Memory keeper. Mostly music, some movies, series, video games. Obscure darkness meets pop culture glow.
This record is such an amazing balance of being full of zest, groove, great tunes and moods, while also being technical and musically complex. And the latter is by no means detrimental to the prior. It’s just extremely smart and also extremely enjoyable metal.
Last year my number one music was Unto Others – Strength, and now I’m listening to their first album, wanted to make an entry for this, too. I consider their second record the better one, but they are pretty close, this first one is also amazing. I’m still trying to crack why I am so much obsessed with this band’s music. They share some DNA with an old Hungarian goth rock band, F.O.System, which is also one of my all-time favorite bands, so that may play a part.
Definitely one of my new personal hypes for this year. It is an epitome of a goth rock album that is right in the middle lane of my alley, pretty much occupying the whole street. It’s a perfect, epic record that gives me goosebumps. It’s also interesting how some heavy metal flavor is sprinkled in here and there.
I just checked my Last.fm stats and this album is already on the top of my artist and album lists for 2023. Wow, I knew I listened to this a lot, but I wasn’t aware this much. And with every listen it just grows stronger.
I admire that this album starts with a song that’s not typical for Slipknot, it almost sounds like Queens of the Stone Age for the vocals or Nine Inch Nails with the piano. Mature, thoughtful, with lots of fine details. Still I can see how this is a Slipknot song: I can feel how it reflects the journey and experiences that these individuals have gone through. Just looking at the side projects and solo career of Corey Taylor, it is so well reflected in Adderall how he brings back his own development to the band.
Besides this aspect, the record at length has everything Slipknot owns, even pushing their signature nu metal further to heavy metal. Amazing album as always, scratches all my Slipknot itches, it just delivers.
I haven’t been expecting a Korn album this good in this lifetime. Well, in full honesty I also haven’t been looking for it. From their debut up until the turn of the millennium I was all up for everything Korn, then probably life just moved on. Interestingly some same-era stuff, like Deftones for example, stick with me way more and longer, but I never really got into a Korn relistening frenzy. And this time this new album came, and it has some of the same sound that is Korn in a very original way but also I see how it’s new and relevant. It has its hooks to cater for different audiences but still it’s completely true to its own roots and sound. I like this a lot.
In a way I have this feeling lately that I’m reliving an era of my childhood. Looking at the news it’s new Tool album released, Diablo 4 announced, Rage Against the Machine reuniting, watching a Pet Sematary remake, etc. But at the same time, some of these things are truly good output, at least as for the music part (and even D3 haters are optimistic about D4). I hear so much whining about the music industry being shit, music review media going down, and all that, but I love how so much great new music is being released. Well, whiners gonna whine.