Reviews by mattrickpow

Overall: 3/10

At this point in my journey, I think I've had enough of these types of repetitive albums. I just don't want to hear the same thing on a loop for 10 minute tracks, I want variety and spontaneity. This was boring.

Fav Song: Remind

Overall: 8/10

While I prefer Unhalfbricking, I think this is a worthy inclusion in this list and a hell of an album. The vocals are just gorgeous in every way, and I love the folk rock feel.

Fav Song: Matty Groves

Overall: 4/10

This album should have been called "Wine and Cheese" because the vocals are incredibly whiney and the instrumentation is cheesy and outdated. I just can't stand this guys voice at all and it makes it very hard to enjoy the songs that would be very good otherwise. A couple songs were enjoyable but thay voice is terrible to me.

Fav Song: I Want to Wake Up

Overall: 6/10

This was pretty chill. It took a few songs for me to really get into the swing of things, but it picked up in the second half and I was able to start grooving and enjoying it more. I prefer the slower chill songs to the rockier songs.

Fav Song: Star

Overall: 6/10

Maybe I'm just in a good mood today but I got a lot more enjoyment out of this than I usually do with repetitive dance music. I found myself humming along to a good majority of the songs and they get stuck in your head pretty easily. Nice one, Fatboy.

Fav Song: Give the Po' Man a Break

Overall: 6/10

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this album. On the one hand, I love the funky sounds and vocals. On the other hand, it almost feels incomplete to me. There's something about it that just makes me think it's unfinished. It sucks because this was an album that got a lot of praise and I was looking forward to, but I just didn't like it as much as I thought I would.

Fav Song: Super Stupid

Overall: 8/10

The Offspring have always been a bit of a hit or miss band for me, but they perfected the mixture of pop punk and skate punk on this album. The songs are incredibly catchy and well written. They're straight up pop songs. Dexter's voice is pretty much the only reason these guys aren't getting a higher rating from me, but at the same time his voice kind of adds a bit of charm to the whole affair.

Fav Song: Come Out and Play

Overall: 9/10

This is one of the first albums I ever bought on CD, so it has a special place in my heart. I used to listen to it constantly and it was years before I even heard another Arcade Fire album. As a Canadian, they hold a special place in my heart. It's a shame what happened with the band (personal problems and lame music), but this album will always be important to me.

Fav Song: Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

Overall: 4/10

Not only are The Hives horribly boring, but this is a compilation album. I just didn't really enjoy this very much and I would have rather listened to one of their actual studio albums.

Fav Song: Hate to Say I Told You So

Overall: 7/10

I don't fully know what to make of this album, but there's one thing I know for sure: it's a masterpiece. I enjoy listening to it not because of the melodies or incredible musicianship on display, but because these guys were brave enough to make something so far outside of the mainstream, and they did it while basically inventing a new genre of music and injecting an incredible amount of political lyricism into it.

Another thing I like about it is that the two sides (recorded by almost entirely different groups of people) are very distinguishable from each other while still retaining the core essence of the project. For an album that's basically just unintelligible screaming over blast beats, that's pretty impressive.

It may not be the most pleasant thing to listen to, but this is an important piece of music (and way better produced than it has any right to be) and I think it is essential listening for anybody who claims to be a fan of all music. It's the whole argument of "I listen to all genres" and somebody asking you "what's your favourite grindcore band?". Probably Napalm Death.

10/10 for it's importance and 5/10 for it's enjoyment. 7/10 seems appropriate.

Fav Song: M.A.D.

Overall: 8/10

Another classic from Nick Cave. This might be my favourite of his albums that I've heard so far, I love the tone and atmosphere so much. Usually religious imagery would turn me off but his voice just sounds like it shouldn't be singing about anything but Jesus.

Fav Song: West Country Girl

Overall: 6/10

At first I was enjoying this, it fuses rock and traditional irish music very well. The biggest problem is that the songs are overlong and there's way too many of them. I shouldn't be checking how much longer the album is halfway through it. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but it overstayed it's welcome so much that it started to become unenjoyable.

Fav Song: Sweet Thing

Overall: 8/10

The acoustic guitar on this album is absolutely GORGEOUS and I can't get enough of it. I don't know if Gillian really brought anything new to the genre, but she certainly wrote some incredible songs and her voice is effortlessly great. This is probably an album I'd only listen to in certain circumstances, but it's beautiful and definitely deserving of a spot in this list.

Fav Song: Dear Someone

Overall: 3/10

The only thing I found even remotely interesting about this album is Jeff Beck's guitar work. Everything else was (at best) really boring and (at worst) kind of awful. I don't know if it's as bad as the worst albums in this list but it's not good at all.

Fav Song: Jeff's Boogie

Overall: 7/10

This one was a lot of fun! I liked the style of the music a lot and the vocalists voice was very pleasing, if a little generic. My biggest problem is the length, but it didn't deter me from enjoying it too much.

Fav Song: Leaves and Sand

Overall: 2/10

Morrissey genuinely completely ruins a band that I probably wouldn't mind if I didn't have to listen to his insufferable whining and godawful lyrics. I have to listen to that twats voice way too often. Apart from him, I don't really like the music all that much either, but I did get enjoyment out of a couple of songs.

Fav Song: I Started Something I Couldn't Finish

Overall: 6/10

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this as much as I was hoping. The beats are good, and Chuck's voice and lyrics are great, but for some reason it just didn't click for me.

Fav Song: Fight the Power

Overall: 8/10

I wasn't aware that K.D. Lang did anything but country music, so this was a pleasant surprise! There's so many instruments here used in interesting ways and nothing ever felt out of place. She also has a gorgeous voice that I found very soothing. I might be coming back to this one a lot.

Fav Song: Still Thrives This Love

Overall: 8/10

This is such a chill album. I'll admit, I had my doubts about this one due to the fact that I'm not a huge Beyoncé fan, and I was afraid that this album would just be manufactured garbage. There is a bit of a glossy feel to the songs that you get from mainstream pop music, but it's mostly slow burning R&B/soul album. I think this type of music is an effective way to get her messages of black and female empowerment out there. I'm heavily impressed by her voice and style.

Fav Song: Don't You Wait

Overall: 4/10

I'll admit that Amy was an incredibly talented vocalist and a very troubled person, but some of the lyrical content on this album made me a bit uncomfortable and I found it unpleasant to listen to at times.

Fav Song: In My Bed