Sugar - letter [2009]

Unexpectedly calm first track. The second track is much more catchy. Much of the jazz elements and quirkiness is gone, though; making it feel more like a normal Rock single than previous efforts.

Rating: 7

http://www.last.fm/music/Sugar/

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Sugar - 【Re：261156】 addere [2008.11.05]

First track is bland and completely stock compared to the second track. Holy shit! Two fucking drum tracks at the same time on t3!!! Overall, it's a pretty damn good album if you ignore T1.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.last.fm/music/Sugar/

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Sugar - ruddy afterglow [2008.07.16]

Continues on from Sweetest with the addition of more jazz elements.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.last.fm/music/Sugar/

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Sugar - Sweetest [2008.03.05]

Unexpected. First track was a bit more on the atmospheric side of things. Cool. There's a huge amount of jazz influence, almost to the point that I want to call this J-Jazz instead of J-Rock. It's catchy stuff and has some pretty unique sections within each song. Certainly a pleasant surprise. There's not a poor song on the album. Sparks of creativity and experimentation are strewn throughout the album. Vocals are pretty good, not stellar, but not bad either. Admittedly, I'm kind of annoyed that a band that looks as gothic as Sugar do is so non-goth… this is certainly a frustrating part of the J-music scene.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.last.fm/music/Sugar/

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ジュリィー - 碧空 [2006.09]

There's only one song on here that's not on 空が堕ちた日, and it's track 1. It's a good song, though a little more straight-forward in feel. Very catchy song overall. However, it's really annoying that two of the three songs would go on to be on the next single.

Rating: 7

http://www.jully-web.com/

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ジュリィー - 心叫 [2006.03]

It's not quite as catchy as サクラ心中, but it's competent in its song writing. It's one of those albums where the chorus parts are nice and catchy, but the verses really aren't anything special.

Rating: 6

http://www.jully-web.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Textures - Drawing Circles [2006]

Much less thrash influence. Hardcore vox are more like Silhouettes' and so is the style in general. However, there is a bit more of the experimental clean style in this than on both Polars and Silhouettes. Heavier production and more catchy than Polars.

Rating: 8

http://www.texturesband.com/

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Textures - Polars [2004]

Damn good beginning. Not a fan of the hardcore vox compared to Silhouettes, but the clean vox are equally as good. Wow, the title track is fuckin' insane. Avant-Garde doesn't even describe it correctly. There are some parts that are leagues more experimental than anything on Silhouettes. At the same time, it has way more thrash metal influence.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.texturesband.com/

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Textures - Silhouettes [2008]

Cool and interesting album. It's fairly unique in it's song structure. Melodic vocals come in often enough to give the songs dynamics and these sections are well-done with the vocals sounding serious and non-emo. It's very energetic and has lots of groove. There's some pretty unique guitar work as well. Production is great. The album is full of talent (mostly the drumming). Unique, catchy, and well-written even amongst a genre that's known for having unique ideas.

Rating: 9

http://www.texturesband.com/

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Soulfly - Conquer [2008]

Wow, really didn't expect that intro to the first track at all. Continues on with the more thrash feel of TDA, but it's definitely less catchy and uses even less of the creative tribal stuff. Props for deviating from their own style, though. Plus, the good songs are really good. The MM cover is just fucking hilarious.

Rating: 8

http://www.soulfly.com/

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Soulfly - The Dark Ages [2005]

More of what I'd expect from Soulfly. It feels like a return to Max's thrash roots, but it doesn't sacrifice too much of the unique ethnic instruments and tribal feel. That said, it's definitely not as creative as previous efforts. However, it's really cool to hear Max go back to a thrashier style.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.soulfly.com/

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Soulfly - Prophecy [2004]

Continues on with the heavier song writing of 3. Slightly better production quality than 3. However, the real difference is in the individual riffs, they're much more catchy overall and less of the album feels like filler.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.soulfly.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Soulfly - 3 [2002]

Much heavier songs and production. The tribal stuff isn't quite as prevalent throughout this album, but there's much more thrash influence. However, some of the catchiness falls off sharply in between the good songs.

Rating: 8

http://www.soulfly.com/

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Soulfly - Primitive [2000]

Here's the heavier production that I was looking for. As with the previous album, there's plenty of tribal elements incorporated into the music. However, these elements seem to be more closely blended into the actual metal parts than before. There is also a significant amount of reggae influence usually found in sections that break up the action and drop into a really calming and beautiful section. There's a myriad of guest stars on this album (Tom Araya, Corey Taylor, etc). Strangely, it helps to keep things fresh on a vocal level. Overall, the creativity is actually a bit lower on this one than on Soulfly. One unwelcome addition is the rap influence. It's usually unobtrusive and even decent, but "In Memory Of" takes it to very intrusive levels. Admittedly, if rap were as creative as that song, I'd probably be much kinder to it. So there are a few trade-offs.

