Hogan’s Albums of the Week (10/27)
Alright guys, so I’m doing this a day early this time since I leave for Nightmare Festival tomorrow. Here are the new albums coming out this week. (Disclaimer: Since it’s only Wednesday, I haven’t heard any of these yet, just a few singles, and I’m familiar with all these artists’ previous catalogs.)
Julien Baker – This girl is just fucking incredible. Amazing singer/songwriter, but I feel like calling her that just doesn’t do her any justice. She has a great voice, and a wonderful way with words that will really resonate down to your core. You can really feel her music, as simple as it can be. I think the greatest benchmark I can set for her music is the fact that Brand New covered HER song. And that’s really all I need to say.
Hotel Books – This is another feelsy one. In fact, that’s also not doing Hotel Books any justice. This band will absolutely ruin your life and destroy you emotionally in the best way possible. You know how La Dispute and Being as an Ocean can really weigh on your soul like, hours after you listen to them? These guys are like that turned up to 11. You really have to prepare yourself for this one. It’s kind of a spoken word project like the two aforementioned bands, so if you listen to them, you have an idea of what you’re getting in to.
The Used – I’m actually downloading this one as I write this, but I’ve heard the singles. I mean, it’s The Used, I loved these guys when I was like 15 years old, but that whole quirky mid-2000’s emo image doesn’t really stand have the lasting power of some of the other bands from the era that were a little more restrained. The weird thing is, they’ve kind of figured out how to mature with it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Bert McCracken is definitely still Bert McCracken, but their sound has kind of evolved in a way that is still very much The Used, but kinda… works, but with more pop driven sensibilities, I suppose is what you could call it. I don’t know, this is an interesting one. I’d say it’s definitely worth checking out if you were ever a fan of The Used, which I suspect a lot of you were.
Winds of Plague – This one was kind of a surprise. Confession time: I’m really not that into deathcore. But Winds of Plague kinda went a different route with this one, it’s more like melodic death metal than deathcore, so I have to say, I’m into it. Or at least what I’ve heard so far. However, walking this line between genres leaves it feeling sort of confused at times. BUT it’s still pretty damn decent. I’ll listen to this more often than, say, the new Rings of Saturn album, at the very least.
Summary: take this with a grain of salt cause I haven’t heard any of these albums in full, but I seriously can not recommend Julien Baker and Hotel Books enough. Check out Hotel Books if you like La Dispute and being sad. Check out Julien Baker if you like music.