The Needle Drops on Sleep Token

Anthony Fantano of the Needle Drop rated Sleep Token as one of his top 5 worst albums of the year. He gave it a 2 in his original review and called it metal for Disney adults, which is a fair take. Then the Guardian named it the worst album of the year. I can foresee the band getting dogpiled by critics. There are positives and negatives to this. I have said a lot about this; most recently, they came up in my piece on the industry plant theory. This is going to be my last entry on here about them until they put out a new album. 2027 would be the most likely album cycle, and by then, some of the hype will have waned. But the problem is not Sleep Token's new album. It scored well here and took the number 4 spot on the top 10 Pop albums of 2025 list. So if your expectations are for a metal album, it will fail to meet those; if you uare expecting a pop album it will meet those. I think it's a great pop album.

However, I support any kind of quality control that arises, as it is desperately needed. Critics have pandered to the industry's sacred cows for too long and are not speaking up when the emperor wears no clothes. But this kind of energy needs to be directed at more deserving targets like Baby Metal, Ghost, the Hu, Blackbraid, and many other acts that are working off a gimmick. To some extent, Castle Rat is slipping under the radar here, as they are just doing a great job at ripping off Rainbow and creating traditional metal. Would they be as noted without their gimmick?

There are a ton of acts that slip by due to the press wanting to be inclusive. If a band is not your typical white male heshers, then they are getting industry points. There are plenty of great bands with female members, and it's nothing new: Fear of God, the Gathering, White Zombie, Bolt Thrower, Sigh, Kylesa, etc. It should not even be a focal point of the conversation; writing good music is all that matters. If you want to dress like spooky things, fine, but have the music to back it up. When any band uses this to thrust themselves into the spotlight, there is going to be a cost to be paid at some point in time. In 2025, this is just an issue of marketing.

To be honest, I am surprised more of these gimmick-heavy bands are not being called out. I think most critics are trying to earn clout in the industry and just play nice, not to ruffle the feathers of someone they are going to need to give them promos, but they need us more than we need them, and it's a diserve to your brand to not call it like it is. So I support not playing nice, but speaking a blunt truth when needed, since that is what I do here. 

Critics only began regarding metal as hip over the past 15 years. When nu-metal, hair-metal, and even death metal were at their peaks, they were seen as being contrived. In some cases, they were right, then bands like Deftones proved themselves more capable, and success was the best revenge, which is how it should be. Metal is for outsiders, not to be adored by critics. Typically, music snobs leaned in the direction of punk rock, and anything prog or metal was pretentious. Sometimes this is fair, as sometimes it is. King Diamond was at one time reviled. The same can be said of Slayer, Type O Negative, and Black Sabbath. It was not for the cool kids, but things change. At the end of the day, good pop music is good pop music; it's not good metal, so it's the cup by which we measure these things. But if it tightens the reins at forces substance over style, I support it. 

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The Top 10 Albums Most Mistaken for Metal in 2025

 

Once upon a time, the battle cry championed by metal bands was "Death to False Metal.", It's a sentiment going back to the earliest beginnings of the genre when it drew lines to separate itself from the bands of the Sunset Strip who wanted the look but were making glammed-out pop music. Today, kids are thin-skinned and take offense, screaming out that this is gatekeeping rather than seeing it as quality control standards. Most of those people just need to feel like they belong wherever they want to go and call those who actually belong there elitists as a projection of their own insecurities. 

I'm here to say fuck your feelings. In the interest of this blog's mission statement, pledging to always tell it like it is easy even if you can't handle the truth. After seeing albums like those represented here appearing on metal top ten lists, I think it's fair to set the record straight and have some truth in advertising to pick out the top ten offenders in this regard. Four of these entries are great albums; they just are not great metal albums. They are great rock, folk and pop albums, just not metal. There are a few that are terrible, but they are also not metal, so here we go, setting the record straight for you.

- 

10-Wardruna- "Birna" 

Six albums into their career, Norway's primal folk bards are still haunted by their metal past, despite bringing an increasingly cinematic conjuring of otherworldly eons past. It is weird how they are the biggest band making this kind of music. Also, even stranger is how they can headline festivals. It is very much a wintery sound as should be expected from the region where the music is being made. It feels like they are getting ready to be hit by the worst storm in over a hundred years and are invoking the ghosts of their ancestors

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/12/wardruna-birna.html

9-Scowl- "Are We All Angels." 

