Cane Hill - Kill the Sun (EP) Back when this first dropped in January, I had the sense that it would likely end up on this list. I pretty much agree with everything I said in my initial review, so this one won't be very long at all. What confirmed that a six-song EP should … Continue reading Top Albums 2019: #2
Top Albums 2019: #3
Whitechapel - The Valley As I attest in my original review of this record, I was very impressed by Whitechapel's return to form after what seemed to be a downward decline with the somewhat awkward Our Endless War and then the mostly brittle Mark of the Blade, which did anything but set in stone the … Continue reading Top Albums 2019: #3
Top Albums 2019: #4
Final four! Let's go. Born of Osiris impressed me early on this year with The Simulation, an album I thought was their best and most original in sound since The Discovery in 2011. There are definitely some songs I come back to more than others - the final track still holding the position of least … Continue reading Top Albums 2019: #4
Top Albums 2019: #5
Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind I experienced a lot of vacillation with regard to where I would put this on the list. I knew it had to be in the top ten somewhere, but it ranged from being towards the back end to being towards the front in various drafts of the ranking. … Continue reading Top Albums 2019: #5
Top Albums 2019: #6
In this year's spring, I was just getting into After the Burial, doing my usual process of listening through the entire discography from start to end before coming back to what stood out to me initially, so I didn't review Evergreen, their newest release, when it came out, feeling that I lacked the context to … Continue reading Top Albums 2019: #6
Top Albums 2019: #7
I Built the Sky - The Zenith Rise Sporting a stunningly beautiful album cover, I Built the Sky's new record - his third overall, along with a couple EPs and a collection of B-sides - is his most consistent and thematically-composed to date. There's still the empyrean theme that has emblazoned all of the previous … Continue reading Top Albums 2019: #7
Top Albums 2019: #8
Blood Youth - Starve Speaking of subgenres that are way past their respective heydays, Blood youth are (astonishingly) still sticking to nu-metal. And not like, Cane Hill nu-metal that's been updated to modern standards; Starve sounds like it could have come out in 2002. The first riff off the title track is basically Korn's "Clown" … Continue reading Top Albums 2019: #8
Top Albums 2019: #9
Shaped by Fire by As I Lay Dying I'm not incredibly into melodeath. Of course I've listened to Carcass as well as some of the other pioneers from the Gothenburg scene, but it's always seemed a little bloodless to me as a whole. The riffs tend to show less creativity than traditional death metal, being … Continue reading Top Albums 2019: #9
Top Albums 2019: #10
First, a brief overview of my musical history this year. I spent 2019, especially the latter half, in an overwhelmingly exploratory state. There was very little relistening going on, even for albums I really liked; most of the ones making this list I only listened to in full a couple times upon release, and then … Continue reading Top Albums 2019: #10
Review: Saint Asonia – Flawed Design (& Celldweller – Into the Void)
I'm back! And less than a week out at that. Let's get right into it. Saint Asonia, the new primary project of Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace fame, appeared in 2015, dropped a couple semi-successful singles which I generally thought were alright, followed them up with an album, toured a bit, and then disappeared … Continue reading Review: Saint Asonia – Flawed Design (& Celldweller – Into the Void)
Sonic Thorns 