 100, but this record has blown up, and the single Bad Guy is one of the top 5 most popular songs in America at the time of this writing, and that's for good reason; It's catchy the production's great, and it's twisted in the best way possible (I also learned it on bass. Pretty fun to play). The same goes for the rest of the record on tracks like You Should See Me In A Crown and All The Good Girls Go To Hell, but it also gets emotional on When The Party's Over, I Love You, and Listen Before I Go effectively as well, and those are track remain some of the strongest on the record and of the year so far for me. The song 8 is really the only weak track on the album, with Eilish's voice modified to sound like a child's being extremely weird and a bit irritating. The rest of the track is also pretty boring otherwise, but man, does the rest of this record deliver. Listen to this now.
Grade: A
The Damned Things - High Crimes
While there's a good chance you don't know this band, you've definitely heard music from some of the members of this hard rock supergroup. In this group, you have members of Anthrax, Fall Out Boy, Alkaline Trio, and Every Time I Die. If you know anything about any of these bands, this seems like a project that would fall right on its face, but it works so well, and you know what? This is definitive proof Fall Out Boy should break up. The members that aren't Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump have a terrific outlet for hard rock with some awesome, catchy melodies that Fall Out Boy refuse to bring to the table (Lake Effect Kid was the exception, but that was a late 2000s demo). There's so much fun to be had with this record, like the opening cuts Cells and Something Good which are supremely catchy and have great instrumentals. It's not a particularly deep record, but it's not meant to be; This is the record you put on when you want to jam out to some rock songs, and it does a wonderful job at doing so. Easily one of the most fun records of the year.
Grade: A-
Grade: A-
Astronoid - Astronoid
This is an album that's frustrating to me, not because it's bad, but because it's potential wasted. The thing is, this band has a really great sound that they've referred to as "dream thrash", which is a very good description of their sound. Their vocalist has a high pitched voice that blends with the soothing yet aggressive guitar work and the even more aggressive drumming. It's unlike anything else I've heard this year, and that's for the better. The tracks Lost and Ideal World highlight this sound extremely well and are terrific songs in general, but the rest of the album has a major issue; Every song sounds the same. They all have a similar structure, similar guitar playing and drumming, and similar vocal melodies to one another. On my first listen, I thought maybe it would take another listen or two to tell the tracks apart, but nope. They all sound the same to me. However, I do love this sound, and it's a great record to have on in the background, but that's about it. I do want to see where this band goes in the future, and I hope they develop their sound further to make every track unique and interesting. I like it fine, but that's about where it ends.
Grade: B
Weezer - Teal Album/Black Album
So, Weezer released two albums this year, and since I like Weezer a lot, I decided to cover them both in this segment. Let's start with Teal.
The Teal Album was a surprise for many. It released without any prior announcement, and it was all cover songs from various different artists. Everyone from A-Ha to Toto to TLC to Michael Jackson was covered on this record, and to mixed results. Their cover of Take On Me captures the original's spirit well, Everybody Wants To Rule The World is also solid, and their take on Mr. Blue Sky is also enjoyable. However, there are also some stinkers here, like their cover of Billie Jean by Michael Jackson (Which, after that documentary, was a bad move), Paranoid by Black Sabbath (Sung by guitarist Brian Bell), and their cover of No Scrubs by TLC, which I honestly love listening to because it's one of the most white things I've ever heard. It's so bizarre it's hilarious. It's mostly a pretty meh collection, and while not offensive for the most part, should probably be skipped.
Grade: C+
Now, let's talk about The Black Album. This record had a lot riding on it; It was coming after the disappointment that was Pacific Daydream and the band needed somewhat of a comeback, as well as the hype that this would be darker and much different than anything they've done before. The thing is, for the most part, this album really isn't. Does it experiment in spots? Yes. Too Many Thoughts In My Head and Byzantine experiment with tropical tinged beats and instrumentals that work well, they delve into pop much better than they did on Pacific Daydream with Zombie Bastards and I'm Just Being Honest, and High As A Kite is a Beatles-inspired ballad that's one of the best songs they've released in the 21st century (Seriously, if you're gonna listen to one track from the record, have it be this one). The issues with this record come with how inconsistent this album is sonically. With the amount of exploration this did here, the album becomes messy to listen to, and it gets annoying because of that. Another thing is the lyrics are really bad in quite a few tracks on here. While I may dig Too Many Thoughts In My Head's beat, it's lyrics are random and sporatic, and not in a good way, Living In L.A. suffers from generic "Afraid to talk to a girl" lyrics, Piece of Cake's lyrics are dreadfully repetitive to the point of annoyance, and California Snow feels like they're trying to be that one "Cool dad" at the neighborhood barbeque. The thing is that while the majority of these songs are decent, they suffer from not being developed enough and being placed in the album poorly. I don't hate this record; It's better than Pacific Daydream, it has some really solid tracks that I enjoy returning to, and it's full of good ideas, but it's just disappointing. This could've been so much more. I'd say listen listen to the first three tracks and I'm Just Being Honest if you want the best tracks, and please do listen to High As A Kite. The rest you can skip.
Grade: C+
Grade: C+
So, that's about it in terms of albums I wanted to discuss at length. There are plenty of other albums I heard this year so far, but these are ones I wanted to discuss. It's been a pretty good year so far for albums, but I've yet to find my A+ of the year yet. Maybe in the future, but for now, I'm content with what we've gotten. Please do check out the albums that seem interesting to you. There's a lot of good stuff here, and there's nothing like listening to good music. Thank for reading. Bye.
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