Sure, they were once more of a punk band, but this album finds them crossing over into the kind of grunge tinged alternative rock that was big in the '90s. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/04/scowl-are-we-all-angels.html

8-Creeper-"Creeper : "Sanguivore II: Mistress Of Death"

There are some goth moments, but overall it leans in a more cock rock direction, but cock rock that comes clsoer to Meatloaf than "Shout at the Devil" era Motley Crue.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/10/gothtober-creeper-sanguivore-ii.html

7-Dream Theater- "Parasomnia" 

Once a metal band does not always make you a metal band, this might be hard to swallow for most of their fan base, which they did through more heavy riffs on this album than they have in some time, but overall it is consumed by the kinds of ballads that make them sound like a more guitar solos-focused version of Journey. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/02/dream-theater-parasomnia.html

6-Deftones-"private music" 

The fact that they have not been a metal band since 'Around the Fur" is what saved their career; they have always been growing almsot to the point of becoming a shoegaze band. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/08/deftones-private-music.html

5-Turnstille- "Never Enough." 

Once a hardcore band does not always make you a hardcore fan, especially when writing pop songs. Compared to "Glow On" this album was a bit of a disappointment, but there are a couple of catchy pop ditties on it, but nothing all that aggressive or explosive.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/06/turnstile-never-enough.html

4-President -"King of Terrors." 

Anonymity creates quite a buzz, as they had a huge online presence despite only having one single out and a Download performance under their belt. It is the songs from that performance that are given the studio treatment, with the first single opening the EP. Sonically similar in many ways to Sleep Token, they blend djenty metal guitars with technical drumming and multiple layers of soulfully harmonized vocals. If AI were told to create a band in the vein of Sleep Token and Bad Omens, the results would be similar, though the pop hooks here make it endearing. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/09/president-king-of-terrors.html

3-Sleep Token- "Even in Arcadia." 

I like pop music. This album is a slapping pop album, so . I don't feel so guilty about liking it.  If he just came out, life would be so much easier, but denial has become a part of his identity. There was maybe 20 seconds of nu-metal guitar, and a scream that needed every bit of post-production effects on it in the first three songs. The beats and hooks that would make Sam Smith jealous, this is the kind of music Justin Timberlake wishes he was making. Justin Bieber, rinse off the baby oil and get these guys to write your next album. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/sleep-token.html

2-Baby Metal-"Metal Forth." 

The novelty of this album lies in the fact that the J-Pop group features a guest artist on each track since these are metal dabbling artists or actual metal artists like Spiritbox are on it. Both artists flirt with the boundaries of what is metal and pop; just because an album has distorted guitars and some screaming on it does not make the album metal. Metal is an aggressive feeling of darkness that cannot be found on any track. In fact, I am embarrassed for anyone who appeared on this album. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/08/just-how-metal-is-babymetals-metal.html

1-Ghost - "Skeleta" 

It's easy to let the make-up and marketing fool you; in fact, what it all hides is the fact that this was also our number one worst album of the year. All style no substance, unless you are really into the song"Thicker Than Water" by Andy Gibb, which is what they really sound like.  I will tell you how it is: at its worst, some dreadful ballads make Styx sound heavy. So it's not worth owning, and was hard for me to make it through, but maginally better than their average album. The highlights are the riffs that sound like Dokken and Ratt, though those are far a few between. It ranked worse than anime schoolgirls because at least with that, you go into it knowing it will be terrible; this relies so heavily on a marketing image that they have idiots invested in it, adding insult to injury when you listen to it. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/04/ghost-skeleta.html

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Top 40 Songs of 2025 (Part 4 10-1 )

This is the final installment of the Top 40 songs of 2025. It's a list of the 40 catchiest songs that got the most airplay from me this year. These are the songs that I kept on repeat and got stuck in my head, which certainly factored in when ranking these albums in the big picture, only one artist on this list delivered an album that was underwhelming with the single as one of the only memorable songs on the album, but a great deal lies in how that was hyped leading up to the album's release. 

