Read Poets Society

   Trivium have been consistently hit and miss for me over he years; for every album I dig there is at least one album I can't get into. In fact, more often than not their material as a whole fails to leave an impact on me. I can appreciate  Ascendancy and Shogun for what they were at the time and the ripples they sent through the metal scene, and while incredibly bloated and overlong In Waves has some killer tracks nestled in there. Apart from that, there isn't much to be had in terms of enjoyment for me in the band's music. It was a surprise for me, then, when I found myself enjoying The Sin And The Sentence a lot more than I had anticipated. Whether or not this was because of the incredibly biased expectations I had coming in is anyone's guess, but for the most part I had fun with this new album from Trivium. It's not rewriting the metal history books, and it's not going to blow everyone away, but it was a reminder of just why they were such a massive hype ba...

   Read the full review over at  Killyourstereo.com!

   You can read my full review for Movements' masterful debut full length over  here  at Killyourstereo.com, where I will be doing some of my reviews from now. In short, it's great and you should go listen to it while you deliberate about texting that ex-girlfriend or guiltily eating your way through an entire packet of Mint Slice. Or not, it's up to you.    In the meantime, let me know what you thought about this record, or any others that you want to see reviewed. For those who keep asking me about that Chainsmokers record, it'll definitely be in an end of year list - you'll just have to wait and see which one.

    Caustic is the most brutal, unpleasant, abusive, oppressive and masochistic album I have heard in a long time, certainly this year. Every thing about this album in comparison to the band's previous, slightly more one-note releases is bigger, heavier, dirtier and more punishing. For one thing, it's over an hour long, but definitely is closer to epic than overlong. The guitar tone is absurdly disgusting, the vocal delivery is like the devil himself tying you down and yelling at you through a mouthful of broken glass and teeth, and the songwriting draws on slow, punishing, doom-influenced grooves that simply don't let up. It's not super diverse and the playing isn't the most mind-meltingly skilled shredding you'll ever hear, but something this overwhelmingly crushing deserves more than a casual listen for anyone who enjoys a little pain in their pleasure.    Rating: 7.5/10

   P!nk's seventh album Beautiful Trauma gets the job done, no more, no less. Expect to hear pretty much any of these songs in General Pants Co. at some stage, but if you're looking for a game changing pop album then you're going to be disappointed. But really, is anyone going to be looking for that in a P!nk album? Eminem's verse on "Revenge" is a great addition, adding some sharp sarcasm to a track already dripping in it, and P!nk's signature brutal honesty is all over this album giving it a raw authenticity that is immediately easy to grab a hold of. For me there is this weird dichotomy all across Beautiful Trauma that I find really distracting, in a very similar way to the most recent Ed Sheeran album. The songs work best when they are firmly settled within whatever style it wants to be; when there are these country/EDM crossovers I struggle. Her voice is great, though, and doesn't falter once, and for that it's worth a brief listen to hear a...

   Stick To Your Guns have been dealing in frenetic, anthemic hardcore punk for almost 15 years now, and their sixth studio album  True View follows the same well-tread path that they (and so many other similar bands) know so well. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; they certainly know how to put together a banger or two, but it really depends on where you sit on the fence with hardcore punk. For me there was just enough of interest to keep my attention for the whole album and keep me relatively entertained, but on second and third listens there really isn't much there for me and I suspect that this will be the case for most. I mean, you can only hear the same build up and breakdown formula so many times before it becomes exhausting. The strongest element of True View is the lyricism, which has always been the biggest stake I've held in Stick To Your Guns' music, but even in this corner the band has lost some of the vitality and impact they once had. I don't know i...

   I have no experience with Poppy's internet presence, where I understand she is an eccentric and popular YouTuber, and will talking about this album from a purely musical point of view. With no context as to her personality and online content, I thought  Poppy.Computer was a generally catchy and  surprisingly complete pop album. There are more than a few earworm melodies that will burrow into your head, which is a testament to Poppy's affinity to penning catchy melodies. Her voice sits nicely above the almost entirely electronic instrumentation and carries these melodies well, and while there isn't a whole lot of extravagant personality behind her lyrics, there is enough interest in the glitchy, sometimes 8-bit instrumentation for that to not be a particularly prominent problem. In fact, the production beneath the melodies and hooks is the real hero here, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a pop record with instrumentation that was really interesting and fun ...