Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Rapture
Alternative rock
11th and final LP

In my journey through the Banshees discography, I actually wound up finding myself a new favorite. Given that they've been making music since the late '70s and are largely considered a pioneer of post-punk and gothic rock, even influencing the likes of Joy Division and The Cure (Robert Smith even played guitar for them for a period of time), so I'm ashamed to have never discovered them sooner. Their 1981 album, Juju, is my current favorite for being so far ahead of its time. The guitar work on that record by then-guitarist John McGeoch is insanely good, and he was a very unique talent. I'd recommend that one to everybody whose into somewhat older transgressive rock music.

The Rapture, on the other hand, was the band's denouement. It's somewhat of a return to form, for in the years after McGeoch was fired from the band for being an alcoholic shithead, the Banshees experimented with a variety of styles—often to mixed results, though I wouldn't say they've ever made a bad album. The Rapture is no exception. It's a solid final effort that doesn't quite attain the heights achieved in their best years, but has enough good material on it to make you think, "Yeah, she's still got it." I'd personally stick with the old stuff, though.

7/10

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Extreme - Waiting for the Punchline
Hard rock
4th LP

Extreme was one of those shitty hair metal acts that came onto the scene far too late into the game—you probably know the song "More Than Words," or perhaps the fun "Play with Me"—but since grunge was the new hotness, they did on this album what everyone rightfully maligns every other metal act for doing—the classic transparent sellout move of jumping on the bandwagon. It wouldn't be so bad if the music actually felt genuine or sounded like it came from the heart, but you can actually hear the lust for money in Gary Cherone's disgusting voice as he puts on his very best Chris Cornell or Scott Weiland impression for this hack of a record. It's embarrassing.

The first track alone was enough for me to determine officially that these guys fucking suck. It's a song called "There is No God," and in spite of the name, it's actually a satire and biting critique of atheist thought. There's nothing wrong with injecting your personal beliefs and convictions into your art, but reading into the lyrics on this one, it's really hard for me not to cringe at the sheer bitterness that this guy exudes at the mere suggestion that someone doesn't share the same beliefs as him. It's just a sour way to open an album, and only serves to alienate people who otherwise wouldn't give a fuck what you believe in. What is a song like this doing on an Extreme album, anyway? It's rather out of character for a band that used to make songs about youth and boyhood and shit.

If that song wasn't enough, though, look no further than the song "Naked," which is one of the most unbearable rock songs I've ever heard. It's supposed to be the kind of song you'd play for a sexual partner to, I don't know, "set the mood" or whatever. The lyrics are pretty hilarious.

So you want me to take it off
Just to see what's
Underneath my cloth
I'll show you I'm every
Inch a man
Measure all that you
Think you can

Naked, and I'm unashamed
Naked, with no one to blame
Naked, ya you want the truth
Naked, here's my birthday suit
Naked, naked, naked, naked

Call me a prude, but I can't think of a more unsexy way to describe a nude male body than the term "birthday suit." This cornball style of lyricism pervades the album and makes the experience all but unlistenable.

That being said, credit where it's due, Nuno Bettencourt is a great guitarist, and is the one saving grace of the record. "Midnight Express" showcases his talents pretty well, and he's the only thing stopping me from slapping a 4/10 on this thing. Not that it matters.

5/10

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Thunder - Behind Closed Doors
Hard rock
3rd LP

Generic and unspecial record by a generic and unspecial arena rock band. Unlike Extreme, however, they never jumped on any bandwagons and stuck to their roots despite the waning popularity of the genre, which I think is respectable, even if it only dug themselves further in the hole.

6/10

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Swans - The Great Annihilator
Experimental post-punk
9th album

One of my top favorite bands of all time, they released, in my opinion, one of their better albums in 1995.

Swans is a very difficult band to get into—very experimental, very abrasive, with several of their albums (especially the first four) sounding like these horrible, emaciated, mutant-like creatures that emerged from a tar pit, screaming "KILL ME, KILL ME"—but if you find yourself enjoying industrial soundscapes, transgressive lyrical topics, or extreme forms of music in general, you'll probably find Swans very easy to get into.

In fact, I would say The Great Annihilator is one of the more accessible albums they've ever produced, with a lot of the aggressive drum beats sounding vaguely danceable and relatively conventional song structures. Michael Gira's vocals are splendid as always, and Jarboe (whose sultry voice has typically been relegated to the background on previous albums, or exclusively singing soft ballads) shows her true range on this record. Prime example: the song "Mother/Father," my personal favorite, is an aggressive jam featuring an intense, roaring vocal performance from Jarboe. It's startling, yet awesome.

You do have some experimental cuts on this record, though, too. There's some creative instrumentation featured on tracks like "Blood Promise," "Mind/Body/Light/Sound," and "Killing for Company," which is always great for people who are perhaps tired of hearing the same old instruments being played, or being played in the same way, as a more conventional rock band, but not necessarily so out there that it's alienating.

