The Diary of a Hobbyist

SCORE: 84/100 The dark and loud sound of 'Revolution Girl Style Now' is something truly unexpected - this album has a much more blunt edge than one might expect, and Kathleen Hanna's work as the leading lady for Bikini Kill is a title that has never fit anyone better. Her unique vocal range and tone suit the sound of this album exceptionally well, and the band uses just 20 minutes to make themselves more than known. It may be a bit rough around the edges in terms of sound, but it's an excellent effort that truly shows the full potential that the band has and that they would go on to expand upon before new projects came underway.  There's a clear grit to this album that makes the anger much more potent when it is presented throughout, and the somewhat homemade sound that still clings to the surface of this album makes it an even more interesting feat - something that truly feels like a suitable skill level for a debut while still bending the curve of social commentar...

SCORE: 96/100 Released on October 25, 1999, 'Le Tigre' combined elements of pop, new wave, dance punk, and riot grrrl to create an absolute joyride of feminism through music.  Le Tigre debuted into the Riot Grrrl scene with a delightfully distorted and danceable sound that set  them apart hugely from other bands that took on a similar style - making their self-titled 1999 spectacle feel like a massive landmark and milestone within the entire genre.  The band's highly unique approach to Riot Grrrl individualizes them a massive amount - their sound is wild and highly noisy while still being accessible enough through songs like 'Deceptacon' for it to be an album that almost anyone could get along with; and the end result of this experimentation and impressively unique style is an album that has a sound you won't find from any other artist - no matter how hard they tried to replicate the spark made here.  Not only is this album a massive feat in terms of highly styl...

SCORE: 98/100 'The Divine Conspiracy' continues on with the symphonic metal sound you can come to expect when listening to Epica - and their style was already deliciously fine-tuned by this point in their long-spanning career. Released in August of 2007, 'The Divine Conspiracy' serves as the band's third full-length effort together. It continues the trend they have set for themselves and their style with long, orchestrated songs with metallic elements that make the album feel instantaneously cinematic. This album uses its time and opener to set the stage for a massive spectacle that shimmers and truly shows off exactly what you would want from a symphonic metal project, and the end result of the project is over an hour's worth of sheer power through both string instruments and thumping drums and stellar guitarwork.  This album feels very similar in nature to Evanescence - and any fans of the band will be sure to love this album as well. There's a bit more ed...

SCORE: 30/100 It's never a good sign when the album gives you a headache before it's even over. The more R&B leaning opening sound of Jennie's 'Ruby' is highly expected, but pleasant enough to make this start off as an enjoyable output for fans of K-Pop. It feels incredibly well-suited to the genre which leads to it feeling like a slightly uninspiring body of work from an overall standpoint, but it's much better than some of the competition that Jennie is up against. Her creativity is there, but she's doing too much of it rather than sticking into territories that she suits. When she is leaning the most into R&B this album is good, near great at best - and when she's trying the more trap-orientated sounds that have become increasingly common in the K-Pop sphere, she becomes much less enjoyable. There are areas where she clearly excels as well as ones where she does not, and this album showcases both sides of her.  And if she had stuck with a more...

Hello all! It's been a while since I've done a more personal piece like this - but I'm just wanting to touch base as I have hit a pretty significant milestone! I uploaded my very first "real" article to Hubpages! You can find it here: https://hubpages.com/entertainment/an-experiment-in-industrial-miss-construction-will-make-you-move - it is my review for Kunstprodukt . I hope that this means that this piece can reach more people and hopefully teach them about an incredibly overlooked piece of music that people need to know about despite it being over 16 years old now.  Due to this branching out that I have done I am going to change my formatting for titles from all capitals to traditional capitalization - something that can help for searchability of my articles in the long run. I am hoping to spread my work out more in the next coming weeks/months, and this summer I may work harder to push my output out. This blog doesn't have the most traction; but it is a st...

SCORE: 100/100 Example number 800,000 why German industrial is some of the best you can get - see Miss Construction. Berlin's very own music group set the stage for themselves in early 2008 with this album, with a razor-sharp image that has been radically fine tuned into one deeply, darkly industrial, danceable, harsh, and sexy sound that you won't be able to get enough of. The deeply mechanical and throbbing sound of each beat leads each song into the next with clearly practiced ease, and the end result is one of the most underappreciated gems that the entire industrial scene has to offer.  'Kunstprodukt' often feels like the female image at its most dominant. There's a huge sense of control within this entire album - and even when there are male vocals, the undertones and imagery of the album make it impossible to see this as anything other than an incredible display of female power in a genre largely dominated by men - Miss Construction is in charge now, and we...