I have split this up into four more digestable play lists of 10 songs, each I think these songs all speak for themselves, so there is no need for me to wax poetic about what makes them great as their hooks will do that for them so take a listen and maybe these will be the melodies that haunt you when you get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night so lets continue into the top 10 songs of 2025.

10-HEALTH- "YOU DIED." 

 

9-Heartworms - "Mad Catch." 

8. Freeze the Fall - "Rot." 

7-Turnstille-"Never Enough." 

6-Taylor Swift- "Cancelled."

 

5-Ethel Cain- "Janine."

>

4-Sleep Token- "Emergence." 

3-Hangman's Chair - "Kowloon Lights." 

2-Spiritbox- "Keep Sweet." 

  

1-Ethel Cain-"Dust Bowl." 

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The Top 10 Pop Albums of 2025

 

Pop does not have to be a bad word. Sadly the music industry takes it down a deeper hole of vapid capitalism, by pumping out products rather than music with anything to say.  Unlike their more mainstream counterparts, these albums were not rolled from the same assembly line and did not need the teams of songwriters and producers to create for them, they generally did this themselves.  Here are albums that stand shoulder to shoulder with other genres, proving pop does not have to be trash, despite being that more often than not these days. 

 After I sort through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I use those lists to compile the top 10 albums of 2025 The very fact these bands made it on the list speaks to how great these albums are, so it's not a slight that the number 8 album is above the 9th album, there is something that just gives it an edge that makes me want to listen to it more. After all, we can try to look cool and pick the hippest bands for a list, but at the end of the day what makes an album the best is that it makes you want more, you look forward to listening to it again. Perhaps you can find your next favorite on this list; and have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out the audio on these guys. Anyway here are the top 10 Pop albums of 2025

10-Jane Remover- "Revengeseekerz" 

What the kids are calling digicore. The auto-tuned vocals are not unlike those heard from more mainstream trap rappers, such as Future. Lyrically, aside from being presented chaotically, with typically vapid radio friendly lyrics that are  more tolerable when presented in this fashion. At times dub-step at others harsher barrage of noise the beats keep things moving.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/09/jane-remover-revengeseekerz.html

9-yeule- "Evangelic Girl is a Gun" 

This weird little singer from Singapore was a new find for me,. Her fourth album at times embraces an almost trip-hop sound that features some subtle guitar elements as it progresses. In other moments, there is more of a 90s alternative feel, bringing to mind bands like Elastica or Lush. The pop grooves put her on a sonic footing closer to  Grimes or early Charli XCX, which balance out the glitchy atmosphere in the periphery.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/06/yeule-evangelic-girl-is-gun.html

 

8-President -"King of Terrors" 

Anonymity creates quite a buzz, as they had a huge online presence despite only having one single out and a Download performance under their belt. It is the songs from that performance that are given the studio treatment, with the first single opening the EP. Sonically similar in many ways to Sleep Token, they blend djenty metal guitars with technical drumming and multiple layers of soulfully harmonized vocals. If AI was told to create a band in the vein of Sleep Token and Bad Omens, the results would be similar, though the pop hooks here make it endearing. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/09/president-king-of-terrors.html

7-The Beaches - "No, Hard Feelings" 

 This band's last album, "Blame My Ex" found them taking the number two spot in our Top 10 Pop Albums of 2023. They have raised the bar for themselves. They move in a marginally more indie rock direction for this album, while e trying to still dish out a comparable level of hooky choruses. The  more pop stabs reflects back on what worked on the last album, though perhaps not as hard-hitting, but still highly effective. Working well enough to earn the number 7 spot.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-beaches-no-hard-feelings.html

6-Miley Cyrus- "Something Beautiful" 

Miley's 9th album is pretty ambitious. It's framed with preludes and interludes to create a more immersive experience than your average pop album. Ranging from soulful lounge ballads to oddly experimental bursts of sound.  Her voice sounds great, this seems to blend her pop sheen with the more rock-inflected moments of albums like "Plastic Hearts". She claims this album is inspired by "The Wall", the saxophone wailing in the background brings a "Diamond Dogs" styled chaos to the fringes of its sound. 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/miley-cyrus-something-beautiful.html

5-Wu- Tang Clan - "Black Samson , the Bastard Swordsman" 

