Dayseeker – Sleeptalk (metalcore, alternative, electronica). The neon-pink and blue cover of Dayseeker’s newest LP effort perfectly captures the somber electronic soundscape that drives this record. Rather than pushing the focus on harsh vocals and down-tuned riffs that often are the driving force behind the genre, it is much more about an electronic atmosphere accompanied by lighter guitar work and Rory Rodriguez’s soaring melodies. His effortless ability to sing in the highest of registers, and to blend it with his harsh screaming, is a gold standard of alternative vocal performances. That’s not to be said that the record doesn’t still pack a punch, however. Tracks such as “Crooked Soul” and “Gates of Ivory” still incorporate heavy riffage and the occasional guttural vocal, ensuring that we do not forget that this band is still heavy at its core. Sleeptalk will stand as one of the most unique metalcore albums of the 2010s, and the one that propelled a smaller band to the more frontline focus they’ve always deserved. Favorite tracks: “Sleeptalk,” “Drunk,” “Starving to Be Empty,” “Crooked Soul” Landon Tewers – Withdrawals (hip-hop, alternative, R&B, electronica): Landon Tewers continues to prove why he is one of underground music’s best songwriters. Withdrawals is a quintessential experiment in genre-fluidity, with Tewers using his background in metal and hardcore to influence his electronica and hip-hop sound. Sonically the album will bounce around from anything from huge breakdowns, to screamed vocals, poetic and rhythmic verses, a richly deep and dark atmosphere, and even R&B melodies. Tewers doesn’t play by any rules but his own, crafting an album that explores a wide variety of genres yet remains sonically consistent. What we get with Withdrawals is a wholly unique experience that only Landon Tewers could deliver. Favorite tracks: “Something to Lose,” “Threatening,” “Touched Your Skin” Ariana Grande – thank u, next (pop). While this album will be remembered for its upbeat radio singles such as its titular track, “7 rings,” and “break up with your boyfriend, i’m bored,” the meat of this album focuses on a lot more than some of the surface-level aesthetics that Grande is known for. To put it simply, the album is shockingly vulnerable. It is full of somber moments such as “imagine,” which intimately describes a relationship that has either changed or is not quite what it was envisioned to be. “ghostin” discusses dealing with the grief of losing a former partner while in a relationship with someone else. Along with Grande’s tender vulnerability, the album features plenty of different musical moments and hints of genre inspiration. The breakdowns at the end of “imagine” and “bad idea” show how she is able to tap into similar concepts yet use them in completely different settings with different results. Sonically, she leans on much more space and serenity than brash pop. While there are still standout and energetic pop performances (“bad idea” and “NASA” are standout singles), the strength of Grande’s newest release focuses much less on producing radio hits and much more on allowing her to explore this darker and more vulnerable side of herself. Favorite tracks: “bad idea,” “imagine,” “NASA” Apes of the State – Pipe Dream (folk-punk). Apes of the State’s sophomore record is all about growth and throughout the record, both thematically and sonically, the Lancaster folk-punk outfit reflect this theme. While group vocals have always been an important cornerstone in Apes’ music, the addition of new member Max Scott and her harmonies add an important melodic layer that allows songwriter/singer April Hartman to really shine. The contrast of April’s simple and emotive vocal style, underlaid by Max’s more sophisticated harmonies and varying vocal deliveries, allow different moments throughout the record to have their own unique feeling. Additionally, on songs such as “Better Off,” the band shies away from their folk-punk acoustics and break into full electric-punk gravitas. The album is littered with these different movements and sonic changes giving each song their own strong identities. Across the record, we find short acoustic songs (“T-Shirt”), more standard folk-punk (“Toothache”), traditional folk (“Piles”), and even longer progressive pieces (“Dear Mom”). Thematically, April really taps into this idea of growth as well offering us her unapologetically vulnerable and honest thoughts and feelings. With Pipe Dream, Hartman as a writer not only gives us her stories to listen to but invites us to grow along with her. Favorite Tracks: “Moments a Year from Now,” “Toothache,” “Internet Song” Knocked Loose – A Different Shade of Blue (hardcore, metalcore). “Make me feel, I need you to make me feel,” screeches vocalist Bryan Garris in the first lines of the opening track, “Bellville.” This opening line suggests the central question that acts as the thesis throughout the record: how do we deal with pain and trauma that surrounds us without becoming hollow and cynical? It’s this battle with apathy and jaded anger that Garris and the rest of the band tackle with their signature blend of chaotic hardcore and metalcore. A Different Shade of Blue, much like its portrayal of life, is an unrelenting assault. Chugging guitars interspersed with dissonant chording, electronic noise and feedback provide the sweltering background for Garris’ high pitched harsh vocals. The breakdowns are carefully placed, built-up to, and executed. This ensures that every time they kick in they feel satisfying and earned. It’s an album all about building tension (with frantic guitar work and hardcore rhythms) and releasing that tension (through metalcore-esq breakdowns). But this tension-release concept extends thematically as well. As noted earlier, Garris focuses on life-trauma and pain. The tension is looking around the world and seeing only pain and selfishness. From friends and family to overall society, everything carries this darkness and pain for Garris. His release is deciding that no matter how bad things get, he will always search for himself and find a way to feel better. It’s a fight he’s not sure he can win – but his exploration of these ideas gives us the same hope that maybe things can change. Favorite tracks: “In the Walls,” “Mistakes Like Fractures,” “Belleville” Whitechapel – The Valley (deathcore). Whitechapel has always been a band about horror aesthetics, often making music about brutal murder and dark fantastical imagery. While one might believe that these are still the major themes based upon the opening track (“When a Demon Defiles a Witch”), what the album is really about is much more horrifying. On its orange and black cover, something reminiscent of a horror novel, read the words “based on true events.” What we come to learn throughout the album is that the lyrical imagery is based upon the schizophrenic visions of vocalist Phil Bozeman’s mother. Bozeman doesn’t shy away from these horrifying images either, and in doing so, creates by far the band’s most comprehensive and