Pallbearer: Foundations of Burden ALBUM REVIEW

Pallbearer’s debut full-length, Sorrow and Extinction, impressed many upon its release with its utterly sincere take on traditional doom metal. It combined the core elements of Black Sabbath with the drama of Candlemass and the snail-paced crawl of funeral doom such as Evoken. It resulted in a very likable and worthwhile release that had many metalheads, young and old, raising their horns in approval, rocking out to the album’s wall of guitar sludge and soaring lead lines. Foundations of Burden, their latest offering, was met with even more acclaim from fans and critics than its predecessor, with Decibel in particular calling it a “goddamn masterpiece” and naming it Album of the Year. However, The Needle Drop criticized it for its lack of contrast and gave it a mere 5 out of 10.

Opeth: Pale Communion ALBUM REVIEW

Opeth’s transition from a progressive death metal juggernaut into a metal-free progressive rock group (rife with vintage keyboards and nods to King Crimson and Genesis) should have come to the surprise of no one, with the possible exception of infants or people who only heard Orchid in the mid ‘90s then promptly forgot about the band until 2011 when Heritage was released.

Dino Brown: I Dream of Dino ALBUM REVIEW

Dino Brown is a San Diego MC who’s just starting out in the rap game, and he already seems to have an ear for great production and catchy hooks to craft his ‘90s inspired sound and vision. He also possesses a deliciously smooth, deep voice to augment his already solid approach on the mic and his tight, aggressive flow, giving off the impression of someone who not only has confidence, but has his eyes set on something bigger for himself. His debut mixtape has just been released on datpiff, and since he already shows great promise (and since I also grew up with the guy) I think he earns a review here.

My Sadboys/Gravity Boys Playlist

As you all know from reading this blog, I love Yung Lean and Sadboys with a passion. Here is my current playlist of my favorite songs by Sadboys and Gravity Boys (the other, closely affiliated Swedish rap group. [Indicated in brackets] ) as of 2014. This playlist features 27 songs and is over 80 minutes long and it features material from all three main Yung Lean albums plus the Neal Yung 2003 unofficial mixtape, as well as various singles and material from the GTBSG compilation and Bladee's Gluee mixtape as well. This will only get longer as the two groups release more material. I'm pretty satisfied with how these songs flow together, so here they are with the names of their respective albums in parentheses.

Nachtmystium: The World We Left Behind ALBUM REVIEW

When not shamelessly ripping off fans and bandmates with impunity (according to former collaborator Neill Jameson and many disgruntled fans) by selling merchandise that didn’t exist or selling the rights to albums he didn’t own to make money to buy drugs, Blake Judd was more commonly known to be the “mastermind” behind Chicago black metal squad Nachtmystium. Whether he was truly the mastermind behind the long-running project has been brought into question (Jameson alluded in a lengthy article written about Blake that the majority of his music was written by others, not him.) no one can deny that the end results of many of the band’s recording endeavors have been stellar, even milestones of the black metal genre. The experimentation that started with Instinct: Decay and continued with the groundbreaking “Black Meddle” series show that someone, Blake or not, was thinking about what could be achieved within the black metal genre on a higher level. And although their previous album Silencing Machine did not expand upon the experimentation of the two Black Meddle installments, it was still a satisfyingly grim and aggressive record that had just enough electronic flourishes to distinguish itself from straight-ahead black metal. Hyped as the final Nachtmystium album, The World We Left Behind should have been a farewell as equally ambitious and exciting as anything else in their recent output. But when presented with the final product, that sadly doesn’t describe it.

Yung Lean: Unknown Memory ALBUM REVIEW

As a somewhat chubby Swedish white kid whose imagery revolves around seemingly random consumer goods like bucket hats, plastic g-shock watches, Gatorade, Nintendo 64, and the ever-present Arizona iced tea, it was easy to dismiss Yung Lean as a joke or a meme when he came out with his mind-altering and imagery laden music videos like “Hurt” in 2013. However, the young rapper is now taken as a serious artist even outside his fanbase (to a degree), selling out shows in America and Europe and actually having the budget to produce music videos that don’t look like they were directed and edited by a heavily medicated monkey. Even pop superstar Justin Beiber is a fan. Strangely enough, there isn’t really a punchline with Yung Lean as absurd as his music and persona tends to be, and that fact renders his whole act as a giant anti-joke heavily seasoned with post-irony. Lean also fits into an unfortunate trend in hip-hop today where production supersedes the artist. For rappers like Chief Keef, Waka Flocka, and Yung Lean; lyricism, flow, and delivery are not the paramount considerations. “Is the beat bangin’?” If it is, then the record has done its job. Without the production chops of Lean’s “sadboy” cronies Yung Gud and Yung Sherman, the entire appeal of his music would helplessly unravel, leaving a skeleton made up of empty Arizona cans and old Nintendo cartridges with a bucket hat on top.

My Top 30 Favorite Albums!

My top 30 albums list is done. Below is the video I did for the top 25, the other 5 are included in my Sputnik list here. Is number one REALLY Goblin? Find out by watching the video!