2020 Was a good one for music, a bad one for life, and I'm now recovered enough to look back.
June 2nd 2022
Hi........
2020 was fucked from March 13th onwards, and both Palaye Royale AND Bring Me The Horizon predicted the pandemic, I graduated alone, started university alone, and have been mostly isolated ever since, yet also Palaye, Yungblud, and BMTH dropped albums. It was a weird year.
So, I decided that while I will endeavour to review most of the follow albums in detail, I will give my grades on them now, just in case.
for those unfamiliar with my grading process, here's 0, F, 50, D through to A with plus, minus, or neutral grades, and 100, which means best of all time. I also have added 99 in the time since, which is 100, but I'm to cowardly and cautious to confirm it yet.
Note: I dont review shit I know I will hate, just saying.
In Chronological Order...
Poppy - I Disagree: B-, I liked it a lot, but there were many albums this year that if they were in the A category, I Disagree couldnt be imo.
Eminem - Music To Be Murdered by: B+, I thought this was fresh and new for Eminem, it tried to cut the commercial crap, and be the Slim Shady for the 2020's, and it reintroduced the horrorcore, one of my favourite aspects of older Eminem eras, he did good here, it may still be outranked by some of his earlier 2010's material and some of the oldest albums, but it certainly wasnt bad
Halsey - Manic: A, Halsey has basically been in A territory her whole career, Badlands for me was an A+, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom was an A-/A, and If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power will be an A/A+, I think she did great with Manic, it was interesting, had a nice Jennifers Body bit (the quintessesntial scene movie, like snakes on a plane, or the youngblood chronicles, sufficient scene, sex, and gore to delight any kid who ever had a MySpace). It was witty, pop and alternative and rock tinged, I would have only needed Nightmare on here to give this album an A+
THEORY (Of A Deadman) - Say Nothing: B, It was Wake Up Call 2.0, which as all of us know about sibling albums, often the older sibling remains the best, and it held true here. It wasnt butt rock, which was nice, like with Wake Up Call, but it felt like an entire B-Side album, and not in a good way.
Green Day - Father of All Motherfuckers: A...? I liked this, I have to admit. Did I LOVE it? Sort of but like I said, I liked it, so no? Is it the BEST Green Day album of all time? No. Is it GOOD? Hell yeah, particularly the title track, it is an okay album, seeing as after Revolution Radio I feel like they had the trouble of thinking about where Green Day goes from here. They decided the best way to do that was to have a unicorn puke all over American Idiot, you have to admire their guts. Plus there was We Told Ya So!, so they didnt leave the disappointed fans empty handed.
Hollywood Undead - New Empire, Vol. 1: B I think? I liked it, but I also haven't been as into the rap rock genre since V (Hollywood Undead's or Maroon 5's, take your pick), I only listened front to back like 3 times.
Justin Bieber - Changes: 50. I'm not sure whether Bieber is better or worse now that he writes some of his own shit, but this album has Yummy, and so he should feel lucky that he doesnt get a 0, because that piled up fucksadness of a song deserves it.
Tame Impala - The Slow Rush: ?, Its on my "Albums to Listen To" list, but I still havent got there yet.
BTS - Map Of The Soul: 7: ?, Also still have yet to hear it, but Boy With Luv and Make it Right are bangers, I expect a grade of B or up, unless I discover that I hate K-Pop by listening to this.
Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man: ?, Haven't made it to this one yet
The Word Alive - Monomania: ? They released an album! I need to check this out.
Five Finger Death Punch - F8: ? Inside Out was good, havent gotten to this one yet, and might not if I dont like afterlife, which I'm listening to today.
5 Seconds Of Summer - CALM: 99/A+. Its at 99 right now, unlike youngblood which is an instant 100, because I'm not sure Calm was as good, or if it was better. I think once I have 5SOS5 as context, I will be certain.
Awolnation - Angel Miners & the Lightning Riders: ? Again, an album I havent heard. I'm TRYING OKAY!!!!
Hayley Williams - Petals For Armor: ? fuck I'm so far behind.....
Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia: A+, A practically perfect album.
Palaye Royale - The Bastards: 100, easy, no words need to be said no explanation given just GO LISTEN TO IT: https://open.spotify.com/album/5274bCsoBGBuqed5yKLi9D
New Found Glory - Forever + Ever x Infinity: ? HOLY FUCK I DIDNT EVEN KNOW THIS EXISTED I NEED IT NOW!
Juice WRLD - Legends Never Die: New grade, 💀, meaning post mortem, means that since the album was not finished and released in the artists lifetime I dont feel right grading them on it unless they wanted it out there. I may do a review of this one eventually, and I recommend watching Jon from ARTV's videos on it, his channel and magazines like Alt Press are what insipred me to start this site in the first place. ARTV & Beyond ARTV respectively: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVOjJR_2CwJpGZ5JJhkeFfQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/BeyondARTV
Stand Atlantic - Pink Elephants: Yes, I will be doing a deep dive into Stand Atlantic, NO, I havent done it yet.
