Thursday 24 September 2015

My 5 Favouite Albums of 2015 So Far...


Hi Guys and Welcome to my blog! In this particular segment I will be discussing the albums from 2015 that I have personally selected to be my favourite. I might be calling these my favourite but it does not necessarily mean that they are the best, it is just my view. I think that 2015 has been quite a sad year for music as there has not been many good albums that have come out, a lot of great bands and acts are just hiding in the shadows while writing future hits or are just relaxing. Although there have been some albums that have come out from quite popular acts and what they have done have let people down with their terrible music, making me feel a bit ill. I shall not name any names *cough* Kodaline *cough* but let it been known that follow up albums are always anticipated too highly and when they turn out to be terrible, the pain is all the more painful. Anyway let's get on with the list.


 5. Circa Waves: Young Chasers- This is an album which has some good points but has some bad points too. I'll start with the bad points, the album can feel like it is repeating itself a lot in the shape and format of the songs that it has. It also has the feeling that it copies of other bands in how the music and tries to hard to be exactly like other bands but I just want it really to break that boundary and show me something new. However the copying or sounding like other bands is also a good thing as well as a bad one because it reminds me of a lot of bands that have come and gone in the last few years (not really gone but temporally absent). It reminds me of a few bands like Two Door Cinema Club and a little of The Pigeon Detectives but more than anything it reminds me of the band The View, in just the how youthful the lead singer, Kieran Shudall, sounds. I do really like the songs 'Get Away' and the one known as 'T-Shirt Weather' both are great songs and yes they might be the most popular but how else would I have started listening to them, generally and literally since they are the first two songs of the album. This album although there are faults is a really good album and I have enjoyed listening to it and say that if you want to, to listen to it. 




4. Foals: What Went Down- What can I say about this album other than, it is very Foals-ish. I mean that in the sense of when I listen to it, it just reminds me of the other Foals' albums if not this one being a bit more aggressive than the other ones and very more heavy on the rocky side. It does have that Queens of the Stone Age feel to it when listening to it especially with the song 'Snake Oil', which I take as a good thing as I do enjoy the songs by QotSA. I do not think though that this is the best album that they have ever done, and I'm not quite sure if it's the worse one yet but however I do like the album so obviously that means something good. Right? I mean 'Holy Fire' was a big album to live up to as it was amazing but it got a lot of people starting to notice Foals due 'My Number' and it's not like this album is 'Total Life Forever' containing 'Spanish Sahara' or the album 'Antidotes' involving 'Olympic Airways'. But it is still a good album nonetheless and has some really good tunes like 'Night Swimmers' and the one most popular at the moment 'What Went Down' which shares the name with the album. Some of the songs are absolute belters and are good to sit and relax to, letting the day just pass. I really liked this album and I hope that you do too if you listen to it. I completely recommend it and I would put it on a list as a must listen to.




3. James Bay: Chaos & The Calm- Everyone knows James Bay for his great hit 'Hold Back the River', it is a great song and it is one that I cannot stop listening to or even stop replaying it in my head. However the rest of his album is just as good if not even better. It is a beautiful album which talks about so much to people and it has amazing tunes and words. You can tell there is a real sense of love in this album but not just that, it is a tale of travel and the unknown. Even his most famous song is about traveling back home so he can see his family, because that's all he wants or wanted to do as he was away for a while. Like I said there are many different great songs, like 'Let It Go', no it's not a cover of the Disney song if that thought ever crossed your mind. But it's another great song that just talks of so much love but yet there is the sense of, if not hate then resentment to the people or person he loves. Even the album kicks off with a belter of a song 'Craving' which is just something, at least for me, had me tapping my toes and getting along to the beat of the albums. There are some songs that can seem to be boring or depressing, but I say to you now that you should endure through it and I promise that you will love the album. I hope that his follow up album will not be a let down as many others have before this year from other acts.