SCORE: 69/100 Too many skits, not enough standouts. 'Bang! Pow! Boom!' is a hugely ambitious project that is intimidating due to the massively heavy amount of bloat that it suffers from - something that almost every ICP album unfortunately suffers from, but it makes up for it with strong energy and a sound that suits the duo exceptionally well. The songs on BPB come together incredibly well through their transitions. The way the first two tracks ('Beautiful Doom'/'In Yo Face') lead together very well, with the transition between the two being entirely seamless. This album uses a lot more straight horrorcore/hip-hop elements while experimenting with unique sounds that feel as if they belong to the band - and despite some obviously poor lyrics, there are more potent songs like 'Vera Lee' and some genuinely good social commentary that the duo has stayed loyal to since their roots. Unfortunately this album does fall slightly due to its length. Over an hour o...

SCORE: 98/100 'One-X' is one of the biggest hidden gems that alternative rock has to offer. The songs here are all wildly catchy - and almost every track manages to feel like yet another highlight. This is an album that easily makes the cut for my favorite album picks, and the overall output on this project is some of the best that the band has to offer. The emotional output on this album is incredibly well done - every track has so much feeling it's impossible to ignore it, and the stellar deliveries both vocally and instrumental make for one whirlwind of feelings that are incredibly charged by lyrical content and thematic elements that drive the album into new heights. 'One-X' has a hugely undeniable energy that makes this album feel irresistible. The first half of this album is so strongly charged that it's almost impossible to think of tracks that can follow it up ending with 'Riot', but the band manages to completely outdo themselves and make one of...

SCORE: 76/100 Iggy Pop realistically has one of the most versatile discographies out of any rockstar, from experimental projects to rock, proto-punk, and now to new wave, Iggy has constantly reinvented himself. Working with James Williamson on this album gave it a fresh sound, and this album has a huge jump up in mixing quality when compared to his more rock-focused debut. This album is a bit less interesting and enjoyable than some of his other projects, but for a third effort that involves trying something new for Iggy - it's worth the time for any fans of him or the new wave genre. His presence is clear and it's what makes the album feel unique to him specifically, and the end result is something highly unique for his discography that helps to freshen it up. 'New Values' is a pretty standard approach as far as new wave goes, but it works well enough to be a good album - it doesn't compare to his debut, and it's clear that his work with Bowie led to some of hi...

SCORE: 97/100 Joost is probably the most mainstream (modern) example of gabber music there is, and his 2025 album is a huge spectacle of the style that makes him as loved as he is. His style is unapologetically fun and super enjoyable to listen to, and even the "weaker" opening sets the album up very well. The production on this album mixes gabber and pop elements to make something that you can truly bounce to. It takes classic gabber/hardcore sounds and meshes them into a more modern European pop sound that does wonders for Joost's carefully crafted persona and delightful showcase of musical prowess and uniqueness at every turn. 'Unity' has a hugely bouncy and fun sound that is absolutely infectious. Songs like 'Gabberland' and 'Europapa' truly showcase Joost's musical talent and how much fun he truly is as an artist. The sound of this album is something you won't get anywhere else - and this will most definitely wind up as one of (if not ...

SCORE: 98/100 For a "joke", this album was pretty stacked with incredible songs. Daniel Lioneye is a HIM side project that stemmed from tension/stress coming from the mass success being achieved by HIM around this time period. Three of the band's members (most notably Linde Lindström) came together to make this album, the lineup for the band would later change - but this album was the one that really counted due to the underground success/mainstream hit coming from the usage of the opening track as the intro for every episode of Viva La Bam, MTV's most popular series at the time. Lindström's unique vocals along with the heavier, more catchy rock sound of this project were a huge departure from the sound that HIM fans had been accustomed to - but for some, this was a welcomed project that manages to feel like a cult classic despite near nobody knowing about the band or this album nowadays, but even then, it's always been a hard one to find. This album has an en...

SCORE: 95/100 Bowie's 1977 venture into more experimental sounds with electronic/ambient music marked a huge turning point in both his career and the music industry, with this album coming before the release of Iggy Pop's 'The Idiot', an album that Bowie had done extensive work on before he conceptualized 'Low'.  The influences carried over from various German bands led to some of the sounds present within this album, with the overall sound being infused with more electronic elements which were also similarly featured on 'The Idiot' (which came out after this album, but the creation of the album began before 'Low' did). Hearing sharp experimental synths on music from the late 70s - especially from such a massive artist, is something highly intriguing. This album alone showcases just how influential Bowie truly was, and his visionary ideals made projects like this possible. Bowie's record label, RCA refused to slot this album for release for t...

