Reviews by mattrickpow

Overall: 7/10

At first this seemed like it was gonna be a mediocre slog, but the closer I listened the more I realized how cool and influential this album really is. This is basically 80s synth pop in a nutshell, but it came out in 79! Good stuff. Love the fretless bass, it's such a unique and cool sound.

Fav Song: Alien

Overall: 8/10

Nostalgia blast! ☝️🤓

Slipknot were one of the 3 bands (with Avenged Sevenfold and System of a Down) to really get me into metal. This album was huge during my formative years and I've listened to it probably a million ½ times. What I love about it is the pure aggression, Corey Taylor's killer vocals, and some of the best metal drumming you'll ever hear (RIP Joey Jordison). While this isn't my go to album anymore, and I think the second half is much weaker than the first, this is still a dope album and it holds a special place in my heart.

Fav Song: Eyeless

Overall: 4/10

This is like if your friend Radiohead called you and said "I just had a baby with my boyfriend, Oasis!" so you go over to their house to meet the baby and you look at it and go ".....I mean, it KIND of looks like both of you, but its a bit ugly." Bland, boring and not worth your time.

Fav Song: As You Are

Overall: 9/10

I adore the guitar work and vocals on this album so much. It also has an almost celtic feel to it, it feels very nostalgiac and reminds me of listening to Great Big Sea with my dad as a kid. I see that Richard Thompson was in this band, and I loved the album I got with his wife a while ago. The VIP of this album has to be Sandy Denny (I hope I got that name right) on vocals, her voice is so haunting, yet soothing. Weird combo, but it works. I love the album cover as well, at first glance it makes you think this may be a boring slog but these ol' biddies fit the music very well. I'm so glad this exists.

Fav Song: Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

Overall: 7/10

This one is pretty fun actually! I had the other Supergrass album (did they really need two?) pop up a while ago and wasn't blown away by it, so I was worried that this one would be a sophomore slump of sorts. Thankfully, I think it's an improvement, and I can't imagine this band gets any better than this. Not every album needs to be a masterpiece, and this is a good one for you to just vibe to.

Fav Song: Going Out

Overall: 1/10

I don't enjoy listening to some people who can't keep a tune yell over some percussion. I don't see why this would be essential listening.

Fav Song: El Cumbanchero

Overall: 3/10

I listened to this twice and couldn't remember a single note afterwards. Not exactly terrible by any means but not at all engaging which made me a bit upset. Maybe I'm being too harsh but I don't have a lot of patience for albums like this being in the list.

Fav Song: Aladdin's Story

Overall: 8/10

It amazes me that pretty much every single element of QotSA that we've grown to love was already there on their debut album. Of course, it makes sense considering Josh and Nick were already in Kyuss before, so it's not like they weren't experienced songwriters. There was definitely work to be done, and they would perfect this sound on their next couple albums (which should both be in this list by the way), but this is a very good debut and I come back to it often.

Fav Song: You Can't Quit Me Baby

Overall: 6/10

I have mixed feelings about this album and Kings of Leon in general. On the one hand, I listened to the first half of this album A LOT as a kid, which has given me a bit of a nostalgic reaction to it. On the other hand, reading the lyrics gave me a WTF reaction that my parents never should have let me listen to this. That's my biggest problem with the album. Lyrically, I find most of these songs really gross and weird. The music itself is really good, but the lyrics make me want to throw up. I'm still gonna give it a decent rating cause of the nostalgia factor, but the last half really drags this one down.

Fav Song: King of the Rodeo

Overall: 7/10

I really hate that album cover so I went into this with pretty low expectations. I really need to stop judging a book by it's cover!

There's a country flavour to this that I expected but it's really more of an alt-rock type of album. The vocals are decent enough and I really like the lyrics. I might need to revisit this again but for now I really enjoyed it!

Fav Song: The Hook

Overall: 8/10

I'm not afraid to admit that Jaco Pastorius playing bass on this album has skewed my rating a bit. Joni's voice is killer and all the other instrumentation is great and chill, but Jaco is on another level. Killer bassist. Joni'a biggest strength is also in her lyrics, which are great...but the vocal melodies tend to go all over the place at times.

Fav Song: A Strange Boy

Overall: 6/10

This isn't necessarily my thing, but it was pretty decent for what it was! The best drummer in the world had a beautiful voice as well. The title track is very pretty and they have an interesting cover of Help by those liverpool brats. It's also really cheesy but that didn't bother me as much as it normally would.

Fav Song: (They Long to Be) Close to You

Overall: 8/10

This could have potentially been an all-timer if Perry Farrell wasn't such butt. He sucks as a person and a vocalist and he's easily the weakest link in a band that paved the way for a lot of alternative/grunge bands. Shoutout especially goes to Eric Avery, who's distinctive basslines constantly wow me with their versatility.

Fav Song: Mountain Song

Overall: 4/10

Quite honestly put me on edge, which is (I would assume) the complete opposite effect that Brian was going for. I'm talkimg borderline panic attack levels of anxiety from listening to this. Something about it just really is not for me. There were moments of relaxation to be found (mostly at the beginning) but DAMN I don't want to feel like that again.

Fav song: 1/1

Overall: 10/10

Honestly shocked that this made it on to the list. This is the closest thing to actual good death metal that you'll find while doing this (even though it's closer to thrash metal). I love Sepultura so much, and the Max Cavalera era is the best they have to offer. This album gets pretty brutal at times, but it's also groovy and the riffs are killer. This was sadly the last time they got thrashy (during the Max era) and they became more of a groove metal band afterwards.

Fav Song: Dead Embryonic Cells

Overall: 10/10

Iron Maiden is truly one of the greatest band of all time (in my opinion). While their first two albums were great, this is the one where everything came together. The reason for that is the addition of the legendary vocalist Bruce Dickinson, who brought an epic voice to the music and gave Maiden the freedom to experiment and become even more epic than they had been. They even started to get borderline proggy after this album. There isn't a single skip here and I would honestly show this album to anyone who is interested in getting into metal but doesn't want to start with the super heavy stuff. Still, give me Powerslave any day.

Fav Song: Run to the Hills

Overall: 8/10

I love hearing the evolution of the greatest electronica group to exist. A lot of their later sound can be found here, especially in the masterpiece that is Around the World. For the most part though, it's a lot of repetitive beats. I usually hate that, but Daft Punk are so good at it that it really doesn't bother me here. I do think that Discovery or Random Access Memories are better, but this one is great too.

Fav Song: Around the World

Overall: 5/10

One of the most "meh" albums I've heard in my entire life. I feel like I could listen to it 1001 times and I still wouldn't remember a single song or note from this thing. I almost wish it was a actually bad cause then I'd have something more interesting to say about it.

Fav Song: The Devil's Eye

Overall: 8/10

Crazy album, quite honestly. I didn't expect the musical styles to be so diverse on this thing. It would be nice if any song but the title track made it into the public consciousness because they're all infinitely more interesting to me. There's even a West Side Story reference! I'll not be underestimating Alice Cooper anymore.

Fav Song: Alma Mater

Overall: 7/10

A hip hop album that feels more old school than I expected. Other than the more modern (at the time) production, this sounds like it could have come out in the early 90s. I dig it, these guys have great voices for rap and great lyrics.

Fav Song: After School Special