Trollheart Listens to Every Album on Wiki's List for 2017

Paedantic Basterd · 12-27-2017, 11:35 AM

Oh well, at least you gave it a shot.

Trollheart · 12-27-2017, 12:09 PM

Album title: Woe to the Vanquished
Artist: Warbringer
Genre: Thrash Metal
Nationality: American
Release date: March 31
Position in Discography: Fifth
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A little
Average RYM Score: 3.36
You have to laugh at the bandname, though, don't you?

Music is a bit generic, at least the first track, though the title track has a nice sense of stomping power about it. “Remain Violent” boogies along with just the slightest hint of later Slayer in it, tempo kicking right up for “Shellfire”. Decent enough I guess. Nothing new, but then this is thrash metal, so you kind of get what you expect really. It's enjoyable mostly, but I do find myself concerned at the length of the final song – over eleven minutes on a thrash track? Can they pull it off, or will it just seem like a bridge too far? “When the Guns Fell Silent” is exactly eleven minutes and eleven seconds long, but the first minute or so is taken up with a long , slow, effects-laden intro and it's not until nearly the third minute that we get any vocals and the song begins proper. So, basically it could have been, at worst, eight minutes long.

There's a nice mellow acoustic-y section around the five minute mark, which slowly and rather effectively pounds back up into a crescendo that takes the song into its seventh, so that's quite impressive, and it would definitely be the standout song on the album for me. Shows a lot of maturity and of course good musicianship. Powerful ending too; I'd have to say yes, stretched a little but not as much as I had thought it would be.

Check out more from this artist? Probably not
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Probably

Actual Rating:

Trollheart · 12-28-2017, 05:35 AM

Album title: A Shorter Story
Artist: Ward Thomas
Genre: Country Pop
Nationality: English
Release date: March 31
Position in Discography: Debut EP; third overall
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A little
Average RYM Score: 3.00
Hold on there just a moment, did I read right? ENGLISH country music? Don't think I've come across that before. Two ladies, two sisters apparently, and this EP is a collection of covers of their favourite songs, none of which I know. Oh actually that's not true: I have heard “The Blower's Daughter” by Damien Rice, and they do a nice version of it. Good harmonies. Can't say I'm overly impressed with “What Goes Around” - bit poppy for me – but “Shine” is pretty good. Nice guitar line running through the song. I certainly don't know “WALLS” as I am no fan of Kings of Leon, but it turns out to be a really good song, possibly the best on the album. Hard to judge a band on the basis of an EP, harder when that EP is a collection of cover songs, but these two ladies sound like they definitely have something. Like to hear them singing their own material though.

Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard · 12-28-2017, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

but I'd have to say while this is a good album, I'm not as blown away by it as I had expected to be. Qwert has turned me on to far better hip-hop. Better luck next month, man!

this was mixed in moreso as a test as i’m still looking to figure out what exactly does and doesn’t appeal to you in hip hop. it’s definitely not anything special, in the words of Batty it’s “fun.” i expected a worse result to be honest, mainly due do the lyrical content, so i’m a little surprised to see you didn’t mind it.

Mindfulness · 12-28-2017, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Album title: Residente
Artist: Residente
Genre: Alternative Hip-hop/World Music
Nationality: Puerto Rican
Release date: March 31
Position in Discography: Debut solo
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.39
That's one hell of a high rating for a debut album. Let's see if in my opinion it deserves it. Given that this is mostly not in English, I won't be able to comment on the lyrics, but then, as far as hip-hop is concerned I tend not to do that anyway, so it won't make that much difference. Nevertheless, the opener is in English and I love the rhythm of the music, plus Residente seems to really know what he's about. But now we're into the Spanish songs, so I'll have to rely mostly on the music and the structure of the songs. I like the idea that he travelled to various countries (all of which he was said to have DNA from) and worked with mostly unknown musicians to produce this album. It's certainly got a lot of energy, from tribal rhythms to Gabrielesque hypnotic percussion.