The legendary New York rap collective dropped this album for a limited vinyl release on Record Store Day, and now it's receiving a wider release. This is the first full-length release since the 2017 compilation "The Saga Continues," which was released as simply Wu-Tang due to the absence of U-God. It's also the first album since 2015's "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" to feature all 9 living members of the group. This album is a collaboration with producer Mathematics, who effectively captures the feel of the group's classic work, proving why they are one of the only hip-hop acts that matter.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/06/wu-tang-clan-black-samson-bastard.html

4-Deathbyromy-"Hollywood Forever" 

Pop music marketed to the "vvitches" of Tiktok, who are the new generation of Hot Topic kids. Her image contrasts with the otherwise upbeat grooves that open the new album. Her voice is what you expect from a pop singer in 2025. At the end of the day, the strong songwriting won me over. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/09/deathbyromy-hollywood-forever.html

 

3-Sleep Token- "Even in Arcadia" 

I like pop music; this album is a great pop album. I don't feel so guilty about liking it.  If he just came out, life would be so much easier, but denial has become a part of his identity. There was maybe 20 seconds of nu-metal guitar, and a scream that needed every bit of post-production effects on it in the first three songs. The beats and hooks that would make Sam Smith jealous, this is the kind of music Justin Timberlake wishes he was making. Justin Bieber, rinse off the baby oil and get these guys to write your next album. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/sleep-token.html

  2-Pixel Grip-  "Perceptide the Death of Reality" 

 This interesting electronic band was circling my radar to glad for the chance to check them out. They open things with an atmospheric pop song that simmers in introspection. The alluring vocals of Rita Lukea, give everything a sex dripping sheen, as they jump into dark 90s techno. The darkest album on this list which gives it the edge over Sleep Token. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/pixel-grip-perceptide-death-of-reality.html

 

1-Taylor Swift- "the Life of a Showgirl" 

At the end of the day, she can whip out songs that sit effortlessly next to the other classics in her discography with no effort. Even Tay Tay dialing it in is better than what most can do with two dozen producers and a co-writers This album grew on me, and makes it clear she is the dominant force in not just pop music, but songwriting. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/10/taylor-swift-life-of-showgirl.html

Thanks for reading. Please "like" and share on social media to give music a voice 

https://www.facebook.com/abysmalhymns

Check out our Podcast here ... https://www.youtube.com/@abysmalhymns666

pst596

The Top 10 Pop Albums of 2025... so far

 That time of year again. These lists serve as a decent snapshot of where the year is heading in terms of music. I have already received promos for albums dropping as far out as August in my inbox, so they are really going to need to bring it to compete with the top five albums on this list. When it comes to pop what you are not going to see much of are big mainstream radio artists that are part of the music industry machine that spits bullshit out on an assembly line with two dozen producers and even more songwriters making a product for the sheep to consume. Only two artists on this list come from that machine, and both have risen above it, unlike the bulk of their peers. 

What I want from my pop is catchy songs that have actual instruments being played, rather than just empty calories being pumped into my ears. My people refer to this sort of thing as their guilty pleasures, and I do not use that term as anyone on this list is better than vapid shit kids on Tik Tok are dancing to. Hip Hop has pretty much been garbage this year; only two artists have managed to rise from that trash pile to form music with depth.  There are links to full reviews if you want to check these out, and with all that said, here are the top 10 pop albums of 2024 so far. 

10-Aesop Rock- "Black Hole Superette" 

The 10th album from New York's best rapper finds the rhymes flowing like malt liquor. Ten albums into your career, you are going to know how to write a song. He is quick to spit a collage of clever metaphors. You noticed we do not cover a great deal of hip-hop here. That's not because it's just not our thing; it's because the bar is held very high due to rappers like this. So, why accept inferior products being rolled off the assembly line of record labels looking to sedate people whose musical tastes reflect their low vibrational state? 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/aesop-rock-black-hole-superette.html

 

9-yeule- "Evangelic Girl is a Gun" 

This weird little singer from Singapore is a new find for me, though this is her fourth album. Asian post-pop is just not a sub-genre I have delved far enough into. It opens with an almost trip-hop sound that features some subtle guitar elements as it progresses. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/06/yeule-evangelic-girl-is-gun.html

