Stream of Consciousness & Music Reviews

      Home's second album and it appears to be more of the same. The songs have the same general feel as the first album. It almost feels like it could just be a continuation of the "Odyssey", especially due to how the last track on Odyssey, "On the Way Out", and the first track here, "We're Finally Landing", sort of fit together. Because of how similar the two are, it's harder to come up with new things to say here that I didn't already say in my review of "Odyssey", so a lot of what I said there also applies here. One exception though is the general vibe I got from it; whereas "Odyssey" had a feeling of being lost and slight loneliness, "Before the Night" seems more hopeful and uplifted. Aside from that, the only real difference between the two for me is that I didn't resonate with the songs here as much as I did on "Odyssey".      Highlights: We're Finally Landing, Overflow, Pyxis, Before t...

      Easily Pink Floyd's most well known album, at least the cover art is, it's a little surprising that this is what they're generally known for. It's a good album, no doubt about that, but even the only 2 other albums by them I've heard are both better (review of the 3rd coming soon). This album is way more abstract than The Wall, and thus harder to get into and understand. Because of how abstract it is, with most of the album having little to no lyrics and purely signature Pink Floyd drawn out instrumental solos, it's hard to tell what's happening. I think it's a conceptual album, but I may be wrong. If it is though, I couldn't tell you the story it's telling, not that that's a bad thing; the complexness of this aspect gives the album that mystery that could make it more enjoyable to listen to and figure out. That being said, the longer, slower, more instrument focused sections in this and the next album by them I'll review is definit...

      Eldorado. ELO'S 4th studio album, and one of my personal favorites. Take all of the praise that I had for On the Third Day, and amplify it by ten; this album is that good. For starters, it takes the already brilliant mixture of orchestral and rock elements and is able to weave them together in new and even better ways than before, creating an entirely new and riveting experience. Each track brings something new to the table, each evolving the whole work further and further, and with every song being great in it's own right. Before going any further, I highly recommend that you listen to the album before reading what else I have to say about it. The album has a story told throughout it of a "dreamer" going through various dream worlds. This starts off with a monologue in Eldorado Overture that states this, making the simple process of just falling asleep and dreaming into a majestic, almost fantastical thing that the dreamer does. It also lays out a motif that...

      Next up for my introduction metal is The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden, widely acclaimed to be one of, if not the best heavy metal album of all time. I'll be straightforward and say: I don't see it. The majority of the album feels somewhat generic in a way. In my review of Black Sabbath's self titled I said that I'm not usually a fan of satanic and occult imagery in media, which is due to it being generally overdone and/or coming off as just edgy, which is kinda what I feel listening to this. I understand why songs like "The Number of the Beast" use it here, it's just that it doesn't feel as necessary to the tone as it did back in Black Sabbath. Aside from that, a lot of the elements of the songs don't really mesh well with each other, like they're all just present without building off of one another. I will say, the vocals done by Dickinson are great, and the guitar and bass-work is downright amazing, and where a lot of the appeal o...

Before I begin, can we just take a moment to reflect on the war on drugs and how awful it was? Like, D.A.R.E was such a bad program, that it was already getting cut out of public schools by the time that my school introduced my grade to it. That, and pretty much all of the government's efforts, were useless, and if anything, only had adverse effects, making things like recreational marijuana use rise in popularity among high school and college age students (to my knowledge, that may just be my idealistic child-view of the world and I just didn't know how popular it was before I found out it was even a thing). Now, the motivations behind it wasn't entirely bad, a lot of drugs are highly addictive and harmful in both the long and short term, some more than others. Because of this, and how poorly the government tried to deal with it, I have devised a plan to accomplish what they wanted to, but theoretically effectively. The method is simple: create a monopoly.      Befo...

       A part of why I started this site, other than to have one place to put my opinions on the music I listen to, was to introduce myself to new music and expand my horizons. A main focus of this is metal, because a lot of my friends listen to metal and I've never really listened to any except what I've heard them occasionally play when I'm with them. So, I'm (probably) gonna be listening to a good amount of metal in the future to at least expose myself to it, starting here. This and the next few metal albums I review were recommended to me by one of my metal-loving friends, so blame him if this is a bad selection. Also, I found some discrepancies with this album online when preparing to listen to it (specifically between European and North American versions), so for the record, I'm listening to the North American version as it's listed on Spotify. Also, since I have quite literally 0 knowledge of the genre, I think a lot of what I say early on will probably j...

