10/14 Album Roundup

The 1975 - Being Funny In A Foreign Country Their trademark opening track is meant to be an update of where the band has been and what you're getting into. Both musically and lyrically, this is a great set up showing the rigorous piano in the background, the thunderous sounds of brass instruments moving like a storm over Matt Heafy and the boys. I really like the empathy to teens here seeing what they have to grow up in compared to what older people have with the repeating "I'm sorry if you're living and you're seventeen." before dropping into Happiness. The track brings the army of jazzy instruments, peppy lyrics and a very polar opposite sound in Happiness to their first single, Part of the Band which streamed in the same vein as artists like Bon Iver and Ben Howard with jittering instruments and a spotlight on Matt's vocals. This song is the first to show the amazing teamwork with Jack Antonoff as producer. The infectious head nodding; celebrating the good things you have. The repeating mantra of the song being, "I'm never gonna love again." doesn't come across sad. It shows a happier side to Healy's writing expressing a deep love for either someone else or himself. Looking for Somebody (To Love) is a poppy follow-up with dark lyrics pertaining to school shootings and trying to understand it. On the song, Matt connects them together seeing they are looking for someone to love them and as a young person; your actions are premature but in this case dammable. The following tracks being Oh Caroline, I'm in Love With You are destined to be 1975 essentials. It may be similar lyrically talking about love as The 1975 always does; Into the slow swaying All I Need to Hear that creates such a warm feeling with its lyrics and minimalist production that softly bookends the great pairing of songs. The tail end of this album ends strong with a joyful Wintering that captures the emotion and energy of coming home for holidays and catching up with family and friends. Human Too goes hypnotic with its chorus, "Don't you know that I'm a human too? Tell me your human..." While the repetition gets droning and tiring after a minute, conceptually describing that empathy shouldn't be a result of success or perfection but it should be the start of how you talk to people. About You - This dreamlike love song is so cinematic in the booming production, echoing vocals reminiscent of The Smiths but when Matt said that this is musically a continuation of Robbers, my favorite song of the band. With that in mind, it adds to the catalog significantly while the song builds and booms to its finale in When We Are Together - dramatic, rustic sounding and slightly disjointed violins that sound gorgeous when they are duetted. I think by this point; The 1975 going more folky, instrument based than synths and autotune really work for them. There are some gorgeous cuts on here, phenomenal production with the work from Antonoff, and the band's best record since their fruition. 81% Best: About You, Happiness, All I Need to Hear, When We Are Together Least Favorite: Human Too

Lorna Shore - Pain Remains Welcome Back, O' Sleeping Dreamer tells us what we need to know about the album/ Okay....they're not fucking around here. This Elden Ring opening mixed with beatdown after beatdown from the band. This opening also shows the strength of the lyrical content throughout, "You fell far from grace, take hold of the dreamscape. Misplaced within the emotion, A parallel shift, a world in slow motion" The constant changes through the song from melody to solo to breakdown, it all makes the 7 mins fly by. The singles take up the next three songs and I'm a bit mixed on them despite great efforts all around. Into the Earth uses a lot of melody and symphonic deathcore in frantic hair triggered grooves, gothic synths that carry you through the hurricane of the song until you reach the vicious ending...get used to this beatdown, it's all over this album...even showing up twice on Sun//Eater. It still has one of my favorite solos of the year on here in the chaos of this track. Although, the album starts to fall into shape of following each song like they are To the Hellfire... with some crazy breakdown and outrageous gutterals. but still, all of the members carry their weight and their craft of each song really shows their potential. The band channels doom metal in Souless Existence, one of the longer cuts on the album. Towering buildup with yet another excellent guitar showcase. The picture painted on this track is epic and empowering as hell, great effort. As the album goes on, there are more elements of a lighter side to the band and each track brings an idea from the preceeding song and transforms it into something new for that to be further expanded on later in the record. Wrath even on the opening chords, sounds visceral and angry. The biggest thing working against this album is each breakdown being as heavy and similar as the last. Take that as you will because this album is staying in that realm with the menacing Wrath starting with one of my favorite chords that are perfect for the song. The epic 20 min title track finale, Pain Remains sticks out as the best part of the album. It gives the same feeling people had when they heard Hellfire... something new and fresh. Lorna Shore proved they can still change the face of the genre with an epic deathcore love ballad that really ramps up the emotion throughout with some lyrics to tug on your heartstrings. "The face behind the silhouette In this world I made to be infinite But within the expanse, I finally see A world without you isn't meant for me Where do you go when I close my eyes? What do you see looking back at me? it is a real spectacle to hear as it accumulates in In a Sea of Fire. Listening to all three tracks together is one of the best metal sequences of this decade so far. This album will be recognized as a staple of the 2020s in metal and will be seen as the moment where Lorna Shore became royalty to the scene. 85% Best : Pain Remains I, Welcome Back, Sun//Eater, Wrath Least Favorite: Apotheosis, Cursed to Die