Marilyn Manson - We Are Chaos: Another New Grade - 🚫 I am not a Diehard Manson fan, and there are some HEAVY allegations against him, like Zach Hall, Daniel Curcio, get the fuck out type ones, and its hard to tell if its like Ronnie Radke, where it's just the myth behind the controversial legend, or if its that Manson is as messed up as some more protective parents would have assumed. 🚫 means that for moral, personal, legal, or other reasons, I'm not reviewing it.
Machine Gun Kelly - Tickets to My Downfall: A - Its literally 2020's blink-182 with a more pop leaning influence, and this pop punk MGK spawned the Travis Barker, MGK, Yungblud trio, which is fucking legend, I Think I'm Okay, Body Bag, and Acting Like that are all amazing tracks, and I hope that trio gets together to do more stuff in the future.
I Dont Know How But They Found Me - Razzmatazz: 100, one of the best this year, I may miss the Dallon era of Panic!, but DAMN is this ever amazing shit Dallon is up to, its like Brobecks reborn with Dallons most true and honest personality present in the forefront, some homages to the 60's through to the scene, and an ARG lore good enough to draw in Twenty One Pilots, Palaye Royale, and now new to the lore game Set It Off fans into the fold, and introduce iDKHOW fans into those other fandoms. The title track, Nobody Likes The Opening Band, the re-record of written for Panic! and recorded for the Brobecks song Clusterhug, Door, and bonus track on the deluxe version, Boys Dont Cry (a cover of a song by The Cure), are the standouts for me, but every track slaps. I am writing this all here in case I dont ever end up going back to review this one.
Nothing But Thieves - Moral Panic: A-? I have only listened to the album once, but I think I love it already.
Ariana Grande - Positions: ? I often just listen to the singles and the fan favorites, because I find I'm not a huge fan of everything, but she does occasionally make a song that I know I'll still have on my devices until the day I die.
Bring Me the Horizon - Post Human Survival Horror (Part 1 of 4): 100, I'm loving the shit I've been hearing from BMTH over the years, these EP's when put together will be known as their best project ever, I'm certain of it. The ambition of 4 ep's in one project is amazing, they are the first big band I know of to do a quadruple album, they are taking their time (unlike Weezer, who I pray aren't beating their careers into the dirt by once again putting Pacific Sunset on the back burner, and releasing 4 EP's in one year, which even BMTH realized isnt feasible) I loved this record from front to back, it has a thrash metal opener, a COVID fighting metal opera masterpiece, the most fitting tribute to Linkin Park thus far, a song that saw BMTH announcing that yes, Yungblud does belong in the rock scene, and making an amazing, what I will call monstercore song, an electronic interlude that is deserving of being seen as its own song, an incredible electro-metal symphony that is basically a modern metal Anime anthem, a rock song for the ages that sounds like it was written by an immortal who was tired of living, the song that kicked off this new era and also predicted the pandemic (Ludens), and the most spinechilling ballad, perhaps ever, with Amy Lee of Evanescence and one hell of a Fall Out Boy style long title. We are unfortunately more than a year and a half of waiting for the next EP, but we have one single released, one song that seems like it was made for the new EP but instead was given to Masked Wolf, a bunch of collaborations that I listen to at least 7 times a week, and lastly a live preview play of presumably the next single, "Strangers". I cant wait for this, I may make a small emogi out of the fire glyph I created and now use as the site logo and make it a grade that means beyond 100, I want to basically never have to use the same grade twice in a row.
Miley Cyrus - Plastic Hearts: A, Miley Cyrus reborn as a rock icon? I can get behind that shit
Hollywood Undead - New Empire Vol. 2: Same Grade as Vol 1.
The Network - Money Money 2020 Part II: We Told Ya So!: A+, this was the album we needed from Green Day, and fortunately the album got dropped before the Hella Mega Tour, which of course, I'm also bitter about because my date of the Hella Mega Tour was dropped without announcement, apology, or compensation other than the refund, which may not have refunded all the mini fees.
YUNGBLUD - Weird!: 100!, this album is beautiful from start to finish, brings the rock to the forefront, but still keeps the Brit-pop, the ballads, the hip hop, and the other genres he broke into the alternative genre with, its the natural progression from The Underrated Youth, and it is one of my favorites from 2020, made the year to come almost bearable. In fact I have no clue how he's going to match or top it, but his upcoming third and self titled album YUNGBLUD has a good shot at it, I only question why the amazing single he dropped last summer, fleabag, isnt going to be on the album. Standouts are opening track Teresa, closing track The Freak Show, the six singles, but particularly the second and third ones, Strawberry Lipstick and God Save Me, but Don't Drown Me Out, and lastly Charity is an amazing one in my opinion. I will post a review as one of the cath up reviews, and an article on my personal way of listening to the discography as soon as I can.
Thats all, thanks for reading if you took the time, bye for now
Tyler.
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