      Ever since hearing a couple of the tracks from this a long time ago and enjoying them more than I thought I would, I've wanted to listen to some of Home's other stuff, but haven't gotten around to it until now, with this site being the major reason why I finally took the plunge. I'm not very experienced in the vaporwave/purely synthetic genre and style of music, so excuse me if my commentary isn't that well informed. As mentioned, all of the songs on Odyssey are, from what I can tell, all completely synthetic and generated with no lyrics. This makes it hard to nail down any real tone or theme in the album, due to the lack of any words or familiar elements (for me). If I had to at least describe how it felt when listening, I'd say that it had a sense of melancholy, nostalgia, and some sort of subtle yearning for... something; I'm not sure, maybe someone else could describe it better or something else entirely, because there's nothing truly solid her...

      As the title implies, it's the third album by ELO, and going chronologically it's the best one produced so far. Jeff Lynne has fully infused his style into the album, integrating classical elements with rock elements much more smoothly than in ELO2, with the two complimenting and working off of each other much better than before. Another effect of Lynne's more prominent influence over the music after Roy Wood's departure is how it goes beyond an orchestral twist, and strays into pop-rock for brief periods, making for an almost Queen-like sound that works greatly in the bands favor. This is where they start to really solidify themselves in their style (which will only be strengthened in the future). They also experiment with synthetic elements, such as synthesizers and moogs that contribute a feel to the songs that they haven't been able to achieve previously, and become a staple of their music from this point on.      Highlights: New World Rising...

      I'm choosing to review The Wall before any other Pink Floyd album because I think that it's a good introduction to the band if you want to get into them. The Wall is a conceptual album, telling the story of a rockstar and his life, outlining the events that have shaped him into who he is and the effects they have on his life. This story told through the songs makes the music easier to grasp, especially since each song, while connecting to everything else on the album, is able to be viewed as self contained, making for a better time experiencing the story and also just listening to the music. The music itself is easier to get into, as it's more what you'd expect out of a classic/prog rock band and less abstract than some of their other work, like Dark Side of the Moon, which was more complex both musically and thematically. The tracks can be divided into 2 categories: more normal rock songs (such as Another Brick in the Wall and One of My Turns), and more conceptua...

We all know about death, it happens all the time. Despite how common it is, I'd be willing to bet that you don't know that much about what actually happens to people who die before they get buried, cremated or whatever happens to them. I didn't either, so I took it upon myself to go undercover as a fake corpse to uncover the secrets being kept from the living public.      First, I had to create a realistic and believable way to disguise myself as a corpse. I started with immediately training my lungs to be able to hold in air for prolonged periods of time, and subsequently lower my heart rate to a near undetectable rate in order to be able to physically imitate a dead person. During this process I started planning how I needed to appear and where I needed to be. About $30 worth of fake blood applicable bruises and cuts would satisfy the former, which just left the location where my "corpse" would be discovered. I wanted it to be in a location where nobody would ...

      The second album by ELO, as well as the first one after Roy Wood's exit from the band. His absence is easily felt in the album through the songs. Despite clocking in at around 40 minutes, there are only 5 songs on the album, one of them being a cover. The songs have a tendency to be either repetitive, forgettable, or both, with a couple exceptions. Wood leaving the band seems to have left the overall tone of the album confused, both in elements and theme. The heavy orchestral emphasis from their first album is still there, this time more integrated with modern rock elements, but unfortunately it isn't that smooth. Aside from that, the themes of the songs is a loose and a little scattered. It'll show you light criticism of industrialism, war, and the process of life, but then also throw in out of place lyrics that don't compliment the other side very well, and can be hard to interpret (see: From the Sun to the World). When put together, the album doesn...

    The Electric Light Orchestra or No Answer (in the UK and US respectively) is the first album by ELO and provides a solid start for the band, if not a little odd. The heavy mixture of rock elements and more classical ones such as a strong emphasis on strings creates an interesting dynamic that sometimes well in it's favor, such as with 10538 overture, and other times not so much. The tracks are split between 2 general feels, which is seen through the front runners of the band at the time, Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood. The lighter and more modern sounding songs were produced by Lynne, while the heavier and slower pieces were produced by Wood. This causes a clash of themes within the album, with the listener being taken from an up tempo rock song to a slow classical piece and back again repeatedly. While I like both styles together, some listeners may find it a little jarring if not expecting it. Overall though, the album offers some really good songs in both respects that can com...

       This post is mostly to make sure that site is working how I want it to and is properly able to display posts and let people interact with them. A note about the first few posts I'll make: a good amount of them (namely reviews of albums) will be older and slightly rewritten, because I previously wrote and posted them somewhere else, and just want to get those on here for a solid place to have everything. This site is also just for me, in the way of putting things into writing to get more experience with writing things and developing my style, in addition to sharing my opinion on music. Everything I put on here will probably be pretty messy, especially at the beginning, because I rarely go back to proofread. Also, I typically rate things on a scale of 6 because it's easier for me to see things with that quantification than a 5 or 10 system; shoutout to one of my old high school teachers for introducing it to me.