This was the first public submission I got after I posted my riffs and rants public submissions to our CTHS Today Instagram, and I must say…I am very pleasantly surprised.
To preface the actual review, I will start actually rating these albums/songs on a 1-10 scale
1-3 means I don’t like this album and won’t be listening to it again. A 4-5 means it was an OK listen the first go around, but it most likely won’t get a second listen. 6-7 is pretty good, not one of my favorite listens, but not bad. An 8 is a very good album; most likely, most of the songs are in my playlist, and I would listen to it again. A 9 is a near-perfect album and most likely one of my favorites. A 10 is the best of the best, a perfect album with little to no flaws.
To actually start this review of “I let It in, and It Took Everything” by Loathe, I must admit I was hesitant at first. When I told some friends of mine I was going to review this album, many said it was the best album ever, if not a genuine 9 or 10. The genre itself scared me a little, as this album is a more modern/progressive metal album, which isn’t my favorite genre. In fact, most modern metal tends to be extremely low on my scale, falling in the 4-5 range. But this album was actually very good.
The title track “Theme” surprised me a lot. I was expecting to be punched in the face with heavy guitar, bass that would melt any speaker, and drums that would ring in my ears for ages. Instead, this entire track is an ambient piece characterized by droning synths and orchestral strings. A theme repeated by other tracks like the fifth track, “451 Days,” and a very pleasant addition(s) to this album.
The weakest song on the album for me is the second track, “Broken Vision Rhythm”. The aspects that damage this song (and the entire album) for me are the fry vocals. For context, fry vocals are when someone’s voice sounds distorted, or when they are ‘screaming’ into the microphone. I do appreciate fry vocals and screams, in moderation. Yet, when a song is mainly all fry vocals, it bogs it down for me and makes me appreciate them less. The song (and the entire album) features beautiful, clean vocals from the singer, who genuinely sings his heart out, but “Broken Vision Rythm” doesn’t show it off nearly enough.
The strongest song on the album for me is definitely “Two-Way Mirror” for the same reasons that I attribute to my enjoyment of this album. The beautiful, clean vocals and wonderful instrumentals.
This entire album, instrumentally, is ethereal. I was genuinely floating through space during tracks like “Theme”, “451 Days”, or the intro to “Red Room”, and the heavy tracks are amazing. Imagining hearing these heavy guitars and pounding drums live is making me jealous of all my friends who got to see them in concert. The clean vocals, as previously stated, are absolutely beautiful and are key reasons why I enjoy this album as much as I do, despite the (dare I say) over-abundance of scream/fry vocals.
So, without further ado, here is the rating. “I Let It in and It Took Everything” has earned an 8 out of 10 on my scale. This is a genuinely good album that I recommend you listen to.
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