8-Skunk Anansie-"The Painful Truth" 

 One of my favorite bands from the 90s, who in America were always a best-kept British secret. In my mind, they will always have to measure up against their 1999 album 'Post Orgasmic Chill". Skin's vocals are still on point, and things have mellowed into a shimmering pop pulse, with electronic elements becoming hard to decipher from where guitars are plugged into amps, and the end result is a song so good it does not matter much to me how they got here.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/04/skunk-anansie-painful-truth.html

 

7-Sleep Token - "Even in Arcadia" 

This has some slapping beats and hooks that would make Sam Smith jealous. This is the kind of music Justin Timberlake wishes he were making. Justin Bieber, rinse off the baby oil and get these guys to write your next album. At times I am not convince it is not Joji under the mask singing. Great moody pop music. 
 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/sleep-token.html

6-Bon Iver-"SABLE fABLE " 

This double album is really his EP "SABLE' last year, which was only three songs, and then the nine new songs, which are the kind of lush experimental pop songs that made his 4th album such a stellar creative success. His falsetto vocal work there magic, as there is also plenty of evidence that shows his time spent collaborating with Taylor Swift has influenced him. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/04/bon-iver-sable-fable.html

 

 

5-HAIM- "I quit" 

This album works best when the sisters are focused on their brand of cleverness to engage both the lyrics and the music. There is a more 90s pop rock at times that reminds me of Sheryl Crow, with some Zeppelin punches thrown in here and there. The indie rock jangle that runs through this album seeks to get their footing back into their indie roots, more than trying to follow Taylor Swift's footsteps.

 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/06/haim-i-quit.html

 

      

4-Turnstile - "Never Enough"

  

One of the year's most anticipated albums. Even Charli XCX was declaring it would be Turnstile summer at Coachella. They have a hooky chorus and often energetic takes on pop punk, which are not as explosive as their old, more hardcore direction. But the kids at Coachella don't know the difference. They ended up making a pop record that is fun, and their is nothing wrong with that.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/06/turnstile-never-enough.html

 

3-Pixel Grip -"Perceptide the Death of Reality" 

 This interesting electronic band circle my radar for a minute, their brand of  dark atmospheric pop simmers in introspection. The alluring vocals of Rita Lukea give everything a sex dripping sheen, as they jump into dark 90s techno for the second song. She grinds her hips into the dance floor. 
 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/pixel-grip-perceptide-death-of-reality.html

2-Wu-Tang Clan - "Black Samson the Bastard Swordsman" 

Legendary New York rap collective dropped this album for a more limited vinyl release for Record Store Day, and now it's receiving a wider release. This is the first full-length release since the 2017 compilation "The Saga Continues," which was released as simply Wu-Tang due to the absence of U-God. It's also the first album since 2015's "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" to feature all 9 living members of the group. This album is a collaboration with producer Mathematics, who effectively captures the feel of the group's classic work. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/06/wu-tang-clan-black-samson-bastard.html

1-Miley Cyrus - "Something Beautiful" 

Miley's 9th album is pretty ambitious. It's framed with preludes and interludes to create a more immersive experience than your average pop. Its ambition is what makes it take the top spot, as she has the production value and execution to back it up. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/miley-cyrus-something-beautiful.html

Thanks for reading, please "like" and share on social media to give music a voice 

https://www.facebook.com/abysmalhymns

Check out our Podcast below 

https://www.youtube.com/@abysmalhymns666

pst299

May's Top 10 Albums

It's time for May's top 10 albums. Staying abreast of the month's highlights might help casual readers see what they missed and check these artists out. I am not writing little blurbs on them; I am just linking the reviews. Inclusion here does not mean that these albums have been released this month, but it is a list of new or upcoming albums I have enjoyed the most. I have albums in my inbox that are not coming out til August, so I am normally way ahead of the curve in this regard. They are ranked in order of what I have listened to the most. This month, there tends to be a dominant theme of new wave, pop, and goth, though we have a couple of metal bands in the mix as well,  so you may find your new favorite among them. Here are the Top 10 albums of May 

10-HEXVESSEL- "Nocturne"  

Black Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/hexvessel-nocturne.html

