November 10 – November 17 – The Blue Banner

This week, I’ve got another four albums for your listening ears. There will be three new albums from the past week (on a monday to monday basis) and one classic album we’re celebrating the anniversary of. 

All Washed Up – Cheap Trick

6.2/10

I actually quite like Cheap Trick. They make about as basic power pop music as you can, but they’re quite good at it and their first three albums have a lot of great tracks. A lot of this love does come from the fact that they are open about their love of and influence from Electric Light Orchestra (my favorite band), but I digress. I didn’t know this until doing research for this review, but Cheap Trick actually has been releasing albums every few years since the late ‘70s, which is very impressive.

I honestly am not entirely sure what to say about this record! It’s obviously not their most incredible work and it’s not breaking any new ground, musically it’s basically the same AOR they were making in their heyday. The guitars are basic but have a nice tone, riffs aren’t extremely catchy or creative but serve the job well. The drumming, while fine, is mixed pretty poorly and at times it makes them sound like youtube free beats.

My main critique is that lead singer Rob Zander struggles a lot of the time on the vocals. Don’t get me wrong, he sounds great for 72, tracks like “The Best Thing” are scarily close to the kind of performance he put on in his prime, the vocals are admittedly pleasant– but man, so many of the tracks are hard to listen to due to his vocals. The title track “All Washed Up” and “Twelve Gates” are the worst offenders but there are moments throughout most of the other tracks that have some wince-inducing moments. 

Some tracks feel directionless. “Bet It All” is mostly slow and pounding but there’s a tapping guitar solo thrown haphazardly in the middle of the record. Some tracks are pretty repetitive: “Bet It All”, “Bad Blood” and “Dancing With The Band” have almost no variety in their structure– even the verses and choruses sound too similar.

This record is not an incredible record by any means, but dammit I have a soft spot for Cheap Trick and their sound. Other than some of the highlight singles I don’t see myself returning to this album over their earlier work, but it’s no doubt impressive they managed to pump out another album at this quality at their age.

Eusexua Afterglow – FKA Twigs

5.5/10

Well first things first– I love this album cover. It’s one of my favorites from this past year– maybe even my favorite of 2025. It’s much better than the original design for the album which was just a blue filter over the “Eusexua” cover. Some clarification here is important regarding the album and its naming. Originally it was conceived as a deluxe edition for FKA twig’s record this year “Eusexua” but it evolved into its own sequel album. Now, for some reason to promote the release of this album she also released four bonus tracks on the ORIGINAL “Eusexua” that AREN’T on this record. Confusing, but it’s her album I suppose.

Speaking of albums, it’s high time I start talking about it. I’ve never been huge into EDM, if it’s done right I can certainly enjoy it, though I never seek it out unless it’s gaining tons of steam in the community. Well, I listened to “Eusexua” when it first came out and it was a perfectly serviceable EDM record. Now, listening to “Eusexua Afterglow” it’s a perfectly serviceable albeit a little more forgettable EDM record (afterglow).

At many times listening through I found myself enjoying this record– but when I went to look at the tracklist to remember the songs I thought to be standouts, I found myself totally unable to remember anything from this record. “Predictable Girl” seemed to be my favorite, it’s got a creative breakbeat and– that’s about it actually. I was going to say it’s got a “danceable” beat but every track on this album does. 

Many of the tracks are not just empty or forgettable but outright boring. “Sushi” and “Slushy” are both empty, tiring pieces of work that go on far too long for how little they implement. It’s not till the very end of “Sushi” that anything interesting happens and by the time you’re getting into it– the song is over and it’s onto the next. Even the PinkPanthress feature is blown on “Wild and Alone” a track where PinkPanthress brings none of her signature bouncy energy, it’s like a shell of a track.

That’s how I feel about most of this album. There’s room for so much more: more interesting synthplay, more creative drum beats, more varied vocal melodies, literally anything that would make me feel something different between tracks. It feels like FKA twigs didn’t want to rename her new album after it grew out of the deluxe version, but also didn’t want to lose the hype from her initial release. The result is a boring, half-baked EDM album that is fine as background music but I’ll never return to. 

