Over the past couple of years, music has connected more and more people. Recently, many experimental albums have been released that have become incredibly popular. Says Mason Hanshaw, “Most of the new and popular releases, in my opinion, have really bad material.” Wellie McNichols now comments: “I was questioning whether music has a chance to survive, but now I know it has no chance.”
Across the board, albums like Billie Eilish’s “When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go,” ranked at number 1 on the Billboard Top 200, is different than the average mainstream release. A new aesthetic is coming upon a wide range of people, with the popularity of new artists such as Billie Eilish.
Says Hanshaw, “Billie Eilish has a certain style and form to her music that I think has touched and connected many people, however, it’s just not my style. As a musician, I can usually respect various types of music and artist motives, but Eilish’s style hits different than anything else.” As before, McNichols appreciates the music style saying, “the lyrics are pretty interesting, providing insight into a teenagers life in general, but this is horrific material that makes me want to vomit.”
Another popular album this year comes from experimental rock band Bring Me The Horizon. Their new album, “amo,” released on January 11th, mixes alternative rock, pop, and electronic music. The album has achieved overall acclaim, charting in numerous countries including the U.S.. The album “amo” produces a very different kind of sound from Bring Me The Horizon. The band has opened up to their fan base, showing different types of music far from their debut album. The band originally experimented with extreme deathcore metal, and now takes it all the way to their modern experimental electronic sounds.
Says Hanshaw, “amo isn’t too bad. There’s many aspects of the album that I’m not too fond of, due to their new electronic style, but Bring Me The Horizon is still holding on to a few elements from earlier on in their career that I enjoy.” McNichols believes that the album “amo” doesn’t have much potential. “The album lacks serious potential for any major musical reach while also having mainstream elements and flavor for charting.”
Aside from the mainstream setting, deathcore metal band Whitechapel released their brand new 7th studio album titled “The Valley” in late March 2019. Although Whitechapel hasn’t hit it big on Billboard since their album, “Our Endless War” charting at number 10 in 2014, “The Valley” remains popular among metal fans. Whitechapel vocalist Phil Bozeman recently added clean vocals to his singing arsenal, and put them to use in “The Valley,” adding a new element to Whitechapel’s music than many fans enjoy.
Although the album is enjoyable by many, McNichols believes that, “…the deathcore atmosphere of the album is toxic and terrifying resulting in a catastrophic collage of noise.” Says Hanshaw, “The Valley is by far my favorite album of 2019 so far. Whitechapel is just as electric as they’ve always been, and I really enjoy Phil Bozeman’s new sound on tracks like ‘When A Demon Defies A Witch’ and ‘Hickory Creek.’”
New music is important to society, to keep things moving and to feed a short attention span of modern day pop culture. There is a wide range of music being produced today, giving pretty much all genres something to look forward to.
Listen Up! 