SCORE: 96/100 Iggy's first album post-Stooges feels more Bowie-esque than anything fans may have thought he was capable of, but this style would soon become what he was known for through albums like this one and 'Lust For Life'. Due to the major involvement of David Bowie throughout this album - this project isn't typically viewed as a good indication of Pop's input as it was less of a creative project for him and more of Bowie's sound. The more stripped electronic/synth-heavy sound of this album marks a huge departure from the noisy proto-punk sound of Iggy's work with The Stooges, and this would be one of many introductions to the "post" punk genre that would define albums like this one. Due to the usage of more experimental sounds for the late-70s era that this album came from, it has also gained the description of industrial rock. It might not be the first album when you think of industrial - but considering when this was released, there's ...

SCORE: 96/100 Abandon All Life  is unspeakably shocking from the second you press play - and the energy never stops. If you know anything about Nails, you know what you're getting into with this album - and this manages to be even more striking than some of their other work. The band took all of the grit and heaviness of their debut and tweaked it even more to make their second album just as incredible - if not more. It may seem hard to follow up an album like their debut, but they always manage to outdo themselves and make themselves their only real competitors in terms of both sound and energy. The pace of this album is entirely relentless - and the product is stupefying.  There are some longer songs on this album for the band's standards, and this album would help to pave the way for the project that would later follow. The regular track lengths (when they are used) make this album more consistent and palatable/memorable as it has more substance to work with on each of the ...

SCORE: 89/100 The most unique thing about Jack Off Jill's sound easily comes from the vocal performances throughout their music, with this album having more of a "cute" vocal style that makes the screaming moments hit that much harder. The instrumental sound of the band is cohesive and strikingly enjoyable; and both the instrumentals and vocals come together into one angry pile of striking punk music by a refreshingly feminine band. This album feels like a huge bomb (filled with glitter) going off right in front of your face. It's a huge spectacle that shows off exactly what the band is about while giving unique glimpses into their style and paving the way for their next project. This album sets an extremely high bar for the rest of their catalogue; and rightfully so. The alternative riot grrrl sound of this album sets these girls apart from other bands within their genre by a huge amount. The sound of this album isn't afraid to be silly and poke fun at others whi...

SCORE: 96/100 Despite never really listening to Car Seat Headrest outside of a small handful of songs, I've gained a knowledge about the band (and this album in particular) due to my friend's interest in them. The entire concept of this album with all of the characters and how it takes the form of a rock opera was something quite appealing to me, and this is the album that made me want to listen to them more than I once had. 'The Scholars' is the bands' first rock opera to contain characters on such a large scale, with this album being a huge departure from their previous albums in terms of approach - meaning that it was well worth the time it took to fine-tune and create, because the end result is truthfully something to marvel at. I'm not usually one for albums that have small numbers of tracks and long runtimes despite the small amount of songs, but this album is striking enough to make that seem like a very miniscule factor. The layering in the production is...

SCORE: 73/100 The somewhat lesser known of the Simpson sisters didn't have a very long running musical career, but this album is a telling venture into Ashlee's personal sound and style - something that differs strongly from her sister Jessica. Ashlee has a solid enough approach on her third and final album; but problems arise in the somewhat lackluster sound and her poor vocal performances.  My expectations were rightfully not so high for this album - not in a sense where I didn't think I would like it, but in a sense where I knew I wouldn't be huge on this. Ashlee has some catchy choruses, hooks, and good production; but her voice makes her music almost hard to listen to properly at times. The sound of this album mixes and matches with different sounds and acts as a love letter of sorts to the 1980s with some of the genres it pays homage to - but nothing sticks too much to make this album one that will leave a lasting impression. An issue with the Simpson sisters is t...

SCORE: 70/100 Mortician's second album leans heavily into horror elements, with disturbing vocal samples and heavy sounds that make the 28-tracked album feel both ambitious and full of an unmistakable level of grit. The instrumentals are fast and incredibly violent from the second the music starts, with sharp guitars and harsh drumming that feel like a musical dagger at every turn. The genre title of brutal death metal fits this album even better than anyone could ever possibly expect. It's heavy and distorted with a level of grit and power I have yet to hear from any other album; the sound is crisp and sharp while still being muddy due to the sheer intensity of everything coming together - and if one album could be described as a huge punch to the face, this would be it.  It's a simply horrific album in every way possible. The sound is loud and completely unapologetic to an extreme degree, the vocals are muddled and almost unmanageably unintelligible, and this album produc...

