Rate Albums

Reviews by thelastbaron

Make YourselfIncubus

6/10

This isn’t metal. It’s alternative rock. This album seems a strange choice to make this list, but my guess is the authors felt it was representative of the immensely popular metal-adjacent alt-rock sound of the late 90s/early 00s. As for the music, it’s actually significantly better than a lot of albums from that era. There’s a lot of cool/interesting things going on, and they make up for the terrible lyrics. The vocal melodies are also surprisingly good (I was dreading them based on similar artists I’d heard). Despite all this, the second half of the album is significantly worse, and drags the score down. In truth, there’s a massive amount of Tool-worship going on in this album, which makes me wonder why the authors didn’t just put Tool on the list instead, which would’ve been much more enjoyable.

3.0/5.0: Good

Foxbase AlphaSaint Etienne

6/10

This sounds like so many of the other British groups that incorporate pop/post-punk/electronica on this list. Some cool beats, some cool melodies, and about 15 minutes too long.

2.5/5.0: Mixed

The BlueprintJay‐Z

4/10

I need someone to explain the appeal of some guy bragging for a whole hour over OK music. And really, the music isn't even that good. You could randomly select an album and chances are it's better musically.

1.5/5.0: Bad

Arc of a DiverSteve Winwood

6/10

The music, performances, and songwriting are pretty good, but the eighties production and instrumentation have aged like milk. If this album had been made 5 or 6 years earlier it'd be great.

2.5/5.0: Mixed

Goodbye and HelloTim Buckley

4/10

This is just incredibly boring folk rock. There's much, much better stuff in this vein made at around the same time.

2.0/5.0: Disappointing

The Gilded Palace of SinThe Flying Burrito Bros.

4/10

Is there anything worse than a slow-paced country music song? Not just in music, I mean is there anything worse to ever exist than a 60 BPM country music whine-fest? Luckily this album is evenly split between these teeth-grindingly hokey snoozers and some more upbeat country/bluegrass/rock.

2.0/5.0: Disappointing

Pelican WestHaircut One Hundred

6/10

Yet another new wave band I've never listened to. Do we really need 400 new wave albums from the late seventies/early eighties? The music itself is OK with good melodies and funky rhythms, but the use of horns is not well done and the saxophone should never have been used. It's obnoxious.

2.5/5.0: Mixed

S&MMetallica with Michael Kamen conducting the San Francisco Symphony

6/10

I wasn’t expecting to like this just because post-eighties Metallica is objectively average or bad depending on the album, and I’m not far off in my pre-assessment. The first issue I have is that the symphonic elements merely detract from the innate heaviness of Metallica because the band was never intended to be symphonic in nature. In consequence, the music doesn’t mesh at all. My second issue is the choice of this album as the representative of symphonic metal on this list. While there are metal acts whose entire identity folds in symphonic foundations perfectly (think Emperor or Fleshgod Apocalypse), Metallica is not one of those acts. If this album is on the list because the authors thought orchestral elements + metal sounded cool, then why this album out of the hundreds of symphonic metal albums? It makes no sense. My third big complaint is that this bloated, questionable album made this list, but the incredible Ride the Lightning didn’t (although this album does have tracks from that album). My final issue is that the whole thing is just too damn long. On the plus side, there are still some great moments from the band’s early discography.

2.5/5.0: Mixed

Live at the Witch TrialsThe Fall

4/10

Highly recommend opening the Wikipedia page and double checking the original tracklist before listening to the entire two hour album that seems to be the only one available online.

As for the music, there's a reason bands don't record their albums in one day. The music is shoddy and barely thought through. I get that this is all about the vocalist's rants, but at that point just write an essay and spare us the music. Points for the attitude though.

1.5/5.0: Bad

VeckatimestGrizzly Bear

6/10

Pleasant music that sounds very much of its era. In truth, all of these tracks could stand to lose 2 minutes. Probably a four-star album if it was 36 minutes rather than 52.

2.5/5.0: Mixed

It’s a Shame About RayLemonheads

4/10

Very boring run-of-the-mill indie rock. Very hard to justify this being on the list but something like The Beatles' Let It Be not being on the list.

2.0/5.0: Disappointing

White LadderDavid Gray

2/10

Super unfortunate for society that this kind of became the template for pop music in the 21st century.

1.0/5.0: Embarrassing

OK ComputerRadiohead

10/10

Undeniably great - musically, compositionally, production-wise, lyrically, etc. Only complaint would be that the vocals take some getting used to.

5.0/5.0: Iconic