LogFAQs > #968258478

Sorry this took me so long to finish up yet again.

1) Portishead - Third: Comprised of challenging, complex compositions and often overwhelming soundscapes to occupy the mind juxtaposed against Gibbons phenomenally direct vocals and achingly personal lyrics in variable proportions, with results that to me both are instantly enthralling and reward repeated exploration. Spectacularly successful at coalescing into a congruent whole, one thats never anything less than completely indescribable, completely itself and completely considered in all its absolute anomalousness and anomie alike. Yet all those words feel entirely like folly, because how could they ever encompass any significant amount of Thirds essence?
2) Peter Gabriel - So: What makes this patchwork of pretty yet disparate pieces sing to me as a coherent record is also its central genius: the way it unifies the 80s mainstream Western, world, and art music movements, distilling them all into a paragon of their individual parts. Meanwhile, Sos soul is found in Gabriels musical and lyrical craftsmanship. It all adds up to an album of phenomenal ambition delivered on in a way indicative of a mature, accomplished artist, simultaneously comfortingly familiar and creatively abstract.
3) Taylor Swift - folklore: I had originally intended to comment on my most recent folklore listen and all my accumulated thoughts about its various aspects, but I failed to fashion said sentiments into coherent sentences every time I tried. Only what I had hoped would simply be my closing statement made it out of that mess, so here it is: Much like a traditional folklorists tales, I might find the specifics of the stories Swift and her team tell here sort of ephemeral, but I think Ill never forget the feelings this latest telling of them evoked in me and that alone makes me want to adore folklore forevermore.
4) Miracle Musical - Hawaii: Part II: A spectacularly melodic show of an album, one that whizzes dandily along in a retrofuturistic-feeling potpourri of distinct pieces, and that nonetheless turns totally coherent in context, notably finishing right where it starts. The end result entirely sweeps me along with its contributors effervescent energy and evident enthusiasm, transporting me to a resonant if fleeting place in headspace, one which I wish to revisit over and over again.
5) The Cranberries - No Need to Argue: ORiordans delivery drags out all the emotional energy of an exorcism on a record that gives me the impression all involved, ORiordan especially, needed to make it. Her figurative authorial voice features to its fullest too, with results that feel tightly bound around their central conceit and which render repetition crucial, both musically and lyrically. Some songs feel hollowed-out in the best way possible, while others could come off as being a bit histrionic in lesser hands, all in their consistent way helping make for a haunted yet wistful whole.
6) Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold: I mean yes, the singings distinctive aspect is admittedly Shadows divisive raspiness, the songwritings distinctive aspect is admittedly its failure to be about anything much in practice, and the admittedly effective sonics distinctive aspects are missing. That makes it a sort of hollow experience, yes, but a highly enjoyable one for me, and not even emotionally empty, either. In a flippant sentence, popcorn cinema can be pretty phenomenal too, and this album feels a lot like metals equivalent thereof.
7) Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory: Rather like Rumours for a new generation, Hybrid Theory makes the best out of its melding-of-the-popular-genres conceit via continually on-point production, catchy hooks juxtaposed against impressive instrumentals, and the intricately balanced interplay of its vocalists. Indeed, even the way Bennington and Shinoda distill the formers interpersonal troubles and turmoil comes off to me as a Hybrid Theory of its own, with often relatable results which all the repetition really works to reinforce. Again akin to Rumours, I find it flows just a bit better when not intently focused on, but these songs always seem to slip under my skin anyways.
8) Opeth - Damnation: For mature melancholy, look no further - and like most people, sometimes I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me. Here, that seems steeped in a subtle sort of solemnity, one which its compositions and kerfeldts delivery alike almost always honor. Otherwise, its difficult to describe what draws me to Damnation, though its consistent sound and the emotions it evokes make it a kind of contemplative counterpart to Hybrid Theory.
9) Jack White - Fear of the Dawn: Whites voice as a singer-songwriter effectively unites sticky verses and persistent melodies with weighty guitar and even dashes of experimental electronica. The results, both viscerally satisfying and technically accomplished, turn that scattershot approach into a virtue. Somethings missing for me to truly embrace this album, though, and perhaps its a certain emotional connection, one that its apparently piecemeal philosophy impedes.
10) Metallica - Master of Puppets: The first two-thirds at times feels like the dictionary definition of the word awesome, chock full of crunchy riffs and catchy hooks alike in songs that usually succeed at being about something more than themselves. But Leper Messiah buries a bunch of that energy, never to be truly retrieved again, and so I like rather than love Master of Puppets as a whole.

This divide is arbitrary and doesn't have a ton to do with my opinions about these albums, but ah well. An overwhelming majority of them fall into the greater 'like yet not quite love' range for me, which makes this slate rather worse than the last one towards the top but a big improvement on the bottom and to a lesser extent the middle.