Trollheart Listens to Every Album on Wiki's List for 2017

grindy · 09-16-2017, 10:47 AM

*huddles*
*cries*

Trollheart · 09-16-2017, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grindy

*huddles*
*cries*

You are not alone.
Someday, in the future, they may find a cure.
For now, we recommend you join Batty's Death Metal Album Club and try to forget about the whole thing. It's good therapy.

Trollheart · 09-16-2017, 11:04 AM

Update: Much to my disappointment

yer wan's album is not available on Spotify nor YouTube, so I'll have to sacrifice that rare pleasure, and give up my plan of being able to counter the boast "I listen to everything" with "Yeah, but how many albums by Brazilian drag queens have you heard?" Oh well. On we go. Next up, it's Italian indie rock, apparently. Maybe I shouldn't be quite so smug, yeah?

Trollheart · 09-16-2017, 11:48 AM

Album title: L'amore E La Violenza
Artist: Baustelle
Genre: Indie Rock
Nationality: Italian
Release date: January 12
Position in Discography: Ninth
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Not Italian, no
Check out more from this artist? Might do, yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Possibly

These guys have been going since 2000 and have, now, nine albums, so why haven't I heard of them before? Oh yeah, that's right: because I don't give a flying **** about Italian indie rock. But should I? Probably not, though the opening track is certainly catchy enough. I assume, with my extremely limited grasp of Italian, that the title of the album translates to “Love and Violence”, and some of the tracks are either titled in English or easy to work out, like “Eurofestival”, “La Musica Sinfonica” and “L'era Dell'Acquario”, though whether this last is a cover version of the old sixties hit or not I won't know for a little bit*. I'm betting not. “Amanda Lear” sounds more electronica, more Moroder than anything else. It's pleasant, but not what I'd call rock. Nothing I hate so far though, and we're nearly halfway through. Yeah, this kind of weaves a path between electronica, synthpop and the odd bit of rock. Good though.

* It wasn't.

Trollheart · 09-16-2017, 06:42 PM

Album title: The Future State of Wicked
Artist: Blood Feast
Genre: Death Metal/Thrash Metal
Nationality: American
Release date: January 12
Position in Discography: Third
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A little
Check out more from this artist? No
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Well there's a nice chance to ease myself into this album, with a screeching scream and pounding guitars and we're off at a breakneck pace. This might be what they call old school death metal? It kind of sounds to these admittedly untrained ears more like Thrash/Speed, with the lyrical matter flirting with Black Metal. I mean: “INRI”, “Brethren”, “Who Prays for the Devil”, “Last Rites”? Yeah, unfortunately it just pounded into “Off With Their Heads” and I didn't notice we were on a new track. Good stuff though. But is it good enough? I find myself losing interest fairly quickly. Of course, I'm no DM enthusiast, so maybe someone more versed in this subgenre would get more out of it.

For me, it's a little too all over the place, too many mixtures of styles. Now, the current album Batty chose to kick off the Death Metal Album Club can be accused of this too, but whereas that band use just exactly what they want and need from each style and then throw the bones to the dogs and move on, Blood Feast seem more to stagger along, kicking in doors, peer in, shrug and wander on to the next one. There's no real cohesion here. But in the end, as I say, Death Metal is not my forte so I'll just content myself with saying this does little for me, but someone else might enjoy it.

The Batlord · 09-16-2017, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Album title: The Future State of Wicked
Artist: Blood Feast
Genre: Death Metal/Thrash Metal
Nationality: American
Release date: January 12
Position in Discography: Third
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A little
Check out more from this artist? No
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Well there's a nice chance to ease myself into this album, with a screeching scream and pounding guitars and we're off at a breakneck pace. This might be what they call old school death metal? It kind of sounds to these admittedly untrained ears more like Thrash/Speed, with the lyrical matter flirting with Black Metal. I mean: “INRI”, “Brethren”, “Who Prays for the Devil”, “Last Rites”? Yeah, unfortunately it just pounded into “Off With Their Heads” and I didn't notice we were on a new track. Good stuff though. But is it good enough? I find myself losing interest fairly quickly. Of course, I'm no DM enthusiast, so maybe someone more versed in this subgenre would get more out of it.

