Most Disappointing Albums of 2019
Honourable Mentions
"Social Cues"
Cage the Elephant
After what was one of the best one-two punches of the year from lead singles "Ready To Let Go" and "House Of Glass", the album that followed was sadly a very mixed bag of excessive balladry and pretentiousness that did not deliver upon the early promise of great rock to fill in for The Voidz. Nevertheless, it wasn't terrible and this is still one of their better albums - I just don't find myself coming back to it as an album. Decent, but definitely disappointing.
"Macro"
Jinjer
A somewhat obscure metalcore band hailing from Ukraine, they kicked off the year with a pretty impressive EP that showed off their raw talent as an exciting new metal act that wasn't afraid to experiment and play around with both folk and classical elements to enhance their style. This, paired with the lead singer's fantastic voice left me anticipating an album worthy of such a mighty title and cover art. Unfortunately, the magic they captured on their previous work seems to have completely vanished and I was left incredibly underwhelmed by pretty much every song.
"Father of the Bride"
Vampire Weekend
This album is on here mainly because of how inconsistent it is. Do not get me wrong, the highs are pretty phenomenal but the bulk of songs don't come close to living up to their last albums, and the six year gap between "Modern Vampires of the City" and this left a lot to be desired that Ezra and co only occasionally achieved. Some tracks are great, but when more than half of the songs are this skippable there's not the consistent quality I need to return to this.
Now, into the list proper we begin with...
10
"Jesus Is King"
Kanye West
I didn't expect this to be great, nor did I expect it to be especially fun, and given how many delays and rescheduled releases there were preceding the eventual release I was pretty sceptical as to what could possibly be taking so long. As we all discovered, Kanye had made maybe his worst album that proved how completely self-centred and out of touch he was with his place in music and society as a whole anymore, simultaneously affirming the longstanding critiques and reintroducing himself as more of an idiot than before. Kanye has said a lot of stupid things over the years, but the content and context of this album may have just provided us with some of the most ignorant and tasteless. He goes for enlightenment and ends up with an interpretation of the Bible I sincerely hope only he possesses. Anyway, whatever criticisms I throw at it, nothing quite tops this review from Spectrum Pulse as the most perceptive take on Kanye West's take on Christianity.
9
"Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost - Part 2"
Foals
Having just reviewed this on my blog, I think it's safe to say that my hopes for any future Foals album will be jaded as a result of just how far I was let down by this. Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost as a duo of albums is a pretty tedious listen, especially since both parts share many of the same problems; in Part Two these problems are only amplified by the lack of creativity that made Part One such an enjoyable listen in spite of a few glaringly obvious flaws in the performance and production of these songs. On top of all that, Part Two just has less standout songs and fails to entice thematically like it promised it would. As I said in my review, the band were so focused with their image and message being something socially relevant and important that they seemed to forget to make their music something worthwhile actually hearing. It's a shame, but only because of how much better their last album was than usual.
8
"Kirk"
DaBaby
He's one of the hottest new names in hip-hop, he's been hopping on features left right and centre and now he's released his mediocre sophomore album. Mediocre is a word I throw around quite a lot to criticise some things, but in this case what I really mean is that it's a very by-the-numbers, typical trap release that I didn't expect from an artist as previously interesting and expressive as DaBaby. He's been a great featured artist, and a couple of his singles leading up to this were pretty great, but I suppose this proves he's not yet up to carrying a full album on his own. It's always a shame when a young talent like this disappoints so greatly, but at least we've got a couple of solid singles out of this, even if it's surprisingly indistinctive and forgettable for a force of usually reliable personality and charisma. Perhaps it's partially a result of the quick turnout from his last album, or even the tight but often generic beats, but he's no more interesting than the next up-and-coming trap star.