9-Swans - "Birthing" 

Experimental Post Punk 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/swans-birthing.html

8-Katatonia -"Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State" 

Prog Rock 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/katatonia-nightmares-as-extensions-of.html

7-Sleep Token - "Even In Arcadia" 

Pop

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/sleep-token.html

6-Ministry - "the Squirrelly Years Revisted"

 

New Wave / Goth 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/ministry-squirrelly-years-revisted.html

5-Peter Murphy- "Silver Shade" 

New Wave / Goth 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/peter-murphy-silver-shade.html

4-Age of Apocalypse - "In Oblivion" 

Hard-core 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/age-of-apocalypse-in-oblivion.html

3-the Callous Daoboys- " I Don't Want to See You in Heaven" 

Metal - Core 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-callous-daoboy-i-dont-want-to-see.html

2-Pixel Grip - "Perceptide the Death of Reality" 

Dark Wave  / Pop 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/pixel-grip-perceptide-death-of-reality.html

1-Freeze the Fall - "The Red Garden"

Hard Rock  / Nu-Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/freeze-fall-red-garden.html

pst240

Sleep Token : "Even in Arcadia"

 

I like pop music. I don't feel so guilty about liking it that I have to convince myself that I am still listening to metal when I am listening to pop music. With this band, it's almost comical. It's like that one dude whose purse falls from his mouth every time it opens, and everyone knows the poor guy is gay except for him. If he just came out, life would be so much easier, but denial has become a part of his identity. There was maybe 20 seconds of nu-metal guitar, and a scream that needed every bit of post-production effects on it in the first three songs. But some slapping beats, and hooks that would make Sam Smith jealous, this is the kind of music Justin Timberlake wishes he was making. Justin Bieber, rinse off the baby oil and get these guys to write your next album. 

If the music press tries to play these guys off as even rock music, much less call them metal, then I am personally going to call them out from now til the Russians kill the internet. It's time to rip the band-aid off. The first song I am not as impressed with is the ballad "Dangerous", which is as boring as most pop ballads. Maybe Joji did not just drop off the edge of the world, maybe he put on a mask and this is what he is doing, as it really sounds like him on "Caramel" it's a great pop song, yes there is guitar on it, Micheal Jackson's "Thriller" album had Eddie Van Halen on it, but no one back in the day was stupid enough to confuse it with Judas Priest. 

The heavier elements are mixed back and not given center stage, as they are not who this band is, and the band themselves were smart enough to keep up the charade. If you hear the isolate vocals tracks, the screams will make you think what Chris Rock thought when Will Smith slapped him "I got smacked by the softest nigga that ever rapped".  The title track wanders around lost in its own emoting, similar to the previous ballad, though the mood has more melancholy to it. By the time we get to "Provider," I am 100 percent convinced no one in this band has ever listened to a Slayer album, much less Goatwhore, but things are starting to get bogged down by ballads.

At their best, they are like a softer version of Spiritbox, perhaps their singer does a fire Courtney LaPlante drag routine in their spare time. 'Damocles" at least flows better than the previous song. Lyrically, "Gethsemane" reminds me of Taylor Swift. The drumming is pretty great on this one. These guys are talented, and this is brought out more as they embrace who they are. Perhaps this entire project is a metaphor for being afraid to come out of the closet, as earlier in the album, the singer admits to being the "demon of Sodom."

"Infinite Baths" is another atmospheric power ballad.  The album is really well produced, but they are now on RCA, so a major label is not going release albums that sound like shit. I will give this album a 9, it's a great pop album, even the last few minutes of the last song when they try to convince you otherwise, three harder riffs on an album does not make it metal, so enjoy this album, but face the reality of what it is. It's not gagtekeepiung it's just stating the obvious. Though I am not not opposed to gatekeeping as some one has to stand up and speak the truth of the masses will lose themselves in the comfort of their delusions. 

pst208

The 10 Pop Albums of 2023 ...so far

That time of year again . These lists serve as a decent snap shot of where the year is heading in terms of music. I have already received  promos for albums dropping as far out as August in my in-box, so they are really going to need to bring it in order to compete with the top five albums on this list. When it comes to pop what you are not going to see much of are big mainstream radio artists that are part of the music industry machine that spits bullshit out on an assembly line with two dozen producers and even more songwriters making a product for the sheep to consume. There are only two artists on this list that came from that machine and they both have risen above it unlike the bulk of their peers. 

