S H I E L D H O U S E

         Throughout this month there have been a lot of good album releases, and also a good number of track releases from various upcoming projects from artists! Continuing off my last roundup, I can still definitely tell that the more "Summer friendly" music is making its emergence from hibernation. Generally this means in my opinion, that a lot more good pop music comes out around this time of year. Hip-hop artists adhere to this formula as well, many seeming to engineer their album promotional cycles for the summer. Just the other day Kanye West announced not one but 2 albums slated for this June... More on that in a month or so... John Legend featuring Bloodpop - A Good Night (Unattached Single, possibly for a TBA album)      The first track I'm covering is the definition of a feelgood, simple, summer pop track. Bloodpop is on production here and the resurgence of Funk that has become a trend the past year is strong here, with v...

Release Date: March 30th, 2018 Label: Blood Music Album Link      Unfortunately, I missed this album when it was released and am since reviewing this rather late. Before this album I had never heard of this band, and this album was my first exposure to them. Going into this album off of a Spotify recommendation, I had no idea that I would want to review this album. I knew nothing about it! Generally, Spotify will recommend me something that has been out for quite a while or has been out long enough for it not really to make sense if my aim is to review current music. Due to this I went into this album simply to listen with my ears, and not analyse it instantly as I do when an album comes out which I planned  to critique. I'm glad I went in open-minded and adventurous, because The Contagion in Nine Steps  is the most creative and bizarre album I have heard in a very long time.       Lychgate are an Avant-Garde Metal band out of London, sha...

A friend of ours from the Out of Tune Podcast  (check them out, they do good talks about music), Dillon Heywood, recently nominated me on Facebook to post "ten all time favorite albums that really made an impact and are still in rotation." Rather than make a quick Facebook post, I thought I'd put together a blog post to kind of give people an idea of what my background with music is. For this list, I'm not going to give an explanations of my choices, but as a bonus I will include my favorite track from each of the ten albums. Obviously, this list reflects my personal favorites as of the current date of this post, and doesn't intend to stand up to any critical objectivity. Also, this list does not contain any recent albums, but more so albums that have stuck with me through the years. So without further ado, and in no particular order... My 10 All Time Favorite Albums: 1. Daft Punk - Discovery 2. System of a Down - Toxicity 3. Rush - Moving Pictures ...

Release Date: March 30, 2018 Label: Get On Down Spotify Link     Czarface Meets Metal Face is the team-up album by hip hop's super individuals; Czarface, a group consisting of the underground duo 7L & Esoteric and east coast legend Inspectah Deck, and MF DOOM, the underground villain best known for his numerous rap personas (Metal Fingers, Viktor Vaughn, King Geedorah, and Doom to name a few). A true testament to Czarface & MF DOOM's superhuman rap vocabulary ,  Czarface Meets Metal Face is a lyrical gun show through and through.    I'm a huge MF DOOM fan, and every good MF DOOM fan knows that the metal faced villain never puts out new music anymore. Notably, the last full length album Doom appeared on was his collaboration with Bishop Nehru on 2014's NehruvianDoom . Even more disappointingly, back in August-September 2017, Doom had a partnership with Adult Swim to release new singles each week, free to stream under the name of The Miss...

Release Date: April 3rd Label: Independently Released Album Link      Mesarthim is one of the more well respected of the modern "Atmospheric Black Metal" bands, taking inspiration form the likes of Darkspace or Paysage D'hiver. The spacey themes that envelop Mesarthim's sound generally aren't felt so much more than they are implied. The Density Parameter 's surprise release allows more room for the space and cosmic influences breathe. I had first discovered Mesarthim on Bandcamp about a year ago, and the only reason I decided to give them a chance is because of the ease and access of checking out the music before buying it. I plan to do a post on the joys of Bandcamp at some point, cause for real I love it. Anyway, despite the difficulty of finding a good  Atmospheric Black Metal band I decided to check out this band  because of other's reviews. Others state that this is a band which is specifically better than most similar bands, and after exploring a...