Music Reviews

Liturgy – 93696

Starting off on a strong note we have an album I didn’t get the chance to mention in my last „Albums I Missed“ installment and that is none other than Liturgy’s 93696 and if I had the patience to do so this album would make for like 3 full-blown reviews, however I am simply just super lazy so this will have to do – like to be fair not even 3 full reviews would do this thing enough justice, this album just absolutely steals the show on all fronts. In about 80 or so minutes this project delivers an absolute avalenche of sounds and ideas that really elevate it above your average black metal album. All of the „Angel of…“ interlude tracks are really nice and make the whole thing feel more conceptual and complete, but the core in typical Liturgy fashion 10-minute or so long songs are obviously the heart of this album. I mean just listen to the title track, that song just couldn’t be made by an actual living human. And the shorter tracks go unreasonably hard too, like I still have a little bit of a bias towards Liturgy’s last project „H.A.Q.Q.“, but even I have to say that this is overall just a more ambitious and a more complete body of work. I mean honestly, besides a few nitpicks here and there this thing is almost perfect who am I even kidding.

Decent 9/10

Lovejoy – Wake Up & It’s Over

It’s kinda impressive how this band went from a sort of guilty pleasure of mine to now actually releasing some unironically great music – like the opening track „Portrait of a Blank State“ is just straight up their best song and it’s honestly kinda funny how it’s not even close. The rest of the project is fine too, I really enjoy the single „Call Me What You Like“ and some of the other songs too but realistically nothing compares to that first track, like that song gets stuck in my head at least 5 times a day now. So yeah, definetly their best effort so far overall.

Decent 7/10

Depeche Mode – Memento Mori

This is the best Depeche Mode has sounded since the 90s and I will die on that hill.

Light 8/10

The National – First Two Pages of Frankenstein

This album alone cured my insomnia. I mean seriously, how do you have SUFJAN STEVENS, PHOEBE BRIDGERS and FRICKING TAYLOR SWIFT all on the same album and make it this long-winded and unintresting. Like okay, the Sufjan Stevens song isn’t all bad when you first put it on but the more this album goes on you realise that that’s literally the best this album has to offer. Overall just an absolute snooze fest and a complete disapointment, I seriously don’t remember much of anything from this.

Strong 3/10

Waterparks – INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

It’s like a combination of some new Bring Me The Horizon songs, Hobo Johnson and One Direction… Make of that what you will. Anyways with this being my introduction to the band I have to say I’m very unsure how to feel about this – like some of the ideas are really cool but fall completely on their face in execution, some songs are just catchy enough for me to overlook that and some are just… Yeah. Like from what I’ve caught here and there the lyrical themes are actually really cool at points, talking mostly about religious trauma, manipulative relationships and so on, but after the first two actually kinda intresting sounding songs (even though maybe a bit for the wrong reasons) the sound of this album just boils down to really generic pop punk-ish (emphasis on the pop) riffs and hand clap beats. So yeah, I don’t remember the last time I’ve felt this indecisive about a project, like I said the lyrical themes are actually really intresting, but the sound of this project just isn’t for me for the most part.

Light 4/10

Metallica – 72 Seasons

I mean sure, but do the songs REALLY have to be 6 minutes long when they are literally just the same unintresting riff repeating over and over again? Like the only thing saving songs like this (which unfortunately make up a decent chunk of this album) are the solos which are actually up to old Metallica standarts, but besides that the only songs that are actually intresting all the way through are the title track and the last two closing tracks and honestly even those aren’t THAT crazy. At least it’s not St. Anger all over again… This one just gets kinda boring and repetetive after a while.

Decent 5/10

boygenius – the record

The boy really is genius huh.