Rating: 8

http://www.soulfly.com/

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Soulfly - Soulfly [1998]

I remember when I first got this album. At the time, it was the most unique thing I had every heard. After going back to this album many years later, I can still attest to it's uniqueness. This is certainly one of the most creative bands around. Extremely high amounts of creativity and awesome blending of tribal rhythmic beats into metal. The self-titled song is beautiful. This is a great album with lots of variation ensuring that boredom is impossible. The production could stand to be a bit heavier (mostly in the heavy parts when guitar distortion kicks in). There are also a lot of drop-offs in the energy, but this is almost always due to creative exploration… so it's really not a negative.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.soulfly.com/

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ジュリィー - 空が堕ちた日 [2006]

Cool. Definitely continuing on with their unpredictable songwriting style from the first album. Very well-written and catchy album. It's not a huge step up from the first album, but it's definitely more polished. Different than what I'm used to, and still very good, so I'm inclined to give it high marks.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.jully-web.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

ジュリィー - サクラ心中 [2005]

Interesting beginning. Cool when it kicks in, too. Nifty guitar lead right off the bat. Cool and subliminal usage of techno leads. Other than that, it's a fairly stock style, but I'm really enjoying it. It's different enough in the song structure that it keeps you guessing. It's almost got this J-Pop quality to it. The vox are a bit strange and off in some parts, but it's not very noticeable. More like a strange stylistic choice than a mistake.

Rating: 7

http://www.jully-web.com/

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Kai Rosenkranz - Risen [2009]

Three tracks in and I'm very impressed. There's no recycling from the Gothic 3 soundtrack at all, but it still creates flawless atmosphere. Beautiful, epic, extremely well-crafted, perfectly produced, and (at times) haunting. The soundtrack looses a bit of its appeal after the halfway point and starts to sound a little more generic than previous tracks. If the soundtrack kept its strength through the entire album, this would've blown Gothic 3's soundtrack straight out of the water, but as it is, Risen comes out equal to G3.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.last.fm/music/Kai+Rosenkranz

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Kai Rosenkranz - Gothic 3 [2006]

Fuckin' flawless songwriting. Always has the feel of an epic fantasy movie. Perfectly sets the mood. There's not much creativity, but it's so flawlessly executed that there's no way I can bash it.

Rating: 8.5.

http://www.last.fm/music/Kai+Rosenkranz

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X3: Reunion

This sound track is great. Very atmospheric. The massive reverb on all of the instruments and the echo on the techno effects really makes you feel like you're floating through space. Makes me want to play the game really bad. It's very slow moving, but it's such a serene listen that I don't mind at all. However, the "inner station" tracks can fuck right off. They're great in the game, but fuck do they clogg up the soundtrack. It's not their fault, of course, since I was the one that ripped the tracks straight from the install directory.

Rating: 8

http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/info_en.php

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Regurgitate - Sickening Bliss [2006]

Continuing on from Deviant with clearer production.

Rating: 8

http://www.regurgitate.net/

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Regurgitate - Deviant [2003]

Fuck yeah. Good production, heavy, fucking brutal, and loud. There's even some creative riffs for the Grindcore/Goregrind genre. Definitely their best one yet.

Rating: 8

http://www.regurgitate.net/

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Regurgitate - Hatefilled Vengeance [2002]

Production is stepped up a notch. The volume isn't soft and the heaviness is still there.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.regurgitate.net/

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Regurgitate - Carnivorous Erection [2000]

The heaviness is ramped up. The vox are more gurgle style. My one complaint is that the album is a bit quiet. Much better production overall.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.regurgitate.net/

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Regurgitate - Concrete Human Torture [1994]

Sounds very much like ERoBRR.

Rating: 7

http://www.regurgitate.net/

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Regurgitate - Effortless Regurgitation of Bright Red Blood [1994]

FUCKING DISGUSTING intro track. The rest of the cd is exactly what you'd expect from a grindcore/goregrind band. However, this sort of shit never really gets old for me. More importantly, it's pretty obvious that these guys were on the cutting edge of the genre's creation back in '94. I can hear a lot of influence for Inhume. There's also quite a bit of catchy riffs in the mix. I'm not even sure it's worth talking about the production quality for a Grindcore band, but here it is anyway. It's not good, but it's actually damn fucking impressive given the time period and the production quality of other similar artists. Definitely has a more natural and unrefined sound to it.

Rating: 7

http://www.regurgitate.net/

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Faith No More - The Real Thing [1989]

Whoa. "From Out Of Nowhere" really is a descriptive title. Way heavier guitaring. The heavy-section vocals have changed in sound drastically. Extremely focused on catchiness, but without compromising the integrity of the music. The writing is still just as kooky as ever. There's a wonderful amount of variation between the songs with some dropping into creative and beautiful ballads while others like "Surprise! You're Dead!" are more like metal songs. There's a bit more proficiency with the vocals on this one, too, with Mike performing some almost Death Metal/Black Metal vocals on one track. This is the first album that I can really get behind and enjoy over and over again. I should complain a bit about the production, but it really has a charming Hard Rock quality to it that I can live with.