For me, it's a little too all over the place, too many mixtures of styles. Now, the current album Batty chose to kick off the Death Metal Album Club can be accused of this too, but whereas that band use just exactly what they want and need from each style and then throw the bones to the dogs and move on, Blood Feast seem more to stagger along, kicking in doors, peer in, shrug and wander on to the next one. There's no real cohesion here. But in the end, as I say, Death Metal is not my forte so I'll just content myself with saying this does little for me, but someone else might enjoy it.

I've heard mention of Blood Feast

Trollheart · 09-17-2017, 11:14 AM

Album title: Migration
Artist: Bonobo
Genre: Electronic, Downtempo
Nationality: English
Release date: January 12
Position in Discography: Sixth
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Check out more from this artist? For sure
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yup

Doesn't someone here have this album? I'm sure I recognise the cover as having been posted by one of you. Anyway it seems to be nice, relaxing, not-quite-wallpaper-music but close; not what I'd call ambient – there's more energy to it than that – but not terribly intrusive either. Enjoyable certainly. More than that? I don't know. There are a few guest vocalists, and the songs they perform on are good, but I think I prefer the pure instrumentals. Must say I really like “Ontario”. Like most of this really.

Trollheart · 09-17-2017, 03:16 PM

Album title: Only the Lonely
Artist: Colony House
Genre: Indie Rock
Nationality: American
Release date: January 13
Position in Discography: Second
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Somewhat
Check out more from this artist? No
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Odd name for a band. Well anyway, good start, knd of anthemic for the opener, good hook in the song. Yeah the second track does nothing for me: very sixties/Beatles/Beach Boys/insert band here. Meh. Now we're ripping off Queen's “We Will Rock You”. Sigh. Handclaps and all. Meh, it's not too bad a song once it gets going, just a pity they couldn't be a little more original with it. Yeah, this album seems to veer between decent indie rock songs and sub-surf-rock boppers which really annoy me. “You Know It” is another of the latter. These guys often remind me of Train. That surely ain't good. I think this is kind of a mess: in among the crud you can find a few good tracks but you really have to search, and with thirteen tracks that's not something I'm willing to do. Pass. Oh crap: Christian Pop next!

Trollheart · 09-17-2017, 04:13 PM

Album title: Rise
Artist: Danny Gokey
Genre: Christian Pop
Nationality: American
Release date: January 13
Position in Discography: Fifth
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Check out more from this artist? No
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Maybe

Look, you can laugh but I'm not going to put a guy or girl down for singing Christian music. Eric Cartman once said that Christian pop is easy: just replace the word “baby” with “Jesus”. And he's right. But sometimes it's not that simple. So if a Christian singer wants to sing about how much he or she loves Jesus rather than Joe or Josephine, that's perfectly fine with me as long as a) they put some decent music behind the lyrics and b) they don't try to convert me. Follow these simple rules and we'll be fine. Hey, I listened to (and enjoyed, for the most part) a Casting Crowns album, remember.

However, I'm not quite as lenient when it comes to finalists for the likes of American Idol, and our Danny here (who may, or may not be, the Champion of the World, at least in his own mind) is one such: came third on their eighth season, and so far has released five albums. American Idol makes me wary, but then, sometimes good things can come of it: look at District 97 (what?) so let's see what we got here. Lord, for what we are about to receive ....

Oh dear. This sounds, when it begins, very much in boyband territory with a healthy dose of autotune. I don't quite know why I'm surprised: AI is not exactly renowned for turning out original acts, now is it? Well, one track in and he hasn't mentioned Jesus yet, so I guess that's something. Isn't it? Riiight. The second track sounds almost the same as the first one. Third, the title, is not half bad. Still no namedropping of the Saviour, so that's good. Okay, again like the Colony House album I reviewed before this, Rise has its good songs but they're kind of subsumed beneath a slew of third-rate boyband material. In fairness, if I hadn't read the genre tag I would not have pegged this as any sort of Christian pop, so kudos to him for, as the Prince Regent said in Blackadder III, keeping that Jesus chap out of it. But American Idol looms large, and this is, in the main, very much the product of that bloody blight on the music scene. Ah but it's true what they say: the Devil has the best tunes!

