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

Trollheart · 01-24-2018, 05:18 AM

Album title: The Great County Songbook Volume 2
Artist: Adam Harvey/Beccy Cole
Genre: Country
Nationality: Australian
Release date: April 28
Position in Discography: First collab
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A little
Average RYM Score: N/A
Ah, what's the point of this album? I know neither of the two artists involved, and this is a collection of Country standards. If it was by various artists I could discount it by virtue of it being a compilation, but the same two artists makes it a legitimate album. Not sure what I can write about it though. You either know the songs or you don't. Some I do, some not, and I couldn't tell you mostly how they do, though I assume they make a decent fist of it. The real point here is, who the hell cares? If you want to hear these songs, surely it would be preferable to hear the originals? Who wants to hear two Australian cowpokes give us their interpretations of them? Again, I ask, who the hell cares?

Check out more from this artist? Shrug
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-24-2018, 09:33 AM

Album title: Madness
Artist: All That Remains
Genre: Metalcore/Alt-Metal/Industrial Metal
Nationality: American
Release date: April 28
Position in Discography: Eighth
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 2.00
Got to clean the cloying taste of all that bad country music out of my mouth. Yuck! Hopefully this will be aggressive and loud (huh? Yeah, that's what I said) and shake out the cobwebs. Well it's that all right, but there are some decent melodic, even progressive touches to the music here. Don't think a lot of the vocalist (oh big surprise) but it's still better than listening to Adam Wotsit whine about whisky and/or women, or his daddy's farm, or whatever the **** he was wittering on about with yer wan on the last album. Also the vox get much better on “Nothing I Can Do”, which is actually pretty damn catchy with a fine hook in the chorus. “If I'm Honest” is even better, almost a ballad, with some great clean vocals, but when they kick it up again with “Halo”, I'm still onboard, dude!

There's a good mix of fast, frenetic, aggressive metal and catchy tunes on this album, mad, growly singers juxtaposed with clean vocals, a lot of hooks, even some radio-friendly stuff. And the odd country-styled track, like “Back to You” and the Garth Brooks cover (I kid you not!) at the end. Versatile, and very enjoyable for sure. Don't see any evidence of Industrial Metal though, I gotta say.

Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-24-2018, 10:46 AM

Album title: Anti-Melody
Artist: American Standards
Genre: Metalcore/Harcore Punk/Post-Hardcore/Hard Rock (seriously?)
Nationality: American
Release date: April 28
Position in Discography: Second
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.25
I certainly don't like the look of the title! If there's one thing I look for in my music it's a decent sense of melody, so this could be pretty raw, I don't know. Or the title may have nothing to do with the music. Okay, well, that seems to be the case indeed, as this certainly has plenty of melody as it starts. Even the vocal, at least on the first track, sounds better to me than on the previous album. Good start. And then the vocal gets growly and guttural for the second track, but it's still really good.

Well that's just great! I've been listening to the next album from All That Remains all this time!

No wonder it sounded so good! Jesus Christ! So, begin again: this opens with what would be more in line with hardcore punk as I would have expected, and this time I really don't like it though I don't exactly hate it. Very raw indeed, very aggressive. Don't appeal to me at all now.

Check out more from this artist? No
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Some, yes; others, no

Actual Rating:

The Batlord · 01-24-2018, 10:57 AM

You think that's "Very raw indeed, very aggressive"? That **** is bland as hell. No wonder you like Genesis.

Trollheart · 01-24-2018, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

You think that's "Very raw indeed, very aggressive"? That **** is bland as hell. No wonder you like Genesis.

Suck a dick.

