47 replies to this topic

[Nid]

We have a Book and Movie rating thread, why not an album? or music thread?

Simple concept: Rate any album or single in your possesion that you feel like rating.
Could be one you bought today or years ago. Your choice.
I'll start with an Album I just bought today : In Silico, by Pendulum

The Drum & Bass fan inside of me feels a little dissappointed with this album, however, the general all rounder when it comes to genre, which makes up the 70% of me that the Drum & Bass fan doesn't, loves it. It strays away from traditional Drum and Bass, and is much more bland compared to their previous album Hold your Colour, but the music provides great beat, and is still entertaining. The addition of vocals was a great choice IMO, because they are appealing to a much larger audience. I'd even go as far to say that this change to have a kind of Musey feel to it. as even my mother (Muse fan) asked if It was Muse that was playing. It does have that kind of feel to it, particularly Propane Nightmares which seems to draw influence from Knights of Cydonia.
A must-get for Electronica, Experimental, Rock and Drum & Bass fans. Although one thing I picked up on is some of the songs bieng particularly repetitive, and the Album seems to carry a very fuzzy sounding feel to it.

Overall rating 7/10. It's not the perfect album, but it's still great.

Edited by Nidmeister, 13 May 2008 - 17:43.

[Crobar]

Artist: Avenged Sevenfold
Album: Avenged Sevenfold
Genre: Death Metal

I personally think that this is a great album. It contains a nice mix of heavy metal, fairly chilled rock and even a country track 'Dear God' at the end of the album.

The album opens fairly epically with the almost goth-rock track 'Critical Acclaim' and continues to improve as the tracks go on. The choruses of the tracks 'Afterlife' and 'Unbound (The Wild Ride)' will be stuck in your head for days and I remember singing the DragonForce-esque 'Lost' for days on end after I first heard it. The only criticisms I really have to make, are the fact that the female voice featured in some of the tracks is a little weak, and the fact that some of the songs on this ten track album sound somewhat alike.

Perhaps not as fantastically hard-hitting as Avenged Sevenfold's previous works such as 2005's 'City of Evil', the album nevertheless delivers the brand of death metal that you'd come to expect from a band of Avenged Sevenfold's caliber. It will not diassapoint

8/10

Download: Afterlife, Brompton Cocktail

Crobar

[Libains]

Music of the Spheres by Mike Oldfield - a great blend of instrumental sounds, combined with brilliant choral pieces makes this an album that you won't forget soon - i admit it's not in keeping with this forum's general tastes, but it's so brilliant - 10/10!

Edited by AjPOD, 13 May 2008 - 22:33.

[Dauth]

Topic Pinned: Remember people reviews of whole albums please

Metallica S&M: Probably my favourite of their pieces, the opening of Gold-Ktulu-Puppets is sublime and if listened to on a properly setup machine there will be no breaks.

9/10

[Nid]

Foo Fighters - Self Titled Album (1995)

I found the Foo's debut album to be brilliant. It felt like it was shot straight from the Grunge scene, and had an excellent mix of Dave Grohl's raw energy, and melodic brilliance.
The album itself was recorded and produced entirely by Dave Grohl, manning all instruments. This album was a great way to rocket oneself into the music industry again, after bieng at the top of it once before, with possibly the most famous band of one's time.
Songs like "This is a Call" and "Exhausted" maintained a mellow, smily feel to them, while still maintaining interest and speed in the song, while songs like "I'll stick around" "Good Grief" and "Weenie Beenie" were just like a complete release of energy.
I really recommend this album to just about anyone, so long as your music taste lies with guitars and drum kits over sysnthesizers and mixing decks.

Gets my rating of 9/10

Edited by Nidmeister, 17 May 2008 - 16:49.

[Shirou]

Machine Head - The Blackening

Critically acclaimed as possibly one of the best metal albums of it's year, I can only agree with it. Faster, harder, louder! Only there is one thing that sets this apart. The utter brilliance of the composition which makes this loud, Groove metal is what it is currently called, music stand out above all else. Where an uninitiated one might sigh at the wall of sound that other bands in the genre produce, that certainly cant be said about this CD.

