Rate the album you last listened to

[MrFruitLord]

The Men - New Moon 9/10
Iceage - You're Nothing 9/10

[GandWuser]

Machine Head - The Blackening (9.5/10)

Three words: this is metal. In fact, this is probably one of the most brutal albums I've listened to, and the heavy riffs just seem to keep on coming and coming. "Aestetics of Hate" is definitely the highlight of the album, and I can tell why it was released as DLC. It's awesome.

Zombina and the Skeletones - Taste the Blood Of... (8/10)

Pretty good for what it is. Solid song writing and performing, and overall a fun album to listen to. Just try to avoid the "Bite Me" reminiscent hidden track at the end.

[killer_roach]

Amplifier - Echo Street
6.75/10

A contender for AotY (like their prior album was in 2011 for me) this isn't. Don't get me wrong, it's a reasonably engaging, entertaining album, but one that also ends up sounding a bit stylistically constrained (also much unlike The Octopus). Overall the tone is on the lighter side, marrying neo-progressive sensibilities to an early 90's alt-rock soundscape, with the only major deviations being the opening track "Matmos" (which incorporates some breezy psych-pop elements) and the closing track "Mary Rose" (which has some vaguely Genesis-esque symphonic prog moments). This may very well be a case of cohesion ultimately detracting from the overall vision.

[coolsnoopy97]

Master of Puppets - Metallica

It always used to irritate me when Master of Puppets repeatedly got listed as the greatest metal album of all time. In my opinion, it's not even Metallica's best album (that's Ride the Lightning) and didn't have as much of an impact on the genre as reviewers claim. I think Kill em All and RTL were more influential. Seeing MoP listed above Rust in Peace, RTL, and Under the Sign of the Black Mark always confused me. Giving the album a few complete listens, I do agree it's an excellent album, but hardly the greatest of all time, and I still retain that RTL is stronger. Unlike some, I don't think Metallica 'sold out', so to speak, until the Black Album, and still highly enjoy MoP and AJFA.

Orion
The Thing That Should Not Be
Master of Puppets
Disposable Heroes
Battery
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Leper Messiah
Damage, Inc.

My major criticism of MoP is that it didn't really expand on RTL much, in my opinion. Ride the Lightning formed the groundwork for Metallica's following two albums, which, while both very good, were often formulaic. For example, RTL started with a very fast-paced, heavy song beginning with an interesting instrumental. This was directly duplicated with Battery and Blackened, both of which, although great songs, don't compare to the original for me. Similarly, The Thing That Should Not Be felt like For Whom the Bell Tolls, in terms of being the album's slower heavy-riffed song. I initially thought TTTSNB was redundant and overlong (needlessly long Metallica songs really started in MoP, another critique), but the riff has grown on me, making the song one of the highlights of the album.

One of the few places where I feel MoP actually improved on RTL was in its instrumental. Orion is an excellent song. Master of Puppets was one of the first Metallica songs I really got into, but even after over-playing it, I do agree it's a great title song, even if overrated. Disposable Heroes is definitely overlong, but is nonetheless a good song. Welcome Home, however, cannot compare to Metallica's other two big ballads (One and especially Fade to Black) and comes off a little weak. Finally, the other two songs on the album (Leper Messiah and Damage, Inc.) are very forgettable.

Overall, I feel Master of Puppets is a strong album, but no song really compares to anything like Creeping Death, Fade to Black, For Whom the Bell Tolls, or Fight Fire with Fire, except for possibly Orion.

8.5/10

[Mega-Tallica]

Sevendust - Black Out The Sun 8.5/10

Certainly, the most progressive, dark, heavy, and mature album Sevendust has ever done. Plan on listening to it many times this week, but based on my first couple listens, this album has some of the greatest material they've written, but it also has some weak spots where it seems they wanted to experiment a bit but missed the mark. Most comparable to Alpha and Animosity but with less consistency as those two albums had, a lot better than Cold Day Memory. Not disappointed in the least bit, Sevendust continue to deliver with every passing album.

Best songs: Faithless, Dark AM, Black Out The Sun, Picture Perfect, Cold As War

Weakest songs: Decay, Till Death, Nobody Wants It

And my prediction was correct, the first two songs to be released from the album (Decay and Till Death) are also the two weakest songs on the album. Sevendust are not the greatest at picking out good first singles.

[coolsnoopy97]

...And Justice for All - Metallica

Finishing off Metallica's big trio of albums, this is the album I've been listening to most recently, and it's continuously impressive. I'm confused when some fans cite this as when Metallica started going downhill, as this is one of their most intense progressive albums, as far from Black Album as it gets.

The Shortest Straw
Dyer's Eve
Harvester of Sorrow
Blackened
One
Eye of the Beholder
...And Justice for All
To Live is to Die
The Frayed Ends of Sanity

This album has an excellent feel to it. I hear many complaints about the sound quality, but whatever the issue, it actually enhances AJFA for me. It's the band's most political album yet too, and I love the intensity and anger oozing from the lyrics.

Unlike with RTL and MoP, it's difficult for me to pick my absolute favorite song, because this album feels more even than its predecessors, but doesn't have a song as good as Creeping Death or arguably Orion. I eventually chose The Shortest Straw, and it's definitely one of Metallica's best songs, and very representative of how this album on the whole sounds. I like Dyer's Eve for the same reason. It's one of the band's more intense, rapid songs, and for an album that contains two near-10 minute songs, it's nice to have a quicker 5 minute one as well.