Trollheart · 01-24-2018, 05:16 PM

Album title: The Source
Artist: Ayreon
Genre: Rock Opera/Progressive Metal/Progressive Rock
Nationality: Dutch
Release date: April 28
Position in Discography: Ninth
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? A little yes
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Very
Average RYM Score: 3.46
Another one recommended (highly) by Mord, though his championing of Mastodon's Emperor of Sand didn't do much to sway me. Ayreon I have heard all right, but any time I've listened to them it's been mostly just ok, nothing that really impresses me. Maybe this will be the one. It's a big project, a double CD running for over eighty minutes, and featuring many guests from the prog rock/prog metal world, such as Dream Theater's James LaBrie, Nightwish's Floor Jansen and Kamelot's Tommy Karevik, among others. The trouble I find with Ayreon's music in general is that it tends to be too involved, too much of a storyline running through each album, and it certainly takes itself far too seriously. Not only that, but the plot on this one, apparently, relates to the plots running through other of their albums, so to fully understand it, perhaps you need to have heard those, and I haven't.

However this is not an in-depth review by any means, so I'll be ignoring all the plot/storyline element and just concentrating on the music, which I have to say right from the beginning is terribly overblown and pompous. Anyone expecting to get into Ayreon through this album would, I feel, be disappointed and might try some earlier albums. I suppose an album like this is a hard one to get a feel for on your first listen, but my initial impression is that, again, it's too complicated and intricate and I'm feeling both a little overwhelmed and also bored. “Everybody Dies” has at least some sense of energy about it, but it's going to be stupid to try to review such a behemoth here, so I'll just say it sounds like it has a whole lot of potential, and I'll give it more time at some point. Still, I could see how someone like, oh say Batty, might listen to a few minutes of this and then throw his hands up in disgust. You really got to be either a big Ayreon fan or into prog to enjoy this, and to take the time to go deeper into it. I will, later. Much later.

Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Always

Actual Rating:

**Frownland** · 01-24-2018, 05:23 PM

Ja I listened to about 8 minutes of that when Mord was harping on about it and felt the urge to find the nearest bridge to jump off of.

Trollheart · 01-24-2018, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

Ja I listened to about 8 minutes of that when Mord was harping on about it and felt the urge to find the nearest bridge to jump off of.

I have to be honest, I kind of had the same reaction myself. It's, like, too busy. SO many vocalists, all at once. I wanted not to diss it without a proper listen, but it's ****ing huge and I honestly don't know when I'll ever get back to it again. Perhaps Ayreon just won't be for me.

**Frownland** · 01-24-2018, 07:38 PM

And musically it's grade a garbagio.

Trollheart · 01-24-2018, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

And musically it's grade a garbagio.

It's really not that great is it? Surprised, honestly, though as I said in the review much of the Ayreon I've heard to date has been a case of ... eh...

