5 Most Disappointing Albums of 2018
5 Most Disappointing Albums of 2018
Disclaimer: This is a list of what I thought were to be the most disappointing albums and not the worst albums. For an album to be disappointing in my eyes, they would've had to have not lived up to my expectations. In other words, it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be. This is also just my opinion and you may have really enjoyed these albums so be warned.
While a large majority of 2018's music has been great, the year hasn't been exempt from a few flops every now and again. Due to an awareness that I tend to focus on the positives a lot of the time when reviewing music, I have decided to make this list to rant about some albums that I was hoping to enjoy enough to review, but unfortunately disappointed me enough to ditch the idea of covering them.
I was keen to listen to all of the albums on this list, but once I did, I would be lying if I said I was pleased.
So without further ado, here are 5 albums of 2018 that could've been a lot better.
#5
Palo Santo
by Years & Years
I absolutely loved the debut album from electro-pop group Years & Years in 2015 "Communion" which introduced to me an extremely fresh and vibrant indie-pop sound that made it one of the first albums to get me into the genre as a whole, so I had high hopes towards their 2018 follow up. But unfortunately, "Palo Santo" just didn't feel the same at all.
This is by no means a bad album and some tracks on it such as "Sanctify" and "Karma" proved to be quite enjoyable. But what made it disappointing for me was that it didn't feel nearly as original as its predecessor and with tracks like "If You're Over Me" and "All For You" ended up sounding like more of a Clean Bandit knock-off.
What worries me the most is that the tracks that I saw as uninspired happened to be the most popular amongst listeners, with "If You're Over Me" getting too many radio plays to mention. And this may most likely mean that Years & Years will head down that path. But only time will tell where they take their music next.
#4
Clone of the Universe
by Fu Manchu
This album is quite a unique addition to the list as I only discovered Fu Manchu this year. The reason being that the teaser track of the same name really excited me with its hard raspy riffs and consistent rhythm. Thanks to this track, I kept an eye out for the whole album.
But I kid you not, once the full album came out, I became bored half-way through listening to it and never listened to it again. Every track just seemed to sound the same and all of them were so standard. It just sounded like every other stoner-rock release under the sun, minus any indication of a signature style.
I can understand that the genre that Fu Manchu fall under is so specific that it is challenging to get right. However, I have seen plenty of examples of band that take this concept further and add way more creativity, which Fu Manchu haven't seemed to grasp in this record.
#3
Rainier Fog
by Alice In Chains
I bet that what you'd be expecting me to say about this album is that I dislike it because Alice In Chains were never as good since their reboot. However, their 2013 record "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" was actually great in my opinion.
The same, unfortunately cannot be said about this album. After a 5 year wait, I was disappointed by just how bland the album sounds. It still sounds like an Alice In Chains album sure, but thats just about the only thing I can really say about it, because it just has no character.
The title is quite fitting as this album is the musical equivalent to being stuck out in the rain on a foggy day; depressing, uncomfortable and not enjoyable at all.
#2
Kindness Is The New Rock And Roll
by Peace
With their latest album, Peace are on this list for a similar reason to Years & Years. However, it seems clear that they didn't even try with this one.
The indie bands 2015 album "Happy People" was extremely enjoyable. I was never too keen on Indie music before hearing it and its jolly nature, warm character and whimsical nature really won me over. Absolutely none of what made that album so great has been carried through to this album.
Try to imagine the most stereotypical indie song, multiply that by 10 and you get "Kindness Is The New Rock And Roll". It sounds like one of the most generic indie albums I ver heard. And if you consider how I felt towards indie to start off with, you can imagine that it really didn't sit well with me.
But what makes me cringe about this album so much is that following a great indie album in the form of "Happy People", this album almost feels like a wannabe indie record. It's essentially that one person that tries to act like a hippie to seem cool in the form of an album.
#1
ATW
by All Them Witches
For all of those who have known me for a while, you would know that I am really fond of a band named "All Them Witches". Introduced to me some few years ago, I have since listened to each of their albums. My current favourite is 2015's "Dying Surfer Meets his Maker", but I also really enjoyed last years "Sleeping Through The War" which I deemed as one of my favourite albums of 2017. But this newest album is the very first of theirs that I thoroughly dislike.
I was worried when the first teaser track for this album "Fishbelly 86 Onions" was released. The uncomfortably trip-riddled rhythm along with lyrics that made no sense made it a song that was hard to enjoy. Then "Diamond" came along, which stayed truer to their earlier sound, but felt way too overextended and felt like one of those songs that should've progressed into something glorious but pretty much stayed the same from start to finish.
Upon the full albums release, the majority of the new tracks suffered the same problem as "Diamond", just overextended, one-dimensional and uninspired bores. In-fact, the only tracks I deemed as quite enjoyable were "Workhorse" and "Half-Tongue". However, if you were to put these tracks on any previous album, they'd still be far from the best.
Even the name is uninsured and lacks creativity as "ATW" is just an abbreviation of the band name. Comparing this with the far more creative and intriguing titles, and you have by a milestone the most boring album that All Them Witches had ever put out. But what frustrates me the most about "ATW" is that it has actually made me like the band less too, and that is a true testament to how awful this album truly is.
Now that I've vented my disappointment, I can now conclude this list. I will still definitely be keeping an eye out for future projects from each of these bands in hope that I will not be as disappointed later on.
Thank you for reading
Booth Boy
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