SCORE: 98/100 Rammstein managed to create their own genre in the form of Neue Deutsche Härte, and this album is a strikingly good time of an example of exactly what the genre is all about. The dark and heavy (yet danceable) sound of Rammstein is shown off incredibly well throughout 'Sehnsucht', and the mixing and matching of sounds here is what the band is all about. This album is a lot more driven on synths and catchy sounds than one might expect just hearing the heavy 'Du Hast' beforehand, but songs like 'Engel' and 'Tier' showcase a side of Rammstein that is more built on synth-heavy industrial sounds that feel suited for the most gothic, vampiric of dancefloors.  'Sehnsucht' is a groundbreaking achievement for German music - showcasing that German bands truly hold industrial music on the tips of their fingers (with KMFDM following suit alongside Rammstein). This album is the first and only album entirely spoken in German to be certified plati...

SCORE: 91/100 Fifteen full-length albums in and the band has still got it - despite being released in 2007, 'Tohuvabohu' still sounds just as fresh as their other works, and it is undoubtedly one of their most underlooked projects.  The slight issue with 'Tohuvabohu' is how it lacks the same captivatingly heavy/high energy that their other projects possess. Although it does pick up, the album starts on a lower note that may make it seem less appealing than it is in actuality - but the end result is striking. Despite starting off on one of their weakest notes (especially for a band that does openers so well; which is even more ironic with the KMFDM-glory quotes scattered throughout 'Superpower', which might just be one of their weakest songs in terms of energy), 'Tohuvabohu' redeems itself enough to be enjoyable. It's a lot less heavy and hard-hitting than some of their other albums, but songs like 'Looking For Strange' with memorable choruses...

SCORE: 96/100 The second coming of Cradle of Filth is much more polished than their debut - and it's clear that they knew exactly where they wanted to go in terms of sound and eventual style. The album will take you through slow and hauntingly heavy tracks with an atmosphere that is even more eerie than their first album - and this cloud of darkness showcases the band's style perfectly. Cradle of Filth continue their atmospheric and heavy storytelling with gothic and horror elements that make this album highly unique when compared to work by any other band. The style that they manage to pull off here is some of the most technically impressive that they have put out - and knowing that this is just their second album makes this fact that much more profound. They have always had a sort of clear prowess for metal and its various elements that makes their music that much more alluring - and this album is one of their best artistic outputs with a drastic feeling of consistency and co...

SCORE: 70/100 You'll either love it or hate it - and Gwar have been polarizing from the very beginning. The quality of this album shows that it's the band's debut - there are some spots that show room for improvement; but it's a hell of a good time nonetheless and the band manages to show what they're all about with just this album alone. 'Hell-O!' has a style you simply won't get from any other band, and despite some issues with the mixing - this album is a bundle of fun and great ideas done very well. Gwar went into this album with a solid idea on what they wanted to do and the characters that they wanted to play through their songs and costuming and they executed these concepts quite well. They have room to expand upon each idea and to make their music sound even more polished - but the grit and somewhat amateurish sound here almost suits them. There are some questionable moments on this album that feel highly on-brand for the group, and their debauch...

SCORE: 98/100 Despite being the album to help get Clutch just a bit more commercially recognized - 'Blast Tyrant' is still something of a hidden gem. It has a heavier rock sound that brings in hard rock influences to make this album chock-full of incredibly memorable and captivating guitar riffs that will have you pulled in the minute the album kicks off.  'Blast Tyrant' keeps some of the groove rock elements as their previous albums while still leaning heavily into stoner rock - dabbling in heavier and more commercial sounds while still staying true to the band's unique and polarizing sound. Outputs like this from the band make me really wonder how there's such a widely held opinion of people not liking them - but this album is near-impossible to not like; even if its just slightly. Each track is unique enough from its predecessor - but this manages to stay true while the album is entirely consistent. There's a style that stays in-tact incredibly well throu...

SCORE: 94/100 Now this is a project exciting enough to get me there the day it releases. PinkPantheress continues her lush, girly approach to drum and bass with synth-driven breaks and soft singing that compliment her image to perfection. 'Fancy That' is so stylized no other artist could even dream of making anything quite like it - and Pink makes it clear that it comes to her naturally. This mixtape has helped to fine-tune her image even more than it already once was. She has a much more polished style while still staying true to herself - and it's clear that she's somehow improved and refined her musical palate even more since her last effort. Her clear ear for sampling and interpolating iconic artists (Basement Jaxx, Panic! At the Disco) and making these sounds her own is deeply impressive - and 'Girl Like Me' is one of her best songs to date.  'Fancy That' mixes club beats with something much more inspired than most. There's a clear sense of arti...

