Pale Horses - mewithoutYou

This has been my favorite mwY album since I heard it back in 2015 (btw, had to look up when I added it to my spotify library and holy shit, did NOT realize it had been that long). It was my introduction to the band and nearly a decade later the love is still going strong. (forever thankful to my pal Dallas fr sending Pale Horses my way <3)

It is honestly incredible how each of their albums sounds like a story turned to music. Aaron Weiss's lyrics are overflowing with meanings and annotations (often of the religious variety), and Pale Horses is no exception. The imagery that sticks with me personally throughout the album is that of nuclear disaster (and generally of the end of things)

Its rare for me to like entire albums, but Pale Horses is one of the few that I wont skip a single song. The way it looks in my head is like a watercolor painted animation, both with its transitions between songs and its descriptions

_ - group_inou

It feels like on some level this album shouldnt work; the instrumentals on their own sound like they should be backing an RPG and not being rapped over. I dont want to say imai's work shines brighter, but it definitly brings a different vibe. cp (the group's vocalist) matches the vibes incredibly well and I enjoy his weird amount of recorded sneezes (though I cannot comment on lyrical quality, as I dont understand japanese and do not trust google to translate accurately)

Not about this album specifically, but they recently came back out of no where after being on hiatus since 2016 and released an ep. theyre a unique group so i hope they stick around and continue to make more music for however long theyre willing to

Zoo Hypothesis - Tub Ring

A forgotten relic of past times, Zoo Hypothesis should be remembered more than it has been by fans of the...... nu metal? just metal? genre. I weirdly associate the sound of this album with Lollipop Chainsaw, even though no songs by Tub Ring appear in the game at all. They both just operate on a wavelength my brain has labeled as being the same

Musically this album is dense, it seems like Im still in the process of hearing things I didnt before in the instrumentals.

Populuxxe - Cutting Pink with Knives

I dont explore into gridcore really at all and its because I dont know anything else that sounds like this. was sent to me by my boy Justin <3 and its become an easy go to album for almost any mood.

I think what makes this work so much for me is how the pop offsets the grindcore (although im not opposed to it). A lot of metal subgenres easily just become noise to me past a certain point even when Im enjoying them, but Populuxxe gets broken up with more synth heavy sections that the 'noise' effect never sets in. This album is such an incredible treat