Decent 8/10

Ed Sheeran – – (Subtract)

The fact that I enjoy this about the same as the new Metallica and waay more than the new The National is something I think about daily, but yeah, this new Ed Sheeran honestly ain’t half bad – like the songwriting is really on point for the most part, the instrumentals sound clean and really natural and not just overblown, like is this even really an Ed Sheeran project? And sure, the songs still are really generic and kinda bleak but there is legitimate soul put behind them this time and even though I probably won’t be returning to this in the near future I still didn’t absolutely hate my listening experience.

Decent 5/10

Black Country, New Road – Live at Bush Hall

After loosing a key member with the band’s former lead singer Isaac Wood the band had to regain their footing and I can safely say that I believe that they achieved just that – this live album is full of new unheard songs that all sound absolutely amazing. The music is lively and colorful and all the new vocalists are a nice change of pace without the band loosing their identity. Songs like the in-your-face opener „Up Song“, the beautiful and energetic „Laughing Song“ and obviously the highly praised 9-minute long „Turbines/Pigs“ all prove that the band is still capable of creating insanely powerful and moving pieces of music. Overall just a really great project as is basically expected from the band at this point.

Strong 8/10

Foo Fighters – But Here We Are

…ouch

Strong 7/10

A match made in heaven.

Yeah so this was kinda insane for me – Danny Brown historically is reponsible for a couple of my absolute favorite albums of all time (especially „Atrocity Exhibition“ which is basically a perfect record for me) and JPEGMAFIA slowely but surely also became one of my favorite MCs to come out of the last decade – what really sold me on him was his 2021 „LP!“ album, that one seriously is just out of this world. So when I heard that these two absolute powerhouses were collabing I was absolutely ecstatic and the singles only submitted this hype further.

However I would just like to get my biggest problem with this album straight out of the way and that is how much of actual contribution to this project is split between the two of them, because at the end of the day this is essentially just a JPEGMAFIA record with a Danny Brown feature on every track. I don’t think a single song on this project was produced by Danny at all – which is a shame since I this man’s beats are some of the strangest most out there and most hypnotic I’ve ever heard. Not to devalue JPEGMAFIA’s production, on the contrary if he excells in anything it’s definetly his production style which is like nobody else’s – but I really think Danny’s production would have only exceeded my liking of this record. Well it is what it is, either way let’s dissect this one a little bit, shall we?

