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

Trollheart · 01-24-2018, 06:16 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, 06:23 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, 08:36 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, 08:38 PM

And musically it's grade a garbagio.

Trollheart · 01-24-2018, 08:49 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...

The Batlord · 01-24-2018, 09:23 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.

.

Trollheart · 01-25-2018, 11:12 AM

Album title: Grimspound
Artist: Big Big Train
Genre: Progressive Rock
Nationality: English
Release date: April 28
Position in Discography: Tenth
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? Yes
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Very
Average RYM Score: 3.46
Ah, you know it's prog rock when an album begins with a twelve-minute track and has two others over ten!

I'm a big fan of Big Big Train so I expect this to be right up my street, and so far it is, definitely. A lot of it is, if you know the band you'll be unsurprised to hear, a sort of pastoral Genesis thing, reminiscent of their early seventies work. You know the kind of thing: lots of flute, violin and shimmering piano, and the Genesis influence is noted nowhere more strongly than in “Experimental Gentlemen”, where you think BBT have metamorphosed into not seventies but eighties or even nineties Genesis. Some lovely acoustic guitar in “Meadowland”, and basically yeah, this is great stuff if you're into prog, but if you hate prog you will want to stamp all over this, stamp on it again and finally set fire to it, to make sure it's dead. Naturally, I love it, so up yours, prog haters!

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

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-25-2018, 01:13 PM

Album title: Volume 1
Artist: BNQT
Genre: Indie Rock
Nationality: Various
Release date: April 28
Position in Discography: Debut
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.10
Ordinarily, I tend to frown on supergroups, as they're usually just an extension of super-egos, and this may very well be another, but with members of Franz Ferdinand, Granddaddy, Band of Horses and Travis involved, well, it might be worth the time. The opener is certainly a kicker, a sort of powerful blues rocker which puts me in mind of Bowie's “Jean Genie” to an extent, also Morrison's “Road House Blues” and the piano on “Unlikely Force” gives me a Bruce Hornsby feeling, while the vocal harmonies are pure CSNY/Eagles. Some beautiful orchestration in “100 Million Miles to Go”, a real standout. Unfortunately, neither “Mind of a Man” (the only one penned solo by Fran Healy of Travis, make of that what you will) or the weird “Hey Banana” are particularly good, and bring the good feeling I was initially getting from this album to a screeching halt.

It recovers well with “Failing at Feeling”, another ballad which sounds right off The Man Who, with more fine strings accompaniment, but then they ruin it. Eric Pullido compared this band to “a poor man's Traveling Wilburys”, and on “LA On My Mind” they take this literally. It doesn't work. It's also the second written by Healy; thought there was only one. I was wrong. Should have been only one though. I mean, it's not ****, but it's really really derivative. Closer is excellent.

Hard to rate this really: at some points it's ****ing beautiful, at some points ****ing awful with some meh in between. I think I retain my opinion of the supergroup: not needed. This album has a few decent tracks though, that can't be denied, just not enough of them to make it really worth your while.

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

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-25-2018, 04:01 PM

Album title: 9
Artist: Cashmere Cat
Genre: Alternative R&B/Electronic
Nationality: Norwegian
Release date: April 28
Position in Discography: Debut
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 2.94
Another music producer who uses various singers to interpret his music. Here we have the likes of Ariana Grande, Ty Dolla Sign, Selena Gomez and Kehlani, to name but a few. The title track has a lot of weirdly experimental/industrial type sounds, mixed in with what comes across as a heavy r&b track which then metamorphoses into a kind of trance thing. “Wild Love”, featuring The Weeknd is terribly annoying, lots of fragmented samples, autotune and what sounds either like someone hiccuping or plucking a stretched elastic band. Ugh. The next one is a sub-standard hip-hop piece but then I hear familiar chords, and “Victoria's Veil” opens with an extract (the beginning, in fact) of The Alan Parsons Project's “The Eagle Will Rise Again”. Never expected to hear that now I must say. Got my attention.

Yeah but after that it loses it. I'm not a fan of these kind of albums. Hard for me to judge someone's performance as a producer, and there are too many vocalists and stars here to sort them out. I could be listening to an album by any of them. Shrug.

Check out more from this artist?No
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 01-25-2018, 04:22 PM

Album title: Tailored For Now
Artist: CDB
Genre: R&B
Nationality: Australian
Release date: April 28
Position in Discography: Third
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: N/A
Lord, not another tribute album. Why? Why, I ask, and get no reply? This gem is the idea of Australian R&B group CDB to pay dues to their heroes. I guess. Well, I suppose they enjoyed it. I didn't. As I said with the country album yesterday, if I want to hear those songs I'll listen to the originals, not to the interpretations of same by people I don't know.

