Hiatus Catch Up Vol. 2

I didn't forget about it. You forgot about it.

2017 Music Catch Up

Time to look back on all the nonsense I didn't talk about on this here blog; discussed in as little as one sentence.

The Great Big Best & Worst of 2017 List

365 days and not a single one wasted by you or me, I'm sure. It's time to praise those who put some effort into their art and ridicule those who don't.

Rule 1: Only full original material from 2017, no re-releases or demos. This means all EPs, Singles and LPs from this year are fair game, but not singles for upcoming releases in 2018. This also means no Live albums or Cover albums. Those just don’t count.

Rule 2: An album cannot end up on the “best” list for being just good, it has to be great or near-perfect. Likewise, albums cannot end up on the “worst” list just for being mediocre. If you are on the “worst” list, you deserve it.

Rule 3: Don’t get hung up on the ranking. All music on the “best” list is good, so do yourself a favor and check everyone out.

OK, let’s begin.

Dr. Living Dead - Cosmic Conqueror: Quick Album Review

You should go listen to Crush The Sublime Gods.

GWAR - The Blood of Gods: Album Review

 

This was never going to be easy…

Record Store/Fair Update (3/10/17-4/9/17)

Way back in early March, I visited my local record store, and forgot to do a "Record Store Update". I then recently visited my local record fair and now an article that should have been 1 page long is now almost 3. Enjoy.

NOFX - LIberal Animation: Classic Album Review

What with me being pleasantly surprised by NOFX’s latest release, I decided to look back on their debut record and see if it holds up at all. Hell, half the fun of celebrating a good album is laughing at past failures, and NOFX is no different.

Dropkick Murphys - 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory: Album Review

The Dropkick Murphys make an O.K. album.
And that's O.K.
O.K.?

Green Day - Revolution Radio: Album Review

I think the hardest thing in my life recently has been being a Green Day fan. Not necessarily just existing as one, but being around other fans as part of the community has just been taxing recently. Why? Well, picture how Megadeth fans feel about Rust In Peace, except Rust in Peace was just kinda OK, but they still think it’s the best record ever, and the follow up somehow better, even though in reality it was worse. That’s how Green Day fans have been lately. It’s normal for fans to clench onto a good record as proof that their favorite artist has talent, but Green Day fans answer every complaint with “American Idiot” and “21st Century” like their lives depend on it. Being so narrow minded is only damaging to when a band does something new (maybe not better, but original) because it makes you perceive everything that isn’t ‘the best’ as ‘the worst’. In the case of Green Day, this applies to almost every album before and after the American Idiot/21st Century days. No one likes Uno, Dos and Tre, even though it’s some of the most original material the band ever put out. No one likes Insomniac because it was too weird but Nimrod is perfect because it’s safe.