That said, this is very much a "bad mood" kind of album. It's not something I'd play if I'm having a really good day, or something. It's a Swans album, so it's going to be rather unfriendly and uncompromising. As long as you listen to it with that in mind, then I think I've adequately prepared you. It's currently my favorite album that I've reviewed in this thread so far.

8/10

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Dead Voices on Air - Hafted Maul
Experimental
Debut LP

Dead Voices on Air is Mark Spyby, who used to play for Zoviet France.

Speaking of unfriendly, this would be a great example of an album that I personally enjoy to an extent, but would have a very difficult time recommending to virtually anybody. For one thing, I don't even like it that much myself. There's some good stuff, but it's not all great. For another, it's a series of relatively harsh industrial instrumentals featuring highly experimental production, but no sense of cohesion, purpose, or direction. It just sounds like a hobbyist making disgruntled-ass music for no rhyme or reason. Interesting, but not mind-blowing.

7/10

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RANKING (so far)

#1. The Great Annihilator by Swans
#2. Do You Want More?!!!??! by The Roots
#3. Dah Shinin' by Smif-N-Wessun
#4. The Rapture by Siouxsie and the Banshees
#5. Hafted Maul by Dead Voices on Air
#6. Daredevil by Fu Manchu
#7. University by Throwing Muses
#8. Amok by Sentenced
#9. Behind Closed Doors by Thunder
#10. From the Bottom Up by Brownstone

Next I'll be trying some Laughing Hyenas, The Human League, Van Halen, and Too Short.

6th. So, considering Verb won't change it for the remainder of the time left for him here, which means won't change ever, maybe we should pick something that suits his character the best, so people reading his posts could imagine him better.

Also the person who makes 6th post desides not to pick Verb's avatar automatically by this thread rules.

this is post #5; the OP is post #0

anyway, chronic got it

Is the OP the first post or does it not count?

that's you

in fact, only posts by unique users will count

so this one doesn't count

i'll probably never stop, but i'm trying to say fuck a little less often

but only because i actually want it to mean something when i do

shit too, but it would help if it wasn't so damn versatile

Quote from: Verbatim on November 15, 2018, 12:05:36 PM

Quote from: Aether on November 15, 2018, 12:04:10 PM

Violence against ideas is authoritarian

could just be cathartic

A lot of it is probably very cathartic for people, but it's still essentially telling someone that they don't have a right to express their opinion without the threat of physical harm.

A society where that is acceptable is not free.

freedom is overrated

while people are debating on whether the shorthand for this game should be "ultimate," "smash 5," "SSBU," or "smush"

i've personally taken to referring to it as Smash $5.99

Never thought Pikachu would sound like an adult male but okay

that's the other thing

in the game, he has a REALLY deep voice, which is supposed to be jarring in a comical way

but the voice of ryan reynolds isn't really deep enough to make it clear that that's the effect they're going for, so it just comes across as weird and random or something they didn't think about

i won't even buy a meal's worth of food if it's over $10, so i'd have to be crazy to drop $60 on a game without thinking about it first

Quote from: Verbatim on November 13, 2018, 01:55:31 PM

why is it not a good idea to wait until you have money to buy something

Of course it's a good idea to wait until you're able to afford something, but whether or not you should actually buy it as soon as you're able to depends a lot on what it is and how much money you have. It tends to be a pretty good idea to build up a reserve and have money on hand for whatever might come your way as to invest, get interest, build credit, put it towards big long term projects like property, and to avoid having to go in debt, defaulting payments, hurting your credit score or just screwing yourself in any way. It's perfectly fine to wait and save up for big(ger) purchases, but if you can't afford to just go out and drop as small of an amount as $60 on something you want, then chances are you're probably not in a situation where you should do just that the moment you've got some cash again.

i mean, i guess you're not wrong, in the sense that we could all be more generally responsible with our money, but i just think there's a time and place to be dropping wisdom like that

either way, i wouldn't describe $60 as a small amount when we're talking about video games, especially to someone who probably doesn't even consider them to be anything more than meaningless entertainment

why is it not a good idea to wait until you have money to buy something

Quote from: Verbatim on November 11, 2018, 03:43:59 PM

still, how hard can it be lmao

Around the same difficulty as Touhou on normal difficulty. You'll die a few times, but you'll eventually learn most of the patterns. You'll spend even less time if you played bullet hell games in the past.

not sure how easy true pacifist is considered to be, but i think i died a total of 7 times

i heard genocide is more tedious than difficult

okay, i wasn't sure if there was a difference

after experiencing the true ending, i genuinely have no desire to do a true reset for genocide, given the lore implications of that

still, how hard can it be lmao

Excellent soundtrack, unique premise and solid game design, but overall an underwhelming game that just wasn't my thing.

honestly the only reason i love it is because i get to tell a video game character that i don't like anime, and reject her when she asks me to watch one

whose girlfriend are you living with

lol no