The lengthy tracks never bore me, always amaze me. If there is one genre of metal where Americans can dominate, then it is this. I like Devildriver, Fear Factory and Lamb of God, yet they will all have to bow before this last CD putting Machine Head on the top of the genre, now that Fear Factory is inactive. There is always a new riff here to enjoy, to bang on. The first track begins with a lengthy intro but then all hell breaks loose, and it never stops for the full eleven minutes of this track. The second one Beautiful Mourning starts out with an all perceivable 'F*** you all!' on a seriously ground tearing riff. Other soon to be classics on this album are found with Aesthetics of Hate and Halo.

It's all heavy, and after so many albums, vocalist Robb Flynn cant seem to do anything wrong anymore with his powerful screaming voice. I really recommend this album to anyone who would like to look beyond the wall of sound stigma. The variation in the songs here is abundant. There are passages with clean singing too which add this extra element to the album, emphasizing the heavy parts more and all in all completing the songs. Many songs are also quite long, but there is little if any filler, no noodling and no pretentiousness at all. The anger is ever present, but the complexity of the songs, clean vocals, guitar solos and thrasy melodies, this album has it all.

100/100 by me.

smile

Edited by Aftershock, 03 July 2008 - 18:30.

[Crobar]

I totally agree with Aftershock (In fact, The Blackening was one of the albums I was going to review myself here, but you put it so perfectly, I can't argue )

[Mbob61]

Led zeppelin - led zeppelin 2
For me, this album is just perfect. There are no tracks which i skip to get to the "better" ones. I cant think of many album ive listened to which have had such a good, all round set list.
I cannot think of an album which has given me that much pleasure either.
Brilliant
10/10

Mike

[Pav:3d]

Iron Man OST 8/10

Usually with OST's I have one or two songs I like and the rest I skip, but with this one, I love it all.
Fits sublimely with the movie and the main track "Riding With the Top Down" is brilliant and catchy.

Not to mention it was produced by film OST god; Hans Zimmer

I strongly suggest any fans of the film check this out!

Edited by Pav3d, 28 May 2008 - 14:03.

[Shirou]

Wintersun - Wintersun

This stuff is kinda unique for me. This band sprouted in 2004, lead by an ex ensiferum member of who I don't know his name. Ensiferum is a well known band even though I only know them from bandshirts and gig-posters, and the vague notion that their form of music is 'folk metal'. I still have not listened Ensiferum and I consider that a sin, because this band Wintersun sprouting from it is an absolute revelation for my music collection!

No, it's not groundbreakingly original, the fact is only that it (just like with machine head), Has it all. The form of music is powermetal combined with folk influences which bail out endless double based super solo's, like the well known dragon force, giving us a fast solo when we just need it. Instead, we are traited with extremely catchy and wonderful guitar melodies as the foundation of the music. In addition to the unique style of this band, most of the vocals are done with a light death metal voice, while the majority of songs also have clean vocals and chorus parts which WILL send chills up your spine, they are that good.

I just said unique style. Well that's because I haven't heard anything like it before. As I said the music is not that original so I do not doubt there are copycats, but I do seriously doubt if that can turn me up as good as this. The album starts with a short, fast song which introduce you to the death metal vocals right away. This song is good, but the album truly shines with the rest of the songs, They chronologically get longer as you move up the album, starting with 5:08 for number two Winter Madness, ending with the grandiose 10 minute masterpiece Sadness and Hate.

Every song is in the same style, but still every one of them has it's own recognisable features, own sound, own riffs. There are little if any repeats. Maybe uninitiated listeners will not recognise differences in the death metal vocals, but then you will surely in the clean parts, those which exceed the grunting by a mile in terms of quality! Due to their length, each of the 8 songs, take it seven without the 2 minute opener, is a treasure to my playlist. Special note goes to Death and the Healing, a perfect song with a catchy guitar melody and incredible chorus vocals.

It's metal, it is even classified Melodic Death Metal, or Black Metal.. I don't know how they get to it. Probably because of the vocals.. as for the rest it has nothing to do with Death Metal, it's melodic awesomeness, and I don't want to try and categorise it any further!

