Shockingly I think is my least favorite Lips album it just does nothing for me at all. Wish I could join you on your enthusiasm for this one.

.

It feels deserted to me completely desolate despite the maximalist approach to ambiance, and not in a good way. A better approach to the this type of songwriting would be something like Jefre-Cantu Ledesma's In Summer, something Frownland turned me onto last year. That isn't to mention the lyrics which are just the most cliched "we're on drugs" **** you could ever hear. It fails at being comfy, ambient, psychedelic, or hypnogogic which is obviously what it's going for. It's shocking too I thought The Terror was a much better run into electronic and ambient.

You remember of course who you're talking to? Hey, what can I say? I enjoyed it. Sue me. The average settlement is twenty thousand dollars.

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Album title: Gentlewoman, Ruby Man
Artist: Flo Morrissey and Matthew E. White
Genre: Indie Rock
Nationality: English/American
Release date: January 13
Position in Discography: First collaboration
Fear Factor: Moderate
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Slightly
Check out more from this artist? No
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

I'll be honest: when I saw the name I thought it was herself from Florence and the Machine, but no, it isn't. So I haven't heard anything from this duo before, either singly or, as here for the first time, collaborating together. This is, however, an album of covers, so while I don't know the first track, there are songs here that will be familiar to me, such as “Grease”, “Suzanne” and “Sunday Morning”, but before that we have music from artists such as Frank Ocean, James Blake and Roy Ayers, none of which I've heard. A decent collection of songs, and they're both good singers but nothing, initially anyway, to blow me away yet. Generally I'm not quite bored, but midly entertained. It's like watching a TV programme that you're not quite into but you kind of want to leave it on in case it gets better. Mind you, I have yet to get to the songs I know, so maybe that will change things. Not much of the “rock” about this indie rock so far though.

I'm not a fan of Grease, but hell at least it isn't “Summer Lovin'” or “You're the One That I Want”, so I guess thankful for small mercies. The song does seem a little out of place here though. Not a big Cohen fan, though I do know “Suzanne” vaguely, and I guess they do a good job. Same with VU's “Sunday Morning” - only a very passing association with Lou and the boys. Yeah, it's all right but I won't be racing to dip into the discography of either artist.

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Expectation Index: 6

Nah nah I'm really glad you enjoyed it my dude

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Album title: Silver
Artist: Gotthard
Genre: Hard Rock
Nationality: Swiss
Release date: January 13
Position in Discography: Twelfth
Fear Factor: Low
Familiar with this artist? No
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Yes
Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes

The first Swiss album to be released in 2017? Well, on this list anyway. Starts off as a kind of an AOR thing with a big hooky chorus then seems to chart a course between Europe (the band, not the continent) and Creedence, which generally is not a bad thing. Got to laugh at the double entendre of their name: oh ho ho! Actually, maybe more Kansas than CCR but still good. “Stay with me” stands out as a nice rock anthem if a little generic (kind of reminds me of Balance of Power). Kind of more in the AOR vein as I suspected from the opener, with elements of maybe pop/rock? I wouldn't call it hard rock, unless you call the likes of Bon Jovi and Europe hard rock? Nah. Good album though.

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Expectation Index: 0

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Album title: Healed by Metal
Artist: Grave Digger
Genre: Heavy Metal/ Power Metal
Nationality: German
Release date: January 13
Position in Discography: Eighteenth
Fear Factor: Low
Familiar with this artist? I've heard the odd album
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Quite
Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Always
You have to laugh at the – intentional or otherwise – boneheadedness of not only the title of the album, but other tracks such as “Ten Commandments of Metal” (Number One: Thou Shalt Not Wash?) :laughing: but there's no faulting the musicianship here. The title, and opener, comes across as a song that Manowar might have laughingly rejected, and it's numbskull to the max but good fun. What isn't good fun is that a) it's not on Spotify and b) though someone has put it up on YT as being “full album” it's ****ing far from it, with about half the tracks left off. So, for thirty-six cents I'll buy and download it (I have all their other albums anyway) so I can listen to and review it properly. Yeah, even looking for the individual tracks on YT failed me the very first one I typed in. ****s. Anyway, on we go.

There are some pretty good anthems here - “Call For War”, “Ten Commandments of Metal” (even if it is :laughing:), “Hallelujah” (more laughter: “For your sins you will be crucified” - Oh dear!) and then some good solid metal rockers too. Sure, you can headbang to this but you do kind of need to leave your brain behind if you want to sing the lyrics. I mean, does the singer really have to actually laugh during “Laughing with the dead”? Overall, a pretty good album though. Powerful stuff.

Look, Grave Digger aren't exactly breaking any new ground (sorry) but they're not giving up the ghost either (sorry). With eighteen albums now under their belt and over three decades in the business, there's life in the old dog yet. Sorry. I'll stop now. :)

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Expectation Index: 0

Buried in bad puns.

I will rise again.
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