Music Reviews

A year after her breathtaking album My Woman, North-Carolina based singer-songwriter Angel Olsen releases her rarities album Phases. This treat gives listeners insight into how Olsen’s diverse genre palette came to be, reflecting all the different directions her musical abilities can take—from quiet lo-fi folk to sprawling psych-rock.

Phases is a multifarious album, B-sides that didn’t fit the flow of pop-oriented My Woman or the alt-rock Burn Your Fire for No Witness: raw and heartfelt demos of love and loss, and covers by artists that have influenced her musical and writing process.

It has been a long time since we last heard of Wintersun, with their last album Time 1 in 2012. We’ve been given a great outing this time around with The Forest Seasons, its heavy articulation with orchestrations making this album feel alive and like the beast that it is.

With the amount of teasers that Jari has posted on Facebook, we were all excited to finally hear new material from Wintersun. What we got was something out of the ordinary, a unique masterful album from the mind of Jari and what the guys had to offer us.

Set for a June 29th release, Still Flux’s sophomore album Habits and Dreams is a smart blend of acoustic indie and early 2000s rock.

Clocking in at just under 27 minutes, Habits and Dreams aims to capture listeners by exploring themes of darkness among almost joyful sounding instruments and a haunting synth beat. In doing so, the seven-track LP successfully breaks through genre barriers.

After a fantastic debut with his breakthrough album TRAPSOUL in 2015, which managed to reach platinum status, Bryson Tiller released his long awaited follow-up  album True To Self. Although the R&B singer had initial plans of releasing the album in June, he gave an explanation as to why it the album was released a whole month early in an interview with Billboard. The artist stated, "I can't take the credit for that. It was just my manager, it was his plan [to] drop it a month early." The album's early release took many by surprise with its unexpected drop, but having had time to go on multiple tours, and to get feedback from fans as to what they liked and what they wanted, this album tries to satisfy everyone.

After long-awaited anticipation for the new Ayreon record The Source, I am happy to say that this new album brings in a lot to the table from previous Ayreon records and blends them all together.

Shifting from The Gentle Storm, the man behind Ayreon, Arjen Anthony Lucassen took a different approach with this record, going more sci-fi than romantic in genre. He knew that he had to make another exciting adventure.

Album: Another Eternity

Artist: Purity Ring

Year: 2015

Label: Last Gang

Tested On: Grado Black – Realistic Lab 400 – Luxman R-1050 – Dynaco A-25

It’s a rare occasion that I decide to review a recent album, but this year’s Metal March at CJLO has proven to be such a time. As such, I have decided to take a look at an EP released earlier this year by Montreal locals Ritual Master, entitled Obscurus. I’m a real sucker for metal albums that use Old English font on their covers, so this one piqued my interest from the get-go.