darkest album to date. The Valley marks not only Whitechapel’s return to the forefront of deathcore but features their ability to experiment with the sound of a genre they helped shape. For example, the climax of the record is not some traditional deathcore beat-down. Instead, the album builds up to and resolves around its fourth track “Hickory Creek,” which only features heavy guitars and screaming vocals for brief moments. Rather, it’s a ballad focused around Bozeman’s newfound singing voice and tender delivery of it. While instrumentally this may be Whitechapel’s least sophisticated album from riff to riff and from movement to movement, the band’s songwriting has taken a leap into the stratosphere, and their aim with this record is to showcase that. With that said, The Valley not only is perhaps Whitechapel’s best work to date but is one of the most innovative pieces in deathcore’s recent history. Favorite tracks: “Hickory Creek,” “When a Demon Defiles a Witch,” “Black Bear” The Devil Wears Prada – The Act (metalcore, electronica). While the cover of The Act may invoke traditionally metal aesthetics, and the opening track “Switchblade” features one of Prada’s most aggressive songs in their last trio of releases, The Act is not about a band attempting to return to their metal roots. In fact, this may be Prada’s least metallic record to date, despite all initial impressions. There are plenty of heavy moments to be had (“The Thread” being an unrelenting assault of brutality that is perhaps the highlight moment of the record), but the focus again for Prada is the atmosphere. Even in heavier songs such as “Switchblade”, it breaks into an electronic bridge that for any other band would feel odd and out of place, yet Prada is able to make it feel distinctly them. With it being recorded live, vocalists Mike Hranica and Jeremey DePoyster’s vocal takes are rawer and more unfiltered, and the guitars and drums sound more hallow. This is a purposeful and well-executed approach, which serves in creating an atmosphere of space and emptiness that pervades the record. Songs often feature spoken-word type passages (“Lines of Your Hands”) and poppier melodies (“Please Say No”, “Chemical”) over these “empty” spaces, as well as resting on more electronic elements to carry them through. Prada is able to perfectly balance all of these lines and shows again why they have remained one of the best bands in the genre. The Act serves as a testament not only of a band evolving and maturing their sound, but also reflects the same growth of the scene they came from. Favorite tracks: “The Thread,” “Lines of Your Hands,” “Chemical” Slipknot – We Are Not Your Kind (nu-metal). Slipknot roars back with their first effort in five years and with a release that reminds us why they are the kings of metal. The album is much more refined and focused than 2014’s .5: The Grey Chapters, and overall feels like a stronger output from each member of the band. The album has a big sound, suitable for filling the arenas Slipknot is used to occupying, and one that is much fuller and carries a heaviness that the previous release did not. With We Are Not Your Kind Slipknot holds nothing back, often having songs last 5-6 minutes long, with various movements and progressions inside of them. It is sprinkled with electronic elements and choral work that builds around Slipknot’s iconic atmosphere and aesthetic. This, perhaps their first since Vol. 3, is a record that undeniably feels like Slipknot from front to back. It’s heavy, it’s dark, and there’s an air of factory floor grittiness that is unmistakable to the band that coats everything. They return back to a form of metal that allows them to build their heaviness slowly, while still incorporating spaces for more atmospheric electronics. As always, Taylor’s melodies are catchy and well crafted, with his harsh vocals just as powerful and commanding. Breakdowns pepper the record that will etch grooves into your head for days, and the guitar work replaces older, more frantic Slipknot, with more refined and mature riffage. “That’s what do you best,” belts Corey Taylor in the single “Nero Forte,” and this album is Slipknot doing just that, the things they do best. Favorite tracks: “Soloway Filth,” “Nero Forte,” “Unsainted” Billie Eilish – Where Do We Go When We Fall Asleep? (pop, electronica). Eilish may be able to make the case as the breakout artist in 2019 with her single “bad guy” becoming a certified hit. However, for all the things “bad guy” does feature and introduces us to about Eilish (her quiet, somber vocal delivery, dark electronic beats, heavy bass, and thematically off-beat lyrics), it also fails to completely capture the emotive depth of her whole record. Moving into the second track “xanny” we already see a darker and more nuanced artist. Her delicate voice is layered in buzzing vocal effects, and minor bass notes hit on single beats throughout the chorus to add a veil of darkness to the song. While these elements are the core of the record, Eilish’s musical inspiration derives from everywhere, from poppy jazz (“wish you were gay”) to darker, piano-driven alternative melodies (“when the party’s over”). Eilish’s goal is to blend these elements together to create a masterful pop painting. One that is far darker and more haunting than traditional radio pop is exposed to, proving that Eilish will be a driving creative force in popular music for the foreseeable future. Favorite tracks: “you should see me in a crown,” “when the party’s over,” “wish you were gay” Lizzo – Cuz I Love You (pop, hip-hop, soul). While Eilish was able to successfully break into popular music upon entry, hip-hop and power-pop singer Lizzo has been attempting to become a featured artist for years. She finally had her breakthrough success in 2019 with her powerful album debut Cuz I Love You, which finally gained Lizzo the recognition she so rightfully deserves. Some might want to chalk-up Lizzo as more of a cultural icon, with her body, gender, and sex-positivity being a staple part of her personality, and her feel-good singles “Juice,” “Truth Hurts,” and “Good as Hell” dominating the airwaves in 2019. However, Lizzo is an absolute vocal force to be reckoned with. She herself describes the goal of the record as an attempt at seeing “what Whitney Houston would do as a hip-hop artist.” And this is perhaps the best characteristic of the album. The album opens with its title track, where Lizzo belts a powerful and soulful melody as a brass section blasts in. She then proceeds to go into a hip-hop verse, where her poetic writing and sense of rhythm is just as good as any current hip-hop artists around. This sets the perfect tone for the album and for Lizzo herself. While she thematically remains very positive throughout (“Like a Girl” is a stellar pro-woman pop anthem), there is a surprising amount of vulnerability from the new artist, as she not only exposes her fears, sadness, and anxiety but shows us how she copes with them. Favorite tracks: “Cuz I Love You,” “Like a Girl,” “Jerome”