The album opens up with energetic and in your face „Lean Beef Patty“ which features really heavy synths that feel like you’re getting beaten up by the music and I mean that in the most flattering way. The different random transitions and samples are exactly what you would expect from a JPEGMAFIA produced song, it feels very chaotic and out there and it serves as one hell of an opener. My only real gripe with this song is just that Danny is mixed rather… Weird? A little quiet? I don’t know but it doesn’t feel as natural as when JPEGMAFIA is on the beat which is a shame because his verse ain’t bad either but whatever, what can you do, it’s stil a banger regardless. Speaking of bangers the next song „Steppa Pig“ has a really similar vibe to the first song however Danny’s voice is mixed just miles better then it was on the previous one. Plus the longer runtime of this one makes it a much more impactful experience – the production is really glitched and all over the place and you are just never bored. I especially enjoy everytime the main synths hit, JPEGMAFIA is just an absolute beast with the synths on this album. The constant switching up of the instrumentals is really ADHD-inducing but it sounds amazing so who cares. It really feels like 3 different songs mixed into one. Anyways after that is the title track „SCARING THE HOES“ which is like the definition of something that REALLY shouldn’t work on paper but it somehow just does – the clapping beat mixed with what I’m assuming is like a cello of sorts, I mean just reading this without hearing the song you have to say that just doesn’t mash together and yet JPEG once again manages to somehow pull it off. He pulls it off so well in fact that this remains as one of my favorites on the album – I just can’t get enough of how different it sounds. And man when the actual drums and then the bass kick in, it just transports you onto another plane of existence. It’s just so goofy yet it goes so hard, words can’t do the mix on this justice, you just have to hear it for yourself. Next up is the song „Garbage Pale Kids“ which features some realy crazy sampling and a really clunky beat, I honestly wasn’t really feeling this one on my first listen but I’ve grown to appreciate it a bit more. It’s once again very different in a very different way than the other songs are different and not every experiment on this album is as effective to me as others are, however they are all still very well produced and realised so. Also the electric guitar at the end of the song is really what makes this one click for me, like it just comes completely out of nowhere but it wraps up the song really nicely. After this we have another really sample-heavy song with „Fenatyl Tester“ and this one feels especially mysterious. I enjoy the sampling on this one waaaay more, the sampled female voice just sounds absolutely heavenly and Danny Brown goes completely crazy over it. This one is so good that even the hoes have to like it, enough said. Next up is the song „Burfict!“ and this one is THE hype song of this album. The trumpets are probably the best thing that’s touched my ears the whole year and even though the beat isn’t maybe as crazy and out there as some of the others on this album, it’s definetly the hardest and the most infectious. My only problem with this song is just how short it is, this one really could have profited more from a longer runtime. After that we have the double song „Shut Yo Bitch Ass Up / Muddy Waters“, the first one featuring only Danny Brown and even though I’m not the biggest fan of the beat on this first part and honestly the whole song, Danny really hold his own and carries his part so heavily to the point where it frankly makes up for it. JPEG’s part isn’t bad either, just kinda forgetable, I think my favortie part of the song production-wise is more the really cool transition between the two beats more than the beats themselves. However in terms of beats the next song „Orange Juice Jones“ more than makes up for it which correct me if I’m wrong but is that a fricking Michael Jackson sample I’m hearing? Well either way it sounds out of this world and even though the mix is a bit muddy here, it’s still one of the best beats on the entire album. Danny’s verse is also really good here. Following that we have the track „Kingdom Hearts Key“ another absolute sampling giant – I don’t know the origin of the sample here but it’s probably one of the best on the album (once again). I know this has to be a little tiring hearing this about quite literally every other song on this album, but it really is like that. This song especially honestly, the more I think about it, this beat is probably the most smoothest, most clean and most angelic on the entire project, it doesn’t even feel real. After that is the song „God Loves You“ which features some heavy gospell samples that just go super hard, like this song alone puts basically all Kanye’s gospell songs to shame. I really like the drums on this one aswell, they sounds super crisp and go surprisingly well with the gospell elements. After that we have the short almost interlude-like „Run The Jewels“ which start REALLY promising like the trumpet is super clean and sounds fantastic, however the song then transitions into this spacey almost 80s like beat and it’s over before it can even start – this is definetly the most confusing song on the album, even after hearing this album like a million times over I still can’t give my final verdict on this one. I mean I guess I’m glad it’s on the album you know but not much would honestly change without it, it doesn’t ruin the album but it doesn’t really bring anything to it that much either, it just sort of exists, it has some elements I like but that’s about it. The song „Jack Harlow Combo Meal“ starts of kind like a hotel-lobby-music-interlude-thing before the song just sort of comes and goes into like a million different directions and doesn’t stay at one idea for more than like 5 seconds and as a result this one really feels kinda empty by the time the song ends. „HOE (Heaven on Earth)“ honestly also sort of exists? Like I like the song it has some really cool elements to it, the gospell snippets are really nice, but the beat feels sort of weak to me compared to the earlier songs even though the transition at the end is kinda nice and it makes sense considering this is the second to last song on the record, you kinda want things to calm down a bit before the finnishing track. I don’t know, the final leg of this album just isn’t AS exciting to me as the earlier songs are. Fortunately the album at least finnishes on a strong note with „Where Ya Get Your Coke From?“ which feels like the perfect closer for this album – there is a constant shift between a simple beat consisting of literally just two sticks smashing against each other and an absolute explosion of noise and color, it sounds almost Death Grips-like and I find the contrast between the two very fitting for this album.