There's certainly a lot of what is generally referred to as “World Music” (sorry Frown!) here, with ethnic instruments and rhythm patterns, some even sounding like chants or prayers or ritual music, and it's a very different album than I had expected. Honestly, if this guy were American (and not from Puerto Rico; what a difference a few hundred miles makes) and this was in English I think this could have been a major hit. There's a short acapella track, children singing, lots of exuberance and joy and a whole hell of a lot of talent. What's really great about this is that these other musicians don't just form a kind of backing band or support to Residente, but make their own statement, and he allows them to, at times stepping completely back and opening the floor to them. This is not only unexpected, but refreshing and admirable in any musician. We all know there are few things larger than a musician's ego, so it's nice to see someone prepared to allow others the limelight. And it really works too.

Residente says that this is not his most organic album, and not having heard any from his band I can't comment, but it's certainly one of the most organic records I've heard in a long time. Very much more than a hip-hop album, very much more than a solo album, this is collaboration at its very finest and its very humblest too. “Desencuento” is a beautiful ballad, on which Residente shares the microphone with French singer SoKo, “Guerra” features a choir, its melody reminding me both of the African chant “Senzeni Na?”, which forms the intro to Peter Gabriel's “Biko” and the hymn “O Come All Ye Faithful”, and “Apocaliptico” is almost desperate in its intensity, then slows down on a female vocal before picking up again.

Dammit, if you want to hear an album that's the perfect synthesis of hip-hop and world music, I think you may have found it. Certainly deserves its high rating, no question about that. I'll look forward to an English version, which is in the works at the moment. Maybe then Residente may receive the praise and fame he deserves. For now, this album certainly proves one thing: that music is without question the universal language.

Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

Album is awsome. Grabbed a few and added them to my playlists

Trollheart · 12-28-2017, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qwertyy

this was mixed in moreso as a test as i’m still looking to figure out what exactly does and doesn’t appeal to you in hip hop. it’s definitely not anything special, in the words of Batty it’s “fun.” i expected a worse result to be honest, mainly due do the lyrical content, so i’m a little surprised to see you didn’t mind it.

Yeah I kind of don't get as upset/bothered about hip-hop lyrics as I used to; I take it as coming with the territory, in the same way that metal bands will sing about the apocalypse, beer and women (often in that order) or prog rock bands about dragons and wizards, but it's nice to see sometimes when the words "hoe", "bitch", "dick" etc aren't used. It wasn't that the album was bad, I just didn't see anything particularly attractive in it, and of course that was only on one listen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mindfulness

Album is awsome. Grabbed a few and added them to my playlists

Glad to be of assistance.

Trollheart · 12-28-2017, 09:57 AM

Album title: Silver/Lead
Artist: Wire
Genre: Post-Punk/Art Punk/Alt-Rock
Nationality: English
Release date: March 31
Position in Discography: Sixteenth
Estimated Rating:

Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No
Average RYM Score: 3.04
Yeah, I don't know Wire: is anyone surprised? They seem to be one of the major players in the Post-Punk arena anyway, and this is released apparently to mark the fortieth anniversary of their first ever gig, so they've been around. This is pleasant enough stuff – kind of reminds me of The Lightning Seeds at times – but nothing that's really impressing me I have to say. Actually, “An Alibi” and “Sonic Lens” are very, very good. Yeah, it has picked up really well since then. Decent album.

Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

Actual Rating:

The Batlord · 12-28-2017, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Yeah I kind of don't get as upset/bothered about hip-hop lyrics as I used to; I take it as coming with the territory, in the same way that metal bands will sing about the apocalypse, beer and women (often in that order) or prog rock bands about dragons and wizards, but it's nice to see sometimes when the words "hoe", "bitch", "dick" etc aren't used. It wasn't that the album was bad, I just didn't see anything particularly attractive in it, and of course that was only on one listen.