2. Years & Years: Communion- This is another act which is probably known for its hit 'King' that came out and probably was the hit for everyone's Summer. But I genuinely think this band is absolutely brilliant, of course I do why else would I put this album second? Anyway they have a whole album full (imagine that) of great songs and I think that they should get as much praise as 'King' did. I do think that it is the unique voice of the lead singer Olly Alexander, he has a quite powerful voice which is something that just goes so well with this type of music. Think about it like this, when Calvin Harris or Sigma or any famous DJ's have collaborations with people with great voices like Ellie Goulding or Ella Henderson they make songs that are amazing and stick with people. Now this band are like this, DJ's that have collaborated with a great singer, but they have made an actual band and album out of it. They are just non-stop hits, like 'Shine' for example which is just another great song, which I think might be favourite from them or even 'Ties'. Both just have that right combination of great vocal and a great beat behind it without being too full of itself to make a great song. But this album does not just have dance songs like the well know hits, it has some heartfelt ones too and when you listen to the songs properly you realise that they have a deeper meaning to them and tell a story. This is a truly a great album and I highly recommend it to anyone to listen to it immediately if they haven't already. I mean it! Now! Go on then!




1. The Wombats: Glitterbug- Yes! It's true I absolutely love this album and this band! And if that's not obvious to you yet then I have no idea how, I mean I did a post not that long ago expressing my love for this new album and I even stated my five favourite songs from it. Which, by the way, you can check on this blog (just a little hint there). I have always been a fan of this band and never have I seen them fail with follow up albums, it just as usual with The Wombats. There are just some songs that are god like with what they say and the meaning behind them. It annoys me that they are not appreciated more by people or even rated much on the Top 40 Charts. I think that every song in this album is just a thing of pure genius and I know it seems like I am, but I cannot express just how great I think it is. The songs like 'Greek Tragedy' for example is just something that gets me so excited and beating along to every drum beat and has me air guitaring whilst lip syncing. There are so many great songs that come out of this and there are those that I love more than others and you can see which ones they are on my previous post about the album. I mean the list will literally go on and on if I could, like 'Be Your Shadow' and 'Give Me A Try' but my favourite of all of them has to be 'Curveballs' which just in my eyes beats all the others hands down. It talks of love, deceipt, grief and cheating which is pretty much like the whole album and the ones previous. This just goes to show that Matthew Murphy the lead has gone through some crap and we should feel so sorry for him but yet love him at the same time just because he has made some great music with it. This is my favourite album of the year hands down it is better in my eyes than all of the others, it just has better tunes and none truer words spoken. Seriously if you've not listened to this album, why!? You should right now!? I am serious, stop whatever it is that you are doing, I don't care how important it is, just go and listen to this album! Then you can come back read my blogs again and then we can relate! It is by far amazingly tremendous at being incredibly awesome! That's how serious I am! Get listening to it now, even if you've already listened to it. Listen to it over and over. I hope you're listening to it, I know I am!




These are what I genuinely think have been some of the better albums of this year. I know people might not agree with me or say that some of the albums are not that great, well if that's true it just shows how terrible 2015 has been for music. But that's what we have to show for it, it has given us some really good bits of music and some truly terrible ones. I hope that you have enjoyed this latest blog. Thanks for reading, bye!

Sunday 13 September 2015

The 5 Games That I Am Most Excited For


Hello Guys an welcome to this post about the 5 games that I am most anticipated for! These games will be coming out either later this year or early next year, there are a load that I want to talk about too but I feel these are the outstanding few of the next year. Some of these games are ones that I will be getting because all of them are just games, or attachments to games from my childhood. I will show why I think these games are the best to come this year and why I am excited for them.


5. Rise of the Tomb Raider- This game is another origins game of the fabled Tomb Raider legacy. There has already been an origins game to this legacy which came out a few years ago and this is the sequel. If you did not play the previous game, then you should know it was a whirlwind of high end fun which left you constantly in suspense. The game was about Lara Croft being involved in a ship wreck and being stranded on an island, only discover secrets about the place and herself. Which is sort of what inspires her to become what she is most known for, The Tomb Raider. But by the way this game has shown Lara Croft to actually discover more about herself and the dark secrets that are in the shadows, making her pretty much the biggest adrenaline junkie that has ever been known. There was a time when people would buy the Tomb Raider games so they could drool over the character's animated body, which is a bit strange unless you are into 8-bit women. However it showed in the previous game that the creators could be a little perverted too, so who knows what will happen. Hopefully it is packed full with action, adventure, fun and suspense. The game is due to come out 13th November 2015.




4. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3- This is a game which I am excited for it but at the same time I am hesitant for. This is because it just feels like all the Call of Duty games are just competing against each other and are trying to be better than the others and go that little step forward. This game follows on from the story line of Black Ops one and two but yet it does not, or from what I've seen, references them at all. Instead it just says that Humans are becoming more like machines with the development of technology, not just from the repairs made after losing limbs but also it shows people wanting to enhance themselves. But were is the mention of Menendez from Black Ops 2, that is if it was canon to keep him alive, or his reference to Ulysses or could the whole idea of "new world" he spoke of while reciting the poem could be the the basis of the new game. But the whole new combat idea might be too much for the player to get use too, because let's face it Advanced Warfare is not the greatest game anyone's ever played. I just hope it lives up to it's predecessor Black Ops 2 as I believe that to be a brilliant game with a brilliant story but also the multiplayer is just something which is out of this world. This is due out 6th November 2015.




3. Fallout 4- This is such a long awaited game! I can not seriously wait for this game to come out, I can just tell that this will be an amazing game to have just like all the others. I have watched some of the gameplay that was done by Bethesda earlier this year and I was just in utter amazement, the pure detail that has gone into it especially since it is a next gen game. And the actual detail that goes into it, alone just going into a power suit, having to step into it and for it to seal around you. I hope that they keep that kind of detail in the game because, even though we know it's not, it helps make it seem realistic and that this sort of post-apocalyptic state could happen to us. If you do not know what Fallout 4 is about or even the whole franchise, then stop reading now and just leave because it is already too late for yo, I mean why even bother read this far if you had no idea. It is a game that is like no other, which is probably the best way to describe it. The thing that I have heard and love the sound of the most is that there will be updates regularly so that there will be more and more missions for your characters can do. For up to ten years of the game being out anyway.But this is a game franchise which i love and I can't wait for its release on 10th November.




2. Halo 5: Guardians- A great game from my childhood which has never failed to amaze me or make me want more from the story. So there is no shock that this has taken the second place on this list! What thrills me the most about this game, is that it is seen from a different perspective (much like with the Arbiter in Halo 2) but a Spartan called Locke who is hunting the great Master Chief. This is due to the Master Chief seen to be almost an outlaw or an enemy of UNSC for some bizarre reason and makes me think what he could have done. With the Spartan Locke after the Master Chief and for him to be apparently a 'fraud' and all his heroic acts in the past has been nothing but lies. Has there been something lost in translation? Has there been some form of corruption or has the Chief been framed? Well we will just have to wait to see what the story shows us. But from the last game we know that the death of Cortana had affected the Chief greatly, so maybe oit affected his mentality as well, although he did go through such excruciating training as a child that nothing could break him. Although could it be a thing of love? Well he did love Cortana and the idea of her being with him constantly is something that he wanted. I can tell that this game will have so much action in it and I cannot wait to see what the story has I store for us. It is obvious that in this game there will be a massive battle between Master Chief and Spartan Locke but only your actions will decide what the fates will hold for them both. The new Halo game comes out on 27th October 2015!!




1. Star Wars: Battlefront- Here it is! My most anticipated for game! And why not!? It is going to be amazing, it is going to be possibly be the greatest game of all time. I know that might be saying it a bit early or even going a bit too far, but lets be serious, this game will be awesome and everyone knows it. It will be the best game ever and if not then it will pretty damn close, I mean just look at the gameplay. The amount of AI that goes beyond the norm, and the detail of everything, just everything! Even down to the grains of snow on Hoth and the buttons that are on the inside of all the vehicles when you look from the 1st person perspective. There is also the rumour but I'm not sure that it is true although I do hope that it is is, and this that you can be in a space battle above a planet and then fly down to the surface and fight on the ground. A complete game which has this easy and steady flow which blends perfectly together and almost seems effortless with minimal with the load screens if this sort of thing is possible. All you have to do is watch the gameplay and you will see just how action packed and how amazing this game will actually be with all the effort that has gone into it. So far it shows places that coincide with the original trilogy and hopefully it follows the story of that and even that of the new trilogy. There is even a DLC which will be coming out were a battle is set on Jakku, this is meant to be before the events of the new The Force Awakens. Anyway I can just tell already this game is going to be amazing and I cannot seriously wait for 19th November 2015 when this game comes out!!




So that's it guys, that is my list of all the games that I can not wait for. I will definitely will be getting these games and will be playing them extensively so much so that I don't know what the colour of the sky is anymore. I might take some time away (if I can be dragged away that is) to do an extensive review about one of the games or two. I hope these games live up to their reputation. Thanks for reading, bye!