So yeah, as to be expected with two artisits like this collaborating, this turned out pretty great. There are some weird mixes here and there I’m not crazy about, I kinda wish Danny Brown had a bit more presence on this album and yeah, the final couple of songs feel almost improvised to me at points, but those are all just small nitpicks that ultimately don’t lower my enjoyment of this album as a whole. A really spectacular record for both artists that shows great potential for future releases between the two of them (if we’re lucky).

-favorite tracks: Lean Beef Patty, Steppa Pig, SCARING THE HOES, Garbage Pale Kids, Fenatyl Tester, Burfict!, Orange Juice Jones, Kingdom Hearts Key, God Loves You, parts of Jack Harlow Combo Meal, parts of Where Ya Get Your Coke From?

-least favorite tracks: Run The Jewels, first leg of HOE (Heaven on Earth), parts of Shut Yo Bitch Ass Up / Muddy Waters

Light 9/10

So yeah… I won’t lie, this new slowthai is insane. From the minute I heard the opener „Yum“ I knew this album was EXACTLY what I was looking for. I mean it’s got everything – from the experimental production, the punk elements, to incredibly heartfelt lyrics and vocals, insane energy throughout, this really feels like slowthai’s magnum opus. Not that he can’t do any better than this, but this is easily my favorite of release of his up to this point.

And probably the best representation of that would be as I already metioned previously the opening track „Yum“ which is easily the best opening track of any album this year hands down, like no competition. It opens up with these abrasive swirling synths that are accompanied by a bunch of fast-paced heavy kickdrums that togeether create this beautiful messy amulgamation of sound over which slowthai repeats the mantra „I’ve been lacking motivation I need an intervention“ setting up one of the album’s main themes. It all feels very dark, very depressed, very hollow and yet super energetic, it’s a sound that slowthai was going for many times in the past but truly mastered on this track in my eyes. In the following spoken-word section he goes over his mental struggles, how he doesn’t feel in control and how therapy has only been adding fuel to the fire that’s building up inside of him. When the song finally kicks in it REALLY kicks in – the twisted glitched sound effects only add onto the dark atmosphere that this track builds and the instrumental drop has to be one of the most rewarding moments of the entire album and that’s just the opening track. Finally the song ends with slowthai having what’s essentially a complete mental breakdown. That also leads perfectly into the next track „Selfish“ another one of my favorites – this one has a much more clear structure but the instrumental is just so catchy I can’t get over it. The guitar lick is strangely mysterious and compiments the otherwise rather harsh instrumental really well – the glitched sound effect that’s being repeated is also a really nice touch. And the instrumental breakdown at the end is just the complete cherry on top, no wonder this one was a single, it’s such an earworm. Next up is the song „Sooner“ which is , I’m already getting sick of saying, but really great. The instrumental is once again instantly recognizable and I really appriciate how natural yet also very robotic everything sounds here. The lyrics on this one are also really morbid at points – it only continues the rabbithole that this whole album embodies even further. After that comes the single „Feel Good“ which to the surprise of noone is a very feel-good song but is more of like a calm before the storm. The song is fine but is very one-note and doesn’t change throughout it’s runtime at all – I guess that’s kinda the point but still, for such a promising song it leaves a lot to be desired but whatever, it doesn’t like ruin the album or anything. Anyways after this we have the song „Never Again“ which is probably the saddest song on the entire album, at least for me it was – the story he portrays here is just so vivid and you can really hear the pain in his voice over loosing this other person, every other line in this song just cuts deep like a sharp knife. The sampled instrumental is also really soothing and fitting for the story, this one’s just a real tear-jerker. After that comes the interlude „Fuck It Puppet“ which is an insane song for it’s runtime, like for just a one minute song to first of all go this hard and second of all to go through one of the most lyrically dense and draining moments on the album. And the harshness just keeps on going from there – the next song „HAPPY“ is ironically kinda like the opposite of „Feel Good“, this song is like the pure musical embodiment of desperation. The repeated „I would give everything for a smile“ chant in the chorus alway manages to cut deep especially with the guitar that’s added in the last stretch of the song, just another completely stunning and haunting song. Which is coincidentally also the perfect description of the following song „UGLY“ – this one has an especially rough mix which is however very much intentional as it gives the song a really strong sense of urgency and complete despair, it’s harsh, it’s real, it’s well… Ugly. The spelling in the chorus would otherwise by really annoying as I tend to release dislike this trend in music, but here it somehow blends in perfectly and I don’t mind it in the slightest. After this we have the song „Falling“ which is honestly up to this point probably the first real dud in the tracklist for me – not to say it’s bad per se, just compared to the other songs this one doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. Like at least „Feel Good“ was really catchy, this one just sort of exists, even though the screaming at the end is admittedly really powerful nonetheless but the song overall works rather as an interlude of sorts, at least that’s how I see it. Anyways after that we have the really punk and energetic „Wotz Funny“. And yeah, this one’s kinda a rager – I especially enjoy the way the guitars are mixed here and the adlibs on the chorus feel almost improvised, the punk energy on this one is just through the roof and I love every second of it, I just wish it was a bit longer. Anyways next up is „Tourniquet“ and if anything is the emotional climac of the album it’s this – the instrumental this time around is really somber and soothing with lush piano melodies and spacey synths however slowthai delivers what’s probably his rawest vocal delivery maybe even on the entire record – this contrast between him and the rest of the song feels really powerful and it’s honestly one of my favorite moments on the entire record. And finally we arrive at the closing track „25% Club“ is essentially just a guitar plucking ballad with just slowthai pouring his heart out over well… Everything. It’s another really powerful piece to the puzzle and even though it’s a really calm closer for such an energetic, all over the place and chaotic album. it fits strangely well. And slowthai’s singing is legitemately beautiful here aswell – I don’t know man, I just really like it, even though it may not be the most ambitious song on the whole album and it’s a really obvious choice for a closer it just works and makes the whole thing really complete which is all that matters at the end of the day.