Glad to be of assistance.

A hoe is a gardening tool. A ho is a bitch.

Trollheart · 12-28-2017, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

A hoe is a gardening tool. A ho is a bitch.

I know: I ****ing hate it when rappers start going on about their ****ing gardens! Shovel this, rake that, hoe the other: terrible!

rubber soul · 12-28-2017, 10:22 AM

Damn, Wire is still together.

I'm going to have to give these guys a closer listen when I get into their era. They had a pretty good reputation in their day but they never seemed to get any airplay, even on college radio.

12-27-2017, 12:09 PM	#1422 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Album title: Woe to the Vanquished Artist: Warbringer Genre: Thrash Metal Nationality: American Release date: March 31 Position in Discography: Fifth Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A little Average RYM Score: 3.36 You have to laugh at the bandname, though, don't you? Music is a bit generic, at least the first track, though the title track has a nice sense of stomping power about it. “Remain Violent” boogies along with just the slightest hint of later Slayer in it, tempo kicking right up for “Shellfire”. Decent enough I guess. Nothing new, but then this is thrash metal, so you kind of get what you expect really. It's enjoyable mostly, but I do find myself concerned at the length of the final song – over eleven minutes on a thrash track? Can they pull it off, or will it just seem like a bridge too far? “When the Guns Fell Silent” is exactly eleven minutes and eleven seconds long, but the first minute or so is taken up with a long , slow, effects-laden intro and it's not until nearly the third minute that we get any vocals and the song begins proper. So, basically it could have been, at worst, eight minutes long. There's a nice mellow acoustic-y section around the five minute mark, which slowly and rather effectively pounds back up into a crescendo that takes the song into its seventh, so that's quite impressive, and it would definitely be the standout song on the album for me. Shows a lot of maturity and of course good musicianship. Powerful ending too; I'd have to say yes, stretched a little but not as much as I had thought it would be. Check out more from this artist? Probably not Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Probably Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-28-2017, 05:35 AM	#1423 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Album title: A Shorter Story Artist: Ward Thomas Genre: Country Pop Nationality: English Release date: March 31 Position in Discography: Debut EP; third overall Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? A little Average RYM Score: 3.00 Hold on there just a moment, did I read right? ENGLISH country music? Don't think I've come across that before. Two ladies, two sisters apparently, and this EP is a collection of covers of their favourite songs, none of which I know. Oh actually that's not true: I have heard “The Blower's Daughter” by Damien Rice, and they do a nice version of it. Good harmonies. Can't say I'm overly impressed with “What Goes Around” - bit poppy for me – but “Shine” is pretty good. Nice guitar line running through the song. I certainly don't know “WALLS” as I am no fan of Kings of Leon, but it turns out to be a really good song, possibly the best on the album. Hard to judge a band on the basis of an EP, harder when that EP is a collection of cover songs, but these two ladies sound like they definitely have something. Like to hear them singing their own material though. Check out more from this artist? Yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-28-2017, 09:57 AM	#1427 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Album title: Silver/Lead Artist: Wire Genre: Post-Punk/Art Punk/Alt-Rock Nationality: English Release date: March 31 Position in Discography: Sixteenth Estimated Rating: Familiar with this artist? No Familiar with the genre or subgenre? No Average RYM Score: 3.04 Yeah, I don't know Wire: is anyone surprised? They seem to be one of the major players in the Post-Punk arena anyway, and this is released apparently to mark the fortieth anniversary of their first ever gig, so they've been around. This is pleasant enough stuff – kind of reminds me of The Lightning Seeds at times – but nothing that's really impressing me I have to say. Actually, “An Alibi” and “Sonic Lens” are very, very good. Yeah, it has picked up really well since then. Decent album. Check out more from this artist? Yes Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes Actual Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-27-2017, 11:35 AM	#1421 (permalink)
Paedantic Basterd Music Addict Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 5,184	Oh well, at least you gave it a shot.