7
"FEVER DREAM"
Of Monsters & Men
After one of the best, most interestingly rule-bending and yet accessible and fun debut albums of the decade, Of Monsters & Men took their time before releasing the rather underwhelming but enjoyable Beneath the Skin as a followup. Four years on from that and we've got the next installment and a pretty major change of tone. This is an album that in spite of how much time they've had developing it comes across as a work-in-progress. Many of the songs seem underwritten and unfinished, whilst the polished sheen of the production unsuccessfully attempts to cover this up. It's a rather smooth listen, but there's very little substance that would result in this moving from anything but background music for me, and that lack of engagement is a serious problem. If I can't engage, how can I truly appreciate or focus on the admittedly solid foundations the band lay down but fail to build upon for the most part. No, like most of these albums it isn't bad but there's a severe lack of quality and I find myself seeking out the smallest details as my favourite elements and biggest criticisms, and my review was definitely on the harsh side as a result. Still, I stand by my viewpoint and the main disappointment was my expectations of what this band can achieve, especially after the incredibly promising and honestly phenomenal singles.
6
"Pony"
Rex Orange County
Another case of a young talent failing to deliver upon high expectations set by earlier work, Rex Orange County remains one of the most hyped new artists in the indiesphere and his contributions to Tyler, The Creator's 2017 album Flower Boy are still being revered even though this album was less than impressive. From the catchy, cute nature of lead single "10/10", and the incredible "Sunflower" from earlier in his career, it was a shame to find out that almost every other track was poorly produced, poorly written and overall just poorly executed. I struggle to think of a song that didn't have blatant flaws preventing it from achieving the promise of potential that Rex had so many believing in, and it seems as though I'm one of the only people feeling this way. The reception for this album was somewhat mixed, but NME giving this a perfect score (a 10/10 if you will) resulted in my expectations increasing up until I heard it. My opinion plummeted from the second track and honestly nothing really did anything for me past "Face To Face". If anything, it gets worse as it goes along and the incredibly brief 30 minute runtime feels far too long considering how pointless these tracks become. It wasn't fun and it wasn't sweet, and they were the defining characteristics of Rex's music until now.
5
"Triage"
Methyl Ethel
In comparison to lots of the albums on this list, I can at least say that Methyl Ethel tried really hard to make this something special. After the poppy psychedelia of their last album, in particular the fantastic standout single "Ubu", I was left very curious as to what the band would do next. This album is essentially the passion project and self proclaimed magnum opus of frontman Jake Webb in which he projects his strange songwriting style upon songs that sound altogether far too much like their influencers, to at best mixed results. Aside from plagiarising the works of Tame Impala and MGMT to the point where you wonder if Jake actually lets his band members even play their own instruments or if it's all just set to karaoke backing tracks from which he gifts us with his unique lyrical style...uh..."unique" that is. He clearly wants to come across as strange and astute in his commentaries on life and society, except it fails to do anything other than bore me with typical relationship tropes and the odd naive comment, sounding both pretentious and extremely shallow. As I stated in my review, it's art rock devoid of the quirkiness so quintessential to the genre. In short, it's a-boring.
4
"a modern tragedy vol.2"
Grandson
After the explosive genre-bending of the first volume of this trilogy of EPs, I found myself frustrated at how lacking volume two was of the same raw power and diverse sound pallet, that just seemed to have disappeared in favour of a formulaic blend of rattling trap percussion in conjunction with predictable guitar melodies and a lack of the same instrumental that characterised his previous work. Only one of the songs really lets loose, the fantastically puncturing "Stigmata", which is stylistically much more similar to the first volume. Aside from that highlight, the other songs plod along, featuring dreary choruses and big synth and guitar moments that feel lacklustre in their impacts. The appeal of Grandson as an artist is how aggressive, creative and confrontational his art is, and the problem I keep coming back to is that lack of creativity. He stalled out, only for a moment, but it was long enough that this EP was the single most disappointing moment of his career, a sophomore slump and thankfully it's already been succeeded by the far better third volume.
3
"STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS"
FEVER 333
Compared with the other albums here, I wasn't initially disappointed by this release. In fact I gave it a 9/10 in my January Recap. I was enamoured with the amalgamation of punk, metal, rap and pop, a fusion that elevated the important messages of unity and revolution. I think it landed so well with me in context of the morbid winter, and it was a perfect outlet of rage to get me through to the spring. Around March, it started fading pretty quickly and before I knew it I was finding more problems in the lyrics and the performances than things to be in awe of. For someone with as much experience as Jason Butler, it was definitely a shame when I began realising how bad certain choices were, such as the repetitivity of the chants and backing vocals that would be more suited to a stadium act like Imagine Dragons. Too many lyrics fail to quite reach the level of edge they desire, and come across as cringy or misdirected, and I realise that the band aren't doing as much to break away from the system they spend so much time rebuking and when they should be rebelling with full force to back the sort of anger that Jason conveys, they allow themselves to be tethered to conventionality. It's frustrating, but I'm still hopeful for the future of this supergroup. "This is like nothing you seen before" - sadly, it is. Maybe next time Fever 333, maybe next time.
