Asobi Seksu - Hush

It sounds like nice background music, but most of it isn't greatly immersive. There's nothing to dislike about it, although that's part of the problem. It could do with a couple more choruses, or noisey parts. Nice enough, without an awful lot of punch. Maybe I'm just missing the point, it's surely not designed to be Citrus number 2.

6/10

Trail of Dead - The Century of Self

This really is quite good, the intro song "Giant Causway" is brilliant, what an awesome way to start an album. The first half is better than the second so far, but it's giving me what I want from a TOD album. It's big, bold and epic without pushing past the boundaries of potential cheesyness. Hopefully the second half picks up with repeated listens, because this could turn into a really great album.

7.5/10

(I know there have been threads about these albums already, but they've long died it would seem and I was excited about buying my first albums from 2009).