What I want from my pop is catchy songs that have actual instruments being played, rather than just empty calories being pumped into my ears. My people refer to this sort of thing as their guilty pleasures, which I do not use that terms as anyone on this list is better than vapid shit kids on Tik Tok are dancing to. Hip Hop has pretty much been garbage this year, so don't hold your breath for any of that to appear, there are links to full review if you want to check these out and with all that said here are the top 10 pop album of 2023 so far. 

10- Gorillaz - "Cracker Island"

More of an honorable mention as it is far from their most compelling effort. This album is well done from a production stance, but loses inspiration in the third act as it becomes to streamlined

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/02/gorillaz-cracker-island.html

9-Sleep Token- '"Take Me Back to Eden" 

My prediction for band most likely to break big into a more mainstream audience goes to this band. Much like Ghost they mask up to disguise the fact they are a pop act, but a much better one than Ghost.  The vocals are soulful enough to show Sam Smith how it should be done. It mainly ballads or I would be compelled to listen to it more.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/05/sleep-token-take-me-back-to-eden.html
 

8-Lana Del Rey- "Did You Know There is a Tunnel..." 

Lana has more than enough melancholy to fall neatly within my tastes. This album finds her ditching the spoken word of "Chemtrails" and her last album seemed to be more of the same ole same ole from her, as she languished on the sea side of California. To some extent that is who she is, but she needed to switch it up a bit. This album does that while making fun rainy day music. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/03/lana-del-rey-did-you-know-that-there-is.html
 

7-M83-"Fantasy" 

The French electro pop project finds itself stripped down to primary songwriter Anthony Gonzalez who worked on a large part of this album with live keyboardist Joe Berry. He also brought many of the live musicians he works with to aid in the sessions and the seemed to have gotten really high and made something that sounds more like floating on a cloud than the pop music of Tik Tok. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/03/m83-fantasy.html

 

 

6- Fever Ray- "Radical Romantics"

Swedish singer Karin Drejier from the Knife continues her journey into moody electronic music as Fever Ray with third album under this moniker. The album's strength lies in how she uses her voice as an instrument along with the interesting beats that provide the backdrop for her uncanny pipes. I think this lines up well with what she has done in the past 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/03/fever-ray-radical-romantics.html
 

5- the national- "First Two Pages of Frankenstein" 

First off the album has nothing to do with Frankenstein, but it is still pretty great. They are back to their moody ways , and the easy listening mood of the album brings heavy replay value, but there is a uniformity to the beige shades the songs are colored with.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-national-first-two-pages-of.html
 

 

4-Boygenius - "the record" 

There is something lyrical cutting about the tone of this album . It is a super group of indie sirens who still embrace the more transgressive elements of their origin stories while still being able to connect with your average Taylor Swift fan. In fact Tay Tay herself called them her favorite new band. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/04/boygenius-record.html

 

3-Miley Cyrus -"Endless Summer Vacation" 

Perhaps the pop hooks are not twerking in your face as they drip with sex sugar, but the more mature effort provides a more serious look into who Miley is at this stage in the game. Not here best album, but it is better than everything else on the radio. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/03/miley-cyrus-endless-summer-vacation.html

 

2- Depeche Mode- "Memento Mori"  

This album  picks up where they left off on "Ultra" and makes for a logical new chapter. If this is the album they choose to end things with I would not blame them as this would be a high note to end it on. It paints a clear picture of Depeche Mode playing to their strengths. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/03/depeche-mode-memento-mori.html

 

1-Pierce the Veil- "Jaws of Life" 

I found these guys originally through the POP GOES PUNK series , and what they did well on their contributions to those albums they have quantified. This album displays some of the smartest  song writing , and emotionally vulnerable singing makes a great combination for those who like the emphasis on pop melodies when it comes to rock music. They even do pop better than the current string of pop artists and do not need a team of producers to do it. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2023/02/pierce-veil-jaws-of-life.html

Sleep Token : "Take Me Back to Eden"

 My prediction for band most likely to break big into a more mainstream audience goes to this band. Much like Ghost they mask up with more pop hiding under their disguise than metal menace. Though these guys crush Ghost with their guitar tone. The vocals are soulful enough to show Sam Smith how it should be done. The chug has more tension of the second song with shows this pop take on post-djent is pretty much nu-metal with a fresh paint job. By the end of the song he tells a baby about being their man, which pretty much blows their cover as anything but a pop band, however people are so stupid it won't stop them from thinking these guys are something they are not. 