Check out more from this artist? No
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

01-24-2018, 06:16 PM	#1681 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	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, 06:23 PM	#1682 (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, 08:38 PM	#1684 (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

01-25-2018, 11:12 AM	#1687 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Album title: Grimspound Artist: Big Big Train Genre: Progressive Rock Nationality: English Release date: April 28 Position in Discography: Tenth Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? Yes Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Very Average RYM Score: 3.46 Ah, you know it's prog rock when an album begins with a twelve-minute track and has two others over ten! I'm a big fan of Big Big Train so I expect this to be right up my street, and so far it is, definitely. A lot of it is, if you know the band you'll be unsurprised to hear, a sort of pastoral Genesis thing, reminiscent of their early seventies work. You know the kind of thing: lots of flute, violin and shimmering piano, and the Genesis influence is noted nowhere more strongly than in “Experimental Gentlemen”, where you think BBT have metamorphosed into not seventies but eighties or even nineties Genesis. Some lovely acoustic guitar in “Meadowland”, and basically yeah, this is great stuff if you're into prog, but if you hate prog you will want to stamp all over this, stamp on it again and finally set fire to it, to make sure it's dead. Naturally, I love it, so up yours, prog haters! Check out more from this artist? Yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Always Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-25-2018, 01:13 PM	#1688 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Album title: Volume 1 Artist: BNQT Genre: Indie Rock Nationality: Various Release date: April 28 Position in Discography: Debut Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 3.10 Ordinarily, I tend to frown on supergroups, as they're usually just an extension of super-egos, and this may very well be another, but with members of Franz Ferdinand, Granddaddy, Band of Horses and Travis involved, well, it might be worth the time. The opener is certainly a kicker, a sort of powerful blues rocker which puts me in mind of Bowie's “Jean Genie” to an extent, also Morrison's “Road House Blues” and the piano on “Unlikely Force” gives me a Bruce Hornsby feeling, while the vocal harmonies are pure CSNY/Eagles. Some beautiful orchestration in “100 Million Miles to Go”, a real standout. Unfortunately, neither “Mind of a Man” (the only one penned solo by Fran Healy of Travis, make of that what you will) or the weird “Hey Banana” are particularly good, and bring the good feeling I was initially getting from this album to a screeching halt. It recovers well with “Failing at Feeling”, another ballad which sounds right off The Man Who, with more fine strings accompaniment, but then they ruin it. Eric Pullido compared this band to “a poor man's Traveling Wilburys”, and on “LA On My Mind” they take this literally. It doesn't work. It's also the second written by Healy; thought there was only one. I was wrong. Should have been only one though. I mean, it's not **, but it's really really derivative. Closer is excellent. Hard to rate this really: at some points it's ing beautiful, at some points ing awful with some meh in between. I think I retain my opinion of the supergroup: not needed. This album has a few decent tracks though, that can't be denied, just not enough of them to make it really worth your while. Check out more from this artist? I might Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating:** __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-25-2018, 04:01 PM	#1689 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Album title: 9 Artist: Cashmere Cat Genre: Alternative R&B/Electronic Nationality: Norwegian Release date: April 28 Position in Discography: Debut Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 2.94 Another music producer who uses various singers to interpret his music. Here we have the likes of Ariana Grande, Ty Dolla Sign, Selena Gomez and Kehlani, to name but a few. The title track has a lot of weirdly experimental/industrial type sounds, mixed in with what comes across as a heavy r&b track which then metamorphoses into a kind of trance thing. “Wild Love”, featuring The Weeknd is terribly annoying, lots of fragmented samples, autotune and what sounds either like someone hiccuping or plucking a stretched elastic band. Ugh. The next one is a sub-standard hip-hop piece but then I hear familiar chords, and “Victoria's Veil” opens with an extract (the beginning, in fact) of The Alan Parsons Project's “The Eagle Will Rise Again”. Never expected to hear that now I must say. Got my attention. Yeah but after that it loses it. I'm not a fan of these kind of albums. Hard for me to judge someone's performance as a producer, and there are too many vocalists and stars here to sort them out. I could be listening to an album by any of them. Shrug. Check out more from this artist?No Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

01-25-2018, 04:22 PM	#1690 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Album title: Tailored For Now Artist: CDB Genre: R&B Nationality: Australian Release date: April 28 Position in Discography: Third Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: N/A Lord, not another tribute album. Why? Why, I ask, and get no reply? This gem is the idea of Australian R&B group CDB to pay dues to their heroes. I guess. Well, I suppose they enjoyed it. I didn't. As I said with the country album yesterday, if I want to hear those songs I'll listen to the originals, not to the interpretations of same by people I don't know. Check out more from this artist? No Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018