Cradle of Filth – Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa

Cradle of Filth takes their newest album another level further into hell. It is a mix of beautifully spine-tingling orchestra pieces that are complimented by the typical dark and heavy guitar, bass and drums of death metal. Most songs held strong for the first 40 seconds, but it was hit and miss to find something with overall appeal. Their singing is reckless and the same high-pitched howl is overused and ruins the initial effect. A definite recommend to anyone with Satan as a friend on Facebook, but all others beware.

Neil Diamond – Dreams

Even after 5 decades in the music business, Neil Diamond is still finding new stuff to sing about. His latest release is an album of covers of his favourite songs. He performs songs that have been covered so many times, it’s easy to forget the original. I did like that Neil used only his voice, a guitar and piano, making a sobering and calming combination. If you like Neil, I would not blame you liking his versions of famous songs but in my opinion, cover albums are as bad as Christmas records.

Kid Cudi – Man On The Moon 2: The Legend of Mr. Rager

When you think of Kid Cudi you think, “Pursuit of Happiness” and “Day ‘N’ Nite.” The new album lost that pursuit and made a day to night transformation from extraordinary to average. Three tracks that were worth a listen are “Scott Mescudi Vs. The World,” “These Worries” and “REVOFEV.” These songs make up 17% of the album, so save the money you’d waste in buying the whole album and head to iTunes for the individual tracks.