Harvester of Sorrow fulfills Metallica's 'slower heavy song' per album quota, and it definitely holds up to the likes of For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Thing That Should Not Be. Blackened was one of the earlier Metallica songs I got into (and therefore overplayed), but I still enjoy it. It's an excellent way to open up the album.

One is probably the reason some Metallica fans think of this album as the beginning of the end, but as mainstream and overpopular as the song is, it's still one of their better ballads. The final half is brilliant. I like the title track a lot as well, it's one of the more progressive songs on the album, but a tad overlong. Eye of the Beholder is a song I'm just getting into.

The two weak parts of the album is the instrumental (which can't hold up to Orion) and the rather forgettable The Frayed Ends of Sanity. Nonetheless, AJFA shows no decline in quality for Metallica. In fact, I'd rank it above MoP, at least currently. The big three Metallica albums are so good, it's really difficult for me to decide the specific order, although I'm relatively confident RTL is the best.

9.0/10

[killer_roach]

Amaranthe - The Nexus
3.5/10

Okay, I admit it. I liked their debut LP (but not the poorly-produced EP prior) for what it was - a slick piece of pop metal that had some pretty solid melodic hooks.

Those are gone on this album.

It seems as though the band's primary influence this time around is Disturbed - more distortion, more industrial-style noise, compressed vocal range on verses... all while trying to maintain the illusion of still being ostensibly a female-fronted band (although their lead singer, a former touring member of Kamelot, is pushed aside a bit more this time around in favor of more male harsh vocals, few of which are done convincingly well). It was obvious before that the band was, more than anything, a studio creation - unfortunately, what the studio giveth the studio can taketh away as well.


Boris - Präparat
9/10

Basically just about everything one could love from Boris all in one album. Old-school psych, drone, industrial, and post-rock all come out to play, and the result is a lively trip of an album. Biggest complaint is merely that, at forty-one minutes in length, it's not especially long, and may leave the listener wanting more of some of the musical tastes that Präparat has to offer.


Terra Tenebrosa - The Purging
6.75/10

Solid experimental metal album with primary emphasis on black, death, and doom in that order. Starts off pretty solid, then falters a bit as the band reaches the limit of their space of musical ideas for the album. A solid listen for those that like darker, heavier metal and don't mind a bit of riffage or repetition.


Bertha - The Birth Of Bertha
7.5/10

Although I heard the band described as prog/psych rock, the better description is of a blues rock band with some psych/stoner influence. If you ever listened to Clutch and thought "I'd like them more if they sounded a bit more like George Thorogood and the Destroyers", this might be the album for you. Not quite as musically varied as Clutch, but still more than capable of reaching into the psych bag of tricks as well as just jamming out.


Kvelertak - Meir
5/10

Black'n'roll album that starts strong, then starts venturing into the ridiculous about midway through in picking up all manner of alt-metal influences like they were some sort of Ozzfest flypaper. Some good tracks, but marred by the fact that it really does start losing the plot after a while.


The Dear Hunter - Migrant
7.25/10

Very melodic crossover prog release that plays it a bit safe stylistically, but is still done remarkably well. I still think Act III and The Color Spectrum remain their high points, but the album is enjoyable despite its forays into a modern-day form of AOR.


Avantasia - The Mystery Of Time
8/10

Tobias Sammet's power/prog "metal opera" starts honing its chops into a more theatrical/operatic mold, and the results are very strong and refined indeed. While the prior two releases (Angel Of Babylon / The Wicked Symphony) were more about catchy choruses and over-the-top production values, The Mystery Of Time features a much more cohesive sound, but also a much more cohesive storyline through the music to match. While not quite to the level of The Metal Opera, this album would be highly recommended to both veterans of and newcomers to Avantasia alike.


Mortgage Freeman - The Living Proof
8.25/10

Surprisingly good psychedelic rock with a focus on instrumentation (there are multiple instrumental tracks on the album, maybe because the vocals are a bit on the pedestrian side). Immediate comparisons would be to, in the modern sense, Motorpsycho, or in a more historic sense either Abbey Road-era Beatles or some of the output of The Grateful Dead. Playful, entertaining, and surprisingly varied, this turned out to be an impressive release that I came in expecting very little out of.

[JBlack240]

Stone Sour - The House of Gold & Bones Part 2
9.5/10

Part 2 is just as good, if not better than Part 1 of the album. It starts off slower than Part 1 does but it picks up quickly and carries throughout all the way up to the end with the title track, which might be my favorite song they've done. Audio Secrecy is still their best album, but this is yet another brilliant effort from these guys.

Device - Device
7/10

I've never been a big fan of industrial music but this is probably as good as it's gonna get for me. It's an all-around decent record but nothing really stands out.

[killer_roach]

Device - Device
7/10

I've never been a big fan of industrial music but this is probably as good as it's gonna get for me. It's an all-around decent record but nothing really stands out.

We'll agree to disagree here. I'd put it around a 3/10 myself - vocals are tired (especially by Draiman's standards), instrumentation is lazy, and there's not much in terms of doing anything new beyond just another chugging guitar riff.

Although I mentioned them in the 2013 music thread, other quick ratings:

Depeche Mode - Delta Machine
7.5/10

Shining - One One One
7/10

Have a few more albums to get to next time I have an extended bit of downtime.

[crash13]

Fall Out Boy - Save Rock and Roll - 4/5. Biased opinion as this is my favorite band.

FUTCT>TTTYG>FOBEOWYG>FOD>SRAR>IOH