2
"Hot Motion"
Temples
Another band landing somewhere between Tame Impala and MGMT, Temples have always been an underappreciated act in both the commercial and critic spheres. I am a big fan of their music, and I personally found Volcano to be one of the best albums of 2017, so I was more than ready for new music from this band, particularly after they dropped the fiery title track as the lead single, its oddball bass making for a great foundation from which they built an epic track. Following this was the curious "You're Either On Something", one of their trippiest songs and a repetitive yet promising offering from an album that was probably my most anticipated of the year. They were going to deliver some of the best psych-rock once again, continue their win streak and captivate me for a third time... and then they just didn't. To some extent, I only have my high expectations to blame, but that only accounts for so much. No, my disappointment at Hot Motion runs far deeper than that. They've changed up their sound a bit, going for a slightly rougher edge that's supported by some heavier guitars, almost grungy at times, that seems intended to add some meat to replace the bulk of synths from their last release. It's a switch up I'd be fine with if the mixes were a bit sharper, as the lead melodies too often get bogged down and ends up miserably on the same level as the rest of the instrumentals, a move that doesn't flatter their usually very interesting song progressions. Instead, after 60 seconds of a song, you're left with as much substance as you'd get having listened to the whole track. In fact, the album itself is a similar ordeal, with the title track serving as the only song to truly progress past its first chorus. I sincerely hope this isn't the path the band continues on their next album.
1
"Dogrel"
FONTAINES D.C.
Dogrel is the only album on this list that can be considered universally acclaimed by critics. Not only does it boast one of the highest metacritic scores of the year, it has also managed to garner enough attention from the BBC and has achieved a pretty solid audience just outside the mainstream, meaning my opinion is going against the swell of mass acclaim and recognition. So, what made me put Fontaines D.C. at #1 for my most disappointing album of the year? What do I see in it that persuades me to consider so little of it?
Actually, it's more what I don't see. Firstly, I respect the absence of a straightforward political punk record that would only have followed in the footsteps of Idles and Shame. Instead, they opt for the less recently trodden path of focusing on local themes of their city of Dublin. They aren't the only socially focused post-punk act, but I was excited to see an alternative to Slaves and after hearing the single "Too Real" and its timeless, Clash-reminiscent qualities, I was hooked by this band. I went back to hear what else they had to offer, finding many of their singles to offer intriguing little windows into the kind of changing life in Dublin City as modern living leaves the band behind in an area of relative poverty. Their commentaries were fantastic, backed by the jangly rhythms of the 60s surf rock in conjunction with their very back-to-basics approach to punk riffs and I found myself growing increasingly excited for the oncoming release of their debut album. After "Big", a short and sweet addition to their formidable array of incredible singles, I chose to wait for the album's release so as not to spoil my enjoyment with too many teaser tracks. I had no idea how let down I would be by this album when it dropped, and I had no idea I'd find pretty much every song as underwhelming as I did. The singles that I'd heard beforehand failed to deliver in the context of the record, where the previously immersive songwriting just didn't seem to pan out. With every listen in fact I feel myself growing farther from these songs as they lose their original charm due to the lack of any variety in the songwriting or instrumentation across the album. It all sounds fine, but it just doesn't go much past that and I personally don't enjoy it nearly as much as a couple of different punk records that have left a much greater impact on me over the year.
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Thank you for reading to the end of this Year End countdown, I very much appreciate your time. Be on the lookout for my next list, coming out shortly.
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"Social Cues"
Cage the Elephant
After what was one of the best one-two punches of the year from lead singles "Ready To Let Go" and "House Of Glass", the album that followed was sadly a very mixed bag of excessive balladry and pretentiousness that did not deliver upon the early promise of great rock to fill in for The Voidz. Nevertheless, it wasn't terrible and this is still one of their better albums - I just don't find myself coming back to it as an album. Decent, but definitely disappointing.
