Might as well

[Space-Dementia]

Alright, so I've decided that 1-10 is too broad of a rating system for individual songs, so I'm gonna start rating songs 1-5 stars because that just makes more sense in my opinion. And with that I'm also gonna start rating albums just whole numbers, instead of halves, because twenty different ratings is way too much for the amount of albums I listen to.
So all that being said I'm gonna start going back to some more albums that I haven't heard in a while and giving the songs and albums new ratings based on my new rules. Hopefully this improves my ranking and rating system, but I guess we'll see.

[Space-Dementia]

March 31, 2018
Crack the Skye by Mastodon
Oblivion - 5/5
Divinations - 4/5
Quintessence - 4/5
The Czar - 4/5
Ghost of Karelia - 3/5
Crack the Skye - 3/5
The Last Baron - 4/5
As I make my way through the Mastodon discography it seems like they’re slowly letting go of the power of a single riff and instead pursuing long, ever-changing, carefully crafted songs. And with that, they’re also moving on from having their albums just be collections of songs and are instead making one flowing piece of music (I know Leviathan was a concept album, but it didn’t flow quite as well as this one). This is helping them, as, in my opinion, their music has become more of an artistic statement, but it’s also hurt them a bit, as their music is less immediately memorable. I could hum the main riffs for a good portion of the songs on their first two albums right now, but I couldn’t do that for this one, because each song doesn’t have that one riff that I remember it by.
One thing that I definitely like about Mastodon’s progression is their growth from solely low growled vocals to a wide variety of sung, screamed, and growled vocals. This allows them to create some really pretty melodies on this album, something they weren’t able to do on Remission. Overall, I think Crack the Skye is a return to form for Mastodon that is definitely better than Blood Mountain and will be competing with Remission for second-best Mastodon album. 7/10

[Space-Dementia]

April 25, 2018
Master of Reality by Black Sabbath
Sweet Leaf - 5/5
After Forever - 4/5
Embryo - N/A
Children of the Grave - 4/5
Orchid - N/A
Lord of This World - 5/5
Solitude - 4/5
Into The Void - 4/5
So I've been on a bit of a Sabbath run recently. I listened to "War Pigs" about a month ago and it sounded even better than it usually did, so I revisited Paranoid, and after that I went back to their debut, which I hadn't heard in a while, and after that I listened to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, which I had listened to once and not thought that much of. But this time I fell in love with the title track, and for the next few weeks I couldn't get enough of Sabbath, so as I started running out of songs I wasn't familiar with I decided to check out an album I haven't heard yet, and here I am.
While I don't think any song on here reaches the peaks of "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" or "War Pigs", this is a terrific album that doesn't waste any time, and showcases riff after riff, as Sabbath go heavier and sludgier than they ever have. It's interesting that, while all of their first five albums or so classify as heavy metal, they all have such a different sound and theme around them. Black Sabbath has this creepy, raw sound, probably from the band just messing around and trying to scare people, as well as the fact that it was recorded live in one day. Paranoid sounds like their most organized record, especially since it's become their most commercially popular. Master of Reality just sounds like they smoked a little more bud than they usually do, and just kicked back and played as loud and heavy as possible. And I haven't listened to Vol. 4 yet, but Sabbath Bloody Sabbath sounds like the band messing around with all their previous sounds, as well as adding some synths and orchestration and maybe going down more of a progressive road. Although I've listened to all those albums a few times each, I'm still not as acquainted with Sabbath as I'd like to be, so I'll definitely be sticking with them for a while, and maybe checking out Vol. 4 in the coming weeks. 8/10.

[Space-Dementia]

May 1, 2018
Relationship of Command by At the Drive-In
Arcarsenal - 5/5
Pattern Against User - 4/5
On Armed Scissor - 4/5
Sleepwalk Capsules - 5/5
Invalid Litter Dept. - 5/5
Mannequin Republic - 4/5
Enfilade - 4/5
Rolodex Propaganda - 4/5
Quarantined - 3/5
Cosmonaut - 4/5
Non-Zero Possibility - 4/5
I've gotten to the point where just the word post-hardcore intrigues me because of all the possibilities it holds. It's not my favorite genre, but pretty much every album that falls under its label I've either enjoyed a lot or at least respected for its sound or innovation, and I don't think I can truly say that for any other genre. So I checked this album out after seeing that it was labelled as post-hardcore, and it's definitely impressive. The energy is high and I really like the juxtaposition of the shouted vocals and loud drums and guitars with the major chord progressions and the almost ambient-sounding instrumental sections of songs. I'm not really sure what he's saying for like 90% of it, but the few words I do hear are weird and intrigue me to look up the rest of the lyrics. The one thing that starts to bug me about the album is his vocals. Sometimes he nails them, but a lot of the time his voice is either typical annoying screamo singer or just plain out of tune (especially on Quarantined). But it's easy to look past, because there are so many layers to these songs. That's what I really like about post-hardcore. The energy in hardcore punk is great, but most of it is so simple musically that there's just not enough to keep me coming back, so it's nice to have a genre that takes the energy and anger of punk and adds more interesting instrumentation as well as mixing in ideas from different genres. 8/10.