01-24-2018, 05:18 AM	#1671 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Album title: The Great County Songbook Volume 2 Artist: Adam Harvey/Beccy Cole Genre: Country Nationality: Australian Release date: April 28 Position in Discography: First collab Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A little Average RYM Score: N/A Ah, what's the point of this album? I know neither of the two artists involved, and this is a collection of Country standards. If it was by various artists I could discount it by virtue of it being a compilation, but the same two artists makes it a legitimate album. Not sure what I can write about it though. You either know the songs or you don't. Some I do, some not, and I couldn't tell you mostly how they do, though I assume they make a decent fist of it. The real point here is, who the hell cares? If you want to hear these songs, surely it would be preferable to hear the originals? Who wants to hear two Australian cowpokes give us their interpretations of them? Again, I ask, who the hell cares? Check out more from this artist? Shrug Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-24-2018, 09:33 AM	#1672 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Album title: Madness Artist: All That Remains Genre: Metalcore/Alt-Metal/Industrial Metal Nationality: American Release date: April 28 Position in Discography: Eighth Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 2.00 Got to clean the cloying taste of all that bad country music out of my mouth. Yuck! Hopefully this will be aggressive and loud (huh? Yeah, that's what I said) and shake out the cobwebs. Well it's that all right, but there are some decent melodic, even progressive touches to the music here. Don't think a lot of the vocalist (oh big surprise) but it's still better than listening to Adam Wotsit whine about whisky and/or women, or his daddy's farm, or whatever the ** he was wittering on about with yer wan on the last album. Also the vox get much better on “Nothing I Can Do”, which is actually pretty damn catchy with a fine hook in the chorus. “If I'm Honest” is even better, almost a ballad, with some great clean vocals, but when they kick it up again with “Halo”, I'm still onboard, dude! There's a good mix of fast, frenetic, aggressive metal and catchy tunes on this album, mad, growly singers juxtaposed with clean vocals, a lot of hooks, even some radio-friendly stuff. And the odd country-styled track, like “Back to You” and the Garth Brooks cover (I kid you not!) at the end. Versatile, and very enjoyable for sure. Don't see any evidence of Industrial Metal though, I gotta say. Check out more from this artist? Yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating:** __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-24-2018, 10:46 AM	#1673 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Album title: Anti-Melody Artist: American Standards Genre: Metalcore/Harcore Punk/Post-Hardcore/Hard Rock (seriously?) Nationality: American Release date: April 28 Position in Discography: Second Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 3.25 I certainly don't like the look of the title! If there's one thing I look for in my music it's a decent sense of melody, so this could be pretty raw, I don't know. Or the title may have nothing to do with the music. Okay, well, that seems to be the case indeed, as this certainly has plenty of melody as it starts. Even the vocal, at least on the first track, sounds better to me than on the previous album. Good start. And then the vocal gets growly and guttural for the second track, but it's still really good. Well that's just great! I've been listening to the next album from All That Remains all this time! No wonder it sounded so good! Jesus Christ! So, begin again: this opens with what would be more in line with hardcore punk as I would have expected, and this time I really don't like it though I don't exactly hate it. Very raw indeed, very aggressive. Don't appeal to me at all now. Check out more from this artist? No Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Some, yes; others, no Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-24-2018, 05:16 PM	#1676 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Album title: The Source Artist: Ayreon Genre: Rock Opera/Progressive Metal/Progressive Rock Nationality: Dutch Release date: April 28 Position in Discography: Ninth Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? A little yes Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Very Average RYM Score: 3.46 Another one recommended (highly) by Mord, though his championing of Mastodon's Emperor of Sand didn't do much to sway me. Ayreon I have heard all right, but any time I've listened to them it's been mostly just ok, nothing that really impresses me. Maybe this will be the one. It's a big project, a double CD running for over eighty minutes, and featuring many guests from the prog rock/prog metal world, such as Dream Theater's James LaBrie, Nightwish's Floor Jansen and Kamelot's Tommy Karevik, among others. The trouble I find with Ayreon's music in general is that it tends to be too involved, too much of a storyline running through each album, and it certainly takes itself far too seriously. Not only that, but the plot on this one, apparently, relates to the plots running through other of their albums, so to fully understand it, perhaps you need to have heard those, and I haven't. However this is not an in-depth review by any means, so I'll be ignoring all the plot/storyline element and just concentrating on the music, which I have to say right from the beginning is terribly overblown and pompous. Anyone expecting to get into Ayreon through this album would, I feel, be disappointed and might try some earlier albums. I suppose an album like this is a hard one to get a feel for on your first listen, but my initial impression is that, again, it's too complicated and intricate and I'm feeling both a little overwhelmed and also bored. “Everybody Dies” has at least some sense of energy about it, but it's going to be stupid to try to review such a behemoth here, so I'll just say it sounds like it has a whole lot of potential, and I'll give it more time at some point. Still, I could see how someone like, oh say Batty, might listen to a few minutes of this and then throw his hands up in disgust. You really got to be either a big Ayreon fan or into prog to enjoy this, and to take the time to go deeper into it. I will, later. Much later. Check out more from this artist? Yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Always Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-24-2018, 05:23 PM	#1677 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	Ja I listened to about 8 minutes of that when Mord was harping on about it and felt the urge to find the nearest bridge to jump off of. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

01-24-2018, 07:38 PM	#1679 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	And musically it's grade a garbagio. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x