Abditum – VoidCeremony

8/10

The past few weeks have been filled with some pretty high profile releases, though at the Blue Banner we always try to feature at least one project from a smaller band. When said high profile artists are giving us diminishing returns (cough cough, FKA twigs), you can always turn to underground grind-death metal for some relief. Thankfully, Californian group VoidCeremony is here with one of the best metal albums I’ve heard in recent years.

The opening track, “Intro – Inevitable Entropy” is a fun, dungeon synth track that plays around with old midi sounds and leads you into the dark world they shape in this album. It’s not long before you’re immediately thrown into that classic technical death metal stop-start formula on “Veracious Duality”. The rapid changing of speeds are excellently done and don’t come off sounding unnatural in the slightest. Towards the end of the track lead guitarist Wandering Mind (yes, that’s what he’s credited as) has a gorgeous guitar solo. 

Most of the rest of the album is more of the same– very high quality. Wandering Mind’s vocals are quintessentially done death growls (for those who don’t listen to metal, that’s what you call those guttural, unintelligible warbles in most heavier genres) and are mixed really nicely. The production on the album as a whole is wonderful and is a big problem I have with a lot of modern metal records.

I am of course biased, but the bass tone is absolutely phenomenal and was the highlight of many of the tracks for me. Bassist The Great Righteous Destroyer stays in the upper octaves. Like on “Silence Which Ceases All Minds” where yes the guitar riffs are incredibly catchy and fun– but the bass bobbing in and out of the heavier swells of the melody feel both precarious yet perfectly planned. At the end of the day though, it is those high pitched, wailing guitar solos that are the attention grabbers. The one at the end of “Failure of Ancient Wisdoms” particularly amazes me. 

Metal is not for everyone, death metal is for even less people and technical death metal like this will probably turn away a lot of people initially. However– for those of you looking to expand your horizons or those of you who love metal, please check this album out. 

Treasure – Cocteau Twins 

8.7/10

Imagine you’re in a giant cave. Sparkling crystal reflections dance across the walls as small cracks of sunlight shine through. There’s a thin layer of water gently flowing across the floor, it’s perfectly transparent yet completely still. It’s dirty yet gorgeous, ethereal yet terrifying– it is both one thing and its opposite simultaneously. You don’t know why you’re there or what you’re looking for. This album is what you hear.

While there’s no doubt that the Cocteau Twins record “Heaven or Las Vegas” is a great album, it’s sadly true that because of the immense popularity of that album almost all of their earlier work is overshadowed. It’s a shame, because their early, gothic takes on ethereal wave are some of the most exciting and unique records of all time. This week, we’re looking at “Treasure” , a dark dance with the more cryptic side of dream pop.

The album has a gorgeous opening “Ivo” that immediately flexes their instrumentation muscles, that signature gorgeous dream pop guitar tone dancing atop the aggressive acoustic strumming, all while pounding drums push everything forward. There’s also a bell synth that gives the track an ancient, worldly feeling. It’s like you’re uncovering treasure. The entire album follows these patterns with variations in energy– never lingering too long on one tempo. Some tracks turn the energy down even further, with “Persephone” going so far as to remove virtually all percussion.

The variations in synth sounds do so much for the instrumentation. “Beatrix” has this dark, middle-eastern timbre that sounds like echoing strings off temple walls. “Pandora (For Cindy)” has bright, sparkly tones that give the air of cascading light through a dark tree canopy or cracks in a cave’s ceiling. “Amelia” turns these spots of brightness up with even more flashes of colorful synth play throughout. The guitar tone typically hovers around the same blend of striking elegance with its clean yet hazy sound. It sometimes goes a bit softer during “Pandora (For Cindy)” or a bit harder during “Ivo” but it never strays too far from the norm.

I could probably write the rest of the article on the instrumentation and their various ornaments, guitar riffs and industrial inspired drumming, but it would be ridiculous to write about the Cocteau Twins without mentioning vocalist Elizabth Fraser. Her voice is bright, icy and ethereal. On tracks like “Domino” she can jump between a cascading whisper during the intro to a powerful shout by the end– and maintains that variation throughout. The darker, grimier music overlaid with her clean and hypnotic vocals creates a juxtaposition that makes the music effortlessly interesting.

I will never miss an opportunity to shell out for the Cocteau Twins– their run from 1983-1990 resulted in six albums of incredible quality and a sound that I have not seen well replicated. If there’s one album from this week you listen to, it should be “Treasure”. Maybe find a nice cave to listen to it in.