Trollheart · 09-17-2017, 08:22 PM

Album title: Oczy Mlody
Artist: The Flaming Lips
Genre: Neo-psychedelia/Electronic/Experimental
Nationality: American
Release date: January 13
Position in Discography: Fourteenth
Fear Factor: Low
Familiar with this artist? Not as such: heard one album. Didn't get the hype.
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Not really
Check out more from this artist? Oh **** yes!
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Album title sounds like the name of a striker for Newcastle United (that's for MLM, Qwertyy and the other British footy fans, the rest of you can **** off) and it has a nice atmospheric opening with the title track. I guess you can't but give props to any band who write a song called “One Night While Hunting For Faeries and Witches and Wizards To Kill”! And it's a great song too, kind of like everything here. I see dream pop in the genre tags, and I can see why, as the second track is very much that – or is it chillwave or downtempo or trip-hop? **** knows: good though. Haven't heard anything I don't like so far anyway, and a lot I love. This is a great album. Perhaps I finally get it.

Expectation Index: 0

09-16-2017, 10:47 AM	#101 (permalink)
grindy . Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: . Posts: 7,201	huddles cries __________________ *A smell of petroleum prevails throughout.*

09-16-2017, 11:04 AM	#103 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Update: Much to my disappointment yer wan's album is not available on Spotify nor YouTube, so I'll have to sacrifice that rare pleasure, and give up my plan of being able to counter the boast "I listen to everything" with "Yeah, but how many albums by Brazilian drag queens have you heard?" Oh well. On we go. Next up, it's Italian indie rock, apparently. Maybe I shouldn't be quite so smug, yeah? __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

09-16-2017, 11:48 AM	#104 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: L'amore E La Violenza Artist: Baustelle Genre: Indie Rock Nationality: Italian Release date: January 12 Position in Discography: Ninth Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Not Italian, no Check out more from this artist? Might do, yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Possibly These guys have been going since 2000 and have, now, nine albums, so why haven't I heard of them before? Oh yeah, that's right: because I don't give a flying **** about Italian indie rock. But should I? Probably not, though the opening track is certainly catchy enough. I assume, with my extremely limited grasp of Italian, that the title of the album translates to “Love and Violence”, and some of the tracks are either titled in English or easy to work out, like “Eurofestival”, “La Musica Sinfonica” and “L'era Dell'Acquario”, though whether this last is a cover version of the old sixties hit or not I won't know for a little bit. I'm betting not. “Amanda Lear” sounds more electronica, more Moroder than anything else. It's pleasant, but not what I'd call rock. Nothing I hate so far though, and we're nearly halfway through. Yeah, this kind of weaves a path between electronica, synthpop and the odd bit of rock. Good though. It wasn't. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 10-07-2017 at 06:44 AM.

09-16-2017, 06:42 PM	#105 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: The Future State of Wicked Artist: Blood Feast Genre: Death Metal/Thrash Metal Nationality: American Release date: January 12 Position in Discography: Third Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A little Check out more from this artist? No Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Well there's a nice chance to ease myself into this album, with a screeching scream and pounding guitars and we're off at a breakneck pace. This might be what they call old school death metal? It kind of sounds to these admittedly untrained ears more like Thrash/Speed, with the lyrical matter flirting with Black Metal. I mean: “INRI”, “Brethren”, “Who Prays for the Devil”, “Last Rites”? Yeah, unfortunately it just pounded into “Off With Their Heads” and I didn't notice we were on a new track. Good stuff though. But is it good enough? I find myself losing interest fairly quickly. Of course, I'm no DM enthusiast, so maybe someone more versed in this subgenre would get more out of it. For me, it's a little too all over the place, too many mixtures of styles. Now, the current album Batty chose to kick off the Death Metal Album Club can be accused of this too, but whereas that band use just exactly what they want and need from each style and then throw the bones to the dogs and move on, Blood Feast seem more to stagger along, kicking in doors, peer in, shrug and wander on to the next one. There's no real cohesion here. But in the end, as I say, Death Metal is not my forte so I'll just content myself with saying this does little for me, but someone else might enjoy it. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

09-17-2017, 11:14 AM	#107 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: Migration Artist: Bonobo Genre: Electronic, Downtempo Nationality: English Release date: January 12 Position in Discography: Sixth Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Check out more from this artist? For sure Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yup Doesn't someone here have this album? I'm sure I recognise the cover as having been posted by one of you. Anyway it seems to be nice, relaxing, not-quite-wallpaper-music but close; not what I'd call ambient – there's more energy to it than that – but not terribly intrusive either. Enjoyable certainly. More than that? I don't know. There are a few guest vocalists, and the songs they perform on are good, but I think I prefer the pure instrumentals. Must say I really like “Ontario”. Like most of this really. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