91/100

Edited by Aftershock, 28 September 2008 - 20:01.

[Ion Cannon!]

Disturbed - Indestructable

The latest outing from the chicaga rock band has 12 tracks, 3 B-sides and 1 bonus track. It follows on were ten thousand fists left off, with the same unique sound. However the emotion behind the songs is stronger and there are some quite powerful messages in some of the songs. Features the unique lyrical style of David draiman and it worthy of a disturbed album. Inside the fire is particularily good.

9/10

[Libains]

Coldplay - Viva la Vida.

(or Live Life if you don't speak Spanish)

Coldplay have done it once again, and created an unforgettable album, in my personal opinion, better than their last one of X&Y. Simply put, the album pushes the limits of music everywhere, and comes out with something that is simply phenomenal. While it may not be to everyone's tastes, it will certainly be for 90% of the population. Highlights of a great album are the Title Track, as well as Lovers in Japan, both of which are brilliant. Hot on their heels is also 42. If you don't at least listen to this album, you're missing out.

[Shirou]

Volbeat - Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil

Danish proud in hardrock and metal, rock harder than ever. I've seen them live on the first of may on a local festival, they absolutely rocked. Rocking, this is what these guys do. Every reviewer describes this band as a combination of X with X and X. There is no word from their mouth resembling the term originality, but in fact is that this band actually does not have any equals. They rock so hard it's hard to keep yourself still while listening to this upbeat Hard Rock Trash Metal + Johnny Cash combination. Yes, now I did it too, but actually I shouldn't try to categorize Volbeat.

Not all too influenced by the fact that I saw them play this stuff live, as I didn't know the songs on that concert. Convinced ofcourse, I picked it up from the merchandise table right after the show ended. It was the best show of the festival, no doubt. Volbeat is categorized Metal, ofcourse, and their concerts can't go witha decent mosh pit! Does old school metal turn you up? Do you like fast paced songs with catchy vocals which memorize even of time of The King. Yes, their front man, Micheal Poulsen, can be best described by a boosted blasting Elvis. He even tries some country singing in my personal favorite of the album; Sad Man's Tongue.

It's metal, yes, it's loud and fast, it's powerful and sometimes dark. Rock & Roll metal, whatever, it doesn't do it justice to label the band. Everyone of their songs is upbeat, and aside from the reticent Soulweeper #2 all of them have this same catchy and heavy sound embedded into their riffs. The solo's are spare, short, but always on the right spot. Singer Micheal Poulsen blasts the music forward with his powerful voice, to throw in the next comparison, gives away influence of James Hetfield as wel. When listening through the whole album his vocals might get a bit repetitive, and I almost wish they had used their lead guitar man's voice, only audible in their hit single The Garden's Tale, a bit more. But I haven't even described the other virtues of Micheal's voice yet, more specifically his ability to sing extremely fast, which you really have to experience yourself.

Having also the first album ofcourse, I hear volbeat topple their 2005 debute, showing growth and experience. Entertaining music from Denmark, they are shy of competition in their own country, which is rapidly conquering the world. I will see them again in a nearby concerthall in september. Yes, I will.

88/100

Edited by Aftershock, 07 July 2008 - 19:14.

[Ion Cannon!]

Scar Symmetry - Holographic Universe

Why do swedes do metal so well?

This swedish melodic death metal band continues the trend with some blazing solo's and a variety of lyrical styles including the outstanding clean vocals of Christian Alvestam, but it also features plenty of growls and screams. Sometimes the clean vocals clash with the growl / scream but on the whole it works well. This band sound like no other, their style is unique and also has some progressive elements to it as well as the use of synths. This is metal like you've never heard it before.

9.5/10

[DreadNot]

Scar Symmetry actually reminds me a bit of Demon Hunter. Sort of.


Architect of Lies by Mercenary

Mercenary is a Danish melodic death metal band. Although they are melodic death metal, their lyrics aren't as brutal or violent. In fact, they are more (dare I say) sad than anything else. Their earlier stuff is thrash, but I personally favor this album and the one before it.

