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English Oceans by Drive by truckers:

It's not really that I'm not digging it. It's just that it's getting rave reviews and statements like it's a "return to form" and all that. I'm not hearing that's it's any better than the last 3 albums and nowhere near as good as Dirty South, Decoration day, or Southern rock opera. Still a pretty good album though.

http://cantstophiphop.com/freddie-gibbs-pinata/

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Pinata

I listened to this again and liked it less than the first time. The rapping is completely meh but I would forgive it if the beats were a lot more varied and interesting. But this looks to be yet another hugely acclaimed Hip Hop album that I don't believe deserves it.

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Cynic - Kindly Bent to Free Us (2014)

Yeah I dunno, just nothing here for me to take away beyond "well that was a thing". It very much straddles the line of mediocre enough to not get worked up about either way, not too good, not too bad, just blah.

whaaaaaa? That's my favourite metallica album, and I can't find an album like it aside from Megadeth's ''Killing is my business and business is good''', which is my favourite Megadeth album. Everyone else seems to prefer different metallica and megadeth albums over them xP.

That pretty much sums up how I feel about Cynic in general.

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Agalloch - The Serpent & The Sphere (2014)

I agonized over whether nor not I wanted to put this in here because I figured I couldn't convey why this album doesn't work as an album, but does work as a collection of Agalloch songs. Basically, if you enjoyed the more post-rockish elements found in 2010's The Mantle and the Spirit then you will definitely find a lot to take away from The Serpent & The Sphere. If you were hoping for more metal, well it's still here, it's just not utilized in a way that rewards instant gratification.

The Serpent & The Sphere sounds more like it's a collection of Agalloch songs, without any semblance of order or structure, which is something I always assumed the band strived for some idea of "completeness" with their albums, and this just lacks it. The songs are individually good at best, or boring at worst, but there's really nothing here that stays with you.

That's very cynical of you, Jansz...

Eh, I was going to check out that new Agalloch but I've heard a number of bad things already. Probably going to hold off on listening to it for a little while, because I've got a ton of other things I'd rather get a hold of. I didn't really care much for the previous album, either.

It's still worth a listen because the songs are good if a little unoriginal. Just don't go into it expecting it to be amazing or album of the year material, for that it certainly is not.

I rescind my review of that album. It's now one of my favs.