09-17-2017, 03:16 PM	#108 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: Only the Lonely Artist: Colony House Genre: Indie Rock Nationality: American Release date: January 13 Position in Discography: Second Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Somewhat Check out more from this artist? No Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Odd name for a band. Well anyway, good start, knd of anthemic for the opener, good hook in the song. Yeah the second track does nothing for me: very sixties/Beatles/Beach Boys/insert band here. Meh. Now we're ripping off Queen's “We Will Rock You”. Sigh. Handclaps and all. Meh, it's not too bad a song once it gets going, just a pity they couldn't be a little more original with it. Yeah, this album seems to veer between decent indie rock songs and sub-surf-rock boppers which really annoy me. “You Know It” is another of the latter. These guys often remind me of Train. That surely ain't good. I think this is kind of a mess: in among the crud you can find a few good tracks but you really have to search, and with thirteen tracks that's not something I'm willing to do. Pass. Oh crap: Christian Pop next! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

09-17-2017, 04:13 PM	#109 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: Rise Artist: Danny Gokey Genre: Christian Pop Nationality: American Release date: January 13 Position in Discography: Fifth Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Check out more from this artist? No Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Maybe Look, you can laugh but I'm not going to put a guy or girl down for singing Christian music. Eric Cartman once said that Christian pop is easy: just replace the word “baby” with “Jesus”. And he's right. But sometimes it's not that simple. So if a Christian singer wants to sing about how much he or she loves Jesus rather than Joe or Josephine, that's perfectly fine with me as long as a) they put some decent music behind the lyrics and b) they don't try to convert me. Follow these simple rules and we'll be fine. Hey, I listened to (and enjoyed, for the most part) a Casting Crowns album, remember. However, I'm not quite as lenient when it comes to finalists for the likes of American Idol, and our Danny here (who may, or may not be, the Champion of the World, at least in his own mind) is one such: came third on their eighth season, and so far has released five albums. American Idol makes me wary, but then, sometimes good things can come of it: look at District 97 (what?) so let's see what we got here. Lord, for what we are about to receive .... Oh dear. This sounds, when it begins, very much in boyband territory with a healthy dose of autotune. I don't quite know why I'm surprised: AI is not exactly renowned for turning out original acts, now is it? Well, one track in and he hasn't mentioned Jesus yet, so I guess that's something. Isn't it? Riiight. The second track sounds almost the same as the first one. Third, the title, is not half bad. Still no namedropping of the Saviour, so that's good. Okay, again like the Colony House album I reviewed before this, Rise has its good songs but they're kind of subsumed beneath a slew of third-rate boyband material. In fairness, if I hadn't read the genre tag I would not have pegged this as any sort of Christian pop, so kudos to him for, as the Prince Regent said in Blackadder III, keeping that Jesus chap out of it. But American Idol looms large, and this is, in the main, very much the product of that bloody blight on the music scene. Ah but it's true what they say: the Devil has the best tunes! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

09-17-2017, 08:22 PM	#110 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Album title: Oczy Mlody Artist: The Flaming Lips Genre: Neo-psychedelia/Electronic/Experimental Nationality: American Release date: January 13 Position in Discography: Fourteenth Fear Factor: Low Familiar with this artist? Not as such: heard one album. Didn't get the hype. Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Not really Check out more from this artist? Oh ** yes! Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Album title sounds like the name of a striker for Newcastle United (that's for MLM, Qwertyy and the other British footy fans, the rest of you can off) and it has a nice atmospheric opening with the title track. I guess you can't but give props to any band who write a song called “One Night While Hunting For Faeries and Witches and Wizards To Kill”! And it's a great song too, kind of like everything here. I see dream pop in the genre tags, and I can see why, as the second track is very much that – or is it chillwave or downtempo or trip-hop? knows: good though. Haven't heard anything I don't like so far anyway, and a lot I love. This is a great album. Perhaps I finally get it. Expectation Index: 0** __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 09-21-2017 at 06:37 PM.