Blue October is back with their 13th album Spinning the Truth Around (Part 1). The opening title track has dizzying progression with a swooning and bittersweet chorus that is so infectious, I couldn't even recognize it was repeated almost 4 times with a gorgeous piano outro. This band really knows how to deliver feelings and create an emotional set piece but you know when they miss the mark at the same time as there is more on this album I left behind than from what I took and kept on replay and notably it is the singles for the album. This is meant as a two parter but it would've stood much stronger as an EP. The Shape of Your Heart starts an odd trend for the album with raspy and unsettling verse with plucked strings that divert the tone from the opening only to quickly change for an uptempo melody. It's an odd combination on first listen but I enjoyed where the song ended. While I gave the last song as a pass for catchiness and good lyrics, the next song, How Can You Love Me... feels more like an interlude even at four minutes and this feels like a trend going back and forth between these odd songs that don't seem to fit with the rest of the singles but are more in line with interludes like on Don't Say It Wasn't Love, The Kitchen Drawer and worst case on When Love Isn't Good Enough. A longwinded track running over 7 mins with creepy vocals of a deranged man trying to win back a relationship? I'm not sure, this was such an obscure track with an opera singer accompanying the raspy vocals back into a bombastic section and piano. It feels like a waste of time or maybe a missed opportunity. Meanwhile, the other singles are a breath of fresh air between the low points. Where Did You Go... has a chorus that is infectious on repeat. It is a more smooth and sad chorus with a rocking drum beat that turns hypnotic and was the reason I rewound back to this song so many times akin to something like Keane's She Has No Time. This is the best sound I take away from Blue October. On Girl Who Stole my Heart we get a more focused song retelling pain in a previous relationship and wanting to be back in those feelings again. I like how the chorus says "I wonder if she really knows what I want for Christmas" as Winter depression can kick in and feel lonely even with somebody. On this track, I really felt the glimmer of hope here. but it comes to a breaking point when the couple realizes they both can't get what they want. They can both be happy parting ways but there is still going to be something holding them together, feeling like it was wrong place, wrong time for the relationship; all during the rocking song, Shut Up, I Want You To Love Me Back. The last track, Big Love sets up a buffer between part 1 and 2 of this album. Reacting to what has been seen and said on the album. The band reaching out wanting to be there for you when you can't feel you love yourself. It leaves the album on a stronger and hopeful note that showing "This soon shall pass" The best way to describe this album is saying the singles are the pillars holding the album, the rest of it I can take or leave it. 54% Best: Where Did You Go, Spinning The Truth Around, Shut Up..., The Girl Who Stole My Heart Least Favorite: When Love Isn't Good Enough, Don't Say It Wasn't Love, Change, Trust You

Noah Kahan - Stick Season Destined to be the perfect album for driving through upstate New York and bordering states. Stick Season carries an atmosphere like a cold fall morning looking over fog covering a mountain landscape. This album shines through indie artist, Noah Kahan and his excellent performance through the 14 tracklist. Noah Kahan's third album, has garnered a huge following when the title track deservedly was a trend on TikTok. The song captures a lot of what this album entails. Noah sings about would've, could've, should've with decisions in his life. It has led him to be living in isolation in an already small lonely town with seasonal depression taking over and nostalgia filling up thoughts in his head. on this fantastic chorus; "I love Vermont but it's the season of the sticks; ...and I dream each night of some version of you that I might not have, but I did not lose." The preceding song, Northern Attitude is a great opener especially for those who can't relate to northeast's lifestyle and mentality. "If I get too close, and I'm not how you hoped. Forgive my northern attitude, I was raised out in the cold." The songs are both carried by Noah's echoing and warm vocals over the cold atmospheric landscape felt in the production, it is a great balance and while Noah sometimes hits the nail with this and other times misses; there is enough on this record entailing being tied down to childhood nostalgia and growing out of your city. Songs like New Perspective plays as a solitary anthem for Noah who blames an outsider's "new perspective". This track is definitely a highlight on the album for me with melodic swaying verses mixed with a strong chorus. Noah seems defensive here showing his love and dedication to his hometown; wishing for other perspectives to "Shut it in the closet and drag you back down." Meanwhile, Homesick shows the lonely side of not leaving town which has caused Noah to be existential thinking his life is over and "He'll die in the same house I grew up in." It is a standout on the album and feels fresh tackling small town love. Orange Juice comes in with a heavy theme of forgiveness from a traumatic event. It is very inviting and embraces like a warm hug. It shows a lot of growth in its 5 minute length. There are some high points lyrically on the record on Growing Sideways which feels like an epiphany for Noah realizing he needs to grow forwards and he's spent so much time in one place in his life; feeling no growth singing "I'm terrified I never met me." and on the closer, The View Between Villages where Noah fully decided to literally turn the car around back to be in his hometown. He feels growth within himself and has become content with his current state. This record while maybe a few tracks too long is a very pleasant listen and is an essential fall season record. 82% Best: Stick Season, Homesick, View Between Villages, Growing Sideways, Northern Attitude Least Favorite: All My Love, Come Over, Still