[Space-Dementia]

May 5, 2018
Skylarking by XTC
Summer's Cauldron - 4/5
Grass - 5/5
The Meeting Place - 5/5
That's Really Super, Supergirl - 5/5
Ballet For a Rainy Day - 4/5
1000 Umbrellas - 3/5
Season Cycle - 4/5
Earn Enough For Us - 4/5
Big Day - 4/5
Another Satellite - 3/5
Mermaid Smiled - 4/5
The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul - 3/5
Dying - 3/5
Sacrificial Bonfire - 3/5
While some of these songs seem kind of melodramatic, especially the slower ones, XTC is at its best when they're playing catchy, quirky pop songs. I definitely hear the Paul McCartney influence, but I also hear some Kinks and Smiths, and I can definitely hear the influence they've had on weird 90s pop bands like Blur. This is almost like synthpop-infused proto-Britpop. While it's cool how a lot of the songs segue into each other really smoothly, the sampling of birds is done really well, and the strings add some experimentation to the music, the best part of this album is just the hooks. I've had "That's Really Super, Supergirl" stuck in my head all day and I wouldn't be surprised if it stayed in there for another week because it's so good. All in all, the album is very top-and-middle heavy and they could have cut some of the slower songs, but it has some terrific moments. 7/10.

[Repo]

[Space-Dementia]

May 12, 2018
7 by Beach House
Dark Spring - 5/5
Pay No Mind - 3/5
Lemon Glow - 4/5
L'Inconnue - 3/5
Drunk in LA - 5/5
Dive - 5/5
Black Car - 4/5
Lose Your Smile - 4/5
Woo - 3/5
Girl of the Year - 4/5
Last Ride - 4/5
Whatever it is, Beach house have had it for the last eight years, and it doesn't seem like they're gonna lose it anytime soon. I don't know how, but they manage to keep the same sound for each album but still put enough difference between them so it's not all the same thing. And seven albums of the same dreamy sound should be too long, but somehow not for Beach House. While not all of these are songs that I'll be listening to for years, they've managed to put together a well-functioning album with a handful of terrific songs and a slightly darker tone than what they usually do, although it's still the same dreampop sound. I think right now Beach House are kinda seen as like a gateway band into less commercially successful music, so they're not given as much respect as they deserve, but I could definitely see them becoming a "classic" band in about a decade. 8/10

[Space-Dementia]

May 13, 2018
Blackwater Park by Opeth
The Leper Affinity - 5/5
Bleak - 4/5
Harvest - 4/5
Drapery Falls - 4/5
Dirge For November - 4/5
The Funeral Portrait - 4/5
Patterns in the Ivy - 3/5
Blackwater Park - 4/5
It kind of reminds me of post-Remission Mastodon in the way they mix heavy sludge metal and growled vocals with acoustic guitars and melodic vocals. And although at first listen the acoustic parts just seem like the calm before the storm, only there to build up your expectations for the next drop, after a few more listens they're actually really pretty. It's hard to classify this as any type of metal, but I guess it makes sense that people call it progressive metal, because it changes so many times within a song and each song is about eight minutes long. Opeth definitely created a really somber atmosphere with this album, and it really seems like you're in some dark and gloomy world when you're listening to it. I'm not the best at describing and/or commenting on metal, so forgive me if this didn't really make much sense. Either way though, I like the album a lot.

[Space-Dementia]

May 15, 2018
Welcome to Sky Valley by Kyuss
Gardenia - 5/5
Asteroid - 4/5
Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop - 3/5
100 Degrees - 3/5
Space Cadet - 4/5
Demon Cleaner - 4/5
Odyssey - 4/5
Conan Troutman - 4/5
N.O. - 3/5
Whitewater - 4/5
So I love the guitar tone on here. It's like an even heavier version of Queens of the Stone Age. But what I don't like is the lead singer's voice (it does this weird shaky thing that reminds me of 80s hair metal), and some of the decisions Josh Homme made when he was writing the songs. He seemed to have figured his shit out by the time he formed QOTSA, but on this album there's just some stuff that I don't like at all, like the ending of "Supa Scoopa" I think it is, where he plays the last chord like ten times, each time separating them more and more. It's just annoying. However, the best songs on here really are great, and although I won't be listening to the full album too often, there are some choice cuts that I'll be adding to my driving playlist.

[Space-Dementia]

May 17, 2018
Ojos del Sol by Y La Bamba
Ojos del Sol - 5/5
Say Sun - 4/5
Orca - 4/5
Libre - 3/5
Ostrich - 4/5
Cara Cara - 3/5
Atmosphere - 4/5
Nos Veremos - 3/5
Kali - 3/5
Iris - 3/5
Ulysses - 3/5
I had never heard of these guys and then I randomly got to see them perform live last week and it was such a good show. The whole crowd was dancing to every song, and then the rest of the band left the stage except for the main girl as she played "Ojos del Sol" by herself, and in the moments of silence between verses I swear you could hear a pin drop. For about four minutes every single person in the venue was absolutely mesmerized. Then she brought the band back up for one final song, and there wasn't one person who wasn't jumping around like crazy. So my first impression of this band was "fuck, they really know how to put on a show." For the next couple days I listened to this album pretty much on repeat and, although it doesn't quite capture their live atmosphere, they definitely have their own really interesting sound. I guess you could call it latin-infused indie rock or something like that. But the whole thing is made so much better because of the title track. It's one of the most beautiful songs I've heard in recent memory, and it completely entrances you for about five minutes, especially when you listen to "Say Sun" right after. It serves as an outro, but one that takes the song to another level entirely and prepares you for "Orca", a really cool indie rock track. I absolutely love the way the album opens, and it's kind of unfortunate that the rest of the album doesn't live up to that energy, but either way Y La Bamba is now a band that will always be on my radar. 7/10