Tu wrap it all up, this album is for the lack of a better word just amazing. Probably my favorite album of the year so far – it’s demented and twisted, yet beautiful and cathartic, chaotic and unhinged, yet calculated and very precise, it’s basically everything I could have wanted from a new slowthai release and it really surpassed any and all expectations I had for it. Give it a spin if you haven’t yet, you can thank me later.

-favorite tracks: YUM, Selfish, Sooner, Never Again, Fuck It Puppet, HAPPY, UGGLY, Wot Funny, Tourniquet, 25% Club

-least favorite tracks: Falling (if i had to choose one)

Light 9/10

The madman has done it again.

Now I know I’m a bit late on this one but ever since I found out about this man’s existence I just knew there was something to him – you see MC Motyčka is not your typical czech MC. No, on the contrary this man’s lyrical abilities and pen game put the rest of the czech rap game to shame. And this song in particular is the living embodiment of that – from the everchanging experimental beat to the quite profound lyrics, this song is simply put a gift that keeps on giving.

Jokes aside this song unironically goes through many intresting and musically challenging phases and whether you are a fan or not, you just gotta admit, it ain’t something you hear everyday (unless you are my classmate, in which case you hear it like 6 times a day minimum). To start off, the song opens up with this atmospheric intro that I just can’t help but love – it sets the tone of for the rest of the track immediately. Then ater a while these repeating synths start coming in and we have our first appearance from (what I’m assuming is) the man himself, MC Motyčka. The at this point iconic „Přišel jsem domů“ opening line repeated two times is definetly another highlight of the song – it lets the listener know that he has arrived home, so you know it’s about to go down. The suspense at this point of the song is almost crushing, you’re just sitting at the edge of your seat waiting for what’s he about to deliver next and oh boy deliver he does. The beat finally drops for the first time and MC Motyčka starts his verse – in this one he goes over many different topics and although this verse is very short-lived it leaves a huge impact on the listener – however before we can even possibly start to recover from this insane spitting that we have been just now subjected to we are met with another switch in the song that comes completely out of left-field yet fits perfectly right in – the beat starts building up once again before the iconic „ŠTYKY NA BEATU“ plays and the song completely let’s loose – the beat now includes these techno-esk drums that fit nicely in with the rest of the song and now it’s (once again what I’m assuming is) MC Paralen’s time to shine. And I have to say, these first 4 opening bars MC Paralen raps have to be some of the most exciting and memorable in the entire song, just take a look:

„píšu lines, je to prcačka,

jedu deep jako vrtačka,

zmrde sekám jak sekačka,

vytáhnu kvér, velký jak auto – ty řveš auto pálí“

The last part of this I can’t honestly completely make out exactly what is being said so I just gave it my best guess there, but you can clearly see that this man is just on another level. From there Paralen continues to give iconic line after iconic line (such as „já jsem repů editor, ty seš memů redditor“, another one of my favorites) before the we transitions into what I think is Young Chernobyl’s contribution to the song and this one might just even have a better opening than MC Paralen’s, just take a look for yourselves:

„seš slabej? čaj si dej,

nechceš blejt? čaj si dej,

nechceš čaj? tak si gej,

neser mě a čaj si dej“

Young Chernobyl’s passion for tee is almost physically visible through the way he delivers his opening verse and what a verse it is at that, rhyming „dej“ 3 times with itself is truly an amazing feat. From there Young Chernobyl completely snaps and lets out all his anger towards pikařs and delivers what’s easily the most agressive verse of the entire song – so agressive in fact that he starts choking and one of the two other MCs has to take over, this was truly Young Chernobyl’s peak in my eyes (and not just because this is the only known recorded verse of him ever).

The final leg of the song combines many of the production elements from before, now especially leaning towards the techno elements. The rest of the verses are also really good and wrap up many of the lyrical themes from before. Finally the song comes full circle as the trio gives one final laugh together and the song abruptly ends.

And there you have it – 4 years later this song is still a bop that never gets old. My only wish with this would probably for MC Motyčka to return – I know he has probably moved on from his short-lived yet fruitful musical career but the world NEEDS another MC Motyčka LP or at least another single like this. Anyways yeah, stream hejt na pikaře (this has not been sponsored in any way by the way, I just really enjoy the song and felt a little silly and goofy).

PŘIŠEL JSEM DOMŮ/10

I’m a bit late with this one but that’s because I really wanted to give this review the attention that it deserves – Gorillaz are historically a band I hold in high regard and have a good ammount of expactation for their musical output. This album in particular had a really promising build up towards it, even though basically the majority of the album was released before it even came out. The majority of the songs the band put out during this era were however genuinely great in my eyes, which even escalated my already really high expactations for this upcoming project. Which is why it’s really disapointing to say that this album was overall rather… Well, disapointing. Like it seems the band released all the good song they had prepared for this project beforehand and just decided to fill the rest of the album with just filler passable tracks and called it a day.