The ways the guitars come in on "Granite' makes me wonder if the Scooby Doo gang unmasked these guys they would discover that it was Issues all along, who were using this guise to avoid being cancelled and they would have gotten away with it if it was not for those meddling kids. Lyrically things are a little more interesting on "Aqua Regia". They play the first metal song of the album on "Vore" . The screamed vocals are not the reason this is a metal song, but they help. It is more a matter of aggression. The sung vocals could have worked over it if they are able to muster something beyond the Weeknd in terms of angst. When the singing comes in on this song it is not clear that is the case. To honest the more pop infected sound might have been more effective in terms of songwriting, as this carries a more homogenized metal sound to it. 

"Ascensionism" flips the formula around. The song starts off as a ballad that if you heard out of context , you might assume was Sam Smith. Then they build it back up into something metallic before getting into their feelings again.  'Are You Really Ok?" could be any rock ballad on the radio from the late 90s. There is perhaps the most believable shade of emotion to the vocals of "the Apparition". The mood gets more upbeat with "DYWTYLM" which the kids of Tik Tok should dig. "Rain" find the formula of pop produced power ballads with a Joji feel, getting stale. The title track is somewhat disjointed, there are sounds they used just placed where it seems like they should go with no feeling directing them. They are a little too light hearted on the last song for my personal tastes  , I will give this album an 8.5. It's well made, and well written pop, with impressive vocals, but I do not feel the kind of soul that I want from my moody rock, which keeps me from not feeling their funk, though I will see if it grows on me. 

Sleep Token : "This Place Will Become Your Tomb"

 I was expecting something more metal when I first pressed play instead I got something more like Cold Play. This is the second album from this masked anonymous project out of England . The press release asks if we as journalists will need help due to the mysterious nature of the band. My answer is no thanks I am just goin to focus on music.  What I am hearing right now is a nu-metal power ballad. I like clean singing but the vocal melody here seems to be languishing to much in introspection. "Hypnosis" answers the question what if Jeff Buckley did not die but became the singer for the Deftones. I appreciate this guy's voice, though unsure if it is beings put to the best use all the time.  Singing is just as much about where you put your voice than hitting the notes. They have a murkier and moodier sound than most modern hard rock bands. I am not sure they are metal . They have not yet shown me their heavy side. Almost after I type that they go into some Sliknotty kind of break down.

They delve further into pop soul ballardy with alt metal production value to the atmosphere on "Mine" . Like Issues with more obtuse mix.  There are moments when they do dig into to the more rock side of what they do and the results seem less focused.one of example of this being "Like That"   They are not too far removed from the likes of Imagine Dragons on "the Love You Want" .  It is catchy and well done so I am not going to argue with it , despite the fact it is not what I normally listen to,  The auto tuned and ultra harmonized vocals of  "Fall For Me"  which reminds me of Bon Iver.  There is a more metal, by way of 90s prog rock, on "Alkaline" , which works better than when we are back to the wimpy more Coldplay like sound of "Distractions". Sometimes their experimental side works out better like "Descending" proves. It puts them back in that Bon Iver place. The emphasis returns to the sleep portion of their name with another ballad after this song.  Though there is a pretty stellar guitar sol on the song , that is not going to make a song interesting in and of it self as even John Mayer musters up those.    

"High Water" they kept the metal drummer to bring along for the cinematic pop ballad.  Toward the end of the song the guitars join in with a more metal dynamic, but Poppy's last album as a whole is more metal than what goes down here. The last song they start off with more of a pop folk feel. While they pull off these sort of moments is it not something already congesting the airwaves? They do more interesting thing on their own with out reverting to this. Overall there are some strong moments I will give this album an 8.5, when they are in their sweet spot, I like it , but there is too much balladry for my personal tastes.