May's Top 10 Albums

Now at the midway point of the year, it's time for May's top 10 albums. Staying abreast on the month's highlights might help casual readers see what they missed, and give this the option to check these artists out. I am not doing little blurbs on them, just linking the reviews. This will help me organize my lists for the end of the year, by listing the genre of music the album falls under. This 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 in-box 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 is a wide variety from goth to pop to hard-core, so you may find your new favorite among them. Here are the Top 10 albums for May 2024.

10 Omsorg- "Echoes" 

Hard-core 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/05/omsorg-echoes.html

9-Gatecreeper - "The Dark Superstition" 

Death Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/05/gatecreeper-dark-superstition.html

8-Knocked Loose  -   "You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To" 

Metal-core

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/05/knocked-loose-you-wont-go-before-youre.html

  

7- St Vincent - "All Born Screaming" 

Pop

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/05/st-vincent-all-born-screaming.html

6-Sect- "Plagues Upon Plagues" 

Sludge

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/05/sect-plagues-upon-plagues.html

5- Take Offense- "T.O. tality" 

Hard - Core

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/05/take-offense-totality.html

4-DEHD - "Poetry" 

Indie-rock

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/05/dehd-poetry.html

3-Astari Nite -"Resolution of Happiness' 

Goth rock

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/05/astari-nite-resolution-of-happiness.html

2-REZN -"Burden" 

Psychedelic Rock 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/05/rezn-burden.html

1-Candy- "It's Inside You" 

hard-core 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/05/candy-its-inside-you.html

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St Vincent : "All Born Screaming"

You never know what to expect from here. The single "Broken Man" made sense as it was angular and quirky much like a great deal of her previous work. Then the next thing I saw was a clip of her playing around with a Moog, Yet the album opens in a manner that makes you think she is going in a more Tori Amons-like direction until midway into the second song when she breaks from the minimalist emoting for an almost industrial beat. Clark who produced this album herself calls it post-plague pop. That makes more sense than not. \

 There is a more electronic vibe that bleeds into the hushed groove of "Flea". This album is odd but well-produced. It is hard to tell if it is all synth or if guitar is present in the mix. There is more of a Bjork-like groove to "Big Time Nothing'. It almost feels like Bowie's "Fame" in some respects. But if you are getting compared to Bowie and Bjork, you are obviously doing something right. 'Violent Times' sounds like it should be a James Bond theme. You can not deny the fact that over the years she has matured into quite the singer. 

"The Powers Out" finds her crooning through a Kate Bush-influenced ballad that carries all the atmosphere and melodrama that comes with such a comparison.  "Sweetest Fruit" is like some kind of weird 90s indie pop, which must be what she is talking about when she calls this post-plague pop. The Dvinyls come to mind in this regard, but there are also lots of Talking Heads vibes. She was obviously smoking lots of pot when she wrote the reggae-influenced "So Many Planets". There is a similar 70s New York New Wave feel to the title track that closes the album. Not her hookiest album, but it does have something to say and covers a great deal of stylistic ground while staying true to a theme. I will give this album a 9.5, and see how it grows on me. 

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St. Vincent : " Daddy's Home"

 Well this is a drastic change for her. The angular Bowie like guitar is missing and has been replaced for a more soulful Prince like vibe. It takes multiple listens for this to fully sink in for me. If you think about it I guess this might be her Young Americans album.  This organic 70s vibe even invokes Joni Mitchells more jazz influenced work on " Down and Out Downtown" . There is a folkier strum to the title track that also has blues based slink to it. With trippy atmospherics continuing to drips from the corners of every sound. While she has created quite an elaborate sound for herself here , she has not let it take precedence over the song writing. "Live in the Dream" pushes the narcotic hypnosis of the psychedelic overtones even further . The vocals drift more like Pink Floyd.

"the Melting of the Sun" mixes all the elements I just mentioned into something perhaps both catchier and more surreal .  'the Laughing Man" is much mellower. This makes me wonder who smokes more pot St. Vincent or Lana Del Rey. I think Lana because she is too stoned to really want to layer her songs like this and sticks to much simpler pop fare so she can take naps in the studio.  There is more of a funky groove to  "Down" when it gains speed. It carries an oddness to it that reminds me more of her earlier work.  It is not as catchy, though so well done this is largely forgivable. She makes up for this on "Somebody Like Me" that returns more to the Joni Mitchell like folk some of her melodies have flirt with . There is even some country inflected guitar. The melodies get further sharpening on "    My Baby Wants a Baby". 

She backs way off and get perhaps to the albums most organic point on " aa At the Holiday" .It is pop music if we are talking the adult contemporary pop music from the 70s. She closes the album with a smoky ballad with tripped out lounge guitar. This less of an odd ball glammed out pop album and a very mature effort that was made with drugs somehow in the mix. I will give this a 9.5, as I have already gotten several listens and played it for my wife who is not familiar with her work and it won her over ,she also agrees with the Pink Floyd comparison.