To start off, the album opens up with the title track „Cracker Island“ which is probably as good of an opener as this album could have – already when this was released as a single I was absolutely in shock of how much this song goes. The heavy infectious synths start the song off and from there it’s a non-stop energetic ride. Thundercat’s contribution to the song is also really pleasant, the guitar licks and voice ad-libs he adds really elevate the song to new heights. This may just be my favorite song on the album and honestly, even Gorillaz songs period, I can’t get enough of it from the day it came out. Following that we have the first non-single song „Oil“ with Steve Nicks who I would have no idea is even on the track if it wasn’t specifically said in the title. However the song is one of the more decent non-singles – the keys are really what save this one, they are really colorful and catchy, I can’t get enough of those. And the somewhat of a grand finnish is a nice touch too, this song is fine to be honest, just not the best Gorillaz have to offer. Speaking off the next song „The Tired influencer“ I legitemately forgot is even on this album before starting to write this review. It definetly has it’s moments, some of the guitar licks and sound effects in the verses really hit in the right spot, but overall the song just lacks anything that would really make it stand out among the sea of others on this album. This one would honestly fit right in with some of the tracks from „The Now Now“ which isn’t a bad thing per se, it just kinda kills the momentum of the album a bit, but besides that it isn’t like unlistenable. Things do pick up substantially after this point though with the song „Silent Running“ featuring Adeleye Omotayo, another single and this one in particular struck a chord with me – the synths and main melody on this one are just gorgeous. The song does get a bit repetetive after a while but that honestly didn’t lower my enjoyment of the song in any way, because the repeated melody is just so infectious and 2Ds vocals sound super heartfelt to me here, I don’t know, this song just does something to my brain, I can’t help but love every second of it. Now for the next song „New Gold“ with Tame Impala… This one’s a weird one. On one hand OH MY GOSH it’s a Gorillaz song with Tame Impala this is a dream come true right??? And yes, for the most part it is – Kevin Parker’s chorus gets stuck in my head multiple times a day, it’s just such a jam, I can’t get enough of it. No, the problem I have with this song doesn’t lie in that – my issue is with the verses. You see this song also features Bootie Brown who doesn’t do terrible on his verses but man do they pale in comparison to the potential this song had. Like they aren’t bad but just so forgetable that it almost kills the song. And I obviously can’t just rate the song for the chorus part alone so… But yeah, besides that kinda major dud, the good elements of the song still out-weights the bad. The next song is „Baby Queen“, another single, and this song I really enjoyed on release however with some time the song really shrunk on me – it’s still okay, but I just don’t care about it all that much anymore, the story going on throughout the song just isn’t intresting enough nor is the accompanying instrumental. And honestly the same goes for the next song „Tarantula“ – this was surprisingly enough one of my favorites from this album on my couple of first listens but this one just has some really weird production choices that I’m not that crazy about the more I listen to it. However probably the worst offender on this album has to be the big hit from this album „Tormenta“ with Bad Bunny because it’s essetially just a Bad Bunny song featuring Gorillaz and not even a really good one at that, feels like a weak Bad Bunny B-side. And the song doesn’t even go anywhere, all this song has going for it is literally just the Bad Bunny and he doesn’t even do THAT well. Fortunately the second to last song „Skinny Ape“ does pick things up pretty substantially as it provides what’s in my eyes the musical climax of this album – as basically all the songs on this very synth-based album it kicks of with a strong synth-line that slowly evolves into what’s essentially the chorus of the song before going back to said synth-line as a sort of bait-chorus, before finally the song just explodes in sound and color and makes for one of the most musically rewarding musical experiences this album has to offer. Seriously, this song take a bit of patience but when it hits, it really hits. The final leg of this song is just beyond euphoric, I really like what the band did here. And I gotta say, I kinda wish that THIS was the closing track, as it wraps things up almost perectly – the actual ending song we got „Possesion Island“ is fine, but just nothing to write home about. It’s essentially just a guitar-paino ballad that feels really out of place with the rest of the album even though the tune itself is as I said just fine. Though I’ll say the outro of the song has this nice trumpet section that ranks it up a few points, but it’s so short-lived that it honestly barely even counts.

So through and through, this album was a complete mess and a mixbag of songs that range from exceptional and genuinely some of the most ear-grabbing in the band’s catalogue to literally can’t recall how they sound at all. At the end of the day I really expected more from this record but still got some banger tunes with it so it isn’t all bad… Just kinda underwhelming for Gorillaz standarts.

-favorite tracks: Cracker Island, Oil, Silent Running, parts of New Gold, parts of The Tired Influencer, Skinny Ape

-least favorite tracks: Tormenta, Tarantula

Strong 6/10