Keep Planting Flowers by Stick to your Guns is a melodic hardcore album with acoustic and post-hardcore elements. The music is predominantly high energy rock with screamed lyrics of indictments of character and examinations of an emotion, reminiscent of Boundaries. Almost every song feels danceable and head-bang worthy at once, and they all seem to fit together flawlessly
The music is energetic and amped up on almost every song. The non musical breaks work perfectly, and none feel out of place. The transitions make none of the changes in songs or between songs feel sharp or out of place. The drumming is powerful and fantastic. The riffs drive the album forward. The acoustic offering in the albums title track is so beautiful. Every aspect of the music is just high quality and works so well together.
The vocals are a simple and effective fry, most of the time, with soft vocals reminiscent of Thousand Below or Shadow of Intent echoing in the background or dominating a chorus, like in Spineless. The lyrics are emotional and touch on a variety of topics, but over all not exceptional.
This energetic and beautiful hardcore release just tickles the ear and makes you wanna jump through the roof. Every song is great, a couple are even iconic.
7/10
The Hymns of the Horde
Where you ought to discover some wonderful and not so wonderful music with me.
The Above by Code Orange is a genre merging hard rock-metalcore album with industrial, atmospheric, Korn-like nu metal, and Deftones-like alt hard rock aspects. The music switches moods wildly from different moments. Includes sung and growled lyrics, with occasional screams. lyrics appear esoteric and strange. Everything feels edgy for the sake of it, I feel like I should be watching some shit on LiveLeak to this album.
Just listen to Deftones. Industrial puncture wounds into droning hard rock riffs. Every once in a while there's a breakdown with a cool sound, but the hard rock mixing kinda ellides the riffs into nothing. Even the drumming is nothing special in most parts. I have to admit some choruses, like A Drone Opting Out of the Hive and Take Shape, have nice sound attributed to the hard rock energy that makes songs like Diary of Jane and Bring Me to Life so damn good. Some of the instrumentation peaks into a higher tone briefly like avant-garde type stuff.
Singer Jami Morgan was practicing a Jonathan Davis impression in the studio, I guess. The harsh vocals are of a limited range. The breathy singing doesn't hit like Korn does. Writing doesn't appear anything special. The soft singing is fine, I guess.
This unusual alt experiment takes a break in The Game, Grooming My Replacement (except the chorus), and Circle Through. They have much higher energy than the most rest of the album. Code Orange seems deepest in their bag writing high energy segments. Stick to trying to be Ice Nine Kills, not Deftones, guys.
A disappointing love child of Ice Nine Kills, Korn, and Deftones, all of which have far better albums than this one. Despite the astronomic, boring lows, there are some high moments and songs. The low energy is exceptionally mediocre, and the high energy moments are actually quite good.
3/10
Just listen to Deftones. Industrial puncture wounds into droning hard rock riffs. Every once in a while there's a breakdown with a cool sound, but the hard rock mixing kinda ellides the riffs into nothing. Even the drumming is nothing special in most parts. I have to admit some choruses, like A Drone Opting Out of the Hive and Take Shape, have nice sound attributed to the hard rock energy that makes songs like Diary of Jane and Bring Me to Life so damn good. Some of the instrumentation peaks into a higher tone briefly like avant-garde type stuff.
Singer Jami Morgan was practicing a Jonathan Davis impression in the studio, I guess. The harsh vocals are of a limited range. The breathy singing doesn't hit like Korn does. Writing doesn't appear anything special. The soft singing is fine, I guess.
This unusual alt experiment takes a break in The Game, Grooming My Replacement (except the chorus), and Circle Through. They have much higher energy than the most rest of the album. Code Orange seems deepest in their bag writing high energy segments. Stick to trying to be Ice Nine Kills, not Deftones, guys.
A disappointing love child of Ice Nine Kills, Korn, and Deftones, all of which have far better albums than this one. Despite the astronomic, boring lows, there are some high moments and songs. The low energy is exceptionally mediocre, and the high energy moments are actually quite good.
3/10
Cry Baby by Vince Staples is a blend of hip-hop and rock (seemingly with motifs of other guitar-driven genres like funk and blues, though i'm not versed enough in these genres to say definitively whether or not they are influences in the sound.) in a political, scathing review of America. This genre bending album enraptures the ear with smooth rock instrumentation and calm, slower, melodic delivery, hiding intelligent, political lyrics under the wonderful layers of sound.
The instrumentation of this album simply doesn't miss. Like if a rock song were toned down to its rhythmic groove. Some songs feel energetic and fun, others like a ship drifting in ocean waves. The former is like how life's good can obscure the crimes around us, while the latter feels like finally stripping away the layers to look at the rotten core of it all. It makes you feel like you're in Vince's mind throughout the entire journey. The similar yet distinct music gives the album a strong identity. The only con of it is that the live version and tiny desk performance are more heavily distorted and energetic, which fits the songs better than their studio counterparts.
Vince is in his bag this entire album. With a mix of satire and blatant, clear messaging, you can understand perfectly what Vince is saying. The delivery switches from jaded recognition, scathing admonishment, and deep thinking. Messages include racism in Vince's youth, police brutality, dehumanization of the black person in America, derealization of injustices, TV propaganda, and a criticism of the greed, hate, and patriotism that causes war. The messages themselves aren't unique, especially in rap music, but all of them tie the album together in its theme as a commentary on American society and government. A couple songs have segments with almost childish delivery, which could have many different meanings. The derealization of racism as like a children's game or how this hate and discrimination follows a black person from child to adulthood. Excluding the parts punctured by satire and irony, a lot of the lyrics are very straightforward. They give a clear view into Vince's experiences and perceptions. Everything flows beautifully, only enhancing the groovy beats.
I love this look into American society, guided by Vince. The groovy, rock beats and Vince's lyrical flow work so well together.
9/10
The instrumentation of this album simply doesn't miss. Like if a rock song were toned down to its rhythmic groove. Some songs feel energetic and fun, others like a ship drifting in ocean waves. The former is like how life's good can obscure the crimes around us, while the latter feels like finally stripping away the layers to look at the rotten core of it all. It makes you feel like you're in Vince's mind throughout the entire journey. The similar yet distinct music gives the album a strong identity. The only con of it is that the live version and tiny desk performance are more heavily distorted and energetic, which fits the songs better than their studio counterparts.
Vince is in his bag this entire album. With a mix of satire and blatant, clear messaging, you can understand perfectly what Vince is saying. The delivery switches from jaded recognition, scathing admonishment, and deep thinking. Messages include racism in Vince's youth, police brutality, dehumanization of the black person in America, derealization of injustices, TV propaganda, and a criticism of the greed, hate, and patriotism that causes war. The messages themselves aren't unique, especially in rap music, but all of them tie the album together in its theme as a commentary on American society and government. A couple songs have segments with almost childish delivery, which could have many different meanings. The derealization of racism as like a children's game or how this hate and discrimination follows a black person from child to adulthood. Excluding the parts punctured by satire and irony, a lot of the lyrics are very straightforward. They give a clear view into Vince's experiences and perceptions. Everything flows beautifully, only enhancing the groovy beats.
I love this look into American society, guided by Vince. The groovy, rock beats and Vince's lyrical flow work so well together.
9/10