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QUICK REVIEWS: MAY 2017

Quick reviews is where I quickly go over some records from the month just passed I didn't write full reviews for to give my brief opinions for. These aren't necessarily here because I don't like them, rather that I just didn't have enough to say about them to warrant a full review. Which is kind of ironic, considering the first one for this month is...


   1) Crooked Teeth by Papa Roach

   Wow. Not really sure how a band can so effectively make a record that sounds like it's from 2002, but Papa Roach managed to do just that. And not in a good way. In fact, I'm struggling to work out exactly who this album was made for. Maybe there are die-hard Papa Roach fans out there that will dig this, but it just sounds to me like a bunch of B-sides from the early 2000s that have been dug up and had any edge or danger completely bleached by being produced like hell.

   2) in-ter a-li-a by At The Drive In

   At The Drive In come marginally closer to pulling off what Papa Roach attempted, but still fall victim of worshipping the past almost to the point of parody. The band do offer a few new statements here or there, and it does sound like they really are invested in what they're doing. I also really like the production on this record; the guitars slide between filthy, sludgy and soaring regularly, and the bass has the presence it screams for in so many other post-hardcore records. I've never really been a huge fan of Cedric Bixler's vocals, though, and this new record didn't really do anything to convince me otherwise. My biggest problem is the way almost all of these songs went exactly where I expected them to; that might not have been the case twenty years ago, but it became infuriating for me.

   3) Trumpeting Ecstasy by Full Of Hell

   Dug this album pretty hard, to be honest, I love the mix of short form hardcore and death metal - kind of reminds me of Nails, but it never quite reaches the pure filth Nails tap into on a regular basis. Buzz-saw guitars, really well balanced drums, a dynamic vocal performance and the occasional emergence of bass from behind the fury; all I was really looking for in another Full Of Hell album. It goes pretty hard.



   4) bloom by Machine Gun Kelly

   I feel like this album is just fuel to the "white-people-shouldn't-rap" fire. Didn't really care for it that much.

   5) 30 Seconds To The Decline Of Planet Earth by Jesu/Sun Kil Moon

   I loved Sun Kil Moon's album earlier this year (you can read my review here), but I couldn't really get into this collaboration project. I just wasn't mesmerised the way I was with Common As Light... and I really felt the run time. There are definitely longer albums out there, but 1 hour 17 minutes is rough when you're not really feeling it.

   6) DIVSI by A Lot Like Birds

   For some reason I didn't really get into this album when it came out, which is weird because I love both of the other albums A Lot Like Birds have put out (No Place in particular). Since then I've listened to it more and more, and while I don't think I could say just yet that it's better than No Place, it's a more than worthy addition to the band's sprawlingly ambitious discography. I get the strong feeling that even if you don't specifically like the music you would still be in awe and admiration of what they achieve with their instruments; it's really exceptional.




   What were your favourite albums of this month? Are there any you really hated? Let me know in the comments!
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