It took a while for SAINt JHN to be at the level of mainstream recognition he’s at right now. Starting off as a songwriter for artists like Usher and Jidenna, and releasing two albums in the last couple of years (Collection One & Ghetto Lenny Love Songs respectively). He would go unnoticed until earlier in 2020 when one of his first singles “Roses” would get remixed by Kazakh DJ Imanbek, making the four-year-old song a Billboard chart-topper and a TikTok anthem. Instead of reveling in the success of that one song and feeding into the one-hit-wonder fad, The Guyanese artist would continue working amidst our trying times, the result is an album that was never meant to be, conceived in the last few months on a whim, While The World Was Burning is solid proof that SAINt JHN is, by all means, a true artist. …

If there’s one thing right this clusterfuck of a year we call 2020 did for me, its that it reinvigorated my love for heavy metal, a genre I’ve been ashamed and judged for liking since my teen years. I got the chance to catch up on a lot of great albums and equally great artists such as Deftones. Matter of fact a few months ago I spent a week listening to them straight and talked about my favorite albums from their discography, which you can read here. Well, here we are now with the band’s ninth studio album Ohms and I can humbly say, never has the group sounded as heavy and as consistent in their three-decade-long career than now. Ohms perfectly balances the melodic and sinister sound that Deftones have been praised for, to create their best album since 2010’s Diamond Eyes. …

Admittedly I was never the biggest fan of Marilyn Manson, even during my younger days as a wannabe scene kid I never gravitated towards his music. I always found his imagery repulsive and his music never resonated with me. It wouldn’t be until I started my undergrad 5 years ago that I somehow got exposed to him (and a myriad of other musicians) through 2015’s The Pale Emperor, suddenly I was intrigued. I ended up going through most of his discography, educating myself more on his lyricism and his place as music’s astral vampire. Safe to assume I’m actually a fan. …

After years of development, a series of delays, and a massive spoiler leak. The Last Of Us Part 2 has been through hell and back, the events leading up to its release were as bleak as the post-pandemic world both we and the characters of the game were living in but yet, the game has miraculously arrived. I’ve been keeping up with the game’s release for years now, as a fan of the first game I was eagerly anticipating this sequel. I trotted through the spoilers, I mean I pretty much saw everything that got leaked but still, I was adamant that the game would still be great and tried my best to keep an open mind. I even aired my own concerns surrounding the spoilers, developer Naughty Dog’s damage control, and the direction of the story but I can admit that my issues were based on mere speculation, and looking back I hypothesized several things that were confirmed to be false. Overall the game was shaping up to be an extremely divisive sequel, as evident by the response from critics and fans alike who either love the game, hate it, or are in the middle of the spectrum. …

Run The Jewels 4 came at the right time. Call it divine luck or just a coincidence but the latest album from the rap duo is the perfect soundtrack to this time of crisis. It’s not the first time this happened, RTJ 2 dropped during the Ferguson riots, and RTJ 3 came out a month after Trump’s election. Both capturing the fear and hostility brought about by these two events. …

With quarantine keeping the whole world on lockdown for nearly two months, my days have mostly consisted of gaming, catching up on films from last year, and most importantly, music. As a means of keeping myself busy, I decided to expand my musical horizons a bit and to step out of my comfort zone by dedicating a full week to listen to one artist/group I’m not that familiar with, picking what I think are their best works, and doing my best Anthony Fantano impression by analyzing them.

Based out of Sacramento, Deftones have been one of the leading voices of alternative metal since 1988 with 8 albums under their belt, first blowing up in the late ’90s during the nu-metal movement. They strike the balance between heavy and artistic rock, something that easily distinguished them from their nu-metal counterparts that dominated the scene. Their music is unusual, to say the least. The contrasts between both elements were quite jarring at first but I’ve slowly learned to appreciate them in the past week. Namely stemming from Chino Moreno’s soft croons over the band’s heavy production. I’ve heard about Deftones vaguely, but never really considered listening to them. My familiarity with metal/rock/etc has never really evolved from my mainstays such as Linkin Park, Nirvana, and Slipknot just to name a few. Not to mention having read about Deftones’ style as being a bit strange left me a bit uneasy yet curious. So I figured now that I’m stuck at home, why not give them a listen and see what they’re like? …

***Minor spoilers detailing the leaks are discussed in this article.

If you’ve been following any gaming news lately, then you’re probably aware of the recent controversy surrounding The Last of Us Part 2, the highly anticipated sequel to 2013’s The Last of Us. Earlier this week, a disgruntled employee working for Naughty Dog Studios released information detailing the game’s plot and footage of gameplay and cutscenes. The leaks were spread all across social media and many fans (myself included) have been left feeling disappointed and alienated. To call this situation a clusterfuck would be an understatement.

I won’t go into too much detail but I’m a huge fan of the first game. I thought the gameplay was great and the story was amazing. Watching the main characters Joel and Ellie grow and develop this father-daughter relationship was easily the biggest highlight, its overall theme of blurring the line of what we consider to be good or evil amidst a post-apocalyptic world was such a poignant philosophical statement. I honestly think it’s one of the best games to come out this past decade and is definitely one of the few video games I have a genuine emotional connection to. With that, it set itself up perfectly for a sequel, all the trailers, and gameplay that showcased the follow up looked good. We’d be playing as Ellie this time around, the story seemed to take a darker tone and they were introducing a ton of new elements with the movement and combat. Despite the numerous delays, I was still looking forward to what might be the PS4’s last AAA title until the next-gen consoles come out later this year. …

Yes, you read that right. The Toronto crooner’s fourth studio album is his best body of work to date. Arriving nearly four years after his last full-length LP Starboy, After Hours is an amalgamation of every sound Abel Tesfaye has explored in his career. All the while uncovering yet another layer of his hedonistic personality over what is some of the best production The Weeknd has ever worked with. The result is one of Tesfaye’s most fully realized albums and certainly, the one he’s been trying to make for the longest time.

Stylistically, Abel is stepping into some new territory. If you were a fan of his works with French New Wave producers such as Kavinsky and Gesaffelstein then rejoice, as it feels as if their works have had a heavy influence on the direction of After Hours. With the help of mainstays such as Illangelo, Metro Boomin to electronic experimentalists like Oneohtrix Point Never and Kevin Parker. After Hours blends The Weeknd’s trademark sound of R&B and pop with elements of synthwave, drum n’ bass, electropop and trap. The Weeknd has slowly built himself up to become a versatile artist, and he nails it throughout every track on After Hours, like a chameleon he seamlessly blends himself into the abstract production so effortlessly. After Hours goes from the UK Garage/house-influenced “Too Late”, to the hard-hitting debauchery filled “Heartless” then back to the glitz of the 80’s with “In Your Eyes”. The album feels like the perfect blend of his earlier, underground sound with his newer stadium-sized pop ballads and each track is sequenced perfectly with one another. …