Before you even listen to this album you are struck by Radiohead’s willingness to experiment with new ideas. In order to buy In Rainbows, you must choose how much you want to pay to download it. You can choose any value you like too, not just a selection. Interesting too, lots and lots of people have decided to pay the full amount you would expect to pay for an album.
The best track on the album is the first, the 5 beat show-piece 15 Step, and this sets an example for the rest of the offering to follow off of. From there on, a mixture of textures are incorporated from Thom Yorke’s layered harmonies on Nude, the abrasive sounds that accompany All I Need and the melodic time-skipping of Faust Arp. And Jigsaw Falling Into Place is definitely a top song. I tend to think after listening to it that they should have ended the album with it, but then Videotape stars to play and I realise they have got it just right. It’s not a great song on its own, but followed by silence it leaves a feeling of relaxation and completion, much in the same way Eclipse does on Dark Side of the Moon.
Average Song Rating: 3.2/5
Hits: 15 Step, Nude, Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Shits: House of Cards
Avenged Sevenfold have been progressing steadily since their inception in 1999. Formerly a hardcore/metal outfit, they’ve steadily changed their style over the years, giving themselves more scope for experimentation and eventually becoming a heavy rock outfit. Their latest album, Avenged Sevenfold, is once again different from their earlier works. City of Evil was the same in that the album was in a very different direction and this caused a lot of controversy within A7X’s fanbase.
This new album, altogether, is a masterpiece of songwriting and musicianship, the typical heavy riffs and wailing solos. Songs like Scream and Brompton Cocktail contain very strong riffs, setting a standard for the album as a whole. The ballad on this album, Gunslinger, is as usual, a very well engineered emotional trip.
There are also a few evidences of experimentation, with a selection of instruments featured in A Little Piece of Heaven and a vocal synthesiser used in Lost; a feature that, I feel, ruins the song. This album has some very good songs on it, but feels a bit disjointed. Put together, the CD seems more like a collection of good songs than one album.
Average Song Rating: 3.4/5
Hits: Critical Acclaim, Scream, Dear God
Shits: Lost
