“The Altar” is the sophomore full length album released on September 30, 2016, by alternative R&B artist Jillian Rose Banks, better known as “Banks,” her stage name. This album is a follow up to “Goddess,” which received a lot of praise from both critics and fans. So then, what does this album have to offer?

The Altar was, honestly, a bit of a letdown. It felt as if she took a few steps backwards when making The Altar, because a lot of the music didn’t really leave a lasting impression, unlike on Goddess, where it felt like there was more of a power or a punch to it. I was really hoping that Banks would put more catchier and hard-hitting songs on The Altar, because what really brought Goddess down were the acoustic ballads that just felt really lifeless. Unfortunately, that is not what she brings to us, but instead even more ballads that felt even more lifeless. There were some pretty memorable moments, I will admit, like with the opening track, “Gemini Feed,” where the song really kicked off with a lot of energy, spacy sounding synths, and a catchy yet heartfelt hook that really set things in motion. The second track, “F*** With Myself,” was also a very interesting take, and I think it’s safe to say that Banks is at least trying to experiment with sounds at least on her harder tracks. This track just sounded so ominous and haunting, yet it had a really nice groove all the way through, all in all it was just a smooth track. The track “This Is Not About Us” also brought some interesting grooves and a catchy chorus. Unfortunately the songs that caught my attention were just few and far between, because the tracks that sounded just really bare just really brought the album down. The song “Trainwreck” just felt very odd but not in a very good way, because she does this like spoken word/rap thing that just really didn’t fit in well with the entire groove of the song.

I think one ballad in particular that brought the album down was “The Hilt,” it just felt so lifeless and so out of touch with everything that could have been. I feel like what really brings Banks down, at least for me, is that she can give a really dispassionate vocal performance, which leaves an impression that she’s not even trying. At times she gives a really passionate performance, like on Gemini Feed or This Is Not About Us, but most times it just falls flat. I also think that Banks placement of the songs in the album are very strange, because I found it weird that the song “Haunt” was on the, I guess would be considered the “B side” of the album. It’s such a good, catchy song, with interesting use of rhythm, percussion and animal sounds, and I found it hard to believe they put this song near the end of the album. There is also the problem that seems to be a continuous pattern now, that whenever Banks is planning to release new album, she tends to put out the really catchy and hard-hitting songs and perhaps music videos to go along with it as a teaser. Now, I’m not saying that is necessarily a bad thing, nor is it the fault of Banks but rather her agents, but when someone advertises the album with songs like Gemini Feed or F*** With Myself, then that’s what people want to expect from the album instead of a bunch of ballads that honestly sounded quite boring.

In the end, I honestly wanted to see more from Banks in the terms of the harder and catchy electro-R&B songs that she released on Goddess, which she did, but if felt as if there were too little of them compared to the boring and lifeless tracks of the album which really made the album kind of a snore. I’m giving the album a 4.5/10, but still having hope for Banks’ future releases.