"Macro"
Jinjer
A somewhat obscure metalcore band hailing from Ukraine, they kicked off the year with a pretty impressive EP that showed off their raw talent as an exciting new metal act that wasn't afraid to experiment and play around with both folk and classical elements to enhance their style. This, paired with the lead singer's fantastic voice left me anticipating an album worthy of such a mighty title and cover art. Unfortunately, the magic they captured on their previous work seems to have completely vanished and I was left incredibly underwhelmed by pretty much every song.
"Father of the Bride"
Vampire Weekend
This album is on here mainly because of how inconsistent it is. Do not get me wrong, the highs are pretty phenomenal but the bulk of songs don't come close to living up to their last albums, and the six year gap between "Modern Vampires of the City" and this left a lot to be desired that Ezra and co only occasionally achieved. Some tracks are great, but when more than half of the songs are this skippable there's not the consistent quality I need to return to this.
Now, into the list proper we begin with...
10
"Jesus Is King"
Kanye West
I didn't expect this to be great, nor did I expect it to be especially fun, and given how many delays and rescheduled releases there were preceding the eventual release I was pretty sceptical as to what could possibly be taking so long. As we all discovered, Kanye had made maybe his worst album that proved how completely self-centred and out of touch he was with his place in music and society as a whole anymore, simultaneously affirming the longstanding critiques and reintroducing himself as more of an idiot than before. Kanye has said a lot of stupid things over the years, but the content and context of this album may have just provided us with some of the most ignorant and tasteless. He goes for enlightenment and ends up with an interpretation of the Bible I sincerely hope only he possesses. Anyway, whatever criticisms I throw at it, nothing quite tops this review from Spectrum Pulse as the most perceptive take on Kanye West's take on Christianity.
9
"Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost - Part 2"
Foals
8
"Kirk"
DaBaby
He's one of the hottest new names in hip-hop, he's been hopping on features left right and centre and now he's released his mediocre sophomore album. Mediocre is a word I throw around quite a lot to criticise some things, but in this case what I really mean is that it's a very by-the-numbers, typical trap release that I didn't expect from an artist as previously interesting and expressive as DaBaby. He's been a great featured artist, and a couple of his singles leading up to this were pretty great, but I suppose this proves he's not yet up to carrying a full album on his own. It's always a shame when a young talent like this disappoints so greatly, but at least we've got a couple of solid singles out of this, even if it's surprisingly indistinctive and forgettable for a force of usually reliable personality and charisma. Perhaps it's partially a result of the quick turnout from his last album, or even the tight but often generic beats, but he's no more interesting than the next up-and-coming trap star.
7
"FEVER DREAM"
Of Monsters & Men
After one of the best, most interestingly rule-bending and yet accessible and fun debut albums of the decade, Of Monsters & Men took their time before releasing the rather underwhelming but enjoyable Beneath the Skin as a followup. Four years on from that and we've got the next installment and a pretty major change of tone. This is an album that in spite of how much time they've had developing it comes across as a work-in-progress. Many of the songs seem underwritten and unfinished, whilst the polished sheen of the production unsuccessfully attempts to cover this up. It's a rather smooth listen, but there's very little substance that would result in this moving from anything but background music for me, and that lack of engagement is a serious problem. If I can't engage, how can I truly appreciate or focus on the admittedly solid foundations the band lay down but fail to build upon for the most part. No, like most of these albums it isn't bad but there's a severe lack of quality and I find myself seeking out the smallest details as my favourite elements and biggest criticisms, and my review was definitely on the harsh side as a result. Still, I stand by my viewpoint and the main disappointment was my expectations of what this band can achieve, especially after the incredibly promising and honestly phenomenal singles.