Rating: 8

http://www.fnm.com/

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Faith No More - Introduce Yourself [1987]

The production quality is a direct copy of We Care A Lot. "Faster Disco" seems to slide more into the harder rock area. "Anne's Song" is one of their comical songs. Admittedly, the lyrics are quite hilarious, not edgy, but fucking funny and satirical. Whoa, IN "Chinese Arithmetic" I can hear elements of Post Rock. It also ventures more into Heavy Metal than their previous stuff. "Rn'R" definitely has a modern metal feel to it, just without the production quality and vocals. It seems like this album really starts to display the band's growth at track 4. The inclusion of a re-recorded version of "We Care A Lot" seems pointless to me. There are a few songs that flop for me, but overall it's another creative album with better songwriting.

Rating: 7

http://www.fnm.com/

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Arkhon Infaustus - Orthodoxyn [2007]

Another production change-up. The guitars feel less scooped than before and the bass drum has less low-end punch to it. The drums are a little lower in the mix as well. There's even more Doom Metal influence on this album than on "Perdition Insanabilis" and the transition between the two is very sensible and flows very well. "Magnificant Satanas" is fucking brutally awesome. The song structures are more refined. I just wish that they spent less time in the Doom style during the first half of many songs.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.myspace.com/arkhoninfaustusofficial

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Arkhon Infaustus - Perdition Insanabilis [2004]

Continues on from FC but with better production quality. This album has less grinding than previous ones. It also pushes the music further into the Black Metal realm.

Rating: 8

http://www.myspace.com/arkhoninfaustusofficial

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Arkhon Infaustus - Filth Catalyst [2003]

WHOA. Awesome grind in the first track. It's a little over-compressed, but that really adds to the power of the production. Awesome mix of blasphemous/evil riffs with the Death Metal riffs. This is great, I love it. My only nit-picking complaint is that there isn't much variation throughout the album. It also doesn't have much lasting appeal. Even so, this is a massive step up from HI.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.myspace.com/arkhoninfaustusofficial

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Arkhon Infaustus - Hell Injection [2001]

NICE. Chaotic beginning! I really, honestly, didn't see it coming. Cool combination of Death Metal vox with Black Metal. Well, in the end it's not all that insanely written. Not very catchy at all. Definitely kind of bland production. However, the blasphemy definitely shines through like a lighthouse beacon. It's a good album to put on in the background.

Rating: 6.5

http://www.myspace.com/arkhoninfaustusofficial

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Dragonlord - Black Wings of Destiny [2005]

I still have a hard time believing that this is the guitarist from Testament. Fucking phenomenal Black Metal album. It's easy to say that they're ripping off Dimmu a bit with the orchestra arrangements and all, but I think that they actually pull it off much better than Dimmu has. Also, the guitar work is awesome (much unlike Dimmu). Production quality is amazing… heavy, clear, and atmospheric. Perfectly suites the musical style. The clean vox are really well done on the rare occasions that they're actually used. My only complaint is that a few of the songs feel like filler. It's a goddamn shame that there hasn't been another release since this album...

Rating: 8.5

http://www.enterthedragonlord.com/

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Juliadoll - hate [2006]

All of the "oi"s are more funny than they are serious… the vocalist sounds like he's trying to be a street punk and it's fucking adorable (though, I doubt this was the intended response). This is probably appropriate since the music is pretty much straight-forward punk. The vox are a bit grating and there's really nothing much to this song… it's the same chords over and over again with boorish production.

Rating: 5



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Juliadoll - Rusty Rain [2006]

Live, huh? Nifty. Decent song. Nothing new, but good.

Rating: 6.5



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Juliadoll - U20inu ~ Holiday Shinjuku Vol.2 [2006]

Cool. Not what I was expecting with the industrial-type beginning. Good singing, catchy songwriting, good dynamics within the song, and good production.

Rating: 7



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Juka - Saint Croix [2007]

Interesting. At the very beginning I was extremely cynical, but then it gets very dynamic with a whole shitload of things happening at the same time. It's actually pretty good. However, it still feels like a Moi dix Mois song at it's heart. It's almost like he just took that formula and improved upon it. I guess that's not really a bad thing... I'm sure I'll get used to it. T2 drops down into a typical piano / vox soloist feel. The production quality is definitely punchy and forwardly aggressive. Accurate vox, if a bit stock. But, I dunno, for some reason I just feel like it's missing emotion and heart. Maybe I'll warm up to it, but for now, it get's a lower mark.

Rating: 6.5

http://www.artist-society.com/juka/pc.html

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Sigh - Scenario IV: Dread Dreams [1999]

This carries on the wild, mid to slow-paced, creative, and often off-kilter songwriting values of the previous albums. They have even briefly experimented with country on this one. The riffs and speed of the album certainly live up to the subtitle, "Dread Dreams". There are some really cool sections that make use of cute female japanese vocals (i.e. second half of "In the Mind of a Lunatic"). I wish it was used more often, though, since it blends so well. This is a bit more of a depressed album than Hail Horror Hail with a more sedated speed. I wish the production quality had gone up a bit instead of staying exactly where it was on HHH. Still, great creative effort and wonderful atmosphere.

Rating: 8

http://www.myspace.com/sighjapan

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