Honorable Mentions:

Bridge City Sinners – Here’s to the Devil (folk-punk, gypsy-punk)

Bilmuri – Wet Milk; Rich Sips (alternative, post-hardcore, electronica)

Stray From the Path – Internal Atomics (metalcore, hardcore)

While She Sleeps – SO WHAT? (metalcore)

Oh, Sleeper – Bloodied / Unbowed (metalcore)

nothing,nowhere. & Travis Barker – BLOODLUST EP (hip-hop, rap, emo)

As Cities Burn – Scream Through the Walls (post-hardcore, alternative)

Like Moths to Flames – Where the Light Refuses to Go EP (metalcore)

Hotel Books – I’ll Leave the Light on Just in Case; Equivalency II: Everything We Left Out (spoken-word, alternative, emo)

Lana Del Rey – Norman F*****g Rockwell (pop, singer-songwriter)

Counterparts – Nothing Left to Love (metalcore, melodic hardcore)

Norma Jean – All Hail (metalcore)

Emarosa – Peach Club (pop-rock)

Bounds of Modesty – The Family We Choose (pop-punk)

Fit For An Autopsy – The Sea of Tragic Beasts (deathcore)

Hobo Johnson – The Fall of Hobo Johnson (hip-hop, spoken word)

Tiny Moving Parts – Breathe (math-rock, emo)

Thornhill – The Dark Pool (metalcore)

PVRIS – Hallucinations EP (pop, alternative)

Gideon – Out of Control (hardcore, metalcore)

Spite – The Root of All Evil (deathcore)

Kublai Khan TX – Absolute (hardcore)

Being as an Ocean – PROXY: An A.N.I.M.O. Story (alternative, electronica, post-hardcore)

Sleep On It – Pride & Disaster (pop-punk)

Northlane – Alien (metalcore)

Secret Band – Lp2 (post-hardcore)