picking a specific song to recommend is too hard so i hope it's okay if i give you an artist instead lmao. lemme put you onto grandson (the guy who made that insanely popular "what you gon' do when there's blood in the water?" song) his music goes so hard genuinely !!!! Death Of An Optimist is the best album imo but INERTIA also 100% deserves a listen :D
Grandson was one of those artist who I’ve heard a few songs from as well just listening to similar songs. I chose Death of An Optimist to start off with and listening to the opening track; this slaps! Don’t hate me for saying this, I mean it as a compliment; it’s giving twenty one pilots meets Manchester orchestra. (I’m not gonna pretend TOP doesn’t have some great instrumentations and I’ll always be a fan of the vocals so I digress)
The hard switch in the second song is awesome! I love when an album builds with one song and then cuts to something more upbeat and tonally a bit different. I can’t place exactly what it reminds me of but I’m digging it. I’m getting the impression that they draw a lot of inspiration from different areas and I love it. Man okay, I might actually be pretty thoroughly sold atp.
I told myself I wasn’t gonna do a track by track review but immediately track three gets another switch up with silent hill type rap beats and that’s dope af! I’m also really loving the chord progression in the chorus here. And that breakdown towards the bridge is incredible! He does the raspy yell SOOOO well too (one of my biggest annoyances is when screaming in a song just doesn’t hit that grit— which as a singer I know is really hard and can be dangerous but like.. idk)
Tracks 4 and 5 hit kinda the same note for me in terms of being the track’s more upbeat songs. They were a lot of fun although I don’t have much to say about them. I did like the lyrics of “Dirty” though!
I really love that interlude going into “we did it”. This is where it feels like Grandson is really stepping up a gear and getting more serious. So far I think this album is balanced really well with how the songs lead into the next. Some of the electronic mixing reminds me of Madeon’s EP “Celine” which I highly recommend for those EDM fans who like darker stuff.
I can’t lie, I am on WWIII and it’s not really my cup of tea even though I really am loving the political messaging that Grandson has been pouring into his music. That being said, I do really like the bridge and guitar breakdown following the calm moment. Ugh okay that third act break down actually was really satisfying. I think I just am not a fan of the chorus. But hey it happens.
Okay going into the last 4 tracks of the album, I really enjoyed Riptide as it felt like the peak of the album. The next two were kinda a bit of the come down which gave a bit of that catharsis that you look for towards the end of that emotional build up. And oh that outro 🤌 really fun to listen to.
Overall I think it was a really well produced album with a clear concept. Some of the songs started to blend a little bit for me, but that wasn’t a bad thing. I feel like seeing him in concert must be a REALLY good time! Grandson also knows how to build upon each song and hit us with that emotional high before taking the time to bring us back down and wrap it all up with that thesis statement in the outro. Very enjoyable listen, thank you for putting me on Grandson! I can’t wait to see where they go next and I’ll have to listen to that other album as well!! (Also as a last note I LOVE when there’s like that almost diegetic element in an intro/outro with the tape popping out of the cassette player; it’s so nostalgic and puts you into the universe that the album is being played in. Very nice touch!)