9.3/10

[Shirou]

Melodic 'death' metal has been called like that primarily because of it's grunt/scream vocals, but some bands, like Eternal Tears of Sorrow or like you said Mercenary, don't really posess any other death metal characteristics. Melodic Death Metal is a genre of it's own really.

Dark Forest - Aurora Borealis

Alas I review a Black Metal release for once. Even though it probably won't warm many hearts I believe the music from this band deserves the attention. Dark Forest is an epitome of the general 'northern' and 'forest' atmosphere that is a very common theme in Black Metal. What we get is medium paced, not too complicated guitar based metal with a good amount of synth's around them that create such a great atmosphere it isn't really difficult for even a non-black metal fan to sense the feeling of this atmospherical music.

The vocals are as typical for Black Metal as you get them, the only real voice usage is in the echoed screams. The high pitched dosed echo from these vocals sometimes even evokes shivers within me, as like you can almost feel the cold theme of the music. There are also parts in which a medium pitched male chorus for the slower moments takes on the singing with good success, still keeping within the melodic, even symphonic, aura of the music. With songtitles as Wind and Waves, Under the Northern Fullmoon and my personal favorite Eternal Forest this ambience is consolidated. There is an intro which sets the climate 20 degrees below zero from the start, and the disc ends with a very cool instrumental which is a combination of drums and synth's that hasn't been brought forward many times before.

Most of the music on the eight tracks, six full length without the intro and the outro, is instrumental. The vocals are direct in their lyrics, but as I said there doesn't need to be much talks when the musical theme is obvious what should prevail. The lyrics are naturally about northern legends, arctic torments and similar tales. The tracks are all quite long, ranging from the shortest 5.44 to over nine minutes. However that their overall sound is similar, they never tend to bore me. Sometimes while listening through it all it may sound a little stretched, but every individual song has it's own sound while it equally does not. This is very hard to explain, it will just require some own listening to do it justice. Overall Aurora Borealis is one of the few Black Metal records I really, really enjoy listening to and every fan of atmospherical music should at least have tried to listen to this magnificent style.

85/100

Edited by Aftershock, 16 August 2008 - 11:29.

[MIKEY]

Album: The Chronicle of the Black Sword
Artist: Hawkwind
Year: 1985
Genre: Psychedelic rock

I first started listening to Hawkwind after I started to hang around with my older sister, her boyfriend and his cousin and I was blown away at how I had gone on so long without it in my life, and now I feel I am alittle more complete with the purchasing of this particular album, The Chronicle of the Black Sword.

The Chronicle of the Black Sword is Hawkwinds 14th studio album, and all its music based on the adventures of Elric of Melniboné, which is a series of books written by Michael Moorcock.

As anyone can expect from Hawkwind, the album is very different from their other albums, the voice of Dave Brook is simply amazing, it starts of very powerful with the first song on the album, Song of the Swords, but when the album gets to song 7, it changes to a soft, mellow, mournful tone, as song 7, Zarozinia is about a very special character in the books to Elric, I wont say anymore.

Now, the album itself is 11 songs long but you get 3 extra songs wich are 3 songs from the album, but from their respective 12'' single, but all the songs, including the less than 1 minute instrumental sequences are brilliant.

So all in all, if you love psychedelic rock and love the Elric books or just love good music, than purchase this album.

10/10

[Shirou]

Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos - Progressive Metal

Dream Theater is just one of those bands that every aspiring rock musician may have as their idol. The blistering 'look what we can do' music the band spreads continues to amaze people in it's technical sophistication with every record to date. Dream Theater has never disappointed and so have they not done on this last 2007 album.

What you get. Very long songs, oh yes. Three songs over 10 minutes, and one is even going as far as sixteen minutes. Yeah, sixteen minutes of progressive blessings. Dream theater is currently the king of the progressive style. On this album they prove that once again. They even prove that they only need a few tracks to do that with. The opener In the Presence of Enemies: Part 1, going nine minutes, and the ending 16 minute song In the Presence of Enemies: Part 2, are what outlines and embodies Dream Theater and this album. The album starts straight off with very, very complex compositions. One can only stand and be amazed here.