SCORE: 19/100 I figured it's been too long since I listened to a bad album - and maybe I should've kept the good streak going on for a little while longer. This is 14 minutes that I could've spent doing anything else. 'Count Up Dracula' feels like a wannabe mumble rapper who got lured and trapped into making rock/punk music, and the end result is highly unfavorable. Instrumentally, this project isn't half bad - the issue comes from the vocals, lyrics, style, and mixing. The mixing is a mess and the lyrics are either far too muffled or WAY too loud, and the trap vocals mixed with punk rock instrumentals makes this project a pain to get through within the first two songs alone. 'Count Up Dracula' suffers the most from the poor vocal performances, with jaydes' style seeming highly unfit for the genre he went into with this project. Any attempts at being edgy or cool manage to fall completely flat into territories that aren't even so bad they're ...

SCORE: 90/100 Fast-paced skate punk that captures the sounds that would make 2000s skate culture as bold as it was - but much before this culture had even bloomed. The fact that this album was released in 1988 deeply surprised me as it feels like something straight out of the 90s/2000s skateboarding boom - but it's albums like this that helped to gradually build up the culture. The sound of this album is exactly what you could possibly want from a skate punk record, it's fast, sharp, and full of energy that is genuinely infectious and deeply enjoyable to listen to at every point. The songs are short and the album whips passed in just 26 minutes; but punk projects use short runtimes best. The formatting of this album follows the standard that makes all punk albums so great - and it expands on the clear blueprint to make something that stands out from the crowd. 'Suffer' is mixed incredibly well and the instrumentals are of particularly high quality. The vocal performance...

SCORE: 97/100 The raw, gritty energy of the music involved in skateboarding projects can either make or break any game, video, or piece of advertising - the Tony Hawk soundtracks help to make his games what they are; with this soundtrack being considered one of the best of the huge lot of his video game franchise. This soundtrack is heavily focused on punk music and it uses the songs wisely to create a grimy atmosphere full of the ruggedness you would wish for from a skateboarding project. It takes the energy of skateboarding tapes in the format of a video game soundtrack instead, and this compilation of tracks was put together particularly well. It's an album that will instantly take you back in time to the period it is from - and it perfectly emulates the energy of 2000s skate culture in such a familiar and alluring way that this is a hard album to turn your nose up at. This soundtrack utilizes cover versions of classic punk songs to make a fresh batch of tracks that are all just...

SCORE: 87/100 'INSTITUTIONAL TRUST' manages to be an EP that is the length of just one standard song - but it packs enough punch to be immensely enjoyable, with the short runtime making the energy seem that much more intense with every riff of the guitar and guttural vocal performance throughout. Poison Spear is an artist that shows a hell of a lot of potential with just these three tracks alone. One would think a project this short would feel at least a little bit underdeveloped - but this EP doesn't suffer from this one bit. Instead of the runtime feeling like not enough, 'INSTITUTIONAL TRUST' feels like the perfect sample of what Poison Spear is capable of - setting a high standard and making more projects highly exciting in the process. This is an EP that will be over before you know it - and it's one that will certainly leave you wishing for more from Poison Spear. This makes them an artist you should definitely keep an eye out for. Knowing that they're...

SCORE: 98/100 The Stooges took one more 70s victory lap before moving into a new gear - but this album manages to build up off of their previous two in the most impressive way possible, 'Raw Power' does suffer from some mixing issues - but the sheer force of the album is an undeniable thing. This project takes everything that was great about The Stooges' previous two albums and expands upon those elements to make their magnum opus - one that is more fronted around the solo star of the group, Iggy Pop. This would be the start of his solo career with the album being released under "Iggy and The Stooges" rather than just The Stooges. Iggy was moving on to bigger things - but he had to leave one bigger; biggest thing as a final salute with The Stooges under his belt. The mix of noisy rock and softer sounds make this album deeply immersive and genuinely enjoyable to listen to. The vocal efforts from Iggy Pop are unique and highly interesting to listen to; and his perso...

SCORE: 79/100 Eurodance/electropop Ween. Just that mere set of genre descriptors shows… what you can expect from this EP as a whole. ‘Friends’ may be bad in theory — but the opening track makes itself enjoyable that it weaves its way into guilty pleasure territory. It works better in practice than I personally expected it to; it may not be as good artistically as their other works, but the fact they managed to experiment this deeply and make it work as well as it could — well, it almost makes this EP a certain kind of impressive. An impressiveness so deeply rooted in cookiness — something only Ween could pull off to this extent and magnitude. Dean described this EP as "The ultimate party record, filled with good beats and good times. Perfect for your barbecue or doing bong hits or whatever it is that you guys do.", and he’s right to an extent. It might not be something that would be well-received at a party — but if the patrons were drunk enough? This might just pack the righ...