6
"Pony"
Rex Orange County
5
"Triage"
Methyl Ethel
In comparison to lots of the albums on this list, I can at least say that Methyl Ethel tried really hard to make this something special. After the poppy psychedelia of their last album, in particular the fantastic standout single "Ubu", I was left very curious as to what the band would do next. This album is essentially the passion project and self proclaimed magnum opus of frontman Jake Webb in which he projects his strange songwriting style upon songs that sound altogether far too much like their influencers, to at best mixed results. Aside from plagiarising the works of Tame Impala and MGMT to the point where you wonder if Jake actually lets his band members even play their own instruments or if it's all just set to karaoke backing tracks from which he gifts us with his unique lyrical style...uh..."unique" that is. He clearly wants to come across as strange and astute in his commentaries on life and society, except it fails to do anything other than bore me with typical relationship tropes and the odd naive comment, sounding both pretentious and extremely shallow. As I stated in my review, it's art rock devoid of the quirkiness so quintessential to the genre. In short, it's a-boring.
4
"a modern tragedy vol.2"
Grandson
After the explosive genre-bending of the first volume of this trilogy of EPs, I found myself frustrated at how lacking volume two was of the same raw power and diverse sound pallet, that just seemed to have disappeared in favour of a formulaic blend of rattling trap percussion in conjunction with predictable guitar melodies and a lack of the same instrumental that characterised his previous work. Only one of the songs really lets loose, the fantastically puncturing "Stigmata", which is stylistically much more similar to the first volume. Aside from that highlight, the other songs plod along, featuring dreary choruses and big synth and guitar moments that feel lacklustre in their impacts. The appeal of Grandson as an artist is how aggressive, creative and confrontational his art is, and the problem I keep coming back to is that lack of creativity. He stalled out, only for a moment, but it was long enough that this EP was the single most disappointing moment of his career, a sophomore slump and thankfully it's already been succeeded by the far better third volume.
3
"STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS"
FEVER 333
Compared with the other albums here, I wasn't initially disappointed by this release. In fact I gave it a 9/10 in my January Recap. I was enamoured with the amalgamation of punk, metal, rap and pop, a fusion that elevated the important messages of unity and revolution. I think it landed so well with me in context of the morbid winter, and it was a perfect outlet of rage to get me through to the spring. Around March, it started fading pretty quickly and before I knew it I was finding more problems in the lyrics and the performances than things to be in awe of. For someone with as much experience as Jason Butler, it was definitely a shame when I began realising how bad certain choices were, such as the repetitivity of the chants and backing vocals that would be more suited to a stadium act like Imagine Dragons. Too many lyrics fail to quite reach the level of edge they desire, and come across as cringy or misdirected, and I realise that the band aren't doing as much to break away from the system they spend so much time rebuking and when they should be rebelling with full force to back the sort of anger that Jason conveys, they allow themselves to be tethered to conventionality. It's frustrating, but I'm still hopeful for the future of this supergroup. "This is like nothing you seen before" - sadly, it is. Maybe next time Fever 333, maybe next time.
2
"Hot Motion"
Temples
1
"Dogrel"
FONTAINES D.C.
Actually, it's more what I don't see. Firstly, I respect the absence of a straightforward political punk record that would only have followed in the footsteps of Idles and Shame. Instead, they opt for the less recently trodden path of focusing on local themes of their city of Dublin. They aren't the only socially focused post-punk act, but I was excited to see an alternative to Slaves and after hearing the single "Too Real" and its timeless, Clash-reminiscent qualities, I was hooked by this band. I went back to hear what else they had to offer, finding many of their singles to offer intriguing little windows into the kind of changing life in Dublin City as modern living leaves the band behind in an area of relative poverty. Their commentaries were fantastic, backed by the jangly rhythms of the 60s surf rock in conjunction with their very back-to-basics approach to punk riffs and I found myself growing increasingly excited for the oncoming release of their debut album. After "Big", a short and sweet addition to their formidable array of incredible singles, I chose to wait for the album's release so as not to spoil my enjoyment with too many teaser tracks. I had no idea how let down I would be by this album when it dropped, and I had no idea I'd find pretty much every song as underwhelming as I did. The singles that I'd heard beforehand failed to deliver in the context of the record, where the previously immersive songwriting just didn't seem to pan out. With every listen in fact I feel myself growing farther from these songs as they lose their original charm due to the lack of any variety in the songwriting or instrumentation across the album. It all sounds fine, but it just doesn't go much past that and I personally don't enjoy it nearly as much as a couple of different punk records that have left a much greater impact on me over the year.
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Thank you for reading to the end of this Year End countdown, I very much appreciate your time. Be on the lookout for my next list, coming out shortly.
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