Inside the album, between the split into two epics, there is a lot of variety in style. Track #2 subscribes to be a single with it's accesible sound. The following two Constant Motion and The Dark Eternal Night are just louder. This is metal, and it's Dream Theater style. Puritanical progressive fans may not know what to do with this, but I for one just love these two songs, with the latter being my favourite. But that's not all. It carries on into Repentance. A very long song with a lot of guest musicians, a distinct atmosphere and overall great performance. There is even a Muse-influenced song on the album. As you listen to Systematic Chaos you may even find more at every repeating minute. This is how progressive rock and metal should sound together. I have yet to hear a band that's just as good at this as Dream Theater.

90/100

Edited by Aftershock, 21 September 2008 - 09:14.

[RaiDK]

Bionic Commando Rearmed Soundtrack - Simon Viklund

10/10

If you like chiptunes or industrial dance music, then get. this. album.

[Dutchygamer]

Death Magnetic - Metallica
Metallica is back in full glory. After a small switch of style (which some ppl didn't like), they are back. All I can say is that this album owns. Every Metallica fan should get this one

10/10 for me

[Shirou]

Dark Tranquillity - Fiction - Melodic Death Metal

As one of the three cornerstones of the Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal sound, Dark Tranquillity is often seen as the third, behind In Flames and At the Gates. But while In Flames has been decreasing their popularity with a soft, badly received new album, and At the Gates thanks it's current popularity to the natural cult status gained with the timely band split - up, this band is the one that is still true to what it should be. In fact, my opinion sets Dark Tranquillity above the other two mentioned legends.

Why, I will tell you. In this last release Fiction, Dark Tranquillity once again proves that their art of composing metal songs hasn't decreased an inch over the years. Their unique sound and atmosphere, which makes it sound so tranquil yet it is so loud, is unparalleled. The piano sound is so well entangled into the music that a piano 'solo' alone is enough to sprout goosebumps. The death metal vocals are unique in being very 'dead' while also varied. The singer does not scream, he does not pull the end of his lungs. No, instead he does this kind of thing like he talks normally like it everyday. It complements to the already praised feeling of the songs.

Even a combination with electronic dance sounds and melodic death metal sounds pretty damn awesome here, as you will find in the third song. What is also elementary here is that most songs are similar in the sort of synth's that they use. It is a piano, an electronic back sound, and the named dance sound, and that's about all the difference that is there. This means that the synth's too have their own composing ingeniosity, instead of being just there to support the metal. No, it's a part of the music. It makes it all as amazing as it really is. This is what I like, and what I will keep listening

95/100

Edited by Aftershock, 02 November 2008 - 20:39.

[DreadNot]

10 Years - Division.

10 Years is probably my favorite band of all time. They are simply a rock band who has emerged recently. The lead singer is just phenomenal.

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[Camille]

Bricolage - Amon tobin. a more than excellent album featuring some unparalleled tracks excelling in both beauty and technical splendour. mixes of jazz, severe sampling and all kinds of melodical and rhythmical influences like drum n' bass and dubstep. a must-hear for those blessed with good taste

here is by far the best song on the album, so deliciously gorgeous and well-done, it's truly a joy to hear.

http://nl.youtube.co...h?v=uydIs-P5Nwo

of course, all this is IMO.

Edited by ka1000, 04 November 2008 - 21:44.

[WarMenace]

Artist: Linkin Park
Album: Minutes To Midnight

Linkin Park's new album just rocks. Featuring one of it's most famous songs "What I've Done" being played in the Transformers movie and all the rest is just great.

I'm gonna give this album a 10/10.

[BeefJeRKy]

WarMenace, on 4 Nov 2008, 17:39, said:

Artist: Linkin Park
Album: Minutes To Midnight

Linkin Park's new album just rocks. Featuring one of it's most famous songs "What I've Done" being played in the Transformers movie and all the rest is just great.

I'm gonna give this album a 10/10.

Really I found this album to be too far off from the usual linkin style. Half of the songs are sad ballads and the other half are mostly rap. Though a few do stand out like What I